Act 12
Garoben was shocked, and not in a good way, to see her former student. Molly was a smart girl, her best pupil actually… but Garoben knew that could be dangerous. For her and her schemes. Many times Molly had nearly stumbled onto her energy collectors, hidden behind the chalkboard in the front of the classroom. Now that nosy brat was here! How would that affect her plans?
Se pondered the situation while she prepared the small schoolhouse. This time, she imbibed the individual slates with the energy-draining magic, connecting the spell with her collector.
"Good morning Sister," a voice interrupted her preparations. She turned to see a big, bulky man. He carried a large supply of wood. "I brought wood for the fire." He ignored the fact that he had snuck up on her.
Garoben faked a grateful smile. "Oh, God bless you, young man. I am most grateful."
Gaston quickly started the fire up. "We didn't formally meet yet. I'm Glaston LaTerre, the strongest, bravest man in town. In fact, they call me the Town Hero. Just thought you'd like to know that."
He stalked from the schoolhouse.
Garoben watched him leave… Town Hero huh? Great, someone else to worry about! She had hoped a small town would mean less to worry over. Instead it seemed to be the opposite.
In the Dark Kingdom, Jadeite stood with two other men wearing the same style uniform as he.
"What's Queen Beryl's fascination with this pitiful village anyways?" asked a man with a dirty blonde ponytail. "It's so primitive."
A man with long brown hair nodded in agreement. "Couldn't we just as easily gather energy elsewhere? Paris was a bigger city. We got good energy from them."
Jadeite smacked them both. "Never question Queen Beryl! She wants this village. The why is her business!"
The two men glared at him. The brunette stepped forward, moving as if to punch his ally.
"Enough!" A female voice commanded… Queen Beryl. "I hardly want my plans to cause strife among you, so I will tell you." The three generals stood straight at attention. "My source tells me that the Imperium Silver Crystal is here. In this quiet little town. We are here to locate it in addition to gathering energy. We will gather here to throw off those who may seek to oppose us."
The blonde man stepped forward. "Highness, please allow me the honor of seeking out the crystal for you."
The brunette pushed the blonde out of the way. "No, let me go. I can find it much quicker than Zoisite can!"
Zoisite responded by tackling Nephrite. The two grappled for a few moments before a spell separated the two. The spell then suspended the two several feet apart in the air.
"Enough children! Any further fighting will find you two confined to the Abyss for twenty four hours." Beryl told them. "Now, if you two want, you can both go seek out the Silver Crystal. But be discreet."
The two rivals glared at one another, but they knew better than to disobey Beryl, especially when threatened with the Abyss.
Bunny woke up the next morning with her new book beside her. She opened it to look at the pretty script and the pictures that seemed almost lifelike.
She stopped on a picture of a lovely woman with silvery hair. She gazed at the picture. Whoever it was, she seemed familiar.
Suddenly, the woman's face looked up at her. Bunny froze. The woman smiled at her and the half page sized picture glowed. Bunny covered her eyes against the bright, silver light. When the light faded and she could see again, a small pink wand with a gold crescent sat there. She picked it up timidly. She looked at the book again. The page had turned itself into another illustration that was now on this page. It appeared to be Sailor Moon in a fight with a monster, using the wand. A bubble appeared over her head with words inside in Romanic script. She couldn't read it however, so the best she could discern was that the wand was some sort of weapon.
"It is pretty though. Maybe Luna'll, no, if Luna can't be nice, then I don't want her help!" She looked at the clock. It was early enough that her sisters were still asleep, but Molly told her that she was always up with the sun. Quickly, she dressed and grabbed her book, running off towards the direction of the bookshop.
Molly set up the large rolling blackboard and handed Bunny her slate. "Okay, where did we leave off?"
Bunny thought back to the day before. "I think we had just finished the letter "D" for 'dog', 'duck', 'dam', 'dig' and 'daughter.' Molly smiled. "And did you practice your letters last night?" She was really enjoying teaching Bunny.
Bunny shoved her manuscript she'd filled out the night before. Her letters were sloppy and unsure, but each letter was repeated ten times, each one looking fractionally better than its predecessor.
Molly looked over the letters. "Wonderful! Now onward." She wrote four new letters on the blackboard. "This is 'E'. Big 'E'. Little 'e'. Egg, Ear, Eight, Elbow, and East." Bunny copied the big and little 'E' onto her slate. She repeated the letter ten times before Molly moved on.
"This is F. Big 'F'. Little 'f'. Fish, Fan, Frog, Fly and Fox." Bunny threw herself into the work, reminding herself that anyone could learn to read.
Later that evening, Molly decided she would pay a visit to her former professor. Sister Bernadette had never taught children.
Molly put together a basket of food for the teacher. "She's probably hungry after her first day." She said to no one in particular. She also wanted to possibly ask for teaching tips. Bunny was a quick student without the negative supposition that only smart people could read.
Molly found she enjoyed Bunny's company immensely. She'd been afraid that Bunny would give into her sisters and change her mind about being her friend. However, Bunny had instead stood up to them with a great ferocity. There was something special about Bunny.
By the end of a long power session, Bunny had already mastered the entire alphabet. Now she onto the hard part, helping to put the letters together to form words and sentences… nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. It seemed like a daunting task, but Molly was having a ball with it.
She hoped Sister Bernadette would have some tips for this next phase.
The schoolhouse was quiet, so Molly went to the Teacherage not far from the schoolhouse. She went to knock on the door, but stopped when she heard voices.
"Very good Garoben, this is quite a harvest." The voice sent a chill down Molly's spine. Quietly, she went to the window and peered in.
Inside the teacherage, Garoben stood with Jadeite before a giant, glowing, glass ball. Inside a mysterious substance swirled about.
"Those children are ripe with energy," Garoben agreed, no longer in disguise. "Soon Jadeite, the Dark Kingdom will be able to break free and claim the Earth for Queen Beryl."
Jadeite glanced at the window quickly. "Yes, but first I think we have a guest." He stalked outside and grabbed Molly by the collar of her dress. He hauled her into the teacherage.
Molly whimpered with fright at the disgusting red skinned demon before her. "Who or what are you? Where is Professor Bernadette?"
Garoben sneered. "I'm right here you pathetic bookworm. I'm sorry you had to hear all that my dear, but now I'm afraid that…"
Jadeite raised his hand. "That may not be necessary. Young Molly, we'll be able to spare you… If you agree to work with us."
Molly gasped. "Me? Why would you want my help? I'm just a girl."
"A smart girl," Jadeite countered. "My agent, Garoben, tells me you have an IQ over three hundred. You were the smartest pupil in your class. You could be an excellent assistant for her." He released her. "Think of it. I know the torment you've faced. Ridiculed for being smarter than men like their women. You were born many centuries too early. But now is your chance for revenge."
Molly walked around the giant glass container. "What's in here?" She seemed to be considering the offer. "What would I have to do?"
Garoben touched her shoulder. "You would help me to collect energy. That's what's in here. Energy taken just off the top of those rambunctious children. You see, in order to free the Dark Kingdom, we need this energy."
Molly looked at the energy container. "Then, when you've freed the… Dark Kingdom, what will you do?"
Jadeite took the lead. "Then Queen Beryl will bring to these closed-minded fools who think intelligence is to be frowned upon.
Molly's eyes suddenly lit on an oil lamp on the table nearby. She grabbed it. "I don't think so!" She slammed the lamp into the container. Both the lamp and the container shattered and the energy swept out and towards the village.
Jadeite and Garoben roared with anger and attempted to salvage as much energy as they coud. At the same time, Molly bolted out of the teacherage.
"Damn it!" Jadeite roared. "Get her!" He ordered. "Before she tells anyone!"
Garoben bolted after the young woman…
AN: Will Molly be able to get to safety? Find out next time on Rose of the Moon.
