Alone No More: Minako's Story
by Jason C. Ulloa


Chapter 6

"Thank you!" Minako called out to the audience gathered before her. "Thanks so much, 
everyone!" She wore her Sailor V outfit, complete with mask, holding a small wireless 
microphone to her mouth.

"Sailor V! Sailor V!" the audience chanted eagerly. Out in the center of the front row, sat 
Ryoku. That spot was the closest point between her and the audience, and was easily 
considered to be the best seat in the place. Ryoku wasn't chanting like everyone else, but 
he had an eager look on his face. To her, that was just as good as seeing him chanting like 
everyone else... maybe better. After all, Ryoku had always said that he was never 
interested in idols, so his presence here was more than enough for her.

"Today, for you, I'm going to sing!" she said. "I'm an idol! I'm so happy!"

Ryoku's smile widened just a little. When she saw that, she smiled back and gave him her 
most charming wink, then laughed.

Artemis merely hung his head as he sat by the sleeping girl. 'That must be a wonderful 
dream she's having. She's laughing in her sleep.'

            **********************************************

Thunderous applause filled the air at the Dark Guys concert. "Thank you everyone!" the Dark 
Guys said as they bowed. "We'll definitely come back again!"

Minako and Hikaru left as everyone began to get up and leave. "Oh, that concert was the 
best!" Hikaru said.

"It was so cool seeing the Dark Guys live!" Minako said. "I'm so happy!"

"Aren't you tired from the concert?" Hikaru asked. "I feel faint."

"Well, you were yelling too loud, Hikaru-chan."

"What?!? You were yelling a lot louder than I was."

"Right!" Minako agreed, nodding. "I was cheering the whole time. And I feel great!"

Hikaru laughed. "You're really cheerful, Mina."

"Being an idol must be fun. I wish I could be one."

"You want to go to your house and listen to the new Dark Guys CD?" Hikaru asked.

Minako's expression brightened. "Really!? That's...." She trailed off suddenly as she 
quickly glanced around.

"What?" Hikaru asked, her expression puzzled by her friend's behavior.

"Well... I have to keep the concert secret," Minako replied. "I wasn't supposed to go...."

"Why?" Hikaru asked. "Will your mom get mad?"

"No, the mad one will be...."

"Mina!!" a familiar voice shouted at Minako.

"Huh? Did someone call you, Mina?" Hikaru asked.

Artemis glared at Minako as he stalked up to her. She quickly scooped him up and started to 
leave. "Bye, Hikaru-chan. See you at school!" She waited until she was alone before looking 
down at the white cat. "Artemis... Are to trying to make a spectacle of yourself, being a 
talking cat?"

"Exactly!" he said angrily. "You're always going off by yourself and playing around. If you 
keep acting like that, you'll never bring peace to the world.

"You should be careful with idols," Artemis cautioned. "Remember Pandora and Petite 
Pandora? All the enemies we've defeated here have been idols. Haven't you learned 
anything?!? If you want to be a soldier of justice, you should consult with me and 
investigate with Ryo-kun before you go to a concert."

"Oh, Artemis," she said dismissively. "You worry too much. The Dark Guys aren't evil. 
Besides, you know that Ryoku isn't into idols. Come on, look." She shows him a picture. 
"Aren't they cool!? These triplets are the hottest idols! Anyway, they're great. Their 
faces, their voices, all together...."

"Dark Guys...," Artemis said as he looked at the poster. "They belong to the Dark 
Agency.... The Pandora and Petite Pandora we defeated both belonged to the Dark Agency's 
idol talent."

            **********************************************

"Hey, members in the fan club get priority for buying tickets to the next Dark Guys 
concert!" a girl said to Minako.

Ryoku looked up from his book and listened. After Artemis had his little talk with Minako, 
he had asked him to keep an eye on her, should she keep sneaking off to idol concerts. 
Personally, he thought that Artemis was worrying too much, but he agreed to his request 
anyway. After all, one can never be too careful....

"Ohh...," Minako moaned. "I want to go, but I don't have any money."

"If that's the case...," Amano said. "You can listen to the concert with me!"

"Amano! What, are you a Dark Guys fan, too?"

"No, no," he replied, shaking his head. "Now, the number one requested group is the twin 
idols, Twin Dark. They're cute! Look, they're in this literary magazine, and lots of info 
is available using computers. Did you know? They're the triplet Dark Guys' younger sisters."

"Hey, they really do look alike," Minako said as she looked at the picture.

From his seat, Ryoku also glanced at the picture. 'Hmm.... Maybe Artemis is on to 
something....'

            **********************************************

"Come on," Wakagi muttered to himself. "Why do I have to cover this idol singer's concert?"

"Don't talk like that, Wakagi-senpai," an officer said.

"She's the most popular singer for karaoke," said another. "The Dark Princess is the 
salaryman's goddess!"

The idol on stage began to sing.

"Over your job,
Choose me.
Kneel to me
And down to your bones
You will receive my love."

"Ohh...," Wakagi whispered. "I'm crazy about her.... My head's spinning. I'm exhausted."

            **********************************************

In the office of the Dark Agency, a woman sat back in her chair as she took a puff from her 
cigarette. "Heh heh," she laughed softly. "For the next new idol, we've got commercials and 
a trendy drama series, followed by a movie and events. If we aim under the Dark Guys and 
Twin Dark and over the Dark Princess, we'll have every age group covered. Things are 
turning out well."

The door opened allowing one of her employers to enter. "Boss," the man said. "You have a 
call."

"Okay," she said, dismissing him. She pressed a button, lowering a clear screen. A 
silhouette appeared on the screen after it had completely lowered.

"Fluorite," the figure on the screen said, "I take it you are progressing well."

"Leave it to me, Danburite-sama," she said confidently.

"Pandora and Petite Pandora have already failed," Danburite stated. "I can't overlook that."

"I understand," Fluorite replied. "This time I am sending out many cloned copies as idols, 
to perform the brainwashing. I will soak up lots of energy, and bring about the destruction 
of the humans! Using the idol talent is the best method to brainwash people. I can soak up 
a mountain of energy and take in lots of money. After the brainwashing, they'll be slaves, 
and I can use them for anything. Then all Japan- no, the whole planet Earth will be ruled 
by us!"

            **********************************************

"It's time for school to end," Artemis said to himself as he waited patiently for Minako to 
show up. "If I don't come to meet Mina, she'll go off to fool around." He sighed tiredly. 
"At least I don't have to worry about Ryo-kun.

"A lot of ads for Dark Agency idols have popped up lately.... All these people look 
strange. They're worn out. There's no life in their faces...." He contemplated for a minute 
on all the strange events that had recently taken place. "A pattern. Mina doesn't know 
about this emergency situation!"

            **********************************************

The students began to pack up their bags as class ended. Some of them were slowly muttering 
to themselves under their breath.

"Dark.... Dark...."

"I have to hurry home to watch the Dark Guys on TV."

Ryoku glanced around him at the students, frowning to himself in concern. 'This is bad. I 
wonder if Minako-chan has noticed?'

"I need to listen to my CD...," Hikaru muttered to herself as she passed by Minako. The 
distant look in her eyes caught Minako's concern.

"Hikaru-chan?" Minako called to her friend, but Hikaru didn't hear her. As she left, a CD 
fell from her bag.

"What's with her?" Minako said worriedly to herself, kneeling down to pick up the CD. "She 
dropped this, and didn't notice. Weird." Her eyes widened as she read the label. "Th.... 
This is...! The Dark Guys new CD!! I gotta hear it!" She whirled around to face Amano. 
"Nerd! You have a good CD player. Give it to me!" She grabbed the Discman from Amano and 
began to play the CD.

"Dark.... Dark...," the singer chanted darkly. "Dark Agency...."

"Ohhh...," Minako moaned. "Yes, Dark Agency...."

"Mina!" Artemis shouted as he and Ryoku rushed to her side. "That's an enemy's brainwashing 
CD! Don't listen to it!" Artemis yanked the headphones from her ears. He starts batting at 
her face. "We have to be careful. Come on, Mina!"

"Here, Artemis," Ryoku said as he stood in front of Minako. "Let me." Artemis leaped off of 
Minako's desk and watched as Ryoku raised his arm in preparation to slap her hard across 
her face; his face set in a determined expression. Before hitting her, Ryoku's arm slowly 
lowered as he sighed ruefully.

"What are you doing?" Artemis asked. "We have to snap her out of this trance!"

"I know," he replied softly. "But, there's something that I must do first." He slowly 
kissed the tips of the first two fingers of his right hand and gently pressed them against 
Minako's left cheek. "Gomen nasai, Minako-chan," he whispered regretfully as he drew back 
his right arm and slapped her hard across her left cheek in exactly the same spot he 
touched before. 

"Itai!" Minako cried painfully. "Ryo-kun! What did you hit me for?!?"

"You're back to yourself," he said in a relieved tone.

"You fell into the enemy's trap!" Artemis scolded. "Mina, you haven't been doing your job. 
You're a soldier of justice!"

"Don't be so hard on Minako-chan, Artemis...," Ryoku began, when he was suddenly cut off by 
Minako hitting her hand on her desk.

"Artemis!!" she exclaimed heatedly. "Do you remember!? I've been doing what I can, but 
there's no reason for me to be a soldier of justice! And about the enemies! And about my 
employer!! I don't know anything! You haven't told me a thing, Artemis! And you haven't 
told Ryo-kun, either, and he's risking his life more than I am!! You've been using us 
unfairly!"

"Ohh...," Artemis growled irritably. "I can't take this anymore. Mina! Ryo-kun! Come!!" 
With that, the white cat stalked out of the room, leaving Minako and Ryoku to follow him.

            **********************************************

Minako and Ryoku follow as Artemis entered the Crown Game Center. "What!?" Minako exclaimed 
as she saw where Artemis was leading them. "What are we doing here!?"

Artemis ignored Minako as he hit a hidden button on the Sailor V game machine, causing a 
hole to open in the floor underneath her and Ryoku. They screamed as they fell through the 
hole and landed on the floor of a basement. Computers lined the walls with a large monitor 
in the center.

"Nice place you've got here," Ryoku commented. "So, where do you put the coins?" Minako 
snickered at his joke, as Artemis frowned in annoyance. "Oh. Sorry, Artemis."

"Mina! Ryoku!" a familiar female voice greeted. "I've been waiting."

"That voice...," Minako said as she recognized the voice. "Boss? Boss, this place...."

"This is the command center," Boss told them. "Since you need to train a little more as a 
soldier, Mina, I'd rather Artemis hadn't brought you here. As for Ryoku... well, I have 
something to discuss with him later."

"Boss!" Minako said, "it's all right! I wanted to know! You always give me and Ryoku 
orders. Just what is your real form? Tell us!"

"That...." Both Minako and Ryoku leaned forward eagerly. "I can't tell you yet." They 
facefaulted.

"But, Mina, about the enemies," Boss continued. "It's the dreadful plan of an organization 
called the Dark Agency. They're not human! They want to soak energy from humans, and cause 
the downfall of mankind. They're planning to conquer Earth! All the previous enemies were 
sent out from there!"

"Soak energy?!?" Minako exclaimed.

"Conquer Earth?!?" Ryoku exclaimed.

"Yes," Boss continued. "Mina, the battles you will face will only get harder from now on. 
There will come a time when you need Ryoku's help, but as he is now, he won't be able to 
help you. Mina, take out your compact and open it."

Minako did as she was asked and brought out her compact. As soon as she opened it, she 
gasped in shock. As usual, her reflection showed her in her sailor fuku and red mask - her 
reflection as Sailor V - but it was Ryoku's reflection that made her gasp.

The compact had the ability to show anyone's true form. Ryoku's reflection showed him in an 
almost similar-looking sailor fuku, except that his was colored silver and he wore trousers 
instead of the skirt that she wore. On his face was a silver eye mask and his forehead 
displayed a strange looking symbol: a crescent moon combined with the symbol of Earth, 
superimposed over a pair of crossed swords.

"What are you looking at, Minako-ch...," Ryoku asked and trailed off when he saw his 
reflection. "Nan da yo??? Sore wa... watashi?"

"Ryoku," Artemis said as he padded over to him, carrying some kind of silver-colored stick 
in his mouth. "Here. This is for you."

"What's this?" he asked, picking up the stick. As he picked it up, a sense of familiarity 
washed over him. Suddenly, he thrust the stick forward, causing a blade to appear from the 
end of the stick.

"Nani yo?!?" Minako exclaimed in shock. "How'd you...?"

"Don't know," he replied. "I just told it to come out... mentally." He grimaced slightly. 
"And it did." He turned to look at Artemis. "What is this?"

"Like Mina, you also have the ability to transform, Ryoku," Boss told him. "This Star Sword 
will allow you to transform, just like Mina's pen. Just as Mina was born with the powers of 
the planet Venus, you were born with the powers of Earth."

"Codename: Masked Knight," Artemis added. "Partner to Sailor V."

"Partner?" Ryoku repeated questioningly as he glanced over at Minako.

"Partner," she agreed as she smiled and nodded. They both clasped hands as a symbol of 
their new partnership.

"Now, Mina and Ryoku! Take action! Go fight, to foil the Dark Agency's plot!"

Ryoku glanced at his sword, causing it to withdraw back into the stick. He and Minako both 
shared a glance for a short period of time, then nodded. "Understood, Boss!" they exclaimed 
in complete unison.

            **********************************************

Minako, Ryoku and Artemis stood outside the Dark Agency Dream Idol Fair. Ryoku was studying 
a poster on the wall outside.

"A day ticket is ¥10,000!!" Ryoku exclaimed incredulously.

"Ten thousand yen?!?" Minako repeated in shock. "I don't believe it! No way I could afford 
that!"

"The same goes for me," he agreed. "So, how should we go about getting in, Minako-chan?"

"Well...," she said as she lifted her compact, grinning eagerly, "Crescent Moon Power 
Transform! Change us into army foot soldiers!"

Both Minako and Ryoku appeared in camouflage suits, holding rifles. Minako kicked open the 
door and ran inside. "Charge!" she shouted loudly.

Both Ryoku and Artemis glanced after Minako and sweatdropped. "Well, at least she's in the 
right mindset... I suppose," Ryoku said uncertainly as he followed her in.

Artemis sighed and shook his head. "It's a good thing she's got Ryoku as a partner," he 
muttered. "It'll take a little more time until she's a full soldier of justice."

            **********************************************

The crowd cheered as the Dark Guys finished their song. "Thank you!" they said, bowing to 
the audience. "And now, our sisters! The Twin Dark!"

The spotlight shined on a smiling girl with long, blond hair and a grinning boy with a 
long, light brown ponytail.

"You're not the Twin Dark!" one of the Dark Guys shouted. "Who are you!? She's cute!"

"Who's that?" Fluorite demanded. "You!"

"You use idols!" the girl said. "Boys, girls, regardless of age!"

"You brainwash people!" the boy said. "Such greed! The taxation office won't allow that!"

"We are an army foot soldier and a newcomer beautiful idol," the girl continued. "The real 
us are...." She paused as she held up her pen and the boy held up a stick from which a 
blade emerged. "Moon Power Transform!"

"Star Sword Power Transform!"

They quickly changed. "Codename: Sailor V," the girl announced. "The sailor-suited 
beautiful soldier of justice, I am Sailor Venus!"

"Codename: Masked Knight," the boy announced. "The sailor-suited handsome soldier of 
justice, I am Sailor Knight!"

Sailor V knocked the door open with her boomerang. "Everyone!" she shouted. "Take shelter!"

"You're interrupting me, Sailor V! Masked Knight!" Fluorite growled. "Put an end to them!"

The Dark Agency's idols started to go after them. Masked Knight kicked a Dark Guy away. "We 
don't have any business with you," he stated. "Avalanche Barrage!" He blasted them with a 
barrage of stone spikes.

"My pretty clones!" Fluorite yelled angrily. "I'll stop this!"

"Crescent Boomerang!" Sailor V yelled and flung her boomerang at her. The boomerang hit 
her, but she didn't stop.

"Ohhh! She's still attacking! I've got a bad feeling...."

"Let me have a go," Masked Knight said. "Earth Thrust!" he shouted, flinging a huge stone 
spike at her. The spike slammed hard into her, but didn't stop her either. "No good," he 
muttered frustratedly. "She's tough."

Sailor V lifted her compact. "Venus Power! Love Crescent Shower! Pour down rain!" Rain 
began to fall, melting Fluorite to the ground.

"Mina!" Artemis says. "You did it!"

"Great job, Venus," Masked Knight said with a grin.

"You did pretty good, too, Knight," Sailor V replied, returning his grin with an impish 
smile of her own. "For your first time, that is." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. She merely laughed in reply.

"Hehe! I guess I showed I can do it, for once," she said smugly. "Ne, Artemis?"

"No," he told her. "Those weren't the real enemies! There should be a more powerful enemy."

"I see," Masked Knight said contemplatively as he glanced at where Fluorite once stood.

"I understand," Sailor V replied. "We will practice more and more, for the day we defeat 
that powerful enemy. Right, Ryo-kun?"

"Right, Minako-chan."

            **********************************************

Minako and Ryoku passed two girls looking at a poster as she leaves the Crown Game Center.

"Wow! Look, Naru-chan! The Sailor V game!" said the one with two long, blonde ponytails and 
a pair of odangos on her head.

'Yes,' Minako thought as she shared a knowing smile with Ryoku. 'For that day.'

            **********************************************

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective owners. Sailor Moon belongs 
to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs me, so I would appreciate it very much if you would ask for permission before 
posting it anywhere else. Thank you.

The Question and all stories included are:
Copyright © July 6, 2001 Jason C. Ulloa. 
Manga translation by Alex Glover © 1996
All Rights Reserved.