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Chapter 4



The next day was Wednesday, and Usagi gathered up all the scouts, (save for Rei, who went to another school,) and pulled them aside before the day actually started. She told them she had to tell them something vital at lunch, and told them to meet on the roof. All through the morning classes, Usagi did all she could to contain things, but she could not help looking at Tom. Setsuna wanted to say something to her for all her looking, but she and Hotaru could not help but look at Tom from time to time as well. They could not believe this person was a long lost scout. He did have charisma, and he had some talents, but he was nonetheless unassuming, and completely unaware of his past. In a sense, they figured that it would have been best to let sleeping dogs lie and not say anything if it were not for the precognitions of both Hotaru and Michiru that spelled out both future fighting and a future help to that situation. Tom, on the other hand, felt a bit uneasy that day. It was like any other normal day at Department of Defense District School, except for the uniform and language difference. What made him feel uneasy was the way he felt like he was being stared at. He did not know if that was the case, for every time he looked in the direction of what he thought was staring, those that were staring were able to look away without him seeing it.



At lunch, Tom sat in the classroom while the scouts, along with Setsuna and Hotaru, went to the roof and found a quiet corner to sit and talk. "Okay, Usagi," probed Makoto, "What is so important that you dragged us all up here."

"Please, do not be cross with the Princess," said Setsuna, "If she had not, Iwould have."

"Now we know it's important," said Minako, "So, what's the news?"

"Luna has discovered that there was another scout that everyone had forgotten about,"answered Usagi, "She said that this scout was not a 'she' but a 'he'."

"Do we know him," asked Ami.

"He was probably the last one we would have suspected," responded Setsuna.

"So, what are you suggesting?" asked Makoto.

"Because of certain things I have foreseen," interjected Hotaru, "We must tell him. If it were any other way, it would be something that should just remain left alone. However, there is another fear. Because he is around us, it may dredge up old memories, and it may drive him insane if he was not to have answers for what he was remembering."

Minako was frustrated because no one had yet said who this person was. She finally said, "Okay: stop beating around the bush and tell us who he is!"

However, Makoto began to look like she was having an epiphany, and seemed to mouth his name as Usagi said, "Thomas Reichmann."

Then, Makoto said silently, "Marine Ceres...Gunny!"

"Marine Ceres?" echoed Minako in a question, "What are you talking about Mako-chan?"

Makoto's heart started to race as her eyes went wide, saying, "I think Iremember! Oh my goodness, I think I remember!"

Setsuna said, "Be careful, and try to go slow. Do not try to bring them up all at once."

Makoto began to concentrate, and said, "I seem to remember there was a corps of marine scouts to aid the Sailor Scouts in whatever they needed to do, especially if it was greater than us. I also seem to remember that there were other Sailor Scouts, but that we nine, not counting the cats, were the last of the scouts. I seem to remember that he was the last of his crew."

"What else do you remember about him?" asked Setsuna.

"I seem to remember they called Him 'Gunny' because his rank was gunnery sergeant. He was the non commissioned officer of his company's reconnaissance platoon," Makoto responded slowly, "But, that's all I remember."

"The reason why you seem to remember him the most," informed Setsuna, "was the fact that, when the whole corps was called upon for service, you were their commander."

Now Makoto looked at her shocked, and sputtered, "I did not know I had so much responsibility!"

"You were always the one with the most discipline, so you were the natural choice," informed Setsuna, "There were three divisions in the corps. There was the Greek, the Trojan, and the Belt Divisions. Each one corresponded to the major clusters of asteroids that mark the edge of the inner planets. The Greek and Trojan Asteroids sit in the same orbit as the planet Jupiter, and sit to either side of it. The belt comes near that orbit. He is named for the largest asteroid-Ceres, now named a Pluton by astronomers. It's too big to really be an asteroid, but too small to be a planet. The Belt Division was the largest because they had more territory to cover. Gunny Ceres was one of the best the corps had to offer, so it was no wonder why he was the last marine to survive the ill fated attack of Queen Beryl on the Moon Kingdom. In fact, you may not yet remember, but you pulled him out of the fray into the castle before it was too late."

Everyone sat silent, and then Minako asked, "So, how do we break this to him?"

"We're doing the sleepover at Rei's on Friday, right?" stated Usagi, "We can invite him. The other scouts will be there, as well as Luna and Artemis."

"We didn't tell him it was a sleepover," reminded Ami, "Are you sure he would come if we told him that?"

"Give me a chance," said Usagi, "I think I can talk him into it."

With that, they all went back to class.



For the rest of the day, Tom now felt like there were several eyes watching him, and because of that, he could not wait for the bell to ring. He just wanted to shake that uncomfortable feeling that he had. However, as he dropped his board and prepared to catch the bus back to the base, Usagi, (who was now with Mamoru,) called him over. He popped a 180 and skated to her. "What's up, Doc?" joked Tom.

Usagi, who was familiar enough with American cartoons, just gave him asarcastic laugh. She then said, "You remember the get together we mentioned for Friday?"

"Sure do," Tom answered, "I hope it's still on."

"Well..." said Usagi and she hesitated a bit, and then said, "I forgot to mention that it was sort of a sleepover thing."

Tom turned his head and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Wouldn't that be breaking some kind of ancient unwritten law of teenage boys not infiltrating the world of the teenage girl...or something?" asked Tom.

"Oh, not at all!" she responded gleefully, "Besides, you're outnumbered!"

She looked at him slyly, but with a smile, "Try anything funny and we'll pummel you!"

Tom laughed, and was set at ease, and he said, "Okay, I'll be ready! How do Iget there?"

"Actually, sensei is going to be there, so she said she could give you a ride,"Usagi answered, and Mamoru then said, "Speaking of which, can we give you aride home?"

"Skitchin!" Tom said, "That'll give me some time at the skate park on base. Cool!"

As they were getting into the car, Mamoru whispered, "What is this all about?"

"I'll tell you later," she whispered back. Unfortunately, he was going to find out in a different way.



While all this was taking place, Sark had his five lieutenants alert, and he had been briefing them about the Earth, and all that had changed. He also said that they were primed for manipulation and use, and all they had to do was offer the right incentives, and they could gain the control of a few powerful countries. Once done, they could empower those people, and conquer the world. Of course, that would call for converting the armies into Youma first, but that was not a big deal. Sark looked to his most trusted man, Ragna, and told him,"The place they call China is too tightly controlled, though not as much as we would if were in charge. Anyway, it would be harder to slip in. However, the one next to it-the one that looks like a large seahorse-is called Japan, and it would be easy for you to slip in. Don't worry about language, because all you are there to do is a fact finding mission. He then handed him a crystal about the size of a baseball, and said, "This is one of the last of Beryl's youmas. We managed to get a hold of these before the war. Use this to cause a little havoc and see how able their defense forces are able to repel it. It seems awaste of a good youma, but we have to know how strong they are in order to know how easy it would be to conquer them, or any nation. Once done, come back and report. I'll be sending out the others based on what you find."

With a bow, Ragna was off.



Ragna found it easy to penetrate as Sark had said, and immediately he started to investigate. He ended up in Tokyo that day, and it was obvious this was the most populous city on the island. Thus, it would be the best indication of the rest of the country. He spent time observing, watching the behaviors and interactions of the people as he traveled through the city. He even did what he could to pick up on a bit of the language and inflections to try to figure out what was going on, even if he did not understand. As the day was coming to a close, he found himself in the Juban district, and saw the high school there. He saw many young people of the species leaving there from their club activities, and he figured that this would be a good place to wreak havoc and test things. He managed to find some kind of a flop house to stay the night, and began to plan his attack for the next day.



The next school day began uneventful, as would be expected, and classes went on as usual. Tom was not as uneasy today, for the sense of eyes staring at him was not as great. However, he did seem a bit tired, because all that night, he had the most vivid dreams that actually robbed him of rest rather than allowed it. They were the same moon dreams that he had before, but they were not as vivid and realistic. He saw himself in colonial dress, fighting a pitched battle, and not getting the better end of it. He dreamed about girls in short skirted sailor suits, and they all looked like the girls that he had seen at the robbery that day. He wrote it off as having seen them that recently, and that they must have been on his mind. Yet, there seemed to be some familiarity to the whole mess. The dream kept ending when it looked like he was about to fall, and he felt a pair of hands yank him back. He was able to concentrate on his studies, but the memory of the dream kept running around in his mind. When lunch rolled around, he decided to go to the roof and eat, as did many of his classmates on that beautiful sunny day. The day was about to get more interesting.



He had just finished the last of his lunch when he observed something about the size of a baseball fly over the fence on the roof. He saw it roll off to acorner, and he figured that it must have come from below from a couple of guys playing catch, so he decided to retrieve it for him. He had only taken about two steps when he saw it rise into an ugly red and black four armed monster, and everyone screamed at the sight. Panic ensued quickly. However, a knot of girls were not so quick to run. It was more like they made their way to asecluded area. Usagi then said, "A youma? What is going on? I thought we defeated them?"

"Maybe this one was left over and hiding?" reasoned Minako.

"Whatever the case," said Ami, "we have to act!"

With that, Usagi lead the charge, shouting, "MOON ETERNAL-MAKE UP!"

The girls transformed, and then reemerged to face the youma. Tom wondered how they knew to come here, but he was also grateful to see them in any case. He heard the one with the wings say, "Terrifying the students of this fine high school and disrupting their nourishment is unforgivable! I am the pretty scout in the sailor suit-the guardian of love and justice: Sailor Moon. In the name of the moon, we shall punish you!"

While that happened, Ragna began to observe with relish! They seemed to be different than the uniformed ones with the badges he had seen, so they must be elites. The girls began to move around, making various physical attacks. The one in the orange suddenly shouted, "CRESENT BEAM!"

A yellow beam shot from her forefinger, knocking back the youma. Mercury then said, "Keep the attacks small-we don't want to get people caught in the crossfire!"

"Like that, it will take forever to beat him!" exclaimed Jupiter.

"We can't take the chance!" shouted Mercury.

By this point, some had come down and screamed what was going on up top, and Setsuna knew that, if Luna was nearby, she would have picked up on it and come. In the meantime, she and Hotaru found a private spot and said, "Pluto Power,"and "Saturn Power," respectively. They hoped that Luna was there because, if she was, it may be a bit premature, but they might be able to help Tom learn his past.



On the roof, the minor attacks were weakening the beast, but not fast enough. The girls were tiring as well, and Sailor Moon was upset that Galaxia had broken her main weapon: the scepter. If she had that, she could have resolved this quickly. All she had now was her tiara, and that could only do so much. Fortunately, reinforcements were coming. Tom was surprised to see two more similarly clad people go by, and the taller stopped, pointed her long hook like weapon, and said with an echo to her voice, "Dead Scream."

A large ringed lime green ball of energy bounced off the ground and over the girls, right into the youma. The beast did a flip and hit hard. Saturn spun her halberd around and was about to strike with it when the beast kipped up and slapped his hands together. A wave of energy shot forth and knocked the scouts flat, stunning them. Now Tom was worried. The beast began to slow down, and actually looked confident that it had won. It went over to the most colorfully clad one, (Sailor Moon,) and it was preparing to do something horrible-Tom was certain of that! He felt so helpless, and that was the moment he felt something rubbing on his leg.



Looking down, he was surprised to see Luna there. He exclaimed, "Cat dude! You sure get around! Man, you shouldn't be here!"

He then jumped back two feet when he heard the cat say, "Actually, yes Ishould, and so should you!"

"YOU TALKED!" Tom shouted, to which she answered, "I'll explain later. Right now, we don't have time! In the meantime, I found this for you!"

Luna did a jump and flip in the air. Down flew what looked like a dark green saber hilt. On the top was a knob with what looked like the U.S. Marine Corps insignia with a few differences. Instead of the Earth, it was a crescent moon, and a rabbit stood inside it. Luna then said, "Hold it aloft and say, 'ever faithful-make up!'"

He did, then hesitated, knowing how the marines in America said something like that, so he shouted, "SEMPER FI-MAKE UP!"

At once, he began to glow, and all one could see was his glowing silhouetted body. Over that, a uniform began to form. By the time this was done, he was standing there with his hair now shoulder length, parted in the middle and tied back low. He had a black hat similar to a derby, except that the rim was wider, and the right side was folded up and pinned to the hat. He wore off-white breeches and vest, with a white peasant shirt underneath, tided with a lace lined ascot. On his feet were calf length black boots with light blue spats, and he wore a dark green jacket reminiscent of the soldiers in the American Revolution, trimmed in black on the cuffs and on the edges of the frock coat. In addition to this, he had the shoulder boards that marked him as a non-commissioned officer. In short, he looked almost exactly like one of the Continental Marines from the revolution itself. He also noticed the sword belt with the Libyan saber picked up by the marines of the U.S. in 1809, and he also had what looked like a flintlock pistol. In the moments of time all this took place, the beast already had Sailor Moon in his arms, and he looked ready to take a bite. He wanted to examine himself some more, but common sense and adrenaline got the better of him, and he began to move. There would be time later for questions, but he recognized weapons when he saw them, and he was prepared to use them.



The youma was looking at a stunned but terrified Sailor Moon, and wanted to scream when it said, "Now its time for MY lunch!"

"How about you eat lead instead!" shouted a male voice behind the youma. As the others were beginning to regain their faculties, they saw what somehow felt like a welcoming sight. He stood there, pistol drawn, and aimed it at the beast. The youma dropped Sailor Moon and turned his attention on the new intruder. However, before he could approach, Ceres leveled the pistol. Yet, as he did, some words came to his head, and he instinctively said, "METEOR SHOWER!"

From the pistol flew balls of rock shaped energy like a canister charge from cannon. They all hit the youma which screamed and vanished in a shower of sparks. Ragna was angry for a moment, but then remembered that defeat was not such a bad thing, because that meant that he knew what they faced on that island. He had succeeded in his mission, and he headed back to Australia.



The scouts all approached a flummoxed Sergeant Ceres, who was not sure himself what had just happened. They all patted him on the back and said, "That was great! How did you do that?"

Still with the wide-eyed look on his face, Tom said, "As soon as I know, I'll let you know!"

Pluto then said, "Let us transform, and not speak of this until we get together tomorrow night."

"How do you know about that?" asked Ceres.

"Let's just say that there are more secrets to reveal," said Pluto, "You shall shortly see some, but we must get through this school day, and tomorrow. All shall be explained then."

"That's like putting out all the gifts under the Christmas tree two days early!" Ceres protested, "That's dirty pool!"

"I know you can contain," said Pluto, "Just know for now that what has happened to you right now is a very good thing, and you can do great things for people. Yet, keep it under wraps for now. All will be well."

With that, everyone changed back, much to Ceres' surprise, especially who he saw. "Please, act like nothing happened," said Usagi, to which Tom said,"Don't worry about that! Even if I did say something, no one would believe me anyway!"

For Tom, the next day and a half would feel like two weeks!