Resurfacing

Author's Ramblings: How was it? Story 15, we mean. Did it actually work
out in the way that it was supposed to? Was it good enough to appease the
fans that we've managed to accumulate over the last few months? Were the
plot holes big enough to drive semis through, or were they only big enough
for an average adult to walk through? Are you sick of our questions yet?
This story will feature some characters from first season who have not yet
been re-introduced. If that's a problem, too bad. It's part of second
season and that's not our fault(s). And, while you're at it...
Enjoy!
--Kate and Christina--
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Last time, on Galactic Gals...

The Scouts sensed evil and had their first Scout Meeting in three
years. Much has changed. The twins, Aeris and Peter, are now training to
be Warriors. Lyra and Richard are both living in his apartment--both with
separate rooms. Hannah and Brian have an infant daughter. Ambriel has some
sort of sick fascination with birds. Reeny is in college. Tara has a
little brother. And Haley (though I'll bet money that NO ONE caught this)
now has long hair.

And that, my friends, is where the story begins...
* * * * * * * * * * * *

She twirled in a slow circle in front of the mirror, admiring
herself as the soft velvet of her gown flowed freely about her legs. She
was gorgeous. She knew it. And she was about to take over the world.
Reaching over to the small marble table that was to her direct left,
she raised a large crown above her head and smiled as the cool touch of
blackened gold sent shivers down her spine. Soon... Soon... Soon the Earth
would be hers...
Brown eyes closed as the secret words of an incantation virtually
known came to her lips...
"Light of tomorrow and dusk of today,
"Envision my dream in the following way.
"Bring darkness to reality, the least pure wish come true...
"Reinvent the Earth for my vision, bring life anew!"
Nothing happened.
She opened one eye, then the other. It was true--well, almost true,
anyway--that she didn't know what exactly would happen when she uttered
the incantation. She knew that something WOULD happen, and she knew that
it would be as she'd wanted it to be, but she didn't know what exactly
would go on up there, above the surface. She was sort of expecting an
explosion. Or at least a popping sound. She knew that dead silence just
wasn't the reaction she was supposed to get.
"What went wrong?" she wondered aloud, bringing the crown down to
her eye level and studying the variously colored gems, their bright
luminescence almost painful. "I could have sworn..."
And then she froze in mid-sentence, brown eyes growing wide.
Right in the center of the crown, surrounded by diamonds, was a
large, gaping black indention.
Where another gem should have been.
Stomping one of her leather boots on the floor, she placed the crown
back upon her head and clenched her fists together. If it was gone, that
could only mean one thing...
"KEVIN!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

All four of them sat in a row on the couch, watching as the three
royal Guardians of the Sailor Scouts stood on the floor and discussed
something--though they weren't sure WHAT--in hushed tones. Their hearts
were all pounding and their breaths both coming and going nervously as
they stared at the two Moon cats and the Star cat.
"Hey, Ara," whispered Carina softly, leaning over to her taller
sister, "what's a Star cat?"
"And how's a Star cat different from a Moon cat?" inquired the
silver-furred Cassiopeia.
The black kitten nodded in agreement and started again. "And..."
Her lavender eyes lowered into a glare and she sent them both a look
that could have intimidated even their grandmother, Luna. "Look," she
hissed back in anger. "I don't want to explain it right now. I don't want
to DEAL with you two right now. If you have a question, the answer is
either 'I don't know' or 'I don't care'."
Both of her sisters gaped at her, shocked beyond words. Carina
almost opened her mouth, but the hateful spark in the older cat's eyes was
too much to bear, and she decided, instead, to focus on her paws.
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" asked Galileo once Ara had
taken her lavender gaze off the hyperactive twosome. "They're only
kids..."
She glanced at them and sighed. If only she hadn't been given the
curse of being so mature. It seemed that she was light-years ahead of her
siblings--even her brother, sometimes. Gazing at the chubby tan cat, she
sighed and shook her head. "Curiosity killed the cat," she quoted with a
slight smile that could best be called grim. "They'll have to learn that
every not every answer can be answered for them and that I'll not always
be there..."
He looked away from her intense eyes and looked down at the other
cats. His father and aunt had the exact same expression on their faces--
stern, adult, timeless. It was a side that he didn't think the orange and
white cat had. And then, a bit away from the two siblings, stood his
beautiful mother, her green eyes filled with unshed tears. A lump rose in
Galileo's throat. "Today's the day?" he asked softly of her, gazing out
the window at the large white moon and the glistening silver stars. "The
day we become Guardians?"
"We were always meant to be Guardians," she answered ambiguously.
"I've read prophecy, and we're in it. In dozens of places, we're
mentioned." She gulped and licked her chops. "And I believe that this will
be goodbye for some of us." She glanced at him, and he looked away,
refusing to meet her eyes. She shrugged. It was how it had to be.
The room was silent for a long moment as the adult cats on the floor
all pulled away from their conference and looked up at the four kittens.
Outside, the moon and the stars smiled down on them, the view through the
picture window creating a beautiful backdrop for what could, perhaps, be
the kittens' last day together.
And then, Diana cleared her throat. "Prophecy talks about the 'ready
Guardians'," she told the kittens, her red eyes staring up at them as she
spoke. "And you four are surely it." She smiled slightly, but it was a
mournful smile. "You were born to train the Chibi-Scouts, just as your
mother was to guide the Princess of the Stars, just as I was to teach
Princess Reeny, and just..." Tears welled in her eyes. "And just as my
parents were born to guard Queen Serenity and her court, the Planet
Mistresses."
"But," put in their father, stepping forward as he spoke, "with this
power comes grave responsibility. You must vow to protect and teach your
Scout to the best of your ability. You must use what you have learned from
us to pass it on to the Chibi-Scouts. You must be brave, strong, and you
must know when to put on a happy face for the good of the Scouts." He
sighed. "You are my children, and I love you, but the time has come..."
Everyone looked to Orion, who stood behind her mate, weeping
silently. The star on her forehead was beginning to glow as she clenched
her eyes shut and tossed her head, crystal tears shining in the moonlight.
She took a shuddering breath and raised her head, green eyes pulling back
open, as though on their own accord. And the star kept glowing, the
intensity of the silver growing brighter, and brighter...
"Ara." The green-black kitten sat up a bit, her lavender eyes
sparkling as she gazed down at her crying mother. "The Guardian of Sailor
Chibi-Pluto."
There was a flash of silver light originating from Orion's star,
followed by a long stream of what looked to be molten silver. The silver
landed on the kitten's forehead, formless.
"Galileo." The Star cat's voice was strong. "The Guardian of the
Master of Time."
Another stream of silver flowed to the tan cat's forehead.
"Carina, Guardian of Angel Moon." There was more silver.
Orion paused at the last kitten, her green eyes once again turning
teary. How could this be happening? How could she be losing her children?
She shook the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach away. She
could cry later.
"And Cassiopeia," she managed without choking on her tears. "The
Guardian of the Keeper of the Nebulae." Silver found itself onto the
silver kitten's forehead, as well.
Diana stepped forth. "Do you kittens accept the grave responsibility
that comes with being a Guardian?"
They all nodded.
"Do you accept the power?" asked Orb.
They all nodded once again.
Orion let the glow of her star begin to fade as she smiled sadly at
the four kittens. She felt tears once again rush into her eyes, but she
blinked them away. She could cry later.
Right now, she had to be supportive.
And she cleared her throat. "Do you accept the gratification of
becoming Guardians?"
They nodded one last time, and then, there was an explosion of
light.
Crimson, silver, and gold streams of light mingled in the air above
the four kittens, as though a box of glowing, liquid snakes had been
released to fly through the room. The colors illuminated the faces of
three adult Guardians at that very minutes, their faces proud but unduly
sad. Innocence and childhood was fading. Fading away into nothingness.
Leaving...
And the lights disappeared, leaving but memories of what could have
very well been an illusion.
"That was SO cool!" exclaimed Cassiopeia, trying earnestly to see
the golden star that had appeared in the midst of silver fur. "Can we do
it again?"
Carina just giggled, her blue eyes crossing as she tumbled over,
yearning to see the silver moon on her head.
Ara and Galileo just stared at one another's red Pluto symbols,
afraid to move. The other two kittens might have taken the gift received
lightly, counting themselves as freaks no longer, but those two--they
understood its true power.
She drew in a sharp breath. "It's beautiful," she breathed to her
brother. "I never thought that this day would come..."
He nodded, smiling proudly as he stared at his sister's mark.
"But..." The kitten furrowed his brow. "What do we do now?"
The answer came not from Ara but from a strong female voice on the
floor. "You get a good night's rest," retorted Diana, her voice slightly
bossy but yet filled with adoration for the young Guardians at the very
same time. "In the morning, you'll no longer be taking up residence
here..."
"But..." interrupted Orion quickly, her voice shaky. The pink cat
glanced sympathetically at the calico, and she nodded solemnly. "But...
you'll...all have to get a drink of water before you sleep," she
stammered. "I don't know how dehydrating receiving your marks is."
The kittens all laughed a bit at their mother and pranced out of the
room gleefully, glad to finally be Guardians, just as they were originally
destined to be.
As his children left, Orb glanced to the scrappy calico. "You okay?"
he questioned her, cocking his head to the side. His gold eyes were filled
with concern, and Orion felt her stomach lurch as he stared at her.
Before her awakening by Artemis, she'd been an empty shell of a
Guardian. On the Silver Star, she'd felt nothing but loneliness and
remorse--she'd had no friends or family, and it seemed to her that the
entirety of the kingdom had been against her. Of course, once she'd found
the truth, it was far too late in the Silver Millennium to stop feeling
sorry for herself. And she'd hated her life, really...
And then Artemis woke her from her literal field of dreams. And life
had started to make sense. Sure, it was hard going, but she had united the
Prince and Princess...she had met someone she could love, annoying as he
could be and often was...and she'd delivered and raised four kittens from
infancy until they were nearly four months old. Any normal cat would have
buckled down and given into regularity eons upon eons ago. But what was
she doing?
She was going to start training Sailor Scouts in a few days.
"You know what?" she inquired of Orb as they walked out of the
living room, Diana following close behind. "I think that I've been
looking at this all from the wrong angle." The confusion in his eyes was
almost appealing as she continued. "I've been so overly concerned about
losing the kittens that I've been ignoring all of the good things that I
didn't have before I came to Crystal Tokyo."
Orb raised an orange eyebrow. "So?"
She smiled. "So, in response to your question..." Orion's smile
grew bigger as she let her green eyes look out through the kitchen's glass
door. From where she stood, she could see the stars. She could see the
galaxy unfold before her.
"I've never felt better."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

To the average eye, they seemed to be an adorable young couple,
enjoying a long walk through a romantic park, smiling and stopping
occasionally to kiss as they strode, hand-in-hand, under the smiling moon.
But the romantic park was Crystal Gardens, the private area of the
great Palace that only the Princess of the Earth had access to. The
couple, then, was none other then Princess Serena, called Reeny, and her
Prince Helios. Yet they were walking, hand-in-hand under the smiling moon,
and they were enjoying themselves.
As they came to a wrought-iron bench that had been set up under a
great weeping willow tree, Reeny let out a sigh and plopped down. "Don't
you just wish that you could freeze a single moment in time and chose to
view it whenever you're lonely?"
He furrowed his brow and sat down beside her, taking one hand in
his and kissing it lightly. "Whatever do you mean, Maiden?" he questioned,
confused.
She sighed and shrugged, laying her head upon his shoulder as she
let her tired red eyes fall closed. "I'm just starting to wonder how long
this will be able to go on," she stated, licking her lips. "We're going to
be fighting again, soon, and I worry..."
Leaning over her, Helios gently kissed her lips, cutting off the end
of her sentence. He didn't want to think of it. He didn't want her to say
it. The Galactic Sailors WOULD win and he WOULD be able to forever live
with his one true love. He pulled away, stroking her long hair and smiling
slightly. "I am your prince," he reminded her in a stern voice. "I will
protect you from everything."
She shook her head and opened her eyes, finding herself in the
intense blue gaze that had so often both frightened and amazed her when
she was a child. His nose nearly touched hers, and it took all her
strength to NOT throw her arms around his neck and to NOT kiss the living
breath out of him. Instead, she touched his cheek gently. "It's not me
that I'm worried about," she told him softly. "It's Ambriel."
He froze at the mention of the little redhead. The child had such a
harrowing effect on both their lives--she was Reeny's little savior and
his sweet headache. It was true enough that he loved the child, and it was
true enough that she had both the Princess and Lisa wrapped around her
little finger, but still... He didn't see what there was to worry about.
An angel couldn't die...
"Don't worry for her," he whispered, eyes half-closed as he took her
hand away from his cheek and held it in his. How warm she was. He smiled
slightly. She was his sunshine.
Reeny pressed her lips together. "Her transformation stick is
missing," she told him rather blandly. "I mean, it's the funniest thing,
too, because I know you didn't take it and I know that I didn't take it
but we're the only two who know about it and..."
Blinking, Helios drew away from her and paused, unsure what to say.
He hadn't taken it... He glanced at Reeny, who was staring at the full
moon. No, it couldn't have been her, either. But that would leave...
He raised an eyebrow. "Could that little nymph have taken it
herself?" he inquired. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if..."
"But I doubt she remembers," she quickly returned, tearing her gaze
from the moon and looking instead up at a high balcony. Upon the balcony
stood a small figure and--though it wasn't possible to tell all the
features of the person from the far-off vintage point--her eyes could see
red hair and white skirts blowing lightly in the winter breeze. She smiled
at that. "And," she continued, trying to recall what her thoughts were
before she became distracted. "And, if she did remember giving up the pen,
she wouldn't know about the safe, or the lock box..." She shrugged. "It
just bothers me, Helios..."
He shivered. It was a pleasant night for February, really, but it
was still slightly cold out. He wrapped an arm around the sleepy Princess
beside him and leaned back on the bench, staring up at the moon and the
blanket of stars that it laid on. "Shall we go in?" he asked softly,
laying his head atop hers as he spoke.
"Let's stay here," she suggested with a slight smile. "Just for a
little while..."
He couldn't say that he honestly minded.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'IT FELL OFF'!" Bolts of crackling yellow energy
flew from her fingers and picked the man up by the collar of his black
uniform, drawing his face near hers. "This had BETTER be good!"
The large hall echoed with the man's whimpers as he clenched his
eyes shut and grimaced. The woman, dark eyes sparkling, stared at him
from her seat upon the large throne, watching him wiggle and kick with a
bemused smile upon her features. She waved one of her fingers back and
forth across a span of a few feet, and the energy followed suit, pulling
his body with it. "Now," she smiled, her anger seemingly dissolving, "why
don't you explain what happened to my crystal before I have to get mad?"
His blue eyes, which had been clenched shut in fear, cracked open as
he looked at the large crown that the woman wore. Pressing his lips
timidly together as he saw the gaping black hole where the orange gem
should have been, he took a deep breath in threw his nostrils. "Well,
m'Queen," he began in a soft, apologetic tone, "I didn't lose it on
purpose."
She smiled sweetly. "I'm sure you didn't," she cooed. "Continue."
"Well... It all started when Seth and Rob were bickering about who
was better," he explained, folding his hands together as though it would
help his case. "I was polishing the crown, 'cause that's my duty to you,
m'Queen and..."
"Cut to the chase," she interrupted, rolling her brown eyes. "I
don't have all day, and I'd frankly like to take over the world BEFORE the
Sailor Scouts figure out what's going on."
He nodded quickly, licked his lips, and continued. "Well, m'Queen,
they were getting awful loud. And it bothers me when Seth and Rob get
loud, and..." He grimaced and scrunched his face up. "And I dropped the
crown."
Her facial features froze as he said this, and she felt her grip on
the beam of yellow energy loosen considerably. The young man dipped five
of the ten feet to the ground before her beam tightened back up. He
whimpered a bit as he felt his body rise in the air, and he whimpered
even louder when his blue eyes met her brown ones. "WHAT did you just
say?" she hissed, eyebrows arching. "You dropped the crown?"
"It was an accident!" he cried, looking away from her and focusing
on the black ceiling above his head. "They were throwing balls of energy,
and it was scary, and I was really scared and..."
She snapped and the beam of energy burst into dust, sending him
plunging to the floor. He yelped out in pain as his posterior made contact
with the black marble, but he dared not protest her judgement of putting
him there. She looked mad.
"You're very lucky, Kevin," she addressed him in a dry, calm voice,
her tone belying the glare in her eyes and the scowl upon her dark lips.
"You're lucky that I am so lax. You're lucky that the Sailor Scouts don't
know we have arrived." She leaned back in the throne. "And you are lucky
that you have this chance to redeem yourself."
Kevin scrambled to his feet and ran a hand through his short, blonde
hair. "Thank you, m'Queen," he quickly expressed, bowing as deeply as he
could. "Both me and Bob will make you proud!" A small gray rock appeared
in his left hand, and he clutched it to his chest as he spoke. "Thank you.
You are truly benevolent."
And he disappeared in a small puff of smoke.
Once he was gone, the woman slowly let a sigh escape her lips.
Taking off the crown, she let her brown hair fall to rim her face and set
the headgear upon a small table. "Tina!" she called out. "Come forth!"
A Oriental teenage girl, no older than Kevin, appeared out of
nowhere. Shoulder-length black hair cascaded about her face as she smiled
politely and bowed a bit. "You called, Ginnie?" she asked sweetly.
Ginnie made a face. "Tina..." she warned, gesturing to the crown
beside her.
"Oh, yes..." The girl smiled. "You called, QUEEN Ginnie?"
The queen beamed at the name. "I have a slight mission for you, if
you're ready to take it."
Tina bit her lower lip. "You actually sent Kevin out WITH the
rock?" she questioned nervously, cracking the knuckles on her left hand.
"I thought for sure you would just kill him off..."
Shrugging her shoulders, the dark haired woman picked some
imaginary lint from her velvet gown and looked at the teen. "I suppose
that would have been easier, but still..." She smiled. "There's an off
chance that our dear friend Kevin may find the Crystal."
"And there's a good chance that our dear friends the Sailor Scouts
may find him whilst he's the midst of the pursuit." Tina paused and buffed
her nails on her black slacks. "What's the point?"
Ginnie grinned, showing a row of white teeth. The grin would have
sent even the bravest of warriors cowering in fear, but her companion
didn't seem to notice it at all. "That's where YOU come in," she
responded coyly. "I want you to send out a monster." She paused. "A large
monster. With fangs."
The younger girl furrowed her brow. "But why?" she asked, confused.
"I think it's time that the Sailor Scouts all got a taste of our
medicine..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Lila Mokoti stared out the bedroom window, blue eyes wide as she did
so. "Hey, 'Leste?"
Looking up from her book, the nine-year-old glanced at her sister.
The younger girl and her really shared a lot of qualities, like the sunny
blonde hair and the cherry outlook on life, but something was missing...
And Celeste knew that it was Lyra that was missing.
"What, Lila?" inquired the older girl, placing the bookmark in its
proper place and laying the book upon the nearest shelf.
The little girl wrinkled her nose and drew the purple curtains
shut. "Well, it's gone NOW," she told her sister in a disappointed voice,
"but there was a floating orange orb in front of the window."
Resisting the urge to laugh, the pigtailed blonde pulled her sheets
up to her chin and yawned. "Lila, it's nearly ten at night," she told her
sister, "and you're hardly five. Why don't you go to bed?"
"But I'm not..." She cut off her thought with a loud yawn. Smiling,
she climbed up the ladder and into her bunk on the bunk beds, flipping off
the wall switch as she did so.
Silence overcame the room for a brief moment, and then a young voice
echoed through the dark. "Hey, 'Leste?"
"What?"
"Do you miss Lyra?" inquired the voice from the top bunk.
Licking her lips, Celeste fought back tears. She had an overwhelming
urge to burst out in tears and to call her sister and beg her to return.
She wanted to hear Lyra's sweet voice whisper 'good night'... She wanted
to hug her sister and get hugged back... She wanted to...
"Not at all," she lied, wiping the silent tears off her cheeks. "I
think that it's good that she's with the one she loves..."
"But..."
"Good night, Lila."
"BUT..."
"I hope you sleep well..."
"'Leste!"
And she closed her eyes, praying that, when she woke up, the pain of
missing her sister would fade away into happiness for the first time since
her sister left.
But she knew it wouldn't.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

She stretched her tired legs and glanced out at the brightly shining
sun. Had she really been up all night? Phoebe sighed and took a long,
contemplative swig of her coffee. It was rich and black, just like she
liked it. She smiled to herself and turned off the stereo, deserting the
pile of notes from her choreography class and crossing through the living
room to the hallway. "I guess it's time to sleep," she smiled, pulling
the ponytail holders from her hair one at a time, shaking all six braids
free. "I could really use some of that stuff..."
Phoebe was cut off by the doorbell ringing. She furrowed her brow.
Who would come to call so early? She glanced at the nearest wall clock,
which read nine a.m. The teen chuckled to herself. Maybe it wasn't THAT
early...
"Coming!" she called, stepping over a large pile of dirty laundry
that sat in the middle of the hall. As she neared the door, she paused.
What if it was some mass murderer or something? The name on the mailbox
was 'P. Urawa.' The name in the phonebook was 'Urawa, Phoebe S.' There was
a good chance that someone knew that she was a single seventeen-year-old
girl and...
Then, her blue eyes trailed down to the red and dark orange locket
that hung around her neck. She had put in on the previous afternoon before
she'd gone to the Scout Meeting. A smile crossed her lips.
Who cared if it was a mass murderer?
Still, she glanced through the peephole, just to be sure that she
was safe. After all, even if she WAS the Sailor Scout of the Sun and even
if she COULD kick the butt of any given murderer any day of the week,
she'd much rather have her locket in hand. So that defending herself
wouldn't come as a surprise.
And, when she saw her visitor, she couldn't have been any more
surprised, even if it had been a wanted criminal.
Silver hair, a bit wavy, flowed past the woman's shoulders and down
to her chest. Amazingly deep brown eyes seemed to glow in the smiling sun.
Her skin was light and clear, but that came as no shock--the complexion
ran in the family. She looked to be about thirty, really, even though the
teen knew from logic that the woman had seen a few centuries come and go.
And Phoebe unlocked the door and threw it open, hardly feeling the
cool air as it hit her body. Her ice-colored eyes were focused on the
woman before her, and they were almost teary in joy.
"Aunt Marie?" Her voice was slightly choked.
Grinning, the silver-haired beauty nodded slightly and stepped
forward, holding her arms open for a hug. "I hope you don't mind me
dropping in on you like this," she apologized quickly, embracing her tall
niece. "I tried to call last night around nine, but I kept getting a busy
signal..."
The teen shrugged slightly and pulled out of her aunt's arms,
thinking of the phone calls some of the other Scouts had had to make the
night before. "I had some friends over," she responded, gesturing to a
large stack of greasy pizza boxes that sat in an odd corner of the foyer.
"We ordered some pizzas and they didn't go home until ten or so, but some
of them needed to check in with their parents..."
"Say no more," Marie smiled, placing a hand on one of her niece's.
"I understand completely..." She pressed her lips together and her brown
eyes turned sad. "I was wondering if I could...perhaps...come in. I need
to talk to you." She smiled sheepishly, glancing nervously at the messy
front hall of the Urawa house. "If that's not too much to ask."
Phoebe shook her head and held the great oak door open.
"Of course," she insisted, letting the older woman walk into the foyer.
"But do I sense that there's something wrong?"
Folding her hands as she walked in, the woman nodded solemnly,
staring at the slightly grungy tan tile. "That's probably because
something is..."
And the great oak door swung shut behind them.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Anti-climatic ending," muttered Aeris, rising from the deep green
armchair and crossing her bedroom, gingerly placing the battered paperback
into a single empty slot on the large bookshelf. "I could have ended it
better..."
"How?" asked a voice from behind her, and she smiled slightly.
"Aeris, you should know that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a classic,"
scolded Hannah, walking up behind the girl, hands in the back pockets of
her khakis as she glanced down at her cousin. "What's so anti-climatic
about Scout realizing the truth in the world?"
The little girl's smiled brightened and her eyes--which were of a
deep purple tone to match her sweater of the same color--glittered as she
stared up at her adult companion. "I think," she speculated, "that I
would have ended with Jem getting injured." Nodding, as though to further
emphasize her decision, she folded her hands behind her back and shrugged.
"It leaves the end looking bleak and allows the reader use his or her
imagination."
Hannah smiled and plopped down on the edge of the bed. "Ah, the
imagination," she nodded with a slight shrug. "A wonderful place..." She
stared at the young girl, purple eyes thoughtful as the child pulled a
think tome from the shelf and studied its battered brown cover. "But it
can be frightening sometimes, Aeris. The most horrible things in the world
can, for the first time, surface..."
"Or they can resurface," whispered the child, not noticing as she
dropped the book to the floor. The thump resounded through the room as
she stared off into space. "I have a feeling of danger..."
"What?" The adult jumped to her feet.
With a brief shake of her head, the girl blinked her deep eyes a
few times as though to clear away cobwebs and stared up at her cousin.
"My apologies, Hannah," she quickly mumbled, scooping the book up off the
carpet and into her arms. "It seems as though I have allowed my
imagination run away with me."
The woman ran a hand through her straight, shoulder-length ebony
hair. "Or you were right about the danger," she countered, crouching down
so that she could look straight at the girl's face. "Aeris, what did you
feel?"
The child looked quickly away from her aunt and faced the nearest
window. The sun had hidden his smiling face behind a group of gray clouds,
and the sky looked ready to burst and to shed another fine layer of snow
upon the city. And she gulped. "I do not know," she responded, her voice
hardly audible as she set the book atop her desk and licked her dry wine-
colored lips. "A sudden urge to hold my transformation wand high and to
scream the words of destiny... I had a certain need, suddenly, to find
Peter and to seek out my Key Time in rapid succession..." She trailed off
and stared out across the house's enormous backyard, where her brother was
running haphazardly through the snow, tossing snowballs a laughing blonde
woman. She sighed and shook her head.
"Well, I don't understand it," commented Hannah, crossing her arms
across her chest as she stood to her full height of five feet, five
inches. She looked at the silent child and raised a single black eyebrow.
"I can feel something, but it's just a single nagging feeling..." She
shrugged and started out the door, shaking her head. "I must be losing my
touch..."
Aeris' eyes continued to stare out the window as she felt her knees
tremble and her heart leap into the pit of her stomach. She could feel it.
The danger.
"Something is about to occur," she whispered, a single hand diving
into her pocket and pulling out her transformation stick. "And I believe
that it will occur soon."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

She sat on the kitchen counter of the large apartment, eating
chocolate-chip cookie dough out of the package and swinging her legs as
she allowed all of her attention to be focused on the tail end of the
movie 'Casablanca'.
"'Play it again, Sam,'" she recited along with the television, a
smile crossing her lips. Groping for the remote control, she flipped off
the TV and glanced down at the log of cookie dough, thinking of what her
mother would say. Grinning, she took one last bite out of the sweet treat
and slipped it back into the refrigerator before she started toward her
cello and the stack of recital music that awaited her.
Three years of relaxation had treated both the Kino women very well.
Her mother's restaurant had finally gotten off the ground and--with a bit
of good publicity in the way of ingenious ads written by bookworms Lyra
and Richard--became a whirlwind success story, basking them in the glow
of actually having money. Money had always been a bit tight, no matter how
often Lita would deny it, and every once and a while they'd gone without
new clothes for a little while, or had passed up on buying a new pair of
shoes, just to make sure that there would be money in case of an
emergency. And, even then, it was sometimes a tight stretch.
But, with 'Jupiter's Delight' sitting high on the list of top fifty
restaurants in Tokyo, life was pretty easy going. They'd moved from their
rather small two-bedroom apartment on the poorer side of the city to a
more upscale area, only a few blocks from the building which housed Lyra
and Richard. They had more room, now, and they no longer had to worry
about money. They'd actually been able to insure the cello for the first
time.
And Alice was just about to pick up the said cello and practice
when there was a knock at the door. She furrowed her brow and twirled a
long strand of auburn hair around a finger. It couldn't be her mother,
because she was at the restaurant. And it couldn't be any of her friends,
because they would need a key--or a very creative usage of bobby pins and
paper clips--in order to get through the front door of the building. Maybe
the lock wasn't key-card controlled, but the locks were good quality and,
according to the landlord...
She paled. They were pickproof locks.
The knock sounded again, and there was the unmistakable sound of
shuffling. "Damn," muttered a voice from beyond the door. "She gives me a
key-card and I go lose it..."
The voice was deep and masculine, and she immediately recognized it.
Her heart skipped a beat and her brown eyes grew wide. Why... How... She
shook her head and paced slowly toward the door. Why would HE come back?
Didn't he know any better?
'I cannot stay here, Lita. I cannot become a part of Alice's life
so suddenly...so surprisingly. How can I expect her to love me? I am her
father, but you...you are her mother, savior, and guiding star. I am an
old friend, Lita... And she is our new beginning.'
She gulped back tears as she thought upon the letter that she'd
found on the kitchen table three years ago...
And she clenched her free fist, throwing open the door with her
other hand.
Her father glanced up from his wallet, where he was flipping
through credit cards in search of the ever-elusive key, and smiled. His
chestnut eyes shined like she knew hers sometimes did. Auburn hair feel
into his eyes, like hers sometimes did. And he smiled at her, placing his
wallet back into his pocket.
"Alice..." drawled Ken, extending a hand nervously as he pressed his
lips together. "It's...so very nice...to see you again, daughter..." He
smiled sheepishly.
Eyes filling with unshed tears, she took a deep breath and gulped.
Hard. The lump in her throat was painful. "Those aren't the words I would
use," she responded dryly...
And she slammed the door in his face.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Haley glanced at the paper in front of her, heart pounding and head
swimming. She could hardly believe what it said, and she resisted the urge
to pinch herself.
'Miss Haley Jordan Ten'ou,' read the letter, 'you are eligible for
a full scholarship to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
You will be one of approximately four hundred Japanese transfer students
studying at our esteemed University. But, in order for you to do so, you
must fill out this final form, which will count as your interview...'
The letter ran on, but she didn't bother to continue reading it. Her
teal eyes just stared at the same passage--that very first, endless
paragraph--in shock. She was so surprised, in fact, that she could hardly
breathe.
"You alright, Haley?" asked a soft voice from across the office.
The teen jumped a mile into the air, her fists crinkling the edges of the
letter as she glanced across the posh room at the aqua-haired newcomer.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Michelle quickly apologized, smoothing her hips where her
blue blazer met her favorite shin-length brown skirt. "I didn't mean to
frighten you..."
Discreetly folding the cover letter into fourths and sliding it into
her the back pocket of her jeans, Haley sent her mother a toothy grin and
stood quickly. "Actually," she responded, glancing at her watch, "it's a
good thing you did startle me. I'm going to be late."
"Late?" echoed the woman, raising an eyebrow.
The teen, who was really a young woman at the age of nineteen, let
her smile fade as she rolled her eyes. "Eric's picking me up," she
supplied before her mother could pry further into her life. "We're going
to the big piano concert at the Symphonic Orchestra Hall."
Her mother smiled slightly and sat down at one of the two desks,
rifling through a few manila folders as her computer booted up. "Really?"
she inquired, sounding extremely surprised. "You two are actually going to
a concert?"
Haley put her hands upon her hips and rolled her eyes. "Come ON,
Mother," she protested, staring. "What do you have against him?" Michelle
just glanced at her younger daughter, completely confused. The younger
woman pulled her hair, which she'd grown out over the three years, into a
tight bun as she pressed on. "You've always liked Brian, and the two are
related, which means..."
"I like Eric just fine," interrupted the musician, amused. "I was
just going to say that you don't look as though you're dressed to go to a
piano recital." She glanced at her daughter, grinning. After all, the
younger woman was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a ratty old gray
sweater.
"Uhh..." She flushed noticeably.
Michelle continued. "And, besides, I have a guaranteed seat at the
Orchestra Hall, and they always call the day before a performance."
The teen's face turned bright red as she scuffed her slippers
together and stared at the floor. "Well..." She gulped. "MAYBE we're not
going to see a piano recital..."
"And?"
She made a face. "And...MAYBE...we're just going over to the
Hartford household..."
Nodding, the musician folded her hands on the desktop. "Now," she
prompted, "was telling the truth all that hard?"
With an indignant grunt, Haley tossed her head. "Yes!" she shot and
stomped out of the room annoyed.
She had made it about halfway up the stairs to the third floor--the
floor which her bedroom was on--when she froze and reached for her back
pocket. She pulled out the letter and let her teal eyes fall upon the last
sentence.
'Please return by April 4th.'
Sighing, she slipped the sheet of paper back in her pocket and
started back up the stairs.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

The young woman kicked at a stone as she walked down the concrete
path that ran the length of the park. "I don't get it," commented Tina as
she glanced at the foggy trails of steam her breath left in the air.
"Kevin fouls something up, like he has for EONS, and I have to clean up
after him!" She scowled as snowflakes fell onto her raven-colored uniform
(which was extremely reminiscent of those the Negaverse generals wore) and
resisted the urge to uproot the nearest cherry tree. "'Tina, send out a
monster. A big monster. With FANGS.'" Her tone was bitter as she stepped
onto a small dock that overlooked the frozen lake. If the day had been any
colder, there would be at least a dozen young people out on the ice, no
doubt playing that dreadful human game they called 'hockey' or learning
how to balance on it's smooth surface.
But, as the day stood, it was too warm for the ice. A thin layer of
water coated the top, a sure sign that it had melted a bit in the sun that
had shone down earlier. The lake was large, and rarely froze completely
over, even in February.
And Tina was glad.
She closed her eyes and drew a small bluish gem from her pocket.
Launching it into the air, she drew in a deep breath.
"Powers of dark, create a monster!"
The crystal shattered and then, about twenty feet out on the ice's
surface, the fragments began to reform. The creature grew slowly, taking
the shape of a large, odd-looking bird. In fact, it looked like a fifteen-
foot-tall emu...
An emu with razor-sharp fangs, gleaming metal claws, and a strange,
vile spark in its blue eyes.
She smiled and opened her eyes, looking over the monster with a
pleased nod. "Go," she commanded it, pointing toward a large office
building nearby. "Go wreak some havoc. And make sure the Sailor Scouts see
you."
"Yessss..." it hissed, bowing its head. Then, the emu-monster
flapped its large brown wings and took to the air.
Tina let out a relieved sigh and brushed some of the fresh-fallen
snow from her bangs. "It's really coming down," she commented, her
eyebrows knotting together. "I'd hate to be those Sailor Scouts, dressed
in their skimpy little fukus..."
Grinning evilly, she placed her hands in her pockets and started
back the way she came, humming a merry little tune to herself.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Josh!" Tara looked up from her large stack of math papers, having
leafed through them for the eighth time in half an hour. "Have you seen
the fourth page of my math project?"
The little boy, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor eating a
rather large peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, glanced at his sister
through his thick bangs. "What math project?" he asked, then grimaced when
she pointed to the stack before her. "Uh-oh..."
Her green eyes grew wide. "Uh-oh?" she questioned, almost afraid to
swallow. "Please don't say that you did something to that paper that
deserves an 'uh-oh', Joshua Yuuichirou, or I will most certainly..."
"Check with my painting stuff," he cut in softly, focusing upon
picking the sandwich apart. "I think I might have used it for
watercolors..."
"YOU WHAT?" She stood quickly, hovering over him as she clenched her
fists at the sides of her priestess robes. "You didn't... You...
COULDN'T... JOSHUA!"
He whimpered and poked at the sandwich.
Stomping away, she thought of all of the awful things she could do
to her little brother. She thought of the nightmare he was. Throwing open
the door to the temple and slipping on a pair of wooden sandals, she paced
out into the courtyard, vowing to hurt the child as soon as she could get
a hand on him...
And then, there was a familiar sinking feeling in her stomach that
could best be described as a premonition of doom.
Her back straightened up like a rod as she glanced around, opening
her mind to whatever thoughts or feelings wanted to enter. And the only
feelings that came in were ones of danger. She shivered, and knew that it
wasn't because of the cold.
There was danger nearby.
"Josh!" she called, pulling off the sandals as she scrambled through
the snow and toward the open door. "Josh! Come here!"
"Sissy?" he questioned, coming to the door as he wiped jelly from
his mouth with his temple robes. She sat on the wooden deck outside the
door, exchanging her sandals for a pair of tough hiking boots. "What's
wrong?" he asked, purple eyes gaping at her choice of attire--boots and
temple robes.
She caught him by his sticky chin, grimacing as she stuck her
fingers in a glob of jelly. "Stay here," she commanded sternly. "Father is
in the den, dealing with yearly expenses. Go to him, tell him that I left,
and stay right there."
The child stared at her, trying to pull away. "But..." he protested.
Her grip tightened. "Josh, this is important," she pressed, tone
grim. "You have no choice in the matter." He stared. "I know, I know--you
don't like listening to me. But PLEASE listen! This is a matter of life
and death!"
Josh sniffled, his expression one of fright as he looked into the
two bright green eyes. "If you say so, Sissy..."
Tara planted a kiss on his cheek. "That's a good boy." She let him
go and watched as he closed the door behind him.
And, standing up, she started down the stairs to find out what
exactly the danger was.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Holy moly!"
"What's that feeling, Ara?"
"Do you know what it is, Ara?"
The green cat was, as her siblings were, frozen at the top of the
stairwell. The training session that their parents had held in the
basement had gone well, if not very smoothly, and the four kittens would
soon split up and meet their appropriate destinies.
In theory...
The calico, their mother, leapt in front of them, her green eyes
closed as she took a few deep breaths. "I've never felt anything like
this," she commented softly, her voice nearly a whisper as her eyes
popped open.
"Well, I have," put in Orb as he elbowed past his children and up
the stairs. "There's a locket alert."
Orion raised an eyebrow toward him. "And how on Earth could you
know that?" she asked. "You're not a Scout..."
The kittens just stared, amazed.
He shrugged. "We feel the power without the obvious delays that the
girls have," he continued matter-of-factly. "In fact, they'll know in
five...four...three...two...one..."
"EEK! LOCKET ALERT!" screeched a voice from the kitchen. There were
some odd thumping sounds and then Phoebe, in her under-slept and over-
caffeinated form, bolted out the front door, her aunt standing in the
kitchen with a confused look on her face.
The female cat just sighed and shook her head, mumbling something
about the teen's Scouting abilities.
And then, with a resolved expression on her face, Ara stepped
forward. "Well then, it's settled," she spoke up. "We're going with."
Her father's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"To battle," she supplied, voice stubborn and strong. "The Chibi-
Scouts must be there. And, thusly, we must."
Orion sent the kitten a stern glare, but she didn't back down at
all. And then...
"Yeah, Ara's right!"
"And Ara reads a lot!"
Cassiopeia and Carina stepped forward, standing beside their sister.
Orb made a face at them.
Lastly, Galileo shrugged and joined them. "What the heck," he
shrugged with a slight smile. "I'll join the party, too."
Both adult Guardians' faces fell as they looked at the four kittens.
"You sure you want to go?" asked their mother.
"Yep!" spoke up Carina, nodding furiously. "I want to meet Angel
Moon!"
Sighing, Orb led the way to the front door, which had conveniently
been left open by Phoebe.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Small Star... Shatter!"
The giant bird avoided the rain of stardust and roared, prompting
Sailor Chibi-Star to mutter something profane under her breath.
All seven Galactic Sailors stood on a deserted street corner,
fighting what Phoenix had called 'a rabid ostrich on steroids.' Sailor
Aurora Borealis had been kind enough to point out that it was an emu, not
an ostrich, and that no emu could be fifteen feet tall or have the
ability to fly.
"That's some monster..." muttered Sailor Moon as the animal
breathed fire and scorched a few dozen parked cars. "It's like a bad
dream..."
Rolling her teal eyes, Sailor Comet let fly one of her attacks
before elbowing their leader in the ribs. "Then dust it."
Moon shrugged. "Can't." The emu dodged the crater, flying out of it
as it smashed closed. "If you guys can't weaken it, then I..."
"Don't say it," groaned Earth, hanging her head as the monster
pulled a street lamp from the ground and deposited it atop an empty school
bus.
"Can't dust it," finished the pink-haired Scout, sighing. She
looked down at the Galactic Rod. "Besides, in case you haven't noticed..."
Sailor Polaris was up to try. "Starry Sky SMASH!"
The emu vaporized the ball of stardust with its fire breath.
Moon sighed and continued. "We can't seem to hit it." She watched as
the monster threw a fireball from its mouth and charred a large section of
the nearby Tokyo Park. Hanging her head, she let a muffled sob escape her
lips and began to walk away.
"Sailor Moon!" screamed Phoenix, scrambling after the leader with
wide blue eyes. "You can't give up!" She stopped in her tracks and gaped
at her leader, clutching her fists to her thighs in disbelief. "Where are
you going?"
The older Scout straightened up and turned, walking slowly back
toward the girl with the dark blue hair. Her expression remained grim and
listless as she stood right in front of the teen. Behind the Sailor of the
Sun, the other five Galactic Sailors were throwing attacks, watching in
horror as each and every attempt failed miserably. "I'm going home,
Phoebe," she addressed her friend in a low tone. "I'm going to give
Ambriel a hug and kiss Helios full on the lips and then, I'm going to
pray." She took the Galactic Rod and gestured toward the monster. "We've
been fighting the thing for a good hour, Phoebe! And look how the Hell far
we are from beating it!" The emu roared, and Sailor Moon tossed the Rod
over her shoulder, not caring as she heard the white marble crack on the
pavement behind her. "It's bitterly obvious that we're not strong enough,
and..."
She was interrupted by the sting of a hand drawing across her cheek.
The red eyes sparkled with painful tears and with anger as she glowered
at Phoenix. Her mouth moved, but no words came out.
"Dammit, Reeny!" screamed the taller of the two Scouts, swearing for
the first noted time. "You can't give up, you coward!" Her icy eyes
lowered farther, and a tear escaped them. "Goddammit, Reeny..." The tears
began to fall more freely. "Who the Hell is going to save us if you can't?
Who the Hell will save the world if WE can't?"
Sailor Moon pressed her lips together and glanced up at the cloudy
sky, watching as the pure white snowflakes fell onto her face. A
crystalline tear rolled down her cheek. "All we can do is pray..."
"ANGELIC GLOW!" A stream of silver light erupted from atop a
building and shot straight toward the monster. Upon impact, it exploded
and shot beams of white and silver light all over. The emu writhed and
screamed in agony, twitching as it collapsed to the ground, still alive
but exceedingly immobile.
All the Scouts glanced skyward. "What the Hell?" gasped Comet,
flipping her long, messy hair behind her shoulders. "I could have sworn it
came from..." Her teal eyes widened as they stared at a shadowed figure
who stood atop the building, amongst the dancing white flakes.
The person, whoever it was, wore all white; it was a long, flowing
white dress of sorts, running from a high collar in the front and down
around the figure's ankles. Long red hair blew freely in the cold breeze,
and the golden metal of a tiara shone in the light, and--in place of a
colored gem--a silver moon glittered at the exact center of the person's
forehead.
And, on the back of the figure, there were a pair of white,
feathered wings.
"Angel Moon!" hollered a tiny voice from the ground. The Scouts
pulled their eyes from the silhouette and focused on a small black kitten
that was running toward the building. "My Angel Moon!" Behind the black
kitten trailed five other cats, all staring aghast at the giant, wriggling
bird and the amazed Scouts.
Two more shadowed figures appeared behind the angel, and the
threesome jumped gracefully from atop the building, landing without effort
upon the ground. The angel's gray eyes smiled toward the Sailor Scouts,
and her two companions bowed slightly toward the group of young women.
Sailor Moon stepped forward, the shattered Rod but a memory as she
stared at the young, white-garbed angel. "Ambriel?"
She smiled, shook her head, and raised a hand high into the air. A
tiny glimmer of white light, almost like a gem, appeared in her fist. She
held it out to the Scouts' leader, nodding wordlessly as the young woman
took the white into her hands.
"Feel the power, Sailor Moon," she whispered, the duo behind her--
one male, and one female, and both of about age eight--silent and reverent
as they watched the awe-struck Galactic Sailors. "And understand it. The
power of the Galaxy..."
There was a flash of white, basking all seven of the Sailors in the
glow, and every observer stared as the Scouts began to sparkle,
multicolored dust surrounding their prone forms.
The silver kitten, who was gawking, slack-jawed, elbowed the taller
green kitten in the ribs. "What's going on?" she hissed, confused.
Ara just glared at her.
Suddenly, the glowing colors died down into the normal dullness of
the overcast winter day, and the Sailor Scouts all glanced at each other,
checking over their persons for changes. Everything was intact, and not a
hair on their heads was misplaced.
The redheaded Angel Moon smiled gently and folded her hands at her
waist. "Now, in response to your question, Sailor Moon," she said, high
voice sweet and smooth, "I am that child you call Ambriel. And may I
introduce..."
"Sailor Chibi-Pluto," spoke up one of the two others, the female.
She stepped forward, and her multi-colored eyes looked over the group
sternly. Her fuku was black and dark red, much like the Guardian of Time's
fuku was, and her green hair was pulled back into a tight, high bun. "The
Guardian of Time in Training."
"And the Master of Time," introduced the young boy, smoothing his
black tuxedo and bowing a bit. His dark brown hair was disheveled as he
grinned at them. Chibi-Pluto elbowed him after he spoke, and he rolled red
eyes. "In Training," he added, a bit reluctantly. "It's a start,
though..."
Green eyes watched the emu as it stopped shuddering and began
attempts to stand up. "Hey, Scouts," Orion urged, eyeing the monster
cautiously. "I hate to break this up, but it looks like that thing's going
to be making a mess again if you don't do something..."
The Sailor Scouts all looked at one another, and then to Angel
Moon. The girl smiled slightly and nodded at them, her gray eyes gentle.
"Tsunami!" screamed Sailor Earth, throwing out a hand as a large
wave of water fell from the sky and rolled over the creature.
"Starlight Streak!" From Sailor Polaris' fist erupted beams of
silver light, pummeling the monster's body.
"Shining Dawn!" A giant orb of orange flew from Phoenix's
outstretched palm and rose high in the sky, landing upon the emu.
"Rainbow Wave!" A rainbow of light appeared out of nowhere,
prompting Sailor Aurora Borealis to smile. The multicolored beams slammed
into the bird.
"Fiery Crater!" Comet grinned as meteor of sorts flew down from the
heavens and crashed down atop the brutish thing, creating a vast pit
below, which it crashed into.
"Starburst Shimmer!" A golden star appeared above the monster, and
suddenly exploding and showering razor sharp daggers of stardust down on
the now motionless emu, followed by a bright beam of gold light. Sailor
Chibi-Star let an uncharacteristic smile tug at her battle-hardened face.
All eyes stared at the creature that lay before them. It was nearly
motionless, but even the naked eye could see that it was breathing still.
Angel Moon wrinkled her nose. "Master? Chibi-Pluto?" They both turned to
her, confusion in their eyes. The Master of Time even whimpered something
about the attacks not working. She just shook her head, eyes uncertain,
and nodded toward Chibi-Star. "The Galactic Rod has broken," she said, and
the regret in Moon's red eyes was rather harrowing as she looked over her
shoulder at the Rod. She sighed and hung her head. "But, from all bad
comes good. Chibi-Scouts, join hands."
They did as she said, and immediately there was a flash of pink
light. It glowed brightly, changing to yellow light, and then turning a
painful tone of white. It stung the eyes of the Galactic Sailors.
And then, a sword appeared within the light. The hilt was of the
deepest black, and the blade was a sparkling silver. Embossed on the blade
and on the hilt's end was the sparkling gold symbol of the Sailor Scout of
the Moon, and Sailor Moon's breath caught in her throat. If anything in
the world was truly beautiful, this weapon was surely it.
The sword flew, upon its own will, into the Scout's open right hand.
She stared at it, amazed, for a long moment.
And she then raised it above her head. "Moon... Saber..." She drew
the sword across her body once, then twice, and raised it above her head.
Red eyes snapped closed as she took a deep breath.
"ILLUMINATION!" White light flowed from the tip of the weapon and
into the emu. There was a flash, and high-pitched whistling sound, and the
creature disappeared to dust...
Except for a tiny blue gem, no bigger than a marble.
Orion and Orb rushed forward to the mound of dust, staring at the
gem. "What the..." The calico furrowed her brow and poked her paw at the
little blue ball. "I don't understand..."
Sailor Moon arched her back and stretched, scabbarding the sword in
a red-brown leather sheath that had appeared around her waist. "I'm
getting too old for this..." she muttered. Then, she glanced warily at
Ambriel, and then at the Pluto twins, and lastly at the kittens. The
latter group was chattering nervously about the proceedings, while the
rest of her companions just watched her silently.
She sighed. "Anyone up for a Scout Meeting?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Well, they've put their feet in it," groaned Sailor Pluto, leaning
against the closed (and locked) Gate of Time. She studied her Key Staff,
which was standing, hands-free, about three feet beyond her reach. Her
eyes then flew to the two Chibi-Keys, and she sighed wistfully, a slightly
bemused smile crossing her lips. "They go off, fighting, without being
properly trained..."
Her knight shrugged his shoulders and brushed off his pants, which
were covered with lint. "Next time, I don't do my own laundry," Terrence
muttered, pushing his glasses up on his nose. Aware of her glowering
crimson eyes upon him, the young man straightened up and raised a brown
eyebrow. "What?"
She growled in annoyance, a habit that she'd picked up from far too
many years of repressing her anger. "The twins decided that today was the
first day of the rest of their lives," she informed him dryly. "They ran
off into Scoutdom without..."
"Peter's a Scout? I thought he was the Master."
Rolling her eyes, Pluto continued. "What am I to do? Give them their
Time Keys, say 'the magic words are Dead and Scream; don't say them
together too often because it'll blow people away,' and let them skip off
toward destiny like silly babies?" She shook her head. "What should I do,
Terrence? Tell me that."
He walked slowly toward her, and touched one hand to one of hers.
They stood for a moment, staring at one another, eyes intense. Then he
leaned forward and kissed her gently, then more passionately.
Nothing moved. Nothing wavered. His fingers sought her hair, and he
combed his hands through the silken tresses as he pulled slowly away from
his wife. "What's the doubt?" he whispered, touching his lips softly to
her cheek. "Ask the Key."
She glanced at him and then nudged him away gently, staring at the
garnet orb atop her staff. The orb had been with her since day one. It was
her Guardian. It would know.
Wouldn't it?
"Guardian, what am I to do?" she whispered, stepping toward it and
resting a gloved hand upon the gem. "How can I prepare the twins?"
There was a flash of red light and the ball of garnet shuddered
violently twice in rapt succession. Then, there were two flashes of red
light to each side of her staff and, magically, two tiny, glowing garnet
orbs appeared.
She gasped involuntarily as the two smaller orbs attached themselves
to the little keys and stopped glowing. She glanced at her Time Key, which
was the same as before. And she looked again to the tiny keys, which
seemed to be unaffected by their new additions. The Guardian of Time
gulped back the lump that had risen in her throat and glanced at the young
man.
Terrence was now leaning against a white marble pillar, the military
garb looking extremely out of place when compared to the laid-back man.
He smirked knowingly, the gold highlights in his hair bringing out the
touches of copper in his bright green eyes. "Told you so."
With a wave of her hand, Pluto drew the Key into her hand and
pointed the Garnet Orb directly at his face. "I don't want to hear it,"
she retorted, the gentle smile on her face merely hinting at the more
playful side of her which lied within. "I just gave two children the power
to kill." Her face fell as she realized the truth of her statement. "I
just gave our children..."
The key drooped, and he avoided it carefully before standing at her
side and wrapping an arm around her waist. "Sets..." he soothed.
She laid her head on his chest, dropping the Time Key and falling
into his embrace. "They're warriors, Terry... They're Senshi..."
Nodding, he laid a kiss on the top of her head. "Shhhh..." he
whispered, smoothing her soft hair as he hugged her. "It'll be alright.
It'll all be alright..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Reeny plopped down on the tan couch and leaned back, folding her
hands as she smiled slightly. "I now call this second meeting of the
Galactic Sailor Scouts to order. All present and accounted for?"
"Nope!" announced Phoebe rather merrily. She furrowed her brow upon
receiving both wary and dirty looks from the other members of the group.
"What?" she asked, making a face. "We're short a Prince, a Moon cat,
and...and... And whatever Helios is..." She ignored the glare from the
pink-haired leader and crossed her arms over her chest indignantly. "Well,
we ARE missing them..."
Rolling her brown eyes, Alice wrinkled her nose. "It's a wonder I
stay in this country," she mumbled, adjusting her seat in the large
armchair.
The battle-worn group sat in the living room of Cherry Hill Temple.
They filled both every available seat and a few folding chairs that the
priestess had brought in from the garage, and even then, the Chibi-Scouts
were seated on the floor. Still, they had but one thing in mind...
"What the Hell attacked us today?" Haley sighed. "It wasn't much
fun, let me tell you THAT."
"And our old powers didn't even work against it..." Looking to the
twins and the redheaded five-year-old, the Princess of Stars pressed her
pale lips together in thought. "It's as though they KNEW that we were out
of practice," she commented pensively.
Tara shrugged her shoulders. "But how would they know that?"
Everyone glanced at her in confusion. "I mean, how many people--other than
those of us in this room--know that we're Galactic Sailors?" She paused.
"Our mothers, some of our fathers, our siblings..."
Celeste shook her head. "Not even," she retorted quickly, stroking
Cassiopeia's silver fur. "My siblings don't know..."
The Priestess bit her lower lip. "Well, not many people would even
GUESS we were destined warriors," she continued with a soft sigh. "They
wouldn't even guess that we all had GPAs over three-point-eight..."
"Hey, I brought it up!" shot Reeny, offended by the glances toward
her. "I have a four-point-one now!"
"Whatever..." The little blonde girl rolled her green eyes. "The
point here is that they couldn't know we're weak..."
Aeris straightened up. "Perhaps the adversary has no prior knowledge
of our mere existence upon this Earth," she suggested softly. "It could
stand to reason that their strength and our lack thereof remains to be a
rather unfortunate coincidence."
Everyone glanced at her in doubt and bewilderment, and she sank
down, resting her elbows on her knees.
"She said that, maybe, the bad guys don't know that we're even
alive," translated her brother quickly. "And she thinks that the fact that
they're tough and we're not is just a fluke."
The leader of the group nodded in understanding and smiled slightly.
"Well, that would make sense..." she commented. "After all, they'd never
know if we were Scouts..."
"So, now what?" asked Phoebe, leaning back into her metal chair as
she spoke. "Do we just start training and hope to gain the upper hand?"
Reeny shrugged. "What choice do we have?"
The auburn-haired Scout smiled weakly. "We could always tell the
Mistresses..."
Since her first comment, the curly-haired teen with the smiling
brown eyes had remained curiously quiet, watching the others with a bit of
amusement as she sat between her leader--the Princess of the Earth--and
nineteen-year-old Haley Ten'ou. But her slight smile faded as Alice made
her suggestion. "That's not such a good idea," she returned quietly. "We
should learn to stand on our own feet, because..." She felt the prying,
curious eyes of Reeny, Phoebe, and Haley staring at her. She gulped.
"Well, you see... I'm not in good standing with my mother right now, and
I'm sure that the other Mistresses will feel the same way..."
Gray eyes gazed innocently at the eighteen-year-old. "What did you
do?" Ambriel inquired.
The Shinto priestess looked to Alice knowingly. She, in turn, shot a
brown gaze toward the third grader. And Celeste looked right back to
Lyra.
Lyra ran a finger under the edge of her T-shirt collar. "I'm...kind
of... Not living at home right now..." She stammered in an embarrassed
tone. "And I'm...kind of...living with Richard..."
"YOU'RE WHAT?" The student and alumna of Crystal Music Academy, as
well as the Princess of the Earth--all gaped at the young blonde woman.
They looked shocked.
Ambriel shrugged. "So what?" she asked, cocking her head to one
side. "Celeste told me all about it at soccer practice."
Ice blue eyes widened. "The kid knew?" Phoebe raised a single
eyebrow.
"Well, she's my sister..." Lyra trailed off and focused on the
carpet.
Reeny pointed an accusing finger at the raven-haired teen. "What
about YOU, Tara?" she shot. "Did YOU know about this?"
Lyra sighed. "Reeny..."
The Priestess looked at the ceiling guiltily. "I see her at school
every day..."
"And YOU, Alice?" Haley crossed her arms.
"Ditto with what she said," responded the young woman, jabbing a
thumb toward the priestess. "I mean, when she told us at school a month
ago..."
Tossing a pink ponytail, Reeny managed to look thoroughly appalled
yet amused at the same time. "This has been going on for a month?"
"Given the position that you, Princess, are in," put in the green-
haired child as a rejoinder for the embarrassed blonde, "it is probable
that your encounters with..." Seeing the various confused and/or
exasperated glances she was receiving from the group, she sighed. "Reeny
probably can't talk to the Scouts a whole lot," she grumbled, annoyed.
Peter smiled. "See, Sis? People DO understand you..."
She didn't answer, but the annoyance upon her face was retort
enough.
Lyra sighed and crossed her arms over her shirt. "It's like this,
guys," she began. "Richard was lonely. Ever since is parents died, he's
been kind of...lost. All he had was Orion.
"Not too long ago, she moved out of the apartment, and no one knew
why." She glanced at the two kittens, Carina and Cassiopeia, both of whom
were curled up in their proper Scout's laps. The others--Ara and Galileo,
she thought--had gone with their parents to the Palace lab to study the
strange blue marble. Smiling slightly, she continued her explanation.
"Well, he was beside himself with the quiet of the apartment.
"By this time, my friendship with Reeny had basically died. I hadn't
heard from her in eons and..."
"Well, DUH," commented the accused Princess. "I'm just a LITTLE busy
with being the Princess of the whole freaking Earth..."
"Whatever the case, I didn't really talk to her. And Haley had
graduated, and Phoebe was always busy any more..." She expected the latter
of the two to chime in, but she just smiled regretfully and shrugged. "So,
he asked me if, for my eighteenth birthday, I would move in. And I said
yes."
Celeste bristled. She had a large urge to chime in about abandonment
and betrayal, but she just pressed her lips together and let out a soft
sigh. Dealing with her feelings could wait. Missing her sister could wait.
The evil could not.
She instead faked a brave smile and leaned forward. "So," she put
in, breaking the silence that had ensued. "Why don't we get on with this
meeting?"
"Not much of a meeting, if you ask ME," announced Ambriel, only
being partially sarcastic. "Why don't we discuss this new enemy instead of
Polaris' love life?"
They all glanced at one another, smiled, and agreed.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Red eyes glared at the monitor, eyebrows raised. "You were right to
bring this here," she said rather blandly, trying not to show her dismay
outwardly. "I can't make heads or tails from these readings."
"Is it that bad, Aunt Diana?" inquired the tall green kitten,
strolling across the laboratory countertop to stare at the numbers and
symbols which were rolling across the screen. She held back a gasp. "I've
only READ about reports like the ones that are coming out of that little
blue thing." Ara glanced disdainfully at the blue sphere as differently
colored lights each scanned it in turn. "How could this create a monster
like the one we saw today?"
Orion nodded grimly, pacing back and forth across the white tile
floor, staring at the glass case which held the gem. "It seems to be quite
remindful of the gems which controlled the droids of the Black Moon."
"Like in the 20th century?" inquired the tan cat of his mother.
After she nodded, he made a face. "I'm beginning to understand this less
and less as we go over it," he told the group of Guardians, voice growing
more concerned with every word. "If the Scouts needed power upgrades just
to stun it..."
Diana shrugged and hit a few keys on the keyboard at her feet. "They
were really overdue for one," she responded casually. "After three years,
you'd think that they'd have more than one attack. The original Senshi
had..."
"Three by the end of two years," Ara quoted with a slight smile.
"Serenity had more than that, of course--she'd had eight by the time she
was sixteen."
"Ah," grinned her brother. "But can you name them all?"
"Well, there's Moon Tiara Magic and Moon Healing Activation..."
Orb looked at his sister, copper eyes thoughtful. "Do you really
think that we're going to live through this all?" he asked in an undertone
so that his kittens wouldn't hear. "Or is the world doomed?"
"Moon Scepter Elimination... Moon Spiral Heart Attack..."
His mate joined them on the counter. "I wouldn't underestimate the
Scouts," she recommended sternly. "They did handle the monster very well
today, even if they used a bit of overkill..."
"Rainbow Moon Heart Ache... Moon Gorgeous Meditation..."
"Overkill?" echoed Diana, surprised. "I didn't hear anything about
overkill." She looked away from the screen and at her two companions.
"What did they do THIS time?"
"And then, there was...ummm...Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss,
followed closely by... Wait, I do know this..."
The calico shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal, really," she
assured Diana. "They just found it necessary to each attack before Sailor
Moon used her sword."
"I could have SWORN there was another one... But I don't think I
remember..."
The pink cat gasped. "What? A sword? What sword?" She stared blankly
at the other cats.
"Silver Moon...something Crystal...something Kiss, I think..."
"Her sword," responded Orb rather blandly. "You know. The one for
'Moon Saber Illumination.'"
"Well, what about Sailor Mercury?"
Diana's expression turned more and more confused, and her red eyes
grew wider and wider. "What happened to the Galactic Rod?"
"That's easy! Mercury Bubbles Blast, Mercury Ice Bubbles Blast, and
Mercury Ice Storm Freeze..."
Orion looked away.
"Then, Shine Aqua Illusion, followed--and this is amazing--by
Mercury Double Ice Bubbles Blast, and then Mercury Aqua Mirage and
finally, my personal favorite..."
Orb gulped.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
The cats all glanced warily at the tall kitten, who had an enormous
grin on her face as she announced the three words triumphantly. She
blinked her lavender eyes, pressed her lips together, and glanced at the
tile floor. "Uh..."
Galileo sighed. "The Galactic Rod broke, Aunt Diana," he told her
matter-of-factly. "Sailor Moon was struck with fear and..."
"Damn it!" swore the cat angrily, gritting her teeth and resisting
the urge to scream. "Of course it broke! Doesn't she know that she can't
use her relics if she doesn't want to be Sailor Moon?" She growled, the
sound deep and throaty. "What did she do to it?"
The orange cat licked his chops. "She threw it over her shoulder,"
he informed her bluntly. "Just tossed it. Foosh! And then... CRACK!"
Rolling her green eyes, the calico glanced apologetically at the
other adult female. "Well, it's broken and she has a sword."
"It did a pretty good job against the monster, though," commented
Galileo optimistically. His brown eyes sparkled. "Isn't that important?
The fact that it did a good job, I..."
He was interrupted by a loud wailing sound coming from the computer
screen. Everyone turned to see the monitor light up and numbers unlike
they'd ever seen appear.
And Diana's eyes went wide. "Oh dear."
"Oh dear WHAT?" howled Orion, unable to understand the computer
jargon that was rapidly filling the screen. "What's it all mean?"
Ara took a deep breath and turned away from the screen, the numbers
and letters burning her eyes. "According to the computer, that little gem
is more than we thought it was..."
Looking at his daughter, Orb raised an eyebrow. "And what's that
supposed to mean?"
She shook her head slowly, as if in disbelief of what she'd read.
The computer didn't lie. The computer COULDN'T lie... Could it?
"According to the readings," she stated in an analytical tone, "that
gem isn't just part of the monster that they fought today." She gulped.
"That little gem IS the monster."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"It's not LIKE her," stressed Lita, her tone growing more and more
urgent as she paced across the kitchen's length, hands squeezing the
coffee cup until her knuckles were white. She brushed a strand of brown
hair from her eyes. "Ken, you've just got to believe me! Alice isn't the
type to slam the door in people's faces!"
Adjusting the ice pack on his nose, the man let out a sigh and
shrugged. "Lita, I believe you," he replied in a calm tone. "I just want
to know why she did that."
The woman continued up and down the room, her high heels clicking
on the floor as she pressed her pink lips together in frustration. "It's
times like these that I find a need to BREAK something!" she yelped. She
immediately gritted her teeth and placed her cup on the table beside him,
out of harm's way. Her hands then reached to clutch the bottommost edge
of her green blazer, and she didn't deny them that privilege. "And I'm
sure that she thinks I'M to blame for all this..."
"Lita..."
"Well, Ken, riddle me this!" She sent him a desperate gaze, green
eyes intense. "How is it that I can raise a daughter and a restaurant
without the man that I need more than life?" Realizing what she said, she
pulled her eyes from his and continued her pacing.
He gulped. "Lita..."
She drew in a sharp breath. "I'm an idiot," she growled, half to
herself. "I call you and expect Alice to be happy again... I screw up your
life and expect me to be happy about it... I..."
He reached out and grabbed her wrist, holding tightly to it even
when she tried desperately to pull away. He stood, his height nearly
dwarfing the tall woman, and he stared down at her. "I don't care how
guilty you feel," Ken told her, his hands finding their way to her hips
against his will. "All I know is that something--something beyond your
call--drew me here. To this apartment." He leaned down and kissed the tip
of her nose. "To you and my daughter, dear Lita."
Smiling gently, she gazed warmly up at him. "You felt something more
than the annoying request from a whining hag?"
"What whining hag?" he questioned, lowering his face to hers...
"MOM! I'm HOME!" The door flew open and there was the sound of
someone kicking off shoes and depositing a parka on the floor. "You'll
never guess what kind of day I've had!"
Lita's face fell and she stepped quickly away from the man. "Leave
it to Ally," she mumbled to herself.
The auburn-haired teen bounced into the kitchen, not noticing the
tall man as she threw open the refrigerator door, missing the chance to
beam him with it by scant inches. "Well, first, that ASS Ken showed back
up!" she laughed, rummaging through the shelves of the appliance. "Can you
BELIEVE that guy? Some idiot upstairs must've let him in, too, but he was
convinced he had a key!" She pulled a can of pop from the door and
straightened up, pushing the door shut. "What an... Uh-oh..."
Brown eyes met brown. It was that same auburn hair, again. The same
stubby fingers that ran in the family. The same...
"Oh, Hell no," she spat. "Hell no." She glanced at her mother, the
beautiful woman in the green business suit, her expression disbelieving.
And Lita just nodded, mouthing a silent 'yes.'
The teen licked her lips, tears of hate, anger, and sadness all
welling to her eyes at the same time. They burned. Burned fiercely.
They burned like the fifteen years of wondering had burned. They
burned like the three years of abandonment had burned. They burned like
the feeling she'd first felt on that day when she had read a note. A note
on yellow paper. A note that said he didn't love them. And that he hadn't.
And that he was leaving.
And that he didn't love her.
She threw the can of soda against the nearest wall, not flinching as
it burst and sprayed the sticky liquid over the three of them. Her
mother's pleas and yells fell on deaf ears as she glared daggers at the
man who would be her father.
The tears burnt as they fell.
"Go to Hell, Ken Asanuma," she said coolly, head held high as she
stared at him. "Go to Hell."
And the yells fell on deaf ears as she stormed out of the Kino
apartment, slamming the door behind her.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Can we keep him?"
"No." The little red eyes bore into her soul, and she glanced up
from her sports magazine in annoyance. The little tan kitten, chubby and
best described as precious, also stared up at her. She wrenched her gray-
green eyes away from the boy and his cat, the image of the red Pluto
symbol somehow etched into her mind. She shook her head quickly to clear
her thoughts. "Peter, we've already got enough pets..."
The child climbed up onto the couch beside her, the kitten purring
at an obnoxious volume as Peter leaned his head against her arm. "Come ON,
Unkie," he pleaded loudly, low lip quivering. "All we have is a goldfish,
and that's Haley's!"
She shook her head sternly, blowing a few strands of sandy hair
from her eyes. "We have Delaney," she countered sternly, her will already
beginning to waver. "She's like a little bald dog..."
"Mother!" Hannah made a face as she glanced up from giving the said
'bald dog' a bottle. "I don't believe you! She's a baby, not a pet! And
your granddaughter, no less..."
Alexandra looked up from the magazine again. "I don't see why people
need babies," she commented smoothly, standing to get away from the boy
and the kitten. "They first end up like Delaney--whining, crying, puking,
and teething... Then, they end up like HIM..." She pointed an accusation
at the brunette boy, who just stared back at her adoringly. She resisted
the need to gag herself. "Then, they turn into Haley-before-Scoutdom, then
Haley-now..." She held her hands in the air, as if proclaiming a victory.
"And THEN, they get married and make you move in WITH THEM!"
At that precise moment, Michelle walked into the den, carrying a
little green-black kitten. The said animal was smaller than Peter's, but
it had the same mysterious look in its lavender eyes, and the same red
Pluto symbol stood out on its forehead. Behind her was Aeris, her little
hands resident in the too-big pockets of her red skirt, her white blouse
perfectly neat and straight, and a slight smile on her pale face. "I am
pleased to bring momentous news!" she announced gleefully.
"And then," Alex shook her head, "there's Aeris Lynne Chiba."
Michelle raised an aqua-colored eyebrow at the comment but said
nothing of it. Instead, she held the kitten out to her wife. "Isn't she
CUTE?" she cooed, grinning madly. "Her name is Ara, and she's Aeris'
Guardian Cat."
The blonde did a double take and glanced down at the other kitten.
Her mouth hung open. "Two... Two... TWO cats?" she stammered, eyes wide.
One of the cats--the green one--furrowed her brow. "Well, of course
there's TWO of us," she responded, hopping onto the woman's shoulder with
relative ease. "There are two of them, aren't there?"
"Two TALKING cats?" She lowered her eyes and glared at the tall,
thin cat who was perched on her shoulder. "Or did I luck out and only one
talks?"
The tan cat shook his head. "Sorry, Uranus," he apologized. "But we
both talk."
Alexandra held back a sob and let but two words come out of her
mouth.
"Why me?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"So, that's the story." Marie leaned back in the loveseat and
watched the sun slowly set over Crystal Tokyo, her young face placid. "I
know it sounds silly but..."
The teenager didn't speak for a moment but instead studied her aunt.
"So, let me get this straight," she said in a concerned tone. "You were
changing insurance agencies on the store when the wiring went bad. You
didn't have insurance, or any other money--all you had was the charred
remains of a store and your apartment?"
The silver-haired adult nodded solemnly. "And an apartment is hard
to rent when you're trying to pay off all the cash you lost in the fire."
She sighed mournfully and rested her chin in her hands. "That's the
problem, Phoebe--all the items in my store were unique and one-of-a-kind.
I had a lot of my cash so tied up in knots that I couldn't see my hand in
front of my face. And now..." She shrugged. "I'm broke, Phoebe, I won't
lie to you. I can't go to Greg, because I'd feel stupid, and I don't know
anyone else. I lived in America for years and years and now..." Her face
fell and her brown eyes found their way to the floor.
The teen stood slowly, pacing over to the window. She plopped down
on the window seat's edge, staring out at the darkening sky. How the heck
was SHE--a seventeen-year-old Sailor Scout with, really, no way of
supporting herself beyond what her mother and father sent overseas--
supposed to help her poor, homeless aunt? The woman had no money. She had
no home. She was Urawa blood. She was a wonderful person. They were
related. They were family.
"Blood is thicker than water," announced Phoebe, breaking the
awkward silence. "I don't know how it compares to ash and burnt inventory,
but it's thicker than water." She smiled gently. "Marie, would you like to
stay here? In my parent's room?"
A gentle, genuinely happy smile alit the woman's face. Her pale
complexion seemed to glow as she stood and rushed toward her niece,
hugging her tightly. "Phoebe, I could kiss you!"
The girl grimaced and wrinkled her nose. "Can I take a rain check
on that one?" she requested with a smile. "I don't think I'm up for it--
not tonight."
Marie chuckled and pulled away from her niece, bright eyes shining
furiously. "Thank you, Phoebe," she grinned. "I owe you one."
"Hey, what can a great human like me say?" she asked with a shrug.
"Everyone owes me a one!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Lyra folded her hands. "Well, Bobby's really allergic, Rich," she
explained, chewing on her lower lip as she spoke. "And I didn't know what
to do..."
"Besides, you need to think of me as an over-all Star cat," put in
the silver kitten, her green eyes imploring as she stared at the young man
in the plaid pajama bottoms and sleeveless T-shirt. "I can help you, I
really can. Look how tough I am!" She unsheathed her claws and raised a
single paw high into the air. "I could shred your nice couch in just a
couple of minutes!"
He glanced through his glasses and at the boring blue couch warily.
His parents had just gotten those redone four years ago. And he certainly
didn't have enough money to reupholster in anytime soon.
Richard swallowed--hard--and ran a hand through his dark red hair.
"I'll take your word for it, Cassiopeia," he responded, shooting a
meaningful glance at the short blonde with the curly hair. "But I need to
talk to St...Lyra." He pointed to the hallway toward the bedrooms. "Now."
They shuffled into his room, pulling the door tightly shut behind
them. She settled herself in a high-backed redwood chair--the chair she'd
sat in the day Molly had died--and he perched on the edge of the bed. He
looked nervous. "Star, I..."
"It's a cat, Rich," she told him sternly, her expression one of
disappointment and annoyance. "It's our Guardian's daughter. My sister
needs her, and the Stars know that we may..."
"That's not it," he interrupted, shaking his head. "It's the fact
that she might be in cahoots with your mother." He received a bewildered
gaze from a pair of large brown eyes. "Look, Star, I don't want her being
so nosy. I don't..."
She laughed, sighing. She looked about ready to either run over and
tackle him or to burst out crying. "So this all about my mother," she
retorted, chuckles growing. "This is all..." She broke down and started
sobbing.
He rushed over to her side and, while he couldn't make out all the
words of her crying, he could understand that she was upset with the
Mistresses and with the fact that her mother had been so protective. She
was upset about the monster. About Angel Moon. And about Celeste.
"And I don't get to see her!" she cried, sliding off the chair and
collapsing on the floor. "That's the only reason that I fought,
sometimes--for 'Leste!" She punched the floor. "And she lives with my
mother! On the other side of town! I hardly get to talk to her, and I can
just tell she's mad and... ARGH!" Her brown eyes turned angry as she
glanced up at her boyfriend, who stood next to the chair like a dear
blinded in headlights. "Do you know how many times I've wanted to call my
mother just to tell her what a BITCH she is?" Lyra laughed to herself.
"But all I'd end up doing is make a fool of myself and losing my
sister..."
He knelt down beside her and pulled her into his lap, arms warm and
soothing to her enraged self. "We can invite Celeste over some time," he
suggested, burying his face in her soft curls. "We can keep the cat.
And..." He shrugged and turned her face to his. "Your mother, on the other
hand, will just have to grow up." And he drew his lips to hers, forgetting
the world.
From the doorway, Cassiopeia smirked and repressed a giggle.
"They're so cute together," she grinned before starting down the hallway
toward the kitchen.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"That's IT!" he yelled, kicking an empty park bench. The biting,
cold wind of night blew his blonde hair every which way as he gazed at the
lights of Crystal Tokyo. It was a beautiful city, and he felt almost sorry
that he would have to destroy it.
Almost.
He raised his arms above his head. "Dark Power of the Earth! Lend me
the strength!"
His muscles began to bulge slowly as he spoke. The black of his
uniform frayed and ripped as his legs and arms suddenly grew to twice
their normal size. His blue eyes turned black. His teeth became fangs,
large enough to rip through flesh and bone. His arms and legs kept
growing, as did he--he began to get taller until he was nearly ten feet
tall.
When the metamorphosis stopped, his normal self was just a memory.
He looked down at the tiny gray rock that laid in one of his massive
clawed hands. "Bob, should we go beat the Sailor Scouts for Queen Ginnie?"
He kissed the rock gently. "Maybe she'll forgive me for losing the Crystal
of Illusion if I kill the Sailor Scouts..."
And the massive, monster form of Kevin lumbered down the dirt path,
starting toward Crystal Palace.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Tara sat straight up in bed. "Danger!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Brown eyes fluttered open. "Rich..." Lyra nudged the young man and
weaseled out of his embrace, climbing from the floor and onto her feet.
"Rich, do you feel it?"
He stirred and opened his blue eyes, blinking. "A monster?" He
gulped. "Oh dear.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Trouble?" Phoebe glanced down at the two cats. "Are you sure?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Alice glanced up at Crystal Palace from her place at the bus stop.
"A monster attack? But..." She glanced at the white bus that was driving
down the street and let out a sigh. "Great. Just great."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

She glared at Aeris. "Why the Hell did you wake me up, brat?" Haley
shot, rolling over in bed and pulling the covers over her head. "Go away."
"But, Haley, there is an extreme threat to our very..." She paused
and hopped onto the bed. "There's a monster! Ara felt it!"
The young woman sat up at these words and then glanced at the little
girl. "WHO felt it?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Are you sure?" he questioned, hands on his hips. He stared at the
little tan cat. "There's really a monster?"
Galileo just nodded.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"'Leste?" The little blonde girl opened her blue eyes and glanced at
the older child. Celeste was fishing through the closet, looking for
something. "'Leste, what's wrong?"
"Nothing Lila," she cooed, slipping on her purple coat. "Just go to
sleep."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"MAMA! PAPA!" The red haired girl tore through the Princess' room,
flipping on every lap she could as she ran to the giant canopy bed. "Get
up!"
Helios stirred and then rolled over, but the Princess of the Earth
sat straight up, blinking her sleep-wary eyes as she did so. "What's
wrong?" she asked, confused.
Ambriel grabbed the Locket of the Moon off the bedside table and
tossed it to the young woman. "No time to explain. There's a monster..."
Reeny sighed and slipped out of bed. "Just the way I wanted to start
my Sunday morning," she muttered to herself.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Kevin-monster looked up at the Palace, black eyes wide as he
stared, awestruck, at the great white building. "Wow," he commented,
breathless. "It's strange to think that anyone would live there. Looks
like a mausoleum."
"It's not a mausoleum!" came a strong, annoyed voice from behind
him. "It's my home, you rabid whatever-the-Hell-you are!"
He turned around, only to look down at a young woman with pink hair.
She wore a red, blue, and pink Sailor fuku and had some sort of sword
hanging around her waist by a very nice looking leather sheath. Her red
eyes were lowered in an annoyed, sleepy glare.
And behind that young woman stood many more Scouts, all garbed in
variously colored fukus, or tuxedoes, or--in a single case--in a white
gown. He grimaced and stepped back a little.
"I am Sailor Moon!" announced the pink-haired one, flailing her arms
about and trying to look intimidating. "On behalf of the Moon, I will
right wrongs and triumph over all evil!" She pointed an incriminating
finger at him. "And that means you!"
The Kevin-monster roared, and the little Scout stepped back. "Well,
I am Kevin! Under the reign of Evil Queen Ginnie, we shall make the world
a great place!" He held the rock over his head. "ROCK THROWING!"
Flying harmlessly through the air, the little rock landed on the
pavement between Sailors Comet and Chibi-Pluto. They both looked down at
it, confused.
"Uhh..." He pointed a claw at the rock. "Could you please hand me
that?" he asked sweetly, blushing a bit.
Sailor Chibi-Pluto rolled her eyes, pulled her Time Key out of null-
space and, focusing her eyes on the Garnet Orb, whispered the words "Dead
Scream."
The rock vaporized.
"BOB!" Kevin tore through the group of warriors and knelt on the
ground beside the pile of dust. "What did you do?" He glared, teary-eyed
at the little girl. "You killed him!"
Sailor Aurora Borealis crossed her arms across her chest. "That's
far enough," she told the monster, rolling her brown eyes. "Sailor Moon,
can I PLEASE..."
The leader nodded.
"Rainbow Wave!" A rainbow crashed into the Kevin-monster and he
groaned in pain, collapsing atop what was left of his rock.
Sailor Moon wrinkled her nose, one hand resting on the hilt of the
Moon Saber. "You know what? This is really too easy..."
Comet rolled her eyes. "Reeny..."
"We didn't have to DO anything..."
The Master of Time (in Training) glanced warily at the monster, who
was starting to move. "It's coming alive..."
"After all, vaporizing a rock is hardly..."
Kevin suddenly leapt to his feet, roaring and knocking a good half
the Scouts backward with a giant hand. "BOB!" he screamed in agony. "I
will avenge you!"
Climbing to her feet, Sailor Polaris straightened to her full height
and took a deep breath. "Starlight..."
The creature roared and knocked her to the ground.
"Shining..." He kicked Sailor Phoenix, and she fell into a nearby
garbage can.
Comet held out her hands, but received much the same treatment as
the previous Scouts.
As the fighting went on, Peter stood slowly on shaky legs and glared
at the creature. The monster was now tossing Sailor Chibi-Star from hand
to hand while kicking occasionally at the other Scouts. He made a face and
drew his Time Key out of null-space.
Two could play at this twisted game.
He focused on the Orb. "Dead... Scream."
Nothing happened.
"Dead Scream?" He glanced at the Key. "Scream Dead? Dead SCREAM!" He
clenched his fists. "What in the name of Pluto..."
Beside him, his sister pulled out her Time Key and focused on the
Orb. "Dead... Scream..."
A glowing purplish ball of light appeared and flowed from the Garnet
Orb toward Kevin, exploding on contact. He roared and fell to his knees,
dropping Sailor Chibi-Star.
"Celeste!" screamed Polaris, scrambling to her feet. "Celeste!"
The Starlit Prince, who had been laying beside his Princess,
clambered to his feet and dove, catching the young Scout in mid-dive. They
hit the pavement with a resounding thump.
Sailor Earth coughed and climbed slowly to her feet. "Sailor Moon!
Dust this thing!"
From where she knelt, gasping for breath, the leader of the Galactic
Sailors pulled her sword free of its scabbard and pointed it directly at
Kevin. "Moon... Saber... Illumination..."
There was a flash of white light, and the monster-person was dusted.
"What the Hell was that thing?" questioned the Starlit Prince,
setting Chibi-Star on the ground and standing slowly, leaning on Polaris
for support. "I've never seen anything like it..."
"I don't know," admitted Angel Moon, wrinkling her nose at a
splatter of blood upon her white dress. "And I'm not sure if I want to
find out."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Great." The woman in the black velvet wrinkled her nose. "Kevin's
dust, and I'm still short one Crystal."
Tina sighed and shook her head. "Well, you know Kevin... Him and
that damn rock..." She shrugged and looked away.
Queen Ginnie stood up and floated from her seat to the floor
gracefully, the long train of her gown billowing out behind her. "Call
Arthur," she commanded, her boots clicking on the black marble. "He's
next."
The young woman bowed deeply. "Yes, Mistress."
And Ginnie left the chamber.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Galactic Sailors Say!

Reeny: (wrinkles her nose as she walks on screen with the group) There we
go again with Butler and her leaving off at weird times! What the HELL?

Lyra: (sighs) She's sick of everything getting zipped. She's trying to
keep them short.

Reeny: (snorts) Why bother? She's already the longest-winded author at
ASMR! I just don't GET it!

Phoebe: (smiles) Think of it this way--the shorter the chapters, the
sooner you and Helios...

(A loud whining sound interrupts her and a red light flashes)

Deep voice: Plot almost revealed! Security breached!

(Phoebe disappears)

Alice: (makes face) Well, I'm a bit mad about the whole 'return of Ken.'
Why did Butler bother with him, anyway? He was never a major character in
SM, anyway! He was in one freaking episode!

Haley: (shrugs) Look at it this way: If he wasn't there, then... (she
pauses and glances up) Never mind.

Alice: What?

Haley: (whispers) She's watching...

Reeny: Who? (pauses, laughs) That's absurd, Haley! Why would Butler care?

(Red light. Whining sound.)

Deep voice: Do not chide the author!

(Reeny disappears.)

Tara: (nervously) We... We were just going...

(Remaining Scouts run off screen.)

Deep voice: (chuckles) Butler says... See ya!

-I Know-
Look around...
(Ambriel stares down at Tokyo from the top tower of Crystal Palace)
So many things aren't clear...
(Aeris and Peter stand before the Gate of Time with terrified expressions)
Don't worry, though...
(Haley smiles and turns a page in her book)
You know that I'll be there...
(Orion and Orb chase after the kittens)
A lot of things are so uncertain...
(Tara, near tears, bites her lip)
The future's on its way...
(Michelle holds Delaney, an amazed smile on her face)
Look into my crying eyes...
(Reeny wipes tears off her cheeks while Serenity watches nervously)
Don't take your love away!
(Alice slams the door in her father's face)

Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)

Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)

Times will change...
(Tara, robes flying, chases Joshua around the courtyard)
People will change, too...
(Haley plays with her now-long hair)
But deep inside...
(Helios takes Reeny's hands in his)
I always will love you...
(Richard bends down to kiss Lyra)
I suppose there are questions now...
(Peter tugs on Terrence's pant leg)
The answers are so far...
(Alice and Phoebe dive for a floating sphere and miss)
But look at me and smile now...
(Hannah and Brian both smile as Alex takes Delaney into her arms)
I am your guiding star!
(Lyra and Richard stare at Celeste and Peter, who are watching the sunset)

Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)

Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)

I know...
(Chibi-Pluto, the Angel Moon, and Chibi-Star stand together)
I know...
(The Galactic Sailors stand together)
All you need is love...
(All nine girls stand together)
All you need...is...love...
(The Prince and Princess of the Stars kiss)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Thank you, and good night! Errmmm... Good day... Afternoon... ::furrows
brow:: Whatever...

--KB--