Battle for Power Book 1: "Testing Ground"

By: Jay'a

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Early the next morning, the sun shone brightly into Princess Rini's bedroom. Rini lay sprawled on the bed and tangled in the sheets with her long pink hair falling freely all over everywhere. Diana padded into the room, looked at the slumbering girl, and shook her head. She jumped onto the bed and began kneading her claws just above Rini's hips.

"Diana," Rini groaned. "What are you doing? Stop."

"You'd better get up Princess, or you're going to be late."

"Late for what?"

Diana whispered in Rini's ear. "Late for your Scout meeting."

Rini's eyes shot open and bolted upright. She smacked herself in the head. "Oh crap!" She scramble out of bed and ran for the bathroom, but stopped short. She talked back to the bed. "How did you know that?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

Diana looked up from cleaning her paw. "I wouldn't be a very good guardian if I didn't know, now would I?"

Rini picked up the cat by the scruff of her neck and held her at eye level. "You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

Diana blinked. "Of course not Princess. As you seemed quite reluctant to do so last night -"

"Good." Rini cut her off. Putting the cat back on the bed, she retreated into the bathroom.

*****

"Hey Diana?" Rini asked as she tried to brush her hair and poke around amongst the junk on her dresser at the same time.

"Yes Princess?"

Rini rolled her eyes. "Since you know about this, can answer something for me?"

"I shall certainly try, Princess."

"Why didn't my own parents recognize me last night?"

Diana giggled a kitty giggle. "You will find that out when you transform again. Which you'd better do if you don't want to be late."

"Right." She picked up her power stick and yelled, but not too loudly, EARTH, STAR, POWER!" She finished transforming and stopped to look at herself in the mirror. She took one look - and laughed outright. "That is so cool! No wonder they didn't recognize me."

Unlike the rest of the Scouts, who never seemed to change appearance when they transformed, Rini's long pink meatballs were replaced by short teal braids that were pinned up behind her head. "This is so awesome. What a great style! What a great color! I may never go back to meatballs."

"Princess…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." She kissed the top of the cat's head. "See ya later Diana!"

*****

Queen Serenity, the rest of the Scouts, Endymion, Luna, and Artemis gathered in a conference room adjacent to the training area.

"I hope Sailor Earth can find her way in here," Lady Mina said.

"Rini will show her. I'm sure she's up by now," Queen Serenity said. "But I want to say something before she gets here anyway. The speeches and poses have to go. They're just too corny."

"What do you mean?" Lady Raye asked.

"They're corny…silly…stupid. We're certainly not impressing anybody." A knock came at the door. "We'll discuss it later. Come in," Queen Serenity called.

The door opened and in walked Sailor Earth in full uniform.

Queen Serenity looked at her and blinked, and then looked at everyone else who was dressed in casual palace dresses. "You needn't have come in full uniform or the meeting," Queen Serenity said carefully. "You're free to be more casual, if you like."

"Uh, that's quite alright. I prefer this actually." It's true enough, Rini thought.

The Queen nodded slowly. "Yes, well, please have seat. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions before we move on?"

Rini tugged nervously at her incredibly short skirt. Great. Just what I need. She smiled. "No. Not at all."

"Where are you from? Or I guess the better question would be where do you belong? Since you aren't staying here…"

Oh crap, now what? "I have a room that's very near here," sailor Earth answered. Not a complete lie, but not exactly informative either.

Queen Serenity glanced around the room, but received only uncertain shrugs from the rest of the Scouts. She decided to change the subject. "So, how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen? That's awfully young, isn't it?"

"Me? You were fourteen when you started," Sailor Earth replied indignantly. Damn it! Did I say that out loud? I gotta stop this.

Queen Serenity stared at her wide-eyed. "How did you know that?"

"Uh, your…daughter…told me. We met. Outside. That was lame.

The Queen nodded again. "Yes, I figured the Princess would let you in. She's fifteen too," she added as an afterthought.

"What do you know about this new enemy?" Lady Amy asked, eager to get down to business.

Sailor Earth shrugged. "Certainly not any more than you. Probably less since I arrived after you did."

"Any thoughts on what he might be after?" Lady Raye put in.

"The Silver Crystal? I hear it's a hot commodity."

Endymion raised an eyebrow. "The Princess tell you that too?"

Rini's composure faltered slightly. "Uh, yes. She, um, talks a lot."

Serenity and Endymion chuckled. "Yes, we know."

Rini frowned. I don't think I like the direction this conversation is taking. Time to get back to business. "Was there anything else before we start training? I'd like to start as soon as possible."

"No, I don't believe so," Serenity said as they all headed into the training room. "Oh, wait, there was one other thing. You don't pose or make speeches, do you?"

Rini blinked, wondering at the question. "Certainly not. No sense wasting the element of surprise, ne?"

Queen Serenity smiled. "Sailor Earth," she said putting her hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "you and I are going to enjoy working together."