Chapter 2

As always I do not own sailor moon or any of it's characters, universe or story line I am mearly barrowing to add to my story. Please enjoy and we are one step closer to the Galaxia wars with each chapter...enjoy!

Astra cringed when she heard her mother calling her name, it was never a good sign when Maya Gates referred to the full names of her children. Putting on her best game face she made her way down stairs to find her parents waiting with her brother nursing a black eye, she was in deep trouble.

"So care to tell us what happened?" Her mother's even keel voice hid the rage Astra knew was hiding there.

"He got in a fight, I got him out of it,"

"Before or after you snook off to go to that tournament."

Astra cursed her luck, Evan had snitched again. That was the last time she took him along. "Mom, Dad please I am sorry he got hurt but he got in the way…"

"We told you last time no fights. Astra seriously what will people think if they find out the master of the dojo's daughter was engaged in fights like this?"

"Well if he let me train with the others I wouldn't have to do this,"

"That is out of the question young lady!" Her father's voice shook her to the core. His was the one person she wanted more than anything to get some recognition from. She had watched him since forever teach others but she always had to learn in secret like she was some dirty secret. She was his best pupil damit! But no, instead of recognizing her as his heir he was looking for a new pupil to train in her place. Life sucked. "You are grounded until further notice."

"But Dad…"

"No buts! You will remain at the dojo, no leaving except for school."

"This sucks…"

"Want me to make it longer?"

"No sir!"

"Evan is going to watch you. Any funny business and he is going to tell us right away."

"Wait a sec, are you telling me you two aren't even going to be here this weekend?"

"Your mother and I have important business in Hedgestone. If I hear about any new fights you are banned from the dojo do you understand me?"

"Crystal…"

That was the end of that argument. Four days of solitary confinement while her parents were out looking for a new student no doubt and Dudley do right was going to be her warden. Life didn't get any fairer that this. Astra looked out her window at the sky line of Crystal Tokyo. The city had come so far in the last 10 years since the war. She was only six at the time but it was as clear as day for her. It was out of nowhere that those ships had come and put the whole city into a erie frozen state. Her father had managed to get them to a shelter in time and then all the magic seemed to disappear. They had been holed up in that shelter for days before they were found by those four guardians from the castle.

Who would have thought that a nobody like her would have ever had the chance to see the inside of the Crystal Palace but she had. Not only that but she had become friends with the two princesses. But that was a long time ago. They probably didn't even remember who she was after all that time. Her father had changed after that and the happy go lucky man she had known was replaced by the grim warlord that ran their home. He never got close to her again and always kept her at a distance. To this day she couldn't figure out what she had done wrong.

She threw herself into training thinking if she showed him how she could master his style he would be proud of her but that only seemed to make it worse. Now she couldn't even let anyone know she could fight or that she had mastered the most high level techniques. She could hear her brother outside the door and rolled her eyes. "Come in!"

"So are you going?"

"And have you tattle on me again? No thank you!"

"Astra I'm sorry you know Dad, he just gets it out of you."

"And this time would be any different? Sorry I like my life not to be cut short over you."

"Fine I will tell Pamela you aren't interested…"

"Hold the phone, Pam's here?"

"Yeah she's downstairs waiting for your answer. She even gave me these" Evan held out two small scrolls and she grabbed them up. They were concealment spells.

"What do you want?"

"2 month's allowance and front row seats"

"Deal."

"Cool! Ok see you downstairs!" Evan left the room faster than flash and Astra took a deep breath she was going to get killed for this but it was worth it. Going to the mirror she used the first scroll and her hair changed from its blonde auburn locks to a wavy purple hued mass of curls. Her eye normally a stormy grey shifted to clear blue and walah Astra was no more. In her place was Circe Dackro the best street fighter in the city. Pulling the mass of curls back she made one last appraisal of her image and walked downstairs.

Pam was sitting at the bottom of the stairs playing with an energy ball when she walked behind her and jumped when Astra touched her shoulder. "Ready?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

"No but I figured I would anyway. The pot is 3,000 marks this time."

"Whatever,"

"Seriously I have no idea why you don't keep any of it."

"Because I don't need it."

At the park the sun was setting and the crowd was gathering for the nights' festivities. Kat jumped up on the fountain and looked through the crowd for her friends. Astra said she was coming, well to be correct Pam had said Astra was coming but either way she knew Astra wouldn't pass up an event like this. She could make out Pam walking towards the fountain and sure enough she had brought Astra. The concealment spell was better this time even Kat had a hard time seeing through it. Jumping down she ran over nearly ran into a few people on her way to her friends. She had no real family but with Astra and Pam she felt like she had the family she never had. The orphanage was ok but everyone deserved a family. No lying Astra made life easier by donating all her winnings to the home but money didn't buy happiness just made things easier.

"Circe so glad to see you again!"

"Hi Kat! Ready to see me wipe the floor with these wannabes?'

"As always!"

Kat and Pam made it to their spot by the ring and watched as Circe once again cleaned house. Though the group of guys next to them was driving her nuts; every time Circe had a win the loud mouth red head had to put his two cents in. the quiet blonde with them didn't have much to say but she could have sworn she had seen him before but she brushed it off. By the end of the fight Austin , the loud mouth red head, was just gawking at Circe and Kat was happy for the quiet. Running over the side she hugged Circe she got second place but who cared, she had fun.

"So Crowns for a shake girls?"

"Sounds good to me, you up for that Pam?"

Rhonde had to hit Austin a few times upside to head to get his attention as they walked back to the palace. "Earth to Austin; aren't you supposed to be protecting me and not keeping your head in the clouds?"

"Geez Rhonde did you have to hit so hard!"

"Just checking…" As they approached the garden entrance Rhonde's blonde hair changed back to its silver-purple and the moon mark once again graced his forehead. Thank god for being half lunarian. His mother's powers came in handy sometimes. "So what did you think of that Circe girl?"

"The one using the concealment spell….not too shabby. I wouldn't mind going for a few rounds with her sometime."

"Always in the gutter…"

"Not you too Devon!"

"Just saying, of the four of us you are the one who always has to make those comments."

"And what might you mean by that Mr. I am so perfect,"

"He means you can't stop thinking about sex…"

"Gee thanks Patrick I didn't realize that!" Austin huffed and stormed off as they got to the palace. "If master Jedite is looking for me I am in the arena practicing my head aim."

"You think he likes her?"

"Definitely and I know exactly where to start looking for her," Patrick pulled out his minicomputer and started searching for the Gate's Dojo.

It had been a week since the tournament and Astra still was alive. Her brother had kept his word and hadn't told her parents anything. In fact he had told them she had been practicing all day and that impressed her dad so much he let her come back into the dojo to watch the classes. Today she was waiting on the back terrace for Kat. They were going to go to the movies for her birthday. Astra had to laugh because Kat seemed to make the best of everything. She had no idea where or when she was born just the day they had found her on the steps of the orphanage but unlike most people it didn't bother her.

Letting herself doze off she could hear Kat in the distance laughing and she looked down to find her talking with a group of guys. That wasn't Kat's usual behavior to talk to random strangers, did she know them? One of them, the blonde one, looked especially close to her and Astra could have sworn it looked like Kat was blushing. Her friend had a lot of explaining to do. Astra grabbed her bag and said good bye to her family before she ran out of the house to investigate this further.

Kat nearly jumped when she felt that energy burst behind her. When she turned around she found herself facing the same guy from the tournament. Today she could see he was using a concealment spell but only for an instant. His blond hair had flashed purple for an instant then in was gone. It was his smile though that caught her off guard. Her heart felt like had skipped a beat. "Hi sorry didn't mean to scare you. I saw you at the tournament last week. My name is Richie,"

"Katherine, Kat for short. And who are the rest of these guys?"

"Oh, I am sorry this is Austin, Devon and Patrick, we were looking for the dojo around here, we were wonder if you knew the area."

"Yeah I was going there myself," Astra was walking up to the group with a smile on her face when she felt a chill go up her back and Austin did too. They both shook it off

"Hi Kat! What is taking you so long?"

"Hey Astra! Sorry I ran into a few guys I met last week. This is Astra Gates."

"Not related to master Gates are you?"

"One and the same who might you be?"

"Austin Rolamir," Shaking hands with him was like touching fire but calming. His steel blue eyes almost looked like he felt the same thing but Astra couldn't make sure. For a split second she could have sworn she could read his aura but it was gone as soon as he pulled his hand away. "You wouldn't happen to moonlight at tournaments would you?"

"Nope, banned from the dojo by my dad. It's not the proper place for young ladies or some jazz like that. "

"Oh, sorry I could have sworn I saw a girl that used your father's style a while back."

"Not unless someone is sneaking lessons nope sorry. If you guys don't mind my friend and I are late for a movie."

"Our apologies, Richie mind picking your jaw up off the ground?"

"Oh! Sorry Austin. Would you like to go out sometime Kat, your friend is invited to hang out if you want. We head out to the local music clubs Friday nights."

"We'll keep in mind what do you say Astra?"

"Ok, see you around"

It must have been the calm before the storm because time moved by so smoothly. Looking back Astra wondered if she would have changed things if she knew what she did now. It had been almost 5 months since they had met the guys. The group became fast friend the more time Kat and her spent with them the more she liked them. Austin just rubbed her the wrong way but she could tell Richie and Kat liked each other. She couldn't help but feel that they were hiding something but she couldn't put her finger on it.

It took a few weeks of pushing but she finally got Kat to go on a date with Richie and with Devon's help Richie finally asked her out. A couple of months in Kat came over bubbling with laughter but when she asked Kat just told her she couldn't say why but she would tell her later. It bothered her that her friend was keeping secrets from her but Astra could see she was happy so she didn't push the subject.

It was on one of those perfect October days that her life came crashing down. She had just got back from school and was putting her bag away when she heard her parents calling from the back room. As she walked in she saw a woman with long green hair sitting talking to her parents. Her mother was dabbing tears from her eyes before she walked in. "Astra please come in we want you to meet someone."

"Hi, Astra Gates and you are?"

"Corona Duval,"

"Sweety please sit down, we need to talk,"

"Mom what is going on?"

"There is no easy way to say this Astra, your mother and I aren't your biological parents."

"What! Hold it for a second, are you telling me you adopted me? Why am I finding out about this now?"

"For your protection your parents agreed to keep the truth from you, I am the one who left you in their care 17 years ago. It was at the request of your mother I did this."

"This is a load of bull, I look just like them I even have the family birth mark on my back. Seriously mom, when are you going to stop and tell me this is a joke,"

"Astra it isn't a joke. Corona I think you should explain we can wait outside. Astra we have always loved you as our own and we always will please remember that. "As her parents walked out Astra was fuming.

"Don't be too hard on them. I told them to keep you hidden. The reason you resemble them is because that is what your mom wanted. She placed a spell on you when you were born. Your natural abilities helped too. "

"Natural abilities?"

"You are half shape shifter, on your father's side, goddess on your mother's. I am sorry I have to tell you this. The plan always was to leave you alone and let you live a normal life."

"What changed?"

"there are powers at force here you have no imaging of."

"Ok say I believe you, which I don't. Why don't I have any powers if you say I am all these things."

"We bound your powers. Here put this on." Corona passed her a black onyx necklace in the shape of a ankh. Astra rolled her eyes everyone was going crazy. She was waiting for the camara's and the joke to be revealed. Putting the necklace around her neck she felt like something snapped in her center. She had to close her eyes and grab the nearest chair as her Chi seemed to burst out of control for a second. When she got some clarity back she had to blink a couple of times. Her hair normally shoulder length and blonde was going down her back straight as a arrow and a deep shade of purple. Running to the nearest mirror she could see her eyes were a cobalt black and her normally curvy frame was replaced by a petite frame. She almost looked like an evil fairy. All she was missing was a pair of wings.

"You have those too I will show you how to use them later."

"Excuse me?"

"You were projecting. It's common among our group. You are one of a group of Demi gods, like myself. With practice you will be able to control your telepathy."

"Ok, um did you just put a glamour on me?"

"No I took one off. This is your true form Astra. We have a lot to teach you."

That was the last time she saw her parents. Corona allowed her to say goodbye and then she was taken to what Corona referred to as the Ethereal plain. That is where she had been for the last 2 days. This mysterious mother she didn't know about for some reason couldn't see her but yet here she was here for her own safety. She wanted to kill someone.

To be cont...