Vol. 13 - The Pet Stories
Number 3: Chuu-Chuu's Plot

"Extend a kind hand to those less fortunate!" says Minako, standing in her sailor suit. "Please give your cooperation to the community chest!"

On this sweltering Saturday afternoon in July, why am I, the soldier of justice Sailor V, doing something like this, you ask?

It all started when...

Minako walks happily down the street.

She sees a steel beam falling from a building under construction. The girl underneath it screams.

Minako transforms and pushes the girl out of the way as the beam crashes to the ground.

"When you're walking on the street," says Minako, "don't just look ahead and behind. Be careful of what's above as well!"

"Sailor V!" says the girl.

"What!? Hikaru-chan!?"

"Thank you for saving me, Sailor V!" she says. "I'll never forget your kindness!"

What a coincidence! This girl is my classmate and best friend, Hikaru-chan.

"What are you doing here?" says Minako.

"Once a month, we ask for donations to the community chest here," says Hikaru.

"Wow, that's just like you, Hikaru-chan," says Minako. "That's great!"

"Oh, did I tell you my name?"

"Oh! No, no... Just a feeling..."

"That really is great," says Artemis. "A lot different than someone I know..."

"You're a soldier of justice to help others!"

"Remember, Mina? Why don't you follow her example a bit."

Minako talks to Hikaru and the others.

"What!? You'll help us, Sailor V!?"

I missed the chance to escape, so now I'm standing here.

"All right, we'll call it a day for now," says Hikaru. "Thank you all for taking this heat! Good work everybody!"

She takes Minako's hands.

"Sailor V! I'm so grateful for your help! I'll never forget your kindness!"

"Hikaru-chan is such a refreshing, sweet girl," says Artemis. "She's what an assistant leader of a volunteer club should be! Compare her to my Mina..."

Minako changes back to her normal clothes.

"Ahh..." she says. "It's finally over. It's so hot! I'm exhausted... Helping people is hard work! I'm so thirsty... Where's a pop machine... Artemis, get me a juice..."

"Buy it yourself."

"Hey!" says Hikaru. "Mina!"

"Hikaru-chan..."

"This is a coincidence," she says. "What's wrong? You're worn out!"

A woman hands out juice boxes.

"You've worked hard," she says to a girl. "Have some orange juice."

"Thanks!"

"Juice!?" thinks Minako. She looks over at a juice stand next to a bus. "What's that!?"

"Oh, that's the blood donation car," says Hikaru. "If you donate blood, you get an orange juice for free. Mina!?"

"I'll donate blood!" says Minako, running to the car. "Sorry, Hikaru-chan! I love people who give rewards!"

-

She walks away from the car, drinking a box of orange juice and carrying a pamphlet.

"Ah, there's nothing better than blood donation on a summer afternoon!"

"Mina," says Hikaru. "I forget to tell you, but you have to be 16 to donate blood."

"What!? Really?? I love blood donation! My desire for juice made me lie about my age."

"If you like donating blood that much, why don't you go to the hospital? That hospital is famous for often collecting blood."

She points to the Red Cross Hospital nearby.

"For donating blood, I get rewarded with juice," says Minako. "But if I go to the hospital, I'll get money! Isn't this blood donation pamphlet lovely!? If you collect enough stamps, you can get a gold bar!"

Artemis sighs.

"It's embarrassing, having her for a soldier of justice," he thinks. "Oh, if Hikaru-chan was Sailor V..."

"Artemis!" calls Hikaru, dressed in a sailor suit and mask. "Thanks so much for your support today! I'll never forget your kindness! Here, I got you the green tea you like."

Hikaru sits on a porch wearing a kimono, with Artemis curled up next to her.

"Nice wind, isn't it," she says. "Peace is wonderful. Oh, a mosquito..."

She gently picks it from Artemis's fur.

"I'll turn on the mosquito-repellent incense."

Artemis is struck on the back of his head.

"Oh no, a mosquito," says Minako. "They're even getting inside the command center!"

"You just hit me, didn't you..." says Artemis.

"No I didn't!" says Minako. "If it bit you, you'd itch, so I killed it for you! Anyway, are you listening to what I'm saying? Why don't we have a system here too, where if I help out somebody, I get a reward! Otherwise, I won't feel like doing it. So, Artemis, today I helped out somebody three times! For a reward, how about giving me a new item!"

"I will not!" says Artemis.

"What!?" says Minako. "Do you mean there aren't any more items!?"

"Actually, I was prepared to do that, but I decided not to. I'm not giving one to someone like you!!"

"Why you liar!" yells Minako. "You stingy bald old bastard!!"

"You two look like you're having fun," says the voice from the magic pen.

"Boss!! You're here!?"

"Mina! Artemis! Here is your next order! The last enemy, Wan-Wan, and the enemy before him, Nyan-Nyan. I have found there is a third sibling!"

"How do you know that?" says Minako.

"When Wan-Wan and Nyan-Nyan disappeared, I was able to discover their base. At that time, I managed to prove the existence of a third. Your next order is to eliminate their third ally!"

"Jeez, again?" says Minako. "I'm a volunteer! Oh, fine..."

"Hmm, so it's finally the end of the pet plots," says Artemis. "We've had a cat and a dog. Will the last one be a bird or a lizard or what?"

The sun shines on a large manor.

Inside, mosquitoes fly in and out of hanging cages.

"That damn Sailor V!! My big sister, my big brother... I'll take revenge for them!"

Minako and Artemis approach the hospital.

"This is the fortress of the final enemy of the pet plots!?" says Artemis.

"Oh, this is that hospital that collects blood all the time," says Minako.

People leave the hospital haggardly.

"I see..." says Minako. "Everyone has their blood taken. Even though they've come to the hospital, they're staggering."

"A hospital!" thinks Artemis. "How fitting! I really don't think it's a bird or lizard like I first thought! What could the third enemy be!?"

"All right!" says Minako. "To get into the hospital without money and without suspicion..."

She raises her compact.

"Crescent Moon Power Transform! Turn me into a skilled medical representative of a pharmaceutical company!"

She appears in a business suit, carrying a briefcase.

Artemis hands her a stack of cards.

"Mina!" says Artemis. "Use these all around the hospital!"

"Wow! Business cards! Cool!"

"Those are business card sensors," says Artemis. "If one detects an enemy, it will give off an alarm. So, this is your new item, Mina. Mina? Huh!?"

"Hello!" says Minako, holding out her card. "I'm Medical Representative Minako of Venus Pharmaceuticals. Thanks for your patronage!"

She gives a card out to every person walking by.

"Oh, nice to meet you! How do you do! Wow, look at all the cute doctors! Nice to meet you!"

They search the hospital.

"In the basement is the staff cafeteria and lounge," says Artemis. "On the roof is just a heliport.

"Artemis!" says Minako. "We've walked around the whole hospital using these business cards."

"Strange..." says Artemis. "No suspicious places or shadowy characters. Let's ask Boss to investigate again."

"I didn't get any contracts by showing my card either," says Minako. "I'm a failure in business."

Two women leave the hospital.

"Oh great," says one. "I got bit by a mosquito again in this office complex."

"There are lots of mosquitoes this year," says the other.

"I'm such a bad office lady," says Minako. "I didn't even get bitten by mosquitos."

"But there are a lot of them this year," says Artemis. "Especially at this time in the day."

"Oh..." says Minako. "Right when I step outside, I'm all dizzy... Must be because we ran all around the hospital. It's so hot! I'm thirsty... Artemis! Get me some juice from the tea shop!"

"What are you talking about," says Artemis. "Let's hurry and get back."

"Oh, what's that?"

A crowd gathers around a young doctor.

"When you get a sheet of stamps for your blood donation pamphlet," he says, "everyone will get a share in the ten million yen total for the dream jumbo fair! All right, get in line, get in line! Donate blood and collect stamps!"

"Wow!" says Minako. "That doctor is so cool! Ten million yen!? I'll donate blood!"

"Okay, next!" says the doctor. "Lie down."

Minako lies on the doctor's chair.

"Since this girl has such vitality, I'll take 800 cc," the doctor thinks. "Heh heh heh... Blood, where the energy of highest purity in the human body is concentrated. And there's nothing better than a healthy summer for gathering it. With this blood donation, and the hospital next door, and my cute little mosquito followers, this summer I will take the blood of Japan! Where are you, Sailor V! Have you learned your lesson!? If you're going to come, do it now!"

Minako takes her shirt off and smiles at the doctor.

"So, is the physical examination next?"

"We're finished," he says.

As Minako stands up, she drops a business card on the floor.

"Oh! Lucky! It's my last one. If I give it to the doctor, he'll remember my name!"

She holds it out to him, and it gives off an alarm.

"We found him, Mina!!" says Artemis. "He's the enemy!!"

"What!?"

"Damn!" says the doctor. He runs from the room.

Mosquitoes fly through the air around the crowd of people and the bus.

"Oh no!" says Minako. "The mosquitoes are swarming around the blood donation car!"

She collapses on the ground.

"Ohh..."

"Mina!?" says Artemis.

Her eyes swim dazedly.

"That reminds me," she thinks. "They took 800 cc of blood, but I haven't gotten my reward juice yet... Maybe this is because I was working for free... I can't take it..."

"Mina!" says Artemis. "Today's reward for blood donation is tomato juice! You get a special of eight cans to drink!"

"Eight cans!? I'll take them!"

She jumps up and chugs the cans of juice.

"I feel like I've gotten the 800 cc back!" she says. "Now this is overtime compensation!"

The doctor stands in front of the large manor, on the roof of the hospital.

"Heh heh... Foolish humans, looking sweetly at the natural mosquitoes of summer. Now your blood is being sucked from your bodies, and you'll become like mummies!"

Minako climbs onto the roof.

"Damn..." she says. "I thought the hideout was somewhere in the hospital, but having it on top of the sign at the peak!"

"Who are you!?"

Minako stands up.

"You're guilty of cheating the weak patients out of their blood! On top of that, you're disgracing the small joy of girls gathering stamps! And most serious is your crime of forgetting to give me my reward for donating 800 cc of blood! In the name of the father of the Red Cross, Henri Dunant, and the blood drive collection business management law of 1956, I will punish you! Code name: Sailor V! The ally of tender, precious humans! A messenger of justice, the sailor-suited beautiful soldier! I am Sailor Venus!"

The doctor's guise is cast off, revealing a woman with insect wings and antennae.

"You showed, V! I am Chuu-Chuu! We pets will not give in to anybody! After sucking blood till we fill our stomachs, we can make 300 eggs at once!"

Mosquitoes swarm around them.

"What!?" says Minako. "You fraud! The doctor was a woman!?" She scratches her body. "Oh, I itch, I itch! I'm going to get Japanese encephalitis!"

She raises her arms.

"This makes me the natural enemy of the mosquito! My death move! Diphenhydramine Combo! Venus-Brand Mosquito Repellent Incense Typhoon!!"

Chuu-Chuu screams. "Nyan-Nyan, my sister! Wan-Wan, my brother! I don't want to die!!"

She reverts to the form of an insect, and falls lifelessly to the ground.

"You won't defeat humans in a million years," says Minako.

She rests on her knees.

"Well, I'm going home to blast the air conditioning and take a nap."

She sees Hikaru holding a Red Cross donation box.

"Sailor V!!" says Hikaru. "You came to help us out again!? I'll never forget your kindness!"

And so Sailor V was drawn in again as a volunteer, unable to get away from Hikaru-chan.

"Oh!" says Hikaru, looking at Minako's legs. "Even a soldier of justice can't beat the mosquitos. You're all bitten up!"

On to Volume 14