Dream World Part 2: Sailor Earth
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters contained within this work are the copyright of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, Kodansya and probably lots of other big people I'm forgetting. I am using them without permission, but suing me because of it would be futile as I have nothing. Feel free to distribute this work around (for no profit, of course; I'm not making any...), as long the included text is unmodified. If you publish or repost it somewhere, please let me know.
Comments, criticism, flames, etc. welcomed (and, in fact, requested) at Ultrace@aol.com.
Dream World Part 2: Sailor Earth
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Mike Chenoweth [Ultrace@aol.com]
September, 1996
Molly was on her way to school when she heard the scream coming from behind a group of buildings.
`Serena? Nah, she's never up this early,' she thought to herself. When she got to the corner of the buildings and saw what was going on, it was clear she was wrong. A pair of fur-covered demons, each at least eight feet tall, had cornered Serena in the alley and were closing in.
Molly didn't waste any time. She backed further out of sight, reached into the bag she was carrying to get her power stick, and held it up. "Earth Power!"
She instinctively covered herself as her clothes and bag disappeared in a flash of light. Dirt and rocks from the ground beneath her flew up all around, forming a type of whirlwind that surrounded her. When it had all settled, she was wearing a different outfit--the white and brown uniform of Sailor Earth.
Serena was cowering in fear, eyes closed in expectation of her own doom, when she heard the booming voice.
"Hold it!"
Serena opened her eyes. She blinked. The demons turned and stared.
"You can't go around terrorizing innocent girls like that!" Molly said. "I'm Sailor Earth, the champion of freedom and justice. With the power of the Earth, I'll crush all that is evil, and that means you!"
One of the demons turned to its partner. "Sailor Earth?"
"Never heard of her," the other replied.
The two made a running charge for Molly. `They're not attacking from far away? I can't let 'em get up close,' she said to herself. "Earth Shaker!" she yelled, smashing the ground with her fist.
A crack appeared at the point of impact and spread toward the demons. The ground opened up along the crack and swallowed one of them whole, then sealed itself. The other demon managed to jump out of the way first, and was heading right for her.
"Earth Revenge!" she shouted, holding out her arms and waving them as though she were casting some magic spell, which is what the result looked like. A huge slab of rock, almost as large as the demon, came ripping out of the ground, directly between Molly and her attacker. It launched itself at the charging beast, who was again too agile and dodged it. The rock smashed into an abandoned building instead, demolishing half the structure.
The demon kept coming. Its claw was inches from Molly's face.
There was a blinding flash of red. Molly was surprised to find it wasn't the demon slashing her face. It was a handful of rose petals. That could only mean...
"The stars look down on sterling beauty as a thing to be cherished, not destroyed," a smooth voice said. "Anyone who would harm such beauty possesses the worst ugliness, that of the heart. Monster, your actions must now stop!"
That black tuxedo and purple mask, the long brown hair--it was him.
"Tuxedo Max!" Molly said, joyously.
"Give me a break. I'm not impressed by flowers, Cape Boy," the demon snapped. It leaped out at Tuxedo Max, who responded by extending his cane into the demon's chest, bringing it crashing to the ground.
"Sailor Earth! Never give up hope--Love yields a strength greater than the most powerful monster!" Tuxedo Max shouted, leaping away.
Molly sat there for a few moments in a romantic haze. She noticed the demon was beginning to recover its breath. "Oh no you don't!" she yelled. "Earth Shaker!"
This time the demon found himself engulfed by the gaping crevice, like its partner had been earlier.
"Uh, thanks..." Serena said, timidly, after she got the nerve to come out of the corner.
"No problem," Molly told her. "But you better hurry, or you'll be late for school again."
"`Again?'" Serena questioned.
"Um... Anyway, have a nice day!" Molly said, running off. `That was close,' she thought to herself.
------------------
"Hey, Serena! Wait up!" Molly yelled, dashing to catch up with her best friend.
Serena slowed until Molly was walking next to her. "What's up?"
"You won't believe the weird dream I had last night... You were in it," Molly told her.
"Really?" Serena asked, suddenly becoming interested.
"Yeah, you were being attacked by these weird monsters and I had to come to your rescue. I became Sailor Earth! Isn't that a laugh?" Molly said.
For some reason, Serena didn't find it especially amusing. "Uh, tell me about this `Sailor Earth'..." she said.
Molly thought for a moment. "Well, I had this little stick-thing that I held up, and I said something like `Earth Power.' Then I changed into this whole other person. I even had a costume kind of like Sailor Moon's and I could do all these cool attacks! Hey, are you okay?"
Serena was not at all okay. She looked at her watch. "We need to hurry up--I got out of bed extra early this morning just so I wouldn't be late!"
The two of them picked up the pace, breaking into a near run.
`This is too weird,' Serena thought. `Even if it was just a dream, how can Molly know how the Scouts transform? Could she be a Sailor Scout without knowing it or something?'
She took one look at Molly. `No way.'
Serena was home that afternoon with Luna. She had been strangely quiet like something was on her mind, but Luna learned some time ago that Serena would mention whatever was bothering her when she was good and ready.
"Luna, are there other Sailor Scouts that we don't know about?"
"Well, there's always that possibility, I suppose," Luna said, looking thoughtful. "After all, I only vaguely knew about Sailor Pluto before we met her. It's conceivable that there could be a Sailor Scout for each planet and I don't remember them."
"Do you, uh, have any more power sticks you never gave out?" Serena asked, casually.
Luna looked at her suspiciously. "What are you getting at?"
"I was just wondering if you ever felt anything strange around Molly, that's all."
Luna was in disbelief. "You think Molly is a Sailor Scout, and that after all this time none of us have noticed?"
"Call it a hunch, okay?" Serena said, defensively. "She told me about this dream she had where she was `Sailor Earth' and the way she described it was exactly how we transform and everything!"
"That does sound odd, but I never sensed anything unusual about her. I'm certain she's not a Sailor Scout," Luna said, confidently.
"Well, I think you better have a second look at her, just in case. Come on," Serena said, moving to pick Luna up off the bed.
"You're serious!" Luna said, backing up. "You want to just walk up to Molly's apartment and have me look at her forehead?"
Serena smiled and pulled the Luna Pen from her pocket. "I think we can do better than that," she said. Luna was about to comment that the Luna Pen was for Scout business only, but for once that's what it seemed Serena was going to use it for.
Once they were outside, and away from her family, Serena looked around to make sure no one else was watching then held up the pen. "Disguise power! Change me into, um... er... a completely different person!"
"Good one," Luna said, sarcastically, but she had to admit that Serena did indeed look like someone totally different when the transformation was done; in addition to the usual new clothes and hairstyle, the pen had managed to change the color of Serena's hair and eyes. Luna hardly recognized her.
It took them about twenty minutes to get to Molly's apartment. "Don't worry, I've got it all figured out," Serena told Luna as they approached.
"Hello?" Molly asked, opening the door in response to Serena's knock.
"Is this your kitty?" Serena asked, throwing an accent into her voice and wishing she'd practiced it on the way--it sounded silly. She held Luna right up in Molly's face so the cat could get a good look at her forehead. "She was pawing at your door."
Molly looked at Luna. "No, I don't know who it--wait, that's Serena's cat," she said. "Yeah, I'd know that little crescent mark anywhere. Thanks for finding her, I'll call the owner. She'll be real happy to get her back."
"You're quite welcome," Serena said. She walked away, leaving Luna in Molly's arms. After transforming out of her disguise, she spent about fifteen minutes at the arcade, then came back and knocked on the door.
"Hey, Serena! I didn't think you were home," Molly said.
"Well, I walked in a couple minutes after you called," Serena said. "Is Luna okay?"
There was a purring sound behind Molly. Luna strolled out and jumped into Serena's arms.
"Thanks, Molly," Serena said.
"No problem," Molly told her, waving bye to Luna. "She was no trouble at all, but you better keep a closer eye on her."
"Well?" Serena asked as the two of them were walking away.
"Nothing," Luna said. "I told you so. She was nice enough to give me some milk, though, so at least this trip wasn't a total loss."
Serena frowned. "I don't get it. There's just no way Molly could dream all that up."
Luna seemed to be tiring of the subject. "She could have some sort of psychic ability, you know. I can usually only sense things about people if they're Sailor Scouts or have something to do with the Negaverse. I can't detect everything."
"Whatever it is, I hope she doesn't figure out anything else about us," Serena said.
"And you thought she was a Sailor Scout?" Rei asked, unable to stop laughing. Whether she was amused at the idea of Molly being Sailor Earth or at Serena thinking it up was unclear.
"It's not that funny," Lita said. "After all, if I didn't know Serena, I'd never guess that she could be Sailor Moon..."
"Uh, thanks. I think," Serena said.
The three of them had gotten together in the coffee shop. Amy had claimed to be too busy with her studies (all the while suggesting that a bit of studying wouldn't hurt Serena, Rei or Lita), and Mina was off somewhere with Brian. Their room, as usual, was deserted, so they had it all to themselves.
Rei finally managed to get her laughter under control. "That's not what I mean. How many times has the Negaverse gone after Molly? If she really did have it in her to be a Sailor Scout, we'd have found out by now."
"I suppose..." Serena said, somewhat dejected. She was starting to feel foolish for telling them about Molly's dream in the first place.
Lita picked up on it and changed the subject. "Anyway, have either of you met Brian yet? Half the time he's all Mina wants to talk about."
Serena shook her head. "Nuh-uh. I think Mina's keeping him away from us all on purpose so neither of you steal him away."
Rei and Lita both gave her a mean look. "WHAT?" they asked in unison.
Serena was about to mention the fact that Lita had already compared him to her old boyfriend, and that if Brian was anything like Darian, Rei would be all over him, but she decided instead to point across the street discreetly and ask, "What's that?"
"What's what?" Rei asked back. She and Lita turned their heads and looked out the window. People were running out of one of the stores in a panic, as though it were on fire. It was not, although there was clearly something wrong inside. The front window of the store had already been busted out, and they could hear the sounds of the place being torn apart.
"That's Mrs. Baker's jewelry store," Lita said.
"It must be another monster," Rei decided. "Let's transform!"
The three of them quickly changed into Sailor Scouts and ran out of the coffee shop.
Molly's mother and a monster were the only two beings left in the store when Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter appeared. It looked as though Mrs. Baker was only there because of what was between her and the exit--namely the monster, a hideous-looking woman with at least six arms; their swirling motions made it difficult to count. A couple of arms were waving swords around, but the rest were busy gathering up jewelry.
The monster had not noticed the Sailor Scouts enter.
"Stop right there, you evil creature!" Serena yelled, and waited for the monster to turn her head before continuing. "It'll take a lot more than jewels to make you look pretty--try the costume shop down the street instead. In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"
Rei winced. Couldn't Serena come up with anything better to say?
The monster did not seem amused. Its newly-collected jewelry vanished, replaced by four more swords which it proceeded to wave around with the other two. Mrs. Baker chose that moment to faint.
With almost blinding speed and a shout of "Kary!" the monster dove at Rei, attempting to surround her on all sides with the six blades, but Rei was able to duck underneath the strike and roll away. Several of the swords got stuck in the doorway.
"Mars Celestial Fire Surround!" Rei yelled. Just as the monster pulled all its swords free again, it was assaulted by eight firebolts, which, between them, knocked away the weapons.
Lita took advantage of the monster's surprise to follow up with "Jupiter Thunderclap, Zap!" and hit it square in the chest with a compressed ball of lightning.
For once, Serena did not need a cue. Before their enemy could recover from the two attacks, she yelled "Moon Scepter Elimination!" The monster was surrounded by white energy that ripped it apart, its swords disappearing along with it.
"That was almost too easy," Lita said.
It was a few seconds later that Molly came running up to the door of the shop. "Mom?" she asked.
"Look, Serena, it's Sailor Earth to the rescue," Rei quietly sniped. Despite her earlier comments, Lita giggled, just a little.
------------------
Sylvite was slightly amused. But more than that, he was annoyed. He slammed his hand down on the magnificent carved stone, inlaid with jewels and fine gold trim, that served as his throne. Like all the spectacularly beautiful things here, it had form, but was no more real than a figment of the imagination.
He had intended for his creation to be defeated, but not so easily. He did not care for this feeling of humiliation.
"You underestimated them," someone said, behind him. "I told you these `Sailor Scouts' are powerful. You should listen to me."
Sylvite smiled at the sound of her voice. It soothed him, made him forget, momentarily, the annoyances he was having to put up with, reminded him that they would all be worth suffering through.
"Don't worry, this is all part of the plan," he said. "We'll rule this world together--it's only a matter of time. She was just the beginning."
He errantly stared into the distance, watching the glorious sights; butterflies dancing around wisps of flame and dragons breathing silver and gold bubbles, crystalline flowers blossoming and raindrops of varied colors showering it all. The wonder of it did not appease him--he sat there sullenly.
`They will not get in our way!'
