The Magician Meets Sailor Moon

by Shirley Ann Burton

What if Ace Cooper and the Magic Force teamed up with Sailor Moon and the Silver Imperium Crystal? In addition, what if Sailor Jupiter fell in love with Cosmo, the Magician's experienced apprentice? Please R & R.

4. The First Meeting of the Heroes . . . an...

The Magician Meets Sailor Moon

Part 4: The First Meeting of the Heroes . . . and Its Effects

Back at the Cherry Hill Temple, Angie's energy was draining rapidly, and Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars felt helpless.

"I'm sorry, Sailor Moon," said a sad Mars. "I can't use my Celestial Fire attack as long as Angie's too close to Nerezza."

"Oh, what can we do?" a worried Sailor Moon said.

Angie, while in her difficult situation, desperately asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Stealing energy?" answered Nerezza. "It's simple, really. The Dark Princess needs the energy to conquer Earth, and her plan shall succeed!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a male voice screamed out, "Not if I can help it!"

When the gentleman appeared from the bushes, the two Sailor Scouts were surprised. "It's Ace Cooper!" they both shouted.

He angrily saw his younger counterpart in her helpless struggle. "Let my friend go right now, you witch!"

Annoyed by the appearance of another opponent, Nerezza said, "Someone else wants to oppose the Dark Princess, eh? Well, I'm afraid I can't let her go at the moment. I need her energy for our main objective." She then started to speed up the draining process.

Ace could no longer stand seeing Angie getting hurt. "Lady, you just asked for it!" He grabbed his cape, went into a dizzying spin with a bright light, and shouted, "Magic Force, reveal the power within!" In seconds he emerged in a dark-grey form-fitting suit with a yellow collar, black boots with yellow trim, a yellow belt with a black-and-red buckle, and a very dark cape. Pounding the right side of his chest with his left hand, a red half-face and yellow eye appeared.

Now Nerezza had to deal with Ace Cooper at full strength. "So, a human male in a strange costume is going to stop me?"

"No, but the Magician will!" Ace said angrily. He tried to fire a bolt of lightning from his hand, but Nerezza placed Angie in front of her, making the situation more difficult. "I can't do it. The wrong move could hurt Angie."

On the side, Sailors Moon and Mars could not believe their eyes.

"Did you see that, Mars?"

"Oh, yeah. I have heard vaguely that he could do something like this, but I never thought I'd see it in person!"

"But what about Angie? We can't leave her in Nerezza's grasp."

Nerezza laughed very hard, as she had nearly drained Angie completely. "The Dark Princess will conquer Earth!"

Suddenly, a young female voice screamed, "Venus Love Chain . . . Encircle!"

A whip of hearts shot out and hit Nerezza in the back, resulting in her going into a slight tailspin.

As her grip on Angie was loosening, Ace took the opportunity to free the young magician. He extended his arms and concentrated on removing the servant's grip from Angie. In seconds Angie was free and floating backwards in Ace's direction.

Nerezza landed on her knees and became embittered by Angie's freedom from her clutches. "No! The girl's energy will be mine! Dark--"

As two other girls in Sailor outfits appeared, one of them had a drop of water fall to the ground. As she swirled around, the drop grew into a large water force as she yelled, "Shine Aqua Illusion!"

The blast of water made a direct hit on Nerezza, forcing her to fall backwards. She looked at her enemies and said, "How dare you interfere again!"

The orange-clad girl said, "When you threaten the people of Earth, we have every business to interfere, and I, Sailor Venus stand for what is right and fair!"

Nerezza got to her feet and angrily said, "Ha! I do what I please, especially in the name of the Dark Princess!"

"In the name of the planet Mercury," the sailor dressed in blue started as she stepped forward, "you will not harm any friends, old or new! Beware the force of water for I am Sailor Mercury!"

When Sailors Moon and Mars joined the others, Nerezza realized she was badly outnumbered. "I'll come back, and next time, I will NOT be alone!" She then disappeared into nothingness once more.

The four Scouts congratulated each other on a successful job but then turned their attention to Ace and Angie.

Ace levitated Angie back to him and then lay her gently on the ground. He then kneeled to her, noticing the pale look on her face. "Angie . . . my friend," he said softly and sadly as he could feel her being weakened by Nerezza.

Grasping her left hand with his right, the pair began to glow in a violet light. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her. "Kindred spirit in magic, please be all right."

Sailor Moon whispered, "What is he doing?"

"It looks like," started Sailor Mars, "he's giving her some of his own energy."

"Wow! How cool that really is!"

The four Scouts watched in astonishment as Angie awakened ten seconds later.

She slowly opened her eyes. "Ace? Wha-what happened? Where did she go?"

"Never mind about that for now. Are you okay?"

"I think so. It could have been worse if those two girls hadn't come along."

"You mean four girls. Two others came just in time to free you."

"Why aren't they saying anything?" asked Sailor Venus. "Are they in love or something?"

"No!" Sailor Mercury exclaimed quickly. "I think they're communicating with each other by thought."

"Incredible. They must have some kind of unique bond, giving them the chance to keep in touch with each other by mind."

As Angie was being helped to her feet, Ace looked at the four girls who had come to her aid. As they started approaching nervously, he said, "I don't know how to thank you all for helping in saving my friend."

Sailor Moon breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Well, I wish we could have done more, but we were afraid of accidentally hurting her."

"Yeah," added Sailor Venus. "I'm lucky that Love Chain nailed the negacreep and not your friend."

Angie looked up and noted, "It's okay. It was a difficult situation, and you did the best you could. If the situation were reversed, I probably would have had the same problem."

The Magician then got curious. "There's something I need to know. Are you all magicians yourselves?"

Sailor Mars tried to answer. "Well, um, not exactly. We can do some magic, but it doesn't make us official magicians. We're called the Sailor Scouts."

"Or," complemented Sailor Mercury, "the Sailor Soldiers, whichever makes more sense to you."

"Oh, I see," the Magician stated. "The sailor outfits. I like the sound of Sailor Scouts more than Sailor Soldiers."

Sailor Moon then introduced herself and her friends.

Sailor Mercury did have one concern. "Um, aren't you worried people will know who you really are?"

"No, not at all. In fact, everyone in Electro City already knows it's me in this costume."

Sailor Moon gasped, "Are you serious?"

Angie smiled and answered, "Ace is very serious. His magic is so special no one can really duplicate it."

"Right. I'm not worried about a secret identity. Now, I need to get Angie back to the Magic Express so she can rest."

Suddenly, Ashley returned to notice the action had already ended. "Oh, I guess the help wasn't needed." She ran up to Angie. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks to Ace and these four Sailor Scouts."

Ashley looked at the four girls dressed like sailors. "Thanks for coming to her rescue."

"Glad we could help," said Sailor Moon. "Now, Magician, take your friend home safely."

"I will, and thanks again for your help." Ace, Angie, and Ashley all walked off together.

The four Scouts stared at each other in disbelief.

"Ace Cooper and Angie are incredible," said Sailor Venus. "They can use magic not only to perform but to defend innocent people from getting hurt."

"Yeah," agreed Mars. "I've never seen two people be that close without having a romantic relationship. They obviously care for each other like they were brother and sister, but how did Mr. Cooper know Angie was in danger?"

Sailor Mercury answered, "Mina and I both know the answer. We were at the Magic Express when he somehow sensed her. He had a feeling, like you do when there's evil nearby."

"I see. I felt a connection between them the other night when they performed, but it wasn't evil. I'm going to confess something: I thought Ace Cooper was a part of the evil that arrived, but now I'm not so sure."

Sailor Moon looked at her with a disgusted look. "You mean you thought the greatest magician in the world was a part of this Dark Princess's group? Why?"

"Listen, Meatball-Head! In the first vision I had, this evil had black hair, and Mr. Cooper also has black hair. I just wanted to be sure, but I'm going to check with the flame to make absolutely certain. You want in or what?"

"Of course I do. I think we all would, but where's Sailor Jupiter?"

Venus replied, "I called her this morning, and she said she was busy preparing lunch for her date with Cosmo this afternoon. She was really upset for standing him up last night on account of our problem with that creep."

"Oh, well," Mars noted, "who can blame her? But, have all of you noticed something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Lita hasn't mentioned once about Cosmo reminding her of any old boyfriend."

"That is strange."

"We've noticed that, too," said Artemis, as he walked up with Luna. "I've never seen Lita so happy about any one guy, and she's not thinking about a past boyfriend."

"In the meantime," started Luna, "I have reason to worry Ace Cooper may be involved with this Dark Princess business."

"No way, Luna!" Sailor Moon shouted in disagreement. "The Magician's got nothing to do with any of this!"

"For once, Serena," Mars stated, "I agree with you. He was able to help Angie when her energy was nearly drained."

"Then figure this one out. All the trouble started when he arrived here, and it hasn't let up. I think he was just trying to make himself look good to make us think he wasn't bad."

"Luna, you didn't even see Mr. Cooper show up in the nick of time because he sensed Angie in danger! I'm consulting the flame to figure out the truth. You guys with me?"

Everyone, including Artemis, quickly agreed and went with Sailor Mars. Luna, on the other hand, was hesitant, but she decided to see for herself.

After changing back to their ordinary selves, Raye and the others went into the special room of the temple where she could use the flame to see the truth about any situation.

As Raye chanted, "I am fire, fire is sight; I am flame, flame is light," the flames shot up even higher. "Sun, moon, fire, rock, stars," she continued.

The flame continued to grow even brighter. "Fire of Mars, please show us if there is a special connection between Ace Cooper and Angie Jacobs and if this connection is good or evil."

Within the flame, she could see the pair grasping their hands, and both glowing in a bright light. She then had a vision about seeing them destroy a monster-sized robot on the roof of a building.

Seeing enough, Raye looked at the others. "They do have some connection to each other, something called the Magic Force."

"Wait a second," Serena interrupted. "Mr. Cooper yelled out something. I think he said, Magic . . . um, Magic Force . . . I've got it! He said, 'Magic Force, reveal the power within!' Does that help?"

"You bet it does, Serena. Thanks for remembering."

"Now if that would only work in school."

"Yeah, me, too. Anyway, it's this deeper magical power which binds them together, and neither is capable of evil, especially Angie. Her heart is too pure to do anything like bringing up Nerezza."

Luna shook her head in disbelief. "No! I think Cooper's a part of this evil, and he's just brainwashed you. Remember, you've been wrong before!"

Serena interjected, "What about you, Luna? Didn't you accuse Amy of working for the Negaverse when it turned out she was just an innocent pawn in Queen Beryl's game? I think you're a few screws short."

"Ha, look who's talking! One who doesn't have a clue half the time about what's going on!"

"Quiet, you two!" Raye shouted. "Serena does have a point, though. You did jump to the wrong conclusion when you thought Amy was working with Queen Beryl. You're doing it now, too. You think just because he has black hair, he's trying to cause trouble, but you didn't see Ace jump to the rescue to save Angie, and you didn't see Angie try to hold off Nerezza alone."

Mina added, "You also didn't see him sensing her in trouble like Amy and I did. Face it, Luna. We've all seen what they can do, and I agree with Raye and Serena. Ace Cooper is a good-hearted magician."

Luna shook her head violently. "I don't believe all of you! He's charmed his way to you, and you're going to fall for it!? Well, I'll just go to his Magic Express and find out for myself!" She then stormed out of the temple in disgust.

The others were completely surprised at Luna's shortened temper.

"Geez," started Serena, "and I thought I was bad."

Artemis grew worried. "Why would Luna suddenly act like this? I mean, we know Ace Cooper is the best magician on the planet and a good person. Why does she think he's part of the evil?"

"She did consider the timing factor," Amy noted. "All the trouble started after his performance, but I don't think even he's capable of doing anything like this."

Raye agreed. "She just wants to find out for herself if he's good or bad, but she shouldn't get upset at us because we already know."

"I just hope she'll be all right," Artemis said with a little concern.

A couple of hours later, back at the Magic, Ace lay Angie on the sofa to let her get some sleep. "Rest now, and don't do anything sudden."

Mona saw him walking towards her at the door. "Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine. She just needs to get some rest after what she just went through."

"What exactly happened to her?"

"An evil woman tried to drain her energy, but four girls called the Sailor Scouts came to the rescue and were able to help save her."

"Hmm, Sailor Scouts?"

"Yes. They seem to have special powers of their own, but they don't consider themselves as magicians."

"I'm glad they did come to help out," said Mona, "but what about that woman who tried to sap her energy? Who was she?"

"I don't know, but we need to find out sooner or later." He then remembered about something. "What about the sample Angie was supposed to make for Cosmo to give to Lita on his lunch date?"

"Not to worry, I took care of that. I made it exactly to Angie's specifications. In fact, Cosmo should have the sample in his hand anytime now."

The apprentice came by with the sample. "Thanks for the food. Say, is Angie doing okay?"

"Yeah, she's much better," replied Ace. "Those Sailor Scouts sure came through for her."

The mention of Sailor Scouts made Cosmo feel a little uneasy. "Oh, um, they did, huh?"

"Yes, the four of them helped out just in time."

"Four of them?" he thought. "Which one didn't show up?"

Ace then added, "I think their names were Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Venus."

"It's Sailor Jupiter! Lita must not have been there because she's meeting me for lunch."

Mona then looked at Cosmo. "So, ready to meet Lita and try it again?"

"Yup, and it's almost noon, so I'd better go. See ya later."

In the bushes nearby, Luna eyed the Magic Express very closely. "I know he's a part of this evil," she whispered, "and I'm going to prove it somehow!" The second she saw Cosmo exiting the Magic Express, she took the opportunity to run quickly and entered just before the door closed.

She made it inside, and she was ready to see for herself if Ace Cooper was just covering up the real mission at hand.

She tried to find him and eventually did so in the living room. He was again with Angie, who seemed somewhat upset at the whole situation.

Ace noticed the despair in her eyes and felt the pain in her heart. "Angie, what's the matter? Aren't you glad you're all right?"

"Yes, but I let you down. I couldn't stop Nerezza. I failed." She then put her face down in shame.

Ace put his hand on her chin and lifted her sad face. "No, you didn't. You did your best, and that's all that matters. The only way you could fail is if you didn't try. Remember, you've used your magical powers on a regular basis for only about a year now. You've still got a long way to go, but you have a good heart. You didn't want to see anyone get hurt, so you opted to do something instead of just standing there. Sometimes the greater reward is in the effort, not the end result."

"Really?"

"Right. You challenged her to the best of your own abilities, but she was more powerful than you. In fact, I'm wondering if we're facing something even we don't understand."

Mona then entered the room. "What do you mean, Ace?"

"There's a chance," the Magician began to answer, "we may be dealing with something not from Earth."

"Alien? How in the world are we going to confront this?"

"I don't know, but it's possible those Sailor Scouts we met have a better understanding about the situation."

Listening intently, Luna realized she had made a major mistake. "They were right," she thought sadly. "Ace Cooper isn't part of the Dark Princess's plans. How could I have been so wrong about this?" As she tried to walk away, she accidentally bumped a small table with one of the statues.

The three in the room heard the noise.

"What was that?" Mona asked nervously.

Angie's sensitive ears gave her the ability to hear something not too many people can. She heard a faint meow and used her right hand to levitate whatever was hiding behind the table.

To their surprise, up came a little cat with a crescent moon on her forehead. "Luna!" they all exclaimed.

Angie floated the cat into her arms and said, "What are you doing here?"

"Why aren't you with your owner, Serena?" asked Ace as he petted her on the chin. "Maybe it's the cat food you gave her a couple of nights back."

"Could be. Maybe she wants some more. I'll get it, okay, Luna?"

The cat meowed in delight, as she was comfortable for the first time with the Magician and his friends.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the lake in Pioko Park, Cosmo waited patiently for Lita. Of course, he could not get what he had seen the night before out of his mind. "I've got to ask her, make sure I'm not going crazy. I just hope she won't be mad at me."

Lita arrived at noon exactly and found the young man, who gave her a fresh assortment of flowers. "Thank you, Cosmo, they're beautiful."

"I also have something else. Angie wanted me to give you a sample of her cooking, since she's our chef."

Noticing the chicken and broccoli, she said, "Mmm, that looks good." She then showed her box of Japanese cuisine. "I know you may think of this as disgusting, but give it a try and see what you think."

The pair ate lunch, and Cosmo actually found her cooking very tasty. "This is delicious. Maybe you and Angie should get together and trade recipes."

As soon as Cosmo and Lita finished their meal, they took a peaceful stroll around the park. Minutes later, they stopped underneath a large cherry blossom tree next to the lake.

Cosmo could not help but admire the beautiful scenery. "Lita, I like this place. It reminds me of Keaton Park back in Electro City."

"I'm glad you like it here," she said happily. "Listen, Cosmo, I really want to apologize for standing you up last night. I was ready to meet you, but something came up at the last possible second."

"Aw, don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you at all."

"You're not?"

"Nope, I understand, and anyway, I've never been stood up before. It doesn't really bother me about this situation."

"I'm glad. I thought you were going to go through the roof when I didn't show up."

"Forget it, Lita. That's not my style." Cosmo then took ahold of her hand and changed the subject. "Lita, there's something I need to ask you, and I want you to be completely honest with me."

She had a look of curiosity. "Okay, but I hope you don't think there's an old boyfriend involved."

"No, it's nothing like that at all. What I want to know is this: Do you go by the name . . . Sailor Jupiter?"

Lita was totally surprised. "What are you talking about?"

"Well . . . last night, when you didn't show up, I started walking around in curiosity. Then, I heard someone yelling something like 'Jupiter Star Power,' and I could swear it sounded just like you. I looked through some bushes and saw you change into a sailor-style outfit with green trim and pink bows. This morning, I saw a flyer with a picture of all the Sailor Scouts, and, with Angel's help, matched your face in the flyer with the photo we had after Ace's show the other night. Am I telling the truth?"

Lita put her face down and replied, "Yes, Cosmo, you are telling the truth. I really am Sailor Jupiter."

"Listen, I'm sorry if I learned your secret identity by mistake. If you don't want to see me again, I won't have any hard feelings about it."

Although he tried to walk away, she kept a good grip on his hand. "No, Cosmo. I like you, a lot. Most of the time, the newest guy I see reminds me of an old boyfriend. You're different, though, because you don't remind me of anyone. In fact, you're better than any guy I've ever met. You're sweet, fun, and a kind gentleman."

Cosmo then put his face down. "Lita, if you knew what I had done in the past, I don't know if you'd really want to be with me."

She looked straight at him and said, "What's been done can't be changed, so don't worry about that. Besides, I love danger and excitement."

Cosmo smiled, knowing he had made a good friend in Lita. He then asked, "So, uh, what's it like to be a Sailor Scout?"

"Oh, man, the job can be so crazy sometimes because we have to deal with ugly monsters and nasty villains. We just had to face beings from a moon called Nemesis. They were trying to conquer Crystal Tokyo in the future by causing trouble here in the present. Fortunately, Sailor Moon got the upper hand when she and her 30th century relative Rini defeated the Doom Phantom."

"Man, that sounds so way out there."

"Tell me about it. Then again, you're probably living a pretty good life, being with the world's greatest magician and all."

Cosmo's eyes widened in shock. "Pretty good? Lita, you have no idea how way off you really are. If you knew about the adventures Ace, Angie, and I have been through together, you'd, like, never believe half the stuff we've done."

"Wait a minute. You mean Mr. Cooper isn't the run-of-the-mill master stage magician?"

"No way, my dear. What if I told you he's also Electro City's best crimefighter?"

Lita's eyes then widened in awe. "How cool. What does he use for weapons?"

"Oh, not much: his cane; his turbocycle; his car; his house, which is a train; and his own magic."

She was taken by surprise by that last item on Cosmo's list. "Whoa, hold it! You mean to tell me Mr. Cooper is a crimefighting magician!?"

"You'd better believe it. Ace possesses this extraordinary power called the Magic Force. When he calls on it, there's nearly no way you can stop him."

"What is this Magic Force you speak of?"

"Lita, there are still a lot of things I don't know about Ace, even though I've been with him for a long time. What I do know is when he summons the Magic Force, his level of magic gets so high almost no one can match up with him."

"You said 'almost.' Does that mean there is someone out there with the same kind of magic?"

"In a way, yeah, and that's where Angie comes into the picture. She came to Electro City and tried to move into an apartment. Due to some odd circutmstances, though, she ended up becoming a permanent resident of Ace's home, the Magic Express. What no one in the city knew was Angie had magical powers of her own. She didn't say anything about it to Ace and me at first because she was afraid we'd throw her out."

Lita sadly asked, "She was frightened of her own powers?"

"No, just other people's reactions to those powers. Luckily, Ace convinced her the power within her was a gift, not a curse like she thought. Angie was able to overcome her fear and helped him put a 20-story monster robot out of commission."

"Wow, that is so unreal! Angie's probably not close to Mr. Cooper's level of magic, right?"

"Nope, but at the present rate she's picking tricks up from Ace, she'll be the world's greatest magician in about ten years. She's already mastered most of the basic tricks, and she's able to levitate objects up to 50 pounds, as well as herself."

"Don't you get jealous sometimes about Angie, seeing you've been with Mr. Cooper a lot longer?"

"Absolutely not," Cosmo quickly answered. "Angie is a few years older than me, but she treats both Ace and me as the big brothers she never had. After all, she was an only child in her immediate family, and being in Electro City has given her one thing she rarely had in her life: real friends."

"I can understand that," Lita noted. "It's just like me and the other Sailor Scouts. I didn't have that many friends because I constantly got into fights. When I learned I was Sailor Jupiter, I realized I could channel my fighting skills to protect Tokyo and even the world sometimes. I joined up with the other Scouts, and the rest is history."

"That's great, Lita." He then took her other hand. "Um, Lita, I know this may be asking a lot, but I wonder if we could, well . . ."

"Say no more, Cosmo."

Within seconds, the two got closer to each other and eventually locked lips. They kept it up for 15 seconds, but to them, it felt like forever.

Just then, they heard a mysterious beeping sound.

Cosmo checked his radio wristwatch. "It's not mine."

Lita looked at her communicator, also shaped like a watch. "Mine's going off." She opened the compartment and spoke into it. "Lita here."

"Lita, it's Serena. Amy's spotted Nerezza again on her computer, and she's brought some extra help this time. Can you come quickly?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way." Lita looked at Cosmo sadly. "I'm sorry, but it looks like it's back to Scout business for me."

"That's okay. You've got a job to do, so go do it. Now that I do know, I understand your duty as a Sailor Scout has to go first. Just be careful, beautiful."

"I will, Cosmo." She gave him one last peck on the cheek and ran off to help her friends.

As she disappeared over the horizon, he softly said, "Man, she's one special girl, and I hope she'll be okay."

Back at the Magic, Ace went into the computer room and noticed the scanner light was still on. He opened the scanner bed to find the photo of the 12 friends next to a flyer. "What's this flyer doing here?" He then noticed the five girls in the flyer. "Wait a minute, the Sailor Scouts? I thought there were only four, but there are five here." He then looked at Angel. "Was anyone in here earlier?"

"Yes," answered Angel. "Cosmo was in here this morning."

"What's this flyer for?"

"Well, he wanted some information about the Sailor Scouts and discovered something, but I was told not to say anything to you."

"What was it? You've got to tell me."

"He discovered Lita Kino to be the exact match for Sailor Jupiter."

Ace suddenly realized, "That's why Cosmo was acting so strangely last night. He accidentally saw Lita change into Sailor Jupiter. She wasn't with the other Scouts because she was getting ready for the lunch date." Then, he saw the other girls in the picture and tried to match them up with the flyer. "Unless I miss my guess, Sailor Moon is Serena, Mars matches to Raye, Mercury is really Amy, and Venus is actually Mina. The five young ladies in this picture are the five Sailor Scouts in the flyer! That certainly ties up a lot of loose ends in this puzzle. I've got to tell the others about this quickly." He then ran off to tell Mona and Angie.

Walking around in the Express, Ashley suddenly came to notice Luna. She picked up the cat and said, "What are you doing back here, Luna? Are you going to try to talk to me or something? I thought I saw you and Artemis talking yesterday, but that's impossible."

Luna gasped in total shock, jumped away from her, and quickly ran out of the Express. "Oh, no! She must have overheard us by mistake! Now what will happen?"

In the kitchen, Mona and Angie were cleaning up lunch when they saw Ace running in.

"Ace, are you okay?" Mona asked. "What's the problem?"

"Nothing. Angie, do you remember those Sailor Scouts we met this morning?"

"Of course I do. Why?"

"There aren't four Scouts, but five. One didn't show up because she was getting ready to have lunch with Cosmo."

"You mean . . . Lita is one of these Sailor Scouts?"

"Right. Serena, Mina, Amy, and Raye are the other four. Cosmo somehow caught Lita changing into Sailor Jupiter last night and then came home to sort out what he had seen. She never stood him up at all; she just had a job to do."

"Wow!" shouted Mona. "I never would have suspected five teenagers being superheroes themselves."

"Yes, but that's not my biggest worry at this point. I'm worried if Cosmo tries to stay close to Lita, he may get hurt in the process."