Part 3
Alex Finds Out
It was Friday night, 11:00. Sammy was in her room with Apollo, both fast asleep. Alex was sitting in her bed, tucked under the covers, reading a Sailor V comic book. She had eleven pages left of her comic, and she was getting very tired. She decided to finish the rest in the morning. She set it down on her nightstand, and reached for the lightswitch on her lamp. She pushed the button and the room suddenly became dark. She threw the covers over her head, and closed her eyes. She had a dream that she was in her sailor scout uniform, fighting a hundred enemies. They were all fleeing at the sight of her, Sailor Earth, the strongest of all the sailor scouts. She laughed victoriously.
When her little dream was over, Alex opened her eyes, smiling. It was great being the strongest of all the scouts…she could do anything she wanted. She could defeat any enemy. She closed her eyes again, still smiling. She turned over on her side, and her foot hit something sitting at the foot of her bed, something soft, something warm…something breathing. She freaked out!
"AAAAHHHH!!!" she screamed in a high pitched voice. She leapt almost four feet in the air, and landed with a thud on the hard wooden floor next to her bed.
"Owww…" she groaned in pain, rubbing her aching bottom. She quickly got on her knees, and looked over the side of her bed. There was a lump under her bedsheets, just lying there.
Oh no! A rat! she though with fear. If there was one thing she hated, it was rats. She grabbed a pillow, got up, raised it high over her head, and brought it down really fast on to the creature.
"TAKE THAT YOU DIRTY OLD RAT!!!" she screamed, bringing the pillow down again and again onto the lump under her covers. The lump just sat there, motionless. She raised it again, but before she could give the thing another good whack, she looked down and saw that the bedsheet that it was under was slightly glowing, the same way that Sammy's cat, Apollo's crescent moon on his forehead glows. She let go of the pillow, her arms still high up over her head. "Apollo?"
She dropped down on the bed and grabbed the sheets, trying to get the cat out from under her sheets.
"Oh, god! Sammy's gonna kill me!" she said, and she finally got all the sheets off the poor beaten cat's head.
"Apollo! Are you ok! You didn't break anything, did you?!"
"Meow," came a small frightened voice from the cat on the bed, covering its head with its paws.
"Meow? Whatdya mean, meow? Tell me if you're ok or not!" she said.
"Meow…" came the voice again. Frustrated because he wouldn't answer her so she could understand him, she picked up the cat. She was just about to give him a good lecture on that he should answer her in English when she asked him a question, but there was something strange about Apollo. When she picked him up from around his waist, she felt a piece of cloth; a bandage. Holding the cat in one hand, she made the other reach out for her light. She pushed in the button, and looked back at the cat. She gasped.
"SAAAAAAAAMMYYYYYYYY!!!"
~~~
It was lecture time. Sammy was in her chair at the kitchen table with the poor injured kitten in her lap, Apollo was on the table. Alex was standing up, walking back and forth across the kitchen floor, talking to Sammy.
"Sammy, I thought I told you, no more pets. How many milleniums will it take for you to get that through your head!?"
"But Alex…"
"Don't you 'but Alex' me, young lady! You know very well that I told you over a million times, we are not getting another pet!"
"Alex, I found her! She was hurt badly! Do you think I had any other choice!?" Alex stopped walking and stood tall in front of her friend.
"Well, it's simple! You could have just left it there!" Sammy gasped.
"How can you be so cruel!" she cried.
"That's not the point! It's probably gonna die anyway, and I don't want it stinkin' up the whole apartment!"
"Alex, listen, I'll take care of it! I promise! I'll keep it in my room, and out of your hair." Alex sighed. She shook her head.
"You're not gonna give up till you win, aren't ya?" Sammy smiled. Alex sighed again.
I can't believe I'm doing this! "All right then! You can keep it, I guess…" Sammy leapt into the air, the cat in her arms.
"Thank you sooo much, Alex!" she said, giving her friend a hug, but being care as not to crush the kitten between them. Alex shook her off.
"Just keep that thing away from me!"
"Got it! I promise!" she said, running to her room. Apollo looked up at her, smiling. Alex looked down at him.
"What are you smiling about?"
"That was really nice of you, Alex. I'm proud of you."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't easy," she replied, looking away and crossing her arms.
"You know, Alex, that kitten is no ordinary cat." Alex turned her head back toward him.
"Whatdya mean?"
"What I mean is, she has a crescent moon on her head, the sign of a Cat Guardian." That's right! She had forgotten all about the glowing of the crescent moon under her covers.
"It's a moon cat, about as old as I am, maybe a little younger…"
"So, whatdya gonna do with it?"
"Well, Sammy and I are going to take her to the others tomorrow, she seems to have forgotten who she is. She can't even talk like me…"
"Oh, is that so?" Alex asked. Looking toward Sammy's room. After a little while, she began to make her way toward her own room.
"Well, good night, Apollo…"
"Good night yourself, Alex, but I'm not going to bed. I think I'll stay up and make sure that she doesn't go in your room again and make you kill yourself." He smiled.
"Hey Apollo," she began seriously. Apollo looked up. "Did you say that the cat was a girl cat?"
"Yeah, so…" he said.
"Well, you better stay away from her! I don't want no baby moon kitties wandering around the apartment in a couple of months." Apollo's hair stood on end, and he stood on his back paws.
"How could you think of such a thing!" he said, disgusted at the thought. Alex walked to her room smiling as she heard a loud thud behind her as Apollo fell off the table and onto the floor with fright.
That'll teach him! she thought, trying hard not to laugh and wake up Sammy and the cat…
~~~
Darkness. Bleak darkness. It stretched for miles. Amidst the darkness, there stood a man…or was it a monster…with black wavy hair that came down to his knees. He was wearing a gray coat with a button on the side, gray pants, and brown boots (a lot like the suits that Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Malachite wore). He had a white cape on his shoulders, attached to his coat by two round clips. He stood there without any motion, his arms crossed, his cape waving in the light breeze. He closed his dark red eyes, thinking of his future. A smile appeared across his face. Footsteps came from behind him, but he paid no mind to it. The creature behind him bowed down in respect before his tall godlike form.
"Master," said the creature, it's brown hair flowing down its back.
"Yes, speak, Nemesis…" he said in a deep voice.
"Sire, I've done your bidding, I've found your army," Nemesis said, still bowing.
"Good. Well done, Nemesis." He quickly turned, his cape flying past him. "Show them to me." He walked next to the small form, as it got up and walked with him.
Soon, the man thought, soon I'll be invincible, and I'll have the greatest army. The world will bow to my will! And those pesky Sailor scouts will NOT get in my way this time! In the darkness, man and creature walked away, leaving their footprints in the black sand that surrounded them…
~~~
Saturday morning, 8:00. Alex sat up in bed, putting her hands to her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. She quietly got out of bed and walked out. She tiptoed out of her room, past Sammy's, and into the kitchen. No one was there. Good, she thought that Apollo would still be there, but fortunately, he had gone back to Sammy's room. She got out a bowl, some milk, and a box of cereal. She poured the milk and cereal into the bowl, and put the milk back in the fridge. When she turned back to the table, she found the purple kitten sitting there, eating her cereal.
"NO!!!" she screamed, but quickly stopped herself, afraid that she might wake up Sammy. She tiptoed back to the table, and gently grabbed the kitten.
"No, you stupid cat! That's not good for you!" she whispered. It meowed when she picked it up and put it back on the floor. She sat down in the chair, then groaned.
"I hate it when I forget the spoon!" she said, getting up again just when she was getting comfortable. She opened the utensil drawer and grabbed a metal spoon. She turned back to the table, only to find the kitten there again, eating her cereal. Alex couldn't help but smile.
"So, ya like that, huh?" The cat looked up at her, actually smiling. Alex chuckled. "Ya know, Honey Nut Cheerios is my favorite cereal. It was also my fath…" she stopped herself again, and looked away. The cat tilted its head to the side. Alex flopped down into the chair, arms folded on the table. "It was also my father's favorite, before he…" tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. The kitten meowed. Alex let out a sob. The kitten walked up to her, looking into her sad face. Alex put her head down on the table. The kitten got closer. Then she dared to put one of her paws on Alex's shoulder. Alex quickly got up and ran to her room, leaving the kitten behind, staring after her.
A few minutes later, Sammy walked into the kitchen wearing a light purple spaghetti strap shirt, white bellbottom jeans, and white sandals. She saw the kitten and the bowl of cereal on the table. Then she turned to face Alex's closed bedroom door. She walked past the kitten to the phone on the wall. She picked it up and dialed a number.
"Hey, Raye! How's it goin'? Listen, can you get all the others together at the temple, I've got something important to show you guys…k, see ya in ten. Thanks! Bye!" She hung the phone back on the hook, and walked over to the kitten. She looked into the bowl and gasped.
"No, kitty, you're not supposed to eat those!" She picked up the bowl and dumped it into the sink. She grabbed a new bowl and the milk in the fridge. She grabbed another box of cereal, and made herself a bowl.
"Now, Oreo O's, that's the cereal you should eat!" she said, passing the bowl over to the kitten. The kitten sniffed at the cereal, and after a while of observation, she began to eat the cereal.
"See, now, isn't that much better than that non-sugar stuff?" The kitten coughed it up and backed away from it.
"What? How can you not like that!? It's one of the best cereals there is!" she said, placing her hands on her hips. The kitten meowed. Sammy sighed. She walked over to Alex's door, and knocked.
"Alex, I'm gonna take the kitten over to Raye's, ok?" No answer. "Well, just lettin' ya know!" she said, walking away from the door. She walked over to the closet next to the door that led out of the apartment. Apollo walked out of Sammy's room and over to the girl in the closet.
"Sammy, ready to go?"
"Yeah! Can you go and get the kitty over here? She's on the kitchen table!" Apollo walked over into the kitchen, and leapt onto the table, but found no kitten. He looked around and found her on the counter, her head stuck in the box of Honey Nut Cheerios. Apollo shook his head. He leapt off the table and onto the counter that she was on. He grabbed the box with his teeth and pulled. After a while of struggling, they finally got it off. Apollo looked her in the eyes.
"Come on, let's go," he said, leaping off the counter, the kitten following his lead. Sammy walked up to them, a cat harness in each hand.
"It's a good thing I bought two!" she said with a smile. After getting the harness' on the two cats, she led them out of the apartment, leaving Alex behind in her room, laid down on her bed, still crying.
~~~
"Why are we here!? What's taking Sammy so long!?" cried Serena, jumping up and down.
"Serena, calm down," replied Darien, leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest.
"Raye! What did Sammy tell you exactly?" Serena said.
"She just said that she had something important to show us, that's all, now calm down already!" Raye said, frustrated.
"Well, I just hope that Alex doesn't come!" Serena said, leaning on the wall next to Darien, folding her arms like him.
"Hey, does anyone know where Amara and the others went to? I haven't seen them for months."
"Oh, she and the other outers are in America on a mission," said Amy.
"Well, why didn't we go, too?"
"Cuz Luna said that we're needed here, just in case," replied Amy.
"Well, we'll fill them in when they get back." Just then, Sammy ran through the door, Apollo on the harness and a bundle of purple fur in her arms.
"Well, it's about time you got here! What's up?" said Raye.
"No time for chit-chat! Where's Artemis and Luna?" said Apollo. Artemis, Luna, and Diana ran up to him.
"What's the matter, bro?" said Artemis.
"Look at this," said Sammy, bending down and putting the kitten on a red pillow. The kitten looked up, its golden moon shining. Everyone gasped. Mina pointed at it.
"Is that…a…" she stuttered.
"Yes, Mina. It's a Moon Cat," answered Artemis before she could finish.
"But I thought that you four were the only ones left!" she said.
"Apparently not," Luna replied.
"Oooh! What a cute little kitty!" Serena said, leaping forward and squeezing it in her arms. The cat, surprised by this sudden attack, slashed her across the face with her sharp claws. Serena let go of it, holding a hand to her face where the cat had scratched it. She sobbed and then broke down in tears. The cat ran up to Sammy and leapt into her arms, cuddling up against her.
"Serena, you klutz! You scared her!" said Sammy, stroking the kitten's soft head. She just kept on crying. Sammy put the cat down in front of Luna.
"Well, is there anything you can do?" Luna looked up at her.
"What do you mean, Sammy?"
"Well, she seems to have forgotten who she is. She can't even talk like you can anymore."
"Hm, well, I'll see what I can do," Luna said. She looked into the kitten's big round eyes, and a beam shot out of her moon and into the kitten's. The kitten's eyes became wider, as she stared, but was staring at nothing in particular. After a minute, the beam disappeared, and Luna pulled back. The kitten, exhausted, fell down, closing her eyes. Luna turned to Artemis.
"Her memory is very vague. I couldn't see much. All I could see was darkness and I heard screams and explosions."
"Well, was there anything you could do?" Apollo said with sad eyes.
"Well, fortunately, I think she can talk now, but I think that's all I could give her back…" The kitten stirred. Apollo ran up to her side and nudged her head.
"Hey, kid, you all right?" She groaned, then lifted her head, and slowly opened her eyes.
"Wh…wha…" she started. "Where…am…I?"
"It's all right, you're safe," Apollo assured her. "Can you tell me your name?"
"My…name…?"
"Yes," he replied calmly. "Do you remember your name?"
"I…I…don't know," she said, getting up.
"Do you remember anything?" Luna asked her.
"Who…am…I? What am I?" Artemis stepped forward.
"You're a Moon Cat…from the Moon Kingdom…the only type of cat that can talk in the whole Universe…" The cat stared out at nothing.
"Universe…Universe…Uni…Uni…" Apollo turned to Artemis.
"Uni?" He turned back to her. "Is that your name, Uni?" She looked at him and nodded.
"Y…yes…" she said, "it is…" Artemis turned to Luna.
"Sound familiar?" Luna put a paw to her face.
"Yes, it does ring a bell…"
"Well, can you remember anything, Uni?" She turned to Apollo.
"Y…y…yes…Apollo…Sammy…Alex…Hermes…" She stared out again. "Hermes?" Then she threw herself down, and started to groan. Apollo turned to Artemis.
"Hermes? Who's Hermes?" Artemis faced Uni.
"Uni, who's Hermes?" No answer, Uni just lay there, resting.
"I think we should try again tomorrow. She's too tired and wounded right now to think," said Apollo.
"Yes, I suppose you're right," said Luna. Artemis walked up to the kitten, and helped her up.
"Hey…Uni…you hungry?" Uni looked up into his eyes.
"Yes…I am," she replied.
"Ok, is there anything in particular you wanna eat?" She thought hard for a while, then looked back at him
"Ya got any…Honey Nut Cheerios?"
~~~End of Part 3
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I expected to write more, but I got tired and people are waiting for this, so I just ended it here, cuz I'm tired and wanna go to bed (it's 11:00 p.m.).