Battle For Power Book 1: "Testing Ground"
Chapter 6
By: Jay'a
Quetan paced, well, the non-corporeal version of pacing, around his non-corporeal study. "A sixth Scout? No one ever said anything about a sixth Scout," he grumbled. "How am I supposed to conduct an experiment with an unknown like that?"
Quetan became corporeal in human form just so he could stroke his chin. "I suppose I'll have to attack them again to see what she's all about." It was not his first choice. He shrugged, briefly wondering where that odd human gesture had come from. "Ah well. All in the name of science."
*
Rini was lying in the courtyard dozing and sunbathing when something blocked her sunlight. She opened one eye to see that it was not just around the sun that was dark, but the entire sky. "Great. Don't these people know how to quit?" She reached for her wand, which was lying beside her chair.
"Rini!"
Rini dropped the wand in panic. What if her mother saw it? There was no place to hide it. She was busted.
Serenity ran up, already transformed. "Rini, we have to go, we'll be back, be careful, stay out of trouble." She kissed Rini quickly on the top of the head and ran to catch up with the other Scouts.
Rini sat frozen, her eyes wide and following her mother out of the courtyard. How could she miss the wand? she wondered. It was right there. She looked down to where she dropped it, but didn't see it. Instead, she saw Diana "napping" on it, concealing it from view. Rini grinned. "You, my little partner in crime."
Diana grinned a kitty-grin. "Better get moving Princess."
"Earth, Star, Power!"
*
Out in District 7 of the city, Randy was at his window again, looking at the palace and thinking about Rini. It seemed he was doing a lot of that lately.
He was quietly indulging in a semi-romantic fantasy about the princess when the pain hit him in the abdomen again. Randy gasped and grabbed the windowsill. Not again! he thought.
Randy heard his mother calling him and coming up the stairs to his room. I can't let her see me like this, he thought, still gasping between pain spasms. He hid the only place he could find: out the window. He leapt from his second story window, landed squarely on his feet, and ran.
*
"He's playing with us," Sailor Mars grumbled to Sailor Jupiter as they fought Quetan. Quetan was standing still while shooting off energy bolts that ricocheted off any surface not within one meter of a Scout. For every bolt that a Scout or Tuxedo Mask destroyed, five more replaced it.
"Yeah I noticed," Sailor Jupiter answered. "Where the heck is Sailor Earth? Or did she excuse herself for the day?"
Sailor Mars snorted. "Her chronic lateness is starting to get on my nerves."
"She's still young," Sailor Mercury said. "Remember when the Queen was like that?"
"Sailor Earth is too secretive to be anything like Serena."
"Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, watch out! Venus, Love - "
"Earth, Lightning, Strike!" Sailor Earth leapt down, mentally shaking her head. Mina, Mina, names take too long to say. Just attack already! She landed next to Sailor Mars. You three okay?"
"So nice of you to join us," Sailor Mars snapped.
Rini bristled. None of the Scouts had ever given her an attitude like that. She was the Princess, damn it! She opened her mouth to snap back, but caught herself before she said anything too revealing. Damn. Gotta watch myself, she thought. She opted to ignore Sailor Mars and busied herself destroying bolts.
Rini was having a tough time of it too. She may have been younger than the others, who also hadn't been training regularly for very long, but she was still shy on experience and hence, strategy and reaction time. She dodged bolts left and right in a peculiarly ungraceful manner, only destroying one out of every five or six.
How the hell am I supposed to keep up with all these? "Ow!" Rini let one get by her. It swiped the top of her hand, tearing her glove and searing her skin. She pulled her hand in, biting her lower lip at the hot pain. Purely on the defensive now, she ducked and dodged. She stepped forward to avoid one coming in from behind when she spotted two in the front and one on the side. Uh oh. Nowhere to go, Rini thought.
"Hit the floor!"
Rini dropped to her stomach as something flew through the air where her shoulder had been and stuck in the ground. It also caught the path of the two bolts in front of her, dissipating them.
Everything stopped.
Rini looked at it. Quetan looked at it. Energy bolts hung in place. The Scouts glanced around cautiously, unsure of what was going on.
Sailor Moon caught a movement in the corner of her eye. She turned slowly and saw a shadow on a high platform. Guessing that it was the same one she thought she'd seen before, she addressed it. "Who are you?" The rest of the Scouts turned to look. The shadow jumped back trying to hide itself.
Rini was only half paying attention. While the others had found something obviously more interesting to focus on, they'd forgotten about Quetan, a fact that rather disgusted Rini.
He was staring at her. Not moving, just staring. It was very unnerving. Rini didn't dare get up from where she was for fear the energy bolts would start up again.
He raised an eyebrow at her. All the energy bolts faded away and he disappeared. Rini relaxed and had a look at the wound on the back of her right hand. She touched it lightly and hissed. That'll be a trick and a half to hide, she thought.
Rini turned her attention to the reason for all the commotion. She plucked it from the ground. She held it carefully, smelled it, inspected it.
"Sailor Earth!" Sailor Moon called. The shadow had disappeared. "What is it?"
Rini turned, hoping this wouldn't giver her away. "It's a teal rose."
