Don't worry, I have enough bow ties for all of you!
-Jamanen, to Sailor Venus/Guardian Muck
The second "official" story in The Jellax Saga, written by Chronorin
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Taking place almost immediately after Jellax, Becoming Muck talks about how Minako, a.k.a. Sailor Venus, is able to escape Jamanen's clutches and regroups with Artemis—at the cost, however, that she is the sole Inner Senshi left, the rest having been converted. After deciding to go back in order to try and destroy Jamanen, as well as save her friends, Minako is turned into a Jellax and must battle within her mind to return her friends to normal.
The story can be found on deviantART here.
Tropes contained in "Becoming Muck":
- Big Bad: Jamanen. At first.
- Bittersweet Ending: Minako fails in her mission to save the Senshi, and Jamanen is able to erase her memories and identity of her life as a human, ensuring Sailor Venus—now named Muck—will be her loyal minion. Along with this, Jamanen still plans to invade Earth. However, not only does Jamanen show genuine care and concern for the Guardians' well-being, but the Senshi/Guardians have come to accept their new lot in life and are happy to be with both each other and Jamanen. Moreover, while they aren't mentioned, there are other Senshi who can fight.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Lampshaded. When traveling on Nemesis, Minako recounts how they are able to move without muscles, and questions what will happen if to the now-Jellaxed Senshi if and when Jamanen dies, such as whether they can go on living/being Senshi in their current state.
- Bizarre Alien Psychology: Mostly averted, since Jamanen is remarkably human in many aspects. However, there are some exceptions:
- Jamanen and the Jellax seem to hold a sort of Hive Mind over one another, which acts like a telepathic bond that allows them all to communicate and empathize with one another.
- The Senshi/Slime Slaves are The Stoic when they address, and are being ordered, by Jamanen, yet show their old personalities later on.
- Hidden Depths: A small one, but since Jamanen was a bit disappointed that Minako surrendered so easily (at first), it implies that Jamanen might enjoy a challenge.
- Jerkass: Jamanen is not nice to the Senshi after converting/enslaving them. She gives them ridiculous pet names, gloats over how she has defeated them, always refers to them as her slaves, and even let Minako think that she had a chance to destroy her. Of course, we also only see this from Minako's POV, which could mean that Jamanen wasn't trying to be that way...
- I Surrender, Suckers: A play on this happens with Minako. After seemingly giving into the Jellax Conversion, she reveals she was able to keep her mind independent of Jamanen's control through mental Heroic Willpower. Of course, it fails at the end.
- Meaningful Rename: Downplayed. There's no clear reason as to why Jamanen renames the Senshi, and even Muck's thoughts don't comment on it at all. However, it still represents how the Senshi are no longer their old selves, and have joined Jamanen as Jellax.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: A prominent motif within both this story, and for the Jellax as a whole. Even though Jamanen's control is mental, she is able to influence her new "Slime Slaves" by converting them into a new alien lifeform. Even Minako and Jamanen's Battle in the Center of the Mind is started when Jamanen physically attacks Minako.
- Transhuman Treachery: The Senshi betray Minako and fight against her after becoming Jamanen's Slime Slaves. Of course, considering Jamanen's powers, they probably don't have the will, or even the desire, to ignore her orders.
- Unreliable Narrator: A third-person example. Since all we truly see is Minako's perspective on things, we don't know how much is the "real" Jamanen and how much is Minako making interpretations that fit her current view of Jamanen. Some specific examples include:
- Was Jamanen truly sneering at Usagi when giving the latter her Jellax name, or was it more playful and motherly?
- Was Jamanen truly mocking Minako when Minako spent her energy destroying a decoy or was Jamanen trying to be comforting?
- At the end, when Jamanen's voice was said to have become "strangely soothing" is that an indication Jamanen was beginning to change, that she was dropping her Jerkass act, or that Minako was seeing Jamanen in an unbiased light?
- When the Slime Slaves were trying to reach out to Minako in the pool, were they truly "losing themselves" as Minako thought, or were they fine and Minako was assuming the worst due to her hatred of Jamanen at the moment?
- White-and-Grey Morality: Minako/Venus wants to save her friends, while Jamanen wants Venus to become her slave. Despite the foul goal, Jamanen does show she loves the Guardians and indicates she's doing what she believes is best for them.
