SM and FOTM: A Christmas Caper!
Chapter 2: Last Minute Shopping
Elsewhere
The Floating Ice City Castle
The palace was an eerie yet frozen chamber; not even the bravest or warmest of hearts could even last in there. Within there were items that were frozen and forgotten to the winds of time, including a few people who were frozen in place, with their faces twisted in frightened expressions. The only part of the room that even seems to hold any signs of life, was near the throne. It was an eerie throne indeed; icicles stretching downward and up the side, like jagged teeth waiting to eat anyone that came near it. And sitting on the throne was something much to be feared.
There was a snow blue woman sitting on the throne, someone in their twenties, and had the body shaped like an hourglass. She was wearing a white dress that bellowed over her feet with white and red striped fluff trim on the bottom. The sleeves clung to her arms, and ended at her wrists, but covered a portion of the top of her hands, with a white and red-striped fluff trim around the wrists. The dress had no shoulders, nor a neckline, meaning it was cut off the shoulders, but down from the chest to the bellybutton, was an exposure of flesh that showed a little of her cleavage and went down to her bellybutton, but was shaped like a snowflake design. She had a choker with a snowflake shaped jewel at the front and two snowflake shaped earrings, and an ice tiara on her head. Her hair was white and flowed down to her back, and looked hard and pointy like ice. But the eeriest thing about her was her eyes; they were black, with her irises being icy blue, and her pupils as black as the darkest regions of space itself.
This royal ice queen sat at her throne patiently, but seemed a little impatient as she remembered what had happened. A bunch of humans, dressed in what appeared to be the strangest outfits she had ever seen, and had wiped out half of her search party. Luckily at that moment, the remaining search team had phased from the floor and kneeled to their queen. They were an odd looking kind of species; there were some that resembled ghosts with parts of their insides showing, which were striped gray with black. They had elongated claws, spikes on their shoulders and spines, and their heads were skeletal and twisted upside down with only one eye that was purple.
The other goons looked like half humans, and half puddles of ooze colored gray, with razor sharp bladed spikes on their shoulders, and colored black. Their mouths were elongated and filled with razor sharp teeth, and their eyes nothing but black holes that gave anyone an eerie feeling.
The queen got up from her throne and walked towards the edge of the steps to where her throne rested on. The monstrous creatures all bowed before her with their heads held low as she stopped to look down upon them. She looked at them, with a strange glitter of hope in her eyes as she asked them, "Were you able to find the Crystal that I seek?"
The creatures shook their heads in a resounding no fashion, as one spoke in a raspy and eerie voice, "Our apologies, my queen. The crystal is nowhere to be found; it may be in the possession of some human that we have yet to identify."
And one of the human slime men quickly stated, "And it is nearing dawn even as we speak, my queen. We cannot venture outward, unless we risk death itself."
The queen shook her head as she stated, "Once we find the crystal and build the array on this planet's cold poles, we won't have to worry about the sun anymore." She then ordered, "Now rest and prepare for the next night." And the creatures did so as they phased or oozed right into the floor.
The queen sat upon her throne, and looked up at her skylight; it was opened at the vast blackness of space, turning away from the Earth as the sun began to peer out. She brought up her hand as her claw fingernails caressed the night sky, as she purred to herself, "It was so long ago…I was seeking a home for our people, and that I found this new world, called Earth. And on it, was a power source I could use to blanket it into eternal darkness." Her face then frowned as she sneered, "But then a giant bird made of fire, appeared out of nowhere, and with its heat and light, banished us from here."
She remembered it all too well: the fiery bird, its heat nearly destroying them all, and banishing them from their new world. She clenched her fist as she growled, "Ever since that day, all I could think about, was how and when I would claim this world for our own." She then chuckled, "But now the time is right, soon the earth will be covered in a cold deathly embrace of Eternal Darkness, and the Ectorunites will claim dominion on the stupid humans, once and for al. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!"
Back on Earth
Hikawa Shrine
Snow was falling down near the Hikawa Shrine, as it had as the time of winter and always had been. The snow that covered the shrine always made it look so serene and bright; though it always looked bright. But this wasn't now for the time to see snow falling; this was a time for answers. It was then, that the Inner Scouts, Rini and Hotaru were kneeling behind a Shinto Priestess. She was a raven haired beauty, dressed in a Shinto Priestess outfit; she was Rei Hino, the psychic of the Sailor Scouts and was also known as Sailor Mars, Princess of Mars. She was praying or chanting at a roaring fire and making different marker signs with her hands as she chanted, with much concentration, "I am the Fire; Fire is Light. I am the Fire; Fire is Light…"
The girls did this whenever they needed to know what or where their foe would strike next. And it was a good thing they were turning towards this first before they could ask Ceros, seeing as how Luna and Artemis knew nothing about this, nor did they remember. So it was up to Rei and her psychic ability of unprompted premonitions. Basically, it was up to her fire-readings now as she chanted at the fire.
Outside of the room, Aaron, Jin, Ian, and three other fellows were waiting patiently for the chant to end. Ceros was in a quandary while sitting on Aaron's shoulder. The other three were two boys and one girl trying her best to fit in as a boy. It was none other than Frey Asapin: he was a sixteen-year-old boy with deep tanned skin, light brown eyes, and long but short bottle blonde hair, with a braid that was five inches long on the right side of his head. Even after the short time that he was among them, he never once changed his hairstyle, considering most of the girls went gaga over him.
The other two were twin siblings; both brother and sister. One was Phumika Fong and the boy that was with her had short black hair, and was wearing a black sweatshirt with a red and white jacket, and blue jeans. He was also wearing sunglasses at the moment to hide his blind eyes. He was Domon Fong, the Gemini Ranger known as the Orion Archer, and the nicer, reasonable brother to Phumika Fong. He adjusted his glasses as he somehow looked to Aaron's location, aside from the fact that he was born blind, and asked, "Do you think Rei can find something that Ceros can't remember?"
Ceros, who was on Aaron's shoulder, overheard that and shouted, "Hey! Just because I can't remember what it is we're dealing with, doesn't mean I know anything less different!"
Aaron patted Ceros on the head as he calmly stated, "Either way, we're all in the dark as it is. If anyone of us right now could shed some light on the unknown right now, it's Rei." Truth still, he was still a little surprised by the whole psychic thing. He thought that stuff was something that sold books, but now after seeing Rei's work, he was a believer.
It was after that, the doors opened and Rei stepped out as she looked to the boys, "You can come in now; the reading's over." The boys followed Rei in and sat down near the girls; Aaron sat next to Ami as they figured in the same couple way. When the two looked at each other, they couldn't help but blush. They were still a little embarrassed about the whole relationship deal.
Darien was also along with them, as he was sitting with Serena at his left, and with Rini at his right. Everyone was all comfortable and sitting down as they awaited to what Rei had discovered, but unfortunately, all they got was a depressed sigh from her as they figured what it was that she was about to say.
Rei sighed as she finally answered, "I don't know what we're dealing with, or where it'll strike next."
Everyone moaned at this as Serena took a shot at Rei, "Now this is a letdown: Rei doesn't even have a clue as to what we're dealing with."
Rei shot a glare at her, but then replied, "I don't know who or what they are…but I did sense something on what their searching for." She then pointed to Serena as she finished, "From what I sensed from the creature's auras, they were sent in search for a silver crystal of immense power. Namely, the Imperium Silver Crystal seems to match that description pretty well."
Phumika was the one to ask about it, "But why are they after that? Isn't her majesty here the only one who can use it?"
Luna nodded at that, but replied, "Serena is the only one who can use it now. But that doesn't mean that someone in the future will try to steal it to use it."
Ceros hopped off Aaron's shoulder and landed on the floor as he got up on his hind legs and stated, "Well, then the next time that trouble rears its ugly head, Serena can't pop up next time."
Serena went bug eyed as she shouted, "WHAT? But why?"
Artemis pointed out, "If these creatures are after the Silver Crystal, then it's a safe bet that they'll put two and two together if they see you transform with it, or even use it at all." He explained that the best way to make sure no one found it was that Serena would lay low for a while, and have Mina lead the group in her stead. Although the idea of having a break and being a normal teenager was promising, Serena had gotten used to being Sailor Moon; completely hiding like this just didn't feel right.
But she reluctantly nodded as she replied, "Okay, I'll try and hold off the hero routine for a while." And with that, the meeting was adjourned.
Later On
Ami was walking on home, along with Lita, Ian, and surprisingly Frey. But Frey had a slight evil smirk on his face as he looked to Ami and asked, "Sooo….how goes the search for Aaron's Christmas present?"
Ami nearly stopped and choked there for a moment. She nervously smiled at the others as she stuttered, "Oh, well…I um…well, you see…", she then twiddled her fingers together as she answered, "I'll have you know, that I've found a great gift for Aaron."
"Oh? And what did you find for him?" Frey raised an eyebrow at her, with a look saying, 'Sure ya did.'
Lita and Ian looked at Ami with question at this as they awaited an answer from an embarrassed Ami. It was then that Ami finally cracked as she ran to Frey, and hugged him for help as she begged him, "You've got to help me! I don't know what to get him."
Lita crossed her arms as she shook her head, "See what happens when you spend too much time in a library." She then walked over to Ami as she helped Frey a little, by pulling her away from him, and hugging her instead. She smirked as she replied, "If you had trouble with finding him a gift before, why didn't you tell me when we were shopping?"
Ian raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You mean she didn't get a gift yet?"
Lita nodded in response, "She had a lot of trouble deciding what to get him." She patted Ami on the head as she continued, "I've got to admit, this was the first time I've ever seen her like this."
When Ami had finished her distressed state, she pulled away from her friend's embrace as she replied, "It's just that…well, I know that he likes motorcycles, so I wanted to get him a book on them." She then looked the other way as she finished, "But they ran out of them at the bookstore."
Ian winced at that as he scratched the back of his head, "Boy, that's pretty tough there for ya."
Ami shook her head as she asked, "What am I going to do? I don't have any more ideas."
Lita patted her friend's shoulder as she answered, "Don't worry; I'm sure you'll find something."
Frey simply shrugged as he gave his reply, "I might have an idea that could help…that is, if you want it."
The trio looked at him; each with a raised eyebrow as they looked at him questionably. They looked to each other with their own questions about this idea that Frey had. Usually he'd do something that would either make them angry, or cause them to go crazy at his actions. But now they felt he was genuinely trying to help one of their own. It was true what they say: the holidays do bring out the better in everyone.
Ami smiled as she hopefully blushed as she asked Frey, "Yes, please. What is it?"
Frey pulled something out of the bag that he was carrying and held it up. it was none other than a bottle of Sparkling Cranberry juice, as he smirked, "Rent a hotel room on Christmas Eve, or have either your apartment all to yourselves, have him drink down a huge bottle of Sake or something that'll get him really wasted, and when he's plastered enough, you have your way with him however many times you want."
There was a moment of silence, as Frey's idea rang into their heads and as the wind blew by. Then finally, that all sank in as Ami blushed madly at that suggestion and nearly fainted with steam coming out of her ears. However, Ian and Lita shot at him as they shouted, "WHAT THE HECK KIND OF IDEA IS THAT?"
Frey simply shrugged as he put the juice back in his bag as he simply smiled and snickered, "I was only giving my best answer for reacquainted lovers who've thought about each other for over a thousand years." He then gave Ami a sly and perverted smile, "I just thought that after a long time of being separated and finally dating, you'd two take it on a home run now."
Ami was blushing over fourteen different shades of red as she thought about it. The moment when two lovers who really love each other, embraced with one another, feeling the warmth of their kiss on their neck, the gentleness of their touch on the other's skin…
…she shook her head as she blushed even more as she cried out, "I…I'm not sure if I can…!"
Lita was on the verge of punching Frey out like that, but Ian beat her to it. He grabbed Frey in a massive chokehold as he growled, "You pervert! What kind of advice is that?" He then snickered as he saw Frey gasping for air, "I suppose you were gonna do the same thing for whoever you got that gift for, right?"
Frey gasped for air as he slightly loosened his friend's grip, "For your information, I got Hotaru…", but then stopped as he realized what he had just said.
Lita and Ami raised an eyebrow at that as Lita asked, "You got Hotaru something?"
Ami was also curious as she smiled, seeing that the tables had turned for Frey, "That sounds so sweet of you, Frey. What did you get for her?"
Frey, blushing like crazy now, shouted, "THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! THAT'S FOR HER TO FIND OUT, AND FOR YOU ALL NOT TO KNOW!"
Ian reached for the bag as he commanded, "Let us see!"
Frey pulled it away, "No way!"
And then a huge grab and pull began between Frey and Ian. Ian tried to grab the bag from him, but Frey had the upper hand on speed and was good at keeping away from Ian for a while. The girls just looked at this scene with much confusion at the first part. But then they laughed themselves silly as they saw their two male friends going at each other over something as silly as sneaking a peek at a gift.
However, Ami smiled at her friends with wanting to help her out. And even though Frey did something pretty…questionable…she knew he was trying to help out. Even though it was a pretty weird thing to give someone for a gift.
"Big sis!" She turned her head to see Sarah running up to them after a long trek up the stairs. She panted as she stopped in front of Ami. "I heard what happened downtown, is everyone alright?"
Ami smiled reassuringly at the girl. "We're all fine, Sarah. We managed to fight off the monsters."
Sarah sighed in relief hearing that. "That's good. I wouldn't want my big brother to miss seeing grandpa."
Ami's expression became surprised. "Your grandfather's coming?"
Sarah's expression brightened. "Actually, he just arrived!"
"What!? He just arrived?!" Aaron cried out as he dashed out of the shrine. "But didn't he say he wasn't arriving until tomorrow?"
"By tomorrow, he meant today." Sarah pointed out, confusing Aaron even more. She then rolled her eyes and then looked at him again. She smirked as she answered, "The international day line, silly!"
Aaron's eyes widened in understanding before laughing. "That definitely sounds like grandpa alright!" He then looked to Ami as he apologized, "Sorry, Ami, but we've gotta get going…in order to prepare for our granddad's arrival." He then muttered, "Knowing Dad he's still duking it out with the Christmas lights."
Ami smiled and nodded, "It's okay, Aaron.", but she winked at him as she stated, "But promise that you'll invite me over later on."
Aaron smirked at that idea as he nodded in agreement to that promise. Ever since she had met his grandpa, she had commented he was a nice person. And in truth, his grandpa had stated the same thing about Ami. He also joked around, saying that the two would be fated to do the same thing that Aaron's parents did: marry early when they reached college. That earned a lot of awkward moments for them.
Later On
When Aaron and Sarah had come back home, they had done their best to prepare for their granddad's arrival. It wasn't that their grandfather was trying to be a picky grandparent, but they felt it was an obligation to do that sort of thing. So after tremendous efforts, and quick speed, minus their missing father, they had gotten the place cleaned up for his arrival…which wasn't long as they heard knocking on the door.
Sarah brightened up as she shined and shouted, "GRANDPA'S HERE!", and zoomed over to the door to open it. when she did, she was greeted by a fellow in his mid sixties, in great shape, with short white hair and a finely short trimmed beard, with a warm smile and blue eyes. He was dressed in a white turtleneck, brown jacket, blue jeans, and brown hiking boots. Sarah jumped at him with a fierce hug, which he returned to her as she squealed with delight, "Grandpa Ben! You came, you really came! This is gonna be the best Christmas ever!"
Grandpa Ben lightly chuckled at his granddaughter's energy as he patted her on the head, "Heheheh! It's good to know you've got plenty of energy in you, Sarah." It was just then, Aaron came walking in, and Ben smiled at seeing his only grandson; the first child that his daughter had given birth to.
"It's good to see you again Grandpa Ben." Aaron said, embracing his grandfather Ben Masters.
"It's always good to see my only grandson." Ben said as he patted the boy's back before he saw Ami standing there with a smile. "And it's always good to see your girlfriend too." He then embraced the girl, who blushed but she hugged back as though he was her own grandfather. After the hugs, Ben looked around, slightly confused; he then looked to his two grandkids and asked, "Hey, where's that no-good son-in-law of mine? Shouldn't he have come up to greet me with you kids?"
CLANG! BASH! CRASH!
The three turned around, to see a walking mummy made of Christmas lights and wires. The creature moaned and grunted as it began to shiver, much to everyone's confusion at this. It was then that they heard the voice of somebody familiar as he shouted, "I'M STILL TRYING TO RIG UP THESE DARN LIGHTS!", it was Aaron and Sarah's dad, still in his ongoing battle AND THE WEIRDEST THING IS I CAN'T FIND THE STUPID EXTENSION CORDS!"
The three family members looked at him with sweat drops going down the side. Aaron just sighed in an exasperated tone as he stated, "The War is still on."
Ben just shook his head as he crossed his arms, and gave his son-in-law a crinkled half-smile, "Some things never change for you, Alan. You still can't set or rig the lights up when it's Christmas."
Sarah shook her head as she smiled to her dad, "Well that's Dad for you."
Alan sighed exasperated as his shoulders slumped, "Well, now that we've established that, COULD SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME HERE!"
Elsewhere
Darien's Apartment
It was a tall building complex, designed for condominiums; small apartment buildings for people so it was more like an apartment building. But this was taking place on one of the top floor apartments. In this one room, which was Darien's apartment, the whole gang, minus Aaron and Ami, were attending a private meeting concerning the two in particular.
"So what you're saying, Ian…is that Aaron had spent almost his entire life having a Christmas with just his dad, sister, and grandfather?" Darien said as he sat next to Serena. Shortly after Aaron and Ami left with Sarah back to their place, Ian had gathered all of the scouts and Fellowship to discuss Ami and Aaron's predicament. It wasn't that much difficult considering that Aaron hadn't found a gift for Ami, but was really stunned was that Ami hadn't found a gift for Aaron at all.
"Yeah and I was thinking…maybe we should form a gift of our own for the both of them, considering this will be their first Christmas with each other." Ian replied.
"I think that's a great idea!" Serena exclaimed.
Mina shot up from her seat as she shouted, all enthusiastic and starry eyed, "Yeah, let's do it! Those two are getting off to a good start! I'd say we give it a little more of a nudge!"
Jin straightened his glasses as he calmly stated, "In your case, you'll make it more of a battering ram than a nudge."
Mina glared at the kendo boy as she grumbled, "Who asked you?"
Artemis merely mumbled, "Though I think Jin has a point on that, Mina."
Mina pouted and became teary eyed at her cat companion as she pouted, "Artemis…."
Frey, for once in his life acted serious, looked to them all as he stated, "Enough joking around already. I think we should try to think up whatever we need and make it work." Everyone, a little stunned by that, shook their heads by this as they started to plan it out. Little did any know that hidden invisibly, one of the Ice Queen's minions was keeping a close eye on them.
The creature had kept an eye on Serena particularly, with much interest on her broche. It had sensed a very powerful energy coming from her, and sniffed it out to her. It had found what its mistress had ordered it to seek out, now the problem was…how to get it from her.
TBC
