Third Time Around
Chapter 8
10/23/2030 4:15 PM
"All settled in?" Catsy asked.
"Uh-huh." Celeste answered. "I'm ready to start school tomorrow."
"Great!" Catsy enthused. "I'm going to go visit a some friends of mine, would you like to come?"
"Um."
"If you're worried that it's going to be a couple of old farts sitting around drinking tea and talking about old times, don't be." Catsy laughed. "Chad and Carol have a daughter about your age, and I'm sure you'll love the temple."
5:00 PM
"Hello, Chad!"
"Oh, Catsy, hi!"
"Good afternoon, Catsy!" Ruth called, as she ran up the temple steps with Sarah in tow.
"Hello, Ruth, Sarah." Catsy greeted them "This is my Granddaughter, Celeste."
"You have a granddaughter?" Sarah said, surprised. Catsy laughed.
"Celeste, this is Chad's daughter, Ruth, and her friend, Sarah Tsukino."
"Oh, I've heard of you two." Celeste said. "You're those gymnasts."
"Yep, we're those gymnasts." Sarah agreed. "Come on, Ruth said that her mom made some cookies yesterday and we're going to go get some." The three girls rushed into the house.
10/24/2030 4:00
The golden haired men walked down the street with Lady Onyx beside him.
"You are sure about this?" Onyx asked.
"Yes." He said, looking at his wristband. "Here it is." They stopped and looked across the street at the High School building.
~*~
"I'm very disappointed in you, Julie."
"I know, mom."
"Did you listen to what the Principal said?"
"Yes, mom."
"You'd better get cleaned up if you don't want to be expelled."
"Shut up, mom."
"Julie!"
"Lady Amethyst." The Prince stood in the hallway in his armor, Lady Onyx was close behind him, dressed in her black dress and cloak.
"Who's this nut job?" Julie asked. Onyx walked forward and handed Julie an amethyst crystal. Julie stared into the heart of the crystal, and became entranced.
"It's okay, Lady Amethyst." Onyx said softly. "You'll feel so much better once the reversal is undone." Julie looked up with a gasp. She turned to her mother with tear-filled eyes.
"Oh, mother," Julie grabbed her mother in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry."
"Are you ready, Lady Amethyst?" The Prince asked. Julie nodded.
"Good-bye, mother." Julie let go of her mother and turned, her clothes blurred, and then she was standing a violet gown with a deep purple cape. There was a flash of light, and Nikki Chandra was alone in the hallway.
4:30 PM
"I obviously can't handle her on my own." Amanda said, sitting on a park bench with Sarah and the cats. "Hell, I don't even know if Sarah and I could handle her together, if what she said is true."
"Did you ever have do deal with people being possessed like that before?" Sarah asked.
"Yes." Luna said.
"So how did you handle it?" Sarah asked. "The Stardust attack only works on brainwashing, right? So did you kill the hosts?"
"Certainly not!" Luna said. "We had weapons and attacks suited to that."
"Do you still have them?" Amanda asked.
"Yes." Luna said. "But we didn't use it until we had Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. Besides, I don't even know if Sarah's strong enough to use the Crescent Moon Wand yet."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Amanda asked.
"I suppose the only thing to do is use the Wand." Luna sighed. "This goes against my better judgement, but, Sarah, you can fight this time. But only this time, unless more monsters like that show up."
5:30 PM
Catsy picked up the ringing phone.
"Hello? Nikki? Whoa, whoa, calm down dear!"
"What's wrong?" Celeste asked, coming out of the kitchen.
"Nikki, please calm down and tell me what happened!" Celeste looked panicked and dove for the phone in the kitchen.
"Mom! What's going on?"
"Julie's been kidnapped!" Nikki said, over the phone.
6:00 PM
"What are you watching, mom?" Sarah asked, sitting down on the sofa next to her mom and putting down her computer bag.
"Some poor girl's been kidnapped." Mika said. "She was taken at school, right in front of her mother! They think it was that doctor and that terrible Olsen girl."
"Um, I have to go, mom." Sarah said, grabbing her computer bag again. "I forgot, Amanda asked me to meet her at the mall." Sarah ran out of the living room, out the front door, and straight into Alex.
"Do you need glasses, or just a new set of brake pads?" Alex asked, getting up and dusting himself off. "Honestly, meatball head, it wouldn't hurt you to look where you're going!"
"Do you spend all day thinking of those insults, Mr. Black?" Sarah asked. Jumping up hastily and almost falling down again. "And don't call me meatball head!" She pointed at her short hair. "Do you see any buns there? I cut them off so you'd quit making fun of me!
"Why don't you just avoid my house? It would probably cut down on the number of times I hit you with something!" And with that she turned and stalked off.
"I can't help myself." Alex said. "You're just too cute when you're angry."
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks; gaping, she turned and stared. No _way_ had she just heard that! Alex gave her a "What are you looking at?" look. Sarah turned and continued on her way. Even if she had heard it, he probably just meant "little girl" cute.
6:30 PM
"They even have a security video, the images are all static-y though." Sarah said, playing the video file. "They might have a disguise field like Amanda and I do."
"Security video?" Luna asked. "At a school?"
"You remember, Luna." Artemis said. "With all the shootings at schools in America, schools around the world started to take more precautions, they even have psychological evaluations before school starts, in the middle of the year, and after graduation."
"Things sure have changed." Luna sighed.
"That's the weirdest armor I've ever seen!" Amanda commented. "What time period is that supposed to be?"
"Silver Millennium." Luna said.
"Huh?"
"Worn by royalty." Luna said. "But I don't remember this specific design."
"So then, he's from the Moon?"
"Not likely." Luna said. "The Moon Kingdom's colors were silver, gold, and white. Each kingdom had its own colors. Earth's were silver, red, and black, Mars was red, violet, and copper, Mercury was light blue, blue, and silver, Venus was orange, dark blue, and gold, and Jupiter was green, pink, and bronze. You get the idea. But I don't remember this one."
"What about what the girls are wearing?" Sarah asked, playing the file again. "Is that Silver Millennium too?"
"Yes, it's similar to what ladies-in-waiting wore," Artemis said. "But less ornate and it seems more.commanding. I'd say that whoever they were, they were very important."
"Something's nagging at me; they do look familiar," Luna said.
"Well they should." Sarah said. "The kidnapped girl's mother identified them as Dr. Solomon Stone and Ellen Olsen. And the girl that they took was Julie Chandra; I met her sister, Celeste, she's staying with her grandmother, Catsy Chandra, who is a friend of Ruth's father, and she's Jenny's half-brother's aunt."
"She's Catsy's granddaughter?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought too, Catsy's just _way_ too young to have grandkids my age." Sarah stopped, as what Luna had just said sunk in. "Wait a minute! _You_ know _Catsy_?"
"Yeah, sure." Artemis said. "Old enemy of the Sailor Soldiers."
"Oh, that again." Amanda rolled her eyes. She took the computer away from Sarah.
"So, back to the business at hand." Luna said. "Why would this man, who seems to have some connection to the Silver Millennium, kidnap two girls, one who is a telepathic, psychotic killer, and the other who seems to be completely normal-"
"Actually," Amanda put in. "According to her school records, she's an alcoholic; that's why she was at the school, she and her mom had a talk with the principal and Julie's councilor. She's also diagnosed as a manic depressive."
"You hacked the school computers?" Sarah asked, shocked. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Nal Granger taught me."
"But they have no known connection to each other." Luna said.
"Hey, wait a minute." Sarah said. Taking the computer back from Amanda. "Wasn't the head psychiatrist at the mental institution's last name Chandra? Prissy Chandra or something like that."
"Prisma Chandra?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah, that's it." Sarah said. "She's Catsy's sister, right?"
"Right." Luna said. "So we have a connection to two of the Black Moon sisters. I wonder where Birdy and Avery are?"
"Well, if Birdy is Zeke's mom, then she died in childbirth." Sarah said. "'Black Moon sisters'?" she asked, as an after thought
"We'll tell you about it someday." Artemis said.
"It's probably coincidental." Luna said. "But we should find out where Avery is, just as a precaution." She sighed "I wish I knew what was going on here! I'm beginning to suspect that the holes in our memories were intentional!"
~*~
"Why didn't you just kill her?" Ater asked the Chaos Fiend.
"_That_ wouldn't be sporting." The Fiend said. "She's dead meat anyway."
"We want her out of the way." Ater said. "We _need_ her out of the way if we're to proceed. You _can_ be replaced, Bracken."
"Don't you trust me?" Bracken smiled maliciously.
"Trust is a weakness." Ater said. "One which can be exploited; one which none of us can afford to have."
A/N: This'll probably be the last chapter for a while; turns out that I have to completely rewrite/restructure everything from this point on -_-; I am sooooo not looking forward to this. Basically, everything's been dragging pretty badly the last couple of chapters, and it only gets worse from here; I have this tendency to develop some areas of plot out of synch with the others...
For example, Bracken has been around since chapter 4, which is really only five days if you've been paying attention to the dates, but by Sailor Moon standards she's been around too long; she's not a General after all. I don't intend to change what I've posted thus far, but I'm essentially dumping everything that comes after this. Also there was an additional plotline that I had meant to introduce earlier in the story but couldn't find a way to work in; the next chapter will get rid of Bracken and introduce this other plotline (lessee, I have...anou...about six plotlines now).
10/23/2030 4:15 PM
"All settled in?" Catsy asked.
"Uh-huh." Celeste answered. "I'm ready to start school tomorrow."
"Great!" Catsy enthused. "I'm going to go visit a some friends of mine, would you like to come?"
"Um."
"If you're worried that it's going to be a couple of old farts sitting around drinking tea and talking about old times, don't be." Catsy laughed. "Chad and Carol have a daughter about your age, and I'm sure you'll love the temple."
5:00 PM
"Hello, Chad!"
"Oh, Catsy, hi!"
"Good afternoon, Catsy!" Ruth called, as she ran up the temple steps with Sarah in tow.
"Hello, Ruth, Sarah." Catsy greeted them "This is my Granddaughter, Celeste."
"You have a granddaughter?" Sarah said, surprised. Catsy laughed.
"Celeste, this is Chad's daughter, Ruth, and her friend, Sarah Tsukino."
"Oh, I've heard of you two." Celeste said. "You're those gymnasts."
"Yep, we're those gymnasts." Sarah agreed. "Come on, Ruth said that her mom made some cookies yesterday and we're going to go get some." The three girls rushed into the house.
10/24/2030 4:00
The golden haired men walked down the street with Lady Onyx beside him.
"You are sure about this?" Onyx asked.
"Yes." He said, looking at his wristband. "Here it is." They stopped and looked across the street at the High School building.
~*~
"I'm very disappointed in you, Julie."
"I know, mom."
"Did you listen to what the Principal said?"
"Yes, mom."
"You'd better get cleaned up if you don't want to be expelled."
"Shut up, mom."
"Julie!"
"Lady Amethyst." The Prince stood in the hallway in his armor, Lady Onyx was close behind him, dressed in her black dress and cloak.
"Who's this nut job?" Julie asked. Onyx walked forward and handed Julie an amethyst crystal. Julie stared into the heart of the crystal, and became entranced.
"It's okay, Lady Amethyst." Onyx said softly. "You'll feel so much better once the reversal is undone." Julie looked up with a gasp. She turned to her mother with tear-filled eyes.
"Oh, mother," Julie grabbed her mother in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry."
"Are you ready, Lady Amethyst?" The Prince asked. Julie nodded.
"Good-bye, mother." Julie let go of her mother and turned, her clothes blurred, and then she was standing a violet gown with a deep purple cape. There was a flash of light, and Nikki Chandra was alone in the hallway.
4:30 PM
"I obviously can't handle her on my own." Amanda said, sitting on a park bench with Sarah and the cats. "Hell, I don't even know if Sarah and I could handle her together, if what she said is true."
"Did you ever have do deal with people being possessed like that before?" Sarah asked.
"Yes." Luna said.
"So how did you handle it?" Sarah asked. "The Stardust attack only works on brainwashing, right? So did you kill the hosts?"
"Certainly not!" Luna said. "We had weapons and attacks suited to that."
"Do you still have them?" Amanda asked.
"Yes." Luna said. "But we didn't use it until we had Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. Besides, I don't even know if Sarah's strong enough to use the Crescent Moon Wand yet."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Amanda asked.
"I suppose the only thing to do is use the Wand." Luna sighed. "This goes against my better judgement, but, Sarah, you can fight this time. But only this time, unless more monsters like that show up."
5:30 PM
Catsy picked up the ringing phone.
"Hello? Nikki? Whoa, whoa, calm down dear!"
"What's wrong?" Celeste asked, coming out of the kitchen.
"Nikki, please calm down and tell me what happened!" Celeste looked panicked and dove for the phone in the kitchen.
"Mom! What's going on?"
"Julie's been kidnapped!" Nikki said, over the phone.
6:00 PM
"What are you watching, mom?" Sarah asked, sitting down on the sofa next to her mom and putting down her computer bag.
"Some poor girl's been kidnapped." Mika said. "She was taken at school, right in front of her mother! They think it was that doctor and that terrible Olsen girl."
"Um, I have to go, mom." Sarah said, grabbing her computer bag again. "I forgot, Amanda asked me to meet her at the mall." Sarah ran out of the living room, out the front door, and straight into Alex.
"Do you need glasses, or just a new set of brake pads?" Alex asked, getting up and dusting himself off. "Honestly, meatball head, it wouldn't hurt you to look where you're going!"
"Do you spend all day thinking of those insults, Mr. Black?" Sarah asked. Jumping up hastily and almost falling down again. "And don't call me meatball head!" She pointed at her short hair. "Do you see any buns there? I cut them off so you'd quit making fun of me!
"Why don't you just avoid my house? It would probably cut down on the number of times I hit you with something!" And with that she turned and stalked off.
"I can't help myself." Alex said. "You're just too cute when you're angry."
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks; gaping, she turned and stared. No _way_ had she just heard that! Alex gave her a "What are you looking at?" look. Sarah turned and continued on her way. Even if she had heard it, he probably just meant "little girl" cute.
6:30 PM
"They even have a security video, the images are all static-y though." Sarah said, playing the video file. "They might have a disguise field like Amanda and I do."
"Security video?" Luna asked. "At a school?"
"You remember, Luna." Artemis said. "With all the shootings at schools in America, schools around the world started to take more precautions, they even have psychological evaluations before school starts, in the middle of the year, and after graduation."
"Things sure have changed." Luna sighed.
"That's the weirdest armor I've ever seen!" Amanda commented. "What time period is that supposed to be?"
"Silver Millennium." Luna said.
"Huh?"
"Worn by royalty." Luna said. "But I don't remember this specific design."
"So then, he's from the Moon?"
"Not likely." Luna said. "The Moon Kingdom's colors were silver, gold, and white. Each kingdom had its own colors. Earth's were silver, red, and black, Mars was red, violet, and copper, Mercury was light blue, blue, and silver, Venus was orange, dark blue, and gold, and Jupiter was green, pink, and bronze. You get the idea. But I don't remember this one."
"What about what the girls are wearing?" Sarah asked, playing the file again. "Is that Silver Millennium too?"
"Yes, it's similar to what ladies-in-waiting wore," Artemis said. "But less ornate and it seems more.commanding. I'd say that whoever they were, they were very important."
"Something's nagging at me; they do look familiar," Luna said.
"Well they should." Sarah said. "The kidnapped girl's mother identified them as Dr. Solomon Stone and Ellen Olsen. And the girl that they took was Julie Chandra; I met her sister, Celeste, she's staying with her grandmother, Catsy Chandra, who is a friend of Ruth's father, and she's Jenny's half-brother's aunt."
"She's Catsy's granddaughter?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought too, Catsy's just _way_ too young to have grandkids my age." Sarah stopped, as what Luna had just said sunk in. "Wait a minute! _You_ know _Catsy_?"
"Yeah, sure." Artemis said. "Old enemy of the Sailor Soldiers."
"Oh, that again." Amanda rolled her eyes. She took the computer away from Sarah.
"So, back to the business at hand." Luna said. "Why would this man, who seems to have some connection to the Silver Millennium, kidnap two girls, one who is a telepathic, psychotic killer, and the other who seems to be completely normal-"
"Actually," Amanda put in. "According to her school records, she's an alcoholic; that's why she was at the school, she and her mom had a talk with the principal and Julie's councilor. She's also diagnosed as a manic depressive."
"You hacked the school computers?" Sarah asked, shocked. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Nal Granger taught me."
"But they have no known connection to each other." Luna said.
"Hey, wait a minute." Sarah said. Taking the computer back from Amanda. "Wasn't the head psychiatrist at the mental institution's last name Chandra? Prissy Chandra or something like that."
"Prisma Chandra?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah, that's it." Sarah said. "She's Catsy's sister, right?"
"Right." Luna said. "So we have a connection to two of the Black Moon sisters. I wonder where Birdy and Avery are?"
"Well, if Birdy is Zeke's mom, then she died in childbirth." Sarah said. "'Black Moon sisters'?" she asked, as an after thought
"We'll tell you about it someday." Artemis said.
"It's probably coincidental." Luna said. "But we should find out where Avery is, just as a precaution." She sighed "I wish I knew what was going on here! I'm beginning to suspect that the holes in our memories were intentional!"
~*~
"Why didn't you just kill her?" Ater asked the Chaos Fiend.
"_That_ wouldn't be sporting." The Fiend said. "She's dead meat anyway."
"We want her out of the way." Ater said. "We _need_ her out of the way if we're to proceed. You _can_ be replaced, Bracken."
"Don't you trust me?" Bracken smiled maliciously.
"Trust is a weakness." Ater said. "One which can be exploited; one which none of us can afford to have."
A/N: This'll probably be the last chapter for a while; turns out that I have to completely rewrite/restructure everything from this point on -_-; I am sooooo not looking forward to this. Basically, everything's been dragging pretty badly the last couple of chapters, and it only gets worse from here; I have this tendency to develop some areas of plot out of synch with the others...
For example, Bracken has been around since chapter 4, which is really only five days if you've been paying attention to the dates, but by Sailor Moon standards she's been around too long; she's not a General after all. I don't intend to change what I've posted thus far, but I'm essentially dumping everything that comes after this. Also there was an additional plotline that I had meant to introduce earlier in the story but couldn't find a way to work in; the next chapter will get rid of Bracken and introduce this other plotline (lessee, I have...anou...about six plotlines now).