1.1.1 A Powerful Twist - Chapter 4

*I'd like to thank "Lizard" and "Renzie" for helping me this chapter!*

"Hey, Serena." Said Ami as she finally got through to Serena's house. "You're phone line's been busy for hours! Whom were you talking to?"

"No one." Said Serena. "Melvin kept calling and saying something about inchworms so I left the phone off the hook for a while hoping he would get the drift. Oh, can I put you on hold, Ami, I've got another call."

"Sure."

* 5 seconds later *

"Ami, you still there?" asked Serena.

"Yeah."

"Ahh, that freak, Melvin is still trying to call me! He won't leave me alone!"

"Well, Serena, I called because I just called Tamara's hotel and she wasn't there. The front desk said she checked out!"

"Checked out? They must have someone else's room mixed up with hers."

"I'm not so sure." Said Ami is a nervous tone. "Maybe we should go there and check it out!"

"Fine, but I still say they got the rooms screwed up!" said Serena. "Why would she check out without telling us?"

"I'll call Lita and Mina, you call Rei. We'll meet down there in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes?" asked Serena.

"When the big hand gets to the nine." Ami sighed.

"Oh, right!" said Serena. "We'll be there!"

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"So you think she checked out?" Lita asked Ami as they all walked into the hotel.

"That's what the lady at the front desk said." Said Ami as she hurried to the front desk.

"I still say they got the rooms screwed up!" said Serena in a 'no worries' matter.

"Hello?" said Ami to the lady at the front desk. "Can you tell us if Tamara Kenoh checked out of this hotel?"

"Yes, the girl with the pretty reddish-blonde hair pulled back in pigtails?"

"That's her." Said Rei anxiously.

"She just left. Said something about distrust." Said the lady.

"Oh no!" said Lita as the group moved away from the front desk. "Luna! This is all your fault! Why couldn't you give her a chance!?"

The scouts turned to face Luna who looked at them with that look that says 'Shoot, I really screwed up this time, didn't I?'.

"I don't even know what to say." Said Serena.

"Luna, she was one of us! You didn't treat any of us that way!" said Lita as she blinked back a couple of tears. "Now we don't even know where she is! She probably thinks we hate her!"

"If I find her, I'll talk to her." Said Luna as she fought back her own tears.

"No." Said Rei as she forced back her tears and shook her head. "I don't think just an apology will help."

Then Luna ran out of the hotel.

"Luna!" said Artemis who was crying along with everyone else.

"Don't, Artemis." Said Mina as she held him back. "She needs to think about what she's done. Let's go try to find Tamara."

The scouts looked everywhere. They split up; half of them went in one direction and half of them went in another. They didn't have any luck whatsoever until later that afternoon.

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"Hi, Rei." Said Serena into her communicator. "Have you had any luck?"

"No Serena." Said Rei in an annoyed tone, "I still haven't since you called me twenty seconds ago!"

"Sorry!" said Serena. "Can I talk to Lita?"

Rei turned to Lita. "Serena wants to talk to you."

"Umm, Rei?" said Serena.

"What?"

"Can we talk privately?" asked Serena.

"You know," said Rei, "That's kinda hard to do considering you'll be communicating through the machine strapped on my wrist!"

"Don't shout, Rei!" said Lita as a drop of sweat formed on the side of her head and she assured all the people around her that her friend was having emotional problems due to the loss of her pet Spider Monkey.

"Serena, why don't you just hang up on my line and call Lita on her communicator!?" Rei was about to rip off the head of a little kid that was riding by on his tricycle.

"Good idea, Rei! Well, then, good-bye!" There was silence for a while. *Beep* "Hi, hi, Lita, it's Serena."

"Hopeless!" said Rei as she let the poor child go.

"Okay, Ami, Artemis and I haven't found Tamara or Luna. I'm beginning to think we might have to call it a night."

"What about Mina, have you heard from her?" asked Lita who was unwilling to give up.

"No, I wonder why she wanted to go off by herself. Oh well, do you want to give up, I mean I need my beauty sleep."

"Obviously." whispered Rei.

"No way!" said Lita. "Tamara's our friend and so is Luna! Even if Tamara is different, or Luna isn't perfect, they need to know that they can count on us."

Rei was nodding her head and going "Mmm - hmm."

"You're right, Lita." said Serena. "Come on, Artemis finish your ice cream. Let's go!" Rei and Lita heard a groan in the background.

Lita giggled and said good-bye to Serena. Then she and Rei continued their search.

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Mina sighed as she slumped up against the wall of an alley. Her back hit it hard and she slid down it so that she was sitting up against it.

"Maybe it was a little of my fault that she left." she said as she hugged her knees. "I was a little mean when I asked her if she really was a scout but . . ." she squinted her eyes and fixed them on a trashcan.

"There's just something about her that I just can't quite trust no matter how hard I try." she bit her lip and looked at the ground.

"I know what you mean." said a voice from down the alley.

Mina looked up and saw two glowing eyes. She reached into her pocket and grabbed her transformation stick.

The figure moved forward and she caught a glimpse of a shape on its forehead. "Luna!" she said.

"I can't seem to believe her either." said Luna as she stepped into the moonlight.

"Well, I'm glad I found you. We were really worried about you!"

"Sorry, I just can't stand being rejected like that."

"I'm really sorry, Luna!" said Mina as she ran over to Luna and gave her a hug.

"Don't worry about it." said Luna. "For now we have to figure out what is going on!"

"That sounds like a good . . ." started Mina but she was interrupted by an evil laugh.

"You really are moronic!" said the evil voice as a cloaked figure descended from above.

"What do you want with us!?" asked Mina as she set Luna on the dark pavement and took a battle stance.

"Your lives would be nice." smirked Queen Mysteria as she threw a powerful blast at Mina and Luna.

Mina winced in pain as the blast hit her. She could feel the energy draining out of her body as she felt herself growing limp. She looked up at the figure that was attacking her. She could she a smile on what looked like a feminine face.

The bluish-purple beam continued to hit Mina as she looked at the figure. Then, the woman in the cloak hit them extra hard and the hood flew off her head. Mina gasped as the girl's wild strawberry-blonde hair waved in the tornado of power. She gathered the last of her strength and gasped her last word before her lifeless body fell to the street.

"Tamara . . ."