Navy Cosplay

 

Chapter 4 – Unexpected Awakening

 

That afternoon, Vicky was sitting in her office, sorting through some paperwork. Looking at it all, she shook her head. “I can’t believe they would fly on more new people just 2 days before a port visit. Couldn’t they have just flown them to France instead?” she whispered to herself. “Of course not.” She then thought, “That just makes sense. Heaven forbid the Navy do anything that makes sense.”

 

One of these ‘new people’ that Vicky was referring to was walking around the ship. He had short red hair that was just beginning to gray at the temples and brown eyes that nearly looked gold. As he walked around, he was thinking to himself. “Someone hurt my Princess. I HAVE to find out who did it.”

 

Later that evening, Brianna was in the forward mess decks. Feeling a bit sick, she decided that she had had enough navy chow for one day and went to drop her tray off. As she was walking, she began to feel a bit light-headed. After dropping her tray off, she began to walk thru the mess decks to medical, where she was meeting everyone. She began to feel even more light-headed and then she passed out.

 

The same red-haired man was just happening to be behind Brianna when she passed out.  Catching her, he laid her on the ground. He then looked up and yelled “Medical Emergency!!” When he saw people running to call medical, he then took his coat off and laid it underneath her head. It was then that he caught a good look at her face. His face then turned to one of surprise. “Mars?” he thought to himself. As he waited for the medical and security to arrive, he began to look her over.

 

Meanwhile, back in medical, Amy, Stephanie, Erin, and Brandie were sitting by Sandra’s bed, and talking to her. “Sorry Brianna isn’t here.” Amy told Sandra.

 

“That’s alright.” Sandra said, smiling. “I’m sure she’ll show up eventually.” Before anyone could say anything else, the Medical Emergency was called away.

 

“Excuse me.” Brandie said, getting up quickly. “I promised to help out the medical team. I’ll be right back.”

 

With that, she rushed out the door and headed the short distance to the place where she was needed. On the way, she ran into Adrienne, who was also headed to the scene. Running together, they reach the forward mess decks. Both girls were shocked at who was down, but then began to do their jobs.

 

10 minutes later, the scene was clear except for the two young women who knew the hurt young woman. They were off to one side, talking.

 

 “Sandra is doing a lot better.” Brandie told her friend. “She is awake and visiting with the other girls. But the doctor said she needed to stay another day, for more tests.”

 

“I see.” Adrienne said. As they talked, the red-haired man walked towards them. It wasn’t until he was right next to them that they saw him. As he walked by he nodded at them. “I would suggest someone take a look at Trapp’s hands. Have a good evening, ladies.”

 

The two of them watched him leave with shocked looks on their faces.  They then looked at each other. “What the hell is HE doing here?” Brandie asked.

 

“I have NO clue.” Adrienne replied. “Thing is, is he even awake?”

 

“If he is awake, or even if he isn’t, him being here isn’t a good sign.  Did you catch his current name?” Brandie told her.

 

“No. Sorry I was a little too dazed just seeing him here.”

 

Brandie then looked at her watch. “Gonna head back to medical. Will you be by later?”

 

“I might.” She said, “But I was just going to go talk to Vicky and Toni. See if they have seen him. Maybe they could keep an eye out for him. See if they can catch what his current name is.”

 

Brandie nodded. “Talk to you later, then.” She then headed off to medical. When she reached there, the recovery room was empty save for Sandra in her cot and Brianna in the one right next to her. Both were sleeping. Going to Brianna, she pulled her record out and looked at it. Not finding what she wanted, she put it back and began to examine the young woman’s hands. She saw a faint gray pallor to the hands, as if they had been in contact with a foreign substance. “He was right. She had contact with the stuff on the princess’s coveralls.” she thought. She then closed her eyes and focused her healing on first the hands, then the entire body. 5 minutes later, the hands were back to normal. “Both of you should be out of here tomorrow, so you can enjoy the port visit.” She said quietly, and then left the room.

 

That same evening, Toni was supervising the activities in her hangar bay when she felt a powerful presence. Looking for it, she spotted it in the red-haired man walking by her. She was just staring at his face as he walked past her. “Good evening, m’lady.” He said. By the time she came out of her shocked stare, he was gone. “HE’s here?!?” she thought. “I didn’t even know he had been reborn. I’ve got to tell the others about it later.”

 

The next day, the Training office was packed with the new arrivals, which included the red-haired man.  Vicky was at her computer, typing in the information for the arrivals. Taking her eyes off her screen for a break, she spotted him. But before she could go up to him, he was gone. Looking back at her computer, she smiled. “At least I got his name.” she thought as she looked thru the files at her desk and found the one she wanted. Opening it, she read the info inside about the red-haired man named William Forde.

 

At lunch that day, Sandra and her four friends sat at a corner table in the aft mess decks. Erin looked at Sandra, then at Brianna. “It is so nice to have the two of you back again, Usagi-chan, Rei-chan.” She said happily, “It was so boring without you.”

 

Sandra grinned. “Thanks. It sure is nice to be out of medical. And I’m going to be sure to be careful whenever I’m going up or down a ladderwell.” She took a bite of her spaghetti, and then continued. “So, what are we gonna do in France?”

 

Stephanie put her cup down. “We are so lucky we all have the same duty day. I’ve signed all of us up for a few of the small tours. Since our first tour starts at noon tomorrow, we’ll be among the first to leave the boat.”

 

“Sweet.” Sandy said, and all of the others agreed with her.

 

“Other than the tours,” Amy interjected, “We need to sit down and talk about this cosplay group idea we had. Not today necessarily, but sometime during the visit.”

 

“It is so nice to see you alive and well, Sandra.” A male voice is heard from behind them. Looking up, they saw that it was Dale. Sandy smiled serenely at him. “Thanks.” She said, blushing a little.

 

“Don’t worry about your delinquent hazmat items.” He then said, sitting next to her, “I took care of them for ya.”

 

“You mean, you made sure I wasn’t on the dink list!? You sure do know how to rescue a damsel in distress. Thanks.” Sandy said, giving him a quick hug. She then quickly pulled away from him. “Hope no one important saw that.” She then said, “Wouldn’t want to get into any trouble.”

 

Dale nodded in agreement. “So, what are you guys doing while in port? Going on any tours?”

 

Sandy nodded. “We sure are. Minako-chan, I mean Stephanie, booked us on a few tours during this port.” She looks at her friend. “Where exactly are we going tomorrow, anyway?”

 

“Just a small tour of the local castles in the area.” Stephanie replied. Dale’s face became depressed. Everyone looked at him. “What is it?” she asks.

 

Dale shakes his head. “Nothing.” He gets up from the table. “I’ve got to get back to work. Talk to y’all later.” He then quickly departs.

 

Everyone looked at each other. Sandy then shrugs her head. “Oh well. So, what time should we get together tomorrow?” With that, the group of five began to talk and make plans for the following day.

 

Back in a dim store room, a young man sat at his desk, deep in thought. “A port visit. A perfect place to get rid of the sleeping princess. If I could only isolate her. Now, who is she?”  He then began to look for a way for his creature to find and kill his target.

 

When his stomach rumbled, he realized he had skipped lunch. Locking his storeroom up, he headed to the vending area on the mess decks. After grabbing a soda and a few bags of chips, he walks thru the mess decks to get to his berthing. On his way, he passes the group of five girls at one of the tables. They had empty trays and plates in front of them, and they were talking animatedly about the port visit and where they were going to go.  He got a look at the girl in the center, with her platinum blonde hair and blue eyes. “She’s cute.”  He thought as he walked past. “Her nametape said BROWN. I’ll remember her face. If I see her around again, I might ask her out or something.”

 

The next day was a busy one for the entire ship. They had to set up various items, keep anxious sailors at bay and away from the set-up area, and deal with the pulling into the foreign port of Marseilles, France. Finally, at around noon, the call over the intercom was made. 

 

“Liberty Call, Liberty Call. Liberty Call for 1400 tour groups and all E-7 and above. I say again, Liberty call.”

 

In the Hangar Bay, Sandy and her four friends were in the liberty line. Each wore neat civilian clothing. After hearing the call, the security people began letting people off. After checking the validity of their tour tickets, the group of 5 were let off the boat and onto the pier.

Unknowingly to the 5, Adrienne, Vicky, Toni, and Brandie had taken the same tour. They did this to keep an eye on the girls and make sure they were protected. But unknowingly to these 4, someone else was keeping an eye out for ALL 9 of them.

 

3 hours later, the girls’ tour was done. They were in the city of Marseilles, shopping. They had just left one shop and started to head down an alleyway to another street. Suddenly, a large burst of wind slammed directly into Sandy, slamming her into the wall. The impact into the wall made her slump to the ground.

 

A strange figure saw the creature off, then walked off. He had his hands in his pockets.  “I’m so sorry, Princess. But in order to save the world, you must die.”

 

The other four looked around quickly after Sandy was attacked.  “What the heck was that?” Amy asked. They had no reason to ask when a creature came lumbering their way, heading straight for the fallen girl.

 

At the same time, another lone figure was standing about halfway down the alleyway, hidden in the shadows. He wore a large, floppy brimmed hat that covered his head and most of his face. He was watching this encounter with avid interest.

 

It was then that Adrienne and her friends came out of nowhere.  Adrienne grabbed Sandra while the other three quickly grabbed the arms of Amy, Erin, and Stephanie and rushed them down the alleyway and out of danger’s path. “We’ll be right back for you.” Toni said quickly to Brianna before she headed with the others.

 

Brianna heard this comment and realized that she had been left alone. Not afraid, she pulled a thin slip of paper out of her jeans pocket. Murmuring a few short phrases, she threw it at the creature. The creature stopped when the slip hit its forehead, but only for a moment.

 

“Great.”  She thought to herself. ”I’m gonna die here.”  She decided that maybe she could try attacking again, and grabbed another slip from her pocket.

 

But before she could do anything, she heard a voice in her head. “That slip of paper is useless against this thing.”  The voice said, “Use this instead. It’ll work a lot better. I’m sure you know how to use it.”  In front of her, a small red wand suddenly appeared. It had a red crystal on top of it, with the symbol of Mars appearing inside of it in gold. After grabbing hold of it,  more words floated into her mind.

 

Brianna raised the wand into the air and shouted “MARS CRYSTAL POWER – MAKE-UP!!” She was then covered in large rings of flame as she was transformed for the first time. When she emerged, she wore the senshi fuku she had only seen in her favorite anime. The one  worn by the character she had always admired. She glared at the still advancing creature in front of her. The creature saw her and stopped.

 

“How dare you attack one of my friends while we were having fun. I am Sailor Mars. And on behalf of Mars, you’re going down in flames!!” Brianna told it.  Closing her eyes, she then pulled a flame bow out of nowhere, complete with a notched arrow. Opening them, she aimed it straight at the creature. “FLAME ARROW!!” she cried, and let loose the arrow at it. The creature had no time to react, and burst into flames, turning quickly into ash.

 

As the creature burst into flame, Adrienne and her 3 friends came running down the alleyway toward her. As they ran toward her, the lone man who had been in the shadows walked past them. He nodded his head to them silently and continued on.

 

Brianna was still shocked about this new revelation in her life that she hardly noticed the 4 approach her. When they did, however, she looked right at them. “It’s about time you showed up.  I took care of the threat.” She said, motioning toward the pile of dust.

 

“I’ll say.” Toni said, and then looked at her. “You recognize us for our true forms?” she then asked.

 

Brianna nodded her head. “And I also know that it is our job to make sure that the Princess and the other inner senshi don’t have to awaken.” Closing her eyes, she de-henshined into her normal self. “Now, shall we join the others in a little shopping and food?”

 

The 5 women then headed down the alleyway, and finished the rest of their 1^st day in port. But that was only the beginning, as more trouble brews every second. A trouble that only they could fight.