A Little Violence
By Kevin McHorney

Sailor Moon created by Naoko Takeuchi.  No moon cats were harmed 
in the creation of this story.

	Ami froze as she heard Rei cry out, "I'm hit. I'm hit!"  
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she realized 
that she was now alone with Makoto.

	Almost as if Makoto was reading her mind, Ami heard her  
voice drift down the narrow corridors.  "Ami, it's just you and 
me now.  I hope you're ready."

	Ami crouched and slid her fingers under the elastic 
holding her mask in place.  The band digging into her head was 
starting to irritate her skin.  She adjusted her mask and 
clutched her rifle close to her chest, the unfamiliar weight 
giving her some comfort.  Makoto's the best at this sort of thing, 
Ami thought.  I better think of a plan.

	No plan came to mind as she looked down the dark, narrow 
corridor.  The walls were painted a with jagged lines of gray and 
black with frequent blotches of color.  Ami inched forward, her 
senses straining for any trace of her friend and opponent.
	She reached a T intersection and paused, trying to decide 
down which path Makoto was more likely to be waiting.  Then she 
heard a sound from the left corridor, the soft rustle of clothes 
and a rattle.  Ami dropped to one knee and aimed her rifle down 
the corridor, her finger tensed on the trigger waiting to pull at 
the first sign of a target.

	No one appeared however, and Ami took a cautious step 
forward.  She remained in her crouch to present a smaller target.  
She took one hesitant step after another until she reached a 
branching corridor.  Ami was about to advance when she paused .  
Something about the wall across from the corridor was bothering 
her.  Then her eyes went wide.

	She silently moved until she was next to the corner, 
brought up her rifle and pivoted around the edge.  As she swung 
around into the corridor she saw Makoto standing at the end of a 
short hallway, her rifle pointed to the side and a shocked look 
on her face.
	Ami took advantage of Makoto's surprise and pulled the 
trigger three times.  Three soft 'thups' sounded and Makoto 
yelled, "Ahhh!  You got me, you got me!"  Makoto sighed and 
started wiping the blue paint off of her chest.  "These things 
really sting," she said.  "How did you know I was there?  I 
thought it was a perfect ambush spot."

	Ami smiled and pointed to the multicolor paint splotches 
on the wall directly opposite the corridor.  She said, "A lot of 
other people thought the same thing."

	Makoto sighed again and put her barrel plug in her rifle.  
"Let's see how everyone else is doing."  She smiled and said, 
"And next time, I'll get you."

******

	Rei pasted the fifth and final ward to the wall, said a 
small prayer and turned to where Mrs. Izuhara was hovering nearby.
  "That should finish it, " Rei said.

	"Oh thank you Rei-dear," Mrs. Izuhara said.  "Those 
spirits just weren't letting me get any sleep at all.  But now I 
know that I'll be fine."

	Rei knew that there weren't any evil spirits nearby, she 
would have been able to sense if there were, but Mrs. Izuhara was 
old and set in her ways.  Even though the wards weren't going to 
see any use against malevolent spirits, Rei knew that Mrs. 
Izuhara would sleep better because of them.  For Rei, that was 
enough.  She smiled at the older lady and said, "Please, let me 
know if there's anything else I can do for you."

	"No, no.  I'm sure you have a lot to do and I don't want 
to keep you.  Please give this to your grandfather for me."  She 
gave Rei an envelope containing a donation for the Hikawa shrine.  
Mrs. Izuhara paused, then pulled another envelope out of her 
purse.  "I won these in a raffle," She said, offering the 
envelope to Rei.  "I'm too old to use them, but perhaps you and 
your friends could."

	Rei took the envelope and once again thanked Mrs. Izuhara 
and left the house.  Once outside she opened the second envelope 
and looked inside.  "Urban Warfare paintball park?" she said, 
then she smiled.  "Yes, I think my friends and I could use these."  
Rei walked down the street with visions of her shooting Usagi 
dancing through her head.

******

	Five girls were sitting around a table in the Crown Fruit 
Parlor, talking about their various days.  " And then I had to 
stand in the hallway again.  This time it wasn't even my fault.  
I just threw the shoe back," Minako exclaimed.  Usagi nodded in 
sympathy while Makoto just shook her head.  Ami was half paying 
attention to the conversation and half studying vocabulary words.

	"Hey, what is everyone doing this Sunday?" Rei asked.  
When everyone looked at her quizzically she produced the 
paintball tickets and said, "I got these tickets to that new 
paintball place and I think it would be fun to go together."

	"Ooh, I've been there," Makoto gushed.  "It's a blast.  
You all have to go."

	"I don't know," Ami said hesitantly.  "Paintball seems 
pretty violent."

	"Come on Ami, "Minako said.  "Since we keep fighting 
monsters we should be used to violence."  Everyone else looked 
around the room to see if anyone had heard,  then stared at 
Minako in horror.  She looked from face to face and said, "What, 
why are all so worried?"

	"You shouldn't joke about that.  Especially not in public," 
Makoto hissed at Minako.

	"Oh come on, I wouldn't say anything if anyone was 
listening.  After all, people who live in glass houses sink 
ships."

	Everyone groaned at Minako.  Makoto shook her head and 
said, "I'm going to enjoy shooting you for that one."

******

	Sunday morning the girls met at the Hikawa shrine so they 
could ride the bus together.  Since Rei had six tickets and 
Mamoru was out of town, Usagi had grudgingly invited Chibi-Usa to 
go along with them.  They arrived at the Urban Warfare paintball 
center.  Urban Warfare was a collection of buildings and fields 
set up as paintball arenas.  Besides a shooting range and a small 
shop there were two indoor mazes and three outdoor arenas.  
However none of the fields seemed to be in use.

	They walked inside the shop.  The walls were covered with 
paintball rifles, masks, camouflage jackets.  All appeared well 
used.  One wall had sparkling new weapons and equipment with 
price tags hanging from them.  In the center were barrels filled 
with bags of paintballs in various colors.  A desk sat in front 
of the wall with the new equipment.  Behind the desk sat a young, 
well muscled man in his mid twenties.  Ichiro Sagusa, owner and 
sole proprietor stood and greeted the girls as they entered.  
"Welcome, are you all here to play?"

	Rei stepped up to the counter and gave him the six 
tickets, "Yes, we have these."  

	Ichiro looked over the tickets and said, "OK, these are 
good for rental of a rifle, mask, a bag of balls and use of the 
field.  Also we have some jackets you can use if you want."  He 
looked at the girls and said, "It looks like you'll need them."  
Makoto and Ami were the only ones dressed in work clothes.  
Makoto was wearing sturdy cotton pants and a old flannel and Ami 
was wearing an outfit that had seen other kinds of paint in the 
past.  The others were dressed as they normally would for an 
afternoon spent with friends.  "Have any of you played paintball 
before?"  When only Makoto raised her hand he said, "OK, go 
choose a rifle and a mask from the walls and a bag of paintballs 
from one of the barrels.  Then we'll go over the rules."  He 
looked at Makoto and said, "It's a slow day today so you have 
your choice of fields."

	Makoto thought for a moment then said, "I think the 
indoor one was the most fun."  Ichiro nodded and Makoto went to 
gather her equipment.  

	Ami adjusted the straps on the mask she had chosen, then 
walked over to Ichiro with her equipment.  "Is this everything I 
need?"

	Ichiro looked at her mask, rifle and the bag of blue 
paintballs she had chosen and said, "Everything looks good to me."  
He paused for a moment, looking at Ami.  "Are you all right?  
You seem pretty nervous."

	"It's just that paintball seems so violent," Ami said.

	"Well, sometimes a little violence can be good for you."  
Ami looked at him with a puzzled expression.  "Think of it this 
way, if you pour all your aggression into something harmless and 
structured like paintball the rest of your life will be more 
peaceful.  I think everyone should do this once in a while, it'd 
make the world a happier place."

	Understanding filled Ami's eyes as she nodded.  "That's 
an interesting dream you have."

	Soon the rest of the girls had fitted their masks and 
were ready to go.  Ichiro went over the rules and let them into 
one of the indoor arenas.

******


	Ami and Makoto stepped from the maze arena to where the 
rest of the girls where the rest of the girls were waiting.  Ami 
looked at the other girls and their newly repainted clothes.  
Usagi had four red blotches, courtesy of Rei, running up and down 
the left side of her body.  Minako was rubbing her right leg 
where she had two red splotches and grumbling about how much the 
paintballs hurt.  Chibi-Usa looked fine from the front, but as 
she turned around Ami saw one of Usagi's bright yellow balls had 
hit her in the back.  Rei had flecks of green around her face and 
in her hair, and when Ami looked at her mask she saw that Rei had 
been hit square in the face.  Looking around she didn't see any 
traces of pink or orange so Chibi-Usa and Minako must not have 
even gotten a chance to fire.

	Usagi looked up and her eyes popped open in surprise at 
the blue spots on Makoto's chest.  "Way to go Ami!" she called.  
The rest of the girls crowded around, and began congratulating 
Ami and exchanging sympathies with Makoto when they heard a 
scream from the direction of he shooting range.  

******

	"Why do I have to go after a target like this?" 
Tigers-eye moaned.  "They took advantage of me because I always 
choose rock."  He pulled out a photo of Ichiro and looked it over 
again.  He sighed, put the picture away and walked up to the shop.  
The door was locked and there was a handwritten sign hanging from 
the handle that said, 'In the target range.'  Tigers-eye sighed 
in disgust and walked to the target range.  

	As he approached the shooting range,  Ichiro put down the 
rifle he was working on and said, "Hi.  You here to play too?"

	Tigers-eye plastered a fake smile on his face and said, 
"Yes of course I..." he trailed off and his smile disappeared.  
He said, "Oh forget it," and a sheet dropped in front of him, 
obscuring him from Ichiro's view.  When the sheet disappeared 
Tiger's eye clothes, ears and eyes changed, giving him an other 
than human appearance.  He snapped his fingers and said, "One."  
A magic board lifted out of the ground directly behind Ichiro.  
"Two."  Metal clamps appeared out of the board and closed 
themselves over his wrists and ankles.  "Three."  Ichiro screamed 
in agony as the mirror of his dreams was wrenched from his chest.  
The mirror was rough edged but had a brilliant shine.  Tigers-eye 
took one look at the mirror and sighed in disgust.   "Let's just 
get this over with," he said.  Ichiro screamed anew as he felt 
Tigers-eye's head thrust into his mirror of dreams.  He pulled 
his head out and said, "What a violent dream, no wonder Pegasus 
isn't living in there.  At least there were no Sailor Senshi here 
this..."  His voice cut off as a orange paintball hit him in the 
face.  He turned to yell at Minako when he was hit by several 
orange, green, blue and red balls.  He held up his hand in a vain 
attempt to block the stinging, splatting projectiles and said, 
"How dare you ugly girls shoot at me and get paint all over my 
beautiful face.  I'll..."

	"Hold it right there." A voice interrupted Tigers-eye.  
Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon stood on top of a nearby 
barricade.  The girls stopped shooting to give Sailor Moon time 
for her speech.  Minako did, however, take one last shot at 
Tigers-eye's forehead for the 'ugly girls' comment.  "Villains 
like you who disturb peoples play deserve to get shot repeatedly, 
like you have.  I'm Sailor Moon."

	"And I'm Sailor Chibi-Moon," Sailor Chibi-Moon said on 
cue.  Then both said, "And in the name of the moon we'll punish 
you."

	Tigers-eye took advantage of the break in firing and 
dove behind another barricade.  His whip shot out and he said, 
"Come forth my reemless, Shashuko, the sharpshooter girl."  Out 
of his shadow came a shapely, purple skinned girl with bright 
green hair.  She was wearing short, cut-off jeans, a fringed 
leather vest that magically stayed closed over her bosom and a 
white Stetson style hat.  She also wore two pistol belts slung 
low over her hips.  She pulled two pistols from the belts and 
fired at Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon.  The two magical 
girls dove behind the barricade they were standing on.  Then 
Shashuko fired at Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako.  The girls 
squawked and scattered in different directions, looking for 
cover.  While everyone else was occupied, Tigers-eye dove 
backwards through a fiery circle in the sky.

	The fight quickly became a game of duck and shoot with 
the girls popping out from behind cover to fire a couple of 
paintballs at Shashuko then dive behind cover before she could 
return fire.  Shashuko seemed to have a sixth sense about Sailor 
Moon and whenever Sailor Moon would pop up Shashuko would fire 
several magical bullets in her direction.

	Soon Shashuko was covered in various colors of paint, 
but the only thing that would slow her down was when a lucky 
shot got paint in her eyes, forcing her to wipe the paint off 
before she could fire again.  Minako hopped out from behind a 
tree stump and ran to where Makoto was crouching, firing the 
entire way.  Shashuko nicked the top edge of Minako's hair 
ribbon as Minako dove for cover.  "I'm getting low, how are you 
doing?"

	Makoto looked at the hole in Minako's ribbon, then shook 
her head and said, "I'm almost out too.  We don't seem to be 
getting anywhere."

	Minako thought for a second then said, "Lean out to your 
left and get her attention.  I'll go out to the right and see if 
I can knock one of the pistols from her hand."

	Makoto looked at Minako's hair ribbon again and said, 
"Um, are you sure about this?"  Minako didn't respond but 
crouched at the edge of the barricade, waiting.  Makoto sighed 
and leaned out to the left of the barricade and fired.  After 
three shots her rifle went dead.  Shashuko whipped around and 
fired at Makoto.  Makoto barley got back behind the barricade in 
time.  Fortunately the wood and metal barricade was strong enough 
to stop the magical bullets.

	Minako leapt out and fired five quick shots at Shashuko's 
pistols.  Three shots missed completely, one hit Shashuko's chest 
and the fifth shot went right down the barrel of the pistol.  
Shashuko aimed that pistol at the exposed Minako and pulled the 
trigger.  Minako heard a loud bang and winced in anticipation, 
but nothing hit her.  The paint blocked the end of the pistol, 
causing it to explode in Shashuko's face.  Shashuko's other 
pistol went flying as she landed hard on her backside.  
Simultaneously all four girls yelled, "Now Sailor Moon."

	Sailor Chibi-Moon dropped to one knee, bowed her head and 
prayed, "Please Pegasus.  Protect everyone's dreams."  She held 
up the Clarion Call and called, "Twinkle Yell!"

	From out of the blue sky Pegasus appeared.  He swooped 
overhead and whinnied.  The golden horn on his head bathed Sailor 
Moon in a warm glow.   Sailor Moon held up her Kaleid Moon Scope 
and small wings grew from the middle.  She twirled around and 
yelled, "Moon gorgeous meditation!"  A multicolor wall of energy 
formed in front of then, then shattered, sending shards of 
brilliant white energy at Shashuko.  As the shards hit her, 
Shashuko felt the energy holding her on this plane of existence 
sever.  She had time to exclaim, "Stage Out!" before she 
disappeared in a puff of smoke.

******

	Sailor Moon and Chibi-Sailor Moon disappeared to change 
back into Usagi and Chibi-Usa as the other four girls went to 
check on Ichiro.  The found him struggling to sit up.  Ami and 
Minako bent down and helped him to his feet.  Ami kept a hand on 
his arm to steady him and asked, "Are you all right?"

	"That was really weird.  But thank you for trying to 
defend me.  How would you all like some more paintballs, on me," 
he said.  The girls looked at each other and smiled before 
nodding.  For the rest of the day soft thuds mingled with cries 
of triumph and defeat rang through the various arenas.

******

	Thanks to Andrew Norris for giving this a look over.  
This is my first completed fic in over a year and my first 
attempt to write Sailor Moon seriously.  Please let me know what 
you think and what can be made better.  I can be contacted at 
stormwalker628@usa.net.  Thank you for reading.