SAILOR MOON HARMONY
EPISODE 6-THE LION AND THE UNICORN
"Soara-"
Skyler saw the lights swing as a cold breeze curled around
her. The gym again. The faded green walls gleamed faintly
under the shifting light. She knew what was coming next- but
this time she was ready.
She jumped when she saw the figures in the door, but she
stood firmly in place. If they were going to bother her
every night, she was going to find out why.
"SOARA!"
Skyler cringed, but stood her ground. That voice was even
louder than her dad used to shout over his airplane engine,
and it didn't even sound like the guy was trying. It was
the tone, the harsh fury behind the shout that made her
flinch.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was a soft, calming
touch, yet for no reason a profound sorrow came with it.
"Someday you will understand-" an airy voice sighed.
A familiar voice-
Then the light came, and Skyler knew she couldn't do anything
else. She could see her ceiling materializing through it.
"Ohh-" she mumbled. "Missed it-"
"Missed what?" Orion asked.
He stood on her desk, on the opposite side of the room. A
small bowl lay next to him, half-full of grapes. She
quickly debated if she should tell him what she was seeing.
After all, in the dream she had been determined to find out
what was going on, and he might know something. Still, she
didn't really know him well enough to tell him dreams- that
was something, in her mind, that was for really close family
and friends only. She didn't want to lie to him, though-
"N-Nothing" she replied at last. "A dream, that's all-"
Orion snapped up a grape and tried to chew on it, but
it was too small to move. He dropped it on the desk and
attempted to pick it up at different angle. Skyler stuck
her tongue out in disgust. "You don't know what's been on
that desk-"
"Skyler, I'm an eagle. Like it will matter-" he managed to
swallow it and fluttered over to her. "You know, dreams
have meaning, especially to Sailor Scouts."
"Really-" Skyler caught sight of the alarm clock, then got
to her feet and scooped Orion up in her arms. "I have to
get ready for school. Out."
Orion squirmed out of her grasp. "I can walk by myself"
he clucked before hopping out the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She watched the sunlight glimmer across Orion's golden
wings as he soared away, with a wishful sigh. He could
just glide through the sky all day, leaving the whole
world behind for a boundless dimension of his own. He
denied that he just did that all day, but he never had
any new information, either.
"I know you're out there right now-" she said over the
communicator. "I can hear the wind."
"I'm searching. You know, someone's probably staring at
you and thinking 'Why's she talking to herself?'" he
retorted.
She shook her head as she walked into the classroom.
That eagle so far had never failed to talk his way out
of a jam-
Her train of thought was broken as someone brushed into
her, almost knocking her backpack off. "Hey-" she
grumbled.
"Excuse me."
It had been a girl, about three inches taller than her,
a thin, pale face framed by wavy, sun-gold hair that
reached just past her shoulders. Her bangs cascaded over
deep, narrow emerald eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless
shirt, slightly flared jeans, and thick sandals with wide
straps. She touched one slender hand to her mouth
nervously. Her nails were neatly trimmed and painted with
bright colors of pearls and fuschia, not a crack or chip
anywhere.
"Um- hi" Skyler started. She had not seen this girl before.
"Hi, is this Ms. Mather's room?" the girl responded,
smiling somewhat cautiously.
"Yeah" Skyler returned the smile with a bit more confidence.
"You're new here?"
"We moved in from Montana a little while ago. My name's
Jillian Donner" she introduced.
"I'm Skyler Avis. Most people call me Sky."
"OK, kewl" Jillian's smile widened, revealing the whitest
set of teeth Skyler had ever seen. "Well, thanks for saying
hi. No one even turned a second look at me before."
"They probably think you're from a different class" Skyler
reasoned. "You look older than sixth grade."
"My mom did too, when I was her age."
A gleam of yellow light caught Skyler's eye, and she
glanced over to the window. Orion was there, watching
them. Skyler nearly forgot where she was when she opened
her mouth towards a communication, but Jillian reminded
her. "Oh wow, what's that?!"
She scrambled over to the window where Orion was. Orion
fluttered back, landing on the ground, all the while
keeping at least one eye on her.
"Orion, she can see you-" Skyler whispered as softly as
possible.
"NO KIDDING! Who is she?"
"I guess she's a transfer student. She says she's from
Montana."
"Well, she shouldn't be able to see me. Talk to her a bit
more. I think there's another energy here-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I see the problem-" Enygma muttered. "Don't yell,
Inpherno."
Rayne's shuffling footsteps echoed across the silver
floor. The others glanced up as she entered the room,
a manila folder in hand. "Quayke said to give you this"
she grumbled. "This better be something good, cause
I'm tired of sitting up in this ship all day-"
Inpherno smirked. "So you do actually want to do
something?"
"What's it to you?"
"We could actually move this ship to other places if
you would get out and help me-"
Their silver, jet-like spaceship had been caught in
Earth's gravity and had remained in the same place for
days. Inpherno had been trying to locate the problem,
but Enygma had instructed them to look for those
Harmony Crystals instead.
And they didn't even know what a Melody Crystal looked
like. They knew all about their power- each one
regulating one element. They knew where to find them-
Harmonies.
"So when we get this fixed, are we going to move, or
we going to clean up this little city?"
"We're moving" Enygma responded with no hesitation.
"We don't need this Sailor Scout on our tail."
"Yeah, but what if she knows where we are?" Typhune
thought out loud. "I was watching the city with Quayke,
and she only shows up when there's a problem. Maybe
she's a ghost or something-"
"Wait- I got it" Enygma took the folder from Rayne
and set it down on a control panel nearby. "See,
there's a lot of rumors in this town about ghosts
and things like that. Maybe we can use this to our
advantage-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So is it true?" Jillian asked, leaning back on the
patio chair.
"Is what true?"
Skyler and Jillan had been out on the porch for the
past few hours, Skyler trying to help Jillian catch
up with the rest of the class with math. It wasn't
one of Skyler's favorite subjects, but Jillian hated
it with a passion. It was break time for now.
"All those ghost stories I hear. Like ghosts in the
cornfields. How close is this place to Dyersville
anyway?" Jillian grinned and disguised her voice.
"Is this heaven?"
"No, this is Iowa" Skyler laughed. "Field of Dreams.
Actually, we've never been there. I don't think it's
that far. I know Iowa isn't. Hey, what was it like in
Montana?"
"No offense, but I think the city was much better.
My dad dragged me out here because of the apartment
construction. We live there now, you know. My dad
was in charge-"
"Really" Skyler replied. Out of the corner of her
eye, she caught Orion spying from the lone bush at
the corner of the house.
"So back to the ghost thing. Are there really ghosts
in the cornfields? Has anyone seen them?"
"I haven't seen any."
"Hey" Jillian whispered, narrowing her eyes. "I got
an idea. Let's go out after dark and look in the
fields."
"Um- well, I dunno. My parents might say no-"
"Just tell them you have to show me back to the
apartments. I'm new here, they'll understand.
Skyler hesitated, but she heard a whisper from the
communicator. "Go with her. I'll make sure you don't
get in trouble."
She grinned, and Orion flapped off, startling Jillian.
Fortunately she didn't turn around in time to see him.
"Huh- did you hear that?"
Without missing a beat, Skyler came up with an
explanation. "Probably a bird's nest in the bush-
they're all over this place. Crows, they get in the
corn. C'mon, let's get going. It'll be dark soon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ow" Jillian whimpered as she quickly stepped over a
small rut Skyler had warned her about. "You know, corn
stalks are a lot sharper than they look-"
"Just use your arms" Skyler instructed. "Push them
away. They won't bother you. But don't break them, that
gets the farmers mad."
"Really?" Jillian cocked an eyebrow. "And you know this-
how?"
Skyler stopped in her tracks, allowing a cornstalk to
snap back over and hide her expression. "Yeah- 0 0()
well, if you must know, it was our own field. We made
a little fort inside a square of corn."
"'We?'" Jillian questioned.
"Um-" Skyler's voice softened. "Me and my brother, Oriole."
"Oriole?!" Jillian giggled.
She stopped when she saw Skyler's eyes gleam dangerously.
Her face had hardened to a shadowy anger- but only for a
moment. "Sorry-" Jillian said, moving back down a couple
stalks. "How old is he? How come I didn't see him today?"
"A tornado took him away last month."
"Took him-" Jillian repeated. "Oh, I see."
"They didn't find him yet, but I know he's not coming back."
Skyler took a seat on the ground. Eventually Jillian
did as well, deciding that she could always wash the mud
out of her new clothes. "I know what that's like, kinda.
No tornado, though."
Skyler at her in question.
"My mom. It was a long time ago, though. My dad's acting
way too happy, too- even I know that you shouldn't bottle
up feelings like that."
Jillian pulled something out from under her shirt- a
golden chain. Attached was a small but incredibly
striking white locket, in the shape of a star. "This was
my mom's. Kewl, huh? We can't find out what it's made of
yet, though."
"I got something-" Skyler showed her the silver bracelet.
"See, I'm not sure where this came from-"
A blast of cold wind suddenly rippled the corn, coming
unusually strong through the leaves. Skyler put her hands
up to shield her face, but Jillian stood up. "Sky, c'mon!
Cold air means ghosts!"
That got her up. They moved in the direction of the wind,
squinting against the cold blast and their tossing bangs.
Then, they pushed out to an open field. Skyler recognized
it. "How'd we get out by the airport?" she mumbled.
"Oh- LOOK!"
Hovering in the field, blowing in the wind right towards
them, was a ball of light. A glowing tumbleweed of sorts,
rolling right towards them.
The girls' screams carried in the wind, but not far enough
for anyone to hear. Jillian didn't seem to mind the corn's
leaves slashing at her face this time. "Is it following
us?!" she shrieked.
Skyler caught sight of it in the corner of her eye. "Uh,
yes!"
The light made shadows of the corn and their pounding foot-
steps as the tumbleweed drew closer, bouncing off the
cornstalks. Skyler turned a different way in the corn and
dragged Jillian with her, but tripped over a fallen stalk.
"Get up!" Jillian yelled.
"I can't run anymore-" Skyler panted.
The light intensified behind Jillian's head-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orion watched Jillian disappear into the darkness again.
"Sky, are you sure there's nothing suspicious about her?"
"Not really. She's like any other sixth grader I know."
"Why hasn't she invited you to her house?"
"Give her a break! She just moved in there-" Skyler leaned
back on her bed. "Hope she doesn't try to run through the
cornfield again. I doubt she will-"
"Why?" Orion questioned as he scanned the floor for any
grapes he dropped this morning.
"There was a ghost yesterday."
"Ghost?" he laughed. "There's no ghosts here. You said
this yourself."
"But we saw one" Skyler insisted. "It was weird, too. It
was just a ball of light, kinda floating at us."
"Stop trying to scare me."
"It's true! It landed on Jillian's head and it
disappeared!"
"Tell you what" Orion chirped, jumping to the windowsill.
"Show me where you saw this 'ghost', and I'll see what it
really was. 'K?"
Skyler scowled at him. Guardians were supposed to help out,
she knew that, but she couldn't tell if he was making fun
of her or not. "Fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jillian hair caught on the cornstalk again. She ran her
fingers through it in frustration, and continued on. "It's
gotta be around here somewhere. Maybe I should have asked
Skyler to come with-"
Her hair flew up as that blast of cold wind came through
again, but she stood her ground and kept her eyes wide
open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Golden stars, silver moon~
~The past I will never forget~
~The links of the galaxy have been strewn~
~It's time to reconnect~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jillian blinked rapidly. "What were those words?!" she
wondered out loud. "Something weird's going on-"
"Who are you?" a growling voice asked.
A tall silhouette stepped out from some stalks. "You're
not supposed to be here" it hissed.
Jillian froze, realizing it was most likely the owner
of the field. "I-I'm sorry. I'm new here. I didn't know-"
"You are not the one."
"Huh?"
"No- but your Harmony glows bright-"
"Oh no you don't!"
In a flash of silver, Jillian felt herself lifted away
from the ground. She was staring into a pair of
determined gray eyes.
"Skyler?" she whispered.
But when the figure set her down, it didn't look like
Skyler. In fact, it looked like-
"A Sailor Scout?!" she gasped.
The Scout winked. "Yep, Sailor Aquila! I gotta take
care of this, OK?"
Sailor Aquila disappeared into the stalks again.
Jillian watched, but didn't know what to do-
"You!"
A voice had come from above her. Orion hovered there.
"You're talking-" Jillian breathed. The Scout alone
was enough to stun her frozen.
"You're a Sailor Scout."
His words didn't have any impact on her at first,
but when they finally did, she almost fell over. "How
do you know?"
"There's a horn on your head-"
Jillian crossed her eyes upwards, but couldn't see
anything. "I'll take your word for it. What do I do?"
"Aquila, this is the last time you're haunting us!"
Orion heard Typhune proclaim.
The five Harmony seekers had surrounded Aquila,
knocking down cornstalks as they closed in. She was
going to warn them about the farmer- but there were
probably more important things on their mind.
"Back up" Aquila warned.
The five all pulled out mirrors at the same time.
"Oops-"
Suddenly everyone got a strange sensation that something
was moving. Something was pulling the air around them,
up into the sky, building energy-
-into a white-gloved hand.
"COSMIC SOUL MELODY!"
An explosion of white light shattered the mirrors to
bits. The five jumped back away from the falling glass.
"Looks like someone's going to get the farmers mad-"
Aquila smirked.
"-but you won't get away with it."
Another Scout stepped into view. Her wavy blond hair
was streaked with pink, the same bright pink that was
splashed across her shirt and sailor collar, and the
four-point star on her white choker. Her bow gleamed
a pearly white, her white high heels shuffled the dirt
loudly. Two ribbons extended from the back bow, each
with a spiral horn on the end.
"In the name of unity, I am Sailor Monoceros, here to
bring harmony back to the world!"
"Another one?!" Inpherno groaned. "We don't need this-"
"Well, I like a challenge, but I don't get into battles
I'm not prepared for" Enygma sighed. "I guess we'll be
seeing both of you around-"
The five teleported away.
"You scared them" Aquila beamed.
"It was nothing-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So your dad didn't really build this place?" Skyler
asked.
"Yeah" Jillian's eyes were locked to the ground. "He's
a psychiatrist. I guess I didn't tell you- well, I like
my dad, really, but I hate psychiatrists. They always
think they know every single move you make, my dad's
always analyzing things, you know- that's why I never
brought you to my apartment. He'd probably start in on
you."
"^_^() That's all right" Skyler replied. "But you're
a Scout too!" she said in a more excited, but quieter
tone.
"Yeah, I thought they were ghosts once-"
"Umm, hey Skyler" Orion cut in. "You know, about that
tumbleweed-"
The girl's screams were heard all across town.
EPISODE 6-THE LION AND THE UNICORN
"Soara-"
Skyler saw the lights swing as a cold breeze curled around
her. The gym again. The faded green walls gleamed faintly
under the shifting light. She knew what was coming next- but
this time she was ready.
She jumped when she saw the figures in the door, but she
stood firmly in place. If they were going to bother her
every night, she was going to find out why.
"SOARA!"
Skyler cringed, but stood her ground. That voice was even
louder than her dad used to shout over his airplane engine,
and it didn't even sound like the guy was trying. It was
the tone, the harsh fury behind the shout that made her
flinch.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was a soft, calming
touch, yet for no reason a profound sorrow came with it.
"Someday you will understand-" an airy voice sighed.
A familiar voice-
Then the light came, and Skyler knew she couldn't do anything
else. She could see her ceiling materializing through it.
"Ohh-" she mumbled. "Missed it-"
"Missed what?" Orion asked.
He stood on her desk, on the opposite side of the room. A
small bowl lay next to him, half-full of grapes. She
quickly debated if she should tell him what she was seeing.
After all, in the dream she had been determined to find out
what was going on, and he might know something. Still, she
didn't really know him well enough to tell him dreams- that
was something, in her mind, that was for really close family
and friends only. She didn't want to lie to him, though-
"N-Nothing" she replied at last. "A dream, that's all-"
Orion snapped up a grape and tried to chew on it, but
it was too small to move. He dropped it on the desk and
attempted to pick it up at different angle. Skyler stuck
her tongue out in disgust. "You don't know what's been on
that desk-"
"Skyler, I'm an eagle. Like it will matter-" he managed to
swallow it and fluttered over to her. "You know, dreams
have meaning, especially to Sailor Scouts."
"Really-" Skyler caught sight of the alarm clock, then got
to her feet and scooped Orion up in her arms. "I have to
get ready for school. Out."
Orion squirmed out of her grasp. "I can walk by myself"
he clucked before hopping out the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She watched the sunlight glimmer across Orion's golden
wings as he soared away, with a wishful sigh. He could
just glide through the sky all day, leaving the whole
world behind for a boundless dimension of his own. He
denied that he just did that all day, but he never had
any new information, either.
"I know you're out there right now-" she said over the
communicator. "I can hear the wind."
"I'm searching. You know, someone's probably staring at
you and thinking 'Why's she talking to herself?'" he
retorted.
She shook her head as she walked into the classroom.
That eagle so far had never failed to talk his way out
of a jam-
Her train of thought was broken as someone brushed into
her, almost knocking her backpack off. "Hey-" she
grumbled.
"Excuse me."
It had been a girl, about three inches taller than her,
a thin, pale face framed by wavy, sun-gold hair that
reached just past her shoulders. Her bangs cascaded over
deep, narrow emerald eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless
shirt, slightly flared jeans, and thick sandals with wide
straps. She touched one slender hand to her mouth
nervously. Her nails were neatly trimmed and painted with
bright colors of pearls and fuschia, not a crack or chip
anywhere.
"Um- hi" Skyler started. She had not seen this girl before.
"Hi, is this Ms. Mather's room?" the girl responded,
smiling somewhat cautiously.
"Yeah" Skyler returned the smile with a bit more confidence.
"You're new here?"
"We moved in from Montana a little while ago. My name's
Jillian Donner" she introduced.
"I'm Skyler Avis. Most people call me Sky."
"OK, kewl" Jillian's smile widened, revealing the whitest
set of teeth Skyler had ever seen. "Well, thanks for saying
hi. No one even turned a second look at me before."
"They probably think you're from a different class" Skyler
reasoned. "You look older than sixth grade."
"My mom did too, when I was her age."
A gleam of yellow light caught Skyler's eye, and she
glanced over to the window. Orion was there, watching
them. Skyler nearly forgot where she was when she opened
her mouth towards a communication, but Jillian reminded
her. "Oh wow, what's that?!"
She scrambled over to the window where Orion was. Orion
fluttered back, landing on the ground, all the while
keeping at least one eye on her.
"Orion, she can see you-" Skyler whispered as softly as
possible.
"NO KIDDING! Who is she?"
"I guess she's a transfer student. She says she's from
Montana."
"Well, she shouldn't be able to see me. Talk to her a bit
more. I think there's another energy here-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I see the problem-" Enygma muttered. "Don't yell,
Inpherno."
Rayne's shuffling footsteps echoed across the silver
floor. The others glanced up as she entered the room,
a manila folder in hand. "Quayke said to give you this"
she grumbled. "This better be something good, cause
I'm tired of sitting up in this ship all day-"
Inpherno smirked. "So you do actually want to do
something?"
"What's it to you?"
"We could actually move this ship to other places if
you would get out and help me-"
Their silver, jet-like spaceship had been caught in
Earth's gravity and had remained in the same place for
days. Inpherno had been trying to locate the problem,
but Enygma had instructed them to look for those
Harmony Crystals instead.
And they didn't even know what a Melody Crystal looked
like. They knew all about their power- each one
regulating one element. They knew where to find them-
Harmonies.
"So when we get this fixed, are we going to move, or
we going to clean up this little city?"
"We're moving" Enygma responded with no hesitation.
"We don't need this Sailor Scout on our tail."
"Yeah, but what if she knows where we are?" Typhune
thought out loud. "I was watching the city with Quayke,
and she only shows up when there's a problem. Maybe
she's a ghost or something-"
"Wait- I got it" Enygma took the folder from Rayne
and set it down on a control panel nearby. "See,
there's a lot of rumors in this town about ghosts
and things like that. Maybe we can use this to our
advantage-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So is it true?" Jillian asked, leaning back on the
patio chair.
"Is what true?"
Skyler and Jillan had been out on the porch for the
past few hours, Skyler trying to help Jillian catch
up with the rest of the class with math. It wasn't
one of Skyler's favorite subjects, but Jillian hated
it with a passion. It was break time for now.
"All those ghost stories I hear. Like ghosts in the
cornfields. How close is this place to Dyersville
anyway?" Jillian grinned and disguised her voice.
"Is this heaven?"
"No, this is Iowa" Skyler laughed. "Field of Dreams.
Actually, we've never been there. I don't think it's
that far. I know Iowa isn't. Hey, what was it like in
Montana?"
"No offense, but I think the city was much better.
My dad dragged me out here because of the apartment
construction. We live there now, you know. My dad
was in charge-"
"Really" Skyler replied. Out of the corner of her
eye, she caught Orion spying from the lone bush at
the corner of the house.
"So back to the ghost thing. Are there really ghosts
in the cornfields? Has anyone seen them?"
"I haven't seen any."
"Hey" Jillian whispered, narrowing her eyes. "I got
an idea. Let's go out after dark and look in the
fields."
"Um- well, I dunno. My parents might say no-"
"Just tell them you have to show me back to the
apartments. I'm new here, they'll understand.
Skyler hesitated, but she heard a whisper from the
communicator. "Go with her. I'll make sure you don't
get in trouble."
She grinned, and Orion flapped off, startling Jillian.
Fortunately she didn't turn around in time to see him.
"Huh- did you hear that?"
Without missing a beat, Skyler came up with an
explanation. "Probably a bird's nest in the bush-
they're all over this place. Crows, they get in the
corn. C'mon, let's get going. It'll be dark soon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ow" Jillian whimpered as she quickly stepped over a
small rut Skyler had warned her about. "You know, corn
stalks are a lot sharper than they look-"
"Just use your arms" Skyler instructed. "Push them
away. They won't bother you. But don't break them, that
gets the farmers mad."
"Really?" Jillian cocked an eyebrow. "And you know this-
how?"
Skyler stopped in her tracks, allowing a cornstalk to
snap back over and hide her expression. "Yeah- 0 0()
well, if you must know, it was our own field. We made
a little fort inside a square of corn."
"'We?'" Jillian questioned.
"Um-" Skyler's voice softened. "Me and my brother, Oriole."
"Oriole?!" Jillian giggled.
She stopped when she saw Skyler's eyes gleam dangerously.
Her face had hardened to a shadowy anger- but only for a
moment. "Sorry-" Jillian said, moving back down a couple
stalks. "How old is he? How come I didn't see him today?"
"A tornado took him away last month."
"Took him-" Jillian repeated. "Oh, I see."
"They didn't find him yet, but I know he's not coming back."
Skyler took a seat on the ground. Eventually Jillian
did as well, deciding that she could always wash the mud
out of her new clothes. "I know what that's like, kinda.
No tornado, though."
Skyler at her in question.
"My mom. It was a long time ago, though. My dad's acting
way too happy, too- even I know that you shouldn't bottle
up feelings like that."
Jillian pulled something out from under her shirt- a
golden chain. Attached was a small but incredibly
striking white locket, in the shape of a star. "This was
my mom's. Kewl, huh? We can't find out what it's made of
yet, though."
"I got something-" Skyler showed her the silver bracelet.
"See, I'm not sure where this came from-"
A blast of cold wind suddenly rippled the corn, coming
unusually strong through the leaves. Skyler put her hands
up to shield her face, but Jillian stood up. "Sky, c'mon!
Cold air means ghosts!"
That got her up. They moved in the direction of the wind,
squinting against the cold blast and their tossing bangs.
Then, they pushed out to an open field. Skyler recognized
it. "How'd we get out by the airport?" she mumbled.
"Oh- LOOK!"
Hovering in the field, blowing in the wind right towards
them, was a ball of light. A glowing tumbleweed of sorts,
rolling right towards them.
The girls' screams carried in the wind, but not far enough
for anyone to hear. Jillian didn't seem to mind the corn's
leaves slashing at her face this time. "Is it following
us?!" she shrieked.
Skyler caught sight of it in the corner of her eye. "Uh,
yes!"
The light made shadows of the corn and their pounding foot-
steps as the tumbleweed drew closer, bouncing off the
cornstalks. Skyler turned a different way in the corn and
dragged Jillian with her, but tripped over a fallen stalk.
"Get up!" Jillian yelled.
"I can't run anymore-" Skyler panted.
The light intensified behind Jillian's head-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Orion watched Jillian disappear into the darkness again.
"Sky, are you sure there's nothing suspicious about her?"
"Not really. She's like any other sixth grader I know."
"Why hasn't she invited you to her house?"
"Give her a break! She just moved in there-" Skyler leaned
back on her bed. "Hope she doesn't try to run through the
cornfield again. I doubt she will-"
"Why?" Orion questioned as he scanned the floor for any
grapes he dropped this morning.
"There was a ghost yesterday."
"Ghost?" he laughed. "There's no ghosts here. You said
this yourself."
"But we saw one" Skyler insisted. "It was weird, too. It
was just a ball of light, kinda floating at us."
"Stop trying to scare me."
"It's true! It landed on Jillian's head and it
disappeared!"
"Tell you what" Orion chirped, jumping to the windowsill.
"Show me where you saw this 'ghost', and I'll see what it
really was. 'K?"
Skyler scowled at him. Guardians were supposed to help out,
she knew that, but she couldn't tell if he was making fun
of her or not. "Fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jillian hair caught on the cornstalk again. She ran her
fingers through it in frustration, and continued on. "It's
gotta be around here somewhere. Maybe I should have asked
Skyler to come with-"
Her hair flew up as that blast of cold wind came through
again, but she stood her ground and kept her eyes wide
open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Golden stars, silver moon~
~The past I will never forget~
~The links of the galaxy have been strewn~
~It's time to reconnect~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jillian blinked rapidly. "What were those words?!" she
wondered out loud. "Something weird's going on-"
"Who are you?" a growling voice asked.
A tall silhouette stepped out from some stalks. "You're
not supposed to be here" it hissed.
Jillian froze, realizing it was most likely the owner
of the field. "I-I'm sorry. I'm new here. I didn't know-"
"You are not the one."
"Huh?"
"No- but your Harmony glows bright-"
"Oh no you don't!"
In a flash of silver, Jillian felt herself lifted away
from the ground. She was staring into a pair of
determined gray eyes.
"Skyler?" she whispered.
But when the figure set her down, it didn't look like
Skyler. In fact, it looked like-
"A Sailor Scout?!" she gasped.
The Scout winked. "Yep, Sailor Aquila! I gotta take
care of this, OK?"
Sailor Aquila disappeared into the stalks again.
Jillian watched, but didn't know what to do-
"You!"
A voice had come from above her. Orion hovered there.
"You're talking-" Jillian breathed. The Scout alone
was enough to stun her frozen.
"You're a Sailor Scout."
His words didn't have any impact on her at first,
but when they finally did, she almost fell over. "How
do you know?"
"There's a horn on your head-"
Jillian crossed her eyes upwards, but couldn't see
anything. "I'll take your word for it. What do I do?"
"Aquila, this is the last time you're haunting us!"
Orion heard Typhune proclaim.
The five Harmony seekers had surrounded Aquila,
knocking down cornstalks as they closed in. She was
going to warn them about the farmer- but there were
probably more important things on their mind.
"Back up" Aquila warned.
The five all pulled out mirrors at the same time.
"Oops-"
Suddenly everyone got a strange sensation that something
was moving. Something was pulling the air around them,
up into the sky, building energy-
-into a white-gloved hand.
"COSMIC SOUL MELODY!"
An explosion of white light shattered the mirrors to
bits. The five jumped back away from the falling glass.
"Looks like someone's going to get the farmers mad-"
Aquila smirked.
"-but you won't get away with it."
Another Scout stepped into view. Her wavy blond hair
was streaked with pink, the same bright pink that was
splashed across her shirt and sailor collar, and the
four-point star on her white choker. Her bow gleamed
a pearly white, her white high heels shuffled the dirt
loudly. Two ribbons extended from the back bow, each
with a spiral horn on the end.
"In the name of unity, I am Sailor Monoceros, here to
bring harmony back to the world!"
"Another one?!" Inpherno groaned. "We don't need this-"
"Well, I like a challenge, but I don't get into battles
I'm not prepared for" Enygma sighed. "I guess we'll be
seeing both of you around-"
The five teleported away.
"You scared them" Aquila beamed.
"It was nothing-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So your dad didn't really build this place?" Skyler
asked.
"Yeah" Jillian's eyes were locked to the ground. "He's
a psychiatrist. I guess I didn't tell you- well, I like
my dad, really, but I hate psychiatrists. They always
think they know every single move you make, my dad's
always analyzing things, you know- that's why I never
brought you to my apartment. He'd probably start in on
you."
"^_^() That's all right" Skyler replied. "But you're
a Scout too!" she said in a more excited, but quieter
tone.
"Yeah, I thought they were ghosts once-"
"Umm, hey Skyler" Orion cut in. "You know, about that
tumbleweed-"
The girl's screams were heard all across town.