I found my notes...most of them are just comments on the character's actions during the story. Some of them explain plot points. In any case, I've put them at the end of the story. The majority of characters in this story are owned and/or copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi, DiC, Disney, Bandai, Toei Animation, Seagull Entertainment, Graz Entertainment, Sunrise, Mixxzine, Saban, Playmates, and probably a half dozen other corporations which I've neglected to mention. I should add for the benefit of their respective legal departments that I make no claim to the characters which the previously listed or referred to companies have copyrighted, and I am not making any money from the distribution of these stories (if I were, do you think I'd still be working at McDonald's?) The characters which do not appear in either the Sailor Moon or Ronin Warriors shows are mine. Touch them and die. Now that that's out of the way... Crystal Scouts #2 "Hot and Cold" Seven small meteorites slowly made their way toward Earth. A thousand years ago, these meteorites would have been the most dangerous items in the entire galaxy. At that time, each meteorite held a demon--a Negaverse Shadow Warrior. If the seven Shadow Warriors ever united, they would become invincible. The meteorites were still dangerous. Though their previous occupants had been purged by the greatest heroine in the universe, they now held a part of her power--a part of her soul. Those who possessed the meteorites would possess that power. "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." "I haven't a clue, Merry." "Lord Acton, British classical liberal." Merry closed the textbook and stared at her friend with her light blue eyes. "You know, Tori, if you don't study harder, you won't pass this history test." Tori pushed a lock of her red hair from her eyes. "I don't think that quotes are going to be on the test." Merry smiled. "With Miss Nielsen, you can never be too sure. I heard that last year, half the points on the final exam went for filling out a map of the Mediterranean." "That sounds easy." "As the Romans would have labeled it," Merry finished. "Gallia, Dalmatia, Thracia--should I continue?" "No," Tori grumbled, picking up the history book. "I still wish this stuff would come as easily to me as it does to you." "It's only because I study." Tori sighed as she began to take notes. "I still wonder why we're here." Merry looked up from her calculus text. "Why are we here? We're here so I can set up residency in California, go to Stanford--" "And get handed your diploma in six years, right? Meredith Rivers, Stanford graduate, magna cum laude..." "And then I'd bop the dean on the head with it for calling me Meredith." "That explains why you're here, but what about me? I'd be lucky to get into San Francisco State University." "Well, even though my dad owns this house--'lovely, but very underutilized', he says--I can't stay here alone. So who else to come with me than the daughter of the other half-owner of the company who just happens to have been my best friend since--well, since we were born?" "Who would have thought that twenty-five years ago, our parents would have founded an undersea mining and exploration company, with only one other major competitor in the field?" "Speaking of history, Tori," Merry said as she tapped her friend's book, "you'd probably better get back to studying." The seven deadly crystals entered the gravitational pull of Earth and slowly began to spiral around the planet. As they continued to circle, their speed increased and they began to fall, separating during their rapid descent. Tori expertly whipped her car into one of the last remaining parking spots at Sutter Academy. She cut the engine and twirled the keys on her finger before stuffing them into her backpack. "Nice driving, Speed Racer," Merry quipped. Tori patted the head of the Dodge Shadow. "Would you rather I took the Camaro?" Merry's eyes widened in mock horror. "You mean the one with the top speed of ??? mph? I'd rather get to school alive, thanks." Tori laughed. "Come on, Merry. You know you enjoy it just as much as I do. The thrill of the open road, the wind rushing through your hair--" "The state cops in your rearview mirror," Merry interrupted. "How did you get out of that ticket for doing 110 mph over, anyway?" "I showed them my card from the California Highway Patrol emergency driving course," Tori replied. "You going to be leaving with me at two?" "No," Merry answered. "I've got a couple of term papers to finish up. Are you ready for your history exam?" "I hope so," Tori sighed. "I still wish we didn't have to go to this private school. Why couldn't we have gone to public school instead?" "Are you kidding? Do you really think Stanford would take public school grades seriously?" Tori sighed again. "What time do you think you'll be finished today?" "I should be done by five." "I guess I'll spend a couple hours in Chinatown and then come back after you." "You sure spend an awful lot of time there for someone who can't speak more than a few words of Chinese." "Well, what am I supposed to do with my spare time while you're staying after class?" "You could always try studying." "Don't start with _that_ again, Merry." An elderly Chinese merchant watched in awe as a streak of red blazed into view over the horizon. The bolt seemed to be descending as it came closer. He quickly ducked back into his shop as it impacted the road, gouging a trench in its wake. It slashed down the street and into the sidewalk, coming to rest in front of the old man's store. The old man walked outside and surveyed the street. Not surprisingly, it was empty. Superstition still ruled the lives of many here, and a blazing rain of fire from the heavens was obviously an omen. He hurried over to the crater and looked into it. A red crystal sat in the center of the crater as if it were an eye staring back at him. The old man took a silk handkerchief from his pocket and removed the crystal. Amazingly, it was unscratched from its ordeal. He returned to his shop and placed the crystal among the jade ornaments. Serendipity had indeed favored him today. Tori stared at the clock. Three...two...one... "All right, class, pencils down," Miss Nielsen commanded. "Time is up. Please hand me your exams as you leave the classroom." Tori sighed as the class began to file out the door. If only she'd followed Merry's advice... "Thank you, Miss Brand," Miss Nielsen said icily as she took Tori's test from her. "It was a pleasure having you in my class--" Liar. "Likewise, Miss Nielsen." "And it will be a pleasure to have you in my class again next year." Tori smiled sweetly. "Oh, I hope not, Miss Nielsen. I mean, what more could I possibly learn from you?" "Let's see, Miss Brand. Organizational skills, timeliness, study habits?" she listed as Tori backed out the door. "How about responsibility?" she yelled at Tori's retreating figure. Responsibility, Tori thought as she spun her keys on her finger. I've got all the responsibility I can handle right now, just trying to be a normal teenager in an abnormal world. Merry looked up at the clock in the computer lab. Two o'clock... She quickly typed the final words of her paper, punched the save command, and shoved her books into her bag. Since her professor for her final class hadn't shown up, she'd had time to finish her papers. She ejected the disk, tossed it into her bag, and raced down the halls for the parking lot. She was just in time to see Tori leave twin streaks of rubber behind the rapidly vanishing black Shadow. She doesn't usually treat her car like that--unless she's upset or angry, Merry thought. Must be her test didn't go too well--I tried to warn her... Now what? Merry thought. She decided to eat a late lunch at her favorite restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. If she took the bus, she could still be back in time to meet Tori... Tori parked the Shadow, locked the doors, set the antitheft device, and fed a couple of quarters into the meter. It wasn't fair to mistreat the Shadow when she was really mad at herself... She began to walk toward her favorite shop in all of Chinatown-- Chen's Antiques and Jewelry. She'd stumbled into his tore one rainy day looking for shelter and had found a friend. Mr. Chen had even been teaching her Chinese--something she'd never let on about to Merry, who'd want her to apply herself like that to her other school subjects too. Tori smiled to herself. Her two best friends in all of San Francisco were like her surrogate family--Merry, who acted like a mother, and Mr. Chen, who treated her like a daughter. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she failed to notice the gash in the sidewalk in front of her. She tripped over it and would have fallen on her face if Mr. Chen hadn't caught her. "Careful, my child!" he said. "What has so captured your imagination that you fail to notice your surroundings?" His eyes narrowed. "Is it school again?" "I'd rather not talk about school right now." "I understand, my child. Perhaps another time." Tori motioned toward the furrow. "What happened? The city fixing the water mains again?" "Not exactly," he answered cryptically. "Will you please come into my shop?" "Sure," she said as she walked inside. "Do you have anything new today?" Mr. Chen locked the door behind her. "You could say that," he said as he pulled the red crystal from its display. "This is the object that carved the sidewalk." "A crystal?" Tori asked. "Where did it come from?" Mr. Chen said a few words in Chinese. "'Fire from the sky'," Tori translated. "Like a meteorite?" "Your Chinese is getting better, my child," Mr. Chen replied. "I do not know this word 'meteorite, but this crystal fell from the heavens in a blaze of red." "A meteorite is a rock that falls from the sky," Tori explained. "So is it a ruby?" "I do not think so," he answered, holding it up to the light. "A ruby would more than likely have been scratched after digging through pavement. This--this 'meteorite' is unharmed. It must be some other kind of red crystal--" Mr. Chen suddenly let out a sharp gasp of pain and dropped the crystal onto the counter. Merry chose a seat on the balcony overlooking the harbor. She rarely sat outside, preferring the solitude of a more secluded table inside the restaurant, but since there were very few patrons and it seemed a shame to waste such a beautiful day, she decided to eat her meal al fresco. She surveyed the harbor as she dined. Although fishing vessels still sailed from here, they were mainly commercial ships rather than those of families whose livelihood depended on the sea. Merry sighed wistfully. A hundred years ago, the sailors of the day would have scoffed at the idea that their fishing boats would be replaced by ships relying on machines to find the fish for them. They would have chuckled at hearing that wooden vessels would give way to much larger metal ships. And they would have laughed out loud at the suggestion that man would someday mine the bottom of the sea. The times, they are a'changing... Merry watched as a jet arced overhead. Doubtless the fishermen of yesteryear would have scoffed at these metal birds as well, and the proposition that they could carry men much farther and faster than any ship would be ludicrous... A sparkle in the sky caught her eye. She was barely able to pick out a streaking object just a couple of shades darker than the sky. It cut across the contrail of the jet, dipped below the horizon, and landed in the sea with a splash a hundred yards from shore. Merry quickly vaulted over the railing of the balcony into the sea and swam toward the object's impact point. She dove underwater, but was unable to see through the silt. She found, however, that she could touch the bottom. She returned to the surface for air and dove again, groping blindly along the seafloor. Her hand touched the ridge of the crater and traced its rim. She grasped the object in the center of the crater and swam toward the surface. Merry wiped the salt water from her eyes and inspected her prize. The blue crystal in her hand glittered as if winking back at her--was it a trick of the sunlight? Crystal or not, the meteorite would make a lovely addition to her rock collection. She began a leisurely stroke back to the restaurant. She climbed back over the railing and landed on the balcony with a squelch. Surveying her now drenched school uniform, Merry did the only thing she could think of--she locked herself in the restroom with its hot-air hand dryer. Twenty minutes later, a still bedraggled but noticeably drier Merry caught the bus back to Sutter Academy. "Mr. Chen! Are you all right?" The elderly shopkeeper rubbed his hand as if it had been burned. "There is a force--a presence inside that crystal," he said, frowning. "I cannot keep it in my shop." Tori poked at the crystal, as if expecting it to bite her. "A presence?" she asked skeptically. "Yes--a force of great strength and power. I cannot keep it in my shop," he repeated. "I could use some luck," Tori muttered. "Can I have it?" Mr. Chen stared at her as if she had suddenly gone mad. "You do not know what you ask, my child. What if the power is evil?" "You couldn't tell?" Mr. Chen sighed. "I will tell you something that I have never told anyone before. Long ago, when I lived in China, my family sent me to become a priest. One night I asked the sacred flames about my family and got no response. Three days later I learned a great fire had consumed my family's house and farm. No one survived. I left the temple and vowed never again to interfere with forces beyond my control." Tori had already made her decision. "I think I'll take it, Mr. Chen. You don't mind, do you?" Mr. Chen shook his head sadly. "We each walk our own path, my child. Take it and leave; it cannot stay here." Tori reached the door and unlocked it. "Tori." She turned back to him. Mr. Chen had never used her first name before. "If I were you, I would throw it as far into the sea as I could. You are playing with that which you do not understand." Tori slowly shut the door behind her and walked down the sidewalk smiling to herself. Mr. Chen had outdone himself to take her mind off school this time. Last time he'd had her thinking a jade Buddha was talking to her until he had revealed he was an excellent ventriloquist. She never considered that what he had told her might have been the truth. Merry was waiting outside the Academy when Tori pulled up. "Geez, Merry," Tori said as her friend climbed in. "You look like something the tide washed in." Merry ran her hand through her light blue hair and quickly buckled her seat belt as Tori pulled back out onto the road. "You could say that," she said as she settled into the seat. "Well?" "Well what?" "Are you going to tell me about it?" "It's a long story." "You've got five minutes." Merry checked the speedometer. "That's only because we're going eighty miles per hour." Tori rolled her eyes and slightly decreased her speed, smiling expectantly at her friend. "I had finished class on time for once," Merry began, "but when you said you were leaving at two o'clock, I guess you meant it." Tori's smile disappeared. "Oh. You saw me?" Merry nodded. "I decided to go down to the waterfront and eat lunch when I saw an object fall from the sky and land in the sea." "And you went after it, right?" "Yes. I swam out and retrieved it," Merry grinned. "Now I have a meteorite for my rock collection." Ordinarily Tori's eyes would have glazed over at the mere mention of Merry's beloved rock collection, but this time was different. "A meteorite?" Tori said as she pulled into their driveway. "That's odd. You should have heard the story Mr. Chen told me..." Merry listened as Tori told her story over the kitchen counter. "And he told me, 'Tort, you don't know what you're messing with'." "He used your first name?" "Yeah. What a great story, huh?" "Well, come on, Tori. Let's see your 'fire from the sky'." Tori showed Merry the red crystal. Merry's face grew pale, but Tori didn't notice. "Lovely jewel, isn't it?" Tori said. "I think I'll have it made into a necklace." "Tori, Mr. Chen wasn't lying. That's a meteorite." Tori frowned. "Merry, you sure?" "Trust me--I know all about rocks, remember?" Tori picked up the red crystal and scrutinized it. "You don't believe the part about the--the force inside, do you?" "Not really," Merry said. "What exactly did he say?" "I asked him if it was a ruby," Tori said, idly turning the crystal in her hand. "He held it up--like this--and said it was probably some other kind of red crystal--" Tori's face suddenly contorted in pain, just as Mr. Chen's had done earlier. Unlike Mr. Chen, she did not drop the crystal. "Tori! What--what's happening to you?" "P--power..." The room exploded in a brilliant flash of red light. Merry was momentarily blinded by its effect. "Tori!" "I'm right over here, Merry--whoa, where'd _this_ outfit come from?" Merry felt her friend grab her arm as she frantically tried to shake the dancing stars from her eyes. A few seconds later, she opened them--and still couldn't believe what she saw. Tori was now wearing an almost entirely red outfit that perfectly matched her hair and eyes. She had a short red skirt with a white top and twin red bows, one on her waist and one on her chest. She also wore a tiara with a red gemstone set in it, and a white button in the middle of the bow on her chest held a red crystal in the center. A red sailor-style collar, white elbow-length gloves with red trim, and red knee-high boots completed the uniform. "Pretty spiffy, huh?" "Are you all right?" "Yeah, but I feel different somehow," she replied. "I mean, deep down I'm still Tori, but now...improved sight and hearing, increased strength...I feel like I'm on fire." Merry still seemed detached from reality. "So's your hand," she said dully. Tori's right hand was indeed wreathed in flame. She quickly patted it out and inspected her still-white glove. "No burn marks or anything..." she said disbelievingly. It has been said that the human mind cannot comprehend the vastness of space. One who looks at the night sky can see millions of stars, yet these are only a small fraction of those in the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way itself is only one of countless galaxies in the universe. Trillions upon trillions upon trillions of stars... And yet there are those who would claim that we are alone. They would have been wrong a thousand years ago--and they would be wrong today. A spaceship floated just outside the orbit of Pluto. It seemed to be coasting, as if it were dangerously low on fuel--which it was. A lone figure sat at the helm. Her haggard face matched the gray of her dress, and her bloodshot eyes testified to the fact that she'd been the pilot of the ship for the last twenty-four hours. Oddly enough, there were some who might call her attractive. Indeed, her figure and her long white hair made her beautiful--if seen from the back. When one saw her face, the label would quickly be revoked. She wore a perpetual scowl and never smiled. Yet it was not this that made her countenance horrible to behold. It was her eyes--her completely blank eyes. No irises, no pupils-- just white orbs. It was her eyes that had given her her name--Pearl. She could still see, of course--in fact, better than most. But it was her eyes which made her universally feared among both friends and enemies--her eyes, which it was said would drive all but a very few completely insane. One of those who remained unaffected by Pearl's gaze slowly walked up behind her. Her simple pink dress matched her figure and hair perfectly. Yet her cheery smile masked a great intelligence--an intelligence that often translated into craftiness. "Your turn in the stasis pods, Pearl," she announced. "I'm driving this thing now." Pearl turned her head. "Correction, Coral. You're _steering_ it. We don't have enough fuel left to accelerate." "Aw, that's no fun," she sighed exaggeratedly. "How come nothing interesting ever happens on my--" An alarm sounded as a red light on a bank of signals lit up. Pearl sat bolt upright. "That's the light for--" "Yes." "What do we do?" "Only one thing to do," Coral replied. "Wake up the Commander." "So you've got control over fire now." "I guess," said the newly transformed Tori. Merry seemed to be slowly returning to her senses. "So what are you going to do with your new powers? Save the world?" "Of course I'll use them for good!" Tori exclaimed. "But being a superhero isn't all it's cracked up to be, I'm sure. Merry, I wish you could help me out." The last sentence seemed to snap Merry out of her trance. "I think I can..." She grabbed her schoolbag and pulled the crystal from it. She held it aloft and chanted the three magic words, just as she had seen Tori do. "Blue Crystal Power!" Another dashboard light winked on in the spaceship, a bright blue one this time. Pearl turned down the volume of the alarm. Even with very little light on the bridge, a dark shadow still played across the panels as the Commander entered. "Two crystals have been activated and you did not wake me sooner?" The words were spoken softly, but no one doubted their malevolence. "I'm sorry, Commander. The blue one activated before you arrived," Pearl explained. "Pinpoint their location," the Commander ordered Pearl, then turned to Coral. "Anything on the temporal disturbance scanner?" "Not yet," Coral answered. "But then that means that the Sailor Scouts haven't retrieved them yet--" "Pathetic humans," the Commander interrupted. "Some pathetic humans have activated those crystals." "I've finished the trace--and you're not going to like the results," Pearl announced. "They're not in Tokyo--they're in San Francisco, in the United States--right next to each other." "How could they have known how to activate them?" asked a stunned Coral. "It does not matter. The Sailor Scouts obviously have no clue where to find their lost treasures. We are dealing with weak, inexperienced humans." The Commander turned to leave. "Send a monster to kill them." Coral glanced at Pearl, who shook her head. "We're running low on energy," Coral said. "Are you in charge?" The voice had turned to iron. "No, Commander." "Even though they are inexperienced humans, they still possess two of the most powerful items in the universe. This makes them dangerous enemies. If they were allowed time to learn how to use the powers of the crystals, they would become very formidable. Eliminating them now remedies that problem. Do you understand?" "Yes, Commander." "Then do my bidding." "What--where did you get that?" Merry quickly surveyed herself. Her uniform looked exactly the same as Tori's, except it was blue where Tori's was red. "It's my meteorite," Merry replied. "And you're right. I do feel different somehow." If Tori was surprised, she hid it well. "So, just like that, I've got a sidekick. What's _your_ power, then?" "I don't know yet," Merry said. "But I feel--calm, peaceful, like a lake--that's it! Water!" A shimmering blue bubble appeared around Merry's right hand, which began to drip on the floor. "I'm not mopping that up," Tori said. "Sorry," Merry replied as she raced to the sink. "I think we need to practice." Loud screams came from outside, followed by an inhuman roar. "Then again, maybe we won't get a chance after all," Merry said. "Sounds like our first case, Merry!" Tori yelled as she raced for the door. "Let's go!" Merry fell in behind her. "Just one thing," she said. "I don't think we should use our real names." "What should we call each other then? Firebird? Waverider?" "I don't know yet--we'll think of something." The two didn't have to look far for the problem. It stood in the middle of the street, as if waiting for them. Seven feet tall and covered with brown fur, it looked like a bear--or like a bear would look with three-foot claws and a semi-human face. It stared at the two--and spoke. "S-saaai-lllors..." "That's what we look like! Sailors!" Tori exclaimed. "What do you think, Blue Sailor?" "Can we concentrate on the task at hand, Red Sailor?" The Red Sailor smiled at her friend, glad she had accepted her choice of names. The monster saw its chance. In a surprising display of speed and agility for a creature of its bulk, it leapt at the Sailors, slashing with a massive paw. Both rolled away, unharmed. "Water--" the Blue Sailor began. Realizing a dripping glove wouldn't do much good against the monster, she tried to think of a way to focus her power, to use it for an attack. She said the first word that entered her mind. "Stream!" A wave of water shot from her fingertips. She had aimed too low, but the water cascaded into the monster's legs and knocked it onto its back. "All right!" she heard the Red Sailor shout. The monster was not as impressed. It rose and leapt at the Blue Sailor, claws outstretched. It missed Tori's best friend, but got her favorite possession instead. "No!" the Red Sailor yelled as the monster left triple gouges in the door of her beloved Shadow. Seeing her reaction, the monster seemed to give an evil grin (as if four-inch fangs could look more evil) before punching through the hood and pulling out the Shadow's engine. The monster lifted it high above its head before hurling it directly at the Red Sailor. She somersaulted away as the engine dug a furrow into the ground behind her, losing parts as it went. "Fire--" she yelled, following her friend's lead. "Flame!" The monster dodged her attack. The electric pole behind it could not. With its sole means of support gone, the power lines fell, still sparking, toward the ground. The body of the wet monster was in between. The live wires hit it in the middle of its back. The Sailors covered their faces as blinding light and blue smoke, along with an agonized scream, marked the monster's final moments. They did not open their eyes until a few seconds after the light disappeared. When they did, all they saw was a pile of ashes topped by a crystalline gem. "What is this?" the Red Sailor asked, picking up the gem as the wind began to blow away the ashes. The stone flickered once, twice, then turned as gray as the ashes. Pearl sighed as the monster's signal light flickered and died. No sense in waking the Commander to report a failure... The Red Sailor was still studying the gem as the Blue Sailor walked up behind her. "You okay?" "I'm fine," the Red Sailor sighed. "But we've got a problem." "Which one are you referring to?" the Blue Sailor asked. "The fact that the electricity is out, that your Shadow's totaled, or that the front lawn looks like ground zero?" "More important than any of those." "What's that?" "How do we change back?" Hi, it's me again. Here are the notes. * All the teachers at Sutter Academy are based on my high school teachers (yay, Harper Creek Schools...) This is more or less my way of getting back at them (with the exception of Mr. Murphy, my English teacher). And, yes, Miss Nielsen _did_ put that map question on one of her tests (it wasn't worth half the grade, though). * I actually had a childhood friend named Merry. Her grandparents introduced her to me as Meredith, so I called her that--exactly once. She smacked me, and she's been Merry ever since. * The competitor to Nautilus (the undersea exploration company owned by Tori and Merry's parents) is Godwin-de la Mer Industries, as identified in Chapter 4. Guess who owns that company...(or wait for Chapter 4...) * Merry's right. Stanford _doesn't_ take public school grades seriously. Believe me, I know...not personal experience, but close enough. * Okay, so I do have a strong bias for the past. I make no excuses for Merry's soliloquy at the restaurant. * Don't ask me how anybody can do eighty mph in downtown 'Frisco. * The entirely monochrome Sailor outfit came in a dream. Pearl's face did, too. (In fact, the whole _story_ came to me in a dream...is that weird or what?) * I feel kind of bad about wrecking Tori's black Shadow. But hey, now Tori gets to drive a cherry-red Camaro! (Yeah, the color change is significant too--I feel like I'm in English class again, discussing motifs and symbols...)