America is usually a pretty stable place.  It has its crime, its
devaluation of the moral structure, and its corrupt government.  Usually 
all the citizens have to worry about is whether or not they paid their 
taxes on time.  Unfortunately, things were about to change.

	Sally rode through the park on her rollerblades, jamming to some 
local band's tape in her walkman.  The local scene in the Bay Area 
couldn't be beat.  She always loved the thrill of great music, wind blowing
through her hair, as she rode through the park and just watched everyone.
Sally was a great people watcher.  She prided herself in being able to read
people extraordinarely well.  She glanced at the couple making out on 
the bench.  'Cute, but they were too physical.  It wouldn't last.'  She looked
at the young mother watching her children play on the equipment.  'Playing?
At 10 o'clock in the evening?  Must be a single working mom.'  She returned
her eyes to the path she was skating on.  That monster standing on the path
in front of her?  'Just another Silicon Valley weirdo,' she thought.

	"... A MONSTER!?"  She scrambled to a stop, coming to a halt right
before it.  She stared at it like a deer in headlights.  It was 6 foot
tall stick, with leaves sticking out of it's sides.  "Wha.. what do you
want?"

	"I'll have this entire park's energy before the night ends!"  It 
tilted it's head back in an evil laugh.  "I am... Twignacron!"  Leaves
shot out in all directions, attatched to Twignacron by tiny stems.  One
attatched itself to Sally's forehead.  She felt the strength leave her
body.  She collapsed, and felt herself growing weaker and weaker.  The 
monster before her glowed with a dark aura as it absorbed the energy of
everyone in the San Jose park.

	Without warning, there was a red flash, and the stem connecting 
the leaf on Sally's head to Twignacron was gone.  Sally's eyes opened
and she saw a figure standing on top of a light post.  She blinked, and
he was still there.  Dressed in a black tuxedo, classical style, with a
black top hat and black and red cape flowing behind him.  A little mask
covered his eyes.  She saw a rose sticking in the ground in front of her,
and she identified it as the source of the red flash.  Then Sally passed 
out.


	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	|  A Third Impact Starter:              |
	|  Tuxedo America:                      |
	|  Chapter 1: Strange Soil              |
	|  By ColdFury                          |
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Twignacron stared at the newcomer wearily.  Two of it's arm-like 
limbs pointed at the figure and suddenly extended into long branches with 
spikey ends growing at a super fast rate right in the direction of the 
Tuxedo clad figure.  Before Twignacron could track him, the Tuxedo 
clad figure hopped down off the light post and was leaning against it 
casually.  

	"Who.. who are you!?"  Twignacron drew back it's arms, and prepared
for a faster fight.

	"He who drains the energy from innocents exercising their right to
exercise has no place in the land of freedom!  Tuxedo Kamen will not
forgive you!"  Tuxedo Kamen pulled out his cane and expanded it, charging
the youma.

	"Tuxedo WHAT?"  The twig didn't even have time to dodge as the cane 
slapped into it, knocking the monster a good 15 feet away.  

	A rose flew through the air and embedded itself in the center of 
Twignacron's 'trunk'.  It screamed in pain, and found itself unable to 
move.

	Tuxedo Kamen seemed to pause, and looked around.  Finding no one
offering to finish the monster off with a spectacular finishing attack, 
he seemed rather perturbed.  A minute or two passed by, with Tuxedo 
Kamen standing thoughtfully.  Twignacron finally struggled to his feet
and freed himself from the rose.  "What the hell is your problem!?"

	Shrugging, Tuxedo Kamen said, "I've never actually finished a 
Youma off before."  A couple of people whom had slowly started getting
up, facefaulted, which was a new experience for them as they were 
American and were wholly unfamiliar with the concept, except for young
Crystal across the park, who was a Japenese anime fan and was watching
the entire exchange with heart shaped eyes thinking, "WAI!  BISHOUNEN!"

	Twignacron cackled, "I'll take care of you easily then!  RAZOR LEAF!"
Dozens of razor sharp leaves flew at Tuxedo Kamen.  He blocked most of them
with his cape, but one scraped his left arm and staggered him.  

	"Augh!"  Tuxedo Kamen grimaced.  He had to think of something, and do
it FAST.  He remembered all the times Usako had found herself over powered,
and how she had strived to reach beyond her previous capacity and overcame
the obstacle.  His mind reached for anything he could use to finish the 
twing off.

	"ROLLING THUNDER!"  Twignacron pulled logs out of Treespace and 
threw them hearitly at Tuxedo Kamen.  He dodged out of the way but
was getting desperate. 

	An idea came to him.  He had no right to even try it, but maybe he
could pull it off.  He threw a dozen roses at Twignacron, which embedded
into his trunk once more.  The youma froze.  Tuxedo Kamen pulled out his 
cane and extended it.  Focusing all his power, he closed his eyes.  
"Charging... cane... ATTACK!"  He dashed foward and his cane glowed with
the power of the Earth.  There was a flash of light and a slashing sound.
When the light cleared, Tuxedo Kamen was behind Twignacron, and facing
away from him.  Twignacron slowly split into two pieces, then turned into
ash.

	The energy dispursed among those who were drained previous to the 
fight.  Tuxedo Kamen took a look around and quickly ran off to escape too
many questions.  Sally looked up just in time to see a cape flap over the
nearby fence.  "Whoever you are... Thank You."

*****

	Mamoru rode his new motorbike up the 880 Interstate.  He was still
new to the United States traffic laws, but had easily passed the driving 
exam.  But his thoughts were on anything but driving, "I didn't expect 
to be called into action here, particularly with Usagi still in Japan."
He blazed past a semi on the freeway as they went onto the bridge to the
maze.

	"I was lucky tonight."  The light shimmered off the visor of his 
helmet as he pulled onto the 580 ramp towards Berkeley.  "I don't know
where it came from."  A quick glance down to his watch revealed the time
as being 11pm.  "Crap!  First day of class tomorrow!"  He gunned his engine
as he headed for the dorms at UC Berkeley.

	The next day, Mamoru awoke with a stiff neck, a slight headache 
from lack of sleep, and a paper full of classroom locations he couldn't
remember how to get to.  He quickly grabbed a cup of coffee out of the
dorm lobby and ran out to find his first class.  A quick 5 minute sprint
later, he walked in to his advanced ethics class.  As he walked in the
teacher, Professor Blout, glared at him.  "Who would you be?"

	Flustured, Mamoru quickly answered.  "Chiba Mamoru, sir.  Er, 
Mamoru Chiba."  A couple of students in the front row snickered at his 
flub.  

	"Ah yes, the exchange student.  I don't know how well they handle 
things where you come from Mr. Chiba, but in America we come to class
on time," the professor sagely stated.

	As he spoke about a dozen students walked in late, one of them a 
young brunette girl with long hair and auburn highlights.  She brushed past 
Mamoru and stopped.  He looked curiously at her, and she smiled at him with 
a wink, "Don't mind old Blouty.  He's just being *anal* again."  She said 
the last part in a whisper so the prof wouldn't pick it up.  She grabbed
Mamoru's arm and led him up to the back of the lecture hall.  They sat down
and turned their speakers on so they could hear the professor in the 400+ 
student class.  

	"This class is semester length, and it shall--"

	"Psst!"  The girl next to Mamoru motioned for him to turn his speaker
down a moment.  "I didn't catch your name."

	"Mamoru Chiba, thanks for your help down there..."

	"Kelly.  Kelly Tyler.  I take it you're an exchange student from 
Japan?"

	Mamoru blinked, "How did you--"

	She giggled and pointed at his jacket's chest.  "Name tag silly."

	He turned a shade of red just out of embarrassment of his 
stupidity.  "Shouldn't we be paying attention?"

	"Do you know how to read?"  Kelly's eyes twinkled once again as if
she was thinking of the funniest thing in the world.

	"... Yes."

	"Then we don't have to pay attention.  He's reading, verbatim, from
his syllabus.  Tomorrow we actually get into content.  Today's just here to
get us to sign in for roll call."

	Mamoru blinked, and turned his speaker up again, looking down at the
syllabus.  Sure enough... the professor was speaking it word for word.  
He turned down the speaker.  "Good call."

	"I've had this guy before for philosophy.  No biggie.  So what're 
you doing after class?"  

	Mamoru shrugged, "I don't know.  I have an hour break between the
end of this class and the beginning of the next one."

	Kelly smiled, "You'll have to come with me then!  I'll show you
the good place for a quick breakfast on campus!"

	After taking a moment to blink, Mamoru nodded.  Kelly smiled and
they both turned back to the monitors displaying the professor.  While
listening to him drone on about the amount of course work, Mamoru's 
thoughts drifted to Usagi and the others.  "Usako would probably be 
jealous if she saw me with Kelly.  I wonder how they're doing.  It's
night over there, if anything is going down it's probably happening 
now, it always does."  

	He reached out with his senses, attempting to feel if Usako 
was in danger.  After a moment of concentrating, he could feel a 
brief moment of danger, and uncertainity.  But then he felt a surge
of confidence from her, and the danger passed.  He could almost 
feel her smiling at him.  "Mamoru.  Mamoru."

	"Mamoru!"

	Mamoru opened his eyes with a jump.  Kelly stood over him, 
holding in a laugh that her eyes betrayed.  Smiling she tilted her
head at him.  "Sleeping in class on the first day?  And you struck
me as studious."

	"Actually, I was just thinking about... my friends back 
home."  He didn't know what Kelly's interest in him was, but he didn't
want to ruin a potential friendship by bringing up Usagi just yet.
Plus people were a tad more sensitive to the age thing in America.

	"Probably an old girlfriend hrm?  Well we'll have that fixed in
no time.  I'll introduce you to so many people you'll never want to 
go home!"  She grabbed her books, and Mamoru did the same.  They 
walked down the aisle, past Professor Blout, who snorted at them.

*****

	Professor Blout walked into the room to his office.  After he
closed the door, he peered around carefully in the small space.  Satisfied
that his moronic officemate wasn't around he sat down at his desk, and 
pulled a lever.  The chair he sat down in slid into the ground of his 
ground floor office, replaced by an identical empty chair.  He slid
through a series of underground passage ways and other assorted tunnels
before coming to a stop.  Exiting his chair, he pulled off his professor
labcoat to reveal a uniform akin to that of a general.  He walked up to a
crowd of monsters standing in large hall.  "Gentlemen.  Ladies.  Monsters.
I have recieved word tonight that a new hero has come to town, and foiled 
the homework of one of your students.  I'm afraid Twignacron was lost."

	There was a gasp of shock among the students.  "This hero is likely
to endeavor to unbalance our plans.  Fortunately, this plays right into
your training as student youma.  The Univeristy of Black Moon - Berkeley,
is dedicated to teaching you the ways on how to avoid peddling heroes.  
This new addition will strengthen the local faction, and make for a real
challenge for you."

	The students clapped and cheered.  "After we've had our fun with
him, of course we'll have to dispose of him."  The cheering increased 
in octaves.  Bloutite smiled evilly.  

*****

	Mamoru stumbled to keep his bearings as he was dragged along by an
enthusiastic Kelly.  She finally pulled to a stop in front of a coffee
shop.  He frowned, confused.  "Coffee?  Why didn't we just go to that 
Starbucks place I've seen everywhere?"  He pointed to one at the corner,
and then pointed in the direction of the other corner. 

	Kelly smiled, "Silly!  Starbucks is generic!  This place has flavor!
Plus it has Keith!"

	"Keith?"  Mamoru looked at her questionally.

	Kelly fidgeted, "I didn't mention him?  He's my uh... boyfriend."

	"Oh.  I see."

	"I hope you're not mad or anything, I just wanted a chance to get
to know you without you thinking 'off limits'."  Kelly looked at him 
with concern.

	He chuckled, "Don't worry, I have a princess of my own back home
waiting for me."

	Kelly laughed, "You dog!  A princess huh?  Lucky girl."

	Mamoru smiled, "Let's meet Keith."

	Keith turned out to be a small japanese man around the age of 21.
He was flipping through a manga as they walked up.  Mamoru smiled, 
"<Ah!  A fellow japanese student?>"  

	Looking up, Keith flustered, "Uh... konichiwa?  I dunno, I'm 
Japanese but I've never actually learned japanese."

	Nodding, Mamoru replied, "I apologize.  My name is Mamoru, 
I take it you must be the lucky Keith."

	Keith nodded, and glanced at Kelly questioningly.  She sat
down next to him and smiled, "He's a japanese exchange student, I
thought maybe we could show him around or something."  

	"Speaking of showing me around, I think I'll show myself to the
restroom."  Mamoru excused himself and quickly walked to the restroom.

	Kelly's smile instantly dropped as he was gone.  "I sensed something
from him."

	Keith tilted his head and looked in the direction Mamoru had gone.
"From him?  Are you certain?"

	"Definitely.  Some sort of vibes were coming from him.  Especially
in class."  Kelly held Keith's hand in hers.

	"Could he be the enemy?"  Keith frowned.

	"I don't know.  He seems like a nice guy."

	"We'll have to keep our guard up."

	"Agreed."  Kelly turned back to the returning Mamoru.  "Well, what
do you think of our American toiletry system?"  The smile was back in her
face.

	"Well, the water still swirls the right way, so I'm happy."  Mamoru
sat down across from the couple.  They smiled at him, and began an hour of
small talk and chit chat.  Mamoru couldn't help but think he was on the 
road to making new friends in this new land.

*****

	Bloutite walked into HER office carefully.  One had to be sure not
to disturb HER before she was ready.  He stood their as quiet as possible
until she noticed his presence.

	"GAAAH!  I TOLD YOU NOT TO STARTLE ME LIKE THAT!"

	Bloutite trembled.  "Yes m'lady."

	"AND CALL ME MISTRESS."

	"Y-yes mistress."  The fact that last time he had called HER that she
had told him to call HER "m'lady" did not escape his lips.  You did NOT 
contradict HER.

	"ABOUT THIS NEWCOMER..."

	"Yes m'l... mistress.  I believe he will be an interesting training 
exercise for the students.  The local resi-"

	"STOP BLABBERING.  I KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.  BUT YOU ARE WRONG.  HE IS
CONNECTED TO MORE.  IF HE HAS A CHANCE TO ALERT THEM, OUR ENTIRE PLAN MIGHT
BE IN JEOPARDY.  KILL HIM IMMEDIATELY."

	Bloutite paled.  "Kill him?  Bu-but how?"

	"*SIGH*  MORON.  HERE IS WHAT WE WILL DO...."

*****

	Mamoru pressed the buttons slowly, to assure he followed the complex
directions correctly in order to dial the phone the right way.  Finally, 
after moments of tension and a quick wrong number to New Zealand, Mamoru
heard the phone ringing.  

	*click* "Hello?"

	"Usako?"

	"Mamo-chan!?"

	"Usako!!  I just wanted to call to tell you I settled in all right."

	"Oh I miss you so much Mamoru!  Did you miss me???"

	"Of course Usagi.  I thought about you a lot constantly.  Has there
been any.. trouble.. lately?  I thought I felt you in trouble earlier."

	There was a pause.  "Yes, but nothing we can't handle.  Don't worry
Mamo-chan.  I want you to finish school and not have to worry about being 
Tuxedo Kamen for awhile."

	"Usako... I'll be back sooner than you think.  I promise."

	"I... I love you."

	"I love you too, Usagi."

	Mamoru quickly said good bye, after wiping a solitary tear from
his eye.  "I knew this was going to be tough... but this is impossible.
How can I live so long without her?  Maybe a ride will clear my head."

	Mamoru walked out of his room, and into the living area of his
dorm suite that he was going to share with 2 other guys.  They hadn't
arrived yet however.  He grabbed his helmet off the table near the door
and headed out for his bike.  His mind was a jumble of depressed, homesick
thoughts as he pulled out onto the freeway.  So much so that he forgot it
was rush hour.

*****

	The Dumbarton bridge as jammed full of cars, as it always was at 
6pm.  In the 4 lane bridge, neither side was moving an inch.  Many drivers
pulled out preprepared papers, cell phones, or Jack in the Box.  Others
cursed violently and tried to contain road rage.

	*HOOOONK*

	Some contained it better than others.  But one vehicle contained a
passenger of pure, unmitigated evil.  The heart of this driver was so cruel
and calculating, it could possibly snuff the light out of the sun and deliver
us all into a cold ice age.

	Then, behind Bill Gate's car, there was a youma behind the wheel.
Without any warning in the midst of the unescapable traffic; the quiet and
unassuming 1975 Ford Pinto exploded.  In a turn of events that actually 
surprised some, in the remains of the car stood a monster shaped like an 
engine block.  The rotors and pistons started spinning and pumping, and 
it cackled evilly.  "YOUR ENGERGY WILL SOON BE MINE!"

	With nowhere to go, the occupants of the bridge were drained of 
their energy and quickly passed out.

*****

	Two figures in a dark room conversed quietly.  "I feel the negative 
presence again," said the short man.

	"We must hurry," was the response the slightly taller female gave.

*****

	Mamoru sped through traffic on his bike, weaving past the stuck
cars.  His thoughts were on Usagi, his far off love.  And his friends, 
the scouts.  Would the 8 of them be all right without him?  Or was that
10?  Mamoru did a quick mental count.  Nine at last count, including Usagi.
Mamoru idly wondered what happened to the starlights after they left.  

	His train of thought was suddenly derailed as he noticed a large
walking and talking engine block draining energy from all the cars around
him.  He skidded to a stop, and hopped behind a bus.  After a quick glance
around, he pulled a rose from his jacket pocket, and transformed into 
Tuxedo Kamen.

	The youma picked up the form of a drained person, putting it dangerously
close to it's spinning fan.  "Prepare to meet your fate at the hands of 
V-8!"  The person, although unconcious, managed to sweatdrop.

	Just as the person was being lifted to the fan, a red streak flew
past the man's head, and directly into V-8's fan.  A rose stuck into the
fan, startling the mechanical youma into dropping its victim.

	Tuxedo Kamen stood atop a big rig, "Cars and motorvehicles are 
meant to be a modern convinience, not a tool for destruction and evil!  
You have put the inventions of Henry Ford to bad use, and Tuxedo Kamen
will NOT forgive you!"  He leapt into the air, his cane extended and 
overhead for a diving strick, but the monstrous motor spat oil up into the
oncoming hero.

	Falling to the hard concrete with a thud and sliding to a stop, 
Tuxedo Kamen slowly pulled himself up off the ground.  His cane was a few
feet away, but when he looked up V-8 was almost on top of him.  The Youma
pulled out a rubber belt and swung it around Tuxedo Kamen, trapping his arms
to his sides.  The monster swung the belt round and round, causing the 
tuxedo clad punching bag to get knocked into car after car.

	The youma tossed Tuxedo Kamen to the ground, and held it's hands over
head.  "Time for you to die, Tux-boy!"  A glowing dark energy ball formed
over its head.  Tuxedo Kamen vainly tried to get his body to respond, but
to no avail.  

	"Usako...."  Tuxedo Kamen stared at his impending doom head on.  So
he'll have to be forgiven for not noticing the pair of individuals running
up.

	"SOOOLAR FLAAAAAAARE!"  A ball of bright yellow flame swept in and
knocked the monster off it's feet.  Before Tuxedo Kamen could turn around,
another figure, dressed in a black Gi with a black, eye-covering nose resting
mask on.

	The man grabbed Tuxedo and lept to the top of a bus.  Concentrating,
he glowed of purple energy, and cried out, "Mystic Healing Art!"  The glow
enveloped Tuxedo Kamen, who suddenly felt rather healed.  The man in the gi
looked rather tired.  "Up to you now, Tux-boy."

	"Call me Tuxedo Kamen."

	"You mean Tuxedo Mask?"

	Tuxedo Kamen paused for a moment, and shrugged.  "If you like."  He 
turned to see a woman with bright orange hair and a yellow skintight spandex
suit avoiding the attacks of a charred V-8.  They were exchanging blows evenly,
until V-8 caught her with a faceful of hot oil.  Tuxedo Mask pulled a rose 
out of his pocket, and with all the force and power he could muster, threw it
25 feet to embed itself in V-8's head.  For a brief moment the youma looked
surprised, but then it exploded, yet again living up to it's origin.

	Tuxedo Mask turned to thank the man in the black gi, but found him gone.
When he turned to see if the woman with him had followed suit, he found her
missing as well.  He paused thoughtfully, "So that's what it's like."  Noticing
people around him slowly waking up, he quickly lept off the bus and dashed to 
his motorbike.  He jumped the divider and drove down the bridge at high speeds
between stalled cars, his cape flapping dramatically behind him.

	"Whoever this new enemy is, and whatever their dastardly overall plan for
world destruction or conquest is, I shall stop them.  I am Tuxedo.. Mask.  And
I will not forgive them."

*****

	Meanwhile, back at the Youma College, Bloutite was giving an important 
seminar.  "This is how you growl menacingly:  Grrrrr."

	The class intoned after him:  "GRRRRRR."

	"Grrrr."

	"GRRRRRR."


Author's Notes:

	I know what you're all thinking.  "A Sailor Moon starter without
Sailor Moon?  Are you nuts?"  Well I probably am.  I know this isn't my best
work yet, but I think this has potential as a newbie starter.  Basic premise,
typical silly "I can't see that it's my new best friend who is the new super
in town even though her costume is she ... looks the same" SM themes.  And 
a little bit of my flavor of humor.  I really wished they'd done more with 
Mamoru in the later parts of the series, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

	Special thanks to Lurker and Ardweden for morale support, ideas, and 
fact checking.  And thanks to #improfanfic just for being you! ^_^

	Extra special thanks to Ard and Phoebe for reading it and telling me 
to submit it.  And thanks to Shad for some grammar checking! ^_^


--ColdFury
07/06/00