1 Chapter Two
Visions spun in front of Angie's eyes. The girls.falling.a spinning hole.Rachelle.Malorie.Mary.Lacie.Elisha..no.
Her head was being pressed up against something hard and cold. Her sight swam, whirled, then everything took their place.
"What the-?!"
Angela started, and then jumped to her feet off the cold floor where she had been lying. She stared around in wonder.
She was in space.
Constellations flew around her eyes. Orion, the Big Dipper, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Taurus, Cancer, and Draco. Her eyes sought out each of these. She gasped as she found Gemini below her feet. Nausea rose in her stomach.
"Whoa."
At the sound of the familiar voice Angela spun around. "Rachelle?!"
"Angie!" With a cry of gladness Rachelle ran to Angie and hugged her. "You're okay!"
Angie hugged her back. "Yeah, I guess. How are you?"
Rachelle put her hands on her hips. "Baffled. What the heck's going on here?"
"Ouch!"
"Hey!"
"Get off me!"
Angela turned at the sound of three more voices. "Mary! Malorie! And- Elisha? Is that you under there?"
Elisha's muffled voice came from under Mary and Malorie. "Yes, it is. Now would you mind getting off me?"
Mary rose and hugged Angela before pulling her back and staring into her eyes. "You're all right?"
"As well as can be expected." Angela assured her.
Mary sighed, then hugged her and Rachelle.
"Mary!" Angela protested weakly, laughing. "You're squishing us!"
"Aw, group hug everyone!" Malorie laughed, charging into Mary's back.
Elisha giggled as she joined.
"Wait!" Rachelle called. "Where's Lacie?"
"Wheee!"
Mary grinned without turning around. "Perhaps she just came in behind me?"
"Lacie!" Angela cheered, opening the circle to hug her.
"Group hug!" Malorie cheered.
After a moment of hugging, everyone broke free. Rachelle rubbed her eyes on her sleeve. "It's incredible how glad I feel that you guys are okay. We haven't even known each other an hour, but I feel like we've known each other forever."
"Yeah, I got this déjà vu thing going too." Elisha said, smiling.
Lacie studied the sky. "Interesting. So, where the hell are we?"
Mary shrugged. "Beats me. All I remember really well is that freaky hole."
"And our pursuers." Malorie muttered, shivering.
Angela nodded. "Well, wherever we are, I'll bet we're away from them."
"Unless they're aliens and they've taken us on board their mother ship! BWAHAHAHA!" Mary crowed.
"Not funny." Malorie said, giving Mary a dirty look.
"Well, I think we're in space, at least." Angela said, looking at what she hoped was the North Star.
"But then how are we breathing? There's no air in space." Rachelle remarked sensibly.
"Projections?" Elisha suggested, peering around.
"From where?" Lacie asked.
"It's not a projection."
All six girls jumped three feet. "Who's there?" Angela yelped, glancing around.
"I'm right here." The voice said again.
"Where?" Mary asked, spinning around.
"Down here!"
Angela glanced down, and sharply caught her breath.
A golden haired cat was peering up at them. It would have been a very normal cat, but it's fur looked a little too bright and thick. Its eyes shone like stars and there was a golden crescent moon in the middle of its forehead.
"A TALKING CAT?!" Angela yelled, falling over and deafening everyone else.
The cat gave her a cold look. "My name is Lune and I've searched a very long time for all of you."
"OH MY GOD!! IT'S REALLY TALKING!" Elisha shrieked, losing herself completely.
"Well, of course I talk." The cat-Lune-snapped. "Don't you?"
"Yes-but-well, cats don't normally talk!" Rachelle cried, struggling for
composure.
"Well, I do. So deal with it." Lune said snippily.
"No need to get sarcastic." Mary said sharply. "We've got reason enough to
question. In our world, cats do not talk."
"Nor do people get pulled into space warps by telepathic animals, but you six just did." Lune remarked.
"You pulled us in here?!" Lacie yelled, grabbing Lune and throttling her. "You evil cat! Do you realize how much you scared us?!"
"Put-me-down!!" Lune choked.
"For God's sake-Lacie, drop it!" Angela shouted, managing to free Lune from
Lacie's maniacal grip. Lune fell to the ground, breathing hard. Then she
crossly scratched Lacie's leg.
As Lacie jumped around and hollered, Lune muttered, "I wonder how Luna felt when she was confronted by that little ditz. I've got six of them!"
"Wait-what did you say?" Mary asked, pouncing on Lune and picking her up.
"I said, I wonder how Luna felt when-"
"Luna?!" Rachelle yelped, leaping towards her. "Luna, the all-knowing mystical
cat of the Sailor Senshi?!"
Lune glanced at her sharply. "So you have heard of them."
"I should think so!" Elisha said indignantly. "Sailor Moon is my favorite
anime!"
"Mine too!" The rest of the girls chorused.
"Wait-you've all heard of them?" Lune asked breathlessly. "This is an
unexpected bonus. That means I don't have to explain their history as well as
yours!"
"Our history?" Lacie asked, giving her leg a final inspection for bleeding.
"Heck, my history's not that interesting." Mary said. "Born, lived, went to
school-"
"Not your present history." Lune said impatiently. "Your far past. The Jewel
Senshi's past."
What she clearly thought would mean something to them was met only with blank
stares.
"Jewel Senshi?" Elisha wondered. "Who're they?"
"Beats me." Angela said with a shrug. "In all my years of anime-loving I
haven't heard of them yet. Maybe it's a new one."
"It isn't a cartoon!" Lune snapped, this time with deadly seriousness. "It's as
real as-as Sailor Moon and her Senshi!"
All the girls gasped.
"But-but-they're just cartoons too!" Mary protested weakly.
Even in her bafflement, Rachelle almost laughed at the expression on Lune's
furry face. "Only cartoons? ONLY CARTOONS?! We are talking about the most powerful people that ever have been and ever will be and you are saying they're
not real?!"
"But they're not.are they?" Elisha asked, puzzled.
Lune tried to recover. "They are as real as I am!"
"But how do we know you're real?" Angela asked.
Lune gave her a scathing look, then bit her hard on her leg. Angela yelped in
pain and flew backward, grabbing her leg. "Owowowowowow!"
"Real enough?" Lune asked sardonically.
"THAT WASN'T NECESSARY!!" Angela howled, tears starting to squeeze out of her eyes.
"Oh, shut up." Lune snapped.
Malorie knelt down by the cat. "Okay, so we know you're real. But what are we
doing here? What's happening?"
Lune sighed. "You really don't know?"
The girls shook their heads mutely.
Lune sighed. "Then I guess I'll have to explain it from the beginning."
"The beginning?" Mary asked suspiciously. "I don't like the sound of that!"
"From the Silver Millennium," Lune said quietly. "When all of the universe was one."
Staring into the cat's golden eyes, Angela suddenly had the peculiar feeling she was looking into more than just eyes, but into a whole other world. Then the floor under her feet lurched, and she was falling into those golden eyes, right into the black pupil.
She gasped and shook her head. The dark blueness of the space suddenly became more distinct and blacker than ever. Lune had vanished from her view.
"Where are we?" She asked, hearing her voice echo.
"I'm not sure." Rachelle said, coming up beside her.
"Did we-fall into Lune's eyes?" Mary wondered.
"But that's impossible." Malorie murmured.
Elisha, looking off into the distant stars, suddenly gasped and pointed. "Look! Is that-"
"The Sun?" The rest of the girls chorused, staring in wonder.
Lune's voice suddenly spoke: "Our world went on forever. There was not one planet with life, but thousands, each teeming with sentient life. But they were many millions of miles apart. The only ones holding life that were close together were the seven ones that revolved around Sun."
"Seven planets?" Malorie gasped.
"With life?" Mary wondered.
"Earth, Moon, Rayearth, Icephir, Tyrantula, Opal, and Megatron." Lune said softly, as if reciting some ancient rune. "All incredibly powerful, but unique in their own ways. Different cultures, different governments, and different Senshi. Some specialized in the arts, others in mechanics and technology, and a few in both. All of them very peaceful and friends, but three were especially close."
"Which three?" Elisha whispered.
"Earth, Moon, and Opal." Lune's voice said quietly. "All were very like each other. They all were very advanced in the arts as well as technology, but Earth preferred science to magic and Opal loved arts more than manufacturing. Moon people loved not one but cherished both, and went far in both fields."
Lune paused a moment, then continued in a normal voice. "The true Sailor Senshi were a joint team between Earth and Moon. The other planets had Senshi that went under different names. Like Rayearth, who had the Legendary Magic Knights. But Opal was blessed with the second largest amount of Senshi: the Jewel Senshi."
Angela shrieked in surprise as they suddenly zoomed forward through space towards the Sun. Planets started to zoom by their vision. Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars-
Rachelle gasped in awe. "There they are!"
It was incredible. Earth's blues and greens nicely set off the Moon whiteness as they spun closely together. Then, just to the side of Earth, they saw-
"Opal." Lune said, voice quiet and sad again. "Like it once was."
A jade green and lapis lazuli blue planet was slowly spiraling towards them. It looked much like Earth, except all the continents were shaped oddly.
"It's beautiful." Malorie breathed.
"Breath-taking." Lacie sighed.
"The others planets are to your right." Lune said. Elisha pointed out an electric blue planet made of ice-"Icephir,"-and then Mary saw a dove-gray planet shrouded in swirling fogs-"Megatron," An orange planet was Tyrantula, and a planet that looked almost the same as Opal and Earth except the seas were a lighter blue was Rayearth.
"The Seven Great Planets." Lune said. "Powerful, prosperous, and beautiful. Ruled by Queen Serenity. Everyone expected the Silver Millennium to go on forever."
A terrible sadness came into Lune's voice. "But then things changed. Evil creatures began to appear in odd corners. And then, in the last century of the Silver Millennium, the curse of Opal came true."
"Curse of Opal?" Mary whispered.
"Just before Queen Serenity came to the throne, a prophecy came from a psychic on the Moon saying that this happy time would end with one born from Opal's soil. This prophecy was told to few, as the Queen did not wish to alarm the universe. But Opal ignored this curse as just a mockery, and went along their daily lives." She sighed. "Perhaps if they had heeded it the tragedy of the Moon would not have occurred."
"What do you mean?" Rachelle asked slowly.
"Beryl-Queen Beryl of the Negaverse-was once a Jewel Senshi."
All the girls gasped.
"Yes," Lune said sadly. "Beryl was from Opal. A never-ending cause of shame to its people. Now, I suppose I should tell Opal's story, the beginning of the end for the Silver Millennium."
Lune cleared her throat, and began:
"About forty years before the Silver Millennium's end, a small girl was born to a rich and popular couple on Opal. She had red hair and dark eyes, and was a cute and simple child. Her parents and indeed all of Opal adored her, especially the king, Titan."
The girls' visions zoomed into Opal, past silvery clouds, and straight towards a large, marble-looking palace. A small child, with auburn-red hair and dark eyes was running around a marble pillar while a man with a mass of dark hair and hazel eyes watched affectionately.
"Titan was a good-looking man, in his own way. Not particularly handsome, but he was as good-looking as a king should be. He was, like other rulers, several centuries into his life when Beryl was born, but truly he looked only twenty-five. He had been looking for a bride for many years, and fell in love with Beryl's child sweetness from day one."
The man-Titan-smiled as the child Beryl ran from the pillar to hug his knees, then jump back, blushing.
"As Beryl grew older and even more into the people's heart, Titan decided to give her the power that hadn't ever been given to someone of Opal. The greatest honor there was, next to being royal. The power of the Sailor Senshi."
The girls watched silently as the little girl grew up like a tree. Her hair grew fuller and longer, her figure more fully formed, and her eyes darker than ever. In the background some people watched her nervously, as if a tangible dark presence tainted the air around her. Titan watched her blissfully, unaware of any changes. Then, Beryl was changed, changed into the form that only the brightest and the best would ever wear: the Sailor Senshi uniform. The uniform was a light aqua color with dark green veins running through it. The look on Beryl's face was terrifying, like a madman plotting an attempt to take over the world.
"Beryl was ten when she first transformed. She was awed and amazed by these new powers she had and took to practicing at all hours. At first this seemed harmless, even amusing. But then things started to get out of hand."
The darkness in Beryl's eyes went even blacker. Her nails started to look claw-like. More people skirted around her hesitantly, fear etched on their faces.
"On Beryl's twelfth birthday she used her powers to burn a guest who had made a comment about her chosen dress. A few months later she badly wounded a fellow chess opponent when it looked like she would lose. The complaints of these attacks started to pile up, and Beryl began losing favor in the royal court."
Mary gasped in horror as fangs slowly grew from Beryl's teeth. Now no one went even close to her, not even her own parents. Only Titan was nearby now, still smiling in happiness.
"Finally, at age fifteen, no one could doubt it: Beryl had gone bad. Worse than bad. She had turned downright evil. Many were afraid to meet those dark eyes now. Many urged Titan to banish her, but his love for her still existed, and he was unwilling to make any sudden moves."
"Then, suddenly, around her seventeenth birthday, Beryl vanished. There one day, gone the next. No one knew for sure what happened to her, but soon her Senshi powers came back to the planet and went back to the planet's core of power. Queen Serenity believed that was when Beryl fully abandoned herself to Metallia and darkness."
"And the rest is history." Elisha said, sighing.
"No!" Lune snapped, making all the girls jump. In a calmer tone, she said, "No. This story is far from over. For around Beryl's tenth birthday, another child was born to the Duke and Duchess. Beryl's sister, Ruby. She favored her sister in many ways, with long red hair and dark eyes, but she showed no signs of evil whatsoever. She was well-mannered and behaved, and was gentle and kind as well. As she grew, so did her kindness, until she was another kingdom favorite, greater than her sister. But she was still in Beryl's shadow where the king was concerned, for he almost completely ignored her."
A small child, looking much like Beryl had, ran around the King's knees as Beryl had once done, smiling happily. But the happy expression on the King's face had gone. Now he looked miserable, and only sighed as he looked at the happy child.
"What would happen to her is one of the great tragedies of our time. Titan, heart-broken by Beryl's disappearance, saw for the first time her eight-year old sister in a new light. He began giving her absent-minded little gifts, not much, a jewel here, a book there. But this began to grow on the girl until she realized she could perhaps manipulate the king to give her more and greater things. She began to hint at what she wanted, and usually she would get it, until by ten she was starting to take some of her sister's tendencies."
"Titan, bless his name, didn't notice this. He did not love Ruby, but she so reminded him of the sister he had loved that he chose to make her Crown Princess of the Realm who would rule when he died. He also blessed her with the thing most of us had least expected: Senshidom."
Ruby's sweet little face suddenly grew a few years older. A blood red Senshi uniform appeared on her. Her eyes turned black, and a hint of a cruel smile played about her lips. People had begun to skirt around Ruby, as they had Beryl. Ruby took no notice of this, just smiled sweetly at Titan who passed her a jewel.
"Ruby became a nightmare. She wouldn't listen to anyone, not even her parents, without the title of 'princess'. She began to use her powers almost immediately, at first only for good, but punishing mistakes like a slave-driver. If her breakfast was late of burned, the servant would face twenty lashes. If her harp broke a chord, her music teacher would receive a lump on his head for not oiling it properly, and so on and so forth."
"Then, when Ruby was sixteen, along came Jemma."
A small, slightly plump girl with chestnut hair and large, doe-like brown eyes appeared close to Titan. As he was about to pass another object to Ruby, he spotted her. The expression on his face changed from sadness to disbelief.
"Jemma was a daughter of a member of the lesser court." Lune continued.
"Not much to look at, is she?" Lacie observed critically.
Lune gave her a deeply offended look. "She may not be beautiful, but her sweetness went right to Titan's heart. He was head-over-heels in love with her from the moment she spoke!"
Malorie glanced at Angela. "Hey-Ange, what's up?"
Angela gazed at the picture of the woman. "That looks a lot like my mom!"
Malorie blinked. "It does?"
Mary stared hard at the picture. "You know, now that you mention it, that does sort of look like my mom's hair. She's not that short, though."
"She's about my mom's size." Rachelle offered.
Lacie shrugged. "There are a few resemblances."
"Weird!" Elisha proclaimed, to all's agreement.
Angela was positive if they could see Lune, she would be beaming. "Aha! So all of your mothers look like Jemma in some way?"
Each girl nodded.
"Splendid. Now, please let me continue."
Stung, Mary muttered. "Touchy."
"Or perhaps I should just let you go back and face those Nega-monsters by yourselves!" Lune said sharply.
"Shutting up." Mary said, promptly buttoning her lips.
Lune sighed. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes-"
"Jemma and Titan seemed like the perfect match for each other. They both loved each other dearly and within a month were talking about marriage. But Ruby objected."
In the scene before their eyes, Ruby was angrily frowning at Jemma, who was clasped in Titan's arms.
"Ruby took a special disliking to Jemma the moment she saw her. Perhaps she was worried her Crown Princess position would be taken away. Perhaps her fondness for Titan had grown to love. At any rate, she refused to be kind to her and her social life dropped even more. But she was civil to her, so at first there did not seem to be any problem."
Jemma and Titan's clothes suddenly transformed to a pearly white dress for the lady and a black tux for the man.
"When Ruby was seventeen, Jemma and Titan were married, and a happier couple was only to be seen on Moon a few years later. Titan showered his blushing bride with gifts and attention. But the flow of trinkets to Ruby had decreased to a special present once in a while. Ruby seemed not to notice this, and managed to fool herself to thinking she was still as popular and beautiful and before."
Ruby's face had grown even darker. Jemma looked radiantly joyful. Titan looked as proud as a man could.
"Ruby had started to forget she had any problem with Jemma and was beginning to be pleasant to her, when the word came that Jemma was pregnant."
Jemma's waist suddenly grew much fatter. Ruby looked shocked.
"This was a true blow to Ruby. Her Crown Princess title would be robbed from her now by whatever child would come. Her hate for Jemma returned, bringing with it some extra for Titan."
Ruby had vanished from Jemma's side and now was watching a happy Titan talk to a flushed Jemma from some distance away. Hate was etched on every line on her face.
"On the eve of Ruby's eighteenth birthday, the baby-or I should say, babies- were born."
A terrible screech suddenly sounded in the girls' ears. Mary clapped her hands over her ears. "Ouch! What the-"
Jemma and Titan were now beaming down into six different cradles. In each of them a baby was wailing.
But, somehow, they didn't seem quite normal.
"Um, excuse me," Malorie said, staring intently into one. "But why the heck does that one have blue hair?"
"And that one's got white hair!" Rachelle yelped, pointing to a cradle right in the middle.
"Green with a light green highlight?" Elisha wondered, looking into one on the end.
"These are some freaky kids." Lacie muttered. "Look, that one's got purple hair like me!"
"What's going on?" Angela asked. "What is this supposed to prove?"
"These six baby girls in front of you are the six NeoJewel Princesses." Lune said haughtily. "Diamond, Emerald, Sapphire, Obsidian, Topaz, and Amethyst. The six identical sextuplets of Titan and Jemma."
"They are not sextuplets." Lacie said firmly. "Look at them!" One white hair, one green hair, one purple, one black, one blue, and one yellow with orange streaks! Not normal or identical!"
"And look at their eyes!" Rachelle said. "Two pairs blue, one amber, one green, one purplish, and one black! How on Earth can they be identical sextuplets?"
"Because each of them inherited the same incredible powers!" Lune snapped. "At the time of their birth the same fortune-teller who had predicted Beryl's descent to the dark side also pronounced that these girls born on Opal and the Moon would inherit some of the greatest powers ever to grace the universe!"
All of the girls blinked. "Whoa. That's pretty steep." Mary remarked.
Lune sighed. "Now, to continue:
"The sight of the six adorable baby girls so angered Ruby that her power, which had just been light before, suddenly took on a terrible aura of evil whenever she was too close to the girls. Pottery would smash. Curtains would rip. The cradles themselves would rock slightly back and forth-such was her psychic power and hate combined. She showed such an obvious hate for the girls who she believed had taken her spot as Princess that within a week Titan had her banned from ever seeing the children again, at least, not alone and not until they were grown up. It was not ever proved he would do away wit her spot as Crown Princess, but with her display of dislike, it was not hard to doubt."
Ruby sat in a chair, glowering angrily at the six cradles. The white haired child was sitting up, and seemed to be staring at her intently. In a flash her cradle began to fling itself back and forth, then was promptly stopped by an interfering Titan, who pointed a finger at Ruby and then to the door, too angry at her to speak. Ruby went, a look of twisted hate and agony on her face, while from behind Titan picked up and cradled the white- haired child, who was still watching Ruby.
"At being exiled from the girls' chamber, Ruby finally came face to face with the final truth: she was no longer popular or good. People completely avoided her now, and wouldn't even glance in he direction. This so hurt and angered her that she resolved to get rid of the only things in her way: the six tiny Princesses."
Darkness flooded the girls' vision. Starlight gently came in patches. Lune appeared, sighing and rubbing the crescent moon on her forehead with one paw.
"Well?" Mary demanded. "What happens next?"
Lune sharply looked at her, then sighed. "I do not believe I should tell you the rest."
Lacie and Elisha started to move toward her angrily, but Lune held up a paw. "That is, I believe you should see what happened for yourselves, not like it was just some fairy tale."
The girls blinked at her. "Um-what?" Rachelle asked.
"You'll be able to go inside my memories and see what happened like a movie!" Lune snapped. "Honestly, it's easy enough to figure out."
"Now hold on." Rachelle said, pushing a strand of hair back from her face. "We can't go inside memories. It's strictly impossible."
"So is falling through a manhole and coming out into an opposite universe!!" Lune snapped. "This entire thing is impossible and something found only in fantasies. Deal with it!!"
"She's right." Angela said nodding. "Besides, this is pretty cool!"
The other girls blinked at her.
"What?" Angela said, injured. "It's an adventure!! I've always wanted something magical and incredible to happen to me!"
After a moment, Malorie grinned. "Yeah, something so cool it would turn you into a hero. I gotcha. I feel the same way."
The others nodded in agreement.
"A-HEM!" Lune coughed loudly. "If we are done with pleasant conversation, it's time to move!!"
Without warning another hole opened up under the girls' feet. With mixed shrieks and yells, all six girls fell in.
Mary's vision was flooded with darkness. She blinked several times, but soon gave up trying to see anything. Malorie waved her hand in front of her face, trying unsuccessfully to see her hand.
"Where are we?" Elisha asked quietly.
"I don't know. I can't see a thing." Lacie replied in a hushed tone.
A voice, that was neither light nor happy, came out of the darkness close to them. The girls fell silent, and listened.
".that fool Titan," the voice said. "What an idiot. To fall in love with that dumpy woman. And now, they have daughters, do they? NO one will take my spot on the throne! Opal is my planet! Those little brats will have to go." Whoever was talking sniggered insanely. "Poor little Diamond. Poor Emerald and Obsidian and Amethyst. Poor Sapphire and Topaz. You won't live to see the beauty of my kingdom. Too bad. It's your fault. If you hadn't been born, I wouldn't have to kill you!."
The voice died away.
"That person," Lacie stated. "Was a lunatic."
"Most definitely." Rachelle said. "Absolutely, over-the-top, screwy, nutty, and dotty. In-sane!"
"That was Ruby." Angela pointed out.
A hush fell over the group.
"That witch had better not try anything." Mary muttered.
"If she does, we can't stop her." Malorie pointed out. "It's already happened. This is in the past."
"Still, it'll stink if she does." Angela mused. "Those kids are really cute."
"I get an odd feeling from them." Rachelle said quietly. "Sort of a powerful feeling. Like they could SO kill me if they wanted to, so watch it."
There were a few half -hearted giggles, then-
"AHHH!" Lacie felt another hole open up. "Damnit! Here we go again!"
"No more falliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Rachelle wailed as she began to drop.
"This is really an annoying way to travel." Angela sighed.
"I think I'm going to puke." Mary muttered.
"Not on me!" Elisha yelped.
"Me either, please! Other direction!" Malorie screeched, pushing Mary away from her.
"Ow!" With a thud, all of the girls landed.
"That hurt!" Angela whimpered, rubbing her behind.
"No kidding." Rachelle muttered.
"Well, now where are we?" Malorie asked, getting to her feet and staring about.
"Wherever we are, at least we can see." Lacie mumbled. It was true, a few soft rays of light fell from large windows all around. Elisha could clearly see the night sky, but she could not identify any familiar constellations.
"I think it's night." Mary said unnecessarily.
"You think?" Elisha inquired cockily.
"I feel like we've been here before." Angela said, glancing around.
"Yeah, I've got the déjà vu thing going too." Malorie nodded.
"Are those cradles?" Rachelle asked, pointing to some dark forms just out of the starlight.
"Hey, I know where we are!" Angela said enthusiastically. "We're in the princesses' room!"
"No!" Mary said sarcastically.
Angela flushed slightly. "Shut up."
Mary complied. In the silence that following a faint sound was heard. A hissing sound, like of a snake winding through the jungle.
"What's that?" Malorie murmured.
"Whatever it is, can it see or hear us?" Lacie wondered.
"Shush!" Angela commanded. "I've got an idea of who it could be."
"Who?" Rachelle asked.
Angela nodded grimly, and pointed to a dark human shadow in the moonlight. "Who other than the crazy person herself?"
"Ruby." Mary whispered.
Two pairs of dark eyes glowed from the shadows. A lock of red hair was visible for an instant by moonlight before the owner carefully concealed it again. A guard in a corner snorted, then slept on. Ruby carefully made her way to the six cradles.
"Oh, I can't watch!" Rachelle cried softly, turning her face away.
Ruby leaned over the middle cradle. Angela thought she could dimly make out a tiny white haired figure asleep in it. Ruby tensed, then raised her right hand, terrible triumph burning in her eyes.
"Oh no!" Mary squealed.
"Don't!" Elisha whispered.
Ruby's hand came down.
A flash of white light suddenly illuminated the room. It was coming from the middle cradle. Ruby fell back, shrieking. The little princess, Diamond, was sitting up and watching Ruby again with bright blue eyes.
Suddenly all of the princesses were sitting up and looking at her. Different colored lights played around each of them: purple, black, blue, green, and yellow, and of course the white. The lights swirled together, then shot at Ruby.
Ruby screeched a horrible cry. The lights pulsated around her, darting in here and there to touch her skin. Whenever they did, a mark like a burn would appear on Ruby's perfect skin.
Ruby was shrieking and clawing at the bolts. The guards started to awaken. The lights came together into one huge bubble of light. This bubble came down over Ruby and imprisoned her inside, then shot off into the sky, taking Ruby with it.
The lights faded. The little princesses each sighed, then lay back down, curled up, and went to sleep.
All of the guards and the girls stared at the cradles, looking rather shell- shocked.
"That," Malorie said finally, "was some very powerful butt-kicking."
"Those kids are like mutants!" Elisha whispered.
"Very, very, VERY powerful mutants!" Rachelle murmured.
"They're not mutants." Mary said confidently.
"Whatever they are, they're some mighty powerful little dudes." Lacie said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Don't you guys get it?" Angela asked quietly, looking at the cribs.
The girls stopped and stared at her.
"These kids are more than just 'very powerful'," Angela whispered. "They're incredible. They're going to become the Senshi Lune was talking about, the Jewel Senshi. Their names-Diamond, Emerald, Topaz, Obsidian, Amethyst, Sapphire-all jewels. Can't you see it?"
For a split second, Mary wondered if she saw Angela's hair turn a silky white and her eyes flash blue. Then she blinked, and the moment passed.
"So what does that mean?" Rachelle wondered. "Are they-no, I don't suppose they'd be stronger than the Planet Senshi-would they?"
"No," Lune's voice said, suddenly coming back very quietly and very seriously. "They are strong, but not strong enough to rival Sailor Moon or Mars or Mercury or Pluto or any of those Senshi. But they are strong enough to suit the needs of their planet. Now, please, let history commence. I believe I'll take over again."
"The Jewel Princesses' power was recognized at that point. Ruby was blasted out of the solar system, Sailor and Princess powers stripped from her, and all but dead. The six little girls were decidedly tired the next day, but no lasting harm was done to them. But there was a problem: now Opal was short a Senshi. They needed seven for full protection, for Beryl's presence was beginning to be hinted at across the universe."
Titan and Jemma appeared again with worried expressions as they looked down into the cradles. Titan murmured something to Jemma, who shook her head and replied softly.
"The King and Queen were worried. Even if they did have a child, it wouldn't come for another nine months at least. But then, there was a surprise package."
A seventh cradle, with red blankets, appeared beside the other six. Inside was a dark-haired, scarlet-eyed child who was bawling at the top of her lungs.
"Jeez!" Angela said, rubbing her ears. "That nearly blew out my eardrums!"
"No kidding. Forget the power, these little ones have incredible voices!" Rachelle remarked.
"So," Mary said, offhandedly. "Which jewel is that one? Rose Quartz? Lapis Lazuli?"
"Garnet. Princess Garnet, the red jewel Senshi." Lune sighed melodramatically. "The future was secure. Opal had seven princesses and seven Senshi. Everything seemed set for Beryl's arrival, whenever it would come."
"Uh-uh." Lacie said, shaking her head. "Not going to fool us this easily, cat. What happened to Ruby?"
"Ah yes. The other half of the story." Lune sighed again, even more dramatically. "Let's see-"
"Ruby wandered through space in the bubble of power, hate boiling in her heart but unable to break free. She flew past many systems of planets and stars, until one day she landed on a distant planet on the other side of the galaxy."
Ruby, in her bubble, appeared again. But now she was thin, and pale. Her hair had lost its burnished shine, and there were bruises on her once perfect face. But her dark eyes still had a terrible deadly sparkle, that had, if anything, increased.
A reddish planet suddenly appeared before the bubble. The bubble flew down towards it, and touched ground.
Malorie and Angela sighed with pleasure as they saw what caused the pinkness. The planet was entirely covered with bright blossoms of beautiful flowers, sweet smelling and calming.
Ruby stared around her in wonder. She reached out for a flower, but was stopped by the wall of the encasement.
"Those flowers are gorgeous!" Lacie sighed.
"Mmmmmm." Mary murmured, taking a long sniff of the air.
Rachelle bent down and touched a flower. "I don't know." She muttered. "I'm getting a bad feeling from this planet."
The planet's ground suddenly shook beneath their feet. The girls screamed and threw themselves on the ground amongst the flowers. Elisha saw Ruby's face turn to horrified puzzlement, then a look of crafty suspicion came over her features.
The flowers stared to twist up until they formed what looked like a cloak out of petals. The pink color of the petals vanished, to be replaced by a twilight shade of purple. The purple cloak flew up, and suddenly, in midair, stopped, and swished around till it looked like it was covering a human form.
"There's an invisible person over there." Angela whispered, throat dry.
"Now I know I'm getting a bad feeling." Rachelle hissed.
The cloak swayed, like the person inside it was breathing. Lacie saw a dark crystal glowing from just inside the hood, like some terrible dark eye.
Realization clicked in Mary. "That's-that's chaos." She whispered. "I remember from a picture I saw on the net."
"Then where's Galaxia?" Angela whispered.
"Hold on, is everyone here a die-hard Moonie fan?" Elisha asked crossly. Why didn't you all tell me before? I love Sailor Moon!"
"Quiet!" Rachelle hissed. "That thing is saying something!"
A light breezed ruffled the cloak. One side let out a cloth fold so it looked like the invisible person's arm was headed for the bubble. There was a pause, and then the bubble blew apart and disintegrated. Ruby shakily got to her feet, and then bowed low to the figure.
A low laugh issued from the cloak. "Sssssssssssoooo, you are Rrrrrrrruuuuuubyy of Opaal arrrre yyyouuuu notttt?"
Ruby nodded slowly.
"I ammmmmmmm Chaos." The figure stated. "Embodiiiiiiiiment of darknesssssssss. Why have youuuuuuu come herrrrrrre?"
"Because those brats drained me and sent me away-" Ruby began.
"Wrong!" Chaos hissed. "Youuuuuuu arrrrrrrrre here because I caaaaaaaalled youuuuuu."
Ruby looked excited. Chaos stretched out an invisible hand and laid it on her forehead. "Dooooooo youuuuu wissssh to abandon everrrrrrrything you alrrrrrready know?"
Ruby nodded.
"Exxxxxxxcellent." Chaos purred. "I alrrrrrrrready havvvvvvve one faithfulllllll serrrrvant, so you'll jussssst have to use my powerrrrrrrrr for your own neeeeeeeeeds."
Ruby looked disappointed at this statement, but then from Chaos's invisible hand a dark lightning bolt shot out and blasted Ruby on her forehead. Lacie and Rachelle screamed as Ruby's body burned, charred, and then turned to ashes.
Angela turned away, gagging. Mary blinked once or twice. "Yuk."
"No kidding." Elisha muttered, screwing up her courage and forcing herself to stare at the smoking body.
"That's disgusting." Malorie whispered, burying her head in her hands.
The cloak of petals suddenly blew apart from the wind. The dark crystal was gone. The flowers underneath the girls' feet started turning brown and gray, and crumbling into dust.
"Look!" Mary said suddenly. "Look at Ruby's body!"
"Do I have to?" Angela whined.
"Yes." Mary said crossly. "Or I'll make you."
Sighing, Angela turned around-and then stared.
The ashes that had once been Ruby were swirling back up into a human form. Dark eyes suddenly opened in the ash face, and a cruel smile formed. Then the ashes blew away, leaving behind a tall, red haired human woman.
"Ruby." Malorie whispered in a parched voice.
"No, it's not." Angela croaked. "She's changed. That's not Ruby of Opal."
It was true. Ruby's eyes were still dark, but they had such a tainted aura of evil that the girls could hardly bear to look into them. Her red hair flowed past her waist in long waves. A slim black dress swirled down past her feet, and a matching cloak billowed out behind her. A thin black diamond was glowing faintly on her forehead.
Ruby stretched out a hand and stared at her blood-red nails. She flexed her fingers, then picked up a small rock and squeezed it. The rock shattered into pieces.
Ruby stared down at the fragments, then looked up into space. Her smile widened.
"Diamond." She whispered. "Topaz. Emerald. Obsidian. Amethyst. Sapphire." Her voice increased to a roar. "I'm coming back! Do you hear me, Diamond?! Rubian is coming back!"
"Rubian?" Angela muttered. "Where the heck did she pull that name from?"
"The depths of insanity." Mary said, smiling a little.
Rubian's talking and the flowers' decaying suddenly halted. There was a "Pop!" and Lune appeared, scowling ferociously. (It forever bothered Angela in the future as to how a cat could frown or sigh or smile.)
"You truly are ignorant children." Lune said, sighing.
"Lune, do have a breathing problem? You keep sighing every ten seconds." Elisha asked, feigning concern.
"Shut it, air-head." Lune snapped at Elisha.
Elisha growled, and immediately charged at Lune and grabbed her around the throat. Lune promptly scratched her. As Elisha leapt about howling and screeching about removing claws, Mary gave Lune a hard knock on the head. "You behave, cat, or we'll have to punish you!" A look of fiendish delight came into Mary's eyes. "Now, how shall I do it? Shall I pull on your whiskers to see if they come out?" She gave Lune's whiskers an experimental tug.
"Or shall I tug on your tail to make it stretch out?" She yanked Lune's tail and held her upside-down. Lune screeched and tried to scratch Mary, but to no avail.
"Ohohohohohoho!" Mary cackled, swing Lune like a lasso. "Let's have some fun!"
Angela, sweating, watched Mary torturing Lune. "She's acting like Presea." She muttered.
Rachelle nodded, eyes wide.
"Okay, cut it out!" Malorie said, running forward and rescuing Lune from Mary's grip. Mary let go with an, "Aww."
"Really." Lune said in a lordly manner. "PUT ME DOWN NOW!" She suddenly screeched at Malorie, puffing up.
Startled, Malorie dropped her. Lune landed flat on her back.
"Whatever happened to cats landing on their feet?" Angela sniggered.
Lune flipped right side up and glared at all the girls, sparks of white starting to fly from the crescent on her forehead. "SILENCE!"
All six girls immediately shut up.
"Now, can we please avoid any more interruptions?!" Lune practically screamed.
All girls nodded mutely.
"Good." Lune's fur went back down. She calmly cleaned a paw. "Ruby completely forsook the right way and accepted Chaos's gift. When she was reborn, her old name reminded her of the people she had hated so much, who had, in her mind, taken everything from her. So she changed it to something different but not to distant from the original." She glared at Angela. "Now you know where she got the name. Happy?"
"Very much so." Angela muttered.
On the planet things started to move again. The flowers wilted and died in bushels. Rubian had stopped talking and was now taking off and shooting into space, back in the direction she had come.
"She's headed back for Opal!" Rachelle gasped.
"She can't!" Angela said, a strange panic rising in her. "The Senshi- they're still just kids-they can't possibly defend themselves from her now- "
"Did I mention that Ruby's trip to the stars took approximately fifteen years?" Lune asked innocently.
"What-no!" Mary said, eyes bulging. "You mean that back on the planet, they're all grown up?!"
Lune nodded smugly.
"YOU STUPID CAT!!" Lacie screeched, pouncing on Lune and shaking her. "YOU NEARLY SCARED ME TO DEATH!!! DON'T YOU JOKE AROUND WITH US LIKE THAT!!!!!!"
Lune managed a bite to Lacie's forefinger. Lacie dropped Lune and backed away, sucking on her finger.
"I wouldn't suck on it, Lune's mouth was just on it." Malorie pointed out.
Lacie's sucking turned to spitting. "Yuck!"
"Meanwhile," Lune said loudly over Lacie's protests. "Back on Opal, each of the girls had matured into a beautiful and mature figure."
The girls zoomed back across the galaxy. To Angela's delight, as they were nearing Opal, they got a good view of the sun rising over Earth. The rays hit the girls and warmed them. Rachelle sighed peacefully. "Gorgeous."
For an instant a kind smile appeared on Lune's furry face. Then it vanished back into noble dignity.
They zoomed in on Opal. Malorie couldn't see anything had really changed. There was one large continent, the palace was still made of marble and still very big. Only now-
Malorie gasped and tugged on Angela's hand. "Look! The Palace-what happened?"
Instead of one large palace, there were several different colored sections. On the border were castles and surrounding cities that were silver, red, blue, green, gold, purple, and black. Each had people milling around and conversing in it. There was still the main white palace, but compared to the areas around it, it seemed-diminished, almost.
"That's so pretty!" Mary exclaimed, admiring the black castle.
"For sure." Elisha said, gazing at a juggling troupe performing in a square in the blue section.
Angela was biting her lip. ".let's see." She muttered. "Red for Garnet, blue for Sapphire, Green-Emerald, Black is Obsidian, Purple for Amethyst, and that leaves gold to be Topaz and Silver to be Diamond."
Lacie nodded. "So they all have their own respective kingdoms? Why, did they get on each others' nerves?"
Angela and Mary snorted. Rachelle and Malorie hid smiles behind their hands. Elisha choked back a laugh.
Lune was less than amused. "They did NOT get on each others' nerves." She said loudly over Mary's sudden giggle fit. "Titan and Jemma decided it was right for them to govern their own castles for their own maturity's sake."
"Why, did they all act like spoiled brats?" Elisha inquired innocently. The group fell in chuckles again.
"If only you knew who you truly were-" Lune began, then abruptly stopped. "They weren't spoiled brats, but instead mature enough to handle their own kingdoms, and with seven daughters Titan and Jemma aged fast." She stopped, and then muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "At least they weren't as bratty as you lot."
"I heard that." Rachelle said angrily.
"I know." Lune said smugly.
"Okay, enough with snide comments on both sides!" Angela said, wiping a tear of laughter away. "Lune, get on with the freaking history lesson!"
Lune gave them all a severe glare. "Just for your rudeness-"
A hole opened to the side of Mary. With a shriek, she was sucked in.
"MARY!" The girls cried as the portal closed.
"What'd you do to her? Where'd you take her?!" Malorie shrieked.
"The same place you're all going." Lune sniffed.
Another hole opened by Malorie, and simultaneously one by Rachelle. They were both sucked in.
"Rachelle? Malorie, come back here!" Angela cried, running towards the closing holes.
"Bring them back!" Elisha yelled at Lune.
"Honestly." Lune said. "No, I won't."
Elisha yelped as a hole opened by her. "Oh, no you don't!" She yelled, grabbing the sides. "No way am I going anywhere! I want to go back to reality and out of this freaking dream now, thank you!"
Lune gave her a scratch on her hand. She promptly let go of the sides and was pulled, cursing, into the hole's black depths.
Lacie and Angela raced towards the hole, managing to stick their hands in before it closed completely.
"Now what?" Lacie grumbled, trying to pull her hand free.
The hole enlarged suddenly. Lacie found herself sucked in head first, followed by Angela.
"Damn you, Lune!" Angela shrieked as her feet disappeared.
Lune sighed then turned to face a large computer screen that had sprung up behind her. A black furry face with a gold crescent moon on it peered out at her. "Well, Lune?"
"How on Earth did you deal with these little brats, Luna?!" Lune growled, frustrated.
The cat on the screen smiled. "They prove themselves to you over time, little sister. Just wait. They'll grow up, and be stronger than you could ever possibly imagine."
Lune sighed. "I hope so, or else Opal's doomed."
* * *
Wind whistled in Angela's hair. She peered vainly through the darkness, rubbing her head from where she had cracked it on the ground when her fall had abruptly ended. Besides her an out-of-breath voice asked, "Where on Earth are we?"
Angela shrugged. "Got me. Lune pulled us into the psycho dream hole again."
Lacie laughed slightly. "God, I want out of here. This whole thing is way over me. Elisha's right, I want to leave!"
"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Another voice said to their right.
Angela jumped. "Elisha?"
"Yup. I've got Malorie here too. Where are Rachelle and Mary?"
"Don't know. How are you?"
Elisha sighed. Malorie piped up. "Been better and been worse."
Visions spun in front of Angie's eyes. The girls.falling.a spinning hole.Rachelle.Malorie.Mary.Lacie.Elisha..no.
Her head was being pressed up against something hard and cold. Her sight swam, whirled, then everything took their place.
"What the-?!"
Angela started, and then jumped to her feet off the cold floor where she had been lying. She stared around in wonder.
She was in space.
Constellations flew around her eyes. Orion, the Big Dipper, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Taurus, Cancer, and Draco. Her eyes sought out each of these. She gasped as she found Gemini below her feet. Nausea rose in her stomach.
"Whoa."
At the sound of the familiar voice Angela spun around. "Rachelle?!"
"Angie!" With a cry of gladness Rachelle ran to Angie and hugged her. "You're okay!"
Angie hugged her back. "Yeah, I guess. How are you?"
Rachelle put her hands on her hips. "Baffled. What the heck's going on here?"
"Ouch!"
"Hey!"
"Get off me!"
Angela turned at the sound of three more voices. "Mary! Malorie! And- Elisha? Is that you under there?"
Elisha's muffled voice came from under Mary and Malorie. "Yes, it is. Now would you mind getting off me?"
Mary rose and hugged Angela before pulling her back and staring into her eyes. "You're all right?"
"As well as can be expected." Angela assured her.
Mary sighed, then hugged her and Rachelle.
"Mary!" Angela protested weakly, laughing. "You're squishing us!"
"Aw, group hug everyone!" Malorie laughed, charging into Mary's back.
Elisha giggled as she joined.
"Wait!" Rachelle called. "Where's Lacie?"
"Wheee!"
Mary grinned without turning around. "Perhaps she just came in behind me?"
"Lacie!" Angela cheered, opening the circle to hug her.
"Group hug!" Malorie cheered.
After a moment of hugging, everyone broke free. Rachelle rubbed her eyes on her sleeve. "It's incredible how glad I feel that you guys are okay. We haven't even known each other an hour, but I feel like we've known each other forever."
"Yeah, I got this déjà vu thing going too." Elisha said, smiling.
Lacie studied the sky. "Interesting. So, where the hell are we?"
Mary shrugged. "Beats me. All I remember really well is that freaky hole."
"And our pursuers." Malorie muttered, shivering.
Angela nodded. "Well, wherever we are, I'll bet we're away from them."
"Unless they're aliens and they've taken us on board their mother ship! BWAHAHAHA!" Mary crowed.
"Not funny." Malorie said, giving Mary a dirty look.
"Well, I think we're in space, at least." Angela said, looking at what she hoped was the North Star.
"But then how are we breathing? There's no air in space." Rachelle remarked sensibly.
"Projections?" Elisha suggested, peering around.
"From where?" Lacie asked.
"It's not a projection."
All six girls jumped three feet. "Who's there?" Angela yelped, glancing around.
"I'm right here." The voice said again.
"Where?" Mary asked, spinning around.
"Down here!"
Angela glanced down, and sharply caught her breath.
A golden haired cat was peering up at them. It would have been a very normal cat, but it's fur looked a little too bright and thick. Its eyes shone like stars and there was a golden crescent moon in the middle of its forehead.
"A TALKING CAT?!" Angela yelled, falling over and deafening everyone else.
The cat gave her a cold look. "My name is Lune and I've searched a very long time for all of you."
"OH MY GOD!! IT'S REALLY TALKING!" Elisha shrieked, losing herself completely.
"Well, of course I talk." The cat-Lune-snapped. "Don't you?"
"Yes-but-well, cats don't normally talk!" Rachelle cried, struggling for
composure.
"Well, I do. So deal with it." Lune said snippily.
"No need to get sarcastic." Mary said sharply. "We've got reason enough to
question. In our world, cats do not talk."
"Nor do people get pulled into space warps by telepathic animals, but you six just did." Lune remarked.
"You pulled us in here?!" Lacie yelled, grabbing Lune and throttling her. "You evil cat! Do you realize how much you scared us?!"
"Put-me-down!!" Lune choked.
"For God's sake-Lacie, drop it!" Angela shouted, managing to free Lune from
Lacie's maniacal grip. Lune fell to the ground, breathing hard. Then she
crossly scratched Lacie's leg.
As Lacie jumped around and hollered, Lune muttered, "I wonder how Luna felt when she was confronted by that little ditz. I've got six of them!"
"Wait-what did you say?" Mary asked, pouncing on Lune and picking her up.
"I said, I wonder how Luna felt when-"
"Luna?!" Rachelle yelped, leaping towards her. "Luna, the all-knowing mystical
cat of the Sailor Senshi?!"
Lune glanced at her sharply. "So you have heard of them."
"I should think so!" Elisha said indignantly. "Sailor Moon is my favorite
anime!"
"Mine too!" The rest of the girls chorused.
"Wait-you've all heard of them?" Lune asked breathlessly. "This is an
unexpected bonus. That means I don't have to explain their history as well as
yours!"
"Our history?" Lacie asked, giving her leg a final inspection for bleeding.
"Heck, my history's not that interesting." Mary said. "Born, lived, went to
school-"
"Not your present history." Lune said impatiently. "Your far past. The Jewel
Senshi's past."
What she clearly thought would mean something to them was met only with blank
stares.
"Jewel Senshi?" Elisha wondered. "Who're they?"
"Beats me." Angela said with a shrug. "In all my years of anime-loving I
haven't heard of them yet. Maybe it's a new one."
"It isn't a cartoon!" Lune snapped, this time with deadly seriousness. "It's as
real as-as Sailor Moon and her Senshi!"
All the girls gasped.
"But-but-they're just cartoons too!" Mary protested weakly.
Even in her bafflement, Rachelle almost laughed at the expression on Lune's
furry face. "Only cartoons? ONLY CARTOONS?! We are talking about the most powerful people that ever have been and ever will be and you are saying they're
not real?!"
"But they're not.are they?" Elisha asked, puzzled.
Lune tried to recover. "They are as real as I am!"
"But how do we know you're real?" Angela asked.
Lune gave her a scathing look, then bit her hard on her leg. Angela yelped in
pain and flew backward, grabbing her leg. "Owowowowowow!"
"Real enough?" Lune asked sardonically.
"THAT WASN'T NECESSARY!!" Angela howled, tears starting to squeeze out of her eyes.
"Oh, shut up." Lune snapped.
Malorie knelt down by the cat. "Okay, so we know you're real. But what are we
doing here? What's happening?"
Lune sighed. "You really don't know?"
The girls shook their heads mutely.
Lune sighed. "Then I guess I'll have to explain it from the beginning."
"The beginning?" Mary asked suspiciously. "I don't like the sound of that!"
"From the Silver Millennium," Lune said quietly. "When all of the universe was one."
Staring into the cat's golden eyes, Angela suddenly had the peculiar feeling she was looking into more than just eyes, but into a whole other world. Then the floor under her feet lurched, and she was falling into those golden eyes, right into the black pupil.
She gasped and shook her head. The dark blueness of the space suddenly became more distinct and blacker than ever. Lune had vanished from her view.
"Where are we?" She asked, hearing her voice echo.
"I'm not sure." Rachelle said, coming up beside her.
"Did we-fall into Lune's eyes?" Mary wondered.
"But that's impossible." Malorie murmured.
Elisha, looking off into the distant stars, suddenly gasped and pointed. "Look! Is that-"
"The Sun?" The rest of the girls chorused, staring in wonder.
Lune's voice suddenly spoke: "Our world went on forever. There was not one planet with life, but thousands, each teeming with sentient life. But they were many millions of miles apart. The only ones holding life that were close together were the seven ones that revolved around Sun."
"Seven planets?" Malorie gasped.
"With life?" Mary wondered.
"Earth, Moon, Rayearth, Icephir, Tyrantula, Opal, and Megatron." Lune said softly, as if reciting some ancient rune. "All incredibly powerful, but unique in their own ways. Different cultures, different governments, and different Senshi. Some specialized in the arts, others in mechanics and technology, and a few in both. All of them very peaceful and friends, but three were especially close."
"Which three?" Elisha whispered.
"Earth, Moon, and Opal." Lune's voice said quietly. "All were very like each other. They all were very advanced in the arts as well as technology, but Earth preferred science to magic and Opal loved arts more than manufacturing. Moon people loved not one but cherished both, and went far in both fields."
Lune paused a moment, then continued in a normal voice. "The true Sailor Senshi were a joint team between Earth and Moon. The other planets had Senshi that went under different names. Like Rayearth, who had the Legendary Magic Knights. But Opal was blessed with the second largest amount of Senshi: the Jewel Senshi."
Angela shrieked in surprise as they suddenly zoomed forward through space towards the Sun. Planets started to zoom by their vision. Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars-
Rachelle gasped in awe. "There they are!"
It was incredible. Earth's blues and greens nicely set off the Moon whiteness as they spun closely together. Then, just to the side of Earth, they saw-
"Opal." Lune said, voice quiet and sad again. "Like it once was."
A jade green and lapis lazuli blue planet was slowly spiraling towards them. It looked much like Earth, except all the continents were shaped oddly.
"It's beautiful." Malorie breathed.
"Breath-taking." Lacie sighed.
"The others planets are to your right." Lune said. Elisha pointed out an electric blue planet made of ice-"Icephir,"-and then Mary saw a dove-gray planet shrouded in swirling fogs-"Megatron," An orange planet was Tyrantula, and a planet that looked almost the same as Opal and Earth except the seas were a lighter blue was Rayearth.
"The Seven Great Planets." Lune said. "Powerful, prosperous, and beautiful. Ruled by Queen Serenity. Everyone expected the Silver Millennium to go on forever."
A terrible sadness came into Lune's voice. "But then things changed. Evil creatures began to appear in odd corners. And then, in the last century of the Silver Millennium, the curse of Opal came true."
"Curse of Opal?" Mary whispered.
"Just before Queen Serenity came to the throne, a prophecy came from a psychic on the Moon saying that this happy time would end with one born from Opal's soil. This prophecy was told to few, as the Queen did not wish to alarm the universe. But Opal ignored this curse as just a mockery, and went along their daily lives." She sighed. "Perhaps if they had heeded it the tragedy of the Moon would not have occurred."
"What do you mean?" Rachelle asked slowly.
"Beryl-Queen Beryl of the Negaverse-was once a Jewel Senshi."
All the girls gasped.
"Yes," Lune said sadly. "Beryl was from Opal. A never-ending cause of shame to its people. Now, I suppose I should tell Opal's story, the beginning of the end for the Silver Millennium."
Lune cleared her throat, and began:
"About forty years before the Silver Millennium's end, a small girl was born to a rich and popular couple on Opal. She had red hair and dark eyes, and was a cute and simple child. Her parents and indeed all of Opal adored her, especially the king, Titan."
The girls' visions zoomed into Opal, past silvery clouds, and straight towards a large, marble-looking palace. A small child, with auburn-red hair and dark eyes was running around a marble pillar while a man with a mass of dark hair and hazel eyes watched affectionately.
"Titan was a good-looking man, in his own way. Not particularly handsome, but he was as good-looking as a king should be. He was, like other rulers, several centuries into his life when Beryl was born, but truly he looked only twenty-five. He had been looking for a bride for many years, and fell in love with Beryl's child sweetness from day one."
The man-Titan-smiled as the child Beryl ran from the pillar to hug his knees, then jump back, blushing.
"As Beryl grew older and even more into the people's heart, Titan decided to give her the power that hadn't ever been given to someone of Opal. The greatest honor there was, next to being royal. The power of the Sailor Senshi."
The girls watched silently as the little girl grew up like a tree. Her hair grew fuller and longer, her figure more fully formed, and her eyes darker than ever. In the background some people watched her nervously, as if a tangible dark presence tainted the air around her. Titan watched her blissfully, unaware of any changes. Then, Beryl was changed, changed into the form that only the brightest and the best would ever wear: the Sailor Senshi uniform. The uniform was a light aqua color with dark green veins running through it. The look on Beryl's face was terrifying, like a madman plotting an attempt to take over the world.
"Beryl was ten when she first transformed. She was awed and amazed by these new powers she had and took to practicing at all hours. At first this seemed harmless, even amusing. But then things started to get out of hand."
The darkness in Beryl's eyes went even blacker. Her nails started to look claw-like. More people skirted around her hesitantly, fear etched on their faces.
"On Beryl's twelfth birthday she used her powers to burn a guest who had made a comment about her chosen dress. A few months later she badly wounded a fellow chess opponent when it looked like she would lose. The complaints of these attacks started to pile up, and Beryl began losing favor in the royal court."
Mary gasped in horror as fangs slowly grew from Beryl's teeth. Now no one went even close to her, not even her own parents. Only Titan was nearby now, still smiling in happiness.
"Finally, at age fifteen, no one could doubt it: Beryl had gone bad. Worse than bad. She had turned downright evil. Many were afraid to meet those dark eyes now. Many urged Titan to banish her, but his love for her still existed, and he was unwilling to make any sudden moves."
"Then, suddenly, around her seventeenth birthday, Beryl vanished. There one day, gone the next. No one knew for sure what happened to her, but soon her Senshi powers came back to the planet and went back to the planet's core of power. Queen Serenity believed that was when Beryl fully abandoned herself to Metallia and darkness."
"And the rest is history." Elisha said, sighing.
"No!" Lune snapped, making all the girls jump. In a calmer tone, she said, "No. This story is far from over. For around Beryl's tenth birthday, another child was born to the Duke and Duchess. Beryl's sister, Ruby. She favored her sister in many ways, with long red hair and dark eyes, but she showed no signs of evil whatsoever. She was well-mannered and behaved, and was gentle and kind as well. As she grew, so did her kindness, until she was another kingdom favorite, greater than her sister. But she was still in Beryl's shadow where the king was concerned, for he almost completely ignored her."
A small child, looking much like Beryl had, ran around the King's knees as Beryl had once done, smiling happily. But the happy expression on the King's face had gone. Now he looked miserable, and only sighed as he looked at the happy child.
"What would happen to her is one of the great tragedies of our time. Titan, heart-broken by Beryl's disappearance, saw for the first time her eight-year old sister in a new light. He began giving her absent-minded little gifts, not much, a jewel here, a book there. But this began to grow on the girl until she realized she could perhaps manipulate the king to give her more and greater things. She began to hint at what she wanted, and usually she would get it, until by ten she was starting to take some of her sister's tendencies."
"Titan, bless his name, didn't notice this. He did not love Ruby, but she so reminded him of the sister he had loved that he chose to make her Crown Princess of the Realm who would rule when he died. He also blessed her with the thing most of us had least expected: Senshidom."
Ruby's sweet little face suddenly grew a few years older. A blood red Senshi uniform appeared on her. Her eyes turned black, and a hint of a cruel smile played about her lips. People had begun to skirt around Ruby, as they had Beryl. Ruby took no notice of this, just smiled sweetly at Titan who passed her a jewel.
"Ruby became a nightmare. She wouldn't listen to anyone, not even her parents, without the title of 'princess'. She began to use her powers almost immediately, at first only for good, but punishing mistakes like a slave-driver. If her breakfast was late of burned, the servant would face twenty lashes. If her harp broke a chord, her music teacher would receive a lump on his head for not oiling it properly, and so on and so forth."
"Then, when Ruby was sixteen, along came Jemma."
A small, slightly plump girl with chestnut hair and large, doe-like brown eyes appeared close to Titan. As he was about to pass another object to Ruby, he spotted her. The expression on his face changed from sadness to disbelief.
"Jemma was a daughter of a member of the lesser court." Lune continued.
"Not much to look at, is she?" Lacie observed critically.
Lune gave her a deeply offended look. "She may not be beautiful, but her sweetness went right to Titan's heart. He was head-over-heels in love with her from the moment she spoke!"
Malorie glanced at Angela. "Hey-Ange, what's up?"
Angela gazed at the picture of the woman. "That looks a lot like my mom!"
Malorie blinked. "It does?"
Mary stared hard at the picture. "You know, now that you mention it, that does sort of look like my mom's hair. She's not that short, though."
"She's about my mom's size." Rachelle offered.
Lacie shrugged. "There are a few resemblances."
"Weird!" Elisha proclaimed, to all's agreement.
Angela was positive if they could see Lune, she would be beaming. "Aha! So all of your mothers look like Jemma in some way?"
Each girl nodded.
"Splendid. Now, please let me continue."
Stung, Mary muttered. "Touchy."
"Or perhaps I should just let you go back and face those Nega-monsters by yourselves!" Lune said sharply.
"Shutting up." Mary said, promptly buttoning her lips.
Lune sighed. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes-"
"Jemma and Titan seemed like the perfect match for each other. They both loved each other dearly and within a month were talking about marriage. But Ruby objected."
In the scene before their eyes, Ruby was angrily frowning at Jemma, who was clasped in Titan's arms.
"Ruby took a special disliking to Jemma the moment she saw her. Perhaps she was worried her Crown Princess position would be taken away. Perhaps her fondness for Titan had grown to love. At any rate, she refused to be kind to her and her social life dropped even more. But she was civil to her, so at first there did not seem to be any problem."
Jemma and Titan's clothes suddenly transformed to a pearly white dress for the lady and a black tux for the man.
"When Ruby was seventeen, Jemma and Titan were married, and a happier couple was only to be seen on Moon a few years later. Titan showered his blushing bride with gifts and attention. But the flow of trinkets to Ruby had decreased to a special present once in a while. Ruby seemed not to notice this, and managed to fool herself to thinking she was still as popular and beautiful and before."
Ruby's face had grown even darker. Jemma looked radiantly joyful. Titan looked as proud as a man could.
"Ruby had started to forget she had any problem with Jemma and was beginning to be pleasant to her, when the word came that Jemma was pregnant."
Jemma's waist suddenly grew much fatter. Ruby looked shocked.
"This was a true blow to Ruby. Her Crown Princess title would be robbed from her now by whatever child would come. Her hate for Jemma returned, bringing with it some extra for Titan."
Ruby had vanished from Jemma's side and now was watching a happy Titan talk to a flushed Jemma from some distance away. Hate was etched on every line on her face.
"On the eve of Ruby's eighteenth birthday, the baby-or I should say, babies- were born."
A terrible screech suddenly sounded in the girls' ears. Mary clapped her hands over her ears. "Ouch! What the-"
Jemma and Titan were now beaming down into six different cradles. In each of them a baby was wailing.
But, somehow, they didn't seem quite normal.
"Um, excuse me," Malorie said, staring intently into one. "But why the heck does that one have blue hair?"
"And that one's got white hair!" Rachelle yelped, pointing to a cradle right in the middle.
"Green with a light green highlight?" Elisha wondered, looking into one on the end.
"These are some freaky kids." Lacie muttered. "Look, that one's got purple hair like me!"
"What's going on?" Angela asked. "What is this supposed to prove?"
"These six baby girls in front of you are the six NeoJewel Princesses." Lune said haughtily. "Diamond, Emerald, Sapphire, Obsidian, Topaz, and Amethyst. The six identical sextuplets of Titan and Jemma."
"They are not sextuplets." Lacie said firmly. "Look at them!" One white hair, one green hair, one purple, one black, one blue, and one yellow with orange streaks! Not normal or identical!"
"And look at their eyes!" Rachelle said. "Two pairs blue, one amber, one green, one purplish, and one black! How on Earth can they be identical sextuplets?"
"Because each of them inherited the same incredible powers!" Lune snapped. "At the time of their birth the same fortune-teller who had predicted Beryl's descent to the dark side also pronounced that these girls born on Opal and the Moon would inherit some of the greatest powers ever to grace the universe!"
All of the girls blinked. "Whoa. That's pretty steep." Mary remarked.
Lune sighed. "Now, to continue:
"The sight of the six adorable baby girls so angered Ruby that her power, which had just been light before, suddenly took on a terrible aura of evil whenever she was too close to the girls. Pottery would smash. Curtains would rip. The cradles themselves would rock slightly back and forth-such was her psychic power and hate combined. She showed such an obvious hate for the girls who she believed had taken her spot as Princess that within a week Titan had her banned from ever seeing the children again, at least, not alone and not until they were grown up. It was not ever proved he would do away wit her spot as Crown Princess, but with her display of dislike, it was not hard to doubt."
Ruby sat in a chair, glowering angrily at the six cradles. The white haired child was sitting up, and seemed to be staring at her intently. In a flash her cradle began to fling itself back and forth, then was promptly stopped by an interfering Titan, who pointed a finger at Ruby and then to the door, too angry at her to speak. Ruby went, a look of twisted hate and agony on her face, while from behind Titan picked up and cradled the white- haired child, who was still watching Ruby.
"At being exiled from the girls' chamber, Ruby finally came face to face with the final truth: she was no longer popular or good. People completely avoided her now, and wouldn't even glance in he direction. This so hurt and angered her that she resolved to get rid of the only things in her way: the six tiny Princesses."
Darkness flooded the girls' vision. Starlight gently came in patches. Lune appeared, sighing and rubbing the crescent moon on her forehead with one paw.
"Well?" Mary demanded. "What happens next?"
Lune sharply looked at her, then sighed. "I do not believe I should tell you the rest."
Lacie and Elisha started to move toward her angrily, but Lune held up a paw. "That is, I believe you should see what happened for yourselves, not like it was just some fairy tale."
The girls blinked at her. "Um-what?" Rachelle asked.
"You'll be able to go inside my memories and see what happened like a movie!" Lune snapped. "Honestly, it's easy enough to figure out."
"Now hold on." Rachelle said, pushing a strand of hair back from her face. "We can't go inside memories. It's strictly impossible."
"So is falling through a manhole and coming out into an opposite universe!!" Lune snapped. "This entire thing is impossible and something found only in fantasies. Deal with it!!"
"She's right." Angela said nodding. "Besides, this is pretty cool!"
The other girls blinked at her.
"What?" Angela said, injured. "It's an adventure!! I've always wanted something magical and incredible to happen to me!"
After a moment, Malorie grinned. "Yeah, something so cool it would turn you into a hero. I gotcha. I feel the same way."
The others nodded in agreement.
"A-HEM!" Lune coughed loudly. "If we are done with pleasant conversation, it's time to move!!"
Without warning another hole opened up under the girls' feet. With mixed shrieks and yells, all six girls fell in.
Mary's vision was flooded with darkness. She blinked several times, but soon gave up trying to see anything. Malorie waved her hand in front of her face, trying unsuccessfully to see her hand.
"Where are we?" Elisha asked quietly.
"I don't know. I can't see a thing." Lacie replied in a hushed tone.
A voice, that was neither light nor happy, came out of the darkness close to them. The girls fell silent, and listened.
".that fool Titan," the voice said. "What an idiot. To fall in love with that dumpy woman. And now, they have daughters, do they? NO one will take my spot on the throne! Opal is my planet! Those little brats will have to go." Whoever was talking sniggered insanely. "Poor little Diamond. Poor Emerald and Obsidian and Amethyst. Poor Sapphire and Topaz. You won't live to see the beauty of my kingdom. Too bad. It's your fault. If you hadn't been born, I wouldn't have to kill you!."
The voice died away.
"That person," Lacie stated. "Was a lunatic."
"Most definitely." Rachelle said. "Absolutely, over-the-top, screwy, nutty, and dotty. In-sane!"
"That was Ruby." Angela pointed out.
A hush fell over the group.
"That witch had better not try anything." Mary muttered.
"If she does, we can't stop her." Malorie pointed out. "It's already happened. This is in the past."
"Still, it'll stink if she does." Angela mused. "Those kids are really cute."
"I get an odd feeling from them." Rachelle said quietly. "Sort of a powerful feeling. Like they could SO kill me if they wanted to, so watch it."
There were a few half -hearted giggles, then-
"AHHH!" Lacie felt another hole open up. "Damnit! Here we go again!"
"No more falliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Rachelle wailed as she began to drop.
"This is really an annoying way to travel." Angela sighed.
"I think I'm going to puke." Mary muttered.
"Not on me!" Elisha yelped.
"Me either, please! Other direction!" Malorie screeched, pushing Mary away from her.
"Ow!" With a thud, all of the girls landed.
"That hurt!" Angela whimpered, rubbing her behind.
"No kidding." Rachelle muttered.
"Well, now where are we?" Malorie asked, getting to her feet and staring about.
"Wherever we are, at least we can see." Lacie mumbled. It was true, a few soft rays of light fell from large windows all around. Elisha could clearly see the night sky, but she could not identify any familiar constellations.
"I think it's night." Mary said unnecessarily.
"You think?" Elisha inquired cockily.
"I feel like we've been here before." Angela said, glancing around.
"Yeah, I've got the déjà vu thing going too." Malorie nodded.
"Are those cradles?" Rachelle asked, pointing to some dark forms just out of the starlight.
"Hey, I know where we are!" Angela said enthusiastically. "We're in the princesses' room!"
"No!" Mary said sarcastically.
Angela flushed slightly. "Shut up."
Mary complied. In the silence that following a faint sound was heard. A hissing sound, like of a snake winding through the jungle.
"What's that?" Malorie murmured.
"Whatever it is, can it see or hear us?" Lacie wondered.
"Shush!" Angela commanded. "I've got an idea of who it could be."
"Who?" Rachelle asked.
Angela nodded grimly, and pointed to a dark human shadow in the moonlight. "Who other than the crazy person herself?"
"Ruby." Mary whispered.
Two pairs of dark eyes glowed from the shadows. A lock of red hair was visible for an instant by moonlight before the owner carefully concealed it again. A guard in a corner snorted, then slept on. Ruby carefully made her way to the six cradles.
"Oh, I can't watch!" Rachelle cried softly, turning her face away.
Ruby leaned over the middle cradle. Angela thought she could dimly make out a tiny white haired figure asleep in it. Ruby tensed, then raised her right hand, terrible triumph burning in her eyes.
"Oh no!" Mary squealed.
"Don't!" Elisha whispered.
Ruby's hand came down.
A flash of white light suddenly illuminated the room. It was coming from the middle cradle. Ruby fell back, shrieking. The little princess, Diamond, was sitting up and watching Ruby again with bright blue eyes.
Suddenly all of the princesses were sitting up and looking at her. Different colored lights played around each of them: purple, black, blue, green, and yellow, and of course the white. The lights swirled together, then shot at Ruby.
Ruby screeched a horrible cry. The lights pulsated around her, darting in here and there to touch her skin. Whenever they did, a mark like a burn would appear on Ruby's perfect skin.
Ruby was shrieking and clawing at the bolts. The guards started to awaken. The lights came together into one huge bubble of light. This bubble came down over Ruby and imprisoned her inside, then shot off into the sky, taking Ruby with it.
The lights faded. The little princesses each sighed, then lay back down, curled up, and went to sleep.
All of the guards and the girls stared at the cradles, looking rather shell- shocked.
"That," Malorie said finally, "was some very powerful butt-kicking."
"Those kids are like mutants!" Elisha whispered.
"Very, very, VERY powerful mutants!" Rachelle murmured.
"They're not mutants." Mary said confidently.
"Whatever they are, they're some mighty powerful little dudes." Lacie said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Don't you guys get it?" Angela asked quietly, looking at the cribs.
The girls stopped and stared at her.
"These kids are more than just 'very powerful'," Angela whispered. "They're incredible. They're going to become the Senshi Lune was talking about, the Jewel Senshi. Their names-Diamond, Emerald, Topaz, Obsidian, Amethyst, Sapphire-all jewels. Can't you see it?"
For a split second, Mary wondered if she saw Angela's hair turn a silky white and her eyes flash blue. Then she blinked, and the moment passed.
"So what does that mean?" Rachelle wondered. "Are they-no, I don't suppose they'd be stronger than the Planet Senshi-would they?"
"No," Lune's voice said, suddenly coming back very quietly and very seriously. "They are strong, but not strong enough to rival Sailor Moon or Mars or Mercury or Pluto or any of those Senshi. But they are strong enough to suit the needs of their planet. Now, please, let history commence. I believe I'll take over again."
"The Jewel Princesses' power was recognized at that point. Ruby was blasted out of the solar system, Sailor and Princess powers stripped from her, and all but dead. The six little girls were decidedly tired the next day, but no lasting harm was done to them. But there was a problem: now Opal was short a Senshi. They needed seven for full protection, for Beryl's presence was beginning to be hinted at across the universe."
Titan and Jemma appeared again with worried expressions as they looked down into the cradles. Titan murmured something to Jemma, who shook her head and replied softly.
"The King and Queen were worried. Even if they did have a child, it wouldn't come for another nine months at least. But then, there was a surprise package."
A seventh cradle, with red blankets, appeared beside the other six. Inside was a dark-haired, scarlet-eyed child who was bawling at the top of her lungs.
"Jeez!" Angela said, rubbing her ears. "That nearly blew out my eardrums!"
"No kidding. Forget the power, these little ones have incredible voices!" Rachelle remarked.
"So," Mary said, offhandedly. "Which jewel is that one? Rose Quartz? Lapis Lazuli?"
"Garnet. Princess Garnet, the red jewel Senshi." Lune sighed melodramatically. "The future was secure. Opal had seven princesses and seven Senshi. Everything seemed set for Beryl's arrival, whenever it would come."
"Uh-uh." Lacie said, shaking her head. "Not going to fool us this easily, cat. What happened to Ruby?"
"Ah yes. The other half of the story." Lune sighed again, even more dramatically. "Let's see-"
"Ruby wandered through space in the bubble of power, hate boiling in her heart but unable to break free. She flew past many systems of planets and stars, until one day she landed on a distant planet on the other side of the galaxy."
Ruby, in her bubble, appeared again. But now she was thin, and pale. Her hair had lost its burnished shine, and there were bruises on her once perfect face. But her dark eyes still had a terrible deadly sparkle, that had, if anything, increased.
A reddish planet suddenly appeared before the bubble. The bubble flew down towards it, and touched ground.
Malorie and Angela sighed with pleasure as they saw what caused the pinkness. The planet was entirely covered with bright blossoms of beautiful flowers, sweet smelling and calming.
Ruby stared around her in wonder. She reached out for a flower, but was stopped by the wall of the encasement.
"Those flowers are gorgeous!" Lacie sighed.
"Mmmmmm." Mary murmured, taking a long sniff of the air.
Rachelle bent down and touched a flower. "I don't know." She muttered. "I'm getting a bad feeling from this planet."
The planet's ground suddenly shook beneath their feet. The girls screamed and threw themselves on the ground amongst the flowers. Elisha saw Ruby's face turn to horrified puzzlement, then a look of crafty suspicion came over her features.
The flowers stared to twist up until they formed what looked like a cloak out of petals. The pink color of the petals vanished, to be replaced by a twilight shade of purple. The purple cloak flew up, and suddenly, in midair, stopped, and swished around till it looked like it was covering a human form.
"There's an invisible person over there." Angela whispered, throat dry.
"Now I know I'm getting a bad feeling." Rachelle hissed.
The cloak swayed, like the person inside it was breathing. Lacie saw a dark crystal glowing from just inside the hood, like some terrible dark eye.
Realization clicked in Mary. "That's-that's chaos." She whispered. "I remember from a picture I saw on the net."
"Then where's Galaxia?" Angela whispered.
"Hold on, is everyone here a die-hard Moonie fan?" Elisha asked crossly. Why didn't you all tell me before? I love Sailor Moon!"
"Quiet!" Rachelle hissed. "That thing is saying something!"
A light breezed ruffled the cloak. One side let out a cloth fold so it looked like the invisible person's arm was headed for the bubble. There was a pause, and then the bubble blew apart and disintegrated. Ruby shakily got to her feet, and then bowed low to the figure.
A low laugh issued from the cloak. "Sssssssssssoooo, you are Rrrrrrrruuuuuubyy of Opaal arrrre yyyouuuu notttt?"
Ruby nodded slowly.
"I ammmmmmmm Chaos." The figure stated. "Embodiiiiiiiiment of darknesssssssss. Why have youuuuuuu come herrrrrrre?"
"Because those brats drained me and sent me away-" Ruby began.
"Wrong!" Chaos hissed. "Youuuuuuu arrrrrrrrre here because I caaaaaaaalled youuuuuu."
Ruby looked excited. Chaos stretched out an invisible hand and laid it on her forehead. "Dooooooo youuuuu wissssh to abandon everrrrrrrything you alrrrrrready know?"
Ruby nodded.
"Exxxxxxxcellent." Chaos purred. "I alrrrrrrrready havvvvvvve one faithfulllllll serrrrvant, so you'll jussssst have to use my powerrrrrrrrr for your own neeeeeeeeeds."
Ruby looked disappointed at this statement, but then from Chaos's invisible hand a dark lightning bolt shot out and blasted Ruby on her forehead. Lacie and Rachelle screamed as Ruby's body burned, charred, and then turned to ashes.
Angela turned away, gagging. Mary blinked once or twice. "Yuk."
"No kidding." Elisha muttered, screwing up her courage and forcing herself to stare at the smoking body.
"That's disgusting." Malorie whispered, burying her head in her hands.
The cloak of petals suddenly blew apart from the wind. The dark crystal was gone. The flowers underneath the girls' feet started turning brown and gray, and crumbling into dust.
"Look!" Mary said suddenly. "Look at Ruby's body!"
"Do I have to?" Angela whined.
"Yes." Mary said crossly. "Or I'll make you."
Sighing, Angela turned around-and then stared.
The ashes that had once been Ruby were swirling back up into a human form. Dark eyes suddenly opened in the ash face, and a cruel smile formed. Then the ashes blew away, leaving behind a tall, red haired human woman.
"Ruby." Malorie whispered in a parched voice.
"No, it's not." Angela croaked. "She's changed. That's not Ruby of Opal."
It was true. Ruby's eyes were still dark, but they had such a tainted aura of evil that the girls could hardly bear to look into them. Her red hair flowed past her waist in long waves. A slim black dress swirled down past her feet, and a matching cloak billowed out behind her. A thin black diamond was glowing faintly on her forehead.
Ruby stretched out a hand and stared at her blood-red nails. She flexed her fingers, then picked up a small rock and squeezed it. The rock shattered into pieces.
Ruby stared down at the fragments, then looked up into space. Her smile widened.
"Diamond." She whispered. "Topaz. Emerald. Obsidian. Amethyst. Sapphire." Her voice increased to a roar. "I'm coming back! Do you hear me, Diamond?! Rubian is coming back!"
"Rubian?" Angela muttered. "Where the heck did she pull that name from?"
"The depths of insanity." Mary said, smiling a little.
Rubian's talking and the flowers' decaying suddenly halted. There was a "Pop!" and Lune appeared, scowling ferociously. (It forever bothered Angela in the future as to how a cat could frown or sigh or smile.)
"You truly are ignorant children." Lune said, sighing.
"Lune, do have a breathing problem? You keep sighing every ten seconds." Elisha asked, feigning concern.
"Shut it, air-head." Lune snapped at Elisha.
Elisha growled, and immediately charged at Lune and grabbed her around the throat. Lune promptly scratched her. As Elisha leapt about howling and screeching about removing claws, Mary gave Lune a hard knock on the head. "You behave, cat, or we'll have to punish you!" A look of fiendish delight came into Mary's eyes. "Now, how shall I do it? Shall I pull on your whiskers to see if they come out?" She gave Lune's whiskers an experimental tug.
"Or shall I tug on your tail to make it stretch out?" She yanked Lune's tail and held her upside-down. Lune screeched and tried to scratch Mary, but to no avail.
"Ohohohohohoho!" Mary cackled, swing Lune like a lasso. "Let's have some fun!"
Angela, sweating, watched Mary torturing Lune. "She's acting like Presea." She muttered.
Rachelle nodded, eyes wide.
"Okay, cut it out!" Malorie said, running forward and rescuing Lune from Mary's grip. Mary let go with an, "Aww."
"Really." Lune said in a lordly manner. "PUT ME DOWN NOW!" She suddenly screeched at Malorie, puffing up.
Startled, Malorie dropped her. Lune landed flat on her back.
"Whatever happened to cats landing on their feet?" Angela sniggered.
Lune flipped right side up and glared at all the girls, sparks of white starting to fly from the crescent on her forehead. "SILENCE!"
All six girls immediately shut up.
"Now, can we please avoid any more interruptions?!" Lune practically screamed.
All girls nodded mutely.
"Good." Lune's fur went back down. She calmly cleaned a paw. "Ruby completely forsook the right way and accepted Chaos's gift. When she was reborn, her old name reminded her of the people she had hated so much, who had, in her mind, taken everything from her. So she changed it to something different but not to distant from the original." She glared at Angela. "Now you know where she got the name. Happy?"
"Very much so." Angela muttered.
On the planet things started to move again. The flowers wilted and died in bushels. Rubian had stopped talking and was now taking off and shooting into space, back in the direction she had come.
"She's headed back for Opal!" Rachelle gasped.
"She can't!" Angela said, a strange panic rising in her. "The Senshi- they're still just kids-they can't possibly defend themselves from her now- "
"Did I mention that Ruby's trip to the stars took approximately fifteen years?" Lune asked innocently.
"What-no!" Mary said, eyes bulging. "You mean that back on the planet, they're all grown up?!"
Lune nodded smugly.
"YOU STUPID CAT!!" Lacie screeched, pouncing on Lune and shaking her. "YOU NEARLY SCARED ME TO DEATH!!! DON'T YOU JOKE AROUND WITH US LIKE THAT!!!!!!"
Lune managed a bite to Lacie's forefinger. Lacie dropped Lune and backed away, sucking on her finger.
"I wouldn't suck on it, Lune's mouth was just on it." Malorie pointed out.
Lacie's sucking turned to spitting. "Yuck!"
"Meanwhile," Lune said loudly over Lacie's protests. "Back on Opal, each of the girls had matured into a beautiful and mature figure."
The girls zoomed back across the galaxy. To Angela's delight, as they were nearing Opal, they got a good view of the sun rising over Earth. The rays hit the girls and warmed them. Rachelle sighed peacefully. "Gorgeous."
For an instant a kind smile appeared on Lune's furry face. Then it vanished back into noble dignity.
They zoomed in on Opal. Malorie couldn't see anything had really changed. There was one large continent, the palace was still made of marble and still very big. Only now-
Malorie gasped and tugged on Angela's hand. "Look! The Palace-what happened?"
Instead of one large palace, there were several different colored sections. On the border were castles and surrounding cities that were silver, red, blue, green, gold, purple, and black. Each had people milling around and conversing in it. There was still the main white palace, but compared to the areas around it, it seemed-diminished, almost.
"That's so pretty!" Mary exclaimed, admiring the black castle.
"For sure." Elisha said, gazing at a juggling troupe performing in a square in the blue section.
Angela was biting her lip. ".let's see." She muttered. "Red for Garnet, blue for Sapphire, Green-Emerald, Black is Obsidian, Purple for Amethyst, and that leaves gold to be Topaz and Silver to be Diamond."
Lacie nodded. "So they all have their own respective kingdoms? Why, did they get on each others' nerves?"
Angela and Mary snorted. Rachelle and Malorie hid smiles behind their hands. Elisha choked back a laugh.
Lune was less than amused. "They did NOT get on each others' nerves." She said loudly over Mary's sudden giggle fit. "Titan and Jemma decided it was right for them to govern their own castles for their own maturity's sake."
"Why, did they all act like spoiled brats?" Elisha inquired innocently. The group fell in chuckles again.
"If only you knew who you truly were-" Lune began, then abruptly stopped. "They weren't spoiled brats, but instead mature enough to handle their own kingdoms, and with seven daughters Titan and Jemma aged fast." She stopped, and then muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "At least they weren't as bratty as you lot."
"I heard that." Rachelle said angrily.
"I know." Lune said smugly.
"Okay, enough with snide comments on both sides!" Angela said, wiping a tear of laughter away. "Lune, get on with the freaking history lesson!"
Lune gave them all a severe glare. "Just for your rudeness-"
A hole opened to the side of Mary. With a shriek, she was sucked in.
"MARY!" The girls cried as the portal closed.
"What'd you do to her? Where'd you take her?!" Malorie shrieked.
"The same place you're all going." Lune sniffed.
Another hole opened by Malorie, and simultaneously one by Rachelle. They were both sucked in.
"Rachelle? Malorie, come back here!" Angela cried, running towards the closing holes.
"Bring them back!" Elisha yelled at Lune.
"Honestly." Lune said. "No, I won't."
Elisha yelped as a hole opened by her. "Oh, no you don't!" She yelled, grabbing the sides. "No way am I going anywhere! I want to go back to reality and out of this freaking dream now, thank you!"
Lune gave her a scratch on her hand. She promptly let go of the sides and was pulled, cursing, into the hole's black depths.
Lacie and Angela raced towards the hole, managing to stick their hands in before it closed completely.
"Now what?" Lacie grumbled, trying to pull her hand free.
The hole enlarged suddenly. Lacie found herself sucked in head first, followed by Angela.
"Damn you, Lune!" Angela shrieked as her feet disappeared.
Lune sighed then turned to face a large computer screen that had sprung up behind her. A black furry face with a gold crescent moon on it peered out at her. "Well, Lune?"
"How on Earth did you deal with these little brats, Luna?!" Lune growled, frustrated.
The cat on the screen smiled. "They prove themselves to you over time, little sister. Just wait. They'll grow up, and be stronger than you could ever possibly imagine."
Lune sighed. "I hope so, or else Opal's doomed."
* * *
Wind whistled in Angela's hair. She peered vainly through the darkness, rubbing her head from where she had cracked it on the ground when her fall had abruptly ended. Besides her an out-of-breath voice asked, "Where on Earth are we?"
Angela shrugged. "Got me. Lune pulled us into the psycho dream hole again."
Lacie laughed slightly. "God, I want out of here. This whole thing is way over me. Elisha's right, I want to leave!"
"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Another voice said to their right.
Angela jumped. "Elisha?"
"Yup. I've got Malorie here too. Where are Rachelle and Mary?"
"Don't know. How are you?"
Elisha sighed. Malorie piped up. "Been better and been worse."