"Generations: Island Adventure"
Part 5
by the AP Scout (APScout@yahoo.com)
© 2001
NOTE: All Sailor Scout related characters are copyrighted by DiC, Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, and probably some other folks.
The group of four small children played for a few more minutes before becoming bored. They decided to go back to the beach to play in the wet sand. When the strange noise came back, Mina suggested hiding but none of the others wanted to this time. The shape flew over and then turned slightly.
Mina was startled when she heard a voice. It was low and sounded very annoyed. The others also heard the voice. They all looked into the bushes but couldn't see anything. Even before they could move to investigate, the change overtook them with such speed that the tingling sensation hadn't even subsided before the transformation was complete.
Rini Shields waited to be lifted into the Coast Guard rescue helicopter that hovered overhead. She wondered why they had all suddenly changed. One moment they were toddlers and in a mind-blowing blink of an eye, they were around fifteen except for Irene who seemed to be thirty-something.
The pink-haired girl pulled the blanket the Coast Guard provided about her as she started to feel uncertain. She was happy to be rescued but with them like that, how would they go back? For that matter, she wondered why Sailor Pluto hadn't come for them. She was still puzzling this out as she was hoisted up into the helicopter. At least it kept her mind distracted from the medic who was asking her questions.
The helicopter took off and after a few minutes, she felt a rippling sensation. It made her shiver and she pulled the blanket closer. That's when she realized that something was amiss. She looked at the medic who was staring at her in surprise. "What?"
"You're twelve, right?" he asked. He pulled out at a bulletin containing the group's description and read it again. "For a minute, I thought you looked older."
"Thanks. Yeah, I'm twelve," the pink-haired girl answered after a pause. She felt very normal. She instinctively glanced over at Mina and noticed that her friend and even her mother seemed to be about twenty. The other coastguardsman working on Mina seemed to be appreciative of the fact that she indeed was older than the jailbait he had first thought. Obviously, her age on the bulletin was transposed from twenty-one to twelve.
Dr. Amy Anderson and Mrs. Lita Andover marched towards where their friends were with purposeful intent. It had taken them some time to twist the officials' arms into letting them see their friends. Even then, the two oldest Sailor Scouts didn't know if they were really their friends. Rini looked okay but Serena and the others didn't seem to fit quite right.
The blue-haired woman pushed open the door and entered into the room. Despite the cautious attitude she projected, the doctor just couldn't bring herself to totally negate the relief at seeing her princess alive and well.
"Serena?"
"AMES!" Serena shouted. Mina jumped up causing the hospital gown to flap wildly with the motion. Both blonds hugged Amy tightly.
"Are you all right?" Amy asked.
"Sure, we are!"
"What happened?" Lita asked and then glancing at Mrs. Tsukino added, "Can we talk in private?"
"Like why?" Mina asked.
"What's taking so long, girls?!?" Irene demanded to no one in particular, "We need to go paint this town red!"
"That's why," Lita hissed out, "So is it the Negaverse?"
"Nah, it was that weird island," Serena said, "Irene knows about us." Lita and Amy were shocked.
"That's right! I know you guys' little secret," Irene said. "Now somebody go find that cute doctor. I wanna make a phone call!" When no one moved, the woman shrugged and swept out of the room as if a queen. The others simply stared.
"I'll follow her, Serena," Rini offered and dashed out of the room.
Serena sighed, swung her feet, and said, "Chill out, Lita. I'm fine!" She was sitting on the bed beside Mina who looked quite unhappy.
"Yeah!" the other blond protested as Amy prodded her with her stethoscope. She'd use her VR Visor to examine them more thoroughly later.
"It has to be the Negaverse," the tall woman said. Rini and Mina were disrespectful and Serena didn't even mind. They were all acting very peculiar to go with the obvious physical changes to everyone except Rini.
Serena groaned and gave her tall friend an exasperated look. Then just to goad Lita, she added, "It was wicked cool."
"You know," said a voice from behind Rini, "It's very rude to stick your butt out at people." The pink-haired girl suddenly straightened and her bottom slipped back through the slit in her nightgown which had let it get out in the first place. Turning slowly around with a crimson face, she gaped for a moment before saying, "Susan!"
"Hello Small Lady. I'm glad to see you're safe."
"I am but it's all weird and stuff."
"How so?" Susan asked. The girl motioned for her friend to look around the corner. As the Guardian of Time did so, Rini tightly held the back of her hospital gown closed and looked around it again at her forty-two-year-old grandmother who was making a phone call.
"We just found out. I was so worried about you and the girls," Ken was saying to Irene, "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Kenny."
"And how are my daughters doing?"
"Daughters?" Irene asked, her eyebrows rising.
"Yes, Serena and her daughter Rini. She's my granddaughter too, Irene..." There was a long silence and then he added, "You haven't shook something loose in there, have you?"
"No!" Irene said with exasperation and fumed while her husband tried to calm her down.
"See?" Rini asked Susan.
"Yes... so what else occurred?" Rini wasn't really sure she wanted to tell Sailor Pluto everything.
Mina glanced at Irene. The older woman had been quiet since she had come back from making her phone call. Then she turned her gaze onto the impassive face of Susan, the Guardian of Time. "You had no right to majorly change my life."
"True," Susan said, "I'm sorry."
Trying to cover her surprise at this admission, Mina asked, "Why didn't you like come looking for us and what the hell did that crazy island do to us?"
"There is a legendary island, even I have not seen it. The legends tell of its powers are over time as it relates to people on it. I never thought it existed. Fortunately, its influence is quite localized since its magick appears stronger than any I could wield." The last part left something unsaid and Rini shivered at the possibilities. "It negated what I had done to you but not the fabric of reality for the rest of the world. Your parents expect to see their TWELVE-year-old daughter, Mina."
"Can you change us back?" Rini asked.
"You mean the way you were before I altered things, Rini?"
"No, the way it was. What's the use of me being Serena's cousin and going back to Crystal Tokyo? I'd have to be like seven again and I majorly don't want that." The pink-haired girl smiled at Serena and added, "Serena's my mom and Darien's my dad."
"Well, I'm with Rini. I want my Darien back and I want my adult life back. If Mina wants to be older, I can't stop her although I think my daughter would lose a nice friend."
"Mina?"
"I ain't happy being jerked around." The coed looked at Serena. "And I ain't happy she's being so totally selfish... at least at the start." Mina frowned. "I don't know... Raye's happy being younger I s'ppose. It's hard. I'm finally a grownup. But what would I be like?"
"I don't know how events will play out if you remain twenty, Mina," Pluto said. "The timeline is in flux. However, I do know the timeline is stable if you're Rini's best friend. Raye made her decision and is satisfied with it. I know she likes you as a friend too, just like Rini does."
"Aw... Sailor Venus back to a small fry. Okay but I won't do it if Irene... I mean Mrs. Tsukino doesn't want to go back though."
All eyes turned to Irene.
"Well... I don't look forward to going back to being old but... I was happy with my life. I mean with Serena being a mom and married to Darien and she's successful and independent. I'm so proud of her. Her going back to a ditzy fourteen-year-old who..." Irene trailed off and threw up her hands in helplessness. Rini cautiously giggled. The meatball-headed blond gave her mother a hard look.
"Sorry Serena... I mean Mom," Rini apologized, not sounding in the least repentant.
"I'll go back," Irene said.
"Very well, Mrs. Tsukino, I'll..."
"Susan, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Certainly," Susan said. After a short pause, she followed Mina over to a corner of the room they were in. The others couldn't hear what was being said but whatever it was had the blond coed blushing at one point.
"Very well, I'll grant your request," Sailor Pluto said and walked back. Once Mina was settled, she said, "I am going to reset reality to the day before you left for the island. You will arrive at the resort hotel as before and things will proceed normally from there. Rini, you will remember everything." Pluto did not mention that Mina would only remember some things and only at certain times.
Little Raye Andover was getting ready for a bath when Sailor Pluto suddenly appeared. "They found them."
"I know!" Raye said and then demanded, "Are they okay?"
"Yes. They are all alive and well." The five-year-old was relieved. "Do you wish to be older, Raye?"
"Yes but the way I'm doing it now: one day at a time," Raye said and then added, "Pluto, I don't want to remember."
"None of it?"
"No, I'm happy the way I am and with my family. I'll still be Sailor Mars when I grow up?"
Pluto nodded and smiled. "Okay then, just close your eyes." It was only Raye who noticed the shifting of reality. She had a feeling of euphoria. The child opened her eyes. She thought a lady was there for a moment but then, her daddy brought her little sister in to share her bath.
Rini Shields stormed down a corridor of the hotel. Mina trailed behind her, trying desperately to get her friend to stop. Finally, she did so. Mina then held out her hand and said, "Here." The twelve-year-old looked down at the five-year-old looking blond in annoyance and puzzlement. "You're like s'pposed to be draggin' me along, big sister."
"This ain't a game, Mina!" Rini snapped and continued down the hall. Mina sighed and took after her friend. The child ran to keep up but eventually Rini's pace slowed. The little blond was thankful for that.
Mina didn't try to explain out in the hall where others could overhear but waited until they were in their room. She checked Serena's room and found it empty, which would give her some time to talk. "I'm like majorly sorry, Rini."
"You could have gotten us totally banned from all the places." Rini looked sour. "And when Mom finds out..." Management had promised to speak with "their" mother. "Just change back."
"Rini, I don't think you'll change." The pink-haired girl looked down at Mina in surprise.
"You sayin' you believe me?!" Mina nodded. "You like never did before." The taller girl went and sat on her bed.
"I know you changed. I like remember it 'cause I changed too." The twelve-year-old, even though she appeared five, couldn't get over the fact that Rini was acting surprised.
"What else do you remember?"
Mina waved that aside. "Now do you spank me or do we wait for your mom."
"Mina, you're twelve. There's like no way my mom'll do that and I'm not going to either." Besides, she wouldn't want to set any precedents for her mom.
"I'm not offering 'cause you got it the last time when we got dragged back up to your room," Mina whined. She had felt safe about not tangling with that boy for laughing but he had. She had reacted in a similar, if somewhat less spectacular manner. She was just glad that her best friend wouldn't be in serious trouble.
"Look, change back. Okay, I'm not gonna hold it against you. You won't be welching." The pink-haired girl gave her little friend a hopeful look.
"Look, Mrs. Shields might not send me home but she's not gonna be happy. I'm supposed to behave for her. 'Sides, my 'rents would be pissed."
"But..."
"And it ain't like she hasn't done it before," the blond interrupted. "This was part of the dare, Rini, and I did something wrong. I'm Sailor Venus and I'll be damned if I'm gonna welch on this just to get out of trouble." Mina also wasn't about to tell Rini that she owed her for getting her invited on this trip. "Now answer my question."
"What question?" Rini asked grudgingly. The child opened her mouth to answer but paused as they heard a door opening. It was the next room. They heard humming and the soft click of the door. "Change back," Rini hissed. "You aren't gonna get younger."
Mina hissed equally stubbornly, "You like stay here. Sailor Venus will handle this." With that, the little girl dashed into the other room and called out, "Hi Mommy!"
Rini sat still straining her ears to listen. She couldn't make out any words, only soft murmuring. Occasionally, her mother's voice would rise slightly and she would wince. The pink-haired preteen just couldn't figure out what her friend was up to, or why Mina remembered their prior age regressions.
She was pulled from her whirling thoughts when Mina and her mother entered the room. She shifted around as her mother sat on Mina's bed. The five-year-old crawled up beside her.
"Mina has been telling me interesting things, Rini."
"I'm sorry, Mom. As soon as she changes back, I'll give you back the Disguise Pen."
"Did I ask for it back?" Serena asked. Her daughter shook her head while Mina giggled. "Fact is, I don't mind you using it... as long as you're careful. My mom knows about it."
"Grandma knows?" Rini asked in surprise. Serena nodded. "And about the Scouts?"
"No, just the about the Pen," Serena replied.
The pink-haired girl's curiosity was piqued. How did her grandmother find out? She pushed that aside as Serena continued speaking, "What I don't want is serious mischief like you pulled this afternoon." Mina had the sense not to giggle then. "I'll just say this once, I don't mind you two using the Pen for some NONDESTRUCTIVE fun. However, I'll deal with bad behavior if you were that age. Understand?"
Rini nodded and saw Mina doing the same. "I'm like majorly sorry for letting Mina get into trouble, Mom," the pink-haired girl said, "The Pen's my responsibility and I should've like told you first."
"I just told you I'm not upset about the Pen. I also told Mina that if she changes back that I'd settle things with management and give her a punishment suitable for a twelve-year-old, to fit the incident."
"I won't though, Mrs. Shields," Mina interjected, "Look, it's fair."
Rini tried to gather her wits but couldn't. The hotel room filled with quiet tension. Both blonds stared at each other.
"All right then, when does this continue to?"
"Dinner," Rini said.
"Rini, no dessert and no television tonight." The pink-haired girl gave her mother a relieved and slightly unbelieving look.
"Mina, last chance, change back."
"No. Sailor Venus doesn't welch on a promise," Mina said stubbornly.
"As you wish, you'll be going to bed early tonight, young lady. Now come here," Serena directed. "Rini..."
"Stay," the little blond said firmly. Serena gave her an annoyed look but then shrugged. The child came over and bravely stood beside Serena who lifted her up across her lap. Moments later, Mina was having her bottom warmed to a glowing pink and giving a very good impression of a five-year-old being spanked.
The next morning, Rini yawned and stretched blinking in the morning sunlight that was coming into their room. Lying there, she wondered about the night before. As soon as her mother had left, Rini had asked her friend if she had liked it. Mina firmly stated that she had definitely not liked it and why was Rini asking such stupid questions. The pink-haired girl didn't bother to tell her that it had to do with what she and Mina had done on the island when Irene and Serena hadn't been around.
Mentally shrugging, she turned to see if her friend was awake and found the blond already up. "'Morning Mina." Mina, now back to her normal age of twelve, smiled and scrambled off of her bed and bounced onto Rini's.
"'Morning! I got a majorly wicked idea."
"What?" Rini asked.
"Let's go sailing!"
Rini gave her a semi-horrified look that puzzled Mina. Before either could say anything, her mother came into the room with a smile on her face.
"Good morning, girls."
"'Morning Mrs. Shields!"
"'Morning Mom."
"Mina tells me that she'd like to go sailing. What about it, Rini?" Rini gave Mina a long look. "What is it?"
"Can I use the Disguise Pen?" Rini asked.
"Hey, I wanted it too!" Mina complained. The pink-haired girl retorted that it was hers and that started a fight. It didn't last long because Serena stepped in.
"You two will have to share it or I'll keep it for the rest of the trip. And remember what I said yesterday."
Mina grinned and said, "I will, MOM."
Rini grinned happily that at least Mina and Serena were getting along again.
The End
A Sneak Peek
Fourteen-year-old Rini Shields was standing at the dock her arms wrapped around the neck of the kid she had a serious crush on. Jeremy had only been semi-interested in her and had actually gone out with Mina until the ribbon-wearing blond had gotten him seriously grounded.
Now though, they had been dating for a few months. With her long pink pigtails flowing behind her as the wind picked up, she kissed him and wondered if this was what her mom felt when she was a teen.
A familiar noise should have warned the teen but it didn't. It wasn't until something slammed into the top of her head did she start to panic. Toppling to the dock, she experienced what Serena must have experienced so long ago.
There, sitting on a slightly dazed looking Jeremy's lap was a pink-haired seven-year-old with fluffy pigtails and red eyes. "Who are you?!?" Rini demanded.
"Hi Mommy!" the child replied.
Something deep in Rini snapped. She jumped up and started to run home madly cackling the entire time.
AP Scout