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[OP--"Moonlight Densetsu"]
[title screen]
The girls (minus Ami, for the moment) are at the beach, snatching a pair of binoculars away from each other in order to look at various cute guys, while Luna and Artemis mutter at their antics. (Mako, of course, mentions her sempai during this scene.) Rei has the binoculars when a trio of guys step in front of her, startling her. One of the guys asks the girls to go swimming with them, but the girls decide they aren't interested.
Usagi calls for her brother Shingo, who unearths himself from a pile of sand and, in the guise of a... er, pimp... strolls over wearing a straw hat, sunglasses, and what appears to be a scar on one cheek. He loudly asks the three boys if they want something from "his girls". After taking in his appearance, the boys quickly leave.
Shingo turns angrily on Usagi and her friends, removing the hat and sunglasses and rubbing away the "scar." He complains that he doesn't like this role, but Usagi says that, since Mamoru is off at work and Shingo is the only "man" around, he has to protect them.
Their exchange ends when Ami returns from the ocean (in a blue one-piece swimsuit) tells Shingo to relax because they can take care of themselves, and suggests that he go take a swim--the water is wonderful. He stares at her for a few moments, then blushes. Chibi-Usa comes up and tries to drag Shingo away, but he runs off on his own. Rei, Mako, Minako, and Chibi-Usa say that Ami and Shingo really seem to like each other, and that it's sweet; Ami is surprised by this, while Usagi doesn't know what they're talking about.
In the Dead Moon Circus tent, Zirconia gives the Amazon Trio a picture of Ami, their next target. None of them wants this job, as Ami looks like a tough target (FishEye calls her "a real stronghold"). Zirconia yells, and various eerie voices come from the shadows, causing to the Trio to look around apprehensively. Finally, they bow to Zirconia, and TigersEye says they'll do their best.
Later, the three are at a small food booth at the beach. (The booth's radio is playing the same music that always plays in the Trio's Dead Moon Circus bar. :)) TigersEye furiously attacks a bowl of noodles, finishes it, and slams down the bowl. He picks up Ami's picture, boasting about his "infallible methods" in response to the other two Amazons' doubts. He is interrupted by the blaring radio--the cook has changed the station--and demands the music back; the cook yells that it's HIS radio and HIS booth.
Usagi and the others are at a nearby booth, getting what appear to be snowcones. As Ami and Shingo turn away from the booth, TigersEye runs up and "accidentally" bumps into Ami, spilling her snowcone-thing on the ground. He immediately launches into an speech inviting Ami to come to his private beach as an apology, then gives Ami a charming smile that causes all the girls _except_ Ami to get hearts in their eyes.
Shingo approaches TigersEye (trying his "pimp" act again), but is shoved aside by Minako and the others, who crowd around TigersEye. TigersEye seems a little overwhelmed by their reaction; to top it off, he recognizes Minako as the girl who recently made fools of himself and HawksEye. Ami cuts off their conversation by saying politely (and stiffly) that she can't accept his generous offer, then bows formally and walks off. After a moment, the others follow in a slightly confused manner.
A little later, TigersEye angrily slams down a spherical blue container on the counter of the noodle booth from before, muttering. As he starts to eat whatever is in the blue container, he tells the other two that he isn't giving up; the more challenging the job, the sweeter the victory.
The girls are back under their umbrella on the beach, talking with Ami. (During their conversation, Ami's song "Onaji namida wo wakeatte", from the Japanese equivalent of the episode "Sailor Mercury Moving On?", plays on someone's radio.) Minako wants to know why Ami didn't accept that "hunk's" offer, and says that, were she Ami, she wouldn't hesitate for a second. (Artemis snidely agrees that she wouldn't, causing Minako to pull his tail. :)) Ami says that she doesn't accept such offers from strangers, and, anyway, she doesn't feel like getting involved in a relationship just now--although she believes that someday she'll meet the man of her dreams.
As she says this, Chibi-Usa thinks of the Pegasus, Usagi decides to tell the story of how she met Mamoru (causing Minako to whine "Not _again_!"), and Shingo seems to brighten a bit.
Later, Shingo rows himself and Ami out on the ocean in a small inflatable raft. They talk some more about Ami's dream; Shingo says he thought her dream was to be a doctor, but Ami says she has other dreams, as well, and one of these is to have a big family (since she has lived alone with her mother for so long). If the right man came along, she would even be willing to drop her studies and instead be a wife and mother. This causes Shingo blush again.
Nearby, TigersEye, wearing swimming goggles, pops out of the water. He starts his maniacal laugh, but chokes on a mouthful of water and has to stop, scowling.
[commercial break]
On the beach, the other girls are tossing around a beach ball that looks like a watermelon. (Now "`Rashiku' Ikimasho" (love that song!) is playing on somebody's boombox. :)) Nearby, HawksEye and FishEye recline on a pair of deck chairs, wondering how TigersEye's job is coming along. The noodle cook comments that the wind is now blowing out to sea.
Ami and Shingo drift further and further from shore. Shingo has just begun to row them back when they see what appears to be shark's fins moving toward their raft. As it gets close, however, it turns out to be TigersEye with a dolphin. Shingo wonders if he's a dolphin trainer, and yells at him to get lost; TigersEye yells back that Shingo shouldn't push it.
TigersEye suddenly snaps his fingers--creating a sizable hole in the bottom of the boat. Shingo disappears through the hole, into the water below. Ami stares at the hole for a second, then dives after Shingo; TigersEye smiles in satisfaction until he's drenched by the resulting wave.
Shingo sinks downward helplessly until Ami catches up and grabs onto him. She then begins dragging him back to the surface (but not without an obviously great amount of effort).
Back on the beach, the other girls yell for Shingo-kun and Ami-chan; the sun is setting, and they're beginning to worry. Suddenly, Diana calls them, and they rush over to her to see the remains of the raft, with a hole in the bottom, washed ashore. Chibi-Usa identifies it (probably from the number on the side), and Usagi begins to panic.
Meanwhile, Ami has pulled Shingo back to dry ground, in a nearby cave. She tries to revive him, realizes that he isn't breathing, and begins giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. TigersEye, standing over the two of them, wants to know why she's bothering with Shingo--he isn't a relative of hers, is he? Between breaths, Ami answers, in a determined voice, that Shingo is important to her because he's her friend. TigersEye puzzles over this "friendship" thing, wondering whether _he_ has anyone who could be called his friend.
Finally, Shingo coughs, chokes, and begins to breathe. As he sits up, Ami hugs him and starts to cry. He blushes again.
TigersEye, who seems a little puzzled by all this, puts friendship out of his mind, telling himself that catching the Pegasus is all that matters (although the question will obviously keep bothering him). He changes into his Amazon outfit. He counts to three, calling up his magic board, strapping Ami, to it, and extracting her Dream Mirror. As he approaches to look into it, Shingo brandishing a piece of driftwood, blocks his path. TigersEye grabs the weapon with his whip and proceeds to hit Shingo in the head with it, knocking the boy out of the fight.
The Amazon again approaches Ami, and is stopped this time by the arrival of Sailors Moon and Chibi-Moon, who go through their speech and are soon joined by Mars, Venus, and Jupiter.
TigersEye calls up a lemure that looks like a sort of small, female acrobat/clown. The lemure produces a pair of colored balls and swallows them, the begins pounding on its (suddenly larger...) chest and repeating "boom boom boom." When it finishes, a larger ball pops out of the hat on its head. The Senshi are impressed by this performance--Sailor Moon even applauds--until the lemure throws the ball to the ground, where it explodes in their faces.
The lemure repeats its routine, but this time produces a much larger ball; the Senshi stare in horror and try to scramble out of the way, but get blasted again and lie there on the ground, stunned.
TigersEye looks into Ami's Mirror, but fails to find the Pegasus. He leaves the lemure to finish off the Senshi and makes his escape. The board vanishes, and Ami falls to the ground.
The lemure prepares to create another of its bombs, but is interrupted this time by a rose from Tuxedo Kamen. Ami tells the others that the only way to stop the lemure is to cover its mouth. (Sailor Moon misunderstands and covers her own mouth, prompting a sarcastic remark about her intelligence from Mars.) Tuxedo Kamen throws his hat into the lemure's mouth, halting it in mid-"boom". Ami cues Chibi-Moon, who does her Twinkle Yell, and Sailor Moon rapidly finishes off the lemure with Moon Gorgeous Meditation.
Some time later, Shingo regains consciousness to see Ami leaning over him, smiling. (They're all in a small building near the beach--looks like a beach hut.) He hurriedly sits up. Ami tells him that Sailor Moon saved them, and then, in response to his guilt over not being able to save her, she says that he really _did_ save her--after all, she would have been killed before the Senshi came if Shingo had not attacked TigersEye.
Shingo hears this and blushes yet again.
A bit later, Ami and Shingo stand outside watching a fireworks display, while everyone else sits in the doorway of the hut eating watermelon. Rei says that they should come back next year and bring their boyfriends. Usagi says she'll come with Mamo-chan--a statement which Chibi-Usa repeats word-for-word, starting yet another fight between the two.
[ED--"'Rashiku' Ikimasho"]
Copyright ©1998-2000 Stephen Congly
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