Taiana held back the scream that was swelling in her throat. Instead, she grabbed the hand on her shoulder and tripped the person holding her, intending to run away. Something went wrong and Taiana ended up falling on top of the person. She started to get up when two strong arms wrapped around her, pinning her own arms down.
"Let me go!" Taiana screamed, struggling to get free.
"Whoa, Tai. Chill out."
At the sound of her name, Taiana quickly stopped fighting and the arms released her. She stood up quickly and looked down to see who she had attacked. Laying there on the ground where she had tripped him was Sean.
"Sean, what are you doing here?" Taiana asked.
"Well, I was gonna see if you wanted some company," Sean told her, picking himself up off the ground, "but judging by the way you knocked me down, you don't need me."
"No Sean," Taiana said, "what are you doing here, on Venus?"
"I live here," Sean informed.
"You can't," Taiana insisted.
"Why not?"
"Because you live in the past!" Taiana exclaimed. Sean said nothing. Instead he stood motionless for a while, as if he were thinking, then he finally spoke.
"Taiana, I have to tell you something," Sean said, "but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Can I trust you?"
"Yes," Taiana answered, eager to hear what he had to say.
"Well, first things first," Sean started, "I know you're Neo Sailor Venus." Taiana was shocked, but kept silent. Sean continued. "After the Negaverse attacked Venus for the first time, Sailor Pluto sent me to the past to help you and the other Neo Scouts, but you never needed my help. Sailor Pluto sent me back to the future before you, so you wouldn't get suspicious."
"That's why I never got to say goodbye," Taiana murmured.
"What?"
"Nothing," Taiana said, "continue."
"Well, somehow the future was only altered on the other planets, not Venus and the Negaverse attacked anyway. I got away from the monsters and Sailor Pluto told me that I had to find you," Sean finished.
"Now that you found me, what are we supposed to do?" Taiana asked.
"First we have to find you Transformation Pen," Sean informed.
"But how?" Taiana inquired, "I heard two Nega-creeps talking and they said that everyone on the planet is in prison!"
"Not everybody," Sean said, "We're not." Taiana smiled. "Come on, we've got a Transformation Pen to find." They turned to leave. Suddenly a Nega-monster dropped out of the sky and landed right in front of Taiana and Sean. Taiana screamed and took a step back.
"What are you doing here?" the monster hissed, "no matter, I'll fix it." The monster shot a bolt of electricity straight at Taiana. She was frozen with fear. All she could do was scream.
"Watch out!" Sean yelled. He pushed Taiana out of the way just in the nick of time, but he was unable to dodge it himself. The electricity bolt hit him and threw him into a pile of boxes nearby, which collapsed on top of him.
"Sean!" Taiana screamed.
"You should worry about yourself little girl," the monster sneered. It shot another electricity bolt at Taiana. She dodged it and at the same time picked up a two by four that was on the ground. She swung it at the monster, catching it in the arm. The monster howled in pain, then snatched the board from Taiana's hands.
"You'll pay for that brat," the monster growled and shot a lightning bolt at Taiana. Suddenly, a rock rose out of the ground and absorbed the lightning.
"What...?" the monster growled.
"Don't'cha know it's not nice to pick on girls?" a voice boomed.
Taiana and the monster both looked up to see a figure standing on the roof of a nearby building. He wore a midnight blue tuxedo (complete with cape of course) and no hat. His brown hair glistened in the noonday sun.
"How are you?" the monster asked, slight fear in it's voice.
The newcomer jumped from the roof of the building and landed easily in front of the monster. "I am Night Warrior." He turned to Taiana. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Taiana answered. She was shocked. She knew Sean had some kind of powers, but she didn't know that he was a superhero.
"Enough chit-chat," the monster snarled, "Say goodbye!" The monster raised it's arms to the sky and a lightning bolt shot down and landed between Taiana and Night Warrior, throwing them both aside. The monster charged a bolt of electricity and threw it at Sean and Taiana. Night Warrior pulled Taiana next to him and put his cape around both of them. The bolt hit his cape and bounced off. Night Warrior then got up and raised him hands to the sky exactly as the monster had down and a bolt of lightning struck the monster. It howled, then disintegrated and blew away. As soon as the monster was gone, Night Warrior turned back into Sean.
"Wow Sean," Taiana exclaimed, "that was wicked cool."
"You think so?" Sean asked.
"Yeah," Taiana answered, "except you gotta work on your entrance phrase. 'Don't'cha know it's not nice to pick on girls'. I'm sure you could come up with something better."
"For your sake, I'll work on it," Sean promised.
"Okay," Taiana smiled.
"We better get going," Sean said, "who knows what other Nega-monsters are lurking around here." They headed in the direction Taiana had been going originally, towards the orphanage.
When they arrived at the orphanage, they weren't surprised to find it in ruins. Taiana stepped through the broken door into the living room, followed by Sean.
"Tai, what exactly are we doing here?" Sean inquired.
"I figured since the lady who has my pen didn't give it to me yet, she might have come here to see if I was still around," Taiana explained. She ran through the trashed living room to the stairs and started up them.
"Hey wait up!" Sean called and hurried after her. She bounded up the stairs and didn't stop until she reached her room. She almost didn't want to go inside, an instinct told her she didn't, but she ignored it and pushed the door open.
When she saw the condition of the room, she knew she should have trusted her instinct. The room was torn up worse than the living room. There were clothes and toys all over the place. Taiana took a step in and kicked something. She bent over and picked it up. It was a picture frame containing a picture of her and the Neo Sailor Scouts at Raye's temple. The glass covering the picture had been shattered.
"We'll get those Nega-creeps," Sean assured as he put a hand on her shoulder.
Taiana turned and smiled at him. "Thanks." She turned the frame over in her hands and popped the back off. She carefully removed the picture and dropped the frame. It crashed to the floor and sprayed glass in all directions. Taiana paid no attention. She folded the picture and put it in her pocket. Then she turned back to Sean.
"I guess she's not here," Taiana commented, "we better go."
"Okay," Sean agreed. They both turned and left the room. Taiana led the way as they left the destroyed orphanage. They stood outside of the front door contemplating what to do next.
"I think we should stay the night here," Taiana suggested, "just in case that woman comes looking for me."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Sean said doubtfully, "we defeated that monster only a few blocks away and when the Negaverse finds out, they're gonna be looking for whoever did it. We should put as much distance as possible between us and the orphanage. He looked at Taiana, who seemed to be staring into space. "Taiana, are you even listening to me?"
"Sssh!" Taiana put her finger to her lips, "Listen!" Sean looked puzzled for a moment, then cocked his head and listened. A few seconds later, he heard it.
It was a baby crying.