Chapter Eleven

Mina and Josh

Date: January 14th, 2008

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"Hey Darien. Any news yet?" Josh asked into the phone.

"No. I haven't seen her anywhere, and haven't heard from her either." He sighed.

"Want to meet Mina and me at the Crown in a little bit?"

"Sure, I got nothing better to do."

"We're gonna head over there now. The whole gang is gonna be there with the exception of Lita and Zac. They are working…party poopers."

"Well they both work at the Crown. Why do you think it's doing so well?"

"Good point. Lita is one hell of a cook. Oh, and I still have to call Kevin and Raye. But I think they are working too. Maybe we should start meeting on the weekends…"

"That would be a good idea." He laughed.

"Yah, I'll see ya soon then."

"Yah, see ya."

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"Hey, Sere, we're going to go get some lunch from the Crown. Wanna come?" Michelle asked.

"Uh…I don't know. Some of my friends could be there. I think my aunt's husband words there, and my friend and her husband own the place."

"We could just bring you back something." Amara offered.

"Come on Sere, please come." Hotaru begged.

"I guess I'll go. If I see any of my friends, I'll just leave." Serena said getting up.

"Okay, let's go." Trista said grabbing the keys to her car.

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"Darien, we're over here." Mina called from the corner booth.

"Hey guys." Darien greeted. "Andrew working today?" He asked seeing Yella there by herself.

"Yah." She answered.

"Hey Darien." Zac greeted. "Want to order something?"

"Sure, I'll take a cherry Pepsi." He said taking a seat.

"Okay. Your guys' orders will be out in a few." He said walking away.
"So have any of you guys heard anything?" Darien asked.

"No. I've called her everyday, but she hasn't answered or called back yet." Mina sighed.

"I'm sure we'll talk to her soon enough." Josh said wrapping his arm around his wife.

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As Trista's car drove by the front of the Crown, Serena looked inside to see f she could spot any of her friends, and of course, she saw most of her them. "I'll just walk home." She sighed. "Almost all of my friends and Darien are in there."

"You sure?" Amara asked.

"I could drive you." Trista offered.

"No. Go ahead. Since all of my friends are in there, I can go for a walk."

"You sure?" Trista asked.

"Yah."

"I wanna go with Sere!" Hotaru said.

"It's okay with me." Serena said.

"Sure. If you need us, just call." Michelle said.

"Okay. See you guys." Serena waved.

Serena and Hotaru headed in the opposite direction of the other three.

"So where do you want to go Hotaru?"

"Can we go to the park?"

"To the park we go." Serena said.

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The three older women walked into the Crown entrance.

"Hey Trista, Michelle, Amara." Darien greeted getting up from the table.

"Oh, hey Darien. How are you?" Trista asked.

"Good, you?"

"Good." All three said.

"You wanna come sit with us?" Darien offered.

"Sure." Michelle said.
The four walked over to the table, and Darien introduced the group.

"Okay, this is starting to bug me." Mina started looking a Trista. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"You do look familiar, but we just moved here a few weeks ago. I did come to down five years ago for a funeral."

"If you don't mind me asking, whose funeral?"

"The Tsukino's. I worked with Ilene for a while a few years back."

"That's where I recognize you from. You came over Sere's house a few times while we were over." Mina said

"Oh yah. I remember. It's been so long since we've seen you." Amy said.

"You're Serena's friends from California aren't you?"

"Yah." Mina and Amy answered.

"I didn't think all of you were still friends."

"We are. We all moved out here five years ago." Amy said.

"Wow, time really flew." Mina sighed.

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"Wanna swing Hotaru?" Serena asked taking a seat on a vacant swing.

"Sure, but can you push me?"

"Yah."

Hotaru hopped on a swing, and Serena went behind and pushed her.

"Sere, I feel bad again." Hotaru said.

"Okay." Serena stopped the swing and took Hotaru's shaking hand. "Let's go over to a bench."

After they sat on the bench, a huge monster appeared right in front of them. The monster resembled a plant. It had a rose at the ends of its hands and one on its head. It also had thorns covering its body.

"I've found you." The thing hissed.

Found who. Crap, I hope she's not referring to Hotaru being Saturn… Serena thought.

"Now if you'd just come with me…" The thing started.

"You can't take her. I won't let you." Serena said pushing the speed dial for Trista. "Trista, there's a monster at the park. Hurry...it-"

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The gang was in the middle of a conversation when Darien's communicator started beeping.

"I'll be right back." He said getting up. He walked out the front of the crown. "Yah?"

"Darien, there's a droid in the park." Artamis' voice said.

"I'm on my way. I'll let Amy and Stephen know." He said closing the communicator.

He walked back inside and whispered the news to Amy and Stephen.

"I'm going to go for my jog. I'll see you guys later?" Darien said.

"Yah, we got to get going too." Amy said as her and Stephen got up.

"Okay. See you guys later." Mina said.

"Bye."

After they left, Trista's phone started ringing. "He-"

"Trista, there's a monster at the park. Hurry…it-" Serena's voice was cut off.

"Hello? Hello?" She desperately asked into the phone but received no answer. "Guys, I think we'd better get going. That was out babysitter. Hotaru's not feeling well again." Trista said with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Everything okay?" Josh asked.

"Yah, Our daughter sometimes gets really bad headaches." Michelle replied. "But we really need to go. Hope to see you guys again soon."

"Bye."

The three women left and Mina looked to Josh.

"Something's going on…" Mina said. "The person on the other end of the phone sounded like something was wrong…and sounded a lot like Serena."

"Serena? You sure?"

"Yah, she said something about a monster in the park and then was cut off." Mina thought. "Oh god, I hope something didn't happen to her." Mina said getting up.

"Where are you going?" Josh asked getting up after her.

"To the park."

"Well if there's something there, you could get hurt."

"I don't care. If Serena's there, then I want to make sure she's okay." She said running out the doors.

"Zac, we'll be right back." Josh called out before running after Mina.

"Sure…weirdo's." Zac sighed.

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"Let-Me-Go!" Serena gasped.

The droid just snickered. "Now why would I do a silly thing like that?" The droid said tightening its grip around Serena's neck.

Okay Trista. You guys can get here anytime now. Serena thought.

"Mercury Bubbles Blast!"

"Wh-What?" The droid screamed.

The surrounding area quickly was covered in a dense fog. Serena tried to look around and see something, but all she saw was a flash of red in front of her face. The item pierced the droids chest and it howled in pain and released its grip on Serena's neck.

"This is gonna hurt." She said. But before she hit the ground, two arms caught her. "Much comfier landing." She joked.
"Glad you're okay." Tuxedo Mask said.

"Thanks for saving me."

"Anytime. Are you okay. It looks like you're bleeding. He said removing his hand from behind her head to reveal a bloody glove.

"Oh yah, it was probably one of the thorns…I'll be okay."

"I should get you checked out. I don't want you to bleed to death. I'm sure you have an awesome family to go home to." Maybe she'll say something…

"Not really, just some really good friends…speaking of which, I was watching a little girl. Have you seen her?" Serena asked looking around.

Or not… "No. I'll help you find her."

"No, it's okay. Go destroy that thing."

"Are you sure you're okay, your neck is awfully red."

"I'm fine. I need to go find her."

"Okay." He said before jumping back into battle.

"Serena." A voice whispered from the bushes. "Come here."

"No, I have to find Hotaru." She said looking for the small girl.

"She was reawakened. She remembered seeing the droid. She's out there with the others fighting."

Serena finally looked over to the bushes. "Oh, Neptune, okay." She said following the female back into the bushes.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Neptune asked looking at Serena's clothes with blood on them.

"Oh, yah. That thing grabbed me around my neck and I think one of the thorns broke skin." She said running her hand across the sore skin. "I'll be fine."

"It looks like it may bruise. It's already staring to swell."

"Oh well." She shrugged walking over to where Pluto was standing.

"Sere, are you okay?" Pluto asked.

"Yah, I'll be fine. You guys go help with the battle. I'll wait here until you're done."

"I'll stay. We don't know how serious your injuries are." Neptune said.

"I'll survive till the end of the battle."

"Okay." Pluto and Neptune said before jumping back to the battle.

"Have you two seen the blonde girl that the droid had a hold of?" Tuxedo Mask asked.

"I saw her go into the bushes. I think she went home." Pluto said.

"Damn, she was bleeding."

"It wasn't bad. I looked at her. It was just a little cut. Nothing that won't heal on its own." Neptune said.

"Okay. Let's finish this thing off, shall we?" Tuxedo Mask asked.

"We shall." Neptune and Pluto said.

"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"

"Wind Storm Blast!"
The two attacks smashed into the droid turning it instantly to dust.

"Wow, we're really good. Didn't even have to lift a finger." Pluto laughed.

"Sure, take all our credit." Sailor Venus said walking over to the group followed by Malachite, Sailor Mercury, Zoisite, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Uranus.

"That's what we do best." Tuxedo Mask said.

"Welcome back." Neptune said.

"Why thank you." Venus said.

"It's about time we get some excitement in our life." Malachite said.

"HEY!" Venus said punching his arm. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have this 'excitement.'"

"True." He grinned.

"Hey, what do you guys think about having a meeting at our place in a few days?" Pluto asked. "Compare all the stuff we've gathered."

"Well I have to work for the next few days. I'm not free until this weekend." Tuxedo Mask said.

"How about in three days then? On the seventeenth." Uranus suggested.

"That works for me." Tuxedo Mask said.

"Us too." Venus said.

"And us." Zoisite said.

"Okay. I'll call you with directions." Pluto said to Tuxedo Mask. "We need to get back to the babysitter." She said purposely leaving out Hotaru.

"You're the people from the Crown." Venus said.

"Yah. That wasn't really a lie. Hotaru really does get bad headaches when the droids attack." Neptune said.

"Okay. See you guys later." Malachite said.

"See ya." They all said.

The three older scouts and the younger scout left the others standing there.

"I hope she's okay." Tuxedo Mask thought aloud.

"Who?" Venus asked.

"Oh, Well Serena was being strangled by that droid. She was bleeding at her neck." He informed.

"Where is she?" Mercury asked.

"Well Neptune and Pluto said that she was fine. It was just a little cut."

"I wish she wouldn't have just left." Venus sighed.

"Suborned. Very suborned." Malachite said.