SLEEPOVER

By Cookirini

In the course of the past decade, a certain TV show about a certain group of female fighters has been the rage of many millions on Earth. It is the talk of many, the subject of countless discussions and a bonanza of fame and fortune for its creator. Nothing in this universe could possibly stem the popularity of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon.

But what if it was in another universe?

For, as many know, the universes of reality are infinite. For every one person, concept or object in this universe, other alternate forms of everything exists in other dimensions of reality. And just as all of these other ideas are in every place, the idea of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon is as equally infinite and possible as the universes.

By all tokens of esteem, many others could have come up with a similar idea, though certain points may have been changed of it. No one can say for certain the extent of every different success Sailor Moon met in each and every reality. One can, however, imagine another scenario.

So let us take one possible scenario of the birth - and death - of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon in one particular alternate universe. It doesn't matter really when it started in some places, simply where, because the date was inconsequential, as was the meeting, at least to most, and as such no great emphasis was to be put on it by any of the involved parties...except for one, but that will be shortly known.

However, the scene which the idea sprang forth is important so that all can understand exactly what happened to it to bring it up - and to let it die.

Enter within a small, dimly lit room; not in an apartment located in the Juuban district of Tokyo, but in a small, four-bed-two-bath Cape Cod style house in a medium-sized town in the eastern United States. Where there would have a hot plate of steaming homemade Japanese food from a man named Osabu in the kitchen for a certain young female artist named Naoko, there is instead a heap of half-eaten General Tso's chicken, sweet and sour chicken and wonton soup bought by take out from a sub-par Chinese food joint called the King Ming are scattered throughout the living room of a certain brown-haired girl named Melissa Eagle. And instead of just two Japanese adults, there are instead a gaggle of teenage American girls, dressed in nightgowns, who are not too dissimilar to a certain well-known group of girls, giggling over a selection of DVDs.

"Ok, soo....." Melissa Eagle, the brown-skinned hostess, beamed at the girls. "Ok, so, what do we want to do?"

"I don't wanna watch a movie." One of the girls, a sulky-looking girl with dyed orange hair and a nose piercing, gave a growl. "I don't wanna watch 'Care Bears 45: Suck My Dick' again."

"Heey...." The orange-haired girl was elbowed. "Don't be such a bitch, Alex! I like the Care Bears."

"Of course you would, Myrtle." With a smarmy reply, Alexandria Rhodes tossed her hair. "Its your scene to be like a baby."

"I am not a baby." Myrtle Helen Wiselove V growled and brought her hand through her frosted white hair. "And I told you to call me Helen, Alex."

"Whatever, Myrtle."

While the two girls glared at each other on one side of the large green couch, on the other side sat two other girls. Cynthia Wane and Pyralis Belen sat at the other end, eating what they could of the Chinese food. Cynthia was blonde, with her hair up in a ponytail; Pyralis had short, dark hair down which was spiked up.

"Mmmm...." Pyralis was popping what was left of the sweet and sour chicken in her mouth. "Hey, Liss, you have any soda left?"

"I still have some Coca Cola." Melissa looked at Alexandria. "I wasn't going to put in a movie."

"Good." Alexandria rolled her eyes. "I'm bored."

"Why don't we play a game?"

"What game would we play?" Alexandria looked back at Helen. "Not Sorry again. There's not enough players."

"Trivial Pursuit?"

"Bah." Alex turned away. "I hate those kind of games. They're for nerds."

"But I'm not a nerd," Helen protested. "And I like that game!"

"Ai fay...." Pyralis mumbled as she chewed. "Fe finif fif food befof meiffa's mom comf hom."

"There's nothing to do!" Alexandria huffed. "I shouldn't have come."

"Oh, shut up!" Helen turned away. "You always complai-Cyn?"

At this, everyone turned to Cynthia. She seemed to be staring into space for some reason, as if she was seeing a ghost from the past, or as if she had been struck by a blunt object when no one was looking.

"Cyn?" Melissa stepped forward. "Are....are you all right?"

A moment passed with complete silence. Finally, though, a large smile came onto Cynthia's face.

"I have an idea!"

"A first."

"Let's tell a story!"

"A what?"

The other four girls stared at her, their mouths open. They also had looks of confusion, as the idea had come out of nowhere, had formulated out of nothing. Yet Cynthia's face was full of confidence for the idea.

"You want to hear it?"

"But Cyn-"

"Come ooooon!" Cynthia clapped her hands. "You know you want to hear it! Come on, come on!"

Slowly, at the girl's insistence, the four slowly looked at one another. They couldn't completely understand why they agreed to listen to her; Cynthia was the architect of odd ideas that normally got them into trouble. The group of girls had been friends since childhood, and so instantly thoughts of flying lemonade stands, robotic clones made of cheese and semiautomatic couch recliners came to mind. However, curiosity finally won them all out as to what was going on.

"O....k...." Melissa sat down. "Tell us this.....idea...."

"YUSH!"

Instantly, Cynthia was on her feet, her eyes flashing. She ran out of the room, returning a minute later with a grey shawl and a life-sized pin-up of Justin Timberlake, covered with a black shawl, borrowed from Melissa's bedroom.

"Oh, great..." Helen turned pale. "Another damsel in distress story with Jo April Queen of Narnia."

"And her lover Prince Justin the Just," Alex snorted. "Really, I only come her to beamused, it seems."

"Its not a damsel in distress story with Jo April Queen of Narnia!" Cynthia stamped her foot. "Give me the benefit of the doubt here."

"Whatever. Just tell us the story so we can get it over with."

"Ok!" With a dramatic gesture, Cynthia spread her hand towards the girls. "Picture it. Long, long ago, there was a girl-"

"-Who was a princess-" was the suddenly interruption.

"Hey!" Cynthia stepped back indignantly. "How do you know?"

"...Because...." Pyralis looked amused. "You always put a princess and a prince in your stories, Cyn."

"....Right whatever. Yeah, she's a princess." Cynthia looked annoyed. "But she's not a princess of Narnia."

"Oooh, its not a Jo April story?"

"I already told you that it wasn't." With that, Cynthia made another grand gesture. "No, she is the princess of.....the moon!"

There was a silence at this. Then, there came a chuckle from the crowd.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing....just…." Melissa smiled. "You just looked so serious just then."

"Well, that's because....I'm telling a story." Cynthia waved her hand again. "Yes, the princess of the moon. Her name was, um......Silver. Princess Silver."

"You're just making this up as you go along, aren't you?"

"AND....." Cynthia gave Alex a dirty look. "She was thin and gorgeous and had long silver hair in braids and shiny silver eyes. And she had a moon shape on her forehead. An avatar thingy."

"A what thingy?"

"A....Hindu tilaka." Cynthia took out a yellow marker and started, to everyone's chagrin, coloring a mark on her forehead. "You know, like the sanctity dots the Indian women put on their foreheads, like Gwen Stefani..."

As she did this, the four girls groaned.

"Well, get on with it!" Helen snapped. "Just tell us the damn story!"

"Ok, ok." Cynthia dropped the marked on the ground. A badly drawn crescent moon was on her forehead. "Anyways, she was young and pretty and was going to be immortal and the queen of the moon. Or she would have been if she hadn't fallen in love with.....a prince from Earth!"

With flailing hand motions, which looked more suited for a drowning swimmer than an articulate storyteller, Cynthia waved her hands around the Timberlake likness. As a response, Alex began humming the Twilight Zone theme.

"She was secretly in love with a man she was forbidden to see." Cynthia stared at Melissa. "For, you see, the people of Earth were protected by Silver's mother. But the immortals on the moon didn't associate with who they saw as the barbaric, puny Earthlings. So the people on Earth hated the people on the moon, and vice versa."

"I wonder what the Martians had to say about that," Alex mumbled.

"Hang on a minute. "Pyralis raised her hand. "Cyn..."

"What?"

"If the people hated each other, why were they protecting each other?"

"Simple!" Cynthia raised her hands. "Silver's mom was a goddess, so she had to protect them. She promised she would."

"But she hated them too, right?"

"Yeah."

"...Then why would she promise to protect them?"

".....I don't know." Cynthia huffed. "She liked the color blue. It doesn't matter why she protected the Earthlings! She doesn't come into the story until later when she knights the prince. Anyways," Cynthia covered her mouth with the shawl. "Silver found a picture of the prince, and fell in love with him on sight! So one day, she snuck off the moon, away from her guardians, and came down to Earth to meet the prince, whose name was.....um, Eddie."

"Eddie?"

"Yeah."

"Well..." Melissa beamed. "Hot patootie, bless my soul."

"And he fell in love with her as well. So they kept meeting secretly as often as they could, but not too much lest people got suspicious."

"Question." Helen raised her hand.

"WHAT?"

"What guardians?"

"What gua....oh!" Cynthia laughed. "Well, her friends, of course. They were princesses too, of other planets in the solar system but they could blast people and stuff. So they got to guard Silver and they never kept an eye off her. But she managed to get away from them."

"Then they would have gotten wind of what Silver was doing."

"Huh?" Silver turned to Alex. "No they didn't."

"Yes they would have," Alex objected, "If they always kept an eye on her."

Unnoticed by the four girls, their hearts were racing in protest to some of Cynthia's strange, off-canter story points - not so much because they wanted to, but they almost felt they had to. Something within them made them compelled to get involved in Cynthia's story, to get into what was happening - to get it right. For whatever reason, they could not understand why they felt this way, but they nevertheless felt it. They had to get involved with the story. The next thing all four girls knew, Alex was standing in front of Cynthia, her eyes staring through the shawl.

"Well....who's making this story?" Cynthia was red. "Me, or you?!"

"I bet I could make this story turn out better."

"Whatever!" Cynthia turned away. "You couldn't tell a good story if it wrote itself for you!"

"HEY!" At this, Pyralis stood up. "Let's not kill each other, all right? It's just a story."

"But it's my story." Cynthia looked hurt. "I should be allowed to tell it my own way."

"Not if it's crappy!"

"Alex, shut up for a moment...Cyn...hey." Melissa gently took the blonde girl by the shoulder. "Look, maybe you're getting a little too wrapped up in this, ok?"

"Yeah." Alex rolled her eyes. "It was a crappy idea to begin with."

"B-but I-" Cynthia looked at Melissa. "B-but I was j-just getting the idea started...."

"...Look, I'll make you a deal." Melissa looked at Alex. "We'll continue your story. We'll do a pass it on type of thing, ok? Alex'll start where you left off."

"Wh-what?" Alex was taken aback.

"We'll continue it, and when we feel Alex has gone far enough, we'll go to Pyralis, then me, then Helen, and you'll finish it, ok?" Melissa gave a smile. "Its ok, right?"

"Hey, I am not doing this!" Alex shook her head. "This is a boring and dumb idea!"

"Actually..." Pyralis looked at Helen. "I like it."

"So so I." At this, Helen gave a smirk. "Besides, you weren't planning on doing anything else here anyways, were you, Alex?"

At this, Alexandria gave a scowl. At the same time, however, she realized that her only other option was to throw a fit and go home. As willing as she was to do that, there was regardless a nagging feeling that warned her otherwise, and with a huff she submitted to her fate.

"Ok, ok." She gave Cynthia a glare. "But I'll get to develop the story in any way that I wanna, got it?"

"O-k..."

"Good." With that, Alex stomped out of the room. "Ok, I'll be right back."

The orange-haired girl left, returning a minute later wearing nothing on her top but a bra, and on her head her shirt was put into a turban. In her hand was a baseball, which she tossed up and down.

"Ok, so the stupid princess and the stupid prince got together and liked each other and stuff." Alex ignored Cynthia's cries of protest. "But the other girls knew about them, because it makes no sense that they didn't. Got it, Cyn?"

"Got it" was Cynthia's half-hearted mumble.

"Ok. So, anyways, no one else knew about the rendezvous. Except for one other person." Alex looked down. "She was a girl from Earth. And, as TOTAL luck would have it, she liked Eddie too. She was a princess too, but the prince ignored her and she got pissed off and wanted to kill Cilia or Celia or whatever the hell her name was."

"But she can't," Cynthia protested. "Silver and the moon people're immortal."

"What's what you thought." A strange, deranged grin came one Alex's face. "But actually, the people of the moon had a weakness!"

"Hmph." Cynthia pouted.

"Anyways, it was buried underneath Eddie's kingdom, and if released, it would wreak unimaginable havoc and evil everywhere. So naturally no one dared to try and uncover the evil." Alex ran her hands through her hair before proceeding towards the Timberlake pin up. She them proceeded to pretend fondlance. "Except this chick. She didn't want to at first, of course. But the more she saw of her guy sucking Slinky's face, ooooh she got steamed. And finally, one day, she had it. So she went into the forbidden cave and called up.....THE DARKNESS!!!"

"Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me FEEEL!...."

Suddenly, Helen burst into song, jumping up and swinging her hips. Melissa and Pyralis, unable to resist the infectiousness, soon joined in.

"Touching yooOOOOOOOOU!"

Cynthia looked ready to cry, and Alex ready to smack someone, as the song dragged on for two more minutes. Finally, the singing ended with a poor mishmash of three voices attempting - and failing - to hit the final high notes as Melissa played an air guitar version of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love".

"All right, all right now!" Alex finally exploded. "Can I finish this?"

"Sorry." The three girls were giggling. "Too much fun here."

"Whatever. Anyways....the...evil being." The girls giggled again at this. "The evil being gave the jealous lover everything she wanted. It gave her powers and money and followers. But it was at a price; her looks became twisted and ugly, and slowly the evil being corrupted everyone on Earth. Everyone except for Eddie because....well, he was too dumb to be corrupted."

"ALEX!" Cynthia screeched. "He is NOT DUMB!"

"If he looks like Justin Timberlake," Alex pointed disapprovingly towards the pin-up, "then yes, he is!"

"...LOOK..." At this point, Cynthia started growling. "If you HATE him, just pretend its not him!"

"Fine."

With that, Alex took her shirt off from her head and covered Justin's face.

"Annnd, to finish up the story of the princess and the prince..." Alex threw the baseball up in the ceiling one last time. "The prince goes to warn the princess on the moon, but its too late, so the moon gets destroyed by the Earthlings and the jealous love wins. THE END."

There was a silence as Alex sat down with her arms crossed. The other girls looked at one another uncomfortably, unable to explain why they felt the story had not ended right. Cynthia, on her end, looked ready to cry.

"Uh....actually...."

To Alex's surprise, Pyralis suddenly stood up. She took the baseball from Alex and began to toss it herself.

"Pyra..?"

"Its my turn." Pyralis looked up in thought. "Ok, so the moon got attacked by the Earthlings. And...yes, actually, they did die, but....the prince and princess didn't lose. Because Silver's mother had a failsafe to help get rid of the darkness. She had a jewel," and she tossed the baseball up, "that sealed away the evil blob thing and the evil lover and all of the evil people of Earth."

"What?!"

"But by doing it," Pyralis ignored Alex, "she knew that the Earth had to be repopulated and the evil power would find a way to break free again. So she sent the survivors to repopulate the earth. And to her daughter, Silver, and the prince - and the four princess girlfriends who died - she sent them to be reborn on Earth because only Silver was left to use the magic jewel. But in doing so, she killed herself. But she gave hope to the world. The end."

With that, Pyralis leapt up and fell onto the floor. A laugh came from Melissa, who poked the dark-haired girl's arm with her foot. From her corner, Alex threw her hands up, but knew she could do little more.

"Girl! Make it longer!"

"Why?" Pyralis looked at Melissa. "I can't think of anything else."

"Um, ok...." Melissa stood up. "I guess its my turn!"

Melissa waited until Pyralis had gotten up and had been seated back on the couch before beginning. As she opened her mouth, however, she thought for a moment, then left the room. The sound of an opening door could be heard, followed by a meow.

"Uuuugh...." All of the girls moaned. "Louie...."

With a hunger-induced meow, the fat, half-breed Russian Blue cat jumped on Cynthia, licking her chicken-scented fingers with glee. Shaking her head, Melissa scratched her head.

"So anyways, the girls got reborn....in...." Melissa thought for a moment. "Japan. And the bad guys also got reborn, so they went to look for her..."

"Why Japan?" Helen looked at Louie. "Your cat is extremely fat."

"Because......they all look alike." Melissa giggled. "So that they can't tell who's who!"

"Well, I...." Alex paused, then grunted. "Whatever."

"Anyways, the cat comes to Silver, who was reincarnated, and gives her the crystal and tells her, 'go fight the bad guys!' so she does. And so do her friends, who also get reincarnated. And they become superheroes."

"Like Wonder Woman?"

"No, they take on....um....." Melissa looked up towards the wall. "They're....sailors!"

The girls turned around and started laughing. On the wall was a World War II portrait of Melissa's grandfather.

"Sailor Superheroes?" Cynthia fed Louie a piece of General Tso's chicken. "That seems kind of.....wierd, doesn't it?"

"This whole idea is wierd." Alex smirked as the cat gobbled the food up.

"Who cares? This is fun!" Melissa jumped up and down. "So anyways, the girls fight the bad guys! And they fight, and fight, and fight. And there are five of them. And Silver's the leader. And they are very strong with magic powers and stuff, so they win a lot."

"My turn!"

"What?" Melissa looked at Helen. "I still have an idea!"

"You can do your idea later. Now its my turn!" Melissa was suddenly back on the couch as Helen stood up.

"Why?"

"Because....Silver falls in love again."

"The prince?"

"Yup! He came back too. But....he's got amnesia, so he doesn't remember her!" Helen hugged the pin-up. "And every time he bumps his head, he forgets about her, so Silver has to keep reminding him who she is."

"That kind of stinks." Melissa grinned. "Well, is he a superhero too?"

"Yeah! He's a cool superhero, who flies around at nightin, um, a black suit, and saves Silver all the time even though he doesn't know why. So its kind of angsty and sad but funny also every time they meet, because right after he leaves he hits his head and forgets about her."

By this time, even Alex found the idea amusing at the very least. Cynthia, on her end, was beaming, her blonde hair almost as shiny as her expression. For a moment, she, and everyone else, looked like a completely different person as the story of the five sailor girls, the black-suited man and the evil that threatened Earth took form.

"You like it?"

"I like it!" Cynthia beamed. "So, what happens next?"

As she asked, however, the cat threw up the chicken on her nightgown. There were several screeches that arose from the crowd, and then Melissa's mother entered, having finished up at work. Angry that the girls had eaten in the living room, and angrier that the cat had been fed Chinese food, and even angrier still that the girls had gone behind her back in getting the Chinese food, Mrs. Eagle punished the girls by throwing away the Chinese food, ordering them all to pick up the mess they had made, and promptly sent them all home. The sleepover was cancelled, and the story, which had been the highlight of the party, would vanish into the threshold of the girls' subconscious, only to resurface in reminiscence and little more.

Only one person - Cynthia - could take pride in knowing she would have physical reminders of the story. For her nightgown would forever be a sign of cat regurgitation, and the sign she colored in on her head was in permanent ink. It would not come off for another two weeks.

"Well," Helen, still in her pajamas, shivered that night as she and Alex waited outside in the rain for their ride. "That was a lot of fun."

"Whatever," Alex mumbled.