Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Lost in the Sea of Serenity: An Altered Destiny

By: Moonlit_Angel

Wanna contact me?: silverserenity0905@yahoo.com

Chapter One

“Come *on* Ami-chan!! It's not as bad as it looks!!”

A group of eleven friends looked toward the roller coaster that the tall brunette was pointing towards. Said roller coaster had dozens of different series of twists, turns, leaps, bounds, and rolls that would make a mortician nauseous.

The blue-haired beauty, identified as Mizuno Ami, looked nervously at the ride. She paled visibly as the after effects of riding such a ride danced around in her head. It involved her, a bucket, and eventually a hammer for when she recovered to beat her brunette friend senseless for making such a suggestion.

To take her mind off of the roller coaster for a moment, Ami glanced around at the tons of other people populating the amusement park that day. It was unusually busy, probably because of the gorgeous weather that Tokyo had been having that week. The weather was one of the main reasons that the group of friends had made the decision to come to the park. Well, that and the fact that there weren't any monsters around to fight lately.

Ami smiled slightly, despite herself, as she watched all of the park's patrons going about enjoying themselves, having a nice, normal time. Riding rides, and playing games, without a care in the world. It was so nice to look around at her friends and see how well they fit in with the other normal citizens of Tokyo, when they themselves are anything but `normal'.

Ami, as well as eight others of the eleven people in their group were the world-renowned defenders of love and justice, the Sailor Senshi, along with their ever-present knight in shining armor, Tuxedo Kamen. This group of warriors had faced countless evils and strenuous hardships during the past couple of years, but good has always triumphed over evil, making them victorious in the end.

To emphasize this point, the planetary warriors had not too long ago faced off against their most formidable opponent, Galaxia, and saved the world yet again. Now, a year later, the Senshi have had a well-deserved time of peace, albeit the scattered occurrences of low ranking youmas on the evil scale. If you forgot that little tad-bit, the Senshi were having a damn good time enjoying their normal lives.

Well, as normal as it gets for the defenders of love and justice.

“Usagi-chan, it will never cease to amaze me at how fast you can inhale six ice cream sundaes in one sitting,” a stunning blond haired young woman, Aino Minako to be exact, remarked to her equally beautiful meatball haired friend, who was at the moment happily licking the remnants of hot fudge off of her lips. The raven haired young woman standing next to the meatball headed Tsukino Usagi rolled her eyes as Usagi gave off a content sigh and massaged her now full stomach. “Yeah, and it'll never cease to amaze me that she hasn't needed a gastronomical bypass by now,” she mused aloud. Usagi answered her friend's snideness with a medium burp. The priestess, also known as Hino Rei, wrinkled her nose in disgust and added, “Or that some farm hasn't come searching for a wayward pig.”

“Oh come off it, Rei,” Usagi retorted at the fiery priestess. “I can't help it if they continue to make ice cream so sinfully delicious!” She sighed blissfully. Amped up for the argument that was sure to follow, Rei defiantly crossed her arms over her chest. “The sin is in having to watch you inhale everything around you. One of these days, one of us is sure to get caught in the crossfire of that black hole you call a mouth.” Usagi bristled with anger as she stalked toward her temperamental friend. The rest of the group with the pair groaned inwardly. They were way too accustomed to spur of the moment arguments between the two, and frankly didn't care anymore to stop it as quickly as they would have before.

“Well at least I can use my natural abilities to attract people towards me, unlike you who has to knock them out with a club and drag them back to your cave ugg-woman!”

“Ha! Is that all you've got? The way you eat, if we let you loose on the world's food supply we'd probably end up barren like back in the days of the cavemen!”

“You know what Rei? I think I read about you in history class when we were talking about the world's greatest creations. You were the one who invented fire with your dragon breath right?”

“What? You read? Somebody buy the devil a sweater because I think hell just froze over!”

By this time, Rei and Usagi were glaring daggers at each other. Their group of friends began looking between themselves, asking the unspoken question as to who would eventually break this up. The two seemed to be on one of their proverbial rolls. Of course, this silent exchange went unnoticed by the two foes as they continued to argue.

Usagi stepped even closer to Rei as her eyes narrowed in anger. “REI-CHAN! I am sick and tired of you always picking on me and my eating habits!”

Rei shot ice daggers right back at Usagi. “Oh, but I can never get tired of the constant ammunition that you give me.”

Rei stopped glaring long enough to look speculatively at Usagi. “You know,” she mused, “I'd hate to see the point where your eating habits disable you from fitting into your fuku. Just what the world needs. Evil villains beware, lest you fall to the fury of Sumo Moon!!”

That one struck a nerve in Usagi. All of the anger dissipated from her features, and was replaced by a teary eyed sadness. Ignoring Rei, she quickly turned to her beloved prince and protector, Chiba Mamoru.

Images of her as a fuku wearing sumo wrestler waddled around in her head as she wailed out to him. The same image floated around in Minako's head, and as a result, her shoulders shook in not-so-well repressed laughter.

“MAMO-CHAN!” Usagi cried out as she rushed into him, nearly crushing him in her embrace. “Will I really get that fat and not be able to do anything but waddle around and flatten youma with my body??” Mamoru inwardly sighed as he held his near hysterical love. As always, Rei's and Usagi's argument ended in a fatal blow to Usagi's emotions with him, the ever-vigilant protector, left to mend the wounds.

“Of course not Usa-ko,” Mamoru said in the most reassuring voice he could muster to hide the strain on his nerves. “You know that Rei-chan was only teasing. I doubt that you could ever eat that much to get that big.” Mamoru sent a searing gaze at Rei over his princess's head.

“Right, Rei?” he asked in a neutral, yet cold tone. Rei, for her part simply folded her arms across her chest again, and was all ready to answer in the negative, but a quick glare from Mamoru changed those plans. With a disgruntled huff, the Shinto priestess mumbled a lackluster, “Yeah. Whatever.”

Still not completely satisfied, Usagi looked up at her prince, who quickly tore his gaze from Rei and gazed back at Usagi with a feigned look of innocence. “You'd still love me if I were fat, wouldn't you Mamo-chan?” The faintest hint of a smirk crossed Mamoru's features as he held his future Queen tighter in his embrace. He absolutely loved the way her face turned up in that little pout when she asked him questions about their love. It was another one of her little quirks that made Usagi so irresistible to him.

“Of course, Usa-ko,” he replied warmly. “I'd love you even if you were 300 pounds.” He hugged her again. “That just means there's more of you to love.” That seemed to satisfy Usagi as she hugged Mamoru tighter, and missed the gagging gestures that Rei made behind her back. Not one to let Rei keep the last word, Usagi whirled around and stuck her tongue out at Rei, who responded the same in turn.

Furuhata Motoki, the owner of the Crown Arcade and Mamoru's best friend broke the tension as he burst out laughing at the pair. His girlfriend Reika who was standing next to him started laughing as well. Though Motoki had been a witness to countless arguments between the two friends, they never ceased to amuse him, and he let that be known as much as he could.

“All right, now that that's over, how about we get back to those rides?!” Kino Makoto, the tall, athletic, brunette Amazon standing behind Ami suggested. As the group collectively agreed, Ami paled visibly at Makoto's suggestion.

“Ne, Ami-chan?” Makoto quipped, noticing Ami's sullen expression. “You didn't think you were gonna get out of it that easy did you?” With that said, she turned and all but marched to the offending roller coaster that invariably sealed Ami's doom.

Following right behind Makoto, Ten'oh Haruka, with her life mate Kei'ou Michiru draped on her arm, looked back at Ami. “Come on Ami!” she prodded. “Since when has a Senshi been afraid of something like a mere roller coaster?”

Startled by Haruka's frank reference to the Senshi in such a public place, Ami couldn't think of a snappy comment. Not that she would have won against Haruka's mouth anyway.

Resigned, Ami fell into step behind all the others, all the while deviating even more horrible ways to beat Makoto senseless. This time, the visions included a two by four, an even bigger bucket, and a good alibi just in case Makoto decided to go unconscious.

Ami sighed. Normally, she wouldn't, but today, she wished whole-heartedly that a rouge Youma would show up and distract the group of friends long enough to make them forget about the stupid roller coaster.

Little did Ami know of how soon her prayers were going to be answered.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Not too far from where the group of super heroes were gathered, stood Juuban Park: the most popular and beautiful park in the Juuban district . . . and the illegitimate target for almost all demonic based attacks. It was incredible to see that most of the park still stood tall and proud even amidst all the carnage that took place within its flowered gates.

One section of the park was not as lucky as the rest to not be left without the scars of a supernatural battle. It stood as a memorial to the lives lost; demons and human alike. Permanently blocked off by the infamous yellow police tape, no one dared to enter the area, not even the rowdiest bunch of elementary school pranksters.

Inexplicitly, nothing else ever seemed to grow in that area. It was as if a strange, evil, presence was embedded into the very soil of the park, disallowing anything new, bright, or beautiful to emerge. This memorial was the perfect place for evil to rise once again.

If anyone had been walking past the site at the time, they would have seen a strange dark cloud hovering over the area. Being that the area was prone to supernatural behavior, this was not out of the norm for the people of Tokyo. They had gotten used to the frequent monster attacks and the Senshi who always saved the day.

The residential wildlife in the memorial section of the park quickly scattered, issuing a cry of warning to all other creatures in the area: something was not right. Seemingly churning inside on itself, the dark cloud seemed to expand to cover the expanse of the demonic graveyard. As the cloud touched on various remnants of the area, everything from blackened trees to piles of dusts that used to be various youmas, it steadily began to turn blacker, and the demonic aura seemed to grow. Just as suddenly as the cloud appeared, it was sucked into the ground by some unseen vacuum. The area quickly turned back to its gloomy, silent state, except for the distinct sound of a maniacal laugh fading on the wind.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Premonition. Precognition. A sense of foreboding. All are characteristic of a person with spiritual prowess. Any omen encased in evil would not go unnoticed by this particular seer, no matter the size. The foreboding sense can come as a quick flash, or a more shocking yet painful vision, in any way that the Powers that Be can get their point across. Luckily for a certain priestess-in-training, this time it was a quick flash, but too prominent to ignore.

Rei stopped in her tracks as a familiar sense of foreboding came over her. Turning immediately to her left, in the direction of Juuban Park, she tried to tune her ability to sense exactly how evil the presence was, and exactly where it was coming from.

Her actions were not missed by Minako as she turned away giggling from the pair in front of her. The group had finally made it to the line for the roller coaster-The Terminator it was so efficiently called-and found that the attendant happened to be a very attractive female…much to Haruka's delight. As soon as she laid eyes on her, she got a lecherous glint in her eye that was not missed by Michiru. Michiru hastily removed the glint in her life mate's eye with a swift elbow to the ribs, much to the amusement of their friends, and chagrin to the sandy-haired blonde. When Minako saw the familiar distress on her raven-haired friend's face, her joy quickly began to recede. [Uh oh,] Minako thought grimly. [I know THAT look…]

“Is everything alright Rei?” Minako asked, slightly worried. She knew that Rei only looked that way when she sensed evil near by, and it had been so long since their last battle, even with rouge youma. She didn't want their newly gained freedom to end, and she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know Rei's answer.

For her part, Rei didn't know if she wanted to know the answer herself. If the answer was no and it was an evil presence, that would mean that the Senshi would have to jump back into action. If it were yes that everything was alright, then that would mean she would be lying about an evil presence not being near by, and the evil would probably grow making their lives even more difficult than they had to be. Rei sighed softly. She hated paradoxes. Nonetheless, she went for the honest approach.

“I'm fine,” Rei responded, albeit somewhat distractedly. “I just thought that I felt an evil presence nearby.”

“Evil presence?” Makoto asked, overhearing the conversation. Everyone else turned to face Rei with inquiring eyes, their backs to the ride's patrons in front of them. Rei blushed slightly at everyone's sudden undivided attention. Lowering her voice, she reaffirmed Makoto's question. “Yeah,” she said. “It was really quick, but really strong when it was there.” She jerked her head in the direction of the park. “I'm thinking it's coming from over there.”

Minako looked in the direction that Rei indicated.

“The cotton candy machine?” she asked perplexed.

Rei facefaulted.

“No, Minako,” Rei said through gritted teeth as she got back to her feet.

“I think she meant the park, Mina-chan,” Ami said, grateful if not a bit guilty that she wished for the distraction. Rei sent Ami a grateful, yet surprised look.

“How do you figure it's the park Ami?” Makoto asked. With an uncharacteristic shrug, Ami answered, “Where else?”

“You don't think it's another one of those monsters do you?” Reika asked softly. The youma subject was a bit touchy for her, especially since she had turned into one briefly as a carrier of one of the Rainbow Crystals. Having something that ugly haunt your dreams at night was not fun. Luckily, she had her Motoki there to quell her fears.

“Kami-sama I hope so!” Haruka cried quietly. “I've been needing to release some-“ she glanced at Michiru wearily, “pent up tension.” Michiru casually ignored her partner as she nonchalantly blew at her nails. The others in the group didn't even WANT to know what that was about.

During the conversation, Usagi was peering quizzically at Rei from beside Mamoru. She most of all didn't want to go into another battle, especially since they were having so much fun today. She knew that whenever Rei got this way, some new enemy was approaching. If it were just a rouge youma, Ami's Mercury computer would beep, alerting them to it's whereabouts. If this was a new threat, she wanted to be sure, because she would be damn sure to give them hell if it was!

“Are you sure that it's a youma Rei??” Usagi questioned. Rei's head snapped toward her friend, and she looked quite flustered before exclaiming in a loud whisper in order not to alarm the public, “N-no, I don't know if it's a youma or not. But it's damn sure evil!” Crossing her arms defiantly, she glared at Usagi. “Besides, have I ever been wrong before?”

Usagi opened her mouth to shoot a retort, but stopped as she saw Rei's death glare. The girl was downright scary when she was defiant. Usagi settled for mumbling something under her breath, which created a smug grin on Rei's face.

“…Um” came a soft reply from the smallest member of their group. Haruka and Michiru looked down in front of them at their little foster daughter, Hotaru. “I think I agree with Usagi.” She replied once she had everyone's attention.

Rei's smug expression fell from her face, and she gaped at the little firefly in surprise . . .as did everyone else.

“You agree with Usagi??!” Rei, Makoto, and Minako exclaimed.

“You agree with ME??!!” Usagi exclaimed at the same time. Well, this was a first!

Never one to miss a good opportunity, Rei snidely remarked, “Well, there's a first time for everything.” Usagi responded by sticking her tongue out at the fire goddess.

Ignoring them, Mamoru looked towards Hotaru. “What do you mean, Hotaru?” he asked. “Well,” Hotaru began, scratching at the back of her leg with her foot, “Normally, when Rei senses something evil, Michiru-mama and I would sense it as well.”

“She's right,” Michiru said speculatively. “Nice observation, Firefly,” Haruka beamed with pride down at the youngest Senshi. Hotaru smiled shyly in response.

“Well, since Hotaru and Michiru didn't sense anything, does that mean that Rei was off her mark?” Makoto asked, absently twirling a lock of her long, brown hair around her finger. Rei's eyes narrowed as she shot daggers at Makoto's back. “No, it doesn't,” she hissed. [Does it?] She secretly asked herself. [Great,] she thought, chagrined. [After all the battles her and the others have been through, her psychic abilities chose now to start acting wacko?]

“Maybe the presence was so fleeting that Hotaru and Michiru missed it,” Ami said, ever the reasonable one. “Or maybe the evil is more closely in tune with Rei's abilities.”

“Yeah!” Rei added in, glad that someone was on her side. Her smile quickly faded though. The evil that she sensed still nagged at the back of her mind.

“Maybe Michiru should scry with her mirror to see if she can pick up anything?” Ami suggested. “Good idea,” Mamoru said. “But I don't think she should do it here,” he said, gesturing to the line of people ahead of them. The others nodded their agreement.

“Hey, shouldn't you try too Hotaru?” Usagi asked, turning toward the little Senshi of Destruction. Usagi's eyebrows knitted together as she received no answer.

“Hotaru?”

The group collectively looked upon the Senshi of Saturn, as she seemingly stared at nothing with a dazed look in her eyes. Haruka and Michiru looked at her worriedly. The dazed look in Hotaru's violet eyes disappeared as quickly as it came. Blinking rapidly, she focused in on her friends.

“Ok, eighty-six what I said earlier.” Hotaru said, her voice belaying wisdom past her years. “I do sense evil coming from-“ She raised her finger to point in the direction of the park, when suddenly, screaming could be heard in that direction, grabbing the attention of all in the park.

“That way,” Hotaru finished lamely. The girls and Mamoru all got a determined look in their eyes. “Well everyone,” Usagi announced, accepting her role as Princess of the Moon and authoritarian, “Looks like play time is over,”

“Why whatever do you mean, Usagi?” Makoto said with a malicious glint in her eyes. “The fun's just beginning!”

“I'm with her!” Haruka said, with an equally malicious look. Michiru just sent her a sideways glance, and rolled her eyes.

“Hey guys,” Motoki said, pulling Reika next to him. “You all go on and handle your business. We'll stay here, for obvious reasons. Come find us when you get back!” With that, the couple waved and was off.

As the group of super heroes turned to begin heading to the park, Minako slapped Ami hard on the back. The blue haired girl spluttered wildly as she struggled to regain the breath that was knocked out of her. She sent an angry glare towards Minako, who only smiled brightly. “Well, Ami-chan,” she said. “It looks like you got outta riding the roller coaster after all!!” Ami blinked as the realization sunk in, then began to smile slightly . . .before Makoto burst her bubble yet again.

“No she didn't!” Makoto called from the front of the pack. “We are going to ride that ride! Just think of it as our reward when we dust this creep!”

Ami's head dropped to her chest, as Minako shrugged helplessly. Ami sighed as she hurried alongside the group.

[Why me?]