Sailor Moon Millenium - The Rise of the Stellar Scouts Chapter # 6 - Fencing Friend Or Foe : Kasumi's Replacement - Created April 24th, 2000 By K.W. Isenor (sailor_sun_@hotmail.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A light knock could be heard at Jon's bedroom door, the small six-year-old lay there in his bed, the blankets all wrapped around his body closely. "Who is it?" He asked in reply to the knock. The door slowly opened and Jessica's head peeked around. "Can I come in?" Opening the door more as she took a step into the room. The little boy smiled and nodded his head. Jessica entered the room; she walked over and sat beside her brother. "So how are you feeling today? Still a bit tired?" She asked as she placed her hand to her brother's forehead, "You don't have a fever. That is a good sign." "I'm feeling a lot better, all thanks to Sailor Sun! She is my hero, and my favorite Sailor Scout!" The little boy sat up, his face glowing all over. "I can't believe that they are here too, you can expect them in Japan, but here in Canada! That is too weird!" The little boy got up from under his covers, he was moving around so hyper and happy. "I don't think you should be jumping around on your bed in your condition, after all you did get attacked by a really scary monster!" Jessica tried to get her brother to sit back down. "Well that monster wasn't too scary after Sailor Sun turned her into a pile of dust! She is so strong and beautiful!" The boy finally sat down and looked at Jessica. "Aren't you a little young for her?" Jessica and Jon turned to the door, Mrs.' Walker entered the room, in her hand she had two bowls of ice cream. "Your six, and I'm sure she is in her mid teens!" Mrs. Walker said teasingly. "I didn't mean it like that mom." His cheeks going red in embarrassment. Jessica and her mother smiled. "I didn't really!" Jon stood up for his dignity that he still had left. "I know dear, I was just pulling your leg, now sit down and you can have some ice cream." Mrs. Walker looked down at her son. Jon's eyes lit up once he saw the two bowls of ice cream in his mother's hands. "Are those both for me?" He asked hopefully as he quickly sat down and crawled under the covers. "No Jon." His mother handed him a bowl and ruffled his hair. "One is for you and the other is for your sister, after all she has been in your room almost all day, making sure that you are feeling okay." Mrs. Walker turned to face for daughter. "And I'm sure that she could have found something to do with this day off, after all you did get the day off due to that attack yesterday Jessica." "I don't know, I was just worried." Jessica turned to her brother. 'And besides when they mess with the family, they will get theirs in the end.' Jessica thought to herself. "Here." Mrs. Walker handed the other bowl of ice cream to her daughter. "Make sure your brother doesn't eat it too fast, I don't want him to get an ice cream headache." "I'll be up in a little bit, I have to run a bath for you soon, it will do you good, to relax." Mrs. Walker made her way to the door. "Mom, really, do you think that Jon is going to relax in the bath?" Jessica shook her head in disbelief. "You have seen all of the toys that he drags into the tub with him, I'm surprised that there is even enough room for him in there with all of those toys!" Jessica smiled as she playfully shoved her little brother. Mrs. Walker laughed as she walked out of the room. "I'll be back in later Jon, but right now I have to go and get ready for my fencing class." Jessica finished the remains of her ice cream, set the bowl on her brother's bedside table and left the room. * * * * * Emperor Valico casually walked over to the fountain, gently dipping his nail into the water, the beast appeared. "So Kasumi is gone, what a shame." The beast said with out any difference to the tone of voice, once he was fully out of the water. "Well that is too bad for Kasumi that she lived a very short time as being one of your higher ranking minions." "Kasumi was one of my best, how can you talk about her in such a poor manor? She died by the hands of that pesky Sailor Scout! I will not let her stand in my way anymore! She killed Kasumi!" Emperor Valico walked over hastily and sat down in his throne, which was no longer a pile of rocks, he had a real chair with a tall back and large arm rests. The beast looked around the room. Well I see that you have done some redecorating as I requested it looks much better now. I like it." The beast walked around inspecting all the different pieces of furniture that had been placed in the room. "Anyway I need a strong warrior, someone that doesn't take anytime in getting the job done, someone who will succeed. Someone who is not a failure like Kasumi, she was a very weak warrior!" The beast said as he came to lie on the rug by a mirror. "Kasumi wasn't weak!" Emperor Valico yelled in reply. "Tisk, tisk, yelling will not get Kasumi back, but you should at least find a member of your army that was close to Kasumi, someone that would avenge her death by killing that Sailor Sun, and get the Heart Stones!" "Yes." Emperor Valico got back his composure and turned to the mirror that hung above where the beast lay. His dark image stared back at him, his image slowly faded and appeared a man; his features couldn't be made out in the dime light on the other side of the mirror. "Come to my chamber at once!" The Emperor demanded. The male figure shook his head quickly. His image faded and the Emperor turned to face the beast, which lay at his feet. "So who are you calling forth this time, I hope they are much better then Kasumi." The beast remarked without even looking up or moving his head. Emperor Valico clenched his fists at his sides and gritted his teeth together. * * * * * Jessica ran up the stairs to where her fencing class was held, she was late. She barged in through the door; everyone turned to look in her direction. "Well I am glad that you could join us today, I was just beginning to start the lesson on recovering from the lunge." Lou stood up at the front of the class, Jessica set her bag down on the bench, took off her shoes and went and stood in line on the mats. "Alright now I may begin." Lou smiled as he looked away from Jessica out over the entire class. "There are two ways of recovering from the lunge, if you don't count falling over or standing straight up!" "Pisst." Jessica turned to face the person beside her. She looked at him questionably. "Hi my name is Jason." The boy was unfamiliar; he had a friendly smile. His hair was short and a really dark brown, his eyes were green, and they had almost what seemed to be a glow to them. "What do you want?" Jessica asked as she looked up at Lou who was demonstrating in front of the class with one of the students. "Recovering backward." Lou spoke up loudly. "Due to the nature of saber fencing, we GENERALLY recover backwards after a failed attack. If we go forwards, it is only when an opponent has recovered so far back that they have no change of a valid counterattack, or if they seem uninterested in counter-attacking even if they can! Not very likely, but beware the false action! More on that another day!" Lou did more demonstrating. "I just wanted to say hi, and that I'm new here, Lou was talking about you before, saying that you are his best student. And I was wondering if you wanted to be my partner for this class. Since I'm new and all I need someone as talented as you to teach me the ropes." Jessica turned from Jason, up to Lou. "Push backward with your right front foot. Note, that was backwards, not up!" Lou demonstrated. "Bend the back, left leg and shift your weight to it while simultaneously. Now bring your right, front foot back to the en guarde position, approx. 1 1/2 steps front the left, back foot." "Well what about it?" Jason asked. Jessica looked at the new boys smiling face. She nodded her head yes just to get him to leave her alone. "Check to assure a proper en guarde!" Now that is it for the recovering backward. So go and get yourselves a partner, only one!" Lou said as he looked at a group of girls, which usually found it hard to follow Lou's instructions. Jason grabbed Jessica arm and pulled her over to the rack, which held the sabers. He pulled two out then dragged her over to the far right side of the room. Finally he let go of her arm and walked a few feet away. "Catch!" He called out as he threw up the saber. Jessica reached up and grabbed it skillfully. "Now that all of you have managed to get a single partner." He made the word single stand out more as he looked over at the group of girls again. "Now one of you will block the other lunge causing them to recover backward." "Come on Jessica show me what you got." Jason taunted. Jessica scowled as she lunged forward, Jason and herself got into a full out fencing match. The entire class stopped to watch all of the skillful lunges and recovers. The small ting as the two sabers clashed together could be heard throughout the entire room. The match came to an end as Jessica held the tip of her saber to the nape of Jason's neck. "Had enough yet?" Jessica asked as she moved it closer. Jason breathed in deeply. "Yeah, for now." He replied. Jessica backed off. Lou walked over with much haste. "What do you two think you are doing?" Jessica and Jason looked over with worried faces; they looked at each other, then back at Lou. "You two should have been over on the main mat if you wanted to fight that much, Jessica I know that you have what it takes to have a match, but Jason, you are new here and you haven't learned everything yet!" Lou looked from Jessica then he turned to Jason and scowled angrily. "S . . . sorry sir." Jason apologized as he looked from Lou's angry face to the floor. Lou walked away to the front of the room. "Now you guys can learn to recover forward." The class set their sabers on the rack and walked over to the mat and lined up in their rows. "While keeping your right leg bent, move your left foot in and under your body. This should return you to a very low en guarde, perfect for delivering a second attack, called a remise. Do not stand up! That is all for the recover forward, now go and get a saber and a single partner and practice this." Jessica walked over to the rack and picked her favorite saber, it had a band of yellow tape around the handle she always took that saber. Jason walked up behind her. "Want to be my partner again?" Jessica turned and scowled at him. 'Okay his guy is really starting to bug me, and he won't stop flirting! Next he is going to ask if he can walk me home!' Jessica thought as she walked over to the right side of the classroom, Jason followed. "Well?" He questioned. "Yes fine, but just don't ask if you can walk me home." Jessica lunged then did the recover backward. Her and Jason then switched roles. "Alright, I won't ask if I can walk you home, but I will ask if I can eat lunch with you on Monday." Jason smiled as he did the recover forward. Jessica rolled her eyes as the switched roles again. 'I don't know how much more of this I can take before he loses his head.' Jessica thought to herself, a small smile spread across her lips. "What?" Jason asked a bit confused to the reason of Jessica sudden smile. "Was it something I said?" He looked a bit baffled as they switched roles again. * * * * * "Are you planning to attack today?" Emperor Valico asked as he looked at the male minion that stood before him. When Emperor Valico didn't get an answer from the minion, which stood before him, he questioned again. "Kurai-ki? Answer me!" The anger could be detected in his voice. "Yes Emperor Valico, I have planned an attack for today, don't worry everything is seen to." The young minion's voice was clear and almost was enchanting. "Good, I have already briefed you on your task for today, so go now and carry out your plan, and do not fail, for the outcome will not be very pleasant for you if you do fail a number of times." Emperor Valico straightened out. "Now go!" Emperor Valico waved his hand in dismissal. "Do you really think that this Kurai-ki, can really get off with getting Sailor Sun out of our hair?" The beast walked over and sat by Emperor Valico's feet. "He looks rather quiet, and maybe even passive." "Quiet yes, but passive definitely not! That boy never leaves anything unfinished, even if he does fail at first he will get back and come out on top in the end." "Very well, I will just have to sit and watch, until all of this unfolds." With those words the beast turned and slowly climbed into the water of the fountain. Emperor Valico turned to face the mirror; his cold eyes stared back. * * * * * "Jessica!" Mrs. Walker called her daughter's name from the foot of the stairs. Jessica replied from within her room. "What is it?" "Your toast is up!" Jessica emerged from her room; she rushed down the stairs to meet her mother. "I wasn't really sure what you wanted on it, so you will have to come and do that." Mrs. Walker turned towards the kitchen. "Oh do you have any homework tonight?" "Nope, well I did but I just finished my last math question a couple of minutes before you called me down." Jessica said proudly. "And I forgot to tell you that I got a really good mark on the science test I told you about." 'Which is very surprising since I just remembered about it as I lay into bed the night before.' Jessica added to herself. When Jessica entered the kitchen after her mother she was greeted by the smiling face of her little sister. "You seem rather happy tonight." Jessica said as she walked over to the counter and picked up her toast. "Sure am, today my teacher said that I'm going to be going on a class trip in the next couple of weeks sometime. I can't wait." Her smile widened. "Well that sounds like fun." Jessica spread some butter onto her toast. Jessica's mother walked over with the milk in her hands; she poured it into Hannah's cereal. It was just enough. Mrs. Walker turned to the fridge and opened it. "Oh no, that was the last of the milk, Jessica would you mind running to the store and picking me up some tonight? We will all need it for tomorrow for breakfast." "Just let me finish this and I'll run out and get you some, how much do you want? On carton or two?" Jessica took a couple of quick bites out of her honey toast. "One should be fine, I have to grocery shopping after lunch tomorrow anyway." Mrs. Walker turned to face Hannah. "As soon as you are done that you have to go right up to bed." "The little girl shook her head in agreement. "Money." Jessica held out her hand to her mother. Mrs. Walker searched around in her pocket for some loose change. She pulled out a five-dollar bill. "This should be enough, I'm sure." Mrs. Walker placed the money in her daughter's hand. "Don't be out too late." She added. Jessica nodded as she ran towards the door, grabbing her coat from the banister she opened the door and was about to step out but was stopped by her mother's voice. "Jessica, bring the dog with you, he should be walked more often. I think he is starting to put on some weight ever since we got here. And make sure you put him on a leash." Jessica got the leash out of the closet. "Come on Eclipse, here boy!" Jessica called up the stairs, the dog appeared from Jessica's room, he didn't have a very pleased look upon his face. Jessica attached the leash to Eclipse's collar. "Come on it can't be that bad." Jessica stepped out the door, pulling Eclipse behind her. The big dog went unwillingly. * * * * * "Oh come on Eclipse it can't be that bad, stop all of this pouting. I hate seeing you this way." The dog didn't change the look on his face. "But I think mom is right, you are gaining a few pounds." She added cheerfully. "Oh thank-you so much Jessica, you have done such a wonderful job at making me feel even worse." Jessica stopped, this caused Eclipse to stop, almost knocking him over. "I'm sorry, but it is either you wear this leash and deal with it, or you get caught by the pound and get taken off. Then that would cause me to pay a whole bunch of money to get you out." Jessica looked down at the dog. "Don't get me wrong I'd pay that money in a second, but I wouldn't want to see you go through all of that." The dog's mood lightened a bit. "And if you stop moping I'll buy you a treat!" Jessica said happily. "What about it?" "Even though I'm a far more sophisticated species then the common dog, and I can talk, I can't turn down a doggy treat!" A smile spread across Eclipse's face. "There, now come on, I told mom that I wouldn't be very long." Jessica stood up almost choking Eclipse. "Oh sorry boy. I'll get you an extra treat for that." 'Now I wonder if I can make it all the way there without being choked to death.' Eclipse thought to himself as he continued to be dragged along by Jessica. * * * * * "Now I think that I may have studied these humans behavior on fear long enough, now if only I can make this world a living nightmare. Most humans fear not the dark, but what might lie deep within the dark." Kurai-ki threw down the video case that he held in his hand, it feel to the ground at the movie storeowners feet. "A . . . anything else I can help you with?" The man asked, fear was all through his voice as he stared up at the creature before him. Kurai-ki thought for a moment. "Yes actually there is, tell me what your greatest fear is." A smirk spread across his face, 'Now the only thing to do is to put my theory to test.' The man stared up in horror at Kurai-ki. "My . . . my greatest fear would be heights, I have a fear with heights." The man cowered into a ball, fearing the worst from Kurai-ki. With the snap of the creatures fingers the poor man went into a dream like state, but in that dream like state Kurai-ki could control the dream, and make the store owner his puppet. The man's screams of fear filled the store. * * * * * Jessica came out of the store with a bag in her hand. Eclipse was tied up to a lamppost. "And like a promised here is a full box of treats." Eclipse's tale wagged happily. "But you can't eat them all now, I'll give you three right now and you can have the rest at home, whenever you like." Jessica reached into the box and pulled out three treats. "Here." Jessica threw the treats up into the air. Jessica laughed at the site of Eclipse catching the treat in his mouth and on his nose. Her laughed was stopped by the shrill scream of a man. "Was that what I think it was?" Jessica looked from the direction of the scream then back to Eclipse. The dog nodded his head in agreement. "Transform now Jessica! There is no time to waste, a new evil has decided to attack in Kasumi's place." Eclipse commanded. Jessica nodded and held out her Transformation brooch. "SOLARIS STAR . . . . . POWER!" Jessica then closed her eyes. The Solaris Medallion disappeared into many little orange and gold sparkles; this caused her body to shimmer the colors of the sparkles as they fell onto her body. Then her silver tiara appeared with the red jewel in the center. The jewel then emitted a blinding flash of orange light that surrounded Jessica giving her the feeling of the bright morning sun on her body. Then a swirl of orange and gold sparkles warped around her body moving upward as it spun around her body. The body suit of her uniform then appeared. And the bows came out of the heart in the center of her chest. Sparkling golden rings then went around her feet forming boots. Then more sparkling rings went around her arms forming her gloves. Soon afterward the golden sparkles went around her waist forming her skirt. At that point there was a large burst of golden sparkles that flew up into the air, when the sparkles fell to the ground Sailor Sun was then revealed fully transformed. She did her transformation pose. She stood there with one hand across her forehead and the other across her stomach with her legs together. Her long red hair then blew to the side. Sailor Sun took the leash off from Eclipse's collar. "Come on lets go!" She ran ahead, Eclipse followed happily, it was quite visible that he was much happier. When they got to where they heard the man's scream of help they found a short pudgy man holding onto the flagpole dangling over the edge of his store. He screamed for help over and over again. The man's fingers slowly began to lose their grip. "Eclipse we have to do something and fast! There is no way that I will be able to catch that pudgy man from two stores high!" Eclipse looked around, his eyes stopped in the site of the mattress in the alleyway. "Get that Sailor Sun, we can angle it right so the man will fall onto it, but if he bounces, you will then have to catch him!" Moving quickly Sailor Sun and Eclipse had managed to pull the mattress over under the man. "You can let go now!" Sailor Sun put her hand to her mouth and hollered up to the man. The man looked down and screamed, his fingers slowly lost their grip and the man came falling to the mattress below. The man landed but since he had fallen from such a high height he started to bounce up and over in the opposite direction that Sailor Sun stood facing. With some quick thinking on Sailor Sun's part she did a back flip over and caught the mans arms, it might not have been the softest fall broken, but at least the man didn't get any more then a few bruises. "So it does work!" Sailor Sun and Eclipse both looked up in the direction of the almost enchanting voice. There stood the figure of a man on the tip of the flagpole. He stepped into the light and became more visible. "I am Kurai-ki." The creature introduced himself. Sailor Sun stared at the gargoyle type of creature that stood before her. His body was dark green in color, around his waste was a black piece of cloth which resembled a loincloth. His hair was short and black, his ears came to a point at the end. His eyes glowed green. He flicked his tale behind him. "Well now that you got a good look at the creature that will destroy you later I must be off. For this is only a theory being put to test. And this is going to make my jog at destroying you and collecting the six Heart Stones much easier." Kurai-ki disappeared in a circle of leaves. * * * * * After Jessica and Eclipse had seen to the man who was still shaking with fear and went back to the place where she had dropped the leash and bag of milk with Eclipse's treats they returned home. Jessica went into the living room to find her mother and father, they were both sitting in front of the television, there was a news report, and Jessica instantly recognized the man that was being asked questions. "Mom here is your milk, the change is in the bag. I'm going to bed." Jessica set the bag by the couch and ran up the stairs; Eclipse was at her heels. She bragged into her room and turned on her television. "I was attacked by this creature that asked from anything that had to do with fear, he watched movie after movie from the horror section. He then put me in a dream like state which I was having this wonderful dream of walking through the woods, then he appeared in it and everything went dark." The man paused then continued. "Instead of the nice grass path I was following I found myself on a mountains cliff hanging on for my life. When I awoke from the dreamlike state I found myself hanging from the flagpole of my store." "And then what happened?" The news reported asked as she moved the microphone from her mouth back to the mans. "Well I was saved by Sailor Sun of course." The man smiled at the mention of his heroin's name. "She saved me from becoming a pancake out front of my own store." The man turned to face the camera. "If you're watching now Sailor Sun. I thank-you for saving my life." Jessica shut off her TV. "I feel so good inside, I saved that man's life, and all by myself." Eclipse cleared his throat. "Well with some of your help of course." Eclipse smiled then looked around the room. "So where did you put my treats?" He asked as he continued to scan the room. Jessica slid the book behind her back. Eclipse noticed and pounced on Jessica. "I want my treats!" "But you're going to get even fatter if you eat all of them now!" Jessica said as she tried to hide them better. "Oh for that you must suffer!" Eclipse jumped onto Jessica again, pinning her to the ground, Jessica could then feel Eclipse's warm tongue on her face. She giggled, as the dogs tongue tickled her face. "Alright . . . alright, you can have a couple." The dog backed off and Jessica threw the box of treats under her bed where Eclipse couldn't reach. "Now your in for it!" The dog pounced again and licked Jessica's face until she gave in and reached under he bed and gave the box of treats to Eclipse.