"Time to wake up," Mai said.
Blinking a bit, Usagi saw that it was still dark out. "What time is it?"
"Three o'clock in the morning. We have an hour to eat and get ready, then we have to go to school."
"Three o'clock?" Usagi repeated with shock and horror. "School doesn't start until eight!"
"I know. But it is close to a four hour run to get to any of our schools. Hikari is already up and getting breakfast prepared."
"Y-you h-have to b-be joking," Usagi whispered in shock.
Mai smiled a bit. "For you, yes. For Hikari and myself, no. We do have to run to school. The reason I woke you up so early is because Bob wants to talk to you before we leave. Bob intends to drive you to your house and talk to your parents."
"How do you do it? A four hour run to school?"
Mai laughed a bit and replied, "Remember what I said that everyone in thist district knows I am Makendo? Well the fact is that on my first day at my school, I had to fight a lot of monsters as Makendo. Turned out the principal was actually some sort of demon that had taken over the school. Not only did I have to fight the monsters, I had to do on the run to school. I also had to fight the principal and banish him back to wherever he came from. Hmmm. I was late that day. I showed up around noon."
Usagi just stared in disbelief.
"I'll let you get dressed. Don't go back to sleep. There is a bucket filled with ice water outside the door with your name on it," Mai said.
Usagi watched Mai leave and shuddered. "How can anybody be that cheerful this early in the morning?"
Usagi debated going back to sleep, but the words about the bucket of ice water echoed through her mind. She quickly got dressed and followed the smell of cooking. As she left the room, she saw a metal bucket filled with water and ice cubes. Written on the side of the bucket was the name 'Usagi'.
"She wasn't joking about that," Usagi whispered.
She entered a western style kitchen with a picnic table and two benches made out of bamboo, instead of mats and a low table. She saw that Mai and Bob were alredy sitting at the table and Hikari was busy in the kitchen. Usagi blinked as she saw the pile of various food products already on the table.
"That's a lot of food. How could Hikari make all this by herself?"
Hikari replied cheerfully, "I didn't. Mai and Bob helped out as well. I'm just getting the last of it ready. Eat up."
Usagi shook her head and decided to do just that. As she ate, she noticed that both Hikari and Bob were both cheeful and alert.
Bob looked at Usagi and said, "I've finished analyzing your weapon. You can have it back now."
Bob handed Usagi the sceptre and continued. "Not only was I able to add subspace features to both Mai and Hikari's transformation items, they now have the ability to store a few more things in subspace. Hikari doesn't really need anything more than to store her sword, but she has it anyway. I've already added a few shinai into Mai's new subspace pocket."
Usagi asked, "Er? Doesn't she have a magical shinai?"
Mai shook her head. "No. My transformation into Makendo infuses an ordinary shinai with mystical energy and tranforms it. So, I am not reliant upon any one shinai. If one gets broken, I can just grab another one."
Bob said, "Unfortunatley, there was a side effect when I altered your item Mai. It changed back."
Mai rolled her eyes upwards. "At least I can store the stautette inside subspace. I won't have people making elephant jokes that way."
"Wh-what? What are you talinkg about?" Usagi asked.
Mai answered, "My talisman was originally a gold elephant. After having a full day of elephant jokes, I had Bob alter its shape into a golden luck cat. That knocked the jokes down quite a bit.
"Oh?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
After the meal, Usagi watched as Mai and Hikari dashed off towards their respective schools. She was still reeling a bit from being awoken at so early in the morning and the fact that her two new friends were actually doing a four hour run to their school.
Walking out of the dojo, Bob said, "They are in great health because of that run. Come on inside, we need to talk."
Usagi numbly nodded and followed Bob. The two of them entered the kitchen and sat back down at the picnic table.
Bob said, "Princess Serenity. The heir to the moon kingdom. It must be hard to be a reincarnated soul with two sets of memories."
Usagi nodded. "I'm supposed to be the leader of everyone, but...."
Bob held up a hand for silence. "Tell me Usagi, what does Usagi want?"
"Huh?"
Bob stared at the young girl and rested his chin on his fists. "There was no Sailor Moon in the Silver Millenium. Princess Serenity was graceful, kind, and had no strength of will. When she saw that her lover was killed, she comitted suicide. Usagi on the other hand has been betrayed by some of the very people that are charged with protecting her life, saw the person she was in love with get killed, and still plowed on through. Princess Serenity is dead. It's time for her wants and desires to die as well. I ask you again, what does Usagi want?"
Usagi paled when she heard that in her previous life, she had comitted suicide. "H-how did..."
"I am an integalactic cop, Usagi. I do have reports and history files I can look at," Bob replied. "Let me put it to you in another way. After your memories of being Serenity woke up, you let your, and I mean Usagi's, desires fade away. You are living for what Princess Serenity wanted. That future you saw is only a possible future and what Serenity wants. I don't think it is what Usagi wants."
"But Chibi-Usa...," Usagi objected.
"At the time, a very heavy possibility given all the variables. The Time-gate you described acts like a dam, guiding the time flow in certain directions. When Chibi-Usa and the Black Moon family invaded the past, they set a course for the future to head in that direction."
Usagi flinched. "You mean to say, that Chibi-usa and the others are responsible for the Great Freeze that's to occur?"
Bob nodded. "Yes. However, it can be fought. Before Chibi-usa dropped in on you, what did you want?"
Usagi looked away. "I just wanted to be a normal girl and be like my mom. Just being a housewife. Until Chibi-usa, I thought I would never rule. My kingdom was dead. Now, I don't know."
"When you find out what Usagi really wants, you'll be ready to tackle the future."
Usagi just nodded and then got a quizzical expression on her face. "Why does Mai....?"
Bob smiled a bit. "Being turned into a magical girl is one reason. Turning her younger sister was another, plus what I did when I made Hikari Makendo 2."
"What did you do?"
"Oh, nothing important."
Bob mentally flashbacked to shortly before handing Hikari her tranformation sword.
=====================================================================
Looking at the five foot ball of rope, Bob said, "Look, I know that you don't want your sister to fight as a magical girl. But, it is important."
With only her head exposed, Mai glared out from the ball of rope, "Look! It's too dangerous, and it's not worth it!"
Bob shrugged and tied a gag around Mai's mouth. "It's for her own good."
"MRRRRPPHHH! MFFFPHH!! RRRRPHH!!"
====================================================================
Back in the present.
'Myabe, I shouldn't have done that,' Bob thought. 'After she got free, Mai knocked the both Hikari and myself out with a single blow from her shinai, and she wasn't transformed.'
Bob shook the past from his head and focused on the present. "There is another reason I wanted to talk to you."
Usagi blinked and asked, "What is it?"
"I know some powerful people in industry and the like. I had your father promoted and transfered to his new job. Because of that, you'll have to move."
Usagi stared in shock. "B-but all my friends,..."
"Your own protection Usagi. You'll be attending the same school as Mai."
Usagi looked green. "I won't be doing that run, will I?"
Bob laughed. "You are not trained in martial arts to black belt levels. Those two are."
A more serious expression crossed his face. "You will need some martial arts training though. Go back to sleep. You won't be attending school today, and you're going to need your strength to help your family move."
Usagi nodded numbly.
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(Posted Sat, 02 Oct 2004 19:14)
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