Prologue
Tsukino Serena sighs as she looks at her best friend, Hikari Lan, she hated the fact that she was moving away from ACDC Town and DenTech City. She loved it here, being a technomancer. Of course, her parents didn't understand this. She had so many happy memories here, being a part of Net Savers, helping to save ProtoMan, it wasn't fair that she was being forced to leave by her parents. The Hikaris would easily agree to house her, they had even offered. The blonde sighs again, " Hey, we can still stay in touch. " Lan points out.
Serena rolls her eyes as he points this out, " I've checked out the tech situation of the Juuban District of the Minato Ward of Tokyo, it sucks, snail mail may be faster than e-mail and I won't be able to Net Battle there. "
Lan winces at this newly revealed information, Serena needed technology to thrive. Thankfully she would have her PET and Navi with her. Diana helped Serena study and go over her classwork, which had helped Serena's grades rise significantly. She had been talent spotted by Lan's father, Hikari Yuichiro, when she had hacked the SciLabs main server when she was six. He had paid for her to attend the best cram school in DenTech City to cultivate her technological prowess. She also attended magic classes with Lan as well. The brown haired twelve year old knew being in a tech dead zone compared to DenTech City was going to be very hard for Serena.
" Well, you have my address, once you get settled in write to me and I'll make sure to write back. "
" I'll make sure he does, Serena. " the voice of Lan's NetNavi and twin brother, MegaMan chimes in. MegaMan is small(for a NetNavi), but his abilities are many. He has indigo biceps, with cyan stripes down his sides, ending at his blue boots which have black soles. He has two yellow shoulder guards and his blue helmet has two ridges running along the top. These ridges come to a stop at the helmet's base and allows his dark hair to stick out in four spikes. He has green eyes and, unlike most other NetNavis, an overall human appearance. Being a customized NetNavi, MegaMan sports the Hikari family symbol on his chest and both sides of his helmet. This symbol is a red circle with a black line running diagonally through the center which ends in two triangles, all of which are surrounded by a gold ring. MegaMan stands at roughly four feet nine inches, virtual height
" Thanks, MegaMan. I will have my computer system and everything I conned Chaud into buying for me so I could at least have my home teched out. " Serena admits. Serena was referring to Chaud Blaze, VP of his family's company.
Diana, Serena's Navi, had a lithe and lean build, wearing a form fitting dark purple body suit. She happened to be very agile and her main weapon was the glaive on her back. Diana specialized in melee combat. Her long silver hair was in a braid that had been customized to have virtual spikes in it, she had on black boots with silver soles. Her silver helmet was streamlined, more like a Norman Style helmet than the one most other NetNavi's sported. She wore fingerless silver gloves and black arm bracers, being a melee specialist. She also had two daggers stored in her boots. Where MegaMan had Cyan stripes she had black ones. She was just shy of MegaMan's height as well, by about a sixteenth of an inch.
" I'll try to send you battle chips and maybe you can slip away for a weekend just to Net Battle somewhere. " Lan says.
Serena had never been more irritated with her parents. Why did they have to move away now?
Chapter One
Two years later and sapphire eyes are alight with fury at her teacher. The woman had it in for her constantly, and made it so she could barely make it to her specialized cram school. Serena made top marks and yet Haruna-sensei took it into her head to try and belittle her. When her report card came out she had Diana e-mail all of her work to her cram school teacher. Said teacher had reported Haruna-sensei for doctoring Serena's grades as Serena got the work done. Serena's parents would have taken Haruna's side in this if the cram school teacher hadn't forwarded Serena's work to the teacher of her level in TA Academy whom also gave Serena top marks for her work. " Haruna-sensei, with all due respect, you have no reason for assigning me a detention as my PET is cleared as an educational aid and the principal seals me out of all functions save the calculator during tests. "
Haruna-sensei glares at her smartest student, " Why are you even here? "
" Will you allow me to speak candidly about that? " Serena returns with.
The rest of the students watch this verbal altercation warily. They had all learned two years ago that Tsukino Serena was not one you messed with lightly. She happened to be a technological genius and her home was the only one with a working connection to SciLabs satellites. Not to mention that she happened to be a top Net Battler, she went to neighboring districts to compete, and went to a tech based Cram School to cultivate her technological prowess. They all knew Serena was way too smart for this school, hell they all knew she hated it in Juuban. " No, you may not speak candidly. "
" Then I must respectfully decline in answering your inquiry. " Serena ripostes.
Haruna-sensei turns away from her and Serena sets her PET up to take notes. Two years she'd been putting up with crap like this. Every teacher she had in this school seemed to think they could get away with grading her incorrectly or treating her like dirt. Those that did that found problems with their bank accounts or credit card accounts. No one could ever prove she had done anything though. Earlier that day Serena had thought nothing of saving a cat being bullied by a bunch of bratty kids. After she got home from school and cram school, during which time she had gotten all of her homework done Serena was in a vile mood. Her little brother took one look at her and headed for shelter in his room. Ikkuko was the next to see her daughter and she winces, " I'm taking it your day wasn't good? "
" Why the hell did we move here anyhow?! The teachers in the public school are subpar at best, Haruna-sensei keeps trying to screw with me. Now, that she can't screw with my grades she's trying to give me detention on trumped up charges. When are we leaving this technologically backwards district?! " Serena all but snarls it out.
Ikkuko pales, Serena still hadn't settled in like she and Kenji thought she would. The girl was becoming nastier the longer they stayed here. " Hey, Tsukinos, anyone home? "
Serena drops her school bag and answers the door in an instant, " Mom, I'm heading out with Lan, unless you want to listen to me rant for the next hour. "
Ikkuko's eyes widen in horror at that threat, " Go, have fun. "
Lan blinks as Serena drags him away, " Please tell me SciLabs is opening up a branch here. "
" Not that I'm aware of, 'Na. " Lan admits.
Serena starts cursing under her breath in several languages, all centering around the same theme. MegaMan and Lan both wince as they can actually semi-understand what she was saying. " It can't be that bad, can it? " Lan asks her.
Serena looks at him, " Diana, send them all the school files. "
The boys are silent as they go through everything that Diana had sent them, fifteen minutes later Lan winces, " I stand corrected, it can be that bad. "
" I am easily the smartest person in this district, my scores prove it. Yet all of the teachers I've had in public school since I've been here have tried to screw with me in one way or another. Come on, I'm a consultant for SciLabs, I created a lot of my own Battle Chips, I'm a top level battler yet, they seem to think because I'm blonde I'm an idiot. " Serena says wearily, it was really starting to get to her. She had no friends here, those that made overtures, well they generally only wanted her to do their homework for them, or in the case of some guys, get into her pants. Chaud had been in the area for one of those and had dealt with the moron swiftly. The Blaze name carried a lot of weight, even in Juuban.
Neither teen noticed the black cat with crimson eyes following them, her eyes mostly trained on Serena, " Isn't there anyone you can have an intelligent conversation with and doesn't want to get in your pants? " Lan asks. He'd heard about the incident from Chaud. Needless to say Lan had not been pleased, he'd almost obliterated the rogue Darkloid that had cropped up in a Dimensional Area. MegaMan had just let Lan work out his aggression. Most people had always thought Lan and Maylu Sakurai would hook up. MegaMan, ProtoMan, and Chaud all knew differently though. Lan had his eyes on Serena, it was subtle when they were younger. Lan was getting a little more overt in his interest though.
Luna watches over the girl whom was to be Sailor Moon. She hadn't expected a girl that could think independently like this, nor that had such a keen intellect and wicked temper. She'd seen the girl literally tear into one of her classmates for trying to get her to do her homework for her. Why was this girl meant to be Sailor Moon? She was entirely too…Luna couldn't think of the word just then but, she was. Lan lets Serena vent her grievances as he knew he was one of the few that she could actually call friend. He had noticed that she was wearing his last birthday present to her, the Hikari family symbol in pendant form. Had she understood his hidden question when she put that on? Serena happened to be a technomancer without enough energy around her. This meant that she had to eat and drink a lot more to make up the difference.
Technomancers took in the ambient technological energy around them and made it their own. It was why she and Lan were able to cross fuse so easily. In DenTech City there was more than enough ambient energy for Serena to access, here, not so much and it made Serena very cross, not to mention dealing with the idiots in the public school system in this tech dead zone, well, compared to DenTech anyhow. Sure there was plenty of electrical energy but it just wasn't enough for Serena. Lan looks at her, she looked paler than the last time he'd been able to visit. Serena had been restricted to Juuban by her parents in the hopes that she'd grow to like it there. Instead she was starting to become antagonistic towards her parents for keeping her here.
Lan knew damn well that soon Serena would start rebelling against them if she wasn't allowed to come visit him soon. " Hey, as long as no Net Savers business comes up I'm free this weekend, the whole weekend. I can have my mom call yours and set it up for me to stay with you. "
Serena blinks, " You'd sacrifice the ambient energy you'd gain over the weekend for me? Damn, I was right about the sentiment behind the pendant, wasn't I? "
" Depends, what do you think the sentiment was? " Lan fires back, smirking.
" Hmm, well, I guess I could be wrong, it does happen on occasion. " Serena states.
Lan gives her a deadpan look, " Want me to tell Chaud that? "
Serena's sapphire blue eyes widen in horror, " Lan Hikari, you wouldn't dare! "
" Well, I might be able to be persuaded to not tell Chaud. " Lan says.
The blonde rolls her eyes at this, she had truly missed Lan, hell she missed doing her job as a Net Saver. Her parents wouldn't even let her do that. They didn't know about her entering Net Battle tournaments in different districts. Serena had decided enough was enough, she was going to Net Battle whether they liked it or not. She had managed to score several sweet battle chips that way and get her PET upgraded as a prize. She'd had to enter under a different name and appearance to keep her parents from throwing a fit. They felt she spent too much time with technology. They allowed her to keep her PET because it was the only way she could study and retain the information.
They still didn't understand that she was a technomancer, she even had a side business for fixing tech so she could keep her room up to date tech wise and to feed her manga addiction. " Just what would persuading you entail, Lan? " Serena asks him, making sure to change her tone for entail.
MegaMan silently laughs at this, Serena had always been able to turn the tables on his dear brother. Lan almost gulps at this, damn, why the hell did she have to be so damn sexy at this moment. Lan's brown eyes narrow, screw it, it was about time he claimed what was his. Serena was only briefly stunned when Lan pulled her into a sizzling first kiss. She had been right. Diana heads into Lan's PET, " Only took them long enough. "
MegaMan grins, " Hey, do you know how many of Lan's friends bet on him hooking up with Maylu? "
Diana laughs at this, he had a point, even Maylu would be blindsided by this. None of them had ever even entertained the notion that Lan was interested in anyone other than Maylu. The female Navi looks at one of the better skilled Navis out there, " How do you think Maylu will take it? "
MegaMan winces, " Not well, she's just as hung up on Lan as Roll is on me. "
Diana looks at him, " You haven't told her yet, have you? "
" Are you crazy, she'll delete me! " MegaMan yelps, he'd already been deleted twice, he had no pressing desire to experience that again anytime soon.
Diana sighs, she had to grant him that, no female took rejection well. " I'll make sure I'm present when you tell her then so I can keep her from going postal on you. "
MegaMan sighs at this, like all males he knew better than to piss off the fairer sex without a heavy amount of back-up or an exit plan. None of his friends except for ProtoMan knew about him and Diana. ProtoMan understood why he was keeping his mouth shut too, as they had both seen Roll pissed off when she faced WackoMan at the N1 GrandPrix three years ago. That was one female Navi you just did not want to piss off, nor did you want to piss her NetOp off either. Neither Navi had realized their Op's had ended their kiss, " Diannnnnna. "
" MegaaaaaaaaMan. "
" Is there something you two need to tell us. " Lan and Serena say together.
Both Navis look up from Lan's PET to see their Op's both looking at them, MegaMan, Hub, winces, " Lan, I would have told you but Maylu and Roll were almost always around. " MegaMan was quick to say.
Diana just sighs at the arched eyebrow her Op offers her, " I didn't say anything because I knew how much you missed Lan. Hell, I'm actually surprised you haven't snapped and killed someone yet. "
Serena flinches at this, Lan looks at her, " You didn't, did you? "
This was something only Lan, Diana, and MegaMan knew about her. Due to how badly she'd been bullied when she was younger she'd developed an alternate personality. This personality was extremely violent, " I don't know. "
Lan curses under his breath, he had been the only one capable of calming her, Nyx, as he had dubbed Serena's alternate personality, " Nyx, come out, now. "
Serena's eyes darken to midnight blue, " Yes, Lan? "
" What did you do? "
Nyx sighs, " I only sent the damn punks to the ER, now if they didn't get adequate care they may not have lived, it was them or her, Lan. "
Lan sighs, he knew just how protective of Serena Nyx happened to be, " Is there going to be any problems with me dating Serena, Nyx? "
Nyx looks at him, " You are one of the few things Serena and I agree on. Since Serena and I are in essence the same person, we've agreed to share. "
Lan blinks, " I guess that does make sense, don't shut her out like that, Nyx. It scares her when she doesn't know what you've done. "
Nyx sighs but has to admit that he did have a point with that. " All right, Lan, I'll only shut her out if I feel I need to, but I will let her know that I didn't directly kill anyone. "
" Thank you for that, Nyx. " Lan says.
It was Lan's turn to be surprised, though in retrospect he shouldn't have been. Nyx was more assertive than Serena, more aggressive, and damn if he didn't like the contrast. MegaMan sighs, Serena had suffered enough, more than enough, yet no one had ever taken her for counseling. She only had him, Diana, and Lan to turn to. Serena found it very hard to make friends because most people only used her for her brains. Lan was just as smart as her and could give her an intelligent conversation when she needed one. Plus, there was the fact that they both loved Net Battling. That gave Serena something she could do for fun and engage her brain.
Lan ended up joining the Tsukinos for dinner and once he was gone Kenji turns to his daughter, " I honestly don't understand why you don't like it here. This is a fine place to live, Serena. "
" Yeah, unless you happen to be a technomancer like I am. " Serena retorts.
" You are entirely to addicted to technology. We let you keep what you have because it helps keep your grades at an acceptable level. " Kenji states.
Serena's eyes narrow and turn midnight blue, Nyx was out now, " Not addicted you moron. I am a technomancer, this means that I need the ambient energy that comes from tech. My magic teacher explained this to you! "
Kenji snorts, " Anymore of that magic talk and you will be out of this house. "
" I don't think so, you're not the heir to the family I am. Did you forget that your mother is a demon huntress, father? " Nyx snaps back.
Ikkuko and Sammy watch on nervously as the confrontation unfolds, Umika owned the house they were living in, one word from Serena they'd be out a home. Kenji knew it too, he knew he had no power over his daughter, that was when his eyes narrow, " Go to your room, now! "
Nyx snorts, " I was done anyhow, I would have already left if you hadn't started on your pedantic ramblings about why I should like this technologically backwards district. " With that said she takes her leave and the rest of her family is left in stunned silence.
Kenji looks at Ikkuko, " Mother was sure she'd like it here. "
Ikkuko snorts, " Yeah, I doubt that will ever happen. You just had to start in on the technology thing again, didn't you? Lan had gotten her calmed down from her earlier rage and you go and get her pissed off again. "
Kenji groans, Serena hadn't been happy since they'd moved to Juuban, and worse still, she was getting more antagonistic the longer they stayed here. His mother had insisted that Serena needed to be in Juuban for several years, yet if this kept up she'd leave. She could easily get a job at SciLabs, though she did happen to be a Net Saver. She still made money off of that and he knew she had a small tech repair business going. She was saving up all so, if she got fed up, she could file for emancipation, or just leave and not return. The irate fourteen year old glares at her bedroom wall, why the hell was it decorated in bunnies? Not even Serena liked bunnies. Ikkuko must have guilted her light side into this hell of a room. Serena didn't even have any good clothes, Amaterasu, did she have to be such a pleaser?
Nyx's gaze snaps over to her window to see that cat Serena had saved come in. When said cat starts speaking to her Nyx just stares at her, " In other words you want me to be a freaking magical girl, a mahou shojo, yeah, I don't think so. "
" You are meant to be Sailor Moon. "
Nyx just rolls her eyes and docks her PET, grabbing the already charged one, transferring Diana, and placing her PET back into its holder at her hip. " Not happening, kitty. I refuse to be some magical girl that will most likely look like a sex symbol. "
Luna glares at her, " If you wish to remain within the Tsukino family you will. "
Nyx snarls at this, her damnable grandmother, the one relative she had thought could be trusted had known this was coming, " I'm already an honorary Blaze, won't take much to make that official. "
Luna pales, the girl hadn't even flinched at the threat like her grandmother had said she would. What was going on here? " Don't you care that millions of lives could be at stake? "
Nyx looks at her, " I am a fully accredited demon huntress, I will not become a magical girl. Get lost, cat. "
Instead Luna performs a backflip and Nyx refuses to touch the broach that appeared with her bare hands, she puts on a pair of gloves, grabs the broach and cat, before heading downstairs, depositing them with her father, " Tell baa-chan that if she ever tries to manipulate my life like this again her heiress will become Chaud Blaze's little sister, got it. Keep that broach and cat away from me, or kitty dies. "
Serena actually agreed with her on this one. That cat was a menace. " Sorry, Serena, but to remain heiress you must accept the duty that cat brings you. " Kenji states.
Nyx grabs the broach and slams it as hard as she can into the wall, shattering it, " I know methods of control as I see them. I will not be controlled by a piece of jewelry. "
Kenji gulps, he hated it when his daughter got like this, " Miss Tsukino, I assure that broach has no means of… "
" Luna, shut up! " Nyx snaps and spins on her heel, putting her shoes on, before heading out the door.
" Sorry, Luna, we tried to warn mother that Serena would not go for being a magical girl. She refused to listen and now our daughter can barely stand to be in the same room as us. " Kenji says.
Nyx snarls violently as she storms down the sidewalk, those that came out at night gave her a very wide berth, not wanting to be in her way, lest she vent her anger on them. Midnight blue eyes were more than ready to kill the first idiot that she came across. Serena had decided that she had no problem with this. She was done being the good girl, if her own grandmother was going to betray her like that then why should she try and please the woman. Neither personality wanted anything to do with being a magical girl. In fact Nyx and Serena were ready to contact Mr. Famous and get registered as a demon huntress, this way she would have a paying job, be doing her family duty, and have an excuse to get out of Haruna's class that she couldn't dare argue with, " Diana, contact Famous, would you? It's time to take my destiny into my own hands. "
Diana does so and one conversation later Serena Tsukino is a registered demon huntress throughout all of Japan. Nyx then pulls out her cell phone and calls her grandmother. It was time to tell the old woman where she could stick her meddling nose. " Serena, darling, have you met Luna? "
" I've registered myself as a demon huntress through Net Savers, I refuse to work for Luna. You try and push this and I can become Chaud Blaze's little sister legally very quickly. You ever try to order my life like this again and I will leave the Tsukino line, permanently. I am a goddamned technomancer, I need ambient tech energy to thrive and you send me to a Podunk district where I am about ready to kill everyone and everything simply because I cannot get enough ambient tech energy. " Nyx snaps.
On the other end Tsukino Umika winces, Kenji and Ikkuko had warned her that their daughter would not take well to Juuban or being a magical girl. Luna had already informed her that Serena had broken the broach meant to help her in her destiny, " You will stay in Juuban until your duty is done to Luna's satisfaction. "
" Fat chance of that, obaa-san. I will not listen to that damn cat no matter what you threaten me with. If necessary I will leave Juuban to get away from the annoying and I'm sure bitchy feline. " Nyx snarls it over the wavelengths connecting the call.
Nyx hangs up and sighs when she spies a youma, she sends an energy ball at it, destroying the youma in the jewelry shop. She did not need to be a mahou shojo in order to destroy youma. She puts in another call to Famous to get her transferred back to DenTech, then she places a call to Chaud to have him pick up her stuff, there was no way in hell she was staying around this place any longer. She could easily patrol with the help of the other demon hunters employed by the Net Savers. She could also stay with the Hikaris or with Chaud.
Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman NT Warrior or Sailor Moon.