Vol. 4
Petite Pandora's plot

"I am the sailor-suited beautiful soldier, Sailor V! I will stop you!"

She runs after the two criminals.

-

Two officers run to the building, and see the criminals tied up. A note is stuck to one of them.

It says, "To the police. I caught the burglars. V."

"God damnit!" says the officer. "Sailor V got here first again!"

Minako lies asleep on her bed in her school uniform.

"Miiina!" yells her mom. "Just because it's Sunday, how long do you plan to sleep in? It's already noon! I have to hang out the bedding! Get off!" She pulls the bedding out from under Minako, and Minako falls on the floor.

"Uhh..." says Minako. "Ohh... My skirt's all wrinkled..."

"You shouldn't sleep in your school clothes!"

"Come on, Mom! I was tired. I had to do a lot. I'm not just an ordinary junior high student... The soldier of justice Sailor V-"

Artemis covers her mouth. "Mina! If you talk that carelessly, it'll be a long time until you become fully qualified."

"You want to eat a piece of what?" says her mom.

[Japanese wordplay. Sorry.]

"Nothing!" says Minako. "Shh! Shh! Artemis! You'll give away that you're a talking cat."

I'm Aino Minako, in 7th grade. It's a secret, but I'm the justice fighter, Sailor V.

"Good weather!" she says. "I've decided, today I'm going shopping with Hikaru-chan! I'm carefree. I have a mountain of homework, but..." She pulls out her pen. "It's no problem! I can easily do even the hardest problems with this magic pen." She sits down and starts scribbling down her homework.

When I found Artemis (?), he gave me this magic pen so I could become a soldier of justice.

She opens her compact and brushes her hair back. "Well, I have to look nice."

And he gave me this crescent moon compact. It reflects true forms. A fabulous, fabulous compact.

"Mina, you have an important duty," says Artemis. "You're not training enough. You're only going around capturing criminals, which is the police's job."

Minako looks at the newspaper. The headline reads, "Sailor V does it! The criminals were captured."

"All right," she says. "One more practice. I'm making the police look bad." She laughs. "I wanted to beat them once."

The police officer bursts into the room at the Metropolitan Police Office, and hits his hand on the desk.

"Superintendent-General!" he yells. "Every single time! Sailor V is stealing all the credit! She's embarrassing all of us! In short, I think she's a very suspicious character! She must be secretly organizing this series of mysterious incidents!"

"I don't want to make a mistake," says the superintendent- general. "The number of mysterious incidents has been increasing lately. The soldier of justice also appeared. So I personally established a special police headquarters. I appointed you to lead it, Wakagi Toshio. Are you in any position to complain!? If it's too hard, get out of here and do something about it!!" She tosses him out of her office.

She looks around, then flips a switch. A large poster of Sailor V is lowered from the ceiling. "Ah! My V-chan!" she says. "Nobody can top you, the soldier of justice. V! Someday, I'll finally win you over to the police department."

-

"Damnit!" says Wakagi. "V! Someday I'll get her, and find out who she really is!"

"Hmph," says a woman. She looks at the newspaper article. "V! You will be killed, and I'm the one who's going to do it."

She steps out onto the stage, before a cheering crowd. The sign above her reads, "The pretty model, Petite Pandora's first concert!"

"Everyone!" she says. "Thank you all for coming today!"

The boys in the audience swoon.

"Oh, she's so cute! Petite Pandora!"

"We are all your slaves!"

"Hey! Hey! Did you see it on TV yesterday?"

"Haven't there been a lot of music shows lately?" says Minako.

"So will she be an idol or what?" asks Hikaru.

"Eheh... Ehehehe..." Amano says. "She already is."

"What are you doing, Amano?" asks Minako.

"Concert watch," he says. "This receiver catches radio waves sent from the idol's mike. We can enjoy the concert for free!"

"Jeez!" Minako says. "You are really a nerd, aren't you!"

"She's so cute!" says Amano. He holds up a poster. "The pretty model, Petite Pandora!"

"Petite Pandora?" thinks Artemis.

"Hey, there was an idol called Pandora before," says Hikaru. "She disappeared unnoticed, but I wonder if there's a relation."

"Hmm," says Minako. "Petite Pandora..."

Two boys look at Petite Pandora on a magazine cover. "She's cute! She's the prettiest girl now. Her trademark is her 'world's cutest wink'! If you say anything rude to her, she'll turn you down."

The model walks by them. "Is that true?"

They gasp as they see her. She smiles and winks at them.

Their faces darken. "Yes, we are all your slaves."

She walks away. "Heh heh... I need more, more slaves, so I can defeat V. I can do it with my handsome slaves." She looks around a corner. "Ah... Another person to be my slave..."

She goes to Amano. He turns around, and she backs away when she sees his face. "I can't! I can't!" she says. "I can't make such a loser my slave. Anyway, since I got a lot of slaves at my recent concert, now is the time."

She holds up an envelope that reads, "A challenge."

"I wonder where V stays. Since she's a soldier of justice, she must be working with the police."

Petite Pandora enters the Metropolitan Police Office with the envelope. "Umm... I'd like to give this to the best person here, but..."

"Best?" says the officer in front. "Miss, are you someone's messenger?"

Wakagi walks out. "What is it? What is it?"

"Oh!" thinks Petite Pandora. "He's handsome! I like him. All right, I'll wink at him and he'll be my slave..."

"This is no place for little kids," he says. "Get out of here!"

He tosses her out the door.

"How'd that happen?" she says. "Me, the popular, pretty model... This is a bad day."

-

Wakagi sees the envelope on the floor. He picks it up and opens it.

To Sailor V!
Meet me at Shiba Park! If you don't show, I will kill all the slaves I have gathered.
From the pretty model, Petite Pandora.

"This is the fiftieth case!" says one of the officers. "Lots of schoolboys are disappearing. These are definitely systematic abductions. But there aren't any clues! We have to get this solved!"

"If Sailor V would give us some help..."

"Yeah, Sailor V will come for sure!"

Wakagi bursts through the doors. "Everyone!" he yells. "Sailor V, V, V! Calling on her to solve these kidnappings... Do we need to depend on her!?"

-

"Petite Pandora is a suspect in the chain of schoolboy disappearances!"

"No way! That pretty girl is the kidnapper!?"

"She brought the police a written challenge to Sailor V!"

-

"What!?" says the superintendent-general, as she reads the letter. "A written challenge to V-chan!?"

Amano listens in his earphones. "Hehe! I just happened to catch a piece of top-secret information. It's shocking!"

"Nerd..." says Minako.

"It seems they've received a written challenge in Petite Pandora's name to Sailor V."

"Nerd, show me that book!" she says. She looks at the picture on the cover. "It looks like her. The enemy I beat before... Pandora."

The pen in her shirt pocket beeps. She runs behind a corner and pulls out its antenna. "Yes, this is Mina. Boss!?"

"Mina!! This is a state of emergency! Fifty schoolboys have disappeared in succession! They look like abductions!"

"Boss!!" Minako says. "A suspect called Petite Pandora has given the police a written challenge addressed to me!"

"Then she's probably an enemy!" says the boss. "Here are your orders. Uncover that Petite Pandora's true character and her goal. If she's an enemy... Get rid of her!"

"Understood!!"

"Let's go, Mina!" says Artemis.

Wakagi stands in front of a group of cops at Shiba Park. "Damnit, I'm not telling V about this! Not a chance! This time, we're going to do it!"

The superintendent-general stands with them. "I might get to see V-chan work live!" she thinks.

Minako peeks out at them from around a corner. "Lots of cops here," she says. "I better not go as V right away. That idol must like handsome boys. Now..." She takes out her compact. "Crescent Moon Power, Transform! Change me into a cute young boy!" She appears as a boy in a loose shirt and jeans. "This should get her attention."

-

A blimp flies overhead.

"A little tea," says Petite Pandora, inside.

"Wait," says a boy with her. "Come on, you drive this."

She steps up to a microphone. "I have an appointment now," she says. "I'm over Shiba Park."

-

"Sailor V!" booms the voice from the blimp. "Where are you!? I don't see you. I will gather more and more slaves, and seize Earth!"

A panel opens in the bottom, and Petite Pandora is lowered on a seat. She winks at the police officers. They become enthralled by her.

"She's so pretty!" says Wakagi. "A slave! That's the only way to live!"

She sees an unaffected boy. "Wow! He's really hot!"

"Hehe!" says Minako. "Caught ya!"

The two ropes holding Petite Pandora snap, and she crashes to the ground.

"Moon Power Transform!" Light flashes.

"You turn innocent boys into your slaves! You cruel woman! I won't let it happen! Code name: Sailor V, the soldier of justice! I am the sailor-suited beautiful soldier, Sailor Venus!"

"You're here, Sailor V! I've been waiting. I am Petite Pandora! You killed Pandora, my sister, so I'm taking revenge! Slaves! Go, kill V!"

Minako runs from the boys coming after her, but others gather behind her. "Uh oh... They're everywhere!"

"Mina!" shouts Artemis. "The compact!"

She holds it out. "Crescent Beam!"

The melting form of Petite Pandora laughs. "I'm still safe!" she says. "I'll get revenge for my sister..."

Gas fills the air, choking people.

"Revenge for my sister..."

Minako holds her nose. "Artemis! She's sending out a noxious odor! Everyone will die!"

"Mina!" says Artemis. "Purify it with Venus power!"

"Right." She opens the compact. "Venus Power! Love Crescent Shower!! Pour down rain!"

Rain falls, dissolving Petite Pandora.

The boys get up. "Uhh..."

"How did we get here...?"

"That smells great!"

"What's happening?" says Wakagi. "Feels good."

"Mina!" says Artemis. "Great job! From now on, you need to work hard, and start your real mission."

"I know. What? My real mission?"

"It's a secret."

"Hey!" says Wakagi. "V!"

"Everyone!" Minako says. "See ya!"

"Ahh..." says the superintendent-general. "V-chan!"

"Damnit!" says Wakagi. "She did it again!"

On to Volume 5