Vol. 11 - The Pet Stories Number 1: Nyan-Nyan's Plot Originally appeared in Run-Run, September 1995. Written by Takeuchi Naoko. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.0, 12.97. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mina!" He jostles her bedcovers. "Come on, wake up, Mina!" "Uh-uh..." she mumbles. She grabs her cat's hand and pulls it toward her mouth. "I'll have some more watermelon..." "Mina! Summer vacation ended a long time ago! Now wake up!" "What!?" she screams. "It's half past eight??" She jumps out of bed and runs out of the room. "Stupid Artemis! I told you to wake me up! Now I'm late!" The white cat sighs. "Patience, patience..." I'm Artemis. It's commonly admitted that I'm an intelligent cat. But every day I'm terrorized by my ditzy... excuse me, by my unreliable master. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is the tale of Mina gradually turning into a soldier of justice. And this is the story of a pinch I found myself in one of those days... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A man speaks on stage in the auditorium. "And next week is the long-awaited athletics festival." I'm Aino Minako. My motor skills are unrivaled. I'm a bit of a shy 13 year old. "From our sponsor, the Shiba Shopping District Association," says the man, "the winning class will receive ten cardboard boxes of candy and game software!" And right now I'm a seventh grader who loves junk food and games! "Victory is ours!" says Minako. "Everyone, leave it to me!" Of course, I'm the most popular person in class. It's the autumn of action! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- After school. "Wow! What a cute cat!" Minako sits across from her friend at a tea shop. "That's great, Hikaru-chan," she says. "I wish I had such a cute kitty!" Artemis enters the shop. "That Mina..." he thinks. "Stopping off on the way home again..." "Don't you have a white cat at home too, Mina?" says Hikaru. "Oh, you mean Artemis?" says Minako. "He's not that great a cat..." "Th- That Mina!" Artemis thinks. "Could her always being so terribly cruel to me be a sign she thinks I'm below a pet?" "All right, I've decided!" says Minako. "I'm going to get a new cat too! Since I've got my allowance!" "What did she say!?" thinks Artemis. "This is my ultimate crisis!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minako enters her house. "So I said... But I went shopping, and now I'm broke! In fall, all sorts of desires come out. Oh well... I got new potato chips, and manga, and CDs, and video games, and... Hey, Artemis?" She sees him lying by the window. "Were you here?" "Mina," he says. "I seem to be naturally lacking any sense of sympathy at all for you." "What are you muttering about, Artemis," says Minako. "If all you do is scowl, you'll go bald." She looks at the yellow crescent moon on his forehead and laughs. "Oops, you're already going bald." "Mina!" says Artemis. "I've kept planning to tell you this, but... You don't listen to anything at all! Do you understand? Your important mission--" They hear a scream. They run to the window, and see a motorcycle speeding toward a small cat. "Mike!!" a small girl cries. "It's in danger!!" Minako runs out of the house in her sailor suit. "No need to worry, Artemis! I haven't forgotten my mission!" She holds out her compact. "Crescent Beam!" Holes pop in the bike's tires, and it crashes to the ground. "Hey, hey!" says the driver. "What the hell you doing!?" "Fighting the strong and helping the weak, I am the shopping district's ally of justice! Code name: Sailor V! I am Sailor Venus!" She jumps at him. "Sailor V Kick!!" "Sailor V!" says the girl, holding her cat. "Thank you for saving Mike!" "Take care of your pet!" says Minako. "What are you talking about," says Artemis. "Leave it to me, Artemis!" says Minako. "The true mission of Sailor V is defending the peace of the shopping district. I will give my life to accomplish it. But still, that kitten was of good breeding. I want a cute pet like that." "Mina, do you mean that?" says Artemis. "Will that help you with your responsibility?" "What, are you saying I can't have a new cat? It has nothing to do with you, Artemis!" She looks at her crescent moon compact. "Anyway... I'm getting tired of this compact. Since the season is changing, and it's fall now, how about a new item!" "I give up!" says Artemis. "I'm leaving. I'm going back to headquarters." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Artemis lies on one of the computer consoles in the basement of the Crown Game Center. "Jeez," says the voice from the magic pen. "Her wanting a new item is not something I was looking forward to. Artemis! Hurry back and give Mina some intensive training." "So tomorrow's the athletics festival..." thinks Artemis. "Damnit... I'm not going back until she comes to get me." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minako walks out onto the field in her gym suit. "All right, here I go! I'm going to win! I'm going to get that candy and game software!" Morning events. Minako takes first place in the relay race, the cavalry battle game, the ball catch, and the other events. Lunch. "Ahh..." says Minako as she eats. "After exercising, roasted sweet potatoes are wonderful!" A light flashes in the sky, and a girl with feline features floats down. "Meow..." she says. "Why is it, in this season, that on all the sports fields I sense tremendous amounts of muscle consumption energy and hunger energy, mew." "And now will begin the afternoon events," says the announcer. "Especially over there," says the girl. "This is not something I can overlook. I, Nyan-Nyan, will take this great energy power!" ["Nyan" is what Japanese cats say. (Meaning, "meow".)] The afternoon events. "All right!" says Minako. "The last race is the scavenger hunt!" The starting gun fires. Nyan-Nyan's eyes flash as she looks out from behind a tree. The competitors run to the table where they pick up the papers naming the item they have to find. Minako picks one up and reads it. "A cat..." she says. "Hey, that reminds me. I haven't seen Artemis since yesterday." "She realizes that now..." thinks Artemis, standing behind a tree. "I got worried and came to see her, like the overprotective guardian I am..." Nyan-Nyan assumes the form of a cat, and meows. "Hey, a cat!" says a boy. "What!?" thinks Minako. All the competitors run toward Nyan-Nyan. "Did everyone get a cat on their paper for the scavenger hunt!? Hey! What a fraud!" She runs for the cat. "Mina!!" thinks Artemis. "Such a frantic mood! If she wants to win so much, I'll go out and..." Minako runs around a corner, and sees a crowd of cats. "Lucky!" says a girl. "I've got one!" says a boy. "Me too!" "And me!" Two boys pull on one of the cats. "This is mine! Let go!" "Mina!!" calls Artemis, as he tries to push through the crowd of cats. "Artemis?" says Minako. She looks around. "Huh? That's strange. I thought I saw Artemis. Must be my imagination... But now I'll survive! All right, I can do it!" She raises her compact. "Crescent Moon Power Transform! Turn me into a top breeder!" She takes the cat Nyan-Nyan from a boy's hands. "Yes, yes," she says. "These kitties are going to appear in a super cat show. I'll take care of them." She smiles. "Lucky! While everybody's distracted, I've got an opening... Anyway, this is a cute kitty!" The cat meows with a smile. Gas surrounds Minako, and she drops to the ground. "Uhh... My eyes are swimming... Feels good..." - "I finally snuck out after getting lost in the uproar," says Artemis. "Why so many cats at an athletics festival..." He sees all the competitors lying unconscious on the ground with their cats. "All the people with cats!? Oh no, an enemy!? Mina!!" He runs to her. "Mina!! Pull yourself together!! Come on, Mina!!" "Uh-uh..." she mumbles. She grabs Artemis's hand and pulls it toward her mouth. "I'll have some more sweet potatoes..." He scratches at her face. "Wake up, Mina!!" "Owowowow!!" She sits up. "These nails are Artemis's!? What are you doing!" "Mina!! Look!! This must be the work of an enemy!! Transform!!" "An enemy!? I've been waiting!" She raises her magic pen. "Moon Power Transform!!" - Nyan-Nyan changes back into human form. "Meow, that was easier than I thought. Humans are really weak against beautiful cats like me." "Hold it, you fake cat!" "Huh?" "Using the weak lives of cats as an excuse for cheating humans!! Victor Hugo and the animal liberation front may allow it, but I, Sailor V, will not stand for it!! Code name: Sailor V! I am the ally of lonely, weak cats! The soldier of justice, I am the sailor-suited beautiful soldier Sailor Venus!" "Mina!" thinks Artemis. "'Lonely, weak cats'..." "Meow!" Nyan-Nyan growls. "Ally of weak cats! I won't be persuaded by the calling voices of cats! There's no way you can beat me, Nyan-Nyan, princess of the cat world! Kill her, my servants!" The cats charge at Minako. "What!?" Minako says. "I can't fight cats! What should I do!? All right, if I do this..." She holds out her hand. "Venus Sulfur Smoke!" Gas surrounds Nyan-Nyan and the other cats. "Ugh!! This- This stinks!!" "Mina!!" says Artemis. "Th- This smell...!!" "Artemis!" says Minako. "Where did you go!? I was looking for you!" "Oh no, could it be..." says Artemis. "Did you eat too many roasted sweet potatoes for lunch and..." "Wh- What!?" says Minako. "No way! You're wrong, these aren't my fa*ts. This is the smell of the atmosphere of the holy planet Venus!" "Ugh..." says Nyan-Nyan. "Such a strong stench... I can't take it..." "Looks like you've learned your lesson!" says Minako. "The planet of the goddess of love and beauty makes even the smell of f*rts into wonderful justice! Venus Iron Muscle Punch!" She slams her fist into Nyan-Nyan, throwing her to the ground. She holds up her compact. "My finishing move! Venus Power! Love Crescent Shower! Pour down rain! Vanish with the dust of the scavenger hunt!" Nyan-Nyan is destroyed, and all the cats disappear. The competitors wake up. "Huh?" "The cats?" "My cat's gone!" "Hey!! Sailor V!!" "It's Sailor V!" "Sailor V!" "Oh, wow," says Minako. "I'm so popular!" "They're having a girl enter the costume play as Sailor V! What class is she in?" Minako grimaces. "There are five more minutes allowed for the scavenger hunt!" says the announcer. "No class has reached the goal yet! Please hurry!" The competitors look at Artemis. "Hey!! There's a cat!!" "Damn!!" thinks Minako. "My last resort! They took Artemis!?" Results. Minako sniffs as she takes ninth place. "Minaaaa!" say her classmates. "Oh, forgive me!" Minako says. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" And the moral is, once stolen, you understand the blessing of autumn days and Artemis. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Days later. "Mina," Artemis says nervously. "So anyway... You know... About your getting a new cat..." "A cat?" says Minako. "Oh, that... After seeing the rotten cats at that athletics festival the other day, I think I can do without a cat for now." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1995 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1997 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko | Sailor V | Volume 3