"Oh, dear! I'm going to be late for school!" April exclaimed the next Monday morning. She had just glanced at a nearby clock and realized that she had ten minutes until school started and was only halfway ready for her day. She still had to pack her backpack and grab something to eat. "Mom!" she yelled down the stairwell, "can you drive me to school today?"
"Sure, April," her mother replied. "You know you only have ten minutes until school starts."
"Yes, Mom," she said, exasperated. April grabbed her books, nearly tripped over clothes she had left out the night before, and dashed down the stairs. She snatched a muffin from the pantry, hurriedly put on her shoes, and dashed out the door with seven minutes left. "Whew!" she said when she plopped down into the passenger seat of their family van.
Arriving at her school, Northfield High, with two minutes to spare, she dashed for her locker to put away the two books she did not need until the afternoon. Getting it open on the third try, she tossed her books in and went as fast as she could towards her first class without attracting unwanted attention.
"Hey, April, you look a little out of breath!" Cara commented as April slid into the empty seat next to her. "What happened -- did you wake up late or something?"
"How did you guess?" she responded sarcastically.
"Just lucky," she giggled. "Really, did you forget to set your alarm or something?"
"Actually, I slept right through it," April said with a sheepish look on her face. "Shh! The teacher's glaring at us!"
* * *
"So, April, what are you going to do for your fifteenth birthday?" Cara asked her while they waited in the lunch line a few hours later. "You know it's in only two weeks."
"I'm not sure yet," she replied, going forward with her tray to hand in her ticket. "What do you think? Should it be an afternoon thing or a sleepover?"
"I think it should be a sleepover with us two, Alice, and Mariel. What do you say about that?"
"Sounds good to me. We should go see a movie after we eat dinner, then go upstairs and play games and pig out on goodies 'til late. I'll have to talk it over with my parents first, of course."
The two friends continued planning April's party for a while after sitting down at a table to eat. Then Mariel and Alice walked up with their trays.
"What's up, you two?" Mariel asked as she sat down.
"Oh, just planning my birthday party," April informed her.
"What do you have planned so far?" Alice queried.
April and Cara outlined their plans to the other two, who nodded.
"Sounds good to me," Mariel said.
"Ditto," Alice told them.
The four were deep into their conversation when someone walked up. "Hey, April," Daran greeted her.
"Hi, Daran," she greeted him in return.
Without an invitation, he sat down in an empty chair across the table from her after giving a cursory wave to the other three. "What did you get on that math test?" he asked.
"An A. Why?"
"Really? Gosh, I studied for, like, three hours the night before and got a low B. How did you pull it off?"
"I don't really know. I guess I'm a good test-taker, if you know what I mean."
"Well, since you're so good at math, can you help me a little with it?"
"What do you mean? I help out every math class, you know."
"Oh, well, what I mean is like before school. I really don't like geometry."
"Neither do I, if you'd believe it."
"You don't? Weird." He shrugged. "Oh well. Will you do it?"
"What? Oh, yeah, sorry. Sure. Which days are best for you, or should I ask which mornings?"
"Wednesdays and Fridays are best for me."
"That works. See you in science."
"See ya." He then headed off towards another table where a bunch of his friends were seated and started talking with them.
Her three friends had been intently observing April the whole time she had been talking to Daran. "Sheesh, April, he's really taken to you, hasn't he?" Mariel commented.
"I guess. He's actually a kinda nice guy, once you get to know him."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a crush on him," Alice said.
"Well, you do know better, don't you?" She sighed and shook her head sadly. "I can't believe you guys are still off on that silly idea. He's just a guy who I happen to be friends with. End of story."
Knowing that April got testy when contradicted on this subject, Cara steered the conversation back to the party, and the rest of the lunch period passed without incident.
"Thanks for the save back there," April whispered to Cara on the way to science.
"No problem. What's a friend for?" she replied with a wink.
Their next class was science. Miss Knight decided that day to assign partners. The class groaned in unison at the announcement of not being able to choose.
"And, class, you have this partner until the end of October," the teacher added.
The entire class groaned again at the prospect of being stuck like that for a whole month. April listened intently for her name, hoping she would be assigned to someone she knew. She was not that lucky.
"April Winslow and Darion Chiba, you are partners," Miss Knight told her. April groaned inwardly. Who is this Darion? Oh, yeah, the really tall guy who has to sit at the back of the class so he's not in people's way. Poor guy.
"Hi, Darion. I'm April," she introduced herself to her new partner.
"Hey, April," he replied strongly. He's definitely not shy, she thought.
"So what's the plan for today?" she asked him, for he was the one who had picked up the lab sheet.
"We get to do stuff with flashlights and paper filters. Fun!" he told her sarcastically.
"Oh, boy," April said.
To relieve the boredom of this lab, made easy by Miss Knight so they could "have an easier time getting to know their partners," they chatted idly about school and little tidbits about themselves. April learned that Darion already had his permit, was pretty old for his grade -- his birthday being July 28 -- and was also a 4.0 student. He also told her a little about some junior high friends he had made.
This passed away the time, and by getting to know each other slightly, they both opened up enough to have a few laughs to keep from falling asleep of boredom -- they finished almost half an hour before the rest of the class excluding Cara and Daran's pairs. All too soon class was over.
"See you tomorrow, Darion," April waved.
"See ya," he replied.
* * *
"That was a pretty good movie, don't you think?" April asked her three friends two weeks later on the ride back to her house after going to a movie on the night of her party.
"Yeah. It was so funny when they started the food fight in the cafeteria over that silly little thing!" Alice remarked, chuckling. They all laughed with her.
"So, what are we going to do when we get back, April?" Mariel asked.
"Well, we'll probably either have cake then open gifts, or open gifts then eat cake. Which do you guys prefer?"
"First gifts!" the three girls exclaimed in unison, clutching their stomachs. Laughter burst out from all four.
"Then opening gifts first it is!" April announced, still laughing.
When they got back to April's house, they climbed out of the car and headed for the living room, where the gifts were.
April opened the first gift's card. "This one's from Alice," she announced as she began to meticulously take off the wrapping paper.
"Oh, please, April, we know you're a perfectionist, but this is ridiculous! Why don't you have some fun and rip it open?" Mariel cajoled her.
"Okay!" She then attacked the paper furiously. "Oh, Alice, this is perfect!" She brought out of the box a small leather purse. "And right when my old purse is falling apart!" she exclaimed. April leaned over to give her friend a hug. She then reached for the next gift. "This one is from Mariel." Tearing off the paper, she discovered a kitty poster, nail polish, and a pair of beautiful earrings. "Thank you very much!" She got up to give Mariel a hug as well.
"Now the one from Cara." April tore off the wrapping to find a sparkling necklace and a small gold plaque that said, "We'll always be friends." "Cara, this is beautiful!" She gave Cara a big hug, and then asked her friends, "Are you guys hungry yet?"
The rest of her party went by in a blur for April, what with the games, the laughter, and all the fun they were having. All too soon they were yawning crazily and decided to crawl into their sleeping bags. The next morning, they woke up to the smell of pancakes and frying bacon. The four girls ate a large breakfast and went back upstairs to change and put away their stuff. After two hours went by of playing card games together, the doorbell began to ring. It seemed to April that in a span of five seconds her three best friends had said their thanks and goodbyes and had gone.
* * *
The Wednesday after her party was her actual birthday. April arrived at her locker to find that it had been decorated with wrapping paper and had a sign that read "Happy 15th Birthday, April!" on it. In her first class of the day, English, Cara brought her balloons and had the class sing "Happy Birthday" to her, much to her embarrassment. Then Daran turned on her and did the same stunt in math.
Darion had stopped by to congratulate her as well. April was surprised, for she had only known him about three weeks. Nice guy to have remembered, she thought.
After her last class, April got her books from her locker and sighed wearily. Sometimes having lots of people wish you happy birthday can be tiring, she thought. It'll be nice to get home and crash. Sighing again, she packed her backpack and began her walk home. Halfway to her house, she heard someone calling her name.
"Who's there?" she called out.
"Look down here," the voice replied.
April looked down to see a calico cat, but no people. "Where are you?"
"I'm right here." When she looked down again, there was the cat. "I need to tell you something, April." Was that her imagination, or did that cat just speak? "Yes, I'm the cat."
April screamed and ran the entire rest of the way to her house, only slowing when her house came into sight. Whew! That was freaky. I hope that was only my imagination.
She went upstairs to her room breathlessly after grabbing a snack and plopped down on her bed. Getting her history book out, she started to work on her homework. An hour later, she heard someone calling her name... someone calling her name with an oddly familiar voice. Suddenly realization dawned on her. She looked over the foot of her bed…and saw the same cat she had seen while walking home from school.
"April, you have to listen to me," the cat said.
April was too confused out to argue. "Okay, whatever."
"My name is Vega. I'm your guardian."
"My what?"
"Your guardian. Here, take this." The cat pawed her a small violet gem.
"What's this?"
"It's something you need. Let me explain. Pick this up, raise it into the air, and say this phrase: Corusca gem power!"
April was clearly confused, but she decided to do it. "Corusca gem power!" Suddenly she felt something click in her mind. It felt natural to her. She was then wreathed in a violet hue. After a few seconds, the violet hue faded. April turned to look in the mirror, for what reason she did not know. "Whoa! Where did this outfit come from?" she wondered aloud.
"This is your other identity, April -- Sailor Nova."
Sailor Nova. The name also clicked in April's mind. Hmm…this seems as natural to me as being able to read quickly. I wonder why?
"Sailor Nova -- you have a job to do. There are other girls like you who are also called Sailors-there are five of them, and collectively they are called the Sailor Scouts. Your job is to be a "hidden advisor" to them."
"What do you mean by "hidden advisor"? And what am I supposed to 'advise' them about? You know I'm new to this, Vega." Here I am, conversing with a cat. Where did my sanity go? I won't answer that…
"You will be a voice, and a voice only -- for a little while -- and you will help them do the right things. Sometimes you will be unable to help. Here are pictures of the five Sailors." Star pawed April some photos.
"They look younger than I am. Are they in junior high or high school?"
"They're in junior high." Junior high…now where have I heard of someone having friends in junior high that are girls? I'm going to have to think about that a bit more…
"How long do I have to be 'hidden'?"
"I'm not sure. I'll tell you when the time is right to reveal yourself."
Thus began the training of April Winslow into Sailor Nova, as well as Serena's "shadow advisor." Vega told her about the Scouts' previous experiences and the different things their opponents had been after.
"So…it sounds like I'm kind of a soldier, if you know what I mean."
"Well, yes, in a sense. You're actually more like a warrior."
"That sounds cool. Do I ever get to fight?"
"You must at times. Your powers are much greater than those of the other Sailors."
"That's a good thing, right?"
"Yes. Oh, and you can't, for whatever reason, tell your friends about your being Sailor Nova."
"What? Why not?"
"There are, like I said, evil forces at work out there. They will do whatever they can to cripple or even kill you -- even by using those who are closest to you."
"Ouch. Thanks for warning me, Vega."
The cat nodded, then curled up on the end of April's bed and went to sleep.
* * *
At about seven thirty that evening April was just finishing her homework when her new cat spoke up. "April, I think you're needed."
"Needed? As in Sailor Nova is needed?" Man, this is still so new to me. And now I have to go fight? This is going too fast…I can't keep up!
"You won't have to fight, but your role as the Shadow Advisor is needed."
"Okay."
Star then proceeded to explain to April how to hide herself in shadows and how to translocate.
"Translocate?"
"To go immediately from one place to another. It will come in handy often."
"O…kay."
A few minutes later, Vega said, "Now, you're ready. Near the square by the library is a grove of trees. You can hide there. The battle will be taking place in the square. You'll probably itch to fight, but resist the impulse. You're not needed that way…yet."
April grasped the gem and declared, "Corusca gem power!" As soon as she had transformed, she formed the image of the grove of trees in her mind and used the translocation technique. Immediately she was there…
* * *
The Negaverse soldier threw another blast at Sailor Moon. She barely ducked in time. Her four friends, the other Scouts, had already been attacked, each in turn, and been overpowered by this soldier. Sailor Moon was beginning to despair. How long can I outrun this monster? she wondered, frightened. And, for some reason, Tuxedo Mask hasn't come to help. Where could he be?
Another blue bolt arced out from the soldier's hands. This time he hit Sailor Moon. "Aah!" she cried.
Suddenly a voice came out of nowhere. "Be strong, Sailor Moon. You can do it. Remember your friends," it told her. What the… she thought, then the voice intruded into her thoughts. "Look out!" it warned.
Sailor Moon then saw a purple ring thrown at her. She ducked, and it whizzed by her left shoulder. "All right, that's enough," she announced. She raised her scepter and threw the energy from it at the soldier. It surrounded the being from the Negaverse, and, with a scream, he vanished.
"Nice job, Sailor Moon," the voice congratulated her. She realized it was a girl speaking.
"Who are you?" Sailor Moon asked her.
"You may call me the Shadow Advisor," the voice replied. She looked up towards the source of the voice and could detect a faint outline on a high branch in the tree. "I will be here as often as I can to help, but don't count on me for everything. Keep a sharp lookout for any other soldiers. You don't need me anymore. Your friends are recovering. Goodbye." And, with that, there was a faint rustling of the leaves as the outline fizzled and vanished.
"Who was that talking?" Sailor Jupiter asked her friend, a little dazed. "I thought I heard a voice."
"You did," Sailor Moon answered. "It was a girl who called herself the Shadow Advisor. It's a good name for her because all I could see of her was her outline. From what little I saw, though, she had an outfit like ours and shoulder-length hair."
"Luna," Sailor Mercury asked one of their guardian cats, "do you have any idea as to who this Shadow Advisor is?"
"No, I don't. This is news to me as well as to you, Scouts. We'll have to do some research on the subject."
* * *
The next day, as Serena was walking home from school, she spotted Darion. Then she noticed that he was walking with another girl. Serena started fuming. "Hey, Darion!" she called out to him as cheerfully as she could.
"Hey, meatball head," he answered, calling her his usual nickname for her because of her hairstyle.
"Who's that with you?" Serena asked innocently.
"Oh, this is April. April, meet Serena."
"Nice to meet you, Serena," April greeted her. Wait a sec…Serena is one of the girls in the pictures Vega showed me! She's Sailor Moon! And friends in junior high…Darion? He knows the Scouts? But does he know that they are Scouts? Or is he just a friend?
That voice sounds slightly familiar… Serena thought, but she pushed it aside and focused her full attention on the two people she was with.
"So," Serena began, "How do you two know each other?"
"We met a few weeks ago when we were assigned as each other's lab partners in biology."
"Oh," was all Serena said in reply. "Well, I better go."
"See ya, Serena," Darion said.
"Nice spending time with you, Serena," April added. Definitely…
They went their separate ways, Darion and April resuming their conversation and heading for a café, and Serena going to Raye's temple, where there was going to be a fire reading. She was still fuming. Oooh, who does that girl think she is, stealing my Darion!
When she got there, the other four were already gathered. "Serena, you're late again," Raye told her.
"I know, I know," she replied irritably.
"Hey, what's the problem, Serena?" Lita asked her.
"Nothing, nothing. Let's get on with this." Serena answered her, avoiding the question.
When they asked the fire what this soldier meant, they got a surprising answer. "Do not pay any attention to the soldier. It has been defeated. Do, though, listen to the Shadow Advisor and do what she says." Then the flame went out.
"Huh?" Raye said, confused. "But that's not what we asked."
"I know. Serena, tell us more about this advisor person," Amy added.
"Well, I couldn't see much of her, just her outline. She was sitting up in the tree nearby. It's as if she was there in the place of Tuxedo Mask."
"What?" the other four exclaimed in unison. Serena opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a voice -- a cat's voice.
"Listen to what you have been told from the reading. It is all you need to know-for now." They looked up to see the outline of a brown cat on a shelf near the door. Then it jumped down and disappeared.
"Weird," Nina said after a moment of stunned silence. "A cat and a girl advisor -- what's next?"
* * *
Lita looked outside at the gray November sky. "Wow, where did this storm come from?" she asked herself aloud. Water was cascading down the window in sheets.
"No kidding," Amy agreed, sitting next to her at the table by the window. "Hey, look down there," she said, pointing to two figures on the sidewalk two stories below. "Isn't that Serena and Darion? What are they doing out there in this rain?"
"I don't know. I thought they had broken up. Are they off or on?"
"I think they're off, Lita, but Serena keeps bumping into him -- and, surprisingly, by accident."
"Strange. I wonder what they're doing. They look like they're in a hurry."
"That's because they are." A new voice broke into the conversation. Lita and Amy whirled around in unison and saw a hooded figure standing near them-who had come in without their knowledge.
Lita was about to say something, then stopped. Where have I heard that voice before? she wondered. Wait a sec. Isn't that…? Her face lit up as the light bulb clicked on in her mind. "Say, aren't you the Shadow Advisor?" she asked the hooded person.
"You're very shrewd, Lita. Now, I've come to tell you something, something you must not tell any of the other Scouts, especially Serena."
The two girls were bewildered, to say the least. "Okay," Amy responded, not knowing what else to say.
"All right, then. I'm going to tell you why Darion broke up with Serena. It's not because he doesn't like her anymore. Oh no, it's quite the opposite. You see, Darion had this vision. A vision of impending disaster. In it he saw Serena as the Moon Princess, and the ground below them breaking up, as in an explosion. Then he saw her vanish underneath the rubble.
"Let me get to the point. He believes that by staying away from her, he'd be able to protect her. The only problem with this is he was her boyfriend. Darion realized that in order to protect her -- to keep his distance -- he'd have to break up with her and lead her to believe that he doesn't care for her any longer. You have no idea how much it hurts him to do this." The Shadow Advisor then sighed, and paused for the two girls to say something.
"How do you know all this?" Amy asked her.
"I just do," was her simple reply.
"When you arrived," Lita began, "you said something about their being in a hurry. Why did you say that?"
"Oh, trust me, they're in a hurry. Serena's mother was supposed to pick up Rini, but she had something to do. So she called Serena up and told her to get Rini for her. Serena went to where Rini was supposed to be, but she was gone! Rini had been scared by the storm, and so she took off crying. Serena had gone off to look for her with Luna when she bumped into – literally -- Darion. She told him what had happened, so they dashed off to look for her."
"Oh, no! Lita, shouldn't we go and help?" Amy asked her friend.
"Yes! C'mon, let's go!" she replied urgently.
"A word of warning, Scouts -- be careful. The Negaverse is at work here," the Shadow Advisor cautioned them.
"Don't worry, we will," Amy called back to her, the two already out the door with jackets in hand. The door slammed soon after they had left.
The Shadow Advisor sighed and threw back her hood, revealing herself as Sailor Nova. How long do I have to do this? April wondered, exasperated. I won't be able to stand keeping myself a secret for much longer! With another sigh, she placed her hood back on, and with a sweeping motion of her cloak, vanished.
* * *
Lita and Amy ran for fifteen minutes without stopping. They finally had to pause to catch their breath. Sitting down wearily on a nearby bench, they took a break. Suddenly, they heard a cry from their right. A young girl's cry. Rini's cry.
"Oh, no!" Lita exclaimed. "We've got to do something!"
"Let's go check it out first," reasoned the ever-cautious Amy. The two went to their right and peeked through the bushes. Sure enough, there was Rini, huddling behind some short trees. They looked further, and saw Serena -- as Sailor Moon -- and Darion -- as Tuxedo Mask. They were fighting another Negaverse being, one with the power to make thunderstorms.
"So that's were this storm came from," Amy commented.
"Yeah," agreed Lita. "We've got to help them!"
They grabbed their icons' handles, raised them up in the air in unison, and cried out the phrase to transform themselves into Scouts. Amy shouted "Mercury star power!" and a blue hue enveloped her. Lita's phrase was "Jupiter star power!" and a green hue enveloped her. Within two seconds the hues faded, and out came Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter. They jumped over the hedge and into the fray.
Within minutes it was all over. Sailor Moon was a little drained, Tuxedo Mask had vanished, and Sailor Mercury went over to see if Sailor Moon was all right. Sailor Jupiter went over to where Rini was and took her hand, helping her up.
"How did you guys know to come?" Sailor Moon asked them.
"The Shadow Advisor came and told us you were trying to find Rini, so we decided to help you. It was pure luck that we heard her cries," Sailor Jupiter responded.
"The Shadow Advisor, huh? I wonder who she is…" Sailor Moon trailed off, then spoke up again a moment later. "Let's go, you guys. How does hot chocolate sound?"
"Yes!" they exclaimed together. Changing back into their everyday clothes and out of their Sailor outfits, they jogged off in the direction of Lita's house, which was closest.