Episode 2: Talk Radio

It was well past midnight, and the sky was pitch black, with the exception of the hanging moon. Most people would be asleep by now, but they weren't. A great deal of Salem's female residents were sitting patiently and listening to the radio. One of these girls was Frankie Stein.

"Good evening, everyone," said the DJ from over the radio, "The clock has struck midnight and you know what that means. It's time for the Love Hour." Frankie sighed as she turned up the radio. The entire thing made her heart seemingly jump out of her chest.

"Tonight, we have a very special love letter from a special lady. She's hoping to reach out to a lost flame she wants to get it touch with. It's signed The Queen in De Nile." Frankie perked up at the name.

"De Nile? Why does that sound familiar?" she muttered to herself. After thinking long and hard, she came up with the answer. "Miss de Nile, my history teacher! Don't tell me she sent the Love Hour a letter! We're talking about the same teacher who everyone can't stand."

"Before I read this letter, I would just like to remind all of you out there listening that the Love Hour's always wants to help out the lovelorn. Write to us, and if we read your letter on the air, you'll receive a romantic prize."

"I would love to have a show like this! Just reading those beautifully written letters all day!"

"Dear lost love, it has been many years since we last saw each other, but you are never far from my heart." Watzit, noticing Frankie's mood, climbed up on her bed and began pawing at her arm.

"You should be asleep!" he barked.

"Watzit, shush!" said Frankie, completely ignoring him.

"Give me a break!"

"Watzit, I said be quiet!" Watzit sighed and jumped off of the bed.

"Forget it!" Frankie looked over at the dog, finally noticing him.

"What's up with you?" Watzit turned back at his owner with a glare.

"I'm angry that a certain someone never take anything she is supposed to do seriously!"

"Who is this exactly?" The dog growled.

"It's you! You have to stop wasting your time with all of those ideas! Frankie, you are destined to fight the Dark Kingdom! Don't you understand?!"

"Well… maybe I don't want to fight to Dark Kingdom!" Frankie stuck her tongue out at him.

"WHAT!?"

"You heard me!" The girl crawled into bed and pulled the sheets over her head. "Good night."

The next morning, Frankie and her parents were having breakfast together for the first time on a long time. Frankie was usually so late, she didn't have time to do this.

"Viv, why is the date circled in red?" Frankie's father asked his wife. Frankie's mother leaned on her father's shoulder.

"I did?" she said, "Maybe there's something special about this date." Frankie's father didn't say anything. Frankie rolled her eyes and mouthed a single word to her father. Her father looked over at his wife.

"You mean besides today being our anniversary and our dinner date?"

"You did remember!" Frankie's mother kissed her husband on the cheek while her daughter gagged.

"Gross!" said Frankie in disgust, "I don't9 need to see you two kiss!"

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Frankie raised an eyebrow before looking at the clock. Ten minutes until seven.

"Mom! Why didn't you tell me somer!?" Frankie grabbed her bag off of the floor and ran out the door, shutting it with a loud slam.

Lucky for Frankie, she had arrived with only a minute before the bell rang. This however, did not matter because after ten minutes into class, their teacher still had yet to arrive.

"Hey, Rebecca?" Frankie asked her best friend, "Where's Miss de Nile? I know she can be late to class, but she's never this late!"

"If she's out, you know that means we'll get a substitute," Rebecca reminded her.

"Woohoo! Free day!" Just as soon as Frankie said this, the door opened with a loud slam. The students jumped as their dark-haired, tanned skinned teacher walked into the classroom. Although she normally looked immaculate, Miss de Nile looked like she didn't get a minute's sleep the night before. She had a lavender flower pinned to her jacket.

"Is she okay?" asked Holt. Rebecca shrugged.

"Hello…" Miss de Nile yawned as she sat down at her desk. "Anyone who is not here, please raise your hand." Everyone just stared at their teacher. "Who even cares? Just read chapters one to thirty-five in any book you want. Wake me up when the last bell goes off. Good night, everybody!" And with that, Miss de Nile passed out on her desk.

"Do you think she's sick or something?" Jackson asked. He leaned over his desk to get a better look.

"Maybe one of us should go and get the headmistress!" suggested Cy, "Right?"

"I'll go!" Frankie said quickly. She grabbed the hall pass before anyone could say anything else and ran out of the classroom. She raced down to the nurse's office.

The students gathered around the window as they watched their teacher being loaded into an ambulance.

"Do you think she has a sleeping sickness or something?" asked Cy.

"I don't know, but this is really weird!" said Frankie, "I've never seen a teacher pass out in the middle of class before! What about you, Rebecca?" Rebecca shook her head.

"No, but maybe she stayed up too late listening to the new radio show," said the black-ette, "You know, Love Hour? I'm feeling kind of tired myself, it went past midnight."

"Still… I think calling an ambulance was a little extreme. I mean, she only fell asleep!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Rebecca, Cy, Jackson and Holt said in unison.

"What?! Nevermind, but now that school is cancelled, that means I got up early for nothing. I could've slept in!" Frankie said with a shrug. "I'll just take a quick nap when I get home!" Everyone groaned at the girl's calm reaction to all of this.

"I have a special project I'm going to start working on as soon as I get home," said Rebecca as she and Frankie stood by Frankie's locker, "I'm going to write the best and most perfect love letter so it will be read to everyone on air by the Love Hour DJ." Frankie looked over at Rebecca as she pulled out one of her notebooks.

"But, you don't have a boyfriend," Frankie reminded her.

"I know that. I'll just make one up. That way I can get my letter one the show!"

"That's pretty smart, 'Becca. Oh, you can make the perfect guy! Handsome, smooth and totally cool-" Frankie started screwing around, striking poses to go along with her words. On the last pose, Frankie threw her hands behind her. Unfortunately, she had hit someone in the face while doing so.

"I am so, so, so, so sorry!" Frankie said quickly as she spun around to face the person. Her face fell when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Jackson. Hey Holt," said Rebecca with a smile.

"What was that you were saying about someone being totally cool?" asked Holt with a smirk. "Because the coolest person here is me. Although, I'm rather on fire with my-"

"Ignore him," Jackson cut in. Holt looked over at his brother as if his balloon had been deflated "Anyway, shouldn't you be on your way home to do your homework, Heterochrome?"
"Don't call me that," Frankie hissed.

"Jackson, hurry up!" called out Holt, who was already halfway down the hallway.

"See you girls later," said Jackson as he ran after his brother.

"Ooo," Rebecca sighed, "I think I just figured out who's going to be the inspiration for my first love letter!"

"Really? Then how's this for inspiration..." Frankie said with her hands turning into fists, "You're sucha dork, Jackson! You don't even know a single thing about being cool!" Frankie slammed her locker shut and stormed off, with Rebecca running after her, leaving two confused boys behind.

When Frankie got home, she rushed down to her bedroom and got to work...on writing a letter for the Love Hour.

"Alright, Let's warm it up," Frankie muttered to herself as she stretched out her fingers, "This is going to be the best thing they've ever seen!" Seeing his owner's attitude and mood, Watzit climbed up on Frankie's desk.

"Are you really starting your homework without me having to tell you to do it?" he asked.

"Watzit, shush. You're gonna make me lose my concentration." The dog jumped down.

"Sorry."

"This has to be great," Frankie muttered to herself, "It has to blow them away! Let's see… uh…" Frankie began to tap her pencil against the metal of her desk, and yes, there are desks that are entirely made out of metal. She began drumming her fingers against the surface as well.

"Frankie, you'll never get anything done if you keep procrastinating like this," Watzit reminded her. Frankie stood up with determination in her eyes.

"You're right, Watzit," she said strongly, "Why didn't I think of this sooner? I can go there myself and give them my letter in person! This will be awesome!" Frankie grabbed her jacket from her bed.

"What!?"

"Come on, Watzit! We're going to the radio station! I'm going to be on the Love Hour tonight!" Before the pup could even protest, Frankie picked him up and ran out of her bedroom with a happy grin on her face.

Frankie walked quickly and happily to the radio station with Watzit jogging at her heels. She ignored his words to her as they walked. The girl had love on the brain.

However, when they got there, the guard denied the station having a program called Love Hour.

"Are you sure?" Frankie asked him. "But I could have sworn that this was the station Love Hour was on."

"For the tenth time, there isn't a program called Love Hour at this station," the guard repeated, "Now go home kid, before I ave to escort you off the premises."
"I'm going, I'm going." Frankie turned away from the guard and walked out of earshot before speaking to Watzit. "This is really weird, I know I heard the station number right."

"We'll see if you were right or wrong tonight," Watzit said. Frankie nodded.

Later that night, Frankie and Watzit kept their eyes on the clock. As soon as it struck midnight, Frankie turned on her radio to the station Love hour was supposedly on.

"The clock reads midnight, and that means it's time for romance," said the smooth voice of the Love Hour DJ. Frankie smiled victoriously.

"I knew this was the station!" she said happily, "That guard didn't know what he was talking about." Watzit jumped onto Frankie's bed with a newspaper in his mouth. He dropped it and opened it to the entertainment section.

"Hey, this show is new right?" he asked.

"Yeah, it started a few weeks ago," answered Frankie, "Why are you asking?"

"It's not mentioned in the entertainment section at all. Don't you find that weird?"

"Yeah… but they really don't need any publicity! Love Hour is the most popular show on the radio waves. Besided, who still reads the paper?" Watzit sighed as the program continued.

"Tonight, our special love letter is to some lucky mystery man from a secret admirer called Steam Engineer." Frankie's blue and green eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped.

"No way!" she exclaimed as she fell back on her bed.

"And remember, we read one special letter every night, and the lucky writer will have a beautiful prize delivered the next morning…"

"Why are you freaking out?" asked Watzit as he crawled up on Frankie's bed.

"Steam Engineer is Rebecca's username for almost everything," Frankie said, staring at the radio as the program continued.

At Merston High the next morning, everyone was crowded around Rebecca. She held a package in her hands.

"Open it, Rebecca!" begged Sarah Screams, one of the girl's classmates. She supposedly could read minds. "We want to see what's in there!"

"Was your letter on the radio last night?" asked Holt. Jackson looked over at his brother with a curious and confused look.

"You listen to Love Hour after I go to bed?" he said skeptically. Holt nodded and gave a small shrug.

"That dude knows how a girl's heart works. I gotta know what's going on in their heads. Unlike some people."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Enough of your bickering," said Rebecca, stopping the two brothers, "But yes, it was my letter they read. When they read it aloud I thought I was going to faint!"
"Well, what did they send you?" Frankie asked excitedly as she leaned on Rebecca's shoulder. "Hurry and open it!"

"Alright, calm down!" Rebecca tore open the packaging to reveal a beautiful lavender flower pin.

"Hey, isn't that the same pin Miss de Nile was wearing yesterday?"

"So that means she was the Queen in De Nile!" exclaimed Sarah. "It had to have been her!"

"I knew it!" Frankie said, snapping her fingers. Rebecca pinned the flower onto her jacket with a smile.

"That looks really pretty, Rebecca," commented Sarah. Rebecca smiled even brighter. Suddenly, the tan girl's copper eyes began to droop, and she yawned.

"Im so tired…" Rebecca yawned, "I just want to go to sleep…" Rebecca put her head onto her desk and fell asleep.

"Rebecca?" Frankie asked worriedly, "Are you okay?" She shook her friend, but the British girl didn't wake up. "Rebecca!"

"We better call the nurse," suggested Jackson as Frankie continued to shake Rebecca, "It's not normal to fall asleep just like that!" Frankie leaned in closer to her friend, calling out her name. Suddenly, a wave of fatigue swept over Frankie. She yawned.

"So tired…" Frankie breathed out as her eyes began to close. She collapsed onto the ground.

"FRANKIE!"

A young woman stood at the end of a dark corridor. Frankie stood on the other end. The woman's appearance wasn't visible. All that Frankie could see was a bit of the light blue dress she wore.

"Who are you?" Frankie asked her. The woman didn't say anything. "Can you… can you talk?"

"Remember," the woman said simply. Frankie was taken aback by her words. Her voice sounded so much like her own.

"What did you say?" Frankie asked.

"You have to remember," the woman repeated. "You must remember." Frankie took a few steps closer.

"Remember what? What is it I have to remember?" The woman didn't answer. "What is it you want me to know?"

"Remember who you really are." The scene faded to white.

"No, wait!"

"WOULD YOU WAKE UP ALREADY!?"

Frankie jolted awake. She looked around and saw that she was in the nurse's office with Watzit on her bed.

"Don't scare me like that!" snapped Frankie. Watzit shot her a look, and Frankie sighed. "What happened to me? Did i pass out?"

"You collapsed on the floor. One of your classmates and the school nurse brought you and your friend, Rebecca here," Watzit explained. Frankie gasped as she recalled what had happened. She shot out of the bed and went to the one next to her. Rebecca laid there, sound asleep.
"It's the Dark Kingdom," Watzit said, "I know it! It has to do something with that flower. You said your teacher was wearing one when she passed out?"

"Yea- How do you know that? I never told you." Watzit lowered his head. "Have you been following me again?"

"No… Maybe. But, nevermind that! I think we should check out the radio station again." Frankie nodded.

"Right! And you and I are going to have a talk about my personal life and your stalking!"

That night, Frankie and Watzit went to the radio station. Frankie looked over at the guard station.

"It's the same guard from last night," she whispered to Watzit, "How am I going to get by him without him recognizing me?" Frankie sighed. "Our reconnaissance mission is over before it even started."

"I had a feeling this would happen," said Watzit, "Stay here." Frankie watched as her dog ran off.

A few moments later, the pup came back with something in his mouth. He dropped it in front of the stitched girl. Frankie picked it up. It normal light blue pen with a white gem on top. She twirled in her fingers.

"You brought me a pen…"

"It's not just any pen. This is the Disguise Pen."

"Cool! Is this like the locket you gave me?" Watzit nodded.

"Sort of. It's a very powerful tool that can turn you into whatever or whomever you want."

"Sweet! So, how does it work?"

"All you have to do is say 'change me' and then tell it who or what you want to transform into." Frankie stood up, nodding, smiling and giggling.

"Ooo, I'm going to like this pen," she said happily. She held it up in the air. "Pen, change me into a talent agent!"

White light shot out of the pen's gem tip and surrounded Frankie. As soon as it disappeared, Frankie got a look at herself in a nearby window. Her hair was short and completely black. Her birthmarks were gone, and she was dressed in a black suit with white heels. Her eyes had gone completely blue. Frankie giggled and spun.

"This is unbelieveable!" Frankie said in surprise.

"Uh… Frankie?" Watzit said, "Those shoes are higher than the normal heels you wear. Are you going to be able to walk in those?"

"Remember, Watzit. I said sophisticated." Frankie smirked and pulled a pair of sunglasses from her pocket. She slid them over her eyes before walking away elegantly.

"I think you may be able to pull this off!"

"See, I told you not to doubt m-" Frankie lost her footing. She slipped, landing on the sidewalk with a thud.

"I may have spoken too soon…"

Somehow, Frankie and Watzit made it past the guard, despite Frankie falling on her face right in front of him. The two entered the radio station to find it nearly deserted. After checking room after room, Frankie finally found a room that wasn't empty.

She peered into the room, to find everyone but two people fast asleep.

"This seems like an easy job," Frankie whispered, "Everyone's asleep."

"What are you talking about?" asked Watzit.

"See for yourself." Frankie picked up her pup so he could peer into the room. He gasped.

"Those dark auras. It's the Dark Kingdom! I knew it!"
"Then let's go in!" Frankie placed Watzit down and took a good step back. She raised her foot and kicked the door open. The person not in the recording booth turned to her with weird look on her face.

"Out of my way!" Frankie said as she pushed past the woman and entered the recording booth.

"No! He's on the air!" yelled the woman.

"Alright, that wraps up our show for-" the DJ was saying as Frankie burst in. He stared at the disguised girl as she took one of the microphones.

"Attention all Love Hour fans; Stop listening to the show, it's bad for your health! Turn your radios off right now if you know what's good for you! Burn those flower pins! Those things are really dangerous!"

"No!" shouted the DJ.

"The flowers drain you of all of your energy! Get rid of them!"

"Be quiet NOW!"

"Don't listen to this imposter! He doesn't know a single thing about love! He doesn't even care about it! He's just using you!"

"Be careful!" Watzit yelled, "That woman is his partner!" Frankie turned to see the woman from before breaking through the glass. Frankie shielded her face as glass fell upon her and the DJ.

"You're off the air!" yelled the DJ. He began to shift his image. Frankie looked at him with wide eyes. The DJ had shifted into something that looked like a vampire. He had pale skin, shaggy hair with black and red stripes and bright pink eyes. He wore a black and red military uniform.

"Watch out!" Frankie looked at the woman. She shifted as well. Instead of the business woman from before, she had turned into a hideous witch, giving a nasty smile. "Brace for impact!"

The witch created a large explosion, propelling both Frankie and Watzit out of the room. The teenger stood, leaning against the wall for balance.

"You know you could transform right now!" Frankie nodded.

"Right!" she said. She pulled her skull locket from the pocket of the suit and held it in the air.

"STEIN PRISM POWER!" Frankie shouted. "MAKE-UP!" The black and blue light surrounded her and transformed the girl into the green-skinned, stitch-covered, Sailor Stein.
The man and the witch stared at Sailor Stein as she stood defiantly in front of them.

"I am Sailor Stein, The Guardian of Love and Justice. In the name of the Kingdom of Salem, I shall punish you!"

"Those are very pretty words," said the man with a southern drawl, "But is that just what they are, m'lady? Pretty words?" Sailor Stein's hands clenched in anger.

"If you want action, I'll give you action!" Sailor Stein ran at the witch, attempting to attack her. The witch kicked Sailor Stein in her stomach and sent through the ceiling until she reached the roof.

"Ouch…" Sailor Stein breathed as she sat up, "Not necessary!" The witch jumped onto the roof as Watzit and the man ran up the stairs to observe the fight.

"What do I do now?"

"I don't know! Try your tiara!" Frankie pulled off her tiara and aimed it at the witch.

"This will be an easy fight," she muttered to herself. "STEIN TIARA BOOMERANG!" She threw her tiara, but it curved so it barely missed the witch. Sailor Stein's jaw dropped.
"You aren't a very good aim, are you?" laughed the witch. Sailor Stein saw her tiara boomerang back, she smirked.

"STEIN TIARA BOOMERANG! REFLECT!" she cried. Without even a moment to react, the light frisbee cut through the witch's torso, turning her to dust with a shriek. Sailor Stein caught her tiara as it came back to her. She turned and aimed it at the man behind her. "Do you surrender?"
"And why would I do a stupid thing like that?" asked the man.

"Don't underestimate him, Sailor Stein," warned Watzit, "Valentine is a dangerous enemy."

"How do you know my name?" Valentine hissed.

"Yeah, Watzit, how do you know?" asked Sailor Stein. Watzit shook his head.

"I'll explain later! Just throw your tiara!" Sailor Stein nodded and aimed at Valentine.

"STEIN TIARA BOOMERANG!" With a powerful throw, she sent the frisbee of light flying at the vampire. Valentine caught it in his hand with a smirk. Sailor Stein gasped.

"You can't do that!"

"I just did, sweetheart," Valentine said with a dark laugh.

"Watzit, what do I do now? I don't know how to stop him!" Valentine threw the tiara to the ground and walked towards Sailor Stein. She stood there, scared out of her mind. She didn't have a weapon and had no way to stop him.

Suddenly, a rose pierced the ground in front of Valentine. Sailor Stein looked at the direction the rose came from and saw Tuxedo Mask standing behind her.

"Don't give into him, Sailor Stein!" he told the Sailor Guardian. Valentine frowned and waved his hand.

"It's time for me to go," he said. Valentine disappeared in black smoke. Sailor Stein and Tuxedo Mask looked at the place where the vampire once stood. Sailor Stein walked over and pulled the rose out of the ground. She walked back over and held it out to Tuxedo Mask.

"Here's your rose back," she said. Tuxedo Mask pushed it back towards her.

"No, keep it. I have plenty more," he said. Sailor Stein saw a blush showing up on his face and felt her own face heat up as well. "Uh… I have to go! I'll see you next time!" And with that, Tuxedo Mask left.

After a brief moment to get over her swoon, Sailor Stein turned to her dog.

"Okay, Watzit," she said as she walked over and picked up her tiara, "You said you knew about Valentine. Care to explain?" Watzit lowered his head and sighed.

"It's a long story," he said.

"I've got time." Sailor Stein dusted off her tiara and put it back on.

"Fine. If I remember correctly, Valentine used to be a part of Salem's Royal Court." Frankie gasped.

"The kingdom you came from!? Valentine used to be one of the good guys?!"

"Yes. Valentine was one of three men assigned to protect the Princess." Sailor Stein stared at Watzit with wide eyes.

"He was what?"

"He, along with two others, were hand chosen as the Princess's Royal Guard. However, Valentine was a man of love. He had girls- both monster and human- pining over him. Only one girl caught his eye."

"Who was that?" asked Sailor Stein. Watzit's gaze fell.

"She was one of the Sailor Guardians and the heiress to an important vampire family," said the dog, "I can't remember her name, but I know it was her. She was a beautiful girl, which I believe is one of reasons Valentine fell in love with her. But, her heart truly belonged to another. The sad thing was it was another one of the guards, Valentine's own colleague. Valentine used a dark and wicked power to try and separate the two, but the power of true love prevailed. For his actions, the King banished Valentine from Salem. My best guess is that he went to the Dark Kingdom, seeking revenge for losing the one he loved and for losing his position."

Sailor Stein looked over at where Valentine once stood. She felt bad for him. He was only acting on the pain of a broken heart.

The next day, Frankie had decided to write her love letter anyway. She sat in her classroom, her pen scribbling on the paper.

"My beloved Tuxedo Mask," she mumbled as she wrote, "You are my hero. I think you're the… greatest. Kindest? Why is writing a letter like this so hard? Maybe best?" She blushed heavily as she thought about the rose Tuxedo Mask had given her last night. She sighed. "No, that's not it…"

"Why are you blushing, Frankie?" asked Rebecca, leaning on her friend's shoulder. She had woken up last night after Sailor Stein defeated the Love Hour's Witch. "Are you writing a sentimental note to someone?"

"What?! No?!" Frankie covered up her writing, "Why would I do something like that?" Rebecca shot her friend a look as Frankie uncovered her paper. In one quick move, Rebecca took the paper from Frankie's desk. "Hey!"

"Ooo, 'My beloved Tuxedo Mask!'" Frankie made a grab for the paper, but Rebecca held it away from her.

"What did you say, Rebecca?" asked Jackson as he walked up.

"Frankie's writing a love note to someone!"

"No, I'm not! Give it back!" shouted Frankie. She made another grab for the note, but missed as Rebecca ran. The stitched girl chased the tanned Brit around the classroom.

"Hey, let me see!" said Jackson.

"No!" The three began chasing each other around the classroom. They ended up getting sent to the principal's office for disrupting class.

There is chapter two. Cover is finished, I just need to color it. If you have questions about anything, I would be more than happy to answer them. Just PM me. I will try to avoid spoilers if possible. Chapter Three will be released April 29th.