OOC: Sorry, Ryder. Don't know much about SM, so I have to wing it.
IC: The sun rose slowly... and shed it's brilliant rays upon the room of a young soldier of love...
The said child was sleeping under a heavily quilted blanket. What her dreams were made of one could only guess at, though they would probably be something akin to winning Nobel prizes and the like.
It had been a relatively quiet period of time for the Senshi... aside from the occasional Youma, sent from god-knows-where, they'd been kicking back and relaxing.
Or studying.
But a certain event was about to throw a wrench in the works... as greater forces moved into motion.
Ami's mind changed..
And then, one of her eyes opened. And the person looking out of it discovered they in a decidedly feminine room.
Proving that, if there IS an all-powerful god, he has a sick sense of humour.
Ryder awoke from a nightmare familiar to him... Himself as Hitomi, and Van and Allen fighting over him.
"I hate that dream..." Ryder muttered, before realizing one important thing. "This isn't my voice!"
Quickly sitting up in bed, she made another discovery... "THIS ISN'T MY ROOM!" No, it was way too clean, and too girlish, to be Ryder's room... Nor did it have a pair of bunk beds with clean clothes strung all over the top. Or the stereo by his head that would put him to sleep...
Catching sight of her new body, Ryder did the appropiate thing for a person in her situation... She screamed.
Thankfully, Ami's mother had left long ago for her duties in the hospital, leaving the new girl to scream to her heart's content, or until her lungs gave out...
So, Ryder screamed, much like a girl close to her would do constantly...
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*
The clock said 7:30.
And a conveniant timetable across the room said that school starts at 8:00 on Fridays.
Some people never get a break.
Barely heard over her screams, the alarm clock quickly ended any thoughts that this could be the worst nightmare she had ever experienced...
WHAM!
Ryder slammed her palm down on the alarm clock, bringing the room to a sense of quiet. And this fact allowed Ryder to take in the base facts...
Alright... I'm obviously not dreaming this time... Let's see... Closet, desk, full length mirror... Not much else... That's good. I don't think I could stand to be in one of those genki girls...
Ryder climbed out of bed and took a gander at her reflection in the mirror... Giving him the shock of her life...
"AMI! I'M AMI!?!?" she shouted while stepping back, the look of surprise seeming too foreign to be on her face... Turning around, she noticed the note about school and performed a familiar action in his old body... The 30 minute dash...
"SHIT!!!!" she exclaimed, with the strange afterthought that she shouldn't say such things, and rushed to the bathroom to take a shower... Spending valuable time off of the clock to look for the "bloody bathroom" in the first place.
OOC: *Carthrat starts having perverted thoughts about Ami in the shower.*
IC: After spending about 5 minutes in the shower...
The hot water ran out, drenching Ami in a torrent of freezing, icy water.
Pity it was mid-winter, otherwise she might not almost be a human icecube at this point.
OOC: I hate you Rat...
IC: Ryder leaped back in surprise as the cold water rushed...
COLD!!!
Seems Ryder forgot that the female body is just a little more sensitive than the male one when it comes to water temperature... And reacted in ways that I will not explain here in the this post, because a certain pervert is reading this and I decided to spite him, so BIDAH!!!
So, Ryder carefully washed off the rest of the soap on her body, and quickly jumped out of the shower and quickly began to dry off, using the towel delicately around those distinctly female areas...
"Damnit, this is alot harder than I ever imagined..." Ryder mumbled as she wrapped around herself like she saw her mother do, and stepped out the bathroom door to her room...
It isn't my room... It's Ami's room... Never was mine, never will be...
Stepping into her "temporary" room, Ryder noticed the alarm clock barely saved from destruction earlier...
"7:40!! JESUS CHRIST!!! I'm going to be late!!!" she exclaimed... with the afterthought that it was strange to say His name. Which Ryder promptly ignored, because well... Ryder's still one of His servants, even if the previous occupant wasn't.
Looking into the closet, Ryder groaned, loudly, when she realized that she would have to wear... a fuku...
Relying on common sense, the insane knowledge of shojo anime inserted by his otaku fangirl friends, and Weather Break (OOC: Excel Saga fans will get this joke...), Ryder managed to dress for the occassion. Which meant a standard fuku with dark blue cotton leggings for comfort...
Taking another look at the clock, 7:50 AM... Ryder rushed downstairs, quickly prepared a bagel to eat along the way, and prayed that Ami had put her books together for school the previous night.
And with bag and bagel in hand, Ryder rushed out for her first day of Japanese High School...
OOC: You're about to hate me even more ^_^
IC: When Ami arrived at the school...
..it was empty.
Her watch, which told the time, date, season, gave a quick bit of info on your star sign, served as a stopwatch, and was fully waterproof, also told the day.
Sunday.
Ami should have taken a look at Ami's calander as well as the timetable.
OOC: Just so you know, I won't use cheap tricks like this when it's important...
...most of the time ^_^
OOC: *screams in fustration*
IC: Ryder facefaulted... an action that proved eventful for her. See, she learned that facefaulting doesn't hurt in an anime universe. And two, never facefault in a fuku...
So, as Ryder stood up, she didn't notice the hentai businessman peeking up her skirt across the street...
However, that isn't too important to the story, neh?
Anywho, Ryder was glad however, that no normal child would be awake on a Sunday morning anyway... But, just in case, she quickly ran home... Managing to make it in the door without too many stares.
"That... was dumb... REAL dumb... Though, it was Friday morning back home..." Ryder mumbled as she walked back upstairs to change.
At least now I don't have to deal with Usagi and the other Senshi...
To spite the pervs reading this (OOC: That means you K and C), we'll skip the changing scene and get right to Ryder eating a normal breakfast...
"DAMN YOU WAFFLES!! POP UP ALREADY!!!!"
Normal for her anyway...
OOC: That a big enough opening for you?
Tick... tock... tick... tock...
A couple seconds later, the waffles popped, the phone rang, and there was a knock on the door.
All at the same time.
Ryder grabbed the phone and ignored the waffles popping up.
I could always reheat them...
While pressing the talk button on the phone, Ryder took a gander outside the window to see who was at the door...
"Ami! You said you'd come to the shrine today! Is something wrong? Why are you late? What's happening?"
Usagi continued on in this vein, absoulutely refusing to give a break in the conversation.
Outside the window was a well-dressed business man who had a silly look plastered on his face.
Ryder groaned as she saw the businessman outside her door...
"USAGI!" she calmly demanded... which managed to shut her up long enough for Ryder to continue...
"I've got something to take care of... hold on..."
Ryder put the phone down, opened the door, and gave the man a swift kick in the nuts...
"GO TO WORK YOU PERVERT!!!"
As the man crawled away, Ryder grabbed the phone again and confirmed that she was back...
"OkAmiIheardacrackareyouok Of course you are Otherwise you wouldn't be talking Silly me Hahahahaha Anyway we really need you here. We found something strange and need you to look at it ok"
Usagi managed to say the whole thing without drawing breath.
Ryder nodded, and twitched as she began to weed out what Usagi had actually said...
"Alright, so, you guys found something and want me to look at it?"
Ryder walked into the kitchen, phone still in hand and on ear and groaned as she picked up her waffles.
I burnt them... I never burn waffles! Musta been the difference in toasters.
"Yeah! It's some kind of weird pendant thingy. Setsunasawit, screamed, and dissapeared! Canyoucome and lookatit right away?"
"Sure Usagi, I'll take a look at it..."
Ryder answered as she rooted around the cabinets for another bagel...
"Just let me eat some breakfast first. I spent alot of time last night studying, and need to recoup..."
"OkAmijustrememberwecan'tstayforeverdon'ttaketolongbye!"
When Usagi hung up...
Nothing happened.
Another bagle was in the cupboard, along with several other breakfast-type foods.
Ryder sighed as she pushed the button on the cordless marked "TALK"...
Well... that seemed too easy...
Ryder grabbed another bagel, and a banana out of the pantry, and sat down at the table...
"Alright, so, I'm stuck as Ami for the time being... not too bad... I doubt I could handle being any of the other Senshi." Ryder thought aloud as she peeled the banana...
Time Jump!
DAMNIT!!! WHERE IS THAT SHRINE!!!
Yep, Ryder was lost... She probably should have checked before going, neh?
Meanwhile, the Mercury Computer set about a task that Ryder had given it... What task... Sore wa himitsu desu!
And while Ami was wandering around Juuban, completely lost...
The Great Thunder God, Thor, decided that Rain must once again STRIKE the land!
And it did.
Hard.
With assorted thunderbolts and the occasional scream-
Scream?
Ryder facepalmed as the rain started to drench her.
Weather Break, you big lier...
Her internal whining was disrupted however, by the loud piercing scream in the distance...
Ignoring the need for shelter, Ryder ran off in the direction of the scream.
As Ami neared the screams, the source became evident.
The location was rather simple: typical Japanese suburbia. Excepting the smashed-in house and unconcious family nearby, it was picturesque.
Oh, and the youma standing over the unconcious family was somewhat conspicious, too.
It didn't notice Ami, as it was far too busy concentrating on the family. It seemed to be searching them for something...
The youma itself seemed to be a large, somewhat malformed zombie-like creature. It stood roughly 8 feet tall, and had two massive chains extended from where it's arms should be. It's legs seemed somewhat crystillian, and it had no face or visible eyes.
Seeing the youma, Ryder stood in shock...
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, OH SHIT!!!
The shock gave way to the human urge to hide... behind another house. Pulling out the Mercury Computer and hitting a silent SOS signal for the other Senshi, as to not give away her position...
It's distracted... maybe I can use that to my advantage...
While Ami was hiding behind a house...
The youma began to feed.
Even more terrified screams came from the families location, as two chains leapt down towards two different members of the family, and started to glow...
Ryder shook her fist, with fire in her eyes and sweat rolling down her face, as the helpless screams of the family reached her ears.
It'll be too late for the others to get here!!! Oh, I really don't want to do this... And I don't know how either!
As if on command, the Mercury Crystal Pen suddenly appeared in her hand... Thankfully for her and the family, Ryder had sat through enough of the series to know what to do next.
MERCURY....
CRYSTAL...
POWER!!!!
For the benefit of those that wish to get to the action, we'll skip the long, flashy, pointless 5 minute transformation... I think most people know what it looks like anyway.
Taking a look at the Senshi uniform, Ryder majorly blushed as she realized one of the outfit's many flaws...
HOW... HOW... HOW CAN THEY STAND THIS!!! IT'S SO... FREAKING SHORT!!!
Ryder's anger level took a nosedive as she tried to explain the hesitation on her part to swear... then took a look at the environment surrounding her.
Alright... we've got a fountain, some pink lawn flamingos, a sledgehammer, a lawn chair, a... SLEDGEHAMMER?!?
Indeed, by Ryder's foot was a sledgehammer. A pretty hefty one actually, not the kind that she had seen in the WWE. Seems this guy living here was quite the strongman...
"This could come in handy..." Ryder madly grinned as she hefted the sledgehammer in her left hand. Finally walking out out from behind the house, Ryder stared at the feeding zombie.
"HEY ASSCLOWN!!! WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN POWER LEVEL!!" Ryder declared, pointing the sledgehammer in her left hand at the zombie... "What kind of monster would pray on the weak when you've got this all powerful, 'helpless' little girl over here?"
Holding out her right hand, palm to the sky, she adds, "So... I, Sailor Mercury, tell you, Mr. Dirty, Disgusting, Bottom Feeding, Trash Bag Zombie Slut... to..."
She started to move her fingers back towards her body, and finished the taunt with...
"JUST... BRING... IT..."
"BITCH!!!!"
Internally, Ryder was very glad she took those 'speech lessons'...
One of the monster's chains continued to glow, and seemed to be metamorphosing into something almost organic..
The other chain stopped it's glowing, and snaked towards Ami...
...grabbing the sledgehammer from her grip, then raising it up for a powerful strike.
Crap!
That's about all could be summed up for Ryder's thoughts as she backflipped out of the way of the sledgehammer blow...
When could I do that!!!
The youma, not waiting out Ami's indecision, dropped the sledgehammer and began curling it's chain around her legs, causing her to start to lose her balance.
Ryder cried out in pain as she slammed into the concrete...
DAMNIT!!!
In a burst of fury, Ryder kicked up back on her feet and grabbed the chain.
When Ami grabbed the chain... it flicked up and down, smashing her into the ground a couple times before letting her limp form roll away.
Blood flew out of Ryder's mouth as she coughed from her position on the ground...
Not... good...
As she struggled to her feet, she took another look at the situation...
Let's re-evaluate this... Short range attacks do no good, because it's impossible to get close to the damn thing. Problem though, I'm... I mean Ami's not much of a long range attacker... WAIT! This is after SS!
Shakily standing to her feet, Ami... I mean Ryder, concentrated on channeling her weakened mana. As she moved into an attack position, she whispered...
"Mercury..."
The air around her turned cold, and started to swirl around her, forming a small harp in her hands...
"Aqua..."
The harp gained form, and Am... Ryder grinned as she whispered the last word...
"Rapsody..."
A large... not as large as what she could do, but still large... jet of freezing water shot out towards the youma.
The jet of icy water flew towards the youma... and froze the chain that was grasping the father of the family.
The chain promptly shattered, leaving the youma with but a stump for an arm.
Roaring, it produced it's other chain and swung it towards Ami...
Barely rolling out of the way of the chain, Ami grinned at the screaming youma...
"Checkmate..."
Not sticking around for a retaliation this time, she quickly flung out her arms, with the cry of, "SHABON SPRAY!!!"
Quickly, the fog rolled into the area, obscuring the youma's view of Ami.
The youma scremed, thrashed, and lashed out randomly with it's chain, trying to spear Ami..
..until it was promptly blasted by four streams of energy, slamming in to it from the other direction.
"Whenever the chains of tyranny strike, Sailor Moon shall strike them down!" shouted that blonde-haired soldier of justice we all know and love.
Mass sweatdrop.
After a breif examination of the corpse, Usagi made her way over to Ami, and gasped at her bruises.
"OhmygodareyouokAmi?I'llgetadoctorrightawayit'sgonnabeok!"
Ryder weakly smiled and nodded her head...
"Hai... nothing a good, long, hot bath couldn't take care of."
Anyway, I need more time to sort this mess out...
"Ohokwe'llgetyoutotheshrinerightaway!"
Letting Ami lean on her shoulder, Usagi walked off with the rest of the senshi to the shrine...
<-Timeskip! Funky lights and action!->
...and when Ami woke up, she was no longer in Juuban but... THE TWILIGHT ZONE!
*DoobedoboWAAAAH!*
Ahem.
..and Ami found herself in Rei's bath, soaking off the injuries. The senshi's healing powers came in handy...
"This feels good..." Ami sighed in relief as the water warmed her cold body. It had been raining the entire battle after all...
This isn't a dream... I'm really a Sailor Suited Warrior of Love and Justice. I'm in the body of my character's girlfirend... I wonder how the guys are doing anyay...
Meanwhile, 5 people across the multiverse sneezed loudly...
I have to play the part... For who knows how long too. But, what am I really getting myself into? I could damage my... Ami's image just by making one wrong move. Then again... it could always be worse. I might not like being a girl too much, but at least I'm not Tux-Baka. Wait, I shouldn't insult him now... he's my... AMI'S guardian in battle, even if he's almost useless except for the motivating speech...
"What indeed..." she muttered...
"Ami! Are you better yet? We *really* need you to look at this."
Rei's voiced floated through the house and reached Ami's ears..
Ryder sighed...
"Guess it's time for Act 1..."
Stepping out of the bath, Ryder grabbed the clothes layed out for her; a black sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, with the appropiate undergarments (just in case you were going to try and catch me Rat...); and dressed as quickly as a girl dressing for the second time ever could...
5 minutes later:
Ryder stepped out of the bathroom door...
..and made her way to the main room of the shrine.
Sitting in a circle were Usagi, Rei, Makoto and Minako, all looking a little scared about something.
"Finally, Ami. Come here. You *really* have to look at this."
The four girls were crowded around a small amulet with two strange symbols on it.. neither one seemed to be in complete focus at any one time. They shimmered, overlapping each other... a very strange trick of the eyes, one might think.
Ryder gently slid Makoto aside, and did the smart thing in this situation...
Rather than trying, and making herself look like a fool by trying to analyze the amulet herself... She brought out the Mercury Computer, minimized the previous task it was running, and ran a scan...
The scan of the amulet took up all of the Mercury computers RAM. To do so, it closed unnecessary tasks.. but it also required a slab of virtual memory.
So it deleated everything Ryder had dled up until now, jduging it as 'useless to the mission'.
The scanner report, however, was somewhat forthcoming. First, the computer seemed to freeze. Then, fuzzy lines began scrolling up and down, followed by a few... psychadelic images, finishing up with a short text message.
"Amulet of Eternity. Information: Little
The Amulet of Eternity is reputed to be directly linked to some great, divine being. It is as old as the universe itself, and legends claim that it produces very strange effects when mixed with 4th or 5th dimensional creations, such as the Time Gates, or a demi-god.
When worn, it is known to confer various effects, depending on the personality, drives and powers of the user. A normal person will note heightened emotions, and have odd adrediline rushes whenever thinking of a strong emotion or thought.
Considered extremely dangerous, due to it's unknown origin and certain variables in it's effects."
Ryder facepalmed as she saw the message about her mp3s being deleted.
Kuso! Now I'll have to start over... oh well, that comes later...
Looking at the surrounding Senshi, she proceeded to read off what the computer had told her about the object, adding her opinion at the end with a well placed, "Oh, and frankly, I do not want to mess with it if Setsuna's scared of that thing..."
Rei nodded.
"I thought that as well. The only question left is what to do with it."
The group sat around in silence for a moment. Then, Usagi spoke up.
"Why don't we go ask Setsuna? Chibi-Usa still has the Time Key! Let's go ask her now!"
Rei whapped Usagi. "She was just scared out of her mind! It'd be stupid to go bother her now!"
Makoto nodded. "She's obviously under some kind of enormous stress just from seeing that thing! We can't go putting even more by asking her!"
But Minako shook her head. "She probably knows bests. I say we go ask her."
Rei sighed. "It's down to you, Ami. Please don't say we have to go see her."
Ryder looked between the 4 Senshi, and sighed...
"Listen, while we don't know what it does, it would be silly to try and see Setsuna right now about it. Let's wait a day or so before we do anything..."
Rei looked satisfied, while Minako and Usagi looked slightly downcast.
"Ok! Any other business for today?"
Makoto started.
"That's right! One of my friends, Hinako, decided she was throwing a party today! It's gonna start in five mintues, and I want to go. You guys wanna come?"
"Sure!" everyone but Ami chourused.
"Ami, you come too. I know you always say you have to study.. but you barely ever go to parties! Come on!"
"Well... I don't know Mako-chan. I'm not feeling so hot today..."
Ryder hastily lied, while trying to keep a straight face through her nervousness.
If I go to this party, my cover might be blown... And I really don't want the Senshi on me about being a "body snatcher"... That's the absolute worst thing that could happen to me today.
"Ok. Wish you could come, Ami! Come to the next one, ok? Shell probably have one next week... anyway. Bye!"
A few minutes later, the rest of the senshi walked off in one direction, leaving Ami to find her way off by herself...
There was an ominous crack of thunder, and the sun was setting.
Ryder looked forelornly at the departing Senshi...
It's better this way... Keep telling yourself that Ryder Angel. You're just scared to open up, all because you'd be 'out of character'...
And Ryder made a decision...
"WAIT UP!!!"
The senshi turned as one. They had various looks of comical surprise on their faces.
"Ami? What made you change your mind?" burst out Rei.
"Who cares about that! Now she can come!" cheered Usagi.
And so the little group trooped off...
****
...and ran to Hinako's room in the freezing rain.
Practically crashing in through the door, the group stood in front of... a typical party scene.
Girls and guys everywhere were sipping beers and munching chips while watching a typical B-Grade horror movie.
Not exactly the kind of scene you get in mainstream Sailor Moon, oh no.
A pretty girl in jeans and a shirt walked up and surveyed the group.
"Lucky you got out the rain. There's gonna be lightning soon. New chicks, I'm Hinako."
The senshi introduced themselves in turn, before Hinako turned to Ami and looked her up and down.
"You look like a regular bookworm. What's your name?"
Ryder surveyed the party, and a smile came to her lips, one of the few that had formed since this morning...
Wow... An American styled party... Wait, I've seen that movie too!
"You look like a regular bookworm. What's your name?"
Ryder looked up at Hinako and replied, "Ry... Ami Mizuno. Nice to meet yah... And yours?"
She put on a confident look hoping that Hinako didn't notice her little slip-up.
"Ami, huh? Cool."
Hinako conveyed as much emotion into this as a brick.
"Guys, drink what you want, meet who you want, and sex who you want. Catch yas later."
With that, Hinako moved back into the crowd and vanished.
Rei and Makoto (who was only a little surprised) took it in stride. Usagi and Minako, though...
"How can she talk about the act of love as if its just something you do?" they whined, and continued to complain in this manner for a short while.
"Come on, girls. It's fun. You don't have to do anything if you don't want. I havn't, and despite the way Hinako talks, she hasn't either."
Rei and Makoto moved off into the group, leaving the other three behind.
"Well, let's get something to drink!" With that, the other two walked off...
Ryder looked at the departing girls, and shrugged... she caught a sight of the movie, and smirked.
"I love this movie..."
She then tapped one of the girls on the couch on the shoulder...
"Could you scoot over some? This is one of my favs..."
On the screen, a white faced man in a black outfit stalked a high schooler with a knife... aka. Scream.
The girl moved over, allowing Ami to sit down.
A couple minutes later, she turned to her.
"Hey, you look a little stoned. Something wrong?"
"Eh? Oh, I'm just thinking... alot of stuff's been going on in my life right now."
Ryder underexaggerated as she reached out for some popcorn lying on the table...
"Ah."
The girl munched on some popcorn thoughtfully.
"Say, how many boyfriends have you had?"
Unnoticed by Ami, the talisman in her pocket started to glow slightly... then faded.
"Not many... why do you ask?"
Ryder replied while reached out to grab more popcorn...
Before the girl could reply, there was a loud, doglike howl of anger from outside.
Confusion ensued, and Ami could see the other scouts attempting to move outside...
Seeing the other Senshi move, Ryder began to head towards the door...
Only to be blocked by the confused mob trying to leave at the same time.
"Notgoonotgoodnotgood..." Ryder repeated as she pushed and shoved her way to the door.
Eventually, the five senshi were in front of the house, searching for the source of the howl.
"Look!" someone shouted. As human reflex dictated, everyone looked up...
...and saw a bright figure hovering in the night air.
As one, the senshi moved to suitable changing spots...
For Ryder, this changing spot happened to be in a small patch of woods...
Being late, there wasn't a soul in sight.
Skipping the long, perverted transformation sequence, Sailor Mercury hopped to a tree-top to get a better look at the creature.
The figure was glowing brightly. Through the light, the figure of what appeared to be some kind of dog-man holding a sword.
The sword was glowing a fiery orange, and the beast cut a chilling figure across the backdrop of stars.
It seemed to be hovering over a shrine of some sort...
OH MY GOD!!!! It's a youkai!!!
Sailor Mercury's eyes widened in shock as this information filtered down into her brain...
That means... oh shit...
Quickly turning on her communicator, Mercury whispered in panic, "Guys! That thing isn't a usual youma!"
"Gotcha, Ami," replied Salior Jupiter. "There's some guy down in the middle of the house it's hovering over. He's staring at it... I'm gonna go check him out."
From her vantage point, Ami could see Jupiter running towards a small figure...