One light show later, Minako found herself clad in a rather… revealing orange and white leotard/seifuku combo, with matching opera gloves and heels, earrings, and a tiara. “Gah! What the heck is this?”
“It’s the uniform you’re going to be wearing while you fight the forces of darkness,” Artemis replied. “It allows you to use magic much more effectively than you could without it.”
“But how am I supposed to protect my identity? I look exactly the same!”
Artemis’ answer nearly floored her: “Why would you need to protect your identity?”
“Why would I need to? Because all superheroes need to protect their real identities, that’s why! You know, so they can actually have a private life?”
This gave the Mau pause; after all, as a high-profile member of the aristocracy, Minako’s Silver Millennium counterpart never really had a private life. Furthermore, everyone knew who the Senshi were, which made any sort of glamour or disguise magic rather superfluous. “Um, yes, well, I suppose you’ll just have to be really, really careful then, won’t you?”
“What?!”
And I suppose you’ve got a better idea?
I thought as much. Artemis turned his attention back to his charge. “Look, that’s just a… temporary solution, until I can think of something better. If you want, I think I have a mask you can use…” The Mau did another complex backflip to bring said mask out of his dimensional pocket.
Minako put on the thin red mask and looked in the compact’s mirror. She wasn’t exactly impressed. “This is supposed to be a disguise? It doesn’t even obscure any part of my face!”
“Well, it’s the best I can do—look, a lot of bad things are about to happen and someone is going to have to fight for what’s right. And before you ask, no, the police and the military won’t be able to handle it, because they aren’t equipped to handle supernatural enemies.”
“So you’re saying that I’m the only person who can fight them?”
“Until we find the Princess, yes.”
“The Princess?”
“You aren’t the only person from the Silver Millennium who was reincarnated in the present time; the Senshi of many of the other planets are here too, as is the Crown Princess of the Solar System, whose magical abilities were (and presumably still are) enormous, thanks to the Ginzuishou.”
“Silver Millennium? Ginzuishou?”
“Yes… the last time that the Sailor Senshi were active was more or less 20,000 years ago during a period known as the Silver Millennium. During that time, all nine planets and most of their satellites were inhabited, and part of a Federation that spread across the Solar System, all ruled by the Queen of Earth’s Moon. While I’d be lying if I implied that it was some sort of utopia, society was technologically advanced and there was a very high standard of living among the common people—to say nothing of the aristocracy, of which you were a member.”
“I was?”
“Yes, you were the Crown Princess of Venus.”
Minako suddenly got a hopeful look in her eyes. “Does that make me the Senshi of Love?”
Artemis wasn’t sure where this idea came from. As he understood it, the Roman goddess Venus domain was specifically erotic love—or was that some other goddess. Anyway, in the Silver Millennium the planet Venus wasn’t exactly associated with romance—it was more an attitude of “What happens on Venus, stays on Venus” hedonism that made the planet one of the Solar System’s top tourist attractions. But now that he thought about it, he might have heard someone referring to Sailor Venus as the Senshi of Love….
“Maybe….”
“Awesome!” As the Senshi of Love, it should be child’s play to get myself a boyfriend!
“But you’d have to accept the mantle of Sailor Venus before you can take on any other titles,” the Mau pointed out.
“Oh. Well, I suppose if the world really needs me…”
“And it does,” Artemis answered.
“…then I guess I’ll have to do what I can to help.”
The white cat smiled. “Thank you, Venus.”
“You’re welcome. So, can I get out of this ridiculous costume now?”
“I suppose… but I’ll need to fill you in on some more information later—having all this stuff isn’t any good if you don’t know how to use it, after all.”
“Yeah, yeah—now how do I get back to normal?”
“Just hold out your pen and concentrate on an image of yourself as ‘Minako Tendo,’ as opposed to ‘Sailor Venus.’”
Returning to normal didn’t seem nearly as flashy—but that didn’t matter, as Minako’s original clothing had returned and the Sailor uniform went who-knew-where, leaving just the pen and the compact behind. Artemis, for his part, managed to dump the hot water on himself—a pretty amazing feat for someone without opposable thumbs—and changed back into Ranma.
“So, what Artemis said about you….”
Ranma sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s true. An’ lemme tell ya, it’s been real… interestin’ havin’ him in my head for almost a decade.”
“Does that sailor outfit really have to show that much leg? I mean, there are a lot of perverts out there who would go nuts over a girl in an outfit like that.”
“Uh, well, Artemis says it’s traditional….”
Minako sighed as she headed back towards the Tendo compound’s main building. “At least I don’t have to explain it to my family yet.”
It was a good five minutes later that Nabiki was finally able to shake off her surprise and emerge from her hiding place. She’d followed Ranma out here to make sure that everything was on the up and up—but what she’d heard and seen had been almost unbelievable. My baby sister… a superhero? Not to mention Ranma, whose cat curse actually managed to be even weirder than she originally thought it was—and that said quite a bit about its overall strangeness.
Nabiki had always been the kind of person who liked to stay on top of any situation, but this… she couldn’t even begin to know how to respond to this. Still, she knew that whatever she did, it couldn’t be the result of rashness. After all, her little sister’s wellbeing was at stake. So, after several deep breaths, she managed to come up with the beginnings of a course of action.
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(Posted Tue, 05 Sep 2006 04:39)
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