:: Greenstone: History ::

A new figure stood before the throne of Queen Beryl, in the great hall of the Dark Kingdom: a confident, handsome man with long auburn hair. There was something smug about him, and his cocksure words reinforced this impression.

Queen Beryl smiled, one of her small, deadly smiles. 'And how would you go about it, Nephrite?'

'I can extract adequate energy from a single human. There is no need for a mass.'

'Truly?' Always, the Queen's dark-nailed hands moved hypnotically around the globe before her.

'Humanity is controlled by the movements of the stars, leading them to their different fates. The same is true of energy. There is a moment in every life when the energy level peaks. By reading the stars, therefore, I will locate the prey whose energy is coming to its peak.'

So far, so good. Nephrite seemed to be carrying his audience. But there was a voice of dissent. (Isn't there always?) Making a flamboyant entrance in his trademark cloud of pink petals, Zoisite appeared in mid-air behind Nephrite.

'Aren't you the confident one.'

Nephrite's annoyance was obvious. 'Zoisite? What brings you here?'

Floaty Zoey!

'Your overconfidence will be your downfall,' Zoisite murmured. If he had hoped to rattle his superior, he failed. Nephrite's response was simple and utterly dismissive: 'Leave.' He turned back to the Queen as though Zoisite were nothing more than a noise he had shut off.

'I will walk the human world, and seek out their weaknesses. There will be no interference from anybody.'

The power game was not over. 'I can see you grovelling to Queen Beryl,' Zoisite remarked, smirking. Nephrite spared him a glare. 'Ooh - very scary,' the younger man said, satisfied to have provoked him, and in another swirl of petals, he was gone. (Query: Who was Zoisite's florist? They must have become a millionaire, especially if they had the Tuxedo9 Kamen account as well.)

'Nephrite,' said the Queen, 'you are to deal with this matter.' And, as usual, the Queen's word was final.

Out in the world of sunshine and life, a crowd gathered round a young schoolgirl as she made her way to the Juuban tennis courts. Journalists and photographers jostled each other, peppering her with questions - how was she doing? How did she feel about her next tournament?

'I don't know,' she said, politely noncommittal. 'I have to get to practice.' She ducked out of their way and made for the court.

A presence of darkness entered this bright world. High on a hill, the air thickened, warped, darkened. A gloomy pine forest came into existence, at its heart a lofty stone house, reminiscent of a Gothic cathedral. (Ten points for style.) Nephrite stood in a cavernous room, and spoke to the empty air.

Through the windows, the sky flared to prismatic colours. Then Nephrite looked into other skies. The image of a shimmering galaxy floated in the air before him, stars and planets gliding along tracks of light, the infinitely complex clockwork that keeps the universe ticking over.

From the heart of the galaxy, a beam of light lanced out, and struck Nephrite's forehead. With the light came revelation; in his mind he saw his prey, indicated by the arrow of Sagittarius, the archer. An athletic young woman, with dark hair in a heavy ponytail. She shone with determination and grace. Her name was Saionji Rui. He would possess her energy.

If Rui was a celebrity, and these days it looked more and more like it, she had no more devoted fans than her fellow students. There was always an eager crowd of schoolkids gathered outside the tall chain-link fences of the tennis courts, just to watch her practise. Cries of 'Go for it, Saionji-senpai!' spurred her on. Among the onlookers were two girls from the eighth grade at Juuban Junior High. If I tell you one of them had blonde hair, tied up in two funny little buns with long curling ponytails hanging from them, no further introduction should be necessary. Usagi is easily impressed, so she's a very nice person to have cheering you on. Her friend Naru was no less enthusiastic.

'That Rui-senpai was your sister,' Usagi said. She scowled at Naru. 'If you keep secrets from your friends, you'll be punished!' (Complete with the 'oshiokyo' hand gestures. Am I the only person who gets a buzz when she does things like that in civvies?)

'You dummy, Usagi.' Usagi kinda blew her stack at this point, and demanded to know what Naru meant.

'Oh yeah...' (Well, folks, I guess we wouldn't want her to strain her brain trying to be any smarter... *^.^*) 'But you called her onee-san!' ('Big sister.')

Naru leaned against the fence and hooked her fingers into the wire, gazing proudly at Rui while she spoke.

'Well, Rui-onee-san's mother comes to my mother's shop all the time. So we played together a lot. She's only a year older than me, but it feels like she's my real big sister.' That explanation seemed to satisfy Usagi (although it made me wonder how much jewellery Mrs Saionji wears. The woman must look like a Christmas tree). They might have gone on watching the practice game uninterrupted if something else hadn't caught their attention - and the attention of every other red-blooded girl in the immediate vicinity. Approaching the fence on the other side of the court was a tall young man, auburn curls falling over the shoulders of his pale blue jacket. He appeared oblivious to the other people around him, his handsome face quite preoccupied as he watched Rui appraisingly. Whispers buzzed and rushed around him - wasn't he gorgeous? One girl thought he was a businessman. Someone else was sure he was the president of a newly formed company. (Across the court, Usagi and Naru had big thumping pink hearts in their eyes.)

Doki-doki!

The whispers turned to squeals and gasps of amazement when the man tensed slightly, then sprang into the air, flipping neatly over and landing on the far side of the fence, nonchalant, with hardly a hair out of place. (What I found particularly impressive was that he executed the entire manoeuvre without taking his hands out of his pockets. Once again, what STYLE!)

'You can't come in here,' Rui told him, indignant and startled. He disregarded this smoothly.

'Put more weight onto the ball,' he commanded. Rui's tennis partner, like everyone else, was staring at him, gobsmacked. He turned to her and asked for her racquet. 'S-sure,' she said, flustered, handing it over and getting out of the way.

May I?

Spang!

'Now,' the man said, 'serve.' Rui was still puzzled, but this was one thing she was confident about. She smashed the ball towards him, a strong, clean shot. He sent it back with incredible power. The returning ball struck Rui's racquet from her hand. As the spectators gasped in amazement, she dropped to her knees, holding her stinging wrist. This was unheard of.

'A fly could land on a serve that slow,' said the man, walking towards her. Rui looked up at him apprehensively.

'Sanjouin Masato... a curious coach.' As Rui got to her feet, Sanjouin bent forward to pick up her racquet from the court. She murmured her thanks, which again, he seemed to ignore.

For Nephrite (for indeed it was he - like no-one in the audience had guessed *^.^*), time slowed down for a moment. The colour drained from the world as he concentrated fiercely, embedding a demonic presence in the very matter of the racquet. There, it would enhance Rui's energy until it peaked, then snatch it away. An arcane sign flared briefly on the racquet's handle, then faded away. Nephrite straightened up.

'Concentrate on putting your weight into it,' he advised Rui, as he gave the racquet back. 'Yes,' she said, a little vaguely. As she took the racquet, something in her eyes changed. Turning to the crowd, Sanjouin called out 'Will someone receive her serve?'

An eager boy in shorts and teeshirt ran forward, shouting 'I will!' to the good-humoured groans of the others who had been waiting. 'Well,' he said, 'first come, first serve.' (For a joke that bad, he deserves whatever's coming to him.) It was an honour to play a game against Saionji-senpai.

Almost dreamily, Rui tossed the ball in the air, and served. There was no question of the boy returning it. The ball smashed the racket from his hand, knocked him flying, and buried itself in the surface of the court. The crowd were amazed all over again. Rui was delighted. She turned to thank her uninvited coach... but he was nowhere to be seen.

From a rooftop (I only wish I could jump like that), the wind tugging at his hair, Nephrite watched her. 'The more you use that racquet, the greater your energy.'

'She is AWESOME!' Usagi squealed. But the cheerleader spirit had gone out of Naru.

Naru was not the only one with trouble on her mind - but when you're a guardian cat, you tend to think about things like that all the time. Under cover of night, Luna made her way to the Crown video arcade, slipped in, and positioned herself before a certain specially modified game machine. The screen lit up with glowing pulses of colour.

'Codename 0091,' she said. 'Luna here. Password: The rabbit on the moon is making rice-cakes. Come in, please.'

A distorted, robotic voice from the game screen gave the countersign: 'The rice cakes are sticky.'

'When they're baked,' replied Luna, 'they blow up.' (Moral: Don't let a rabbit into your kitchen.)

'We have discovered the nature of our enemy,' said the metallic warble of a voice.

'Dark Kingdom?' Hino Rei repeated, wonderingly. She, Mizuno Ami and Usagi had been called together by Luna at Rei's family's shrine. Rei had been sweeping the yard, but this news was enough to make her pause.

'I say just storm in and get it over with!' Rei exclaimed, pushing up her sleeves, ready to kick butt at a moment's notice.

'Ami is right,' Luna said. 'For now, the best way you can prepare is through study or physical training, okay?'

'I think for training, we should try tennis!' Usagi burst out, swiping her arm through the air as though she held a racquet. A mildly fiendish look came over her face as she added 'There's this hunky coach called Sanjouin Masato...'

Luna heaved a big sigh for a small cat. 'I'm so glad Ami-chan and Rei-chan are in on this,' she said. 'If it was just Usagi-chan the enemy would have bled Earth dry by now.'

'Ami-chan!' Usagi wailed, flinging herself at her, 'you're the only one on my side!' She clung pathetically to Ami for a moment before pulling back and adding perkily 'So let's play tennis with just the two of us!'

'But I can't miss cram school,' Ami said. 'Sorry...' The smile slid off Usagi's face.

Back at the tennis court, another player fell before Rui, her racquet broken by the force of another killer serve. Rui walked forward, and very deliberately put her foot down on the broken racquet. Her face had changed; her eyes seemed narrower and harder.

'Well?' she purred. 'There are plenty of spare racquets. Get back to the game.' The other girl looked up at her fearfully.

Naru still watched from the fenceline. 'Rui-onee-san never used to be like that.'

Naru and Usagi sat on the floor of Naru's room, a tray of tea between them. Naru seemed uneasy.

'I'm sort of worried about Rui-onee-san. She's been rough on her equipment... she never used to do that kind of thing. She's really changed.'

Naru remembered Rui as a little girl - a big girl, she'd seemed to Naru then, a strong girl who'd made bullies leave her alone, who'd taught her games and encouraged her... she could only wonder what had happened to her. Because when she went to her, spoke to her, asked what was going on, if there was anything she could do, Rui had looked at her coldly, almost contemptuously, and said 'It has nothing to do with you.' Naru had been embarrassed, hurt by the rebuff. 'I'm sorry,' she murmured.

Waah!

'I don't understand why she'd act that way,' she said, tearfully. 'I'm afraid something really bad has happened to her, but she wouldn't tell me anything.' Naru wiped her eyes.

'I see...' Usagi said pensively. Her face brightened. (You could practically see the lightbulb.) 'Say, Naru-chan, let's go and find out what's going on. I'll help you.' Naru beamed gratefully at her friend.

It was getting near dark when they arrived at the courts where Rui practised after school. Usagi stared at the place so hard that Naru asked 'What is it?'

'Oh, nothing!' Usagi assured her, but thought to herself, 'I'm getting a bad vibe from this place. Could it be a youma? Hang on - if I handle this all by myself, that'll really show Luna and Rei-chan!' (More fiendish grinning. You have to worry about Usagi sometimes.)

'Are you okay!?' Another player crashed groaning to the court, and his partner leaned forward anxiously. (Yes, Rui was apparently playing doubles by herself.) 'What a serve!'

'Stop!' Naru stood in the way, defiant. The men took this opportunity to quietly skulk away.

'Get out of my way, Naru-chan,' the older girl snarled. She was beginning to twitch.

'Get out!' Rui screamed. 'OUT!' There was no tennis ball now. What she struck towards them with the racquet was a howling gale of anger. It lifted them off their feet, screaming, and flung them across the court into the shrubs by the fence. Naru dropped to the ground unconscious. Usagi was okay because... well, because she's the heroine, and heroines aren't as easy to knock out as supporting characters.

Rui convulsed. Somewhere, Nephrite knew her energy level had peaked. He loosed the youma Tesni.

Hellish light shone from Rui's racquet. As she sagged to the ground, blank-eyed, a dark wraith struggled out, exulting that it possessed her energy. Usagi, looking on, thought 'It was a youma after all! Now I'll show them...

Owing to the text format of the present document, the management requests that you imagine the henshin animation yourself. Humming the music is not compulsory, but will add to the overall experience. Wait for it, now...Ta-daa - Sailormoon! And as a special treat, she's gonna make a speech.

'A youma can't aim for the ace!' Sailormoon declaimed to Tesni (who was probably very confused unless she knew this was a reference to an old tennis series called Aim For the Ace).

'How dare you use tennis for evil!?' Sailormoon went on. 'Navratilova would be so mad at you!' (See, even before Michiru and Haruka, there was a lesbian presence in this show. *^.^*) All that was just a warm-up; she now launched into the full love-and-justice spiel, concluding with 'In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!'

'Silence!' roared Tesni. (No appreciation of oratory there.) Tesni's first attack was, er, strategically brilliant. She encased Sailormoon in a giant tennis ball, with only her arms, legs and head sticking out.

'Wh- what's going on?' Sailormoon wailed. 'I look so DUMB!' Not that it was easy to talk coherently while Tesni caused the ball to bounce wildly around the court, jolting and jouncing her.

'I should've come with the others!' Tesni appeared to find this richly amusing, and was yukking it up right until a red rose, thrown like a dart, lashed across her face.

'Who goes there?' the startled youma demanded. Well, I know, I'm sure you've guessed, and Sailormoon was in no doubt. Yes, folks, Tuxedo Kamen, in his cute li'l penguin suit.

'Looks like fun,' the masked man replied. 'Let's see you try.' (What I love about this conversation is that while they're talking so tough, you can see Sailormoon in the distant background, still stuck in the tennis ball, trying to get up and yammering.)

Battle ensued. *sigh* I find it tedious to describe battles. You know who's going to win, after all, and in writing this particular summary, I've found myself covering an awful lot that doesn't have much bearing on the Naru-and-Nephrite story. Through some pretty nifty co-operation (is it just me, or was Sailormoon actually getting pretty competent during this period?) Tuxedo Kamen and Sailormoon annihilated Tesni, just as Luna arrived with Sailors Mercury and Mars.

Later (probably the next day) Usagi and Naru watched as Rui played again. She looked normal and happy once more, and although her game had lost none of its edge, she was no longer playing fiercely.

'At least she's feeling better,' Usagi pointed out, and Naru seemed to be content with this. While Usagi leaned back on the fence to bask in the sense of a job well done, Rui asked Naru to play a game with her, just for fun.

'Oh no I won't!' Rui laughed, and let her serve. Naru decided to play her special 'trick serve,' which unfortunately resulted in a ball between the eyes for Usagi, daydreaming of playing tennis with Tuxedo Kamen...

A silly, happy ending for an episode that, although it introduced an ominous new enemy, never got too heavy in tone. The idea itself of using tennis for evil is enjoyably daft. But Usagi was not the only one with romantic dreams, and the consequences of these dreams would be more serious than anyone imagined... the real story begins here.

Using Tennis for Evil