"You're late again, Meatball-head! Can't you ever be on time for anything?" Raye snapped, as Serena and Luna came in through the temple gate. Luna cast her eyes skyward, continuing toward the group, and the other Scouts hid smiles as Serena pulled up short.
"Raye, that's not fair! And quit calling me Meatball-head!" Serena retorted. Raye Sailor Mars, shrugged with a smile.
"Why should I? It's what you are!" she stated. Raye teased Serena on a regular basis but she never meant it in a malicious way; she and Serena were close friends.
"Alright, you two…cut it out," Lita, Sailor Scout of Jupiter said with a smile, preventing the usual five minutes of catty remarks from the pair. Serena and Raye surrendered and grinned at each other, both moving over to sit with the other girls. Ami, Sailor Mercury, turned to the black cat as she setteled on the temple steps,
"Luna, why did you call this meeting?" she asked, "Everything is calm at the moment and…"
"Ami's 100 per cent right, Luna," Mina, Scout of Venus, interrupted, "Nothingis happening. As a matter of fact, everything is boring!"
"Mina, be quiet," the white cat sitting beside her said firmly. "We believe that things aren't going to stay quiet for much longer. Luna, why don't you fill them in on what we've seen in the past few days?"
"Thank you, Artemis," Luna responded. "Now, Scouts, this is important so if you don't understand anything, be sure to ask. Over the past few days, Artemis and I have been monitoring small amounts of negative energy around the city. There seems to be no set pattern to where it appears. The energy manifests, holds position for several minutes, and then disappears again. The amount of energy has been steadily increasing each day and if it continues at its present rate the results could well be disastrous." The five Scouts looked around at each other, their expressions serious.
"What do you want us to do?" Serena finally asked, breaking the silence.
"For the moment, Serena, all that you cando is keep your eyes open. If any of you see anything in the least bit suspicious; tell us immediately. Other than that, just be careful," Luna responded. The five girls nodded sombrely and then Lita, Ami, Mina, Serena and the two cats rose to go home.
"See you tomorrow, Raye," Serena called back over her shoulder. Raye nodded distractedly, turning, and went into the temple. Settling before the fire, she closed her eyes. Negative energy… she thought. What does this mean?
"Good morning, Buns," a voice hailed Serena as she walked toward Crossroads Junior High the next morning. She looked over her shoulder, a delighted smile on her face.
"Hi, Darien," she replied as the tall, dark-haired young man fell in beside her. "How are you?"
"Fine," Darien replied, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick hug. "By the way, where's Luna? I haven't seen her for the past few days." Serena nodded her agreement.
"She and Artemis have been busy. They say that they've been getting readings of negative energy from around the city," she explained. Darien frowned slightly. Serena shook her head at the expression. "Nuh-uh, Darien. Luna told us to keep our eyes open. She didn't tell us to transform and go search the city ourselves, O.K?" Darien nodded, but the slightly worried look didn't leave his face.
"Serena, hurry up! Otherwise you'll be late," Lita called from the school gates. Darien kissed Serena on the forehead.
"You don't want detention, Buns. You'd better go." Serena sighed, then nodded.
"Yeah, I know. See you later." she replied and headed toward Lita, who was waiting impatiently for her.