Typical Header Stuff: Even though most of these give you about as much coverage as a g-string on a stripper, I'm going to play it safe and include it anyway... 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. Any characters that are not copyrighted by other people are my own creation, and therefore copyrighted by myself... which means that if for some REALLY weird reason you decided you wanted to use them, (and why would you decide that?!?!?!?) you need to write me for permission. Comments, Criticisms, and flames welcome... Starrngr@aol.com However, due to a large amount of spam I have received in the past, I have blocked off mail from some domains. Sorry if your one of them. Just don't expect me to reply to mail that's nothing but Flames! See the Character Bio for information on key people to this Fic.... The Wanderer: Wandering Moon: Episode 5: Midnight Densetsu Raye scowled as she opened the door to her room. Sure enough, everyone else (except Darien) was present. This fact did not improve her mood one bit. "Never thought I would see the day when Serena got to a scout meeting before Raye," quipped Artemis. "You know Raye better than that, Artemis. I'm sure she has a very valid reason why it took her so long," Luna chided primly. "As a matter of fact, I do have a good excuse. We were on a field trip today, and some crazy model builder decided to show off his latest creation by having it buzz the area. It turned the traffic into a total disaster." Raye appeared to consider this a personal affront to her dignity. Amy looked at her curiously. "Just what happened Raye?" Raye scowled. "Just what I told you. We were on a field trip near downtown when from out of nowhere this model of a jet airplane comes swooping down and scares everyone. It flew in between buildings and down the streets about three meters of the ground and generally turned everything into chaos." Amy continued her questioning. "What exactly did it look like? And about how big was it?" "About two meters long or so, and it looked like a jet fighter with two big pods on its back." Amy produced her pocket computer and began inputting a few commands. She then handed it over to Raye. "Did it look like this?" she inquired. Raye looked at the diagrams on the screen and nodded. "Except for the fact that it was colored in green and black, yes, it looked exactly like this!" "That is a drawing of the fighter mode of the war machines used in the Macross manga," Amy said thoughtfully. "I scanned them in after meeting that 'Star Ranger' person the day before yesterday. 'He' only stood about two meters tall, and used green and black trim as well." "Ahem," interrupted Luna. "While this is all very interesting, I don't see what it has to do with fighting the Negaverse. Which is somehow back again, and I don't understand how. I thought it was destroyed when Serena defeated Beryl and the Negaforce." "I thought it was too, Luna. I mean, we were there, in spirit anyway, and I had the feeling that when Serenity unleashed the full power of the crystal with our help everything in the Negaverse would be totally destroyed," Lita replied. "I'd like to know how we know its really the Negaverse," interrupted Artemis. Luna gave him a warning look, and he hurriedly continued, "I mean, all we know is that Serena saw something that looked like a you.... OUCH!!!" Whatever his point was it was lost when Luna stuck her claws into his hindquarters. This prompted Serena to spring to her own defense. "I may not be the brightest in school, but I got the same feeling from those things as from all the other evil I've fought since Luna found me. And they were draining energy from people. They acted like youma, and they died like youma. I don't see that it makes a difference what they are called." Luna facefaulted at the grown-up attitude Serena was showing at the moment, and wondered how long she could hope for this burst of maturity to last. "Its almost like we are fighting two different enemies instead of one," interjected Amy. "I mean, if it was the same person, why didn't they use another batch of those robots that gave us so much trouble?" "Speaking of which," inquired Mina, "why did we have so much trouble with those things? I know Amy took some readings from them, but she never really told us why she thinks they are a problem." "I've been thinking about that," replied Amy, "and I think its because magic and technology don't mix very well. I'm not saying its impossible, just that the two tend to be immune from the effects of the other." "But once we release our powers, the effects are physical, not magical," replied a much calmer Raye. "So why didn't the things melt under my Mars fire, or short circuit under Lita's Thunder crash?" "I think that whoever sent them had some idea of the level of our powers," replied Amy. "I think those robots were designed to survive our powers. They certainly weren't able to stand up to that 'Star Ranger' when he appeared." "Well, he certainly isn't a match for a youma, well, three youma at once," noted Serena. "If I hadn't been there he would have been moondust." "Which goes to prove my point", replied Amy. "It looks like this Star Ranger is mostly technological, power-wise. Youma are magical creatures, mostly, and the same thing would apply to him, that most of his powers wouldn't work on them. Serena did see part of their fight, and said that he was in hand to hand combat with them, rather than trying to use the lasergun he used on the spider-robots. Even if the Star Ranger was every bit as strong and fast as a youma, three on one would give them an advantage." "There is one thing about all this I still don't understand, though," commented Mina, "And that is why they attacked your school!" "I'm rather worried about that fact myself," replied Amy. "Its like they were trying to flush out either us scouts or even maybe that 'Star Ranger'. And if that's the case, I bet they decide that anytime they want to find one or the other all they'll have to do is attack Juuban Jr. High again." "What was that you were saying about school being the safest place for them again, Luna?" Inquired a grinning Artemis to a facefaulted Luna. "What worries me the most is the frequency of these attacks," continued Amy, trying valiantly to ignore a certain cat with a penchant for wisecracks. "This is the third attack in four days. Its the fastest pace of attacks that we have seen from an enemy so far. Before, we usually had a week or so between attacks. I'm worried that whoever it is may be trying to see if they can't wear us out before starting on their real plan." "Excuse me," interrupted Raye, "but could someone go back to the beginning and fill Mina and I in on just what DID happen today? Its not like we were there or anything." "You don't have to get so snotty about it, Raye," sniffed Serena, a comment which provoked one of their infamous tongue wars. Amy looked at the two and sighed, and turned to Mina and started to explain. "It started before school today. When I got to school, there was a note from the new teacher, Thunders-sensei, asking if I could meet with him for a few minutes before school...." * * * * * * * * * At Michael's apartment across town, FRED was letting Micheal know he was in less than a good mood. "Feel Better?" FRED inquired. From the sarcastic tone, Micheal assumed that his companion was in a fit of pique. "As a matter of fact, yes. I really needed to think for a bit," replied Micheal as he took a cold soda from the fridge and opened it. "What is with you???? You buzz the Ginzu, freak out the police, and get in a dogfight with the JSDF!!! What the heck happened to, and I quote, 'KEEPING A LOW PROFIE!?!?!?!?!?'" "Your not the one who darn near got his head torn off this afternoon, FRED. Who's in charge here anyway?" Micheal retorted as he settled into a chair across the room from FRED. "And speaking of which, any results on that search yet?" "Searches, he wants. Every single defense authority is after his hide and he wants to know about search results. Well, I got search results for you. First of all, someone just sent us a big file. Problem is, it's encrypted, and I haven't been able to decrypt it yet. No return address, and when I tried tracing back the delivery path I ran into a dead end. Secondly, for the most part, the authorities don't even want to acknowledge there is anything weird going on. Any time they get a clue, they hunt it down and ignore it. I might have found some evidence about this Tinkerer person, though. Hospital records at Juuban General indicate that there was a John Doe admitted about a year ago. Physical description matches pretty close. Treatment notes indicate that they had a bit of a problem with him at first. Badly burned, all along his right side. Didn't speak a word of Japanese." "Sounds like a possibility then. Who was his doctor?" "Dr. Emiki Mizuno," replied FRED. Micheal looked at the computer with amazement. "Isn't that the name of the doctor the school referred to us for those tests for Serena?" "Now that you mention it, yes, it is..." * * * * * * * * * "I hope the information was worth the cost," fumed a disgruntled Cabelite to the Tinkerer. "Those three Youma were some of my best." Tinkerer scowled at the Negaverse general. "If you were so attached to them, why did you send them?" "Because you assured me of their chances for success, _CRIPPLE_!!!!" "I assured their success only against one faction or the other. Not against them working together." Cabelite paused his tirade, and looked curiously at the Tinkerer. "How do you know what happened?" "Because it serves no point in picking a fight if one doesn't learn from it, General. I had a spyder hidden in the auditorium to record the whole incident. I wanted a record of whatever happened." "And this record shows our enemies working together?" inquired Cabelite. "If you will be calm and watch that monitor, I will show you exactly what the spyder saw, General." * * * * * * * * * "Based on that sort of evidence, I'd add two and two together and get four as well, Amy," commented Mina after hearing the whole story. "Unless you're Serena, in which case you get five," joked Artemis, as Serena protested that she wasn't _that_ stupid. "Are you sure your OK, Artemis?" inquired Mina sweetly. "Maybe I should take you to the vet and have him give you a check-up". At the mention of a visit to the vet, Artemis suddenly decided that someone needed to check the other rooms and make sure they weren't being spied on. Mina watched his retreating form with a smile. "Never fails. He hates going to the vet. Now, as we were saying, it looks like we have fairly strong evidence that the new teacher is also this Star Ranger. The real question is who's side is he on?" "I say we go over to his place and ask him," commented Lita, smacking her fist with her palm. "And we keep at him until we get the truth." "Reality check," interrupted Raye. "Why would five schoolgirls be asking a teacher if he is a spy for the Negaverse? He's not stupid, like Odango Atama here." "I am _not_ stupid Raye," protested Serena. "Who said anything about asking while we were in our normal clothes?" retorted Lita, although by that point Raye was no longer listening, being engaged in a glaring contest with Serena. "I'm not sure that's wise," commented Amy. "If he's not on our side we could be walking into a trap." "I don't think so," countered Mina. "How would he know we were coming? Besides, if we timed it to surprise him right when he came home, I don't think he would have a chance to do anything." "Well, I'm glad that's settled," interjected Serena. "Now we can get on to other stuff, like where we should go tommorow since Juuban will be closed. And come to think of it, tommorow is Darien's day off, too!" At that comment, everyone facefaulted. * * * * * * * * * "Well, it would appear that you were at least partially correct, cripple," commented Cabelite as the screen went black. "This Star Ranger you seem to fear did not do well against my youma at all. If that silly Sailor Moon hadn't interfered, he would be history now. And if he hadn't interfered, my youma could have taken out Sailor Moon." "And this is all you see in that tape, general?" Inquired Tinkerer with scorn in his voice. "Yes. All that we need to do now is find a way to attack both of them at once, so they can't help each other." Tinkerer sighed. 'An entire dimension from which to find a cats-paw and I get an idiot.' "Then let me spell it out for you. Based on how quickly the attack was detected, at least one, possibly more, of our enemies is associated with that school. If we want to operate undisturbed, we attack during times when that school is in session. And when we are ready to eliminate them, we attack them there before they know what is happening." "And what do you propose we do for our attack? If they are working together, one or the other seems capable of defeating anything we have thrown at them so far." Tinkerer glared at the Negaverse general. "I do have a thought as to that fact. I've noticed that technology and magic don't mix well, but it is possible. Ergo, we take one of your strongest youma, and augment him with technology. Sailor Moon's magic should be countered by the technology and the Star Ranger should be helpless against the youma's magic based powers." Cabelite considered this plan for a moment, obviously unconvinced. "Would you rather attack them the way we are, until we are defeated piecemeal? Where is your grand plan to accomplish what your ex-queen couldn't then?" goaded Tinkerer. After a long moment, Cabelite gave a nod of agreement. "For a cripple, your idea still has merit. How long will it take to implement it?" "A month minimum, possibly more. Since the two don't readily mix I can't give you a more accurate estimate. I need you to keep our enemies distracted until then. And we will still need energy. Remember what we learned. The best times to attack are while they will be in school, and preferably nowhere near their school as well." * * * * * * * * * Patricia Haruna's heart stopped for the tiniest moment at the sight of Micheal in a tuxedo, as it brought back memories of being attacked. Then she admitted to herself that he looked quite elegant in it. From the way he was fidgeting, it appeared Micheal feel more foolish than elegant. "Well, its nice to see that I'm not going to be overdressed," he commented with a smile as he openly admired her. Patricia was wearing a low cut velvet burgundy dress with thin shoulder straps. At her ears were emerald teardrops and a string of pearls about her neck. The dress itself was cut on the bias, and helped to accentuate her lovely figure. "I take it we are not going to the local sushi bar then, ne?" he concluded, a line that got him that sour look she usually saved for poor students and a smack from her clutch purse. Micheal was able to salvage the situation by offering her his arm for the walk down to the car. "I'm rather pleasantly surprised, Micheal. I must admit that I was a little worried that YOU would be underdressed," she commented as Micheal helped her into his car. "I definitely didn't expect you to show up in a tuxedo." Micheal grinned as he trotted around to the other side and climbed in. "I can't take any of the credit. It was my next door neighbors suggestion. I think he was trying to have a touch of fun with me too. I wound up calling all over town looking for a place who's tuxedos included cape, top hat, and cane." He started the car, and had to wait for a moment before pulling out since his car was pointed the wrong way, a deliberate choice since he wanted Patricia to be able to get in the passenger side, but the driver's controls were on the wrong side of the car for Japan. "I must admit it would be easier if you didn't have this huge american car tonight. Its not exactly going to be easy getting in and out of this monstrosity. What is it with you Americans and big cars?" Micheal grinned at that one. "There is an American saying that the only difference between the men and the boys is the size of our toys. Actually, I had a different reason though. There have been times I'll be going places where there aren't any roads. This Hummvee can handle just about any terrain I throw at it. Although it helps if I know where I'm going." Patricia smiled and gave him an address in a very upscale district of Tokyo. "Its owned by a friend of mine from college, otherwise we could never have gotten a table. I've never really had a chance to go there before." Micheal managed to conceal the shudder he felt well enough that Patricia didn't notice it. * * * * * * * * * Micheal looked at the menu and sighed. There were no prices listed on the menu, which in his experience translated into 'If you have to ask, you can't afford it!' He just hoped that whoever it was that had given him that American Express Platinum card didn't have a stroke when they saw the bill for this. Still, He expected that he could convince whoever it was that had brought him here that it was a legitimate expense, since this meal was sort of a bribe to find out just what was the real state of affairs in the Juuban district. Regardless of if he wound up paying for the dinner himself later, the way Patricia was dressed was worth the cost. For all of his dislike of formal wear, he was glad he had taken Darien's advice. Quite a few of the other patrons were wearing tuxedos, even if he was the only one that had the whole bit with cape, hat, and cane. It reminded him a bit of the ritzy nightclubs of the thirties and forties, actually. The tables were arranged in a horseshoe around a dance floor, and he could see band members beginning to file in and warm up for their first set. White and Ivory dominated the decor, but the true declaration of the opulence of the place was its size. Square footage in Tokyo was expensive, so most places were small and compact, maximizing the use of every inch. Not so here, with each table spaced far enough apart that one didn't have to rely on other peoples good manners to keep one's conversations private. The only catch was that the menu was in Kanji rather than Kana so he was having trouble reading it. He knew how to get around that particular problem, though. * * * * * * * * * Luna was busy giving Serena 'The Look.' "Let me make sure I understand this. You want me to go over and spy on Darien's next door neighbor and see if he is a spy for the Negaverse." "That's right Luna. You agreed that we needed to know if Thunders-sensei is one of our enemies, and this is the perfect chance. Even if he sees you he'd never guess a you could understand every word he says." 'Why does she choose times like this to show some maturity?' Luna wondered to herself as she facefaulted. 'Its going to be cold out on that balcony'. "And what am I supposed to do if he does notice me?" "You'll be fine Luna. He isn't going to be home for a while yet, and when he does get home, I don't think eavesdroppers are going to be on his mind. I saw him pulling out of the building as Darien and I were coming in, and Darien said Thunders-sensei told him had a big date tonight." Luna sighed as it became apparent that she wasn't going to be able to dissuade Serena from her plan. 'But there's no way I'm going to be spending all night on that balcony alone!' * * * * * * * * * Artemis shivered and snuggled up closer to Luna. "Explain to me again why we are sitting out here on a hard cold balcony instead of sleeping on a nice warm bed?" "I'm here to see if I can learn anything about this Thunders person. Your here because I'm not going to sit out in the cold alone." "So you just wanted me along for my hot body," Artemis deadpanned, "are you sure you don't want me to light your fire as well?" At that comment Luna facefaulted and smacked him. * * * * * * * * * Luna awoke to the sound of a door closing, and chided herself for falling asleep. She gently nudged Artemis awake as their quarry came into view. "Any new messages while I was out?" Micheal inquired as he carefully undressed, hanging up the rented tuxedo. Luna gave Artemis a puzzled look at that question, as he was obviously alone. The look became one of surprise when he received an answer. "One phone message, logging in to check e-mail." Then the voice became that of Patricia Haruna's, as Luna realized that whatever was doing the talking was now playing back the phone message. "Its Patricia, and I just wanted to call and say thanks again for the wonderful evening," Patricia's message said. "I'm sorry about the check, I didn't think it was going to be that expensive. And I'd kind of like to do it again sometime soon, only maybe someplace not as expensive. In case you've lost the number, its 555-9390". While the message played, Micheal ducked into the bedroom. The mysterious voice changed back to its original rich baritone and continued. "One new e-mail message, no return address, same bounce path as the last one. Timestamp indicates it was delivered about 5 minutes ago. Message reads as follows; Don't you think 20,000 yen for a dinner date is a bit excessive? Please try and moderate charges to your expense account. PS, If your having trouble with the key to that file, think about it. I know you'll figure it out." At this point Micheal returned from the bedroom wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. He hung up the tuxedo trousers and carefully placed the components back in the garment bag for return to the tuxedo rental shop. As he hung it up he suddenly slapped his head. "D'OH!!!! That's the password! Try 'Think about it', FRED." It was as he sat down at the computer that the two cats realized where the disembodied voice was coming from. "It's not working, Muck," the computer commented. "That's because you entered the key in Romanji, baka. Try it in English." "Bingo," the computer exalted, and suddenly text began to fill up on the computer screen. Luna jumped up on the edge of the balcony, and was just able to make out some of the text over Michael's shoulder. What she saw did nothing for her composure. 'Over a thousand years ago, the solar system was at peace. By harnessing magic, humanity was able to colonize all the planets of the Sol system. It was a time of great prosperity, and had endured for over a thousand years. It was known as the Silver Millennium, and the heart of it all was the Moon Kingdom...' ---------------------- Coming Soon: Chapter 6: Revelations