Serena, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina sat in a near circle on the light blue blanket that covered the soft green grass of the park. In the middle of the circle of girls sat a large basket, which was filled with lots of good food that had been prepared for the picnic. Amy sat reading, totally in another world of her own, while Lita, Raye and Mina were busy setting out paper plates eating utensils. Serena sat staring at the food and rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
"This was such a great idea!" She exclaimed with delight. "There's so much food!"
Raye gave her a dirty look, "You know you could be helping us set things up instead of just sitting there licking your chops."
"Hey! I'm here for moral support..."
"And to stuff your face." Raye cut her off. "Hey, where's Rini, were about ready to start eating. You'd better go and get her."
"Yes, I would suggest you do that." Seconded Luna who had just appeared with Artemis at her side.
"Alrighty then. I'll be right back." Serena pulled herself to her feet, then stopped. "Hey Amy will you come with me?"
Ami set her book down and stood. Yes, of course I will Serena."
With that they headed over to the playground area, where there were many children playing. Serena and Amy looked around carefully for a few minutes but for some reason they could not seem to spot Rini anywhere. Beginning to get a bit worried Serena began to ask some of the children if they had seen a little pink haired girl anywhere around. One of them told her that they had seen her run into a nearby grove of trees. The two girls quickly dashed into the trees, calling for her at the top of their lungs. After a suspenseful few minutes they heard a voice calling, "I'm over here guys." Running in that direction they finally caught sight of Rini, who was standing in front of a large stone slab that was laid at an angle against a boulder.
"Why did you run off like that Rini? You scared us half to death!" Usagi exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but I suddenly felt as though I was pulled here... I don't know what it was, really. I just couldn't help it. Then I came to this rock with all these weird marking on it. See?" She pointed. Amy and Serena looked closer at the slab and found that it did in fact have many markings on it. They were two straight lines that went down along the stone.
"Huh. I wonder what they mean...hey! Look there," Serena pointed to the marking at the very top of the right column, "there's a crescent moon carved here."
"Yes, I see that Serena." Remarked Amy. "I know what the others are too, in this row. They are the symbols used to identify the planets of the solar system." She said the name of each as she went down the row. "This is Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn. Though that is odd, the symbols for Pluto and Saturn are a lot harder to read than the others."
"Hey look Amy, there's also a crescent moon at the top of the other row, but you can barely see it."
"Yeah, it looks like its been crossed out." Said Rini. "And so have these two as well." She said, indicating the third and fourth symbols from the top, all three of which had sharp X's though them.
"Hmm." Mused Amy. "There are nine symbols on the left column, including the three that are crossed out. But other than the crescent moon at the top, I cannot identify any of them."
All of a sudden the crescent moon mark on the right column was illuminated with a red light and one by one the others under it began to glow, except for the Pluto and Saturn ones. A white light cut off the area around the stone slab and the three girls with pulled off their feet and flung into the air. They could not see where they were going or what was going to happen, when all of a sudden they fell into a heap on the ground.