Title: Candy is Always the Answer
Author: DarkOuters7
E-mail: DarkOuters7@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 I think
Hi! This is the sequel to Shopping is Always the Answer and I think you should read that before reading this. It is possible to read this one alone, but it would be better if you read the other one first. Anyways, I don't own any of the characters except the Mall Ghost. So read and email me with comments and complaints and whatevers.
Sunshine flooded through the window of Haruka's room, and she sat up, yawned, and stretched. She looked beside her, and saw that Michiru was gone. She's probably downstairs, having tea with Setsuna, Haruka thought. She slowly got out of bed, and started getting dressed.
**********************************************************
"Setsuna, I must ask a favor of you," Michiru said.
"Oh, what is it?" Setsuna asked.
"Seiya and I are going to the mall today. He asked me to help him pick out a gift for Haruka since her birthday is coming up. Well, I know that he and Haruka have promised to be friends, but I know Haruka, and I know she'll be jealous, and she'll want to come along. If you don't mind, could you keep her busy just for today?" Michiru asked.
"Of course," Setsuna said, glad to have someone stay at home with her. Hotaru had left yesterday to spend the next few nights at the temple with Rei.
"Good morning everyone," Haruka said as she walked into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of tea and plopped down on the seat next to Michiru.
"Good morning," Setsuna and Michiru said simultaneously.
"It's going to be a lovely day," Haruka noted, staring out the window, "we should go for a drive to the beach," she suggested.
"I'd love to, but I'm busy today," Michiru said.
"Oh?" Haruka asked, surprised.
"Yes," Michiru said.
DING DONG
"I wonder who that could be?" Haruka asked. "I'll get it," she said as she leaped up from her chair.
"Hi!" she exclaimed as she opened the door to see Seiya standing there.
"Hey," Seiya said. He and Haruka were on good terms now, and he was really happy about that. Haruka was a really cool person if she wasn't your enemy.
"Come in," Haruka said leading him in. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, is Michiru here?" Seiya asked.
"Oh," Haruka said, the look on her face getting suspicious. "Let me get her..."
"Michiru, darling," Haruka called out, emphasizing the "darling", "Seiya's here to see you."
"Oh, I'm coming. Hi!" she greeted as she saw Seiya.
"Are you ready?" Seiya asked her.
"Ready for what?" Haruka asked, positioning herself between Seiya and Michiru.
"Seiya's taking me to the mall today," Michiru said, "I'll be back this afternoon."
"Wait one minute! He is taking you no such place, and if he is, I'm coming!" Haruka shouted.
"Actually, Haruka, darling," Michiru said, emphasizing the darling, "we are going alone. I'll see you later, bye" she said as she gave Haruka a little kiss on the check and waltzed out the door.
"But..." Haruka said as the door slammed in her face. She scrambled to find her jacket and shoes. She would follow them to see what they were doing. Just as she was about to make her way outside, Setsuna called out, "Haruka, come here please!"
"SIGH! I'm coming!" Haruka called out as she jogged over to Setsuna's room. "Yes?"
She walked in to see around 10 photo albums lying on Setsuna's bed.
"I think it's about time we organized our photos," Setsuna said.
"Oh, I would really like to, but I'm busy," Haruka said quickly. As she turned around to make her exit, Setsuna grabbed her arm, "But the photos really need organizing," Setsuna said, glaring at Haruka.
"Ok, ok ok ok." Haruka said as she plopped down on the bed.
*************************************************
"Well, thanks for helping me find a present for her," Seiya said.
"No problem," Michiru said.
"I'm really gonna get it, aren't I? Haruka was so mad..." Seiya shivered at the thought of Haruka being angry .
"I'll talk to her, don't worry. And since we're here, I hope you don't mind if I look around a bit?" Michiru asked.
"Oh, no of course not," Seiya said. Anything to keep him from facing Haruka.
*****************************************
"Oh, Hotaru looks so kawaii in this picture!" Setsuna exclaimed as she waved it in Haruka's face.
"Yes, she does," Haruka said. I can't take it anymore! Haruka shouted within herself.
She stood up and said through clenched teeth, "I really need to leave now."
"But..." Setsuna started. Before she could finish, Haruka had raced down the steps. Setsuna ran after her and jumped into the car right before it was going to leave the driveway.
"Can I come?" she asked.
"Sure," Haruka said.
***********************************************
"Oh dear," Michiru said, "the zippers stuck," she said as she pointed to a zipper on the back of a dress she had tried on. "If you don't mind..."
"Oh," Seiya said, his face turning as red as an apple, "I really don't think I should."
"Oh no, not that," Michiru started, her face turning the same shade as his, "just can you get it unstuck? That's all,"
"Oh, well that would be ok. Step out of the dressing room for a second," Seiya asked. He tugged at the zipper. It really was stuck.
************************************************
Haruka was speed walking through all the stores, looking for any sign of Michiru or Seiya. Setsuna was doing her best to keep up. Just as Haruka was about to leave a store, she saw Seiya unzipping Michiru's dress.
******************************
"There...I..." Seiya started to say but he couldn't finish. He was tackled to the floor. He looked up to see Haruka about to punch him.
"I knew I couldn't trust you! WHY WERE YOU TRYING TO UNDRESS MY MICHIRU?!?!?! You thing!!!!" Haruka shouted.
Haruka was blind with rage, and she couldn't see where she was punching. She totally missed Seiya, and hit a manikin instead. It fell ontop of them.
"Get off him, Haruka!" Michiru shouted, trying to pull the two apart. No one was coming to her aid because they were off in a corner of the department store, and no one happened to be in that area. Michiru picked up the manikin and threw it, not knowing where.
"Ouch!" Setsuna cried as it hit her. "What in the world is going on here?" she panted. She had finally caught up with Haruka.
"Help me get them away from eachother!" Michiru shouted desperately. She managed to get Haruka off of Seiya, and Setsuna helped Seiya up.
"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Haruka cried, struggling to get out of Michiru's arms.
"Calm down, Haruka. Let me explain," Michiru said.
"What is there to explain? He was trying to undress you. AGAIN!" Haruka shouted.
"No he wasn't. My zipper was stuck and he was trying to get it unstuck, that's all," Michiru said.
"Oh," Haruka said, still suspicious.
"Are you ok?" Setsuna asked Seiya.
"Ya, I'm fine. She missed me," Seiya said.
"I think you should apologize, Haruka," Michiru said.
"I'm sorry," Haruka said sarcastically, glaring at Seiya.
"Well, be glad you hit like a girl, or else I would be dead!" Seiya said.
"Why you?!?! I do not hit like a girl! Would you like me to demonstrate?" Haruka asked as she attempted to lunge forward and punch Seiya. Michiru held her back.
"Stop it! If you two don't settle down, we might get in trouble! Now, I want to stay, but if you two misbehave one more time, we'll all go home!" Michiru said.
Silently, they all walked out of the store. As they were walking they saw Taiki and Yaten.
"Hey," Yaten called out. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Hi," Michiru said. "What are you two doing here?"
"Well, we just wanted to check out some sales," Yaten said.
"We need to be on our way," Taiki said, "but if you guys want, we can meet you at the Cafe by the park around 8."
"Sure, that'll be great," Seiya said thinking, Safety in numbers.
"Ok. Bye then! See you later!" Yaten called out as he and Taiki walked away.
They wandered through some more stores, and then they decided it was time to leave. As they were walking towards the exit, Haruka realized Setsuna was missing.
"Hey, wait a minute," Haruka said. "Where's Setsuna?"
"Hugh? I don't know," Michiru said sounding worried.
They retraced their steps, and saw Setsuna in the candy store. She was running around, her eyes shining like a child's. "Candy! Candy!" she shouted as she ran through the store.
The mall will close in 5 minutes, an overhead voice called out.
"Oh, Setsuna, we should be going," Haruka said nervously, thinking of what had happened last time.
The mall will close in 4 minutes.
"I want candy!" Setsuna declared.
"Ok, we'll get you some," Seiya said. He didn't want to think about what had happened last time he had heard the overhead voice.
"We don't have time, sweetie," Michiru said, using her sweet, gentle voice.
"Don't call me sweetie! I'm not a baby!" Setsuna said. "But I want candy!"
The mall will close in 3 minutes.
"No, come on!" Haruka said as she started to drag Setsuna out of the store.
"No!" Setsuna shouted as she planted her feet firmly on the ground.
The mall will close in 2 minutes.
"Oh, no! Oh, no!" Seiya said starting to panic. He grabbed Setsuna by the hand and started dragging her out.
The mall will close in 1 minute.
"NO, I don't wanna go! I want candy!" Setsuna shouted.
Good-bye.
The lights blinked out, and then the overhead lights turned on. Setsuna stood there for a minute, shocked, but then ran to the candy bins and sampled every kind of candy there was, her face looking as content as ever.
"It's ok. It's ok. I'm ok. We'll be ok. Everything will be ok," Seiya was chanting to himself.
"Calm down. Calm down. There is no such thing as ghosts. There is no such thing as ghosts," Haruka started repeating.
Seiya joined in and they chanted together.
"Be quiet!" Michiru shouted. "It's ok. Let's get to an exit, we know where they are this time," Michiru said. After quite a while, they got Setsuna out and started towards an exit.
"Hey, wait a minute. We're supposed to meet Taiki and Yaten at the Cafe. When they see we aren't there, they will realize we're in here!" Haruka said with a sigh of relief.
"Uh, you spoke a bit too soon," Michiru said.
Haruka looked ahead of her, and who did she see but none other than Taiki and Yaten themselves.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she shouted.
"Well, hi to you, too," Yaten said.
"You guys are stuck in here also?" Setsuna asked disappointedly. She had regained her normal mind, and she knew what kind of situation they were in.
"Ya," Yaten said, "Taiki just had to go to the textbook store," Yaten said as he glared at Taiki.
"I'm sorry. Don't get mad at me just because I want to be smart, and perfect. Well wait, I am smart and perfect. Hehehe," Taiki said.
"We were hoping you guys would realize we were stuck in here when we didn't show up at the Cafe," Yaten said.
"Same here," Haruka said.
"Well, let's find an exit together," Seiya said. Safety in numbers, he was still thinking.
After a few minutes of trudging along silently, Taiki attempted to break the silence.
"This is major deja-vu you guys," he said.
"Shut-up!" they all shouted at him.
"Sorry," he said.
They walked along in silence for a few more minutes.
"Oh great," Seiya groaned.
"What?" Setsuna asked.
"It's another two day holiday," he sighed.
"WHY ME?!?! WHY?!?!" Yaten exclaimed to the ceiling.
"It's ok. We've gone through this before," Michiru called out.
"Well, this is better than guarding the Gates," Setsuna said.
"I think we should just all go to sleep," Taiki said, yawning.
"Good idea," Michiru said. They walked over to where they had slept before, and each of them picked a bed.
************************************************
It seemed like hours had passed, but only a few minutes had passed while Haruka lay on her bed. Everyone was asleep, or so she thought. Suddenly, she had to use the restroom.
She slowly climbed off her bed, and tip-toed over to the nearest bathroom, warily looking around her as she walked. When she was done, she was making her way over to the store where everyone was sleeping when she saw a familiar light.
Remember me, my dear old friend
I told you we would meet again
and now we have, and the time is right
Oh, this is such a delight!
Haruka stood there, frozen to the ground. She stared as the Mall Ghost flew towards her, and at the last possible second, she broke out into a run. She ran all the way down to the other end of the mall, and as she was looking back behind her, she bumped into someone, and they both fell with a thump to the ground.
"AHHH!" Haruka shouted.
"Haruka?" the person asked.
"Seiya?" Haruka said, recognizing the voice, "What are you doing all the way down here?"
"I needed a sweater, so I decided to get one from the Sweater Store."
"Oh," then she remembered about the Mall Ghost, "AHH!" she screamed again.
"WHAT?!??!" Seiya asked, panicking.
"The Mall Ghost!" Haruka screamed.
"Come on!" Seiya shouted as he got off the floor and ran towards the direction which the Mall Ghost was coming.
"NO! Not that way!!!!!!!!" Haruka screamed.
Seiya realized that he was going the wrong direction only a second in time. He screeched to a halt, turned around, and came speeding down towards Haruka, arms flailing wildly.
"AHHH!" They both screamed in unison as they ran towards the end of the mall. They came to a dead end.
"What are we gonna do?" Seiya said hysterically.
"We're gonna die," Haruka shouted.
"What in the name of Time is going on here?" Setsuna asked as she saw Seiya and Haruka running in wild circles around eachother.
"Oh, Setsuna!" Seiya said as he flung himself onto her.
"Save us!" Haruka cried as she clung onto Seiya.
"Calm down. Get off me!" Setsuna said. "Now, what's the matter?"
"The Mall Ghost!" Seiya wailed.
"I don't see a Mall Ghost," Setsuna stated calmly. "I think you two need to get some sleep, come on," she said as she led them towards the store everyone else was sleeping in.
"You two were making so much noise," Setsuna said, but she realized they weren't following.
She looked behind her and saw that they were hugging eachother in fear.
"Now what's wrong?" she asked.
Haruka was staring intently at the Mall Ghost who was just infront of Setsuna.
"Watch out! It's the Mall Ghost!" Seiya shouted.
Setsuna whirled around and saw empty air. "I don't see anything," she said hesitantly.
"It disappeared," Haruka whispered. She and Seiya looked around in awe, like two children who had entered a toy store. They then recovered and Haruka said, "Well of course it disappeared. It always disappears when someone other than Seiya or myself comes around it."
"Hey, is this the ghost that Michiru told me you were hallucinating last time you were stuck in the mall?" Setsuna asked.
"Yes, that's it!" Seiya exclaimed. "Do you believe us?"
Setsuna thought for a moment and then replied, "No."
"No one believes me!" Seiya wailed. "Does this look like the face of a person who would lie to you?" he asked Setsuna as he made his face as innocent looking as possible.
Setsuna glanced at Seiya and starting laughing. "We're going back, you guys, come on."
They all walked towards the store, and as quietly as possible, got into their beds.
Haruka tried with all her might to stay awake, but she was exhausted, and soon she fell into a deep sleep.
************************************************
She opened her eyes, and she saw the sunlight coming through the window. She saw everyone was awake and they were groggily walking around.
"Good morning," she mumbled.
"Hi," Taiki mumbled.
"Was I talking to you?" Haruka asked.
"Uhhhh..." Taiki said thinking about it.
"No, I wasn't. Good morning everyone but Taiki," Haruka said.
"Good morning," Michiru replied.
"Oh no!" Yaten exclaimed, "where's Setsuna?"
"To the candy store!" Seiya shouted as he ran past the sleepy bunch.
They all did their best to keep up with him, and they all reached the candy store out of breath. They stopped and looked around, and not surprisingly, there was Setsuna, sitting infront of the gummy worm bin, pigging out like there was no tomorrow.
"Setsuna, slow down there," Taiki said.
"Zheesh ura freliciosh!" Setsuna exclaimed.
"What?!?" Haruka asked.
Setsuna chewed, swallowed, and tried again, "These are delicious!"
"Mind if I join you?" Yaten asked.
"Pig out!" Setsuna invited. They all lunged forward, and started to eat their hearts out.
Half an Hour later:
Everyone lay across the floor of the shop, groaning and clutching their stomachs.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmuhmmmmmmmmgmmmm," Haruka groaned.
"BURP!!!!!" Taiki burped.
"How disgusting!" Michiru exclaimed wrinkling her nose, "say excuse me!" she commanded.
"Excuse me," Taiki said rolling his eyes.
"I agree with her," Yaten said, "you are disgusting."
"You're a big cockroach, that's what you are! And lying there on that floor makes you look like a dead cockroach!" Seiya said, hiccuping with laughter.
"I agree!" Haruka said.
Everyone started laughing, and Setsuna was laughing hardest of all.
"This is the best time I've ever had!" Setsuna exclaimed.
Everyone groaned.
"Try going through this twice," Haruka said, "and with an insane ghost trying to kill you."
"Haruka, please, you're making me worry," Michiru said, "let's forget about this ghost and have fun, ok?"
"But I try to forget, the ghost doesn't forget though, it keeps coming!" She exclaimed.
"And it tries to kill us!" Seiya added.
"Let's forget about this ghost business!" Yaten commanded, "I've had enough of it! Now, let's have fun!"
"Yes, let's!" Setsuna said. They walked around the mall, going in every store, trying on clothes.
They spent their day having fun, and Seiya and Haruka were both beginning to forget about the Mall Ghost. Everyone was exhausted after the fun-filled day, and they all eagerly went to bed awaiting the next day which they knew would be more fun than even this day was.
***********************
Haruka's eyes flew open, and she blinked several times into the darkness. She had a sudden urge to go eat some more candy, so she tip-toed out of the store.
Seiya had been awake, and he saw Haruka get up and walk out. I wonder where she's going, he thought, I better go after her so she doesn't get into any trouble. He got up and followed Haruka.
After a while, it became apparent that she was heading in the direction of the candy store. Seiya decided he felt like eating candy too, and was about to call out to her, but suddenly she had disappeared.
Where did she go? Seiya asked himself.
He wandered into the candy store and heard a faint pounding on the wall. He whirled around in a circle, checking to see if the Mall Ghost was there but he didn't see any faint glowing light.
"Let me out!" he heard Haruka's voice call out. He could hardly hear it, but he moved to the direction of the pounding, which was behind the gumboil bin.
"Is that you Haruka?" Seiya asked.
"Yes!" he heard a faint reply, "Now let me out!"
"How?"
"Reach down to the very bottom of the gumball bin and push, but jump back so..." but she couldn't finish.
Seiya reached into the bin, pushed, and the wall swiftly opened and pushed him into a dimly lit room. There were a few torches on the wall, and he could hear the soft drip-drip on water hitting the stone ground. Haruka stood just a few feet away from him, fighting the urge to strangle him.
"You idiot!" Haruka shouted, "I told you to stand back!"
"Oops, I'm so sorry," Seiya apologized. Haruka just glared at him, "Don't hurt me!" Seiya begged cowering in a corner.
"Well, I would, but then I would have no one to help me get out. Who knows when the others will realize we're stuck in a secret room in the candy store."
"We're dead for sure!" Seiya wailed.
"Just don't say anything, so we can hear if they come!" Haruka ordered. They both stood there, leaning against the wall, for two hours.
"Is it morning yet?" Seiya whispered.
"Shut-up!" Haruka shouted. Seiya did as he was told.
Another hour passed by, and then they could hear voices approaching.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, diddely diddley, there they are all standing in a row...bum bum bum.." they heard Taiki singing.
"Shut-up!" they heard Yaten yell.
"Oh, where could they be?" Michiru asked worriedly.
"In here!" Haruka shouted.
"Did you hear something?" Setsuna asked.
"...Big ones, small ones...." Taiki started again.
"Shut-up!" Yaten shouted.
"It's me! Haruka!" Haruka shouted.
"Haruka?" Michiru asked, "Where are you?"
"In the wall by the gumball bin!" Haruka shouted back. She and Seiya could hear everyone walk over to the wall.
"How did you get in the gumball bin?" Taiki asked.
"We're not in the gumball bin, stupid," Seiya shouted, "We're in the wall behind the gumball bin."
"Oh," Taiki said sheepishly.
"How did you get in there?" Michiru asked.
"Just reach into the gumball bin and push, but..." Haruka started but her voice was blocked out by Taiki's singing.
"Some as big as your head!" Taiki shouted as Haruka was telling them to jump back when they pushed the bottom.
"Ok!" Yaten shouted as he pushed the bottom and in came Yaten, Taiki, Setsuna, and Michiru, and as quickly as it had opened, the door closed.
"Oh, no!" Seiya cried out.
"Haruka you're safe!" Michiru said as she ran into her arms.
"Ya, I'm here, don't worry," Haruka reassured Michiru. Then she stepped back and shouted to everyone but Michiru and Seiya, "Didn't you hear me tell you to jump back?"
"No..." Yaten said, "Taiki was singing!"
Everyone glared at Taiki, and he said, "If looks could kill, I'd majorly be dead."
"You will be dead, and so will all of us if we don't get out of here!" Yaten shouted.
"Hey, calm down," Setsuna said, "we are senshi after all, let's just blast out of here."
"Good idea!" Michiru exclaimed.
"Uranus Planet Power, Make-up!"
"Neptune Planet Power, Make-up!"
"Pluto Planet Power, Make-up!"
"Fighter Star Power, Make-up!"
"Healer Star Power, Make-up!"
"Maker-Star Power, Make-up!"
They all transformed. "World Shaking!" they blast hit the door and died out.
Sailor Uranus just stared dumb-founded at the door. "How..but why..."
"I'll try!" StarMaker shouted, "Star Gentle Uterus!" the attack didn't even get to the door before it was put out.
"Haha, retard," Sailor Uranus laughed.
"Let's try all together," Sailor Neptune suggested.
"Ok," Star Healer said.
"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
"Dead Scream!"
"Star Serious Laser!"
"Star Sensitive Inferno!"
"Star Gentle Uterus!"
They watched as the big joint attack hit the wall and simply vanished.
"We're dead," Star Fighter squeaked.
"Maybe there's another way out," Sailor Pluto suggested.
"Oh, come on!" Sailor Uranus said, "we defeated Mistress Nine and all those other people, we can't lose to a...a...wall...!"
"Actually, I think we can," Sailor Neptune said.
"Let's untransform and just look for a way out," Star Fighter suggested.
"But..." before Sailor Uranus could object everyone had untransformed, and she did too.
"Wait a minute..." Yaten started, "there is no door here, it's just a room."
"Oh," everyone said, realizing that it was just a room.
"Well, maybe there's a secret passage in the secret room," Taiki suggested.
" I wonder how long it'll take them to realize we could just teleport out of here," Setsuna pondered to herself, " Oh, well. I'll let them figure it out. I'm having fun for once, anyway."
"Hey, you might be right for once," Yaten said. He started walking around pushing all the blocks of stone. "Help me, you guys," he said. Soon everyone was helping, but after pushing all the blocks, there was no secret passage to be found. "SIGH!" Taiki exclaimed as he plopped down on the ground. The floor beneath him opened, and he fell down without as much as a scream.
"Let's follow him!" Seiya yelled as he jumped into the hole.
"Michiru, I won't let you, you'll get hurt," Haruka said.
"No, I won't," Michiru said and she jumped in.
"Sigh," Haruka said as she jumped in after her.
She landed on top of Michiru.
"Ow!" Michiru yelped as Haruka fell on her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Haruka apologized.
"It's ok," Michiru said, "I like it when you're on top of me."
Teardrop on everyone.
Seiya cleared his throat and said, "Well..uh...as you can all see, we're in a hall it looks like, so we should just wander around and check this place out."
"Ok, good plan," Haruka said as she got up and helped Michiru up. She dusted herself off, and started after Seiya. They trooped down the hall, taking twists and turns, but soon they ended up right where they started.
"This place looks majorly familiar," Taiki said.
A groan was heard from among the group.
"What are we going to do?" Seiya asked.
Setsuna, who had kept quiet the whole time, said, "Maybe, we should take a different route, and mark our trail with..." and she walked over to Taiki and grabbed from his pocket and said, "gummy worms."
"But what if we need food, and all of it is laying on this disgusting dirty, stone floor?" Taiki wailed.
"We have food, don't worry," Michiru said.
"Oh, ya?" Taiki asked.
"Don't doubt my Michiru!" Haruka shouted as she raised her fist about to punch Taiki.
"Wait," Haruka said lowering her fist, "do we?"
"Well," Michiru started, "I do have..." and she pulled out of the pockets of her skirt 10 bags full of a variety of candy.
Setsuna's mouth watered.
"Hey, if you have so much candy, why don't we use yours to drop on the floor?" Taiki asked.
"Hey, are you trying to steal my Michiru's food?" Haruka asked.
"Uh...noo...of course not," Taiki squeaked.
"Good," Haruka said grabbing the gummy worms from Taiki's hand, "come on," and they all followed Haruka through the halls.
After an hour of walking they came back to they room they had started in, again.
"How the hell did we get here again?" Haruka asked murder in her eyes.
She scanned the room, looking at the clueless faces, until her eyes rested on Taiki's face. Guilt was written all over it.
"Taiki!" Haruka screamed.
"I was hungry and I ate some of the gummy worms.." he said in a speedy sentence.
"Some!??!?! Some!?!?!" Try all!!" Haruka shouted, "You huge fat ugly cockroach!" she spit out.
"I'm sorry. Spare me Oh Mighty Haruka! Spare me!" Taiki begged as he kneeled infront of Haruka.
Haruka glared at him, stepped on his hand, and walked away.
"So, any ideas?" Seiya asked.
"I wanna go home!" Taiki cried out as he held up his hand.
"Shut-up!" Yaten shouted. "I think we should try one more time, anyone up for it?"
"I am because standing around here is going to do us any good," Michiru said.
"I agree," Haruka said, "Come on," and she walked away.
Seiya followed as fast as he could, but he was fascinated by the ancient secret passage. He would slow down every once in a while to take a good look at his surroundings. One time, he didn't start walking until it was too late. "Uh-oh," he said out loud to himself, "where did everyone go?" He looked ahead and saw the hall empty as if no one had ever walked through it before.
"This is not good! This is definitely not good!" Seiya started running through the halls, but there were so many twists and turns that he lost his sense of direction. He slowed down and decided that while he was by himself, he might as well look around....
Meanwhile, back with everyone else....
It took them ten minutes before Setsuna said, "Seiya's gone."
Haruka jumped around and looked at everyone, wearing the same puzzled expression as everyone else.
"Let's retrace our steps," Michiru suggested, "Maybe he remembered the rule to hug a tree and stay put if you get lost."
"There are no trees here," Taiki stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, duh!" Yaten said. "She said that metaphorically."
"Well, do you think he would have followed the rule?" Setsuna asked.
Yaten and Taiki looked at eachother and said, "No."
"Sigh, one more problem to add to our many!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Well, we can't just leave him behind," Michiru said.
"I know, we'll go find him," Haruka said, and they started retracing their steps.
Back with Seiya...
Seiya walked through the halls at his own leisurely pace examining all the old walls. He didn't know why, but old walls were fascinating to him. Suddenly, he felt the presence of a dim light behind him. He turned around and there, before him stood, the Mall Ghost.
I see your lost and all alone
You have no way to find your home
Why, then, don't you come with me?
We'll have fun, you'll see!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Seiya screamed as he ran for his life.
Back with the others....
"Oh, where oh where can Seiya be? OH where oh where can he be?" Taiki sang.
"Can't you just shut-up for one second?" Yaten shouted, "One measly second????"
"Ok." Taiki said then, "He's got long black hair and he's..."
"SHUTUP!!!!!!!!!" Yaten shouted at the top of his lungs. When he stopped shouted, everyone could still hear someone yelling.
They saw a running figure coming towards them, and as it came closer, they saw it was Seiya.
"Run! It's the Mall Ghost!" he screamed as he ran past the group.
Haruka broke out into a run right away. Everyone stared after them and saw nothing chasing them.
"Haruka! Come back! There's nothing there!" Michiru shouted.
"Let's follow them before we lose them!" Yaten said. They all started running after them.
************************************
"Did we lose it?" Seiya said breathlessly.
Haruka looked behind her and didn't see the dim light. "I think so," she said.
"We also lost something else. The group." Seiya stated.
"No! Another problem to add to our many problems!" Haruka said. "How many times do I say that?" she asked herself.
"Well, let's just go look for them," Seiya suggested.
"Ok, I guess," Haruka said forgetting about the hug-a-tree rule.
They walked in silence for a while, then Seiya exclaimed, "Look! A room! And it's not the one we started from!"
"Let's check it out," Haruka said.
It looked simple enough, with a couch, a bed, a table, a chair, a t.v. and a fridge.
"What if the Phantom of the Opera lives here?" Seiya asked in awe.
"You idiot, the Phantom of the Opera lives in the Opera," Haruka stated.
"Oh," Seiya said disappointedly.
"I'm so tired," Haruka said during a yawn.
"But we should look for the others," Seiya said.
"No, I'm just gonna take a nap," Haruka said as she walked towards the bed.
"Well, I guess I will too," Seiya said following Haruka.
"Wait one minute!" Haruka started, "this bed is not big enough for the two of us, and only if you were to sleep on top of me," Haruka and Seiya both shivered at the thought of that, "which you are not, you can sleep on the bed."
"But..." Seiya protested.
"No buts. You go sleep on the couch!" Haruka demanded.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeee," Seiya sighed.
He walked over to the couch, and even before he could get his eyes closed, Haruka's snores filled the room. He lay wide-eyed on the couch, trying to fall asleep, but he just couldn't.
"Michiru...hehe..." Haruka murmured in her sleep.
"Oh, great," Seiya said out loud.
"Oooh, that feels good, Michiru. More..." Haruka continued, "I love you Michiru...hehe...I can tell....you love me too....hehehe."
Seiya couldn't take anymore so he marched over to Haruka and shook her until she was awake.
Haruka blinked several times until she could see a clear picture of Seiya standing over her.
"You thing!!!" Haruka started. It was then Seiya realized that what he had done was a fatal mistake. "You woke me up!"
"I'm sorry, but..." Seiya started as he slowly backed away.
"I was dreaming, you thing!!!!" Haruka said madly as she stood up.
"Yes, but you see, that was the problem. Yes it was the problem, because you see, um...your talking in your sleep made me unable to fall asleep and I don't know what you were dreaming about, nor do I want to know, because well, I guess you were enjoying it from the sounds of it, but you see, I was not enjoying it..." Seiya insanely rambled in terror.
"Stop babbling! You are such a headache. I was perfectly content in my dream world, and you had to bring me out of it!!!" Haruka said get closer and closer to Seiya.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So very sorry. Please...WAAAAAAAAAA" Seiya started wailing. If it works for Taiki, it might work for me, Seiya thought.
"You are such a crybaby! Wait until I tell Usagi..." Haruka said with an evil grin.
The wailing stopped immediately. "Oh, no. Please don't. Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Seiya asked.
"I'll think about it," Haruka stated, "but as for now, I have to hurt you."
Seiya stopped backing away and cowered in the spot he was standing in. The blow did not come. He looked up and saw Haruka staring at him.
"I just can't hurt you," Haruka said. Seiya smiled, and started walking towards Haruka, and then, BAM, Haruka's fist came flying into his face. Seiya fell back and looked up at Haruka, "I thought you said you couldn't hurt me," Seiya whined.
"I forgot to finish. I can't hurt you when you're cowering like you were. Besides, now you know that I don't hit like a girl."
******************************************************************
"Where can they be?" Yaten asked.
"They'll be ok. Haruka's there and she'll protect Seiya," Michiru said.
"We have to find them. We really need to get out of this place," Taiki stated.
"No, really? I thought we should stay in here forever. At least that's what I'm planning to do," Yaten said sarcastically.
"Oh, well I'm planning to get out of here," Taiki said not having caught the sarcasm.
"I was being sarcastic you idiot!" Yaten shouted.
"Oh," Taiki said puzzled.
"Ok, should we split up?" Setsuna asked.
"Maybe that would be the best thing to do," Michiru said.
"But what if we can't find eachother?" Taiki whined.
"We should take chances," Yaten said.
"Yes, we might run into eachother or we might not. If one of us gets out, then we could get help or something," Michiru said.
"Maybe we could get Ami to get down here with her computer," Setsuna suggested.
"Ya. That's a great idea. Ami could get us out!" Taiki exclaimed.
"Someone has a crush on Ami," Yaten said.
"I do not!" Taiki stated.
"Don't deny it, Taiki. We all know what went on during that study session you had with her," Yaten said.
Taiki blushed, but didn't say anything.
"I wonder what you two were studying," Setsuna said, joining in with the fun.
"Ok, that's enough. Let's split up," Taiki said trying to change the subject.
"Ok, I'll go with Yaten," Michiru said, "and Setsuna and Taiki go together."
"YES!!!" Yaten exclaimed, "NO MORE TAIKI. I'm sorry Setsuna. Good luck. Come on," he said dragging Michiru behind him.
"Ok, so where should we start?" Setsuna asked.
"I don't know. Let's go this way," Taiki said pointing to a dark hallway.
"Ok. I don't think we've been that way before."
*************************************
"Who lives down here, anyway?" Seiya asked.
"I don't know. Maybe..." Haruka started.
"What?" Seiya asked.
"Nothing. Nevermind."
"What?? What??? Tell me. Please?? No one ever tells me anything!!" Seiya whined.
"I was just thinking that...well nothing. It's stupid," Haruka said.
"I won't think it's stupid and even if it is that's ok. Tell me! Please??" Seiya asked.
"Maybe..." Haruka started.
Who has stumbled upon my home?
Who has invaded my privacy?
Who dares to make me angry?
Whoever you are, you shall be sorry!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! The Mall Ghost lives here!!" Seiya shouted.
"Run for your life!!!!!!" Haruka shouted.
"It's blocking the exit!!!!" Seiya shouted.
"Is that you guys?" they heard a voice call out. The Mall Ghost vanished.
"Setsuna?" Haruka called out.
"We're in the room thing!" Seiya shouted.
"We found you! Cool!" Taiki exclaimed as he skipped into the room.
Haruka and Seiya both groaned.
"Where's everyone else?" Haruka asked.
"We decided to split up," Setsuna said.
"Oh, then how are we going to find the others again?" Seiya asked.
"It's luck, bro. Pure luck," Taiki said.
"Ooooooooooooook then," Seiya said.
"What is this place?" Setsuna asked.
"Its the home of the Mall Ghost!" Seiya exclaimed.
"Ah, yes. The Mall Ghost," Taiki said rolling his eyes.
"Oh, Setsuna!" Seiya said clinging on to her, "You gotta believe me!"
"I don't think there's a Mall Ghost," Setsuna said pushing Seiya off her.
"We have to start looking for Yaten and Michiru," Taiki said.
"Yes, I hope my Michiru is all right," Haruka said worriedly.
"She's fine," Setsuna said.
"Ok, let's just get away from this place!" Seiya said as he started walking towards the exit. Everyone followed.
*********************************************
"How long have we been walking?" Yaten whined.
"I don't know," Michiru said. "Have we been walking in circles?"
"I really don't think so. This all looks different. If only we knew which way Setsuna and Taiki had gone, then maybe we could find them."
"I wonder if they found Haruka and Seiya yet," Michiru asked.
"Hopefully. Then we can focus on getting out of here. The mall's probably open by now."
"Yes. All I want is to go home and be with Haruka," Michiru said.
*Teardrop* "Ahh, well..I need some sleep. We haven't had sleep in like a long time."
"Maybe one day. I'm not sure," Michiru said, "I've lost track of time. This is when we need Setsuna."
"Hey, I think I see something up there!" Yaten exclaimed pointing ahead.
"Haruka?" Michiru called out.
*******************************************************
"Did you hear something?" Taiki asked.
"Haruka?" the faint voice called out.
"Michiru??" Haruka said straining to hear the voice.
"Haruka!" Michiru shouted as she ran in Haruka's arms.
"You're safe!" Haruka said.
"Where's Yaten?" Seiya asked.
"I'm here," Yaten said as he ran up to the group.
"Great! We're all here. Now, let's find an exit," Setsuna said.
"I have no idea where to start," Haruka said.
"What if there is no way out? What if we stay in here and starve to death and eat eachother and die and then haunt the halls and watch other people die just like us?" Taiki whined.
"Shut-up Taiki!" Yaten shouted, "If you have nothing intelligent to say, don't say anything at all."
"I always have something intelligent to say!" Taiki stated.
"You go ahead believing that," Yaten said.
"I will!" Taiki exclaimed.
"Ok, back to business," Yaten said ignoring Taiki, "what should we do?"
"Hey, I know you'll think I'm crazy, but..." Haruka started.
"What?" Michiru asked.
"What if we ask the Mall Ghost how to get out?" Haruka suggested.
"WHAT?!?! Have you gone insane!!!" Seiya shouted.
"Well, it was an idea," Haruka said defensively.
"Haruka, there is no Mall Ghost. Please believe me," Michiru said calmly.
"Oh, but there is!" Haruka said.
"Come on, let's go this way," Setsuna said ignoring Haruka.
"We'll never find a way out!" Yaten said.
"Stop being so pessimistic!" Taiki shouted.
"Sorry..." Yaten said.
After walking for several more hours...
"I've been walking in this hallway, all the livelong day...I've been walking in this hallway just to pass the time away..." Taiki sang.
"Shut-up! Just please shut-up. For once in you demented life shut-up!" Yaten begged.
"But..." Taiki started, but he tripped and fell before he could finish.
"Ouchy!" he exclaimed. "Hey, look. It's a weird trap door thingy!"
"Where?" everyone shouted as they crowded around Taiki.
"Please, please, don't get too close," Taiki said. "I know you want to, but you're invading my personal bubble."
"Show us the trap door!" Haruka shouted.
"Ok, ok. It's right here," Taiki said pointing to a door with a little metal doorknob attached to it.
"I'll open it!" Haruka said as she tugged at the door. "It's stuck!" she exclaimed.
"Let me try," Seiya said, "the trick is the turn the doorknob before pulling," and as he did so, the door came loose.
Everyone peered through the opening.
"Hey, how did we get above the mall?" Setsuna asked.
"Above the mall?" Taiki asked puzzled.
"Yes. This door is in the ceiling. If we drop down, we'd go right into Victoria's Secret.," Michiru said.
"This is weird you guys, majorly weird," Taiki said.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!" Seiya shouted.
"We can't just fall out of the ceiling for the whole store to see. People are in there!" Yaten said.
"Are you saying we wait until the mall closes?" Setsuna asked.
"No, of course not!" Yaten exclaimed, "Let's just wait for the area to clear up."
They waiting until the area they would jump into was empty.
"Ok, let's go," Haruka said. She jumped out and landed on a manikin. Michiru jumped out after her. "Haruka, that isn't real," Michiru said.
"What?" Haruka asked, then she saw the manikin she was hugging, "Of course it isn't. I didn't realize it was there." and she quickly stood up. Taiki jumped and fell on top of her.
"Get off me you thing!" Haruka shouted as she pushed Taiki off of her.
"Sorry," Taiki said. Everyone jumped out, and they all walked out of the store getting only a few weird stares.
"Well, we made it!" Seiya exclaimed.
"Finally! Freedom!" Yaten shouted.
"I'm hungry," Setsuna said, "Can we visit the candy store?"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo," Haruka and Michiru both shouted as they started walking towards the exit, dragging Setsuna along.
"It's ok if we get stuck in the mall again, though," Setsuna said.
"What? Are you crazy?" Taiki shouted.
"No. If we get stuck, we could just teleport out," Setsuna stated calmly.
No one said a word.
"WHAT?!?!" Haruka said breaking the silence. "Are you saying that you knew we could teleport out the whole time, and you didn't tell us?"
"Yes," Setsuna asked with a smile creeping across her face.
"ARGHURGHARGH!" Taiki exclaimed yanking the hair from his head.
"What...? But how...? Why...?" Seiya asked himself, puzzled.
"I can't believe this! I just can't believe this! We've been stuck in this mall twice, and none of us though of teleporting! Well, except Setsuna, that is, but she didn't tell us!" Yaten shouted.
No one spoke as they all stood still shocked at their own stupidity.
"This was very fun!" Setsuna exclaimed with delight, breaking the silence. Everyone groaned and started walking towards the exit.
WHAT?!?!?! You could just teleport out of here?
Is that the news I hear?
Then there's no chance for you to be stuck here again!
I guess it's the end, my friends. It's the bitter end.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Did you like it? Hate it? E-mail me and tell me.
Author: DarkOuters7
E-mail: DarkOuters7@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 I think
Hi! This is the sequel to Shopping is Always the Answer and I think you should read that before reading this. It is possible to read this one alone, but it would be better if you read the other one first. Anyways, I don't own any of the characters except the Mall Ghost. So read and email me with comments and complaints and whatevers.
Sunshine flooded through the window of Haruka's room, and she sat up, yawned, and stretched. She looked beside her, and saw that Michiru was gone. She's probably downstairs, having tea with Setsuna, Haruka thought. She slowly got out of bed, and started getting dressed.
**********************************************************
"Setsuna, I must ask a favor of you," Michiru said.
"Oh, what is it?" Setsuna asked.
"Seiya and I are going to the mall today. He asked me to help him pick out a gift for Haruka since her birthday is coming up. Well, I know that he and Haruka have promised to be friends, but I know Haruka, and I know she'll be jealous, and she'll want to come along. If you don't mind, could you keep her busy just for today?" Michiru asked.
"Of course," Setsuna said, glad to have someone stay at home with her. Hotaru had left yesterday to spend the next few nights at the temple with Rei.
"Good morning everyone," Haruka said as she walked into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of tea and plopped down on the seat next to Michiru.
"Good morning," Setsuna and Michiru said simultaneously.
"It's going to be a lovely day," Haruka noted, staring out the window, "we should go for a drive to the beach," she suggested.
"I'd love to, but I'm busy today," Michiru said.
"Oh?" Haruka asked, surprised.
"Yes," Michiru said.
DING DONG
"I wonder who that could be?" Haruka asked. "I'll get it," she said as she leaped up from her chair.
"Hi!" she exclaimed as she opened the door to see Seiya standing there.
"Hey," Seiya said. He and Haruka were on good terms now, and he was really happy about that. Haruka was a really cool person if she wasn't your enemy.
"Come in," Haruka said leading him in. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, is Michiru here?" Seiya asked.
"Oh," Haruka said, the look on her face getting suspicious. "Let me get her..."
"Michiru, darling," Haruka called out, emphasizing the "darling", "Seiya's here to see you."
"Oh, I'm coming. Hi!" she greeted as she saw Seiya.
"Are you ready?" Seiya asked her.
"Ready for what?" Haruka asked, positioning herself between Seiya and Michiru.
"Seiya's taking me to the mall today," Michiru said, "I'll be back this afternoon."
"Wait one minute! He is taking you no such place, and if he is, I'm coming!" Haruka shouted.
"Actually, Haruka, darling," Michiru said, emphasizing the darling, "we are going alone. I'll see you later, bye" she said as she gave Haruka a little kiss on the check and waltzed out the door.
"But..." Haruka said as the door slammed in her face. She scrambled to find her jacket and shoes. She would follow them to see what they were doing. Just as she was about to make her way outside, Setsuna called out, "Haruka, come here please!"
"SIGH! I'm coming!" Haruka called out as she jogged over to Setsuna's room. "Yes?"
She walked in to see around 10 photo albums lying on Setsuna's bed.
"I think it's about time we organized our photos," Setsuna said.
"Oh, I would really like to, but I'm busy," Haruka said quickly. As she turned around to make her exit, Setsuna grabbed her arm, "But the photos really need organizing," Setsuna said, glaring at Haruka.
"Ok, ok ok ok." Haruka said as she plopped down on the bed.
*************************************************
"Well, thanks for helping me find a present for her," Seiya said.
"No problem," Michiru said.
"I'm really gonna get it, aren't I? Haruka was so mad..." Seiya shivered at the thought of Haruka being angry .
"I'll talk to her, don't worry. And since we're here, I hope you don't mind if I look around a bit?" Michiru asked.
"Oh, no of course not," Seiya said. Anything to keep him from facing Haruka.
*****************************************
"Oh, Hotaru looks so kawaii in this picture!" Setsuna exclaimed as she waved it in Haruka's face.
"Yes, she does," Haruka said. I can't take it anymore! Haruka shouted within herself.
She stood up and said through clenched teeth, "I really need to leave now."
"But..." Setsuna started. Before she could finish, Haruka had raced down the steps. Setsuna ran after her and jumped into the car right before it was going to leave the driveway.
"Can I come?" she asked.
"Sure," Haruka said.
***********************************************
"Oh dear," Michiru said, "the zippers stuck," she said as she pointed to a zipper on the back of a dress she had tried on. "If you don't mind..."
"Oh," Seiya said, his face turning as red as an apple, "I really don't think I should."
"Oh no, not that," Michiru started, her face turning the same shade as his, "just can you get it unstuck? That's all,"
"Oh, well that would be ok. Step out of the dressing room for a second," Seiya asked. He tugged at the zipper. It really was stuck.
************************************************
Haruka was speed walking through all the stores, looking for any sign of Michiru or Seiya. Setsuna was doing her best to keep up. Just as Haruka was about to leave a store, she saw Seiya unzipping Michiru's dress.
******************************
"There...I..." Seiya started to say but he couldn't finish. He was tackled to the floor. He looked up to see Haruka about to punch him.
"I knew I couldn't trust you! WHY WERE YOU TRYING TO UNDRESS MY MICHIRU?!?!?! You thing!!!!" Haruka shouted.
Haruka was blind with rage, and she couldn't see where she was punching. She totally missed Seiya, and hit a manikin instead. It fell ontop of them.
"Get off him, Haruka!" Michiru shouted, trying to pull the two apart. No one was coming to her aid because they were off in a corner of the department store, and no one happened to be in that area. Michiru picked up the manikin and threw it, not knowing where.
"Ouch!" Setsuna cried as it hit her. "What in the world is going on here?" she panted. She had finally caught up with Haruka.
"Help me get them away from eachother!" Michiru shouted desperately. She managed to get Haruka off of Seiya, and Setsuna helped Seiya up.
"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Haruka cried, struggling to get out of Michiru's arms.
"Calm down, Haruka. Let me explain," Michiru said.
"What is there to explain? He was trying to undress you. AGAIN!" Haruka shouted.
"No he wasn't. My zipper was stuck and he was trying to get it unstuck, that's all," Michiru said.
"Oh," Haruka said, still suspicious.
"Are you ok?" Setsuna asked Seiya.
"Ya, I'm fine. She missed me," Seiya said.
"I think you should apologize, Haruka," Michiru said.
"I'm sorry," Haruka said sarcastically, glaring at Seiya.
"Well, be glad you hit like a girl, or else I would be dead!" Seiya said.
"Why you?!?! I do not hit like a girl! Would you like me to demonstrate?" Haruka asked as she attempted to lunge forward and punch Seiya. Michiru held her back.
"Stop it! If you two don't settle down, we might get in trouble! Now, I want to stay, but if you two misbehave one more time, we'll all go home!" Michiru said.
Silently, they all walked out of the store. As they were walking they saw Taiki and Yaten.
"Hey," Yaten called out. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Hi," Michiru said. "What are you two doing here?"
"Well, we just wanted to check out some sales," Yaten said.
"We need to be on our way," Taiki said, "but if you guys want, we can meet you at the Cafe by the park around 8."
"Sure, that'll be great," Seiya said thinking, Safety in numbers.
"Ok. Bye then! See you later!" Yaten called out as he and Taiki walked away.
They wandered through some more stores, and then they decided it was time to leave. As they were walking towards the exit, Haruka realized Setsuna was missing.
"Hey, wait a minute," Haruka said. "Where's Setsuna?"
"Hugh? I don't know," Michiru said sounding worried.
They retraced their steps, and saw Setsuna in the candy store. She was running around, her eyes shining like a child's. "Candy! Candy!" she shouted as she ran through the store.
The mall will close in 5 minutes, an overhead voice called out.
"Oh, Setsuna, we should be going," Haruka said nervously, thinking of what had happened last time.
The mall will close in 4 minutes.
"I want candy!" Setsuna declared.
"Ok, we'll get you some," Seiya said. He didn't want to think about what had happened last time he had heard the overhead voice.
"We don't have time, sweetie," Michiru said, using her sweet, gentle voice.
"Don't call me sweetie! I'm not a baby!" Setsuna said. "But I want candy!"
The mall will close in 3 minutes.
"No, come on!" Haruka said as she started to drag Setsuna out of the store.
"No!" Setsuna shouted as she planted her feet firmly on the ground.
The mall will close in 2 minutes.
"Oh, no! Oh, no!" Seiya said starting to panic. He grabbed Setsuna by the hand and started dragging her out.
The mall will close in 1 minute.
"NO, I don't wanna go! I want candy!" Setsuna shouted.
Good-bye.
The lights blinked out, and then the overhead lights turned on. Setsuna stood there for a minute, shocked, but then ran to the candy bins and sampled every kind of candy there was, her face looking as content as ever.
"It's ok. It's ok. I'm ok. We'll be ok. Everything will be ok," Seiya was chanting to himself.
"Calm down. Calm down. There is no such thing as ghosts. There is no such thing as ghosts," Haruka started repeating.
Seiya joined in and they chanted together.
"Be quiet!" Michiru shouted. "It's ok. Let's get to an exit, we know where they are this time," Michiru said. After quite a while, they got Setsuna out and started towards an exit.
"Hey, wait a minute. We're supposed to meet Taiki and Yaten at the Cafe. When they see we aren't there, they will realize we're in here!" Haruka said with a sigh of relief.
"Uh, you spoke a bit too soon," Michiru said.
Haruka looked ahead of her, and who did she see but none other than Taiki and Yaten themselves.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she shouted.
"Well, hi to you, too," Yaten said.
"You guys are stuck in here also?" Setsuna asked disappointedly. She had regained her normal mind, and she knew what kind of situation they were in.
"Ya," Yaten said, "Taiki just had to go to the textbook store," Yaten said as he glared at Taiki.
"I'm sorry. Don't get mad at me just because I want to be smart, and perfect. Well wait, I am smart and perfect. Hehehe," Taiki said.
"We were hoping you guys would realize we were stuck in here when we didn't show up at the Cafe," Yaten said.
"Same here," Haruka said.
"Well, let's find an exit together," Seiya said. Safety in numbers, he was still thinking.
After a few minutes of trudging along silently, Taiki attempted to break the silence.
"This is major deja-vu you guys," he said.
"Shut-up!" they all shouted at him.
"Sorry," he said.
They walked along in silence for a few more minutes.
"Oh great," Seiya groaned.
"What?" Setsuna asked.
"It's another two day holiday," he sighed.
"WHY ME?!?! WHY?!?!" Yaten exclaimed to the ceiling.
"It's ok. We've gone through this before," Michiru called out.
"Well, this is better than guarding the Gates," Setsuna said.
"I think we should just all go to sleep," Taiki said, yawning.
"Good idea," Michiru said. They walked over to where they had slept before, and each of them picked a bed.
************************************************
It seemed like hours had passed, but only a few minutes had passed while Haruka lay on her bed. Everyone was asleep, or so she thought. Suddenly, she had to use the restroom.
She slowly climbed off her bed, and tip-toed over to the nearest bathroom, warily looking around her as she walked. When she was done, she was making her way over to the store where everyone was sleeping when she saw a familiar light.
Remember me, my dear old friend
I told you we would meet again
and now we have, and the time is right
Oh, this is such a delight!
Haruka stood there, frozen to the ground. She stared as the Mall Ghost flew towards her, and at the last possible second, she broke out into a run. She ran all the way down to the other end of the mall, and as she was looking back behind her, she bumped into someone, and they both fell with a thump to the ground.
"AHHH!" Haruka shouted.
"Haruka?" the person asked.
"Seiya?" Haruka said, recognizing the voice, "What are you doing all the way down here?"
"I needed a sweater, so I decided to get one from the Sweater Store."
"Oh," then she remembered about the Mall Ghost, "AHH!" she screamed again.
"WHAT?!??!" Seiya asked, panicking.
"The Mall Ghost!" Haruka screamed.
"Come on!" Seiya shouted as he got off the floor and ran towards the direction which the Mall Ghost was coming.
"NO! Not that way!!!!!!!!" Haruka screamed.
Seiya realized that he was going the wrong direction only a second in time. He screeched to a halt, turned around, and came speeding down towards Haruka, arms flailing wildly.
"AHHH!" They both screamed in unison as they ran towards the end of the mall. They came to a dead end.
"What are we gonna do?" Seiya said hysterically.
"We're gonna die," Haruka shouted.
"What in the name of Time is going on here?" Setsuna asked as she saw Seiya and Haruka running in wild circles around eachother.
"Oh, Setsuna!" Seiya said as he flung himself onto her.
"Save us!" Haruka cried as she clung onto Seiya.
"Calm down. Get off me!" Setsuna said. "Now, what's the matter?"
"The Mall Ghost!" Seiya wailed.
"I don't see a Mall Ghost," Setsuna stated calmly. "I think you two need to get some sleep, come on," she said as she led them towards the store everyone else was sleeping in.
"You two were making so much noise," Setsuna said, but she realized they weren't following.
She looked behind her and saw that they were hugging eachother in fear.
"Now what's wrong?" she asked.
Haruka was staring intently at the Mall Ghost who was just infront of Setsuna.
"Watch out! It's the Mall Ghost!" Seiya shouted.
Setsuna whirled around and saw empty air. "I don't see anything," she said hesitantly.
"It disappeared," Haruka whispered. She and Seiya looked around in awe, like two children who had entered a toy store. They then recovered and Haruka said, "Well of course it disappeared. It always disappears when someone other than Seiya or myself comes around it."
"Hey, is this the ghost that Michiru told me you were hallucinating last time you were stuck in the mall?" Setsuna asked.
"Yes, that's it!" Seiya exclaimed. "Do you believe us?"
Setsuna thought for a moment and then replied, "No."
"No one believes me!" Seiya wailed. "Does this look like the face of a person who would lie to you?" he asked Setsuna as he made his face as innocent looking as possible.
Setsuna glanced at Seiya and starting laughing. "We're going back, you guys, come on."
They all walked towards the store, and as quietly as possible, got into their beds.
Haruka tried with all her might to stay awake, but she was exhausted, and soon she fell into a deep sleep.
************************************************
She opened her eyes, and she saw the sunlight coming through the window. She saw everyone was awake and they were groggily walking around.
"Good morning," she mumbled.
"Hi," Taiki mumbled.
"Was I talking to you?" Haruka asked.
"Uhhhh..." Taiki said thinking about it.
"No, I wasn't. Good morning everyone but Taiki," Haruka said.
"Good morning," Michiru replied.
"Oh no!" Yaten exclaimed, "where's Setsuna?"
"To the candy store!" Seiya shouted as he ran past the sleepy bunch.
They all did their best to keep up with him, and they all reached the candy store out of breath. They stopped and looked around, and not surprisingly, there was Setsuna, sitting infront of the gummy worm bin, pigging out like there was no tomorrow.
"Setsuna, slow down there," Taiki said.
"Zheesh ura freliciosh!" Setsuna exclaimed.
"What?!?" Haruka asked.
Setsuna chewed, swallowed, and tried again, "These are delicious!"
"Mind if I join you?" Yaten asked.
"Pig out!" Setsuna invited. They all lunged forward, and started to eat their hearts out.
Half an Hour later:
Everyone lay across the floor of the shop, groaning and clutching their stomachs.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmuhmmmmmmmmgmmmm," Haruka groaned.
"BURP!!!!!" Taiki burped.
"How disgusting!" Michiru exclaimed wrinkling her nose, "say excuse me!" she commanded.
"Excuse me," Taiki said rolling his eyes.
"I agree with her," Yaten said, "you are disgusting."
"You're a big cockroach, that's what you are! And lying there on that floor makes you look like a dead cockroach!" Seiya said, hiccuping with laughter.
"I agree!" Haruka said.
Everyone started laughing, and Setsuna was laughing hardest of all.
"This is the best time I've ever had!" Setsuna exclaimed.
Everyone groaned.
"Try going through this twice," Haruka said, "and with an insane ghost trying to kill you."
"Haruka, please, you're making me worry," Michiru said, "let's forget about this ghost and have fun, ok?"
"But I try to forget, the ghost doesn't forget though, it keeps coming!" She exclaimed.
"And it tries to kill us!" Seiya added.
"Let's forget about this ghost business!" Yaten commanded, "I've had enough of it! Now, let's have fun!"
"Yes, let's!" Setsuna said. They walked around the mall, going in every store, trying on clothes.
They spent their day having fun, and Seiya and Haruka were both beginning to forget about the Mall Ghost. Everyone was exhausted after the fun-filled day, and they all eagerly went to bed awaiting the next day which they knew would be more fun than even this day was.
***********************
Haruka's eyes flew open, and she blinked several times into the darkness. She had a sudden urge to go eat some more candy, so she tip-toed out of the store.
Seiya had been awake, and he saw Haruka get up and walk out. I wonder where she's going, he thought, I better go after her so she doesn't get into any trouble. He got up and followed Haruka.
After a while, it became apparent that she was heading in the direction of the candy store. Seiya decided he felt like eating candy too, and was about to call out to her, but suddenly she had disappeared.
Where did she go? Seiya asked himself.
He wandered into the candy store and heard a faint pounding on the wall. He whirled around in a circle, checking to see if the Mall Ghost was there but he didn't see any faint glowing light.
"Let me out!" he heard Haruka's voice call out. He could hardly hear it, but he moved to the direction of the pounding, which was behind the gumboil bin.
"Is that you Haruka?" Seiya asked.
"Yes!" he heard a faint reply, "Now let me out!"
"How?"
"Reach down to the very bottom of the gumball bin and push, but jump back so..." but she couldn't finish.
Seiya reached into the bin, pushed, and the wall swiftly opened and pushed him into a dimly lit room. There were a few torches on the wall, and he could hear the soft drip-drip on water hitting the stone ground. Haruka stood just a few feet away from him, fighting the urge to strangle him.
"You idiot!" Haruka shouted, "I told you to stand back!"
"Oops, I'm so sorry," Seiya apologized. Haruka just glared at him, "Don't hurt me!" Seiya begged cowering in a corner.
"Well, I would, but then I would have no one to help me get out. Who knows when the others will realize we're stuck in a secret room in the candy store."
"We're dead for sure!" Seiya wailed.
"Just don't say anything, so we can hear if they come!" Haruka ordered. They both stood there, leaning against the wall, for two hours.
"Is it morning yet?" Seiya whispered.
"Shut-up!" Haruka shouted. Seiya did as he was told.
Another hour passed by, and then they could hear voices approaching.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, diddely diddley, there they are all standing in a row...bum bum bum.." they heard Taiki singing.
"Shut-up!" they heard Yaten yell.
"Oh, where could they be?" Michiru asked worriedly.
"In here!" Haruka shouted.
"Did you hear something?" Setsuna asked.
"...Big ones, small ones...." Taiki started again.
"Shut-up!" Yaten shouted.
"It's me! Haruka!" Haruka shouted.
"Haruka?" Michiru asked, "Where are you?"
"In the wall by the gumball bin!" Haruka shouted back. She and Seiya could hear everyone walk over to the wall.
"How did you get in the gumball bin?" Taiki asked.
"We're not in the gumball bin, stupid," Seiya shouted, "We're in the wall behind the gumball bin."
"Oh," Taiki said sheepishly.
"How did you get in there?" Michiru asked.
"Just reach into the gumball bin and push, but..." Haruka started but her voice was blocked out by Taiki's singing.
"Some as big as your head!" Taiki shouted as Haruka was telling them to jump back when they pushed the bottom.
"Ok!" Yaten shouted as he pushed the bottom and in came Yaten, Taiki, Setsuna, and Michiru, and as quickly as it had opened, the door closed.
"Oh, no!" Seiya cried out.
"Haruka you're safe!" Michiru said as she ran into her arms.
"Ya, I'm here, don't worry," Haruka reassured Michiru. Then she stepped back and shouted to everyone but Michiru and Seiya, "Didn't you hear me tell you to jump back?"
"No..." Yaten said, "Taiki was singing!"
Everyone glared at Taiki, and he said, "If looks could kill, I'd majorly be dead."
"You will be dead, and so will all of us if we don't get out of here!" Yaten shouted.
"Hey, calm down," Setsuna said, "we are senshi after all, let's just blast out of here."
"Good idea!" Michiru exclaimed.
"Uranus Planet Power, Make-up!"
"Neptune Planet Power, Make-up!"
"Pluto Planet Power, Make-up!"
"Fighter Star Power, Make-up!"
"Healer Star Power, Make-up!"
"Maker-Star Power, Make-up!"
They all transformed. "World Shaking!" they blast hit the door and died out.
Sailor Uranus just stared dumb-founded at the door. "How..but why..."
"I'll try!" StarMaker shouted, "Star Gentle Uterus!" the attack didn't even get to the door before it was put out.
"Haha, retard," Sailor Uranus laughed.
"Let's try all together," Sailor Neptune suggested.
"Ok," Star Healer said.
"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
"Dead Scream!"
"Star Serious Laser!"
"Star Sensitive Inferno!"
"Star Gentle Uterus!"
They watched as the big joint attack hit the wall and simply vanished.
"We're dead," Star Fighter squeaked.
"Maybe there's another way out," Sailor Pluto suggested.
"Oh, come on!" Sailor Uranus said, "we defeated Mistress Nine and all those other people, we can't lose to a...a...wall...!"
"Actually, I think we can," Sailor Neptune said.
"Let's untransform and just look for a way out," Star Fighter suggested.
"But..." before Sailor Uranus could object everyone had untransformed, and she did too.
"Wait a minute..." Yaten started, "there is no door here, it's just a room."
"Oh," everyone said, realizing that it was just a room.
"Well, maybe there's a secret passage in the secret room," Taiki suggested.
" I wonder how long it'll take them to realize we could just teleport out of here," Setsuna pondered to herself, " Oh, well. I'll let them figure it out. I'm having fun for once, anyway."
"Hey, you might be right for once," Yaten said. He started walking around pushing all the blocks of stone. "Help me, you guys," he said. Soon everyone was helping, but after pushing all the blocks, there was no secret passage to be found. "SIGH!" Taiki exclaimed as he plopped down on the ground. The floor beneath him opened, and he fell down without as much as a scream.
"Let's follow him!" Seiya yelled as he jumped into the hole.
"Michiru, I won't let you, you'll get hurt," Haruka said.
"No, I won't," Michiru said and she jumped in.
"Sigh," Haruka said as she jumped in after her.
She landed on top of Michiru.
"Ow!" Michiru yelped as Haruka fell on her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Haruka apologized.
"It's ok," Michiru said, "I like it when you're on top of me."
Teardrop on everyone.
Seiya cleared his throat and said, "Well..uh...as you can all see, we're in a hall it looks like, so we should just wander around and check this place out."
"Ok, good plan," Haruka said as she got up and helped Michiru up. She dusted herself off, and started after Seiya. They trooped down the hall, taking twists and turns, but soon they ended up right where they started.
"This place looks majorly familiar," Taiki said.
A groan was heard from among the group.
"What are we going to do?" Seiya asked.
Setsuna, who had kept quiet the whole time, said, "Maybe, we should take a different route, and mark our trail with..." and she walked over to Taiki and grabbed from his pocket and said, "gummy worms."
"But what if we need food, and all of it is laying on this disgusting dirty, stone floor?" Taiki wailed.
"We have food, don't worry," Michiru said.
"Oh, ya?" Taiki asked.
"Don't doubt my Michiru!" Haruka shouted as she raised her fist about to punch Taiki.
"Wait," Haruka said lowering her fist, "do we?"
"Well," Michiru started, "I do have..." and she pulled out of the pockets of her skirt 10 bags full of a variety of candy.
Setsuna's mouth watered.
"Hey, if you have so much candy, why don't we use yours to drop on the floor?" Taiki asked.
"Hey, are you trying to steal my Michiru's food?" Haruka asked.
"Uh...noo...of course not," Taiki squeaked.
"Good," Haruka said grabbing the gummy worms from Taiki's hand, "come on," and they all followed Haruka through the halls.
After an hour of walking they came back to they room they had started in, again.
"How the hell did we get here again?" Haruka asked murder in her eyes.
She scanned the room, looking at the clueless faces, until her eyes rested on Taiki's face. Guilt was written all over it.
"Taiki!" Haruka screamed.
"I was hungry and I ate some of the gummy worms.." he said in a speedy sentence.
"Some!??!?! Some!?!?!" Try all!!" Haruka shouted, "You huge fat ugly cockroach!" she spit out.
"I'm sorry. Spare me Oh Mighty Haruka! Spare me!" Taiki begged as he kneeled infront of Haruka.
Haruka glared at him, stepped on his hand, and walked away.
"So, any ideas?" Seiya asked.
"I wanna go home!" Taiki cried out as he held up his hand.
"Shut-up!" Yaten shouted. "I think we should try one more time, anyone up for it?"
"I am because standing around here is going to do us any good," Michiru said.
"I agree," Haruka said, "Come on," and she walked away.
Seiya followed as fast as he could, but he was fascinated by the ancient secret passage. He would slow down every once in a while to take a good look at his surroundings. One time, he didn't start walking until it was too late. "Uh-oh," he said out loud to himself, "where did everyone go?" He looked ahead and saw the hall empty as if no one had ever walked through it before.
"This is not good! This is definitely not good!" Seiya started running through the halls, but there were so many twists and turns that he lost his sense of direction. He slowed down and decided that while he was by himself, he might as well look around....
Meanwhile, back with everyone else....
It took them ten minutes before Setsuna said, "Seiya's gone."
Haruka jumped around and looked at everyone, wearing the same puzzled expression as everyone else.
"Let's retrace our steps," Michiru suggested, "Maybe he remembered the rule to hug a tree and stay put if you get lost."
"There are no trees here," Taiki stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, duh!" Yaten said. "She said that metaphorically."
"Well, do you think he would have followed the rule?" Setsuna asked.
Yaten and Taiki looked at eachother and said, "No."
"Sigh, one more problem to add to our many!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Well, we can't just leave him behind," Michiru said.
"I know, we'll go find him," Haruka said, and they started retracing their steps.
Back with Seiya...
Seiya walked through the halls at his own leisurely pace examining all the old walls. He didn't know why, but old walls were fascinating to him. Suddenly, he felt the presence of a dim light behind him. He turned around and there, before him stood, the Mall Ghost.
I see your lost and all alone
You have no way to find your home
Why, then, don't you come with me?
We'll have fun, you'll see!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Seiya screamed as he ran for his life.
Back with the others....
"Oh, where oh where can Seiya be? OH where oh where can he be?" Taiki sang.
"Can't you just shut-up for one second?" Yaten shouted, "One measly second????"
"Ok." Taiki said then, "He's got long black hair and he's..."
"SHUTUP!!!!!!!!!" Yaten shouted at the top of his lungs. When he stopped shouted, everyone could still hear someone yelling.
They saw a running figure coming towards them, and as it came closer, they saw it was Seiya.
"Run! It's the Mall Ghost!" he screamed as he ran past the group.
Haruka broke out into a run right away. Everyone stared after them and saw nothing chasing them.
"Haruka! Come back! There's nothing there!" Michiru shouted.
"Let's follow them before we lose them!" Yaten said. They all started running after them.
************************************
"Did we lose it?" Seiya said breathlessly.
Haruka looked behind her and didn't see the dim light. "I think so," she said.
"We also lost something else. The group." Seiya stated.
"No! Another problem to add to our many problems!" Haruka said. "How many times do I say that?" she asked herself.
"Well, let's just go look for them," Seiya suggested.
"Ok, I guess," Haruka said forgetting about the hug-a-tree rule.
They walked in silence for a while, then Seiya exclaimed, "Look! A room! And it's not the one we started from!"
"Let's check it out," Haruka said.
It looked simple enough, with a couch, a bed, a table, a chair, a t.v. and a fridge.
"What if the Phantom of the Opera lives here?" Seiya asked in awe.
"You idiot, the Phantom of the Opera lives in the Opera," Haruka stated.
"Oh," Seiya said disappointedly.
"I'm so tired," Haruka said during a yawn.
"But we should look for the others," Seiya said.
"No, I'm just gonna take a nap," Haruka said as she walked towards the bed.
"Well, I guess I will too," Seiya said following Haruka.
"Wait one minute!" Haruka started, "this bed is not big enough for the two of us, and only if you were to sleep on top of me," Haruka and Seiya both shivered at the thought of that, "which you are not, you can sleep on the bed."
"But..." Seiya protested.
"No buts. You go sleep on the couch!" Haruka demanded.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeee," Seiya sighed.
He walked over to the couch, and even before he could get his eyes closed, Haruka's snores filled the room. He lay wide-eyed on the couch, trying to fall asleep, but he just couldn't.
"Michiru...hehe..." Haruka murmured in her sleep.
"Oh, great," Seiya said out loud.
"Oooh, that feels good, Michiru. More..." Haruka continued, "I love you Michiru...hehe...I can tell....you love me too....hehehe."
Seiya couldn't take anymore so he marched over to Haruka and shook her until she was awake.
Haruka blinked several times until she could see a clear picture of Seiya standing over her.
"You thing!!!" Haruka started. It was then Seiya realized that what he had done was a fatal mistake. "You woke me up!"
"I'm sorry, but..." Seiya started as he slowly backed away.
"I was dreaming, you thing!!!!" Haruka said madly as she stood up.
"Yes, but you see, that was the problem. Yes it was the problem, because you see, um...your talking in your sleep made me unable to fall asleep and I don't know what you were dreaming about, nor do I want to know, because well, I guess you were enjoying it from the sounds of it, but you see, I was not enjoying it..." Seiya insanely rambled in terror.
"Stop babbling! You are such a headache. I was perfectly content in my dream world, and you had to bring me out of it!!!" Haruka said get closer and closer to Seiya.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So very sorry. Please...WAAAAAAAAAA" Seiya started wailing. If it works for Taiki, it might work for me, Seiya thought.
"You are such a crybaby! Wait until I tell Usagi..." Haruka said with an evil grin.
The wailing stopped immediately. "Oh, no. Please don't. Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Seiya asked.
"I'll think about it," Haruka stated, "but as for now, I have to hurt you."
Seiya stopped backing away and cowered in the spot he was standing in. The blow did not come. He looked up and saw Haruka staring at him.
"I just can't hurt you," Haruka said. Seiya smiled, and started walking towards Haruka, and then, BAM, Haruka's fist came flying into his face. Seiya fell back and looked up at Haruka, "I thought you said you couldn't hurt me," Seiya whined.
"I forgot to finish. I can't hurt you when you're cowering like you were. Besides, now you know that I don't hit like a girl."
******************************************************************
"Where can they be?" Yaten asked.
"They'll be ok. Haruka's there and she'll protect Seiya," Michiru said.
"We have to find them. We really need to get out of this place," Taiki stated.
"No, really? I thought we should stay in here forever. At least that's what I'm planning to do," Yaten said sarcastically.
"Oh, well I'm planning to get out of here," Taiki said not having caught the sarcasm.
"I was being sarcastic you idiot!" Yaten shouted.
"Oh," Taiki said puzzled.
"Ok, should we split up?" Setsuna asked.
"Maybe that would be the best thing to do," Michiru said.
"But what if we can't find eachother?" Taiki whined.
"We should take chances," Yaten said.
"Yes, we might run into eachother or we might not. If one of us gets out, then we could get help or something," Michiru said.
"Maybe we could get Ami to get down here with her computer," Setsuna suggested.
"Ya. That's a great idea. Ami could get us out!" Taiki exclaimed.
"Someone has a crush on Ami," Yaten said.
"I do not!" Taiki stated.
"Don't deny it, Taiki. We all know what went on during that study session you had with her," Yaten said.
Taiki blushed, but didn't say anything.
"I wonder what you two were studying," Setsuna said, joining in with the fun.
"Ok, that's enough. Let's split up," Taiki said trying to change the subject.
"Ok, I'll go with Yaten," Michiru said, "and Setsuna and Taiki go together."
"YES!!!" Yaten exclaimed, "NO MORE TAIKI. I'm sorry Setsuna. Good luck. Come on," he said dragging Michiru behind him.
"Ok, so where should we start?" Setsuna asked.
"I don't know. Let's go this way," Taiki said pointing to a dark hallway.
"Ok. I don't think we've been that way before."
*************************************
"Who lives down here, anyway?" Seiya asked.
"I don't know. Maybe..." Haruka started.
"What?" Seiya asked.
"Nothing. Nevermind."
"What?? What??? Tell me. Please?? No one ever tells me anything!!" Seiya whined.
"I was just thinking that...well nothing. It's stupid," Haruka said.
"I won't think it's stupid and even if it is that's ok. Tell me! Please??" Seiya asked.
"Maybe..." Haruka started.
Who has stumbled upon my home?
Who has invaded my privacy?
Who dares to make me angry?
Whoever you are, you shall be sorry!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! The Mall Ghost lives here!!" Seiya shouted.
"Run for your life!!!!!!" Haruka shouted.
"It's blocking the exit!!!!" Seiya shouted.
"Is that you guys?" they heard a voice call out. The Mall Ghost vanished.
"Setsuna?" Haruka called out.
"We're in the room thing!" Seiya shouted.
"We found you! Cool!" Taiki exclaimed as he skipped into the room.
Haruka and Seiya both groaned.
"Where's everyone else?" Haruka asked.
"We decided to split up," Setsuna said.
"Oh, then how are we going to find the others again?" Seiya asked.
"It's luck, bro. Pure luck," Taiki said.
"Ooooooooooooook then," Seiya said.
"What is this place?" Setsuna asked.
"Its the home of the Mall Ghost!" Seiya exclaimed.
"Ah, yes. The Mall Ghost," Taiki said rolling his eyes.
"Oh, Setsuna!" Seiya said clinging on to her, "You gotta believe me!"
"I don't think there's a Mall Ghost," Setsuna said pushing Seiya off her.
"We have to start looking for Yaten and Michiru," Taiki said.
"Yes, I hope my Michiru is all right," Haruka said worriedly.
"She's fine," Setsuna said.
"Ok, let's just get away from this place!" Seiya said as he started walking towards the exit. Everyone followed.
*********************************************
"How long have we been walking?" Yaten whined.
"I don't know," Michiru said. "Have we been walking in circles?"
"I really don't think so. This all looks different. If only we knew which way Setsuna and Taiki had gone, then maybe we could find them."
"I wonder if they found Haruka and Seiya yet," Michiru asked.
"Hopefully. Then we can focus on getting out of here. The mall's probably open by now."
"Yes. All I want is to go home and be with Haruka," Michiru said.
*Teardrop* "Ahh, well..I need some sleep. We haven't had sleep in like a long time."
"Maybe one day. I'm not sure," Michiru said, "I've lost track of time. This is when we need Setsuna."
"Hey, I think I see something up there!" Yaten exclaimed pointing ahead.
"Haruka?" Michiru called out.
*******************************************************
"Did you hear something?" Taiki asked.
"Haruka?" the faint voice called out.
"Michiru??" Haruka said straining to hear the voice.
"Haruka!" Michiru shouted as she ran in Haruka's arms.
"You're safe!" Haruka said.
"Where's Yaten?" Seiya asked.
"I'm here," Yaten said as he ran up to the group.
"Great! We're all here. Now, let's find an exit," Setsuna said.
"I have no idea where to start," Haruka said.
"What if there is no way out? What if we stay in here and starve to death and eat eachother and die and then haunt the halls and watch other people die just like us?" Taiki whined.
"Shut-up Taiki!" Yaten shouted, "If you have nothing intelligent to say, don't say anything at all."
"I always have something intelligent to say!" Taiki stated.
"You go ahead believing that," Yaten said.
"I will!" Taiki exclaimed.
"Ok, back to business," Yaten said ignoring Taiki, "what should we do?"
"Hey, I know you'll think I'm crazy, but..." Haruka started.
"What?" Michiru asked.
"What if we ask the Mall Ghost how to get out?" Haruka suggested.
"WHAT?!?! Have you gone insane!!!" Seiya shouted.
"Well, it was an idea," Haruka said defensively.
"Haruka, there is no Mall Ghost. Please believe me," Michiru said calmly.
"Oh, but there is!" Haruka said.
"Come on, let's go this way," Setsuna said ignoring Haruka.
"We'll never find a way out!" Yaten said.
"Stop being so pessimistic!" Taiki shouted.
"Sorry..." Yaten said.
After walking for several more hours...
"I've been walking in this hallway, all the livelong day...I've been walking in this hallway just to pass the time away..." Taiki sang.
"Shut-up! Just please shut-up. For once in you demented life shut-up!" Yaten begged.
"But..." Taiki started, but he tripped and fell before he could finish.
"Ouchy!" he exclaimed. "Hey, look. It's a weird trap door thingy!"
"Where?" everyone shouted as they crowded around Taiki.
"Please, please, don't get too close," Taiki said. "I know you want to, but you're invading my personal bubble."
"Show us the trap door!" Haruka shouted.
"Ok, ok. It's right here," Taiki said pointing to a door with a little metal doorknob attached to it.
"I'll open it!" Haruka said as she tugged at the door. "It's stuck!" she exclaimed.
"Let me try," Seiya said, "the trick is the turn the doorknob before pulling," and as he did so, the door came loose.
Everyone peered through the opening.
"Hey, how did we get above the mall?" Setsuna asked.
"Above the mall?" Taiki asked puzzled.
"Yes. This door is in the ceiling. If we drop down, we'd go right into Victoria's Secret.," Michiru said.
"This is weird you guys, majorly weird," Taiki said.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!" Seiya shouted.
"We can't just fall out of the ceiling for the whole store to see. People are in there!" Yaten said.
"Are you saying we wait until the mall closes?" Setsuna asked.
"No, of course not!" Yaten exclaimed, "Let's just wait for the area to clear up."
They waiting until the area they would jump into was empty.
"Ok, let's go," Haruka said. She jumped out and landed on a manikin. Michiru jumped out after her. "Haruka, that isn't real," Michiru said.
"What?" Haruka asked, then she saw the manikin she was hugging, "Of course it isn't. I didn't realize it was there." and she quickly stood up. Taiki jumped and fell on top of her.
"Get off me you thing!" Haruka shouted as she pushed Taiki off of her.
"Sorry," Taiki said. Everyone jumped out, and they all walked out of the store getting only a few weird stares.
"Well, we made it!" Seiya exclaimed.
"Finally! Freedom!" Yaten shouted.
"I'm hungry," Setsuna said, "Can we visit the candy store?"
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo," Haruka and Michiru both shouted as they started walking towards the exit, dragging Setsuna along.
"It's ok if we get stuck in the mall again, though," Setsuna said.
"What? Are you crazy?" Taiki shouted.
"No. If we get stuck, we could just teleport out," Setsuna stated calmly.
No one said a word.
"WHAT?!?!" Haruka said breaking the silence. "Are you saying that you knew we could teleport out the whole time, and you didn't tell us?"
"Yes," Setsuna asked with a smile creeping across her face.
"ARGHURGHARGH!" Taiki exclaimed yanking the hair from his head.
"What...? But how...? Why...?" Seiya asked himself, puzzled.
"I can't believe this! I just can't believe this! We've been stuck in this mall twice, and none of us though of teleporting! Well, except Setsuna, that is, but she didn't tell us!" Yaten shouted.
No one spoke as they all stood still shocked at their own stupidity.
"This was very fun!" Setsuna exclaimed with delight, breaking the silence. Everyone groaned and started walking towards the exit.
WHAT?!?!?! You could just teleport out of here?
Is that the news I hear?
Then there's no chance for you to be stuck here again!
I guess it's the end, my friends. It's the bitter end.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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