
Sailor Moon: Secondary Characters: Duel
{Jon Carp}
address: jcarp@med.unc.edu

Never the murdered finalities of wherewhen and yesno,impotent nongames of
wrongright and rightwrong;never to gain or pause,never the soft adventure
of undoom,greedy anguishes and cringing ecstasies of inexistence;never to
rest and never to have:only to grow.--e.e. cummings

        Simultaniously, not at the same time, two people named Sailor Pluto
(one blonde, one with green hair) glanced over at Ten'ou Haruka and suddenly
realized, "Hey, I used to BE her!"
        That constant weird feeling in their stomachs grew until they knew
what had been happening.  The changes that had been made.  The switching.
It had to be fixed.  And since neither knew which had been Pluto first,
there was only one way to settle it fairly.

        The four of them, in groups of two, met in the spaceless, timeless
void.  It was kind of purple.  But black and yellow too.  Familiar to half
of those gathered.
        The others looked around in confusion, at their surroundings, at the
people around them.  They looked extremely familiar.
        They both stared at each other, and exclaimed simultaniously
something like, "Setsuna!  Why are YOU dressed like ME?"
        Then they noticed the people standing next to each of them.  They
gaped and sputtered something to the effect of, "You...you look just like
me!"
        The blonde woman dressed as Sailor Pluto ignored both her companion
and the other.  Instead, she stared at her foe intensely.  "I suppose you
know why we're here," she said.
        The green-haired woman standing across from her smiled slightly.
"Of course," she answered.  "I set it up."
        Blonde Pluto raised an eyebrow.  "No, I did."
        "Well, apparently we both did.  So, I suppose you do know why."
        The green-haired Uranus broke in then.  "What the hell is going on?"
she asked, her voice not at all showing her fear.
        "Shut up, Uranus," green-haired Pluto commanded.
        The other Guardian of Time ignored that transaction.  "Duel," she
said.
        "Duel."
        The Urani looked confused.  "Duel?"

        Blonde Pluto went to her Uranus and pointed to green-haired Uranus.
"Fight," she whispered.  "You fight her."
        Blonde Uranus's forehead crinkled.  "Why?"
        "For Michiru.  You're fighting for Michiru."
        "But...but why?  I already have her."
        Blonde Pluto shook her head.  "Not anymore.  She has to be won."

        "But why?" green-haired Uranus asked herself in Pluto form.  "She's
already mine."
        "Not always.  Sometimes she belongs to her."  Green-haired Pluto
pointed to blonde Uranus.  "That's why we're doing this.  If you win, you
will stay Uranus.  If you lose, you will be deleted from existence to make
way for her.  And she will stay with Michiru, and I will be alone."
        "What?  But...but I'm Uranus NOW, I'm supposed to be with her
forever...I..."
        Green-haired Pluto grabbed her Uranus on the arm hard.  "Shut up!
She's Uranus too, can't you see that?  There can only be one.  We can't keep
switching back and forth anymore."
        "Wh...what?"
        "Just FIGHT HER!!"



        They met in the middle, swords in hand, circling warily.  Blonde
Uranus made a wide swipe to the right leg, which was easily dodged.
Green-haired Uranus faked with a slice down to the skull and stabbed at the
neck.  This was parried and knocked to the side.  They continued circling.

        Back within the confines of time and space, in a scene completely
unrelated to the battle, Rei and Minako sat talking.
        "Well," Minako said.  "How many times have you helped or supported
her...say...so far this month?"
        "Many times," Rei answered automatically.  "Over twenty."
        Minako was suprised.  "Really?"
        Rei glared at her.  "Don't give me that look.  You know I've been
trying to do better with that."
        Minako nodded.  "I know.  Okay...how many times have you saved her
life this month?"
        "Twice.  Once yesterday with that purple monster, and once a couple
of weeks ago when that bug thing shot that laser at her."
        "Oh, right.  And what was her reaction?"
        Rei sighed.  "She thanked me.  Just like all the other times.  And
then she forgot about it."
        They sat in silence.  Rei chuckled to herself.  "I'd like to say
that's her way of showing her feelings," she said.  "But it's not, is it?"
        Minako shook her head.  "Nope.  Why don't you just tell her?  Just
go up to her and say, 'You mean more to me than anything else in the
world'?"
        Rei was about to say something sarcastic, but the phone rang.  She
leaned over and answered it.
        The person on the other end did not give her enough time to identify
herself or even say hello.  "Hi, Rei?"
        Rei grunted in frustration.  "Hello again, Michiru."
        "I...I'm sorry to bother you again, but..."
        "No, we have not seen Haruka," Rei said.  "Or Setsuna, for that
matter.  Don't worry, they're just off doing something.  I mean, Haruka
doesn't have to take you EVERYWHERE she goes, does she?"
        "No, I...I guess not.  Okay, but if you see them, tell them to call
me right away, will you?"
        "Sure.  Bye."
        "Sorry again.  Bye."
        Rei hung up and shook her head in exasperation.


        The Plutos watched the duel together.  "I'm going to win," the
green-haired one said.  "I always was the better fighter."
        "You have no chance.  I am much stronger, and you know I'm better
with a sword."  She laughed.  "You were a fool to make this a physical
contest."
        "Fool?"  Green-haired Pluto stared at the other coldly.  "You call
me a fool?  Just ask Michiru which one of us she thinks is the more foolish.
You think she respects your intelligence?"
        Blonde Pluto raised an eyebrow.  "You can't rile me up by saying her
name.  Just because I have emotions once in a while doesn't mean you can
manipulate me."
        Green-haired Pluto smiled.  "Of course it does.  It makes you act
like a fucking moron.  You're ridiculous with your passion and anger.  I
can't figure out what she ever saw in you."
        Blonde Pluto chuckled.  "Maybe it's the fact that I have a
personality.  As opposed to someone else I could mention."
        Red eyes glared at her enemy.  "I'm kind to her," she growled.
"You...you drive her around in your fast cars and play the piano for her,
and taunt her and control her and manipulate her and then you expect her to
love you!"
        "But she does.  Even when I'm Pluto, she always loves ME best.  It
was always--"
        "I KNOW!!"  Green-haired Pluto shook with fury.  "I know!  But I
love her too, damn it!  And I will gladly kill you to be with her."
        Blonde Pluto laughed loudly at the absurdity of this person and her
ludicrous love.  She kept it up.

        A short shriek stopped her.  Blonde Pluto was wounded on the leg.
She tried to ignore it, but the pain slowed her reaction time.  She wasn't
able to block the swipe across the stomach.  She screamed and collapsed to
her knees.
        Blonde Pluto screamed too.  Her brain had lost itself.  The only
important part of it, anyway.
        Blonde Uranus felt it too.  She could taste her own blood.  Salty.
Like the ocean.
        "NO!!!" she screamed, startling the victorious green-haired Uranus.
 She jumped to her feet and brought her sword around across the neck.
        Blood spurted, blood mixed, and the Urani went down together.


        The Plutos stood over their dead hopes and selves.  "We didn't think
this out," the blonde one said.
        "No," the green-haired one answered.  "We did not."


