Episode 9: Trapped on the Cruise of Love
It was a normal day at Merston High, and Rebecca was showing Frankie a video she had found while scrolling around on YouTube.
"This is the holiday you cannot miss." said the man in the video. "Romance, music, good food and dancing under the stars. It's all yours on our Sunset Romance Cruise ship." Frankie sighed as the video ended.
"That looks like so much fun!" she said happily, "I wish I could go, but I don't have a boyfriend..."
"My stepmum tried to make a reservation, but they've been booked for months!" said Rebecca, putting her phone away before the teacher saw it. Just then, Cy walked up to them both.
"Hello ladies," he said. "What were you two watching?"
"It's a video for that new cruise ship." Cy snapped his fingers, making the girls jump.
"Oh yeah. I just remembered. I need to give my neighbor the free passes for this…" Frankie shot up out of her chair, pressing her hands against her desk.
"How'd you get passes for it?" she asked.
"I entered a computer contest. That cruise was the first place prize." Frankie relaxed and stood up straight, taking her hands off of the desk.
"How come you didn't invite one of us? You don't have anyone to go with."
"My parents wouldn't let me go. They were afraid I would fall off of the ship or something. Anyway, you still can get tickets for it. There's a newsstand downtown that has a contest going for a pair." Frankie smiled.
"I know where I'm going after school."
True to her word, Frankie walked down to the newsstand, unintentionally taking Cleo and Julia with her, to try and win the contest. All she had to do was roll out the golden marble from a spinner. She had tried to do this several times, but so far she didn't have any luck… and she was almost out of money. Unfortunately, she ended up losing the contest, as well as all of her cash.
"Oh great…" she muttered as she rejoined her friends. "At least I tried."
"Frankie," said Cleo with her arms crossed. "What were you doing that it derailed us from heading to the Shrine?" Frankie laughed weakly.
"Oh. Well, Cy told me about this contest. You can win two free tickets on the Sunset Romance Cruise!" Cleo and Julia looked at each other before looking back at Frankie.
"You don't have a boyfriend. Or were you think about asking Jackson to go with you?" Frankie turned red.
"Can not do it again?" Julia asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "It took Watzit and I an hour to stop Frankie chase you."
"I could have taken a friend or something," said Frankie. "Hey, why don't you guys try it?" Cleo sighed and shrugged. She walked up to the newsstand, putting the money on the counter.
"I'll take a shot that contest," she said. The man shrugged, and Cleo spun the basket. A marble rolled into the tray near it. It was a shimmering gold.
"We have a winner!" yelled the man at the counter, "The contest is over!" Cleo collected the tickets and walked back over to Julia and Frankie. Frankie's mouth was wide open in shock.
"I'm not giving you the tickets." she said. Frankie's mouth closed, and her face fell.
"Why not?" she asked. "You don't have a boyfriend either. Who are you going to take?" Cleo smirked as a plan formulated in her head.
"Oh, I'll take someone. Now let's go. Watzit and Hissette are waiting for us." Frankie frowned. Julia groaned. The trio headed off towards the shrine.
After the Scout meeting, Cleo and Frankie still weren't talking with each other. Julia sighed with Watzit beside her. Hissette was coiled around her owner's arm.
"It's going to get ugly sooner or later," said Watzit as he sat down next to her. Julia nodded.
"It's always the same with both," she said. Unable to keep silent forever, Frankie finally spoke.
"Julia!" she said, "Tell Cleo that Sailor Guardians are supposed to stick together!" Julia opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted.
"Good idea, Frankie," said Cleo. She went over and seized Julia's wrist. "Julia. Follow me."
"Why?" she asked.
"Just come on." Cleo dragged Julia off, leaving a confused Frankie and Watzit behind.
Cleo and Julia were sitting in a cafe. Cleo kept looking around, making sure that Frankie or anyone else from their school was near them.
"Cleo?" Julia asked after a while. "Why did you not invited Frankie to go on the cruise? It seems like she really wants to go."
"And she will," said Cleo, pulling the tickets from her pocket. "I'm going to give these to Jackson and persuade them to give one to Frankie." Julia sighed.
"Why not give up on this?"
"Because he likes her. That, and it will get Frankie off my back for a while. Her perkiness gets on my nerves most of the time. So, I give these tickets to Jackson and problem solved." Julia shook her head.
"I am afraid you forgot something Cleo…" she stuttered, fixing her glasses. Cleo blinked.
"What?"
"Jackson and Holt are not here. They went on some jobs to the music of Holt's career in the neighboring town. They will not be back for a week." Cleo stared at her for a moment before slamming the tickets down on the table.
"Well… I guess now I can go."
"You do not have a boyfriend." Cleo looked up at Julia.
"You wanna come?" Julia sighed and shook her head.
"If I do, Frankie will be alone. We are Sailor Guardians, Cleo. We have a responsibility."
"May I remind you, that Frankie was perfectly capable of handling anything Dark Kingdom related since before we began being Guardians ourselves."
"You make a good argument …"
"And this trip will be good for us!" continued Cleo, "We'll get to know each other a little more. And I'm sure that there will be a lot of great people going along, too. It'll be so much fun." Julia shook her head again.
"My answer is still no. And what school?" Cleo leaned onto the table.
"Julia, you and I both know that you are far ahead of our class, and ninety percent of your assignments the teachers have to translate from that French-English thing you slip up on. You can't be studying and worrying about school all the time. This will be good for you." Julia sighed, wringing her pale hands through her light brown hair. Cleo had her trapped.
"Good," Julia said, defeated. "I will go." Cleo smiled, handing Julia one of the tickets.
"Fantastic," Cleo said. "I knew you would say yes eventually. And don't worry about Frankie. We'll bring her back a souvenir or something."
Frankie, however, was determined to join the girls when she heard about wanted to go on the cruise. She had been a Sailor Guardian the longest, and truly did deserve a break. The cruise also looked like fun.
Frankie, along with Watzit, headed over to the dock where the Sunset ship was being boarded. She managed to get to the area of dock where the cargo was being loaded. How she had done this without being caught by either the ship's crew or Julia and Cleo, I really have no idea.
Anyway, Frankie hid behind one of the boxes, rummaging through her bag. Watzit growled softly.
"If she really thinks I'm about to give up, then she really must not be paying attention," Frankie muttered. "I never give up."
"Frankie, you are really being irresponsible," Watzit said, trying to persuade his owner not to try and board the ship. Frankie ignored him. She pulled out her Disguise pen with a victorious laugh. "Frankie! The Disguise Pen is only for Sailor Business!" Frankie picked up her bag as she stood up.
"We are going on that boat," she stated firmly, holding up her pen. "Change me into a photographer!" Frankie became coated in white light. Upon it disappearing, she was in the perfect disguise. Her skin was mark free, her eyes were green and her hair was completely black and pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a light blue hoodie, light gray yoga pants that ended at her knees, and black sneakers. She had a camera in her hands.
Frankie knelt down, holding her bag open.
"Watzit, get in the bag," she said. Watzit sighed and jumped into Frankie's bag. The disguised girl stood up, zipping up her bag and running into the cargo bay of the ship.
Meanwhile, the ship had begun to leave port. Julia and Cleo were on board just as it lurched. Cleo leaned against a wall for support.
"I didn't know that ships tilted this much…" she muttered, steadying herself. Julia looked around.
"I have seen something, Cleo," said Julia as Cleo straightened herself out.
"Oh yeah, what is it?"
"We are alone without dates." Cleo looked around. The people surrounding them were either part of the ship's crew or a couple. She groaned.
"Having a date would be fun," said Cleo, "but being with you is great, too."
"I agree. Perhaps we can be good friends, Cleo."
Down in the cargo hold, Frankie was unzipping her bag. Watzit jumped out, stretching out his legs.
"It's about time," he said. He shook his fur.
"Are you alright?" Frankie asked.
"Oh sure. Being zipped up in an airless bag is fantastic." Frankie stifled a laugh.
"Are you being sarcastic with me?" Watzit blinked at her, narrowing his eyes.
"Don't you try that again." Frankie laughed, dropping her bag on the floor. She picked up her camera and began to look at it.
"Okay, so now that we're aboard, I say we go mingle." she said, hopping up on one of the boxes.
"You can go. I don't think they allow dogs on this ship." Frankie looked up at in thought. She snapped her fingers when she thought of something.
"No one will say anything about it. I'll just pretend that you're my special assistant. I can't take my amazing images without you." Frankie smiled with victory. Just then,the pair heard the loud clang of footsteps coming down the metal stairs. In a flash, Watzit jumped into Frankie's bag. The disguised girl ran over and picked it up, zipping it shut. Down the stairs came a man. He had black hair and was dressed in a crew uniform. In fact, it was the captain's uniform. Frankie tensed up as the captain approached her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her. "This area is off limits to passengers. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me. Do you even have a ticket?"
"I… I uh…" Frankie stuttered. "I'm uh…"
"I'm going to ask you again. What are you doing here?" An idea popped into Frankie's mind.
"I got seperated from my friends," she said quickly. "And I took a wrong turn." She crossed her fingers behind her back, praying silently that her lie worked. The captain sighed.
"I guess this makes sense. There is a rather large crowd on board."
"Since I don't know my way around the ship, do you mind helping me look for them?" The captain nodded.
"Yes, I will." Frankie followed the captain up and out of the cargo bay.
Back on deck, Cleo and Julia were walking around the deck. That's when an idea entered Cleo's brain, and she smirked.
"Hey, I just got an idea," Cleo said, nudging Julia slightly.
"What is it?" Julia asked.
"Why don't we flirt with some of these cute crew guys? Then we can have someone take our picture with them. I'm sure that someone hired a photographer." Julia sighed.
"Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe we can show the pictures to Frankie when we get back. Sure, she'll probably get jealous but-"
"Cleo, I wish you and Frankie were not such differences. In this way we could work well together," Julia sighed.
"Uh, we do. I think. What are you talking about?"
"I can tell you I am not talking about the Sailor Guardians, Cleo."
On another part of the ship, the captain and Frankie and arrived at the same deck Cleo and Julia were on.
"I really must be getting back to my captain's duties," said the man as the pair came to a stop. "But I want to be able to spend more time with you. Perhaps you would like to join me at the captain's table for dinner?" Frankie blushed a heavy red.
"I would love to," she said. Just then, a female crew member walked up.
"Excuse me sir," she said to the captain, "But the crew is waiting." The captain nodded.
"Very well." He turned to Frankie. "I will see you at dinner, then?" Frankie nodded. The captain and the crew member walked away as Frankie unzipped her bag, allowing Wazit to breathe.
"Frankie, be alert," he said to his owner. "I had a bad feeling the entire time that guy was here. I say we follow them." Frankie nodded and followed them.
Frankie knelt down outside of the door she had seen the pair go in. She leaned against it, pressing her ear to the door.
"It's beautiful," she heard a familiar voice say.
"I designed it for maximum efficiency to gather up all the love energy," said the female. "It will be triggered when these human fools' romantic energy hits its peak intensity." There was a pause. "Valentine, aren't you going to congratulate me?" Frankie covered her mouth to keep herself for gasping, therefore alerting the two to her presence. The cruise had been a trap set by the Dark Kingdom the entire time.
"I will," Valentine continued, "When I am sure that your plan has worked." The female laughed.
"Don't worry. We're not going to fail. Nothing and no one can get in our way out here on the sea. Not even those pesky little Sailor Guardians."
"Excellent. Now we'd better mingle with the guests." Frankie and Watzit ran as fast and as far from the room as they could in order to prevent being caught. They finally stopped when it was safe enough.
Frankie leaned against the wall, catching her breath. She slid onto the floor with Watzit right beside her.
"I told you there was something wrong with him," Watzit panted, laying his head on Frankie's feet.
"But he was so nice to me…" Frankie sighed, burying her face in her knees.
"Yes, but you have to remember. He was acting. He's your enemy!" Frankie sighed as did Watzit. That's when the dog remembered the one thing that would fire Frankie up. "Aren't Cleo and Julia on this ship?" Frankie looked up and blinked.
"Yeah, so? What's your point?"
"I was thinking that they might be targets for Valentine's weird energy thing." Frankie's eyes widened and she stood up, knocking Watzit off of her feet.
"We have to find them," she said. "We need to tell them what's going on."
However, Cleo and Julia were far from where Frankie was currently trying to look for them. They were looking out at the sea. Julia looked around. Several people were staring at the two. She sighed and looked at Cleo.
"People are looking at us," she said.
"They've been staring all day, and you just noticed?" Cleo responded. "Anyway, they're only doing it because we're the only single people on this ship." Julia nodded, but she felt like that wasn't the reason. Suddenly, a loudspeaker nearby crackled to life.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said a feminine voice over it, "Our spectacular extravaganza will begin in the ballroom in five minutes. You're all invited." As the speaker shut off, Cleo groaned.
"I don't want to dance around a bunch of happy couples," she said. Julia nudged her.
"I think we should go," said Julia. "I'm sure the captain is going to be there. We could talk to him. You said you wanted to romance with the crew, yes?"
"Yeah, I guess I did." Cleo sighed. "Fine. You win. Let's go to the thing."
Frankie had been running around the ship, looking for her friends. She had heard the announcement too. Her eyes narrowed.
"They're gathering everyone together," she said.
"We better hurry," said Watzit. Frankie nodded and bolted towards the dining hall, where the passengers were headed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," announced a woman on a stage. By this time, all of the untransformed Sailor Guardians had gathered in the room. The only difference was that while Cleo and Julia were in the crowd, Frankie was off to the side. "Welcome to the Sunset Romance's Twilight Extravaganza. And here is our captain and his first mate to get the show under way." A woman with long, dark blue hair walked on stage along with the ship's captain.
"Welcome, all you lovebirds," she said. "We're going to start off the show with a little black magic." The woman's image began to morph as she raised her hands, aiming them towards a crystal ball that was hanging above the crowd. She became a paper white witch in a dark blue bodysuit and spines on her arms. "ROMANTIC ENERGY, ELECTRIFY!" White, transparent wisps began to be pulled out of everyone in the crowd, everyone except Cleo and Julia.
"Are you all having as much fun as I am?" laughed the witch.
"Excellent," said the captain as he to shifted into his real form. He became a vampire. Julia gasped.
"That is Valentine!" she exclaimed. Her voice drew the two villains to her and Cleo, the only two people (other than a certain person hiding in the shadows) conscious.
"Why aren't they knocked out?!" yelled the witch. Valentine crossed his arms over his chest in disapproval.
"We only to energy from those in love. These girls apparently are alone," he said to the witch, "You blew it. Now you and I are going to have to find a way to get rid of them!" The witch jumped off of the stage and approached the two girls.
"What are you doing on a love cruise without dates, anyway?" asked Valentine. Cleo growled.
"That's not important!" she snapped, "Release these people from your spell! Now!"
"Sorry, ladies. That's not going to happen." The witch raised her arms like a puppeteer. "Seize them!" Watery blobs formed out of the atmosphere, taking on the shape of humanoids. They charged at the two girls. Cleo grabbed a nearby folding chair and swung it at one of them, slicing it in two blobs fell to the floor, where they reformed into two separate beings. Cleo dropped the chair, backing up against Julia.
"Julia!" Cleo said, "What are we going to do?"
"I say we stay close," Julia answered, "In this way, we will have more than one chance." However, there was someone who was watching them. Frankie finally managed to pull herself free of the nail her shirt had gotten caught on.
"Leave my friends alone!" she shouted. The witch, Valentine, Cleo and Julia all stared at her. Frankie pulled off her locket and held it up. "STEIN PRISM POWER! MAKE-UP!" The locket popped open and shined on her with black and blue light. With it disappearing, Frankie had become the monsterized Sailor Stein.
"I am Sailor Stein, the Guardian of Love and Justice!" called out Sailor Stein. "On behalf of the Kingdom of Salem, I shall punish you!." Valentine narrowed his eyes.
"You've got a big mouth, and I'm going to enjoy shutting it!" shouted the witch. She lunged at Sailor Stein, wrapping her fingers around her bolted neck. Sailor Stein felt her heart beat heavily in her chest. The feeling of what she thought was a storm could welled up inside of her.
Sailor Stein sent the electricity coursing through her body to her neck, shocking the witch. The witch jumped back. Sailor Stein stood up.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that water and electricity don't mix?" Sailor Stein laughed. The witch's eyes narrowed as she raised her arms, drawing in water from the sea to coil around her arms in water whips. She snapped the water at Sailor Stein's feet.
"TAKE THAT SAILOR BRAT!" Sailor Stein jumped out of the way just the the water hit the place where she had just been standing.
"Girls! Help me!" Cleo and Julia looked at each other and nodded. Julia drew their transformation pens from her pocket. What? Did you think they were going to leave without them? They both raised their pens.
"ZOMBIE POWER! MAKE-UP!" Julia shouted. Red light illuminated her.
"MUMMY POWER! MAKE-UP!" shouted Cleo, getting surrounded her her yellow glow. Both lights faded to reveal Sailor Mummy and Sailor Zombie.
"SAND STORM!" shouted Sailor Mummy. Sand whipped through the water blobs and absorbed them. She grinned with satisfaction.
"Should we go after Valentine?" asked Sailor Zombie. Sailor Mummy shook her head.
"Not yet. We have to help Sailor Stein before she gets herself killed. And I don't want to explain to her parents what happened." Sailor Zombie nodded and the two ran over to their teammate, who had cornered herself.
"No escape now, Sailor Stein!" yelled the witch as she got ready to attack.
"Undead Mist!" cried out Sailor Zombie. Red mist filled the room. The witch's attack struck the ground only inches from Sailor Stein.
"Hey! What's happening?!" Sailor Stein took her chance and ran over to the other Sailor Guardians.
"SAND STORM!" added Sailor Mummy. Sand pierced the witch's skin, causing her to cry out in pain. Sailor Stein removed her tiara.
"Stein Tiara Boomerang!" she screamed, throwing the tiara at the witch.
"NO!" the witch cried as it cut through her body. She disappeared into water vapor. There was a slow clapping. The Sailor Guardians turned around to see Valentine walking towards them. He had a smirk on his face.
"Just my luck," he said coldly. "Even on a cruise ship in the middle of nowhere, you Sailor Guardians manage to ruin my plans." The girls got into their attack formation.
"Surrender, Valentine!" ordered Sailor Stein.
"We want to know who's running this show," Sailor Mummy added.
"And why do you steal energy?" sai Sailor Zombie. Valentine laughed darkly.
"Sorry, ladies," he said. "I can't say. Maybe one day you'll know." Before the girls could do anything about him, Valentine disappear into black smoke.
As soon as any traces of the Dark Kingdom vanished and the girls returned to normal, the ship's crew and its passengers were all awoken from their sleep. Frankie had begun to take pictures of the couples, being asked by the crew to do so in order to stay on board the ship. Luckily, she had put her disguise back on just in time.
After she finished taking photos, Frankie sat down with her friends to relax for a moment.
"Well," she said. "So much for that dream cruise…"
"Next time I get any cruise tickets, I'm going to track down that boy and give them him," Cleo muttered. "I'm not having this happen again." Frankie raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you talking about?" Cleo froze. She exchanged a glance with Julia.
"Nothing Frankie," the two girls said in unison.
"Aw, c'mon. Please tell me! Guys!"
