Disclaimer: All original characters belong to my cousin and me. Only the Sailor Moon stuff belongs to someone else. Yup. Also, I decided to take someone's advice and broke these chapters up to make them shorter. It's easier for the reader and for myself.
Note: I have replaced the horizontal line break with "XXXX". Not that it matters, I just wanted to make a note of that. Enjoy!
Episode II, Part II: Monsters Galore and More
Angela sat on the sofa, flipping through a book. She sighed as she checked her watch. An hour had passed and she began to worry. Maddy was in the kitchen and noticed Angela's nervousness.
"What's up Ange? You know those little rascals never do what they're told. Don't worry 'bout it!" she said happily.
Angela smiled, "Well, I am not worried about Veronica and Vivicka. It is Sofia I am worried about. We were supposed to meet here after she completed some work at school."
"So, she probably got too worked up about something and forgot."
"She is not one to do that. Besides, we are working on a school project."
Maddy sighed in frustration as she made her way to the living room with her soda, "Ange, why in the world are you so chummy with her? Don't you remember the psycho-pushy-reporter-chick who ticked us off real bad?"
"Of course I do, but if you take the time to know her, she is a nice person."
Maddy nodded slowly.
"Really!" Angela replied to her skepticism.
"There must be something else behind this, Ange. You just don't go waltzing around making friends with potential enemies."
"Well, besides having a partner who actually does work," Angela began.
"Hey, me and Annie do work! You just don't think it's good enough."
Angela continued, ignoring Maddy's comment, "I can also take this opportunity to resolve some questions Sofia has been having about our past."
Maddy almost choked on her drink, "Sh-she even asks questions about us? Hasn't she ever heard of curiosity killing the cat? Anyway, what story did you spin?"
"Well, I just told her that our families are close friends and that they believe we could live independently while they worked on their intergalactic business."
"Are you kidding? And she fell for it?" Maddy had to hold back her laughter.
Angela put her book down on the table, "She believed it and she also apologized for being rude to us. It was her journalistic instincts that were kicking in. Give her a chance, please. Besides, she is the only one who understands my theories when I explain them."
Maddy cocked her head to the side, "Fine Ange, but just remember, I don't like her, but I'll respect her because she's your so-called friend."
"That is all I ask."
A loud, urgent knocking came at the door.
"Angela! Somebody! Help!"
Maddy and Angela looked at each other and rushed to the door. Maddy got to it first and opened it.
"Wh-what happened?" Angela exclaimed in horror.
XXXX
Angela took out her healing rod and pointed it at the scar on Veronica's forehead. A light beam flowed out and gently moved across the scar. She turned it off and put it back in her pocket.
Moving to the table, she took out some bandages, soaked them in liquid and went back to Veronica to wrap her right arm.
"Ouchie!" yelled Veronica as Angela tightened the bandage.
"Well, it would not have hurt so much if you had transformed or, better yet, called for help," Angela replied.
Veronica poked at her new bandages as she stood it from the chair, "Wasn't it easy to do anything..."
Vivicka was lying on the bed. There was no movement from her since they had gotten her into the house. She looked practically dead. Angela went to the bedside and felt Vivicka's forehead. It was burning hot.
"Veronica, could you recount what happened to you?"
Before responding, she looked out the window and then back at Angela, "Miss Tencho, she... she..."
Angela waited patiently.
Dropping to a whisper, she finished, "Died."
Angela stood in shock, "Died? But, how?"
She wished she hadn't asked. It was disturbing for them to live it all over again. However, they had to face it sometime.
"Zompires," Vivicka uttered.
Angela and Veronica stared at her. Vivicka's eyes were open and they stared at the ceiling.
"Uh... okay. What're zompires?" Annie asked as she walked in the room with more bandages.
Angela motioned them to step away from the bed.
"What's going on?" Annie asked. She was confused as ever.
"Please, Veronica, explain what happened."
"Alright, we were attacked by these zompire things. I beat one up. His name was... Azure, I think. I dunno, he was real freakish looking, looked like he stepped out of a movie or something. Then, Miss Tencho turned into one and almost got Viv," Veronica said as she walked back over to the bed.
Vivicka's body started to stir and move violently. Angela grabbed the liquid she used to soak the bandages and sprinkled some on Vivicka. It burned her skin and a faint smoke surfaced.
"What the heck's in that bottle?" shouted Veronica.
"Well, it is a special liquid used for healing from the Holy Shrine of Sagittarius," Angela replied as she took out her healing rod.
"Oh no, oh no... Miss Tencho! Miss Tencho got her didn't she?" Veronica said hysterically.
Annie tried to calm her down, "What are you talking about? Viv probably has some allergies to that... water?"
She didn't help much.
"Is she dead, Angela?" Veronica asked.
Vivicka's eyes were closed. Her hair was damp. Sweat speckled her face. She was a shade paler than before the water sprinkle.
Annie placed her hand on Veronica's shoulder. She waited for Angela to respond. After checking Vivicka's pulse and using the healing rod to scan her vital signs, she smiled.
"Vivicka is just sleeping. Her energy is slightly depleted, but other than that, she will recover."
Veronica nodded.
"So, what do we do now?" Annie asked.
Angela pondered for a moment. They waited for her to say something, anything.
"The best we could do now is research."
"What?" Annie and Veronica exclaimed at the same time.
"Research."
"Why don't we just go back to school and beat the livin' daylights outta everyone?" Veronica said eagerly.
"Or better yet, why don't we just beat the whole town up?" Annie sarcastically replied.
"All we can do is research about these zompires."
"But, isn't there something better to do? I mean, Veronica's idea wasn't half bad... now that I think about it," Annie said.
"Let us go to the compwall," Angela said as she went over to a computer-like device built into the wall. She began to type away.
Annie and Veronica stood behind her.
"Umm... how is exactly are you going to research something like zompires? It's like from a horror flick," Annie said as she looked at the monitor.
A beep came from the compwall.
"That is odd..." Angela whispered.
"What?" Annie and Veronica exclaimed at the same time again.
"We gotta stop doing that," Annie said.
As Angela was about to explain what puzzled her, Maddy walked in and held bundles of bandages in her arms. She plopped them down on a chair and looked around.
"Here ya go! The stuff you told me to get," Maddy said and spotted Vivicka, "Poor gal. Why does she look sick? I thought she just had some scratches and bruises."
"No, it's more like her teacher turned into some zombie-slash-vampire thing and bit her and now this," Annie answered.
Maddy nodded in bewilderment and pretended to understand. She decided to join the rest and stand around the compwall. Maybe she could get some comprehensible information from Angela.
"C'mon, what's odd?" Veronica prodded Angela.
"I can access the Zodiac Database."
Before Annie and Veronica could say anything, Maddy blurted out, "The Database? Our Database? Doesn't that mean we could contact home?!"
Angela shook her head, "Unfortunately, this is not an updated version of the Zodiac Database. You see, all our research files and reports get processed and incorporated into the Database but I do not see any of our reports from the past year coming up."
"So how are we able to see this?"
"The compwall is detecting an intermediate signal... usually, we connect straight to the source but for a whole year, we have not been able to get a strong enough connection. Somehow, this midpoint caught our signal and is redirecting it."
"Wait, where is this midpoint?" Annie asked.
Angela continued to type, "It is coming from... the moon."
"There ain't nothing up there but rocks and broken buildings!" Veronica said.
"They're called ruins," Maddy corrected. "It's supposedly part of some mythological Moon Kingdom. Earthlings seem to love the story."
Suddenly, they heard a low growl coming from the bed. The four turned their heads slowly toward the sound. Vivicka stirred. She stopped moving and began to breathe normally.
"Alright, forget about the 'roons. Let's focus on this," Veronica said as she pointed at her bedridden cousin.
"Okay! We don't want the little zombie girl to eat our brains so get rolling, Ange," Annie demanded.
"Don't worry, the little zombie girl won't be up in a while," Maddy said. A soft snoring resonated from the sleeping girl.
Angela searched the database for anything about zompires. A click came from the compwall.
"Here it is," Angela said. "It reads:
Zompires- A breed of half zombie-half vampires; Once bitten by a zompire, one is automatically turned into the mindless creature, contributing to the vampire portion of their names. Once a zompire draws blood from a victim, the victim is also turned. However, it takes forty-eight hours for the victim to be fully turned as the poison takes slower to spread throughout the body."
Veronica pointed at the monitor excitedly, "Look! Look! It says something about that jerk that attacked me!"
Zompires are mindless creatures. They are lead by a 'pure zompire' who has the ability to control their victims, contributing to the zombie portion of their names. There are currently only four chronicled 'pure zompires': Azure, Cardinal, Jade, and Shadow. The only known way to return a turned zompire back to normal is to defeat the 'pure zompire' responsible for the turning. Note: Holy water may have an effect on these creatures.
"Bingo! We could formulate a plan now," Angela exclaimed.
"Bingo? Who uses 'bingo'?" Annie said in disgust.
"Who cares! We just gotta kill this zompire-dude-thing and everyone's back to normal," Maddy shouted.
Veronica motioned them to keep the volume down.
"We will discuss this as soon as possible. However, for now, Maddy and Annie, please go downstairs and prepare food. Veronica, wash up. I have to take care of Vivicka," Angela said as the three marched out of the room.
Angela sat by Vivicka's bed. Suddenly, Vivicka sat up and cocked her head back and forth.
"Ow..." she muttered as she laid back down. "What happened?"
Angela couldn't help but notice no bite marks on her neck.
"Do not try to move. Let me bandage you up," Angela said.
She took soaked bandages and wrapped it around Vivicka's forehead. Vivicka tried getting up again but pain shot through her legs.
"Can you tell me what zompires are, Angela?"
Angela recounted what they found out on the compwall.
"Angela, do you think we can defeat Azure before I become a complete zompire?"
"Well, how do you know you will become one? I do not see any scars on your neck."
"I think Miss Tencho got me. She got me by scratching my leg with her tainted nails," Vivicka whispered. They both looked at her bandaged leg.
"Do not you worry," Angela said as she got up. "Tomorrow, the four of us will go to school and straighten everything out. I am certain that not everyone was turned yet... You, on the other hand, must stay home to get some rest."
"But I don't need rest."
"Yes you do. Now, do not argue. Sleep. I have to get the rest of my healing water."
XXXX
Meanwhile, in the darkness of a cave, a single candle glowed in the center of a table. Two figures sat across from each other. The sound of a cascading waterfall was barely audible.
"What do you get out of it, love?" the pale man asked.
The burgundy haired woman who sat across from him, rolled her eyes at the word 'love'. He had the annoying habit of adding this at the end of his sentences. He smiled at her reaction as he adjusted his cloak, which hung to the ground. His clothes looked ancient but still in good condition. His arms rested on the table as his fingers tapped lightly on the table's black material.
"For once, could you avoid being so irritating? I didn't wake you up for that. Besides, I have Spikey Crow to do that."
"Oh right, your pseudo-siblings. How are they? I've only seen one so far," he replied and added with a smirk, "Love."
"Listen Azure, I woke you up so I could get those pesky Star Soldiers or whatever they are," she angrily said.
"Patience. I will amass my army of the damned and you will get your five humans. I don't see why you can't do it yourself."
Levita thought back to her last encounter with the Star Buds. She almost got her head barbequed by a flaming arrow. She had to get someone else to do her bidding. Thus, she called upon the dead.
"Don't act so tough. You were knocked out by a mere girl," she said as she leaned back on the chair.
Azure scowled, "It won't happen again."
"Just get me the five and you're free to do whatever you want with those humans. Burn 'em for all I care."
"They're not that bad. I mean, they're awfully good zombies. You look like you were human once, weren't you?"
"No!" she said as she slammed her fist on the table. "Never! I hate this place and I hate those humans. Once I get those five, I'll be able to free myself and the rest of us."
The zompire raised his eyebrows at her outburst.
"Oh, in that case, care to join me, love?"
"No!" she said as she got up to leave. "And if you say love one more time, I'll put you back to sleep permanently."
XXXX
Vivicka looked at the time. She tried to get out of bed but fell back down again. Instead, she began to yell.
"Isn't it Thursday? And aren't we late for school?"
Veronica literally rolled out of bed and struggled to escape her blanket as she stood up. She looked around groggily and yawned.
"Viv. Shuttup."
She was about to get back into bed when Maddy and Annie popped into the room.
"Hey! Ready to kill Azure?" Maddy cheerfully said, not even noticing how odd it sounded.
"That's right! So get up and get ready!" Annie added.
They vanished just as abruptly as they had appeared. Veronica got ready for school as Vivicka struggled to get out of bed.
"Hey, stop squirming you little runt," Veronica said. "Angela said that you hafta stay home. She's worried you might turn into a sharp-toothed monkey on us."
Veronica was surprised that Vivicka wasn't protesting. She just shrugged and went back to sleep. In the meantime, the other four rushed to school. Little did they know that Vivicka had gathered her energy and secretly followed them.
XXXX
"Looks fine to me," Annie said as she looked up at the school buildings.
The four were standing on the sidewalk, each had a small bottle of healing liquid in their pockets. Their plan was to save as many people as they could while flicking water on the mindless dead ones.
"Did I forget to mention that once you step in the front quad, it turns into a hell hole?" Veronica said.
All four took a deep breath and stepped off the sidewalk, venturing into the quad. Surprisingly, everything was normal. Some teachers were walking around. Students were running to class. They didn't spot any zompires amongst them or anyone looking slightly suspicious.
"Oh no!" Angela said.
They looked at her anxiously. She might have spotted something.
"My first tardy!"
"Uh... hello? Aren't the teachers zompires?" Annie shouted, a little too loudly.
"That means we can kick their butts and we won't get detention!" Maddy said happily.
Angela shook her head reprovingly, "Be careful. Transform when you have to but more importantly, call for help when you need it."
Veronica nodded and ran to class while the other three walked to their homeroom. When they were gone, Vivicka snuck into the building. She made sure Veronica went up to her class before embarking into the halls.
Once she spotted her classroom, she closed her eyes and remembered Miss Tencho's lifeless body. Blocking the image from her mind, she stepped into the class, expecting a substitute teacher.
"Miss Tencho?!"
"Well Vivicka, aren't we late today?" she replied with a smile.
Vivicka gave her a small smile and walked nervously to her seat. Miss Tencho started her lesson.
"Vivicka, what do you get when Miss Tencho scratches you on the leg? Answer is, you get a zompire," Miss Tencho said.
Suddenly, she grew fangs and turned pale. The whole class looked at Vivicka and they too turned pale and bloody.
"Help me!" Vivicka screamed.
End: Part II of Episode II