Authoress' Notes: Yes, I know people are writing stories about Mythical Scouts; however, mine is totally different! If you read this, you'll see what I mean. There will be yuri (girl X girl) later on in this saga, but the rules for that is you don't like, you don't read. You may not like my pairings how they will be, but, frankly, I really don't care. Please review, and my parts will come out faster!
Chapter 1: Phoenix and Mermaid- The First Meeting
As the dawn came up, the Sailor Senshis smiled at each other. The evil of Sailor Galaxia was
defeated, all the Sailor Senshis were now alive (thanks to Serenity), and Sailor Chibi Chibi was
to stay. What could be better, except for the Starlights staying?
That day, Usagi was late as usual. They still had to go to school after that battle! When she
finally sat down, the teacher introduced a new student.
"Class, I'd like you to meet Grace Johnson. She is new here and I know you'll make her feel at ease." Usagi and Ami, who had the same class, examined the new girl. Grace had shoulder-length reddish-blonde hair and emerald green eyes. Her hands played with a necklace with a golden feather as the charm, but she seemed calm enough. "She is transferring here from the U.S. Grace, please sit down next to Usagi." The teacher pointed to a chair and left it at that. Grace walked quickly to the desk and flopped down.
'And this is only first hour,' she thought. 'How am I going to get through the rest of the day?'
"Hi, I'm Usagi! It's nice to meet you!" Usagi offered her hand.
Grace sighed mentally. "Hi Usagi, I'm Grace. The pleasure's all mine!"
"Why don't you join me and my friends for lunch?" Usagi said, even her pigtails shaking with excitement.
"Okay."
"Ms. Tsukino, Ms. Johnson, please wait until the bell rings to talk."
"Yes, ma'am!" The two girls chorused and giggled. But one sighed to herself and wondered, 'If only we stayed in New York.'
Meanwhile, in another classroom...
"Class, this is Faith Johnson. Please make her feel welcome. Sit down, Ms. Johnson."
Makato glanced at the new girl curiously. She had blue-gray hair to midway down her back and turquoise eyes. She wore the school uniform like everyone else, but she wore a necklace with a seashell around her neck.
As Faith headed toward the back of the classroom, Makato tried to get her attention.
"Yes?"
"You can sit next to me. I don't mind. I know what it's like to be the new girl."
"Thank you," Faith murmured as she slid into the seat.
"Why don't you sit with me and my friends for lunch? I'm sure you'll have fun."
"Well... I don't know. I'm supposed to meet my sister for lunch."
"She can come too. Come on, it'll be fun!"
"Alright." 'I sure hop this is okay. If they get too close and find out... But what if they're the others we're looking for?... No, too much of a coincidence. I just met a new friend, that's all.'
At lunch, Usagi dragged Ami and Grace to her normal table. Makato and Faith were already sitting
there.
"Come on, guys, eat up! Hey Makato, did you pack any extra food for me?" Usagi asked, sitting down.
"Yes I did, but you won't be getting any until you introduce your friend."
"I can introduce myself. My name is Grace Johnson. It's a pleasure to meet you. Hey Faith. Did you have a nice day so far?"
"Huh? How do you know Faith?" Makato asked, handing food over to Usagi.
"You two know each other?" Usagi echoed, her mouth stuffed with food.
"Yes, of course we know each other! We're twins!" Faith said.
"Fraternal twins, correct?" Ami asked.
"Of course! We definitely don't look alike." Grace replied. Digging into her bookbag, she pulled out the two brown bags. "Here Faith. Smells like tuna fish," she said, handing over the bag with the 'F' on it.
"Tuna fish? Oh, the poor fish!" Faith exclaimed. "You can have it," she said, handing over the sandwich to Usagi.
"You can have mine Faith. It's peanut butter and jelly." Grace offered.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Mom forgot I'm allergic to strawberries."
"Like she forgot I don't eat fish."
"Yeah."
Usagi swung her head around, trying to figure out what was going on.
"I don't mean to be rude, but does your mother have a memory problem?" Ami asked.
"No," Faith answered. "It's just that we have three younger brothers. It's kind of hard to remember who's allergic to what and won't eat what. Plus the move here to Tokyo was kind of hectic."
"Why did you move here to Tokyo?" Usagi asked. "Living in America sounds cool! I've heard that the schools aren't as hard at all!"
"They're hard enough!" Grace said. "Our mom's company transferred here." 'That's not the half of it.'
"Not to change the subject, but neat necklaces! Where did you get them?" Makato wanted to know.
"We're not sure. We've had them ever since we were little," Grace answered this time. "Neither of us remembers getting them."
"Hey Faith!" A cute guy came over and put his arm around her. "Why don't we go to the movies sometime?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't even know your name. Please take your arm off me now." Faith replied, trying to push him away.
"Name's Kenzo. I'm in your third hour," he said, without removing his arm. 'She is one of them.'
"Leave my sister alone!" Grace stood up, fists clenched at her side.
"Oh, I'm so scared." 'Yeah, she can't do anything while in human form. No reason to worry!'
"You'd better be!" Grace yelled.
Usagi stared at Grace. She couldn't have seen what she thought she saw. The 'odango atama' could've sworn she saw FIRE coming from Grace's back! Usagi blinked, and the image was gone. 'Just my imagination, that's all.'
"If you don't get your arm off my sister immediately, I will seriously hurt you!"
Kenzo's face showed slight fear, as well as paleness. 'No way! She can't do that in front of normal humans, nor is she able to do that without transforming! What am I missing here?' An image, that only he saw, of a large phoenix replaced Grace for an instant. 'How many forms do they have? I must retreat for now.'
"Alright, I'll go. I wasn't going to hurt her. You're too overprotective." Getting up, Kenzo was startled as a fist slammed into his face. He slammed into a wall. Standing slowly, he commented, "Definitely too overprotective." 'Damn. How is she that strong while not in fighter form? I will have to research this.' He strolled away.
Grace watched as the guy just strolled away. 'Most guys can't even get up after I hit them! This guy was PUNY and he still was able to get up and walk away! Just who was that?'
"Grace, may I speak to you for a second, ALONE?" Faith, not waiting for an answer, grabbed her sister's arm and dragged her to the girls' bathroom.
"Makato, you can keep the rest of your food. I think I ate too much; I'm starting to see things!" Usagi pushed the food away.
"What are you seeing Usagi?" Ami asked curiously.
"Fire coming from Grace's back. But I must have been hallucinating, right?" Ami and Makato glanced at each other.
"Um, I really don't want to believe it, but-" Makato started.
"But I'm going crazy, right?" Usagi finished.
"No, but I think I saw it too! I was thinking that I was going crazy! Did you see it Ami?"
"Yes, but I don't think we should mention this to anybody else except the Senshis. We don't know if it was real or not just our imaginations," Ami explained.
"Sorry we took so long," Faith said. She and Grace were right behind Usagi.
"Grace! How could you just nearly blow our cover like that? Today is our first day, and we're
probably making a ton of people suspicious already! I could've handled that creep, but you HAD
to do that!" Faith put her hand to her head and sunk to the ground against the wall. In a
quieter voice, she continued, "I know you just want to protect me, but you can't hurt everyone.
We can't push everyone away."
"Faith, that guy is creepy. He was able to get up." Having caught Faith's attention, Grace kept going. "He is not normal. Normal doesn't describe him. Why would he ask you for a date on the first day we got here? We need to keep an eye on him." Faith chewed her thumbnail as she thought.
"He isn't one of Gala's generals, that's for sure. She doesn't accept guys for those positions. 'Too idiotic'. Though he may be related to her in some way." Grace looked at her like she had grown another head.
"Her son?"
"Huh?" Faith was officially confused now.
"You said related to her. Do you mean he's family to her?" Faith burst out laughing.
"No! He may be in her soulless armies is what I meant."
"Oh. Um, I guess we should return to the table before those girls start to wonder."
"Grace, do you think they're the ones we're looking for?" Grace looked thoughtful.
"I don't think so. We would have felt something. Besides, they didn't have necklaces. Although, Usagi did have that broach placed on her front bow. I wonder what that's about."
"I don't think it's any of our business." The two returned to the table where the other three girls were talking earnestly about something.
"Sorry we took so long," Faith said. She and Grace were behind Usagi.
"That's okay. How do you like this school so far?" Makato said, drawing all five girls into conservation. It remained this way until the next class bell rang.
The rest of the day sped by for Faith and Grace. As they walked home, they spotted their three
new friends walking toward a temple.
"Let's follow them!" Grace whispered to her younger sister.
"I don't know about that, Grace. It would be betraying our friendship with them. We can't afford to be without friends." Faith whispered back.
"But what if they are the ones we're looking for?"
"But you said they were not!"
"We could go stealth mode."
Faith sighed. "Fine. You win."
Ducking into an empty alley, Faith and Grace took off their necklaces. Each necklace twinkled and floated in front of their owners.
Grace went first, it being her idea. "Mars Phoenix Power, Make Up!" She went transparent as fire erupted from the necklace. With the fire wrapping around her, a long ankle-length reddish-orange dress formed on her, attached to her choker. It had slits up to the thigh on each leg, no sleeves, three golden feathers hanging from the waist, and cutout patterns at the neckline and waist. Silver rings formed on her finger; two arms bracelets formed on each arm, one a green snake biting its tail, the other a X-pattern in black. Golden-colored strapped heels formed on her feet and a red feather poked upwards from the back of her head. The finishing touch was six wings of fire and light spreading from her back. A reddish tint appeared in her skin to create the Mystical Senshi, Mars Phoenix.
Faith reluctantly called out "Neptune Mermaid Power, Make Up!" As she went transparent, seawater flowed out of her necklace. The water wrapped around her, recognizing her as an old friend. A bright blue bikini top appeared. A bluish-green mermaid's tail formed, but separated in the front at about the knees to allow walking and running. Blue strapped heeds, gems at the naval and the forehead, and bands, three on each arm, were formed. A choker, the same color as her tail, appeared. Two fins on each side came out of her back, the ones closest to her a light blue, the others a light blue-green. The X-pattern arm bracelet appeared, the same one every Mystical Senshi wore. She was now the Mystical Senshi, Neptune Mermaid.
Then together, Mars Phoenix and Neptune Mermaid called out, "Myst Invisibility!" The two vanished from view. Each could still see and hear the other, but no one else was supposed to be able to. The longest they could be in it though was an hour unfortunately.
They were still careful when they entered the temple after the girls. Neither wished to bump someone and be found out, especially because they still had the wings and fins.
"Hey Rei! Got any new Sailor V comics?" Usagi asked, running inside the temple to where the other Sailor Senshis and the cats sat, minus the Starlights, who had left to their planet, and plus Chibi-Usa and Diana, who had returned to the past that morning.
"Usagi! You're late again! When are you going to actually be on time?" Rei exclaimed.
"Rei, calm down. I had to talk to a teacher after school. Makato and Usagi were nice enough to wait for me," Ami explained.
"So everything is back to normal now?" asked Mamoru. Everyone nodded his or her heads, except Usagi, Ami, and Makato.
"Maybe not." Makato got everyone's attention with that statement. She motioned to the three who didn't agree. "The three of us met a pair of slightly suspicious girls today. Ami thinks it is Sailor Senshi business." Ami blushed when everyone's attention turned to her.
Phoenix and Mermaid had settled on the rafters as they heard all the people gathered there
exchange pleasantries. What caught their attention were the words 'Sailor Senshi'.
"They're the Sailor Senshis?!" Phoenix yelled. No one was supposed to be able to hear them, but Rei's head perked up.
'What was that voice? It sounded like fire crackling. Could someone else be here?' "Guys, we're being watched!" she whispered quietly. But everyone heard perfectly. Including the two intruders.
Mermaid whispered to Phoenix, "She must be able to sense us. I suggest we get out of here!"
Michiru jerked suddenly. 'What the- Why am I hearing a voice like the ocean? Rei's right!' "Whoever they are, they seem to be trying to escape! We need to try and stop them!" Everyone nodded, most at least slightly confused.
Haruka rushed to the door and slammed it shut. Mamoru, Makato, and Rei bolted to the windows.
"There is no way they can leave," Rei whispered, "without us seeing it. Unless they can teleport."
"Ami, can you find out anything about these intruders," Minako asked.
"No, not unless they use energy output of some kind, like attacks or teleportation. What I want to know is why the rest of us didn't hear or sense them."
"The voice I heard was like fire crackling," Rei said thoughtfully. "It was amazed or shocked."
"I heard a voice that was like the ocean's gentle roaring," Michiru said, leaning against Haruka, whom put her arm around the musician.
"We have to get out of here!" Phoenix whispered. "We can't teleport while we're invisible!
What do we do?"
"After a while, they should think we're gone. They'll leave and we can just follow," Mermaid replied softly.
"What if they don't leave in time? They'll see us!" Phoenix exclaimed in a whisper.
"Good point. As much as I hate the idea, I hope Gala attacks soon, as in right now!"
A half-hour went by, and the Sailor Senshis chatted about unimportant topics, keeping an eye out
for the intruders. Finally, Chibi-Usa could stand it no longer.
"This is stupid!" the pink-haired girl shouted. Phoenix tried to stifle a giggle. Mermaid glared at her. "Ami, whoever it is must know who we are, right?"
"Well, possibly-"
"Then I'll give whoever it is a lesson never to forget! Moon Cosmic Power!" A pink light flashed out of the heart-shaped compact Chibi-Usa held up, and she appeared in her Senshi fuku.
"Okay creeps! I'm Sailor Chibi Moon, and I demand to know why you're watching us! I fight for love and justice, and in the name of the future moon, I shall punish you!" This time, Phoenix couldn't control her laughter.
"How - ha, ha - does - [gasp] - she think - hah, ha - she'll find us? Hah ha!" The fire-winged Senshi was barely able to keep her grip on the beam.
"Phoenix, shut up! Now they'll know we're still here!" Mermaid admonished her partner.
Chibi Moon stomped her foot. "Fine! If you won't show yourselves, I'll find you!" She picked up something that made Phoenix stop laughing: her Luna-P ball. "Luna-P Kitty Magic!" With a poof of smoke, the cute ball disappeared and a large water gun fell into the Sailor Senshi's hands. Mermaid and Phoenix sweatdropped and exchanged glances.
"We're in trouble!" Phoenix muttered. "My weakness just had to be water..."
"Not just that, but the water will bounce off of us if it hits us!" Mermaid whispered grimly. "We have a choice: surrender, teleport, or let them find us."
"If we surrender or let them find us, they'll want to know why we're here. We don't need them in our way," Phoenix thought aloud. "If we teleport, Miss Einstein with her computer over there can track us and they'll see us for a couple seconds. But we should be able to get away. I say we teleport."
"But maybe they can help us!" Mermaid protested. "We could cover more people!" Phoenix shook her head, and winced at the sound of water coming from the gun.
"They can't help us. The Sailor Senshis have their own enemies to fight, their own people to find. We have to find our fellow Senshis and find our own princess. You know as well as I do that humans and half-humans don't mix."
Mermaid sighed. "Let's just go." Putting their palms together, the transformation necklaces shone with an inner light.
"Right, let's blow this joint!"
"Creatures Leave!" the two cried, and vanished.
Meanwhile, while the two Mystical Senshis were having their 'discussion', the Sailor Senshis
were having one of their own.
"Chibi-Usa, you didn't need to transform!" chided Mamoru. "Now they know who we are!" Chibi Moon raised her squirt gun and glared at her mother's boyfriend. He sweatdropped and backed up.
"Ami said they could already know who we are! So we need to know who they are!" protested Chibi Moon. She started to turn to spray the corners of the room, but a murderous Rei stopped her by grabbing the nozzle. "Rei, let go!" But the temple priestess just stared her down with fire in her eyes.
"You will NOT soak my temple!" Rei half-screamed into the pink-haired girl's face. "We can find the intruders another way!" Everyone had looks of shock on their faces. Rei never yelled at Chibi-Usa!
"Whoa, calm down Rei!" Minako said, her and Makato pulling off the enraged priestess. 'Rei never yells at Chibi-Usa! She must be m-a-d!'
"Yeah, Rei. It'll dry. Don't worry about it," Makato reprimanded. "It was a pretty good idea, though."
"I agree," said Michiru quietly. "That's why I'm going to do this: Neptune Crystal-" The blue-green transformation wand had already appeared in her hand when Ami cut her off. Also, a quick flash of red and blue from the corner caught their attention before it disappeared.
"Wait! I'm picking up energy readings!" Ami exclaimed when her computer started beeping. Picking it up, she resumed typing. "It's a teleportation reading! They are-" Ami finished typing and looked up. "At Juuban High School."
There are gasps of shock and surprise. "Why would they want to go to school?" asked Usagi, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Why didn't they go to their homes or something?"
"Yeah!" Minako said. "Then we would at least have a clue!"
"Let's follow them!" shouted Chibi Moon, turning the squirt gun back into her Luna-P ball. Setsuna held her back.
"Hold on little one. You need to detransform first, so we don't attract attention," the Senshi of time calmly said. Chibi Moon nodded.
"Right." Pink ribbons slowly disappeared from around Chibi-Usa and disappeared back into her crystal heart compact. Halfway into the change, the head of the temple, Rei's grandfather, walked into the building.
"Rei, I need you to finish your chores," the short old man said, squinting up to his granddaughter. "Remember- What's going on?" The Sailor Senshis had formed a line between the temple keeper and Chibi-Usa's glowing form. They all sweatdropped.
"Um, nothing, Grandpa," Minako quickly said. "Here, why don't you show me what to do, and I'LL do Rei's chores." She led the man out. "And then after that, I can redesign the temple clothing..." The sweatdrops stayed until Minako was WAY out of earshot.
"Let's go!" Makato said, running out the door. Everyone followed.
Mars Phoenix and Neptune Mermaid fizzled into view.
"You brought us here?" Mermaid asked disgustedly. "The park would have been fine." Phoenix shrugged.
"It was the first place I could think of!"
"Uh-huh. Whatever. Let's detransform and go home," Mermaid said, rolling her eyes. As she looked up and down the deserted street, ribbons of fire and water went into their respective necklaces. In the two Mystical Senshis' place appeared Grace and Faith Johnson.
"We need to go now," Faith said. "The Sailor Senshis will be coming soon, and it'll look bad if we're here."
"Yeah, let's go," Grace said. They ran in the opposite direction of the temple. None too soon, because less than five minutes later the Sailor Senshis arrived in human form.
"Where are they?" Screeched Rei.
"Spread out and look around," commanded Haruka. Following her orders, the group searched the area while Ami scanned it for energy residue. After awhile...
"Nothing!" Makato's annoyed voice rang out.
"Nothing is showing up!" called Ami.
"I can't find anything Haruka-papa," Hotaru's soft voice came. "I'm sorry, I'll keep looking."
"Usagi! Quit drooling over Mamoru and keep looking!" Chibi-Usa yelled. A large thump was heard as everyone else in hearing range sweatdropped, especially the dark-haired young man.
"Leave me alone you brat! I was NOT drooling over Mamoru!" the blonde yelled at her 'cousin'. "I HAVE been looking!"
"Only at Mamoru!" Usagi blushed a deep crimson red and began wailing as she covered her scraped knee. Mamoru sighed and walked over to Usagi to comfort her. Everyone else just shook their heads and went back to work.
The gray kitten Diana asked Ami, "Why would Usagi stare at Mamoru?" The genius sweatdropped again.
"Oh man was that close!" Grace said softly to her sister. Faith only nodded, gasping for air.
Grace had always been the more athletic of the two, while Faith preferred brains to brawn. The
two had many of the same qualities, but others were completely opposite. If the two got in
trouble, Grace would lie to get out of it, while Faith would calmly accept her punishment.
Grace would protect her sister from bullies and insults. Faith would get her sister out of
trouble by blaming herself.
Grace didn't care much about what other people said about her, but whoever said something bad about Faith would pay. Faith was the same way, but she was subtler about it. Pranks, as serious as she was, were her way of getting back.
Both were stubborn, and both were intelligent, even if Grace didn't use her brains as much. Neither really liked school, but Faith did her work while Grace was lazy. All in all, this is what made up the Mystical Senshis so far.
As soon as the two caught their breath, the Johnson sisters walked into their family's apartment.
"Grace! Faith!" Ms. Johnson came into the entranceway. "We're in Japan, so take off your shoes. You were supposed to come home right after school to watch your brothers. You KNOW I had to start work today."
"Sorry Mom, Senshi business," Faith said before Grace could reply. "I made Grace stay after." Their mom sighed.
"Well, I guess if it was Senshi business, it's okay. But you need to try and come home earlier from now on." Ms. Johnson led her two daughters back to a small kitchen. "So what happened?" Faith and Grace looked at each other as a small purple cat with a red symbol of Mars and a blue-green symbol of Neptune on its forehead walked in.
"Yes, what happened?" it said with a New York accent. The cat started to preen herself. Grace sighed.
Rose Johnson was a flaming redhead, but her personality was quite opposite. She was calm and collected, and rarely lost her temper to the extreme like people of her hair color were said to. She was the one who had handed Grace her ability as Mars Phoenix over a millennia ago. Faith had received hers from their father's sister, who had been daughterless. Because of this, Ms. Johnson knew of her daughters' activities, even after being reborn. When Faith and Grace re-found their powers, she felt it, and trained them.
The purple cat was actually a shape-shifter known as Midnight, a guardian to Mars and Neptune. The cat was her favorite form, and one she could use easily without attracting too much attention. She was vain, and very immodest, but Midnight could do the jobs that Faith and Grace couldn't, and so the two lived with her.
"We thought we may have located the others, but we were wrong, definitely wrong," Grace said, grimacing. Rose noticed this, and asked worriedly,
"What happened? Did Gala attack?" Faith shook her head 'no'.
"Nothing as bad as that Mom. We found the princesses."
"Oh. Did you ask them to help you?" Midnight asked interestedly, even stopping her preening to listen.
"Are you insane? We can't ask them to help us!" Grace burst out. "They wouldn't help us before, who thinks they'll help us out now!"
"Grace, dear, you never know until you try," Rose said, calmly ignoring the outburst.
"Really? They wouldn't help us, but they expected us to help whenever they needed it! If we asked for help now, they'll want something in return!" Rose sighed, as well as Midnight.
"Faith, can you knock some sense into your sister?" the shape-shifter asked, half-hopeful. The blue-haired girl shook her head.
"No, believe me, I've tried. Grace, anything that we would have to do in order to get them to help us would be well worth it. Mom's right, we don't know until we ask them," Faith said pleadingly.
"No, no, no, NO!" The three sighed again.
After supper, Grace and Faith escaped to their bedroom. Decorated in soft greens and blues,
Faith hoped the soothing colors would calm her sister down. Grace had been in a terrible mood
ever since that discussion, and Faith hated seeing her sister so upset. Grace climbed onto the
top bunk of their bunk bed, and was silent. Faith let her sister have her silence for a while,
but once the blue-haired girl finished her homework, she started to talk to the strawberry
blonde.
"Grace, please tell me what's wrong," she said, sitting on the bottom bunk.
"Nothing's wrong." The answer was curt and cold as ice.
"Yes there is. You can tell me. I may be younger than you, but by only a few minutes. Please trust me."
There was silence for a few moments, then muffled sobs. Faith's expression was shocked. Grace NEVER cried! She climbed the wooden ladder up and sat down on the bed, hugging her sister tightly. Grace cried for a few more minutes, her tears soaking Faith's uniform. Slowly the tears trickled to a stop and Faith handed a hankerchief to the blonde. After blowing her nose, Grace sighed and turned away.
"I'm sorry for crying like that," Grace said quietly.
"Don't be," Faith said, but Grace didn't seem to hear it.
"It's just that... I'm scared. I knew New York like the back of my hand. I don't know where anything is here. We have no idea why Gala moved her base of operations here. We don't know where the other Mystical Senshis are. We don't know anything!"
"I know," said Midnight, coming through the door in human form, a purple-haired human who looked about twenty. Her expression was unusually solemn. "We just have to do the best we can." Faith nodded.
"We're all scared, Grace. Why don't we review what we do know?" Grace agreed to the idea. "Midnight?" The shapeshifter grinned and nodded. As Faith and Grace climbed down off the top bunk, the symbols on Midnight's forehead glowed and her form changed. She grew taller, her hair longer, and she now wore an old-fashioned professor's outfit. The two girls sweatdropped and sat in the desk's chairs. Midnight took a long pole from nowhere and rapped it on the desk.
"Class, today we shall review the evil queen Gala. I am Midnight-sensei, but you can call me Midnight-sensei! Question one: In the Silver Millenium, who was Gala's partner and younger sister?"
Faith opened her mouth to answer, "Que-", when Midnight rapped her on the head.
"Raise your hand, Ms. Mermaid! There is no talking out of turn in this class!" The blue-haired girl rubbed her head ruefully. Grace raised her hand. "Yes Ms. Phoenix?"
"Que-" Grace didn't see the pole before it whacked her on the head. "Hey, what did-" Another rap was her reward.
"You have to stand up when answering the question, Ms. Phoenix!" Faith smirked and raised her hand. "Do you think you can answer correctly this time?" Nodding, Faith stood up.
"The correct answer is Queen Beryl of the Negaverse."
"Finally! That is correct, Ms. Mermaid. For bonus, how were Gala's and Beryl's youmas different?"
"Queen Beryl used youmas that gathered energy, but Queen Gala's youmas were ones stole souls," Faith answered expressionlessly, her face a blank slate. Midnight nodded solemnly.
"Right. Please sit down Faith," Midnight said, without any humor. Wordlessly, she went back to her cat form. "Gala is dangerous, even more than any enemy we, or the Princesses, have faced. She has had a thousand years to brood over revenge, especially against both Moon Princess: Serenity-hime and our Princess." Grace nodded.
"That's right. She wanted to kill both Moon Princesses when her forces and the Negaverse attacked the Moon Kingdom. However, when she realized Beryl wouldn't let her kill Serenity-hime, Gala left." Grace clenched her fists in anger. "Gala then attacked us on that same night, saying it was in revenge for something, but what? That witch never said!" Faith looked thoughtful.
"You're right about that Grace. If we knew the reason, it might help us," Faith said.
"We were holding them back," continued Grace, "and we might have won, if that stupid 'Silver Crystal' hadn't affected the entire Moon! All it did was bring the Mystical Senshis into the future with no memories, and we have no way of knowing if Gala was brought too or just lived that thousand years getting stronger! All thanks to that stupid crystal and Selenity-sama!"
"The only good thing I can think of is that the Silver Crystal saved many lives," commented Midnight. "I don't believe Selenity-sama knew it would affect the other half of the moon. From my research she just wanted to save her daughter."
"But by doing so, Selenity-sama changed the lives of hundreds," Faith said.
"If Gala had teamed back up with her younger sister this millennium, Beryl would have actually beaten those Princesses. But it's a good thing Gala didn't, otherwise we would have had to try and beat both of them," Grace admitted. "And we wouldn't have been able to win with just the two of us."
"But we will never know if we could have beaten Beryl back in the Silver Millenium," Faith pointed out.
"Not by ourselves, we couldn't. However, if the others were with us, even after we were weakened, we could have beaten her," Grace said confidently. "But now, Gala is stronger and probably has new tricks, while people are weaker. This mission won't be easy."
"When is it ever?" Faith asked.
"We must find the other Mystical Senshis and stop Gala," finished Gala. "It is your destiny." Faith and Grace nodded.
"I wonder who they were?" Usagi asked, lying on her bed. "It stinks they know about us, but we
don't know about them. What if they're enemies? We'll be in big trouble then!"
"Yeah. But if they are enemies, why haven't they attacked us yet?" Chibi-Usa asked. She had returned from the future that morning after the battle with Galaxia and Chaos. Luna looked up from her grooming.
"Well, Chibi-Usa, we wouldn't have had to worry about that if SOMEONE hadn't transformed," Luna said in her British accent. The pink-haired girl sweatdropped and swatted the black cat away. Luna jumped back from Chibi-Usa's hand and glared at her.
"It's a good question Chibi-Usa," replied Usagi. "I really don't know." 'Odango atama' looked kindly at her future daughter. "Don't worry about it right now. Let's get some sleep." Chibi-Usa nodded and turned around on her side of the bed. Serena smiled gently at the pink-haired girl, and fell asleep.
"What should we do?" muttered Grace to her sister as Usagi waved to them across the courtyard.
Faith plastered a smile to her face and waved back. Grace copied her.
"Hey Grace, hey Faith! Want to go the arcade after school?" Usagi asked, running up to them. Ami and Makato followed, but at a slower pace. "You guys can meet the rest of our friends!"
"Uh..." Grace and Faith looked at each other. "Sure, but we can't stay long," Grace finally said.
"Yeah, we have to get home early," Faith said.
"That's okay!" exclaimed Makato.
"We'll meet you here after last bell, is that alright?" Ami asked.
"Okay."
The day went by, well, as normal as a school day can get. You know, tons of homework, boring
classes, bad lunch food. Just another normal day.
Afterwards, Grace and Faith reluctantly met with Usagi, Makato, and Ami and headed to the Crown Parlor arcade. (A/N: Does anyone know the Japanese name of the arcade? If you do, leave it in a review or e-mail me!) 'Odango atama' literally dragged the pair to a couple of tables in the back, where six other girls sat.
"Faith, Grace, these are my friends! Minako Aino-" She pointed to a blue-eyed blonde whose knee-length hair was tied back with a big red bow. "Rei Hino-" was a girl with long black hair that had purple and red highlights and purple eyes. "My cousin Chibi-Usa Tsukino-" a cute younger girl with pink hair up in cone-shaped buns and red eyes. "Hotaru Tomoe-" was a girl with shoulder-length purplish-black hair and deep purple eyes. "Haruka Te'nou-" was a tall dirty-blonde woman with piercing blue eyes and boyishly cut hair. "And Michiru Kaiou." Was a beautiful girl with shoulder-length sea-green hair and ocean blue eyes. "Guys, they are Grace and Faith Johnson."
"Hi, nice to meet you! As Usagi said, I'm Minako!" Minako said with a big grin.
"Hey, are you new here?" Rei asked. "I've never seen you before." 'They seem familiar somehow. I haven't met them before, yet I feel like I know them! Why is that?'
Faith nodded. "Our first day was yesterday."
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you," Michiru greeted. 'I think I know the blue-haired one, but from where?'
"Hey, hope you like it here," Haruka said, leaning back in her seat.
"Hi, I'm Chibi-Usa! Do you want something to drink or something?" Chibi-Usa said, holding up a glass of soda. "I'm sure my meatball-headed cousin forgot to ask you!"
"Hey! That's mean!" Usagi yelled. "You brat!"
"It's true, isn't it? And I'm not a brat!"
"Please don't argue," Hotaru said, gently laughing. Directing her next comment to the twins, she said, "They are closer than they look."
"It's alright. Faith and I are always getting into arguments with each other," Grace said, laughing.
The group talked for a little while, but Faith and Grace decided to leave. Something was wrong, and the two of them wanted to be ready.
"See ya tomorrow!" Faith said, walking out of the arcade parlor next to her sister. Other farewells were said as the Johnson twins exited.
A figure, clothed in black, floated above the roof of the Crown Parlor, unnoticed by most. A
black pearl rose above the person's hand and flew away. "Soon." The figure disappeared.
"What do you think of them?" Usagi asked after the twins left. "I think they're nice, a bit
strange, but nice."
"I don't know," Haruka said slowly. "They have strange powers within them. I could feel it. They may be enemies, so I'd advise you to stay away from them Koneko-chan."
"We'll take your warning, but I think they're okay," Makato said.
"I agree with Haruka," said Rei unexpectedly. "Grace seemed familiar, but Faith said their first day was yesterday. I don't trust them."
"I feel the same way about Faith," Michiru said. "Until we know more about them, we can't trust them."
"I'm not going to argue with you guys, but-" Screams cut Usagi off. "What's going on?"
A black pearl floated in front of Motoki, the cute manager of the arcade. As the group of nine watched, the small sphere emitted dark light. Motoki backed away from the object, but two beams of the strange light wrapped around him. He struggled helplessly against it, but it held firm. By then everyone other than the Sailor Senshis had abandoned the arcade.
The Sailor Senshis just watched in shock when a third beam came from the pearl and struck Motoki. He screamed mindlessly at the pain. Then a strange thing happened.
A white mist seeped out of Motoki's body and into the pearl. It turned white as more mist entered. Suddenly, no more came out of lifeless Motoki's body. The pearl dropped to the ground with a clink.
Motoki's body started to glow a soft black. It turned into a monster, a coffeepot for one hand, and a gun, like the ones used for the duck hunting game, as the other. It turned a bright red, and wore Motoki's apron in shreds. "I am the Gomefee!" he said, facing the girls.
"Motoki?" cried Minako.
"What happened?" Haruka asked in astonishment.
"I don't know," replied Ami, her computer forgotten in her shock.
"Well done Gomefee. Our first target has been taken. Humans are so WEAK these days!" said a figure appearing in the doorway. "His soul is separated from his body flawlessly, and evil has replaced it. Perfect."
The girls stared at each other in shock and anger, before sneaking into the back room.
"We have to transform!" whispered Ami.
"Right!" the others chorused.
"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Mercury glowed on the azure crystal of Ami's wand. A stream of water flowed out and surrounded the blue-haired genius. Disappearing as bubbles, it revealed Ami as Sailor Mercury, warrior of ice and fog.
"Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Mars shone on the ruby crystal of Rei's wand. Rings of fire circled around the raven-haired priestess. Sailor Mars appeared in Rei's place, warrior of fire.
"Venus Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Venus glowed on the topaz crystal of Minako's wand. A ribbon of glowing stars flared up from a circle around the aspiring actress' feet. Sailor Venus appeared, warrior of love and beauty.
"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Jupiter shone on the emerald crystal of Makato's wand. Ribbons of crackling electricity surrounded the brunette cook like she was the nucleus of an atom. Sailor Jupiter posed, warrior of lightning and nature.
"Neptune Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Neptune shone on the aqua crystal of Michiru's wand. Sweeping it around her, the green-haired violinist was surrounded by blue water. Flipping her hair back, Michiru was gone and Sailor Neptune was there, warrior of the sea.
"Uranus Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Uranus shone on the sapphire crystal of Haruka's wand. Twirling it around her, the blonde racecar driver was encircled by jets of fast-moving air. Running her hand through her short hair, Haruka disappeared and Sailor Uranus replaced her, warrior of earth and wind.
"Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!" The symbol of Saturn shone on the violet crystal of Hotaru's wand. The wand vanished and was replaced by her Glaive. The quiet violet-haired girl spun it around her, and was surrounded by dark smoke. The Glaive cut through the smoke, and Hotaru was gone, replaced by Sailor Saturn, warrior of death, destruction, and rebirth.
"Moon Cosmic Power, Make Up!" Chibi-Usa's heart-shaped compact just beeped. "What's going on? Moon Cosmic Power, Make Up!" Chibi-Usa stayed Chibi-Usa.
"Moon Eternal Power, Make Up!" Usagi's crystal compact flickered, but went dark. "The isn't good. Moon Eternal Power, Make Up!" Nothing happened. "We're in trouble," muttered Usagi.
To be continued...