Sailor Moon Expanded : The Next Generation presents

Version 2.0
by Mark Latus

1. Wasted Teens Land

3004 AD

     Sailors V and Arcturus moved as quietly as possible through the forest.  
A low mist covered the ground while bare, gnarled trees dripping with fungus 
towered above them.  A myriad of cries of unknown origin echoed around them 
along with the bubbling of an unseen marsh.  It was, they both had to agree, 
exactly the sort of place you'd expect to find a monster.
     Sailor V whispered, "Now, soon as we spot the genie I'll give the speech 
while you cover me."
     Her partner sighed.  "Look will you forget the speech!  Soon as we spot 
it we should blast it."
     "Sailor V always introduces herself!"
     "Who too?  There's no one here but us and the genie and it's not going 
to care who we are ahhhh!"  Sailor V rolled her eyes as her friend stumbled 
and grabbed a tree for support.
     "That's the third time!  You're so clumsy!"
     "Hey, you try walking in these heels!" 
     "Why won't you wear flats?  Forget image, how are you gonna fight if you 
can't even stand up?"
     "I'll be fine!"  Arcturus was almost as stubborn as V.
     "Yeah, right."  They began squabbling, forgetting why they'd been trying
to keep quiet.  They were abruptly reminded when they emerged into a clearing 
and almost walked into their prey.
     The hulking white creature took a few moments to notice them.  Then it 
roared in defiance.  Arcturus took a few steps to the side so they could 
bracket the genie in a crossfire and cursed as V stood her ground and began a 
speech.  "Creature of evil the hour of retribution has ... holy shit!"  
     It didn't have the brains to comprehend her words and fight or flight 
reaction had yielded fight.  
     "Sailor V Beam!"  
     It was a pretty good recovery as she targeted the charging monster.  
Unfortunately her aim wasn't equal to her reaction time and the energy bolt
tore past it without contact.  Before she could even curse it was before her 
and punching a clawed hand into her chest.  Sailor V was still staring at her 
chest wound in disbelief as the creature tore free to deeal with the second 
intruder.
     Sailor Arcturus spun to blast the creature, the plasma sphere armed and 
ready.  Clear shot, it was history except ...!  Sailor V realized she was dead 
and fell down clearing the line of fire.  Arcturus raised her hands taking a 
step forward in her eagerness.  Her heel went out under her and her ankle 
twisted.  Still sealed within its containment field the sphere bounced away 
into the undergrowth.  Arcturus fell forward with a cry and felt her ankle 
catch fire.  She clutched at it and hissed in pain.  Damn! What a time to 
sprain ...  
     She suddenly realized she'd let the pain distract her as the shadow fell 
over her.  Arcturus looked up in time to see the claws arcing down in a 
decapitating strike.  She gave a shriek and raised her arms to shield herself 
automatically.  When next she opened her eyes it was to see her headless body 
lying on the ground a short distance away.  The creature threw back its head 
and howled in triumph as her blood dripped from its talons.  Forceshield!  
She should have raised her forceshield!  Or tried to generate an energy bat 
to block its arm.  She felt like a real idiot.
     A rose punched into the ground stem first directly in her line of sight.  
She looked up and to her right to see the figure in a tuxedo standing on a 
branch a few metres up.  "The flower of a girl's youth should not be wasted 
upon such a vile visage.  They should seek love and the shelter of strong arms 
not the bloody clash of battle.  Face your true adversary monster for Tuxedo 
Mask shall vanquish ..."  He took in the sight of the two deceased senshi 
having been too busy setting up his entrance to follow the brief fight.  "Ah!  
T'would appear my timing was less opportune than I believed!"
     The Genie took no notice of him.  Its job was done so it shimmered out of 
existence.  A pleasant female voice announced, "This combat simulation has 
concluded.  You have both been killed by a level one GENerIc Enemy.  Your 
combat rating is ...", a fractional pause for assessment, "..pathetic."
     Kodachi Aino got to her feet, the yellow "Not Suitable For Children" 
banner vanishing from her chest along with the simulated wound it had covered.  
"No way that was a level one!  And what are you doing here?"  
     Tuxedo Mask dropped down to the ground and looked down on his sister
with his usual imperial distain.  "I have arrived to protect my love for
such is my destiny.  Fair Sylvite you should leave such graceless 
sports to those like my sister whom fate has blessed with athletic prowess
to offset her lack of wits."  Kodachi took a moment to work this out then   
glared at her brother.  Unconsciously her right hand started glowing.
     "Alan, I've said it many times before but I'll say it again.  I'm not 
your girlfriend!  Why can't you ever understand that?"  Sylvite sat up and 
started massaging her aching ankle.  She noticed her simulated headless 
body blink out along with the yellow censor panel that had covered the 
neck stump.  She ignored the psychoplasm rose Alan offered and wondered 
what she'd done to deserve this.  Years ago her mother had warned her that 
physically developing at a much faster pace than her contemporaries would 
bring problems but she'd figured that meant from boys her own age.  She had
been unprepared for the swarm of older boys who found her combination of
beauty and naivety irresistible.  Over the past few years this had 
resulted in a definite cynicism towards the male gender.  Alan was more 
honest and honourable in his intentions than most of them which was the 
sole reason she had never pounded him.  
     Actually that wasn't quite true, there were other reasons.  From birth
her parents had taught that most other children and indeed most adults were 
fragile by comparison and she must not to abuse her innate abilities.  Of late      
she had found herself beset by boys too thick to pick up on any less subtle
rejection but she had decided abuse meant permanent harm.  With the result   
that there was a sizeable percentage of boys at Sakurada Haruna Memorial 
Junior High showing up with bruises.  How the rumour she'd date any boy who
could defeat her had got started she had no idea.  But despite publicly 
denying it several times she still had to keep battling her way into school.
While she was heartily sick of it she actually found those idiots preferable 
to the creeps who tried to take advantage of her youth and inexperience. 
Besides there was a certain satisfaction in having an excuse to pound boys
which was why she had never made a formal complaint to the school board.
     Alan was the only one of her would be suitors to approach openly and 
without guile.  She had also looked up to him as a sort of older brother in    
her childhood and retained a certain measure of affection for him.  On the
negative side he had appointed himself her protector when she was more than
capable of taking care of herself.  Good grief, she had a lot more power than 
him being pure youma instead of one of the near human Ainos.  This whole
Tuxedo Mask image got on her nerves.  She didn't need him or any other boy  
to take care of her.  Kodi was all the help she needed ... okay admittedly
they had just screwed up big time in the simulation but that was just 
inexperience.  Even so she didn't want or need help from Alan or any other 
boy.  Why couldn't he get the message and leave her alone? 
     Currently he was ignoring the "I don't want your damn help!" glare she 
was giving him and look solicitous again.  Alan gestured at her aching ankle
as she kept rubbing it..
     "Would you like me too ..."
     "No, it'll be fine in a few minutes."  She sighed, one more try at using
reason.  "Look Alan I realise you mean well and I did like you a lot when I 
was younger but that was over with a long time ago.  There's plenty of girls 
around who'd consider you a great catch.  Why don't you find yourself a girl 
your own age?  Like one of the twins or Hematite or whoever else you hang 
around with?"  
     He blinked  "Hematite?  While she is beauteous in form and mind she
is my cousin ..."
     "So am I!"
     Alan gave her a patronizing smile.  "Our fathers our cousins through
their mothers thus our blood relationship is most tenuous.  It is no  
impediment to a true meeting of our hearts.  But even though Hematite were 
unrelated to me I would choose you over her ...
     "Alan you're seven years older than me and don't give me that 'full 
blooded youma girls grow up faster' bit again!  Mom may have but Aunt Ti took 
her time and so will I!  Forget how I look and try to remember I'm only 
fourteen years old!"  He didn't seem to get it so she kept going.  "Look the 
Tuxedo Mask bit may have working on Sailor Moon despite the age difference 
but it doesn't do a thing for me!"  
     Alan answered her with his, 'Alas, my love rejects me once more' look.  
Which meant all she'd done was give him romantic sorrow. Once again he'd be 
down for a little while then redouble his determation to win her heart.  Sure 
that true love would win as it always did here in Crystal Tokyo.  Sylvite 
sighed.  Mom had warned her that in his younger days Uncle Cal had been an 
idiot when it came to women.  Looked like he'd passed that on to Alan along 
with the shaping ability.  As for Alan he wasn't quite done yet.  He was 
unhappy but hardly about to take it out on her.  However his sister was 
another matter.  He gestured to theplace their adversary had stood.
     "You were incorrect sister, that truly was a level one genie.  It 
reacted slowly and did not sense either of you until both were almost standing 
before it.  Had you been paying attention either of you could have vanquished 
it with ease before it attacked.  Instead both of you died pointlessly and 
unpleasantly.  Kodak, its claws drove through your right breast shredding the 
upper lobe of your right lung before puncturing the superior vena cava and 
your aorta.  While the penetration was too high to strike the heart the 
combination of severed major blood vessels and a sucking chest would was more 
that sufficient to ...."
     "Big brother, shut up.  What's important is we screwed up and got killed.  
Fine, we know that!  Who cares about all the gory details?  And stop calling 
me Kodak!"  
     "The fool hides her face from unpleasant truths.  Or to put it terms 
you'll understand you're nowhere near ready to face anything real.  It would 
rend my heart to see my true love injured ..."  Syl rolled her eyes but he 
didn't notice.  "If you cannot be dissuaded from this foolish course then I 
will teach you ..."
     "Forget it big brother!"  Kodachi was emphatic.  "I admit we need 
training but you can't teach us what we need.  We don't just want to know how 
to fight properly.  We need to learn to do it with the right style.  So we can 
be top rank lesser senshi, worthy successors who nobody doubts deserve to use 
the names we've revived.  To do that we're going to need someone with the 
right experience.  Lucky I know just the person!"
     Syl shook her head, "Forget it Kodi-chan.  Mom'll never go for it.  She's 
never been that keen on the whole lesser senshi thing.  That's why she stopped 
appearing as Sailor Arcturus.  She just used the image when she had to!"
     "Actually I was thinking of Aunt Ti."
     Aunt Ti?  Sylvite thought about that.  Yeah, that made a lot of sense.
"Kodi-chan, you're a genius!  Who better than Sailor Polaris, the original
lesser senshi?"
     Alan looked thoughtful.  "Rare as it is sister you have had a reasonable
idea.  I suggest you treasure this moment for you may not experience such a
time again."
     "Alan if you really want to impress me you'll stop putting Kodi down 
all the time."
     "I will be happy to do so should my sister promise to do the reverse."
     Kodachi snorted, "Give up insulting you?  It'll be a cold day in hell."
     "That would appear to settle the matter."
     Sylvite sighed.  "I guess.  Glad I'm an only child the way you two 
carry on."   Alan surprised her by saying, "Siblings are not without their 
good points but remain a mixed blessing at best."  Looking reluctant Kodachi
nodded in agreement.
     Sylvite glanced at the watch embedded in her armband.  "We've still got 
the place for another ten minutes.  You want to ..."
     Kodi thought for a second then shook her head.  "No, by the time we get
another simulation running it'll be time to clear out.  And it'd be a cheat
to run the old one again because we'd know what to expect so there's no real
competition.  Better clear out."  Kodachi sighed, "As we didn't last long
enough to work up a sweat there's not much point in hitting the showers so we
might as well change right back."
     "Right."  Sylvite rested her hand on the armband then hesitated and 
looked at Alan.  He nodded in agreement and said, "So as not to disturb
decorum I shall depart while you change.  I am sure I will enjoy your 
company another time."  He did a quick bow to Sylvite, "Your servant ...", 
while just glancing at Kodachi.  "Sister."  With that he stepped towards 
a patch of forest which suddenly irised open to reveal a corridor.  It
closed behind him restoring the illusion.
     Sylvite touched her wristband while Kodachi's finger's brushed her mask. 
Neither felt in the mood for any ceremony about untransforming.  Kodachi's
Sailor V costume shifted back to a pink blouse and skirt combination that
she felt complimented her hair nicely.  In place of a mask she was now wearing
a pair of large round eyeglasses.  Her eyesight was fine the glasses being 
just a fashion accessory.  With magi-sci medical technology no one in Crystal 
Tokyo had eye problems unless they insisted on avoiding treatment.  However
there was currently a craze for wearing plain glass frames among teenage 
girls and Kodachi had hopped on the bandwagon.  More for the in-look than to  
attract boys which was the reason most wore them.  Besides it gave her a neat
place to conceal her costume transmuter.  The whole fad was supposed to have 
been triggered by the usual source.  Pictures of the senshi as teenagers.  
This time a picture of Mercury wearing glasses had circulated.  Someone had
said, "Kawaii!" and it had snowballed from there.
     Sylvite's costume vanished and her spiked wristband became a watch.
She was wearing her usual loose clothing, an oversized shirt topping a pair
of baggy pants.  She tried not to look overly relieved at getting out of the 
costume.  God, that thing was tight!  She wasn't used to that skintight 
stuff after years of wearing the exact opposite.    
     Kodachi noticed her friend's concealed expression but didn't comment.
It would take Syl a while to get adapt to the rather extreme wardrobe 
change.  She'd taken to oversized clothing a couple of years earlier as her
figure developed far faster than her personality.  Growing sick of the 
attention this gained her from their school's male populace she had started 
dressing to conceal her lush shape.  Which Kodachi thought was a shame as Syl 
had a great body ... which was just stating the facts nothing more than that!  
Sylvite was a very attractive young woman ... that is teenager with the body 
of a sexy young woman ... that was undeniable and it didn't mean anything more 
than  that.  A simple aesthetic judgement nothing more.  Before too long she'd 
fill out herself then they could compare their figures and ... nothing wrong
with that, the girls at school did it all the time.  Perfectly natural.
     "Kodi, you okay?"
     Kodachi pulled herself out of the reverie.  "Huh, uhm fine.  Why?"
     "You're looking kind of flushed."
     "I am ... must be Alan, he always gets me worked up.  You're lucky you
don't have a brother!"
     "The way you two squabble I guess you're right."  Sylvite frowned, "Say,
how does Alan keep turning up wherever I am?  I'm the one who can teleport
and Dad swears he's shown no signs of learning space folding or anything like
that.  It's not his field of study anyway."  In fact over at CTU Alan was 
majoring in English Literature with a minor in healing magic.  During his free
time he was continuing to study at a dojo founded by one of his elder 
brothers that specialized in fighting styles to enhance one's paranormal
capabilities.  
     Because of Crystal Tokyo's rules the dojo was located in outside Crystal
Tokyo.  Family legend had it that Daisuke Aino had been forced to learn to 
fight once he left CT because of his extremely bishouen appearance.  Whatever 
the story he had been initially taught by their father how to utilize his
innate abilities then used several decades of his Aino clan lifespan to travel 
the world studying varied martial arts.  Which he had synthesised together 
with his own paranormal capabilities to found the Parasynthesis School of 
Martial Arts.  It was renowned as an excellent training center for those  
possessing powers and learning to use and control them.  But because of the
time requirements and the formal structure most considering the champion 
lifestyle were still self taught lacking the necessary patience.  Which was 
fine with Daisuke who considered the school's mission more of a pathway to 
self awareness rather than teaching people the best way to whack each 
other.  This was why both Sylvite and Kodachi had considered trying the PSMA 
but rejected the idea.  They wanted to become Sailor Senshi now!  Not in ten 
years time.  
     During the war Daisuke (who was nearing his 500th birthday) while not
officially part of the Crystal Tokyo forces had been effective as a guerilla 
in occupied Japan.  Also during the war Calcite had promised young Alan that 
if he wanted to learn to fight so he could help defend Crystal Tokyo then he 
would let him study under Daisuke when he was old enough.  After war had ended 
Alan hadn't forgotten that and Calcite had kept his word, enrolling him at 8.  
Minako had been a little concerned but hadn't interfered.  Though this hadn't
been from objections to Alan learning to fight and defend himself.  Rather it 
was due to a lingering sense of wrongness over their older son's lifestyle.
Having grown up in a Kingdom where centuries of fear and deference to their
leaders had lead to acceptance of everything they did Calcite had never really
understood the problem.  Though he considered it ironic that there were any 
ways in which his former homeland was more tolerant than some terrestrial 
societies.  
     As for Alan, Daisuke considered his younger brother a good student on
the physical side of the training regime but more than a little obsessive over
certain things.  His younger sister's assessment was much harsher.  Or as
she put it, "Why don't you ever tell Alan to go ... to leave you alone?"
She sounded hesitant as she added, "You're not ... you're not starting to buy
into his lunacy are you?"
     "Come on Kodi!  We both know I'm sick of boys bothering me.  Testosterone
driven idiots!  No wonder none of the real Senshi were teenage boys.  Destiny 
knew better!  Give one of those idiots real power and they'd blow up the world 
showing off what they could do!"  Getting her temper under control she added, 
"But there's no need for you to follow my example.  Just because I avoid boys 
doesn't mean you have to."  Kodachi snorted.
     "After seeing the way they act around you do you expect me to be inspired
to date them?  You're right, they're all jerks!  Let's talk about something 
pleasant."
     "Okay.  So how about we call Aunt Ti and see if we can meet with her for
a hour or so this evening to discuss things.  I'll bet it'll take us a bit of 
time to talk her into this."
      Kodachi looked a little ill at ease, "Uhm, actually I'm kinda busy this 
evening ... you remember the Japanese history paper that's due tomorrow?"
      "The one on the 19th century they assigned us last week?"  Kodi nodded 
and Sylvite remembered the teacher commenting that she was picking a time 
before everyone's parents were born just to be fair.  "Sure, I did it the  
night they assigned it.  I thought you said ..."
      "Yeah, well I sort of exaggerated when I said I was working on it ..."
      "How much have you done?"
      "Well ... this is only a rough guess but I would say approximately ...
none."  Sylvite rolled her eyes.
      "Honestly Kodi, you are hopeless."
      "Guess I take after Mom.  Unfortunately I don't have a talking cat to 
keep me on track."
      "Which is why it's up to me to look after you.  Hold on."  With that  
Sylvite wrapped her arms around Kodachi and the latter closed her eyes.  
She found the warp point and the pair vanished from the palace only to 
rematerialise in front of the main branch of the Crystal Tokyo library.
Contrary to twentieth century expectations these institutions had not gone the  
way of the dodo.  While it was true that its entire contents could be 
condensed to a few molecular encoded discs Sailor Mercury had lead the move 
to avoid this.  She had felt that if every scrap of information in Crystal 
Tokyo was potentially available from home no one would bother to access it.  
But if you had to work for it the curious would come and some would learn to 
enjoy broadening their intellectual horizons.  Besides which she enjoyed the 
ambiance of libraries and felt Crystal Tokyo wouldn't be a true utopia without
them.
     Sylvite let go of Kodachi.  "Okay the Sylvite Express has just arrived.
You can open your eyes now."  She noticed a tourist staring at them but the 
locals were already going about their business again.  The citizens of Crystal    
Tokyo were blase about many things that would have passed for miracles 
anywhere else.  
     Kodachi wasn't too surprised to find herself here.  Nor to hear Sylvite
say, "Okay let's forget ice cream for now and get you started.  Picked a topic  
yet?"
     "Well ..."
     "No.  Okay that's where we start.  Let's go and ..."  Sylvite kept 
chattering on as she took Kodachi's arm and lead her into the library.  Not
really hearing but nodding at what seemed the appropriate places Kodachi 
followed her friend.  She was lucky Sylvite was such a good friend.  Always 
willing to help her out.  Not that she did it deliberately, she was just 
disorganized.  Just like her own mother had been in her school days.
     At least that was what she tried to tell herself but part of her mind  
was sneering over how convenient it was to have an excuse to spend more time
Sylvite.  The rest was reliving the memory of their recent embrace.

End of part 1

Next: A typical school morning for Sylvite and a run in with the only boy in 
      Crystal Tokyo she can stand



On to Part 2