Disclaimer: All original characters belong to my cousin and me. Only the Sailor Moon stuff belongs to someone else (Naoko Takeuchi). 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.

A/N: I didn't have this story beta-read yet, nor any of the other episodes. Please forgive me mistakes! Also, just to clarify, I have nothing against elderly people; it's just that the five young girls happened to choose a house that was located in the midst of grumpy old people. So, if there are any comments that offend you, keep in mind that those comments are only limited to those old people that live within the young girls' neighborhood. Other than that, Happy Holidays!

Episode III: Unexpected Arrivals

"Hey! Hand me that rope!" she ordered from the pack of the jeep.

A clump of rope was thrown at her from the passenger seat.

"Thanks a lot, Thorn," she said sarcastically as she began to untangle it.

"No prob," said a voice that belonged to a young male teenager. He had golden hair that he liked to spike up despite the fact that he could easily poke someone in the eye with hair like that.

"You got everything packed in Lev?" an older male said as he got into the driver's seat. He always liked to hide his face behind his hair. She didn't know why, but it had something to do with him trying to appear mysterious.

She was so determined to untangle the rope that she didn't respond to her friend. Finally, she had got the last knot out, raveled the rope up neatly, and put it under the backpacks and sleeping bags.

"Done!" she said triumphantly, "Let's hit the road!"

The two in the front laughed and they were about to drive away when they heard a voice calling for them to stop.

"How could you forget your own sister?" she said to the teen.

"It's not my fault Jay was going to drive away!"

The girl jumped into the jeep while throwing her bag into the back.

"You okay, Rosie?" she asked the girl who was huffing and puffing. She had a small plastic rose clip in her hair. She loved to display anything with her namesake on it.

"Yeah, I'm okay!" she said with a smile, "Thanks for letting me come along to the camping trip!"

"Of course, we can't leave you home alone."

"I can't wait to see everyone else at the cabin," Rosie said as she stretched her arms.

Levita smiled and leaned her head back, letting the wind blow through her burgundy hair. The sun was shining and there was a scent of wilderness in the air. As she was about to drift into a light sleep, there was a sudden jolt, like the jeep had hit a large speed bump.

"What's going on?" she said worriedly.

"It's nothing. We're just going into the forest," Jay replied.

"Want anything to eat?" Thorn said, "I know you're hungry Rose."

"Am not!" she protested.

However, the grumbling her stomach made didn't help her argument. Thorn threw a rice bun at her and it landed in her lap. She picked it up and began to eagerly eat it.

"Want one Lev?" he asked.

"No, that's okay," she said, rather distractedly.

She was looking at their surroundings. It was getting darker the further they drove down this road. The trees were getting thicker and thicker. It was to the point that no light could pass through them. The road was getting rockier as well.

"Hey, is this the right way?" she asked.

Jay's face was hidden because it was so dark.

"I'm sure it's the right way," he replied, "I drove down here before. I just don't remember it being this dark."

"I think it's raining," Rosie said.

"It's not," Thorn said, "Wait, I think it is…"

"Turn back!" Levita commanded.

"C'mon, I know we're getting close!" he said stubbornly.

It began to rain harder. Lightning struck in the distance.

"I don't like the sound of that," Rosie said.

Levita threw a sleeping bag over both of them to protect them from the rain. She could barely see anything, just faint shadows of trees.

"Can you see the road?" she yelled out.

"Yeah… I think so…" the driver replied.

"I can't see anything up here!" Thorn said. "I don't think you can see either!"

"Let's go back. It's getting dangerous!" Levita said sternly.

Suddenly, it felt like the jeep itself had jumped up and then crashed down to the ground. Levita could feel herself being thrown back. She could smell smoke amidst the rain. There was a loud noise and a flash of light. A searing pain shot through her leg. She could hear Rosie cry out and Thorn desperately shouting for her.

She was beginning to see darkness again. But, before the utter darkness completely took her, she saw a hooded figure and a shadowy hand reach down for her…

Levita woke with a fright. It was the same dream night after night. She couldn't fathom what they meant. Hidden, Rosie, and Thorn were all there… the other three Sinistar Warriors.

"Why is this happening to me?" she said as she got out of bed and went over to her stone chair that faced a mirror.

She looked at herself. A human—That's what she saw and that's what she abhorred. Master Sinistogi said that their home planet was destroyed by the worthless humans. One day, when she repaid her debt to the Master and gained her freedom, she would go out and search for her people again.

However, the dream she had felt so real. It might have been something from her past, but she told herself that it couldn't be. They were too human-like and the place they were in was too Earth-like. They were riding in a jeep, for crying out loud!

She shook herself from the thought.

"No, this dream might be some type of trick. I must stay focused on my mission," she said to her reflection in the mirror, "I must free us all."

In the shadows, a girl with a rose in her hand gazed at Levita. She wanted to go out to Levita but held back.

"I dream the same, Lev," she whispered as she stepped back further into the shadows and disappeared.

XXXXX

"An-chan!" Maddy yelled from the roof, "Throw me the lights!"

"Here it comes Mad!" she yelled back as she tossed a string of lights up.

Maddy, fortunately, caught them and began to unravel them. She hummed a little Christmas song as she began to put the lights around the house.

Veronica climbed up to the roof.

"Aye, we got some old people here."

Maddy looked down and saw a crowd of people, staring at the house. (Well, it was more like glaring.)

"Wow! We have spectators already!" she said as she waved to them.

Veronica rolled her eyes, "They ain't specters. They're old people. They're complainin' about something."

From where the two stood, they could see Annie shaking her fists at what could be called the leader of the elderly group.

Ever since they had moved into the neighborhood, they were accosted by the elderly folk who lived there. In general, all the people of the neighborhood were elderly folk and thus, they were always bombarded with complaints about noise, the lawn, the color of the house, and anything pertaining to the overall appearance of the house.

Every year when Christmas rolled around, the five girls learned that the brighter the lights, the louder the complaints. They also found that they didn't really mind the latter part. They reasoned that it was a method to get to know their neighbors.

"Your lights are too bright! I can't get any sleep because they shine through my bedroom windows!" cried out an elderly man with a nightcap on.

"Get that neon fat man off the roof! It's hideous and offensive," said an old lady.
"That's Santa Claus, for crying out loud!" Annie replied, who was just about to pull her own hair out.

"My eye sight isn't good but I could spot your house from miles! Take those damn lights down!" another old man yelled.

Maddy sighed and called out to Annie, "I think some loud festive carols will do!"

Annie nodded as she went over to the front door and pressed a few buttons. Music came blaring out of nowhere. It was loud enough to drown out the complaints.

"I think this is the best we've done so far!" Maddy shouted to Veronica, who was sitting on the edge, dangling her feet off the roof.

"Yeah, I think so too," she replied, shouting as well, "We should add more spotlights!"

Maddy nodded in agreement.

Annie climbed up the ladder and joined the two on the roof.

"So, what'd you think of the neighbors this year?" Maddy asked her as she sat down.

"Cranky and annoying, as usual," Annie replied, "I just hope we don't turn out like those grumpy hags…"

"Don't worry!" Veronica said, "You'll be grumpier!"

Annie was about to pat Veronica on the back and accidentally, cause her to fall off the roof when Angela stepped out of the house and shut off the music,

"Hey? What gives?" Annie said instead. "Angela! Turn it back on!"

Angela looked around and finally realized that they were sitting on the roof. She walked to the base of the ladder and shouted from there.

"Annie, Maddy, and Veronica, get down here this instant! I will not have a group of injured teammates on my hands!"

The three nodded and climbed down the ladder.

"What in the world were you doing up there besides putting up the lights?" Angela asked.

"Well, we were hidin' from the oldies," Veronica replied, "For people who don't do anything, they sure know how to complain."

"Ver! I'm pretty sure they do something," Maddy said.

"Yeah, like play bingo on Saturday nights!" Annie said.

As Maddy and Annie were busy laughing at their joke, Veronica and Angela noticed that it was suddenly very dark.

"What's going on?" Veronica asked.

Angela turned to the house and saw that it was not glowing anymore. The lights were off. The spotlights were off. The singing Santa Claus was off as well.

Suddenly, Vivicka burst out of the front door, waving her arms in fright.

"Guys! I was in my room, working on the comp and then it shut off for no reason and then everything went black and I was scared because I was the only one in the house!" she said as she collapsed on the grass.

The four ran to her. She was laying flat on her back, taking long deep breaths.

"She'll be okay right?" Maddy asked.

"She will be," Angela said, "For now, let us investigate this bizarre situation."

"Damn those old people! They pulled the plug on us! I'll pull their plugs now!" Annie said as she was about to storm off.

"Hey, what's that?" Veronica said, pointing up at the sky.

The all looked up, even Vivicka, who was still lying on the ground. In the night sky, they saw three shooting stars. They were falling, faster and faster and disappeared beyond the horizon. There was a fourth brighter shooting star, but in the middle of its course, it vanished into darkness.

"They look too close to Earth to be falling like that. I doubt they are even stars," Angela said to herself.

"Look!" Annie said, "The lights are on again!"

They had to shield their eyes for a moment so that they could adjust to the brightness again.

"Let's go in and drink some hot chocolate!" Maddy said as she ran into the house.

The other three followed her, but Angela stayed outside, gazing at the sky. She tried to pinpoint where the stars or whatever they were had fallen.

"Ange!" Annie and Maddy called from the inside of the house.

Angela decided to think about it later. For now, she went into the warm house and joined her friends for some nice hot cocoa.

XXXXX

"Brother, what is it that troubles you?"

"It has finally come, what I felt before."

"Then, you are not troubled?"

"Ah, your psychic sense is flawless. I am troubled indeed. What I have caught may be a hindrance or an advantage for us."

"I cannot foresee this for you, brother. For that, I'm sorry, but I can assure you that this discovery that you now have in your grasp will be of immense importance."

Master Sinistogi stood up and walked toward the black marble table. There was a small unconscious creature on it. The creature was about the size of a cat, but a little larger. It certainly looked like a cat save for its multiple tails.

"Immense importance? What could you, a lowly animal, be worth to me?"

XXXXX

Three creatures were lying unconscious in the middle of the forest at night. They had a long journey ahead of them. They were looking for something and with their leader missing, it was all the more difficult.

XXXXX

"Do it again Annie! You sound just like her!" Maddy said, bursting out in laughter.

"Keep it down," Angela said, "The neighbors might complain again."

"They complain about everything," Annie replied and altering her voice, added, "Get that fat neon man off the roof! It's offensive!"

Maddy, Veronica, and Vivicka laughed even louder this time at Annie's imitation of the old lady.

Angela shook her head and continued to sip her cocoa while gazing out the window.

"Hey… what's this?" Annie said.

She had been looking through the magazines stacked under the table and found two photos.

"That's me!" Maddy exclaimed, "And you!"

"This was when we were at the Mega Mall and we got attacked by Levita," Annie said. "Where'd you get this?"

Vivicka jumped to the other side of Annie, "Sofia took them. She snuck into the mall and snapped some pics of you."

"What?!" Annie and Maddy said.

"Yeah, we forgot to tell you," Veronica said as she downed her cup of chocolate.

"How can you forget to tell us?" Annie shouted.

Maddy took the second photo and looked at it.

"T-this is Mukashi no Tenshi and us again!"

Annie looked at it too, "You're right! That's the fire!"

"Sofia took that one too," Vivicka said.

"That fire… good thing we stopped it before anyone else got hurt…" Maddy said.

Annie threw the pictures on the table. She didn't want to remember the fire, of what they did, and what they didn't do.

"What's wrong Auntie Anne?" Vivicka said. She used the appellation 'Auntie Anne' whenever she thought Annie needed cheering up.

"We saved the school but we still couldn't save her," she said.

Maddy picked up the pictures again and slumped down in her seat. They all were quiet for a moment, thinking back to the day of the fire…

"Cascading blade!" Star Bud Aquarius yelled as a waved of water splashed down onto the fire.

Star Bud Leo was looking around the science room. It was slowly getting eaten away by flames. Tables were overturned and instruments were shattered on the ground.

"This fire is whacked out!" Aquarius said as she charged up for another water attack.

"I agree," Star Bud Sagittarius said, "Though it is abnormal, you must continue the water attacks until I can find another solution."

Leo spotted a figure in the corner.

"H-hey! We'll get you out!" she said.

As she got closer to the figure, it looked like it was huddled over something. However, the figure itself wasn't moving at all. Leo stopped moving and stared at what lay before her. It was her teacher. Her milky white skin was now charred to a blackened husk and her long yellow hair was singed up to her neck.

"Look out Leo!" Aquarius shouted.

Leo turned around to see a fireball flying at her. She quickly took her mirror staff and aimed the mirror at the fireball.

"Mirror absorption!"

The fireball flew into the mirror and disappeared. Leo could feel the handle grow hot and she looked around for a place to discharge her staff without adding more fire to the room.

"Here Leo!" Aquarius said with a wave of her sword.

Leo nodded and swung her mirror toward Aquarius. The fireball shot out from the staff and went straight for the other two Star Buds. Luckily, Aquarius doused it out in one swift motion of her sword.

"Where'd that come from?!" Leo shouted.

"Leo, join us quickly," Sagittarius said.

Leo ran over to the other two, jumping over a broken chair that was beginning to burst into flames. They stood, back to back, looking around for the source of the fireball.

"There!" Sagittarius said, as she pointed at the front of the classroom, "I believe it is some sort of fire demon."

Leo and Aquarius looked bewilderedly at her, "Demon?!"

Before they could receive an explanation, a great roar came from the flames and they saw parts of the fire come together to take the shape of an almost human body. From its hand shot another fireball and it headed directly for them.

"Here is the plan," Sagittarius said, "Leo, absorb the fireball. Aquarius, water the demon. I am certain that if I shoot at the core of the demon, the fires will dissipate."

"But, don't you shoot fire arrows? It won't hurt that thing," Leo said.

"I can shoot regular arrows."

Leo cocked her head to the side, "I didn't know that."

"Leo! We can ask her more stuff later! The fireball is coming!" Aquarius shouted.

Leo held out her mirror once again and said, "Mirror absorption!"

The fireball flew into the mirror and she held tightly onto the glowing red staff as she made way for Aquarius and her sword.

"My turn!" Aquarius said, "Cascading blade!"

As she sliced her sword down, a wave of water charged at the fire demon. The wave hit the demon and a sickening sizzle filled the air. What stood before them was no longer the fiery being, but a black, smoky figure, trying to form itself again.

Sagittarius aimed her arrow and shot. The arrow struck the black figure in what would be the heart and it let out a shriek as it turned completely into smoke that flew across the room and faded away.

The fires faded away as well, but the disaster it caused remained.

Sagittarius ran to the window and looked outside at the other buildings. The fire had spread beyond the science room and had reached the rest of the campus. Nothing was left untouched by the vengeful fire. She let out a sigh of relief that they had ended the fires when they did. It might have grown outside of the school and put more people in danger.

"Mad…" Leo said. "She's dead."

Sagittarius turned around and saw, from across the room, Leo leaning against Aquarius who was looking down at something. She approached them and she too saw what they were looking at and mourning. It was their teacher who had helped them and taught them so much that year…

"How'd Sofia get this?" Annie asked, breaking the silence.

Angela stopped looking out the window and turned her attention to the others. She set her cocoa down on the table and pondered Annie's question before responding.

"She said that she was doing an article on Mukashi no Tenshi's science department."

"This is really weird," Maddy said, "I mean, it's like the fire's coming back to haunt us."

They all looked at her with puzzled expressions.

She laughed and said, "Well, ever since that fire happened, we haven't been able to contact home. Then, these weird people come after us claiming that we're something we're not and talking about the 'fire'. And then, this picture Sofia took shows up. Do I smell a haunting coming on?"

"It is possible. That fire did have a high amount of dark energy surrounding it. However, I think it is much too late in the night to be discussing such things. Off to bed you two go so you can get up early for the party tomorrow," Angela said as she looked at Vivicka and Veronica.

"But I haven't finished my cocoa yet!" Vivicka whined.

"Here Viv," Veronica said as she snatched Vivicka's cup, chugged the drink down and handed it back to her, "You're done now."

"Ver! I'm gonna- gonna…"

"Gonna what? That's right little monkey, you can't do anything about it!" she said with a loud laugh.

Vivicka smiled creepily, "Sure. Let's go to sleep now dear cousin. Heh heh heh…"

Veronica didn't notice the eerie grin and followed Vivicka upstairs; both were laughing but laughing about different things.

Downstairs, Annie put the mugs away and returned to the sofa to sit amongst Maddy and Angela.

"So, what're we doing?" Annie asked.

"A night mission, isn't it?" Maddy said cheerfully.

"What gave you that idea?" Angela asked in an accusatory tone, "We will just be investigating some suspiciousness."

"I knew it!" Annie and Maddy said in unison.

"You always tell them to go to bed when we do night missions," Annie said.

"Why, of course! Vivicka is always groggy if she does not get enough sleep and tends to bump into things. Veronica, on the other hand, if she does not get enough sleep, just keels over like a statue if you push her and you find that she is just sleeping."

"Oh yeah…" Maddy said as she chuckled at the memory of those two.

"So, once again I ask, what're we doing?" Annie said.

"Remember those shooting stars we saw tonight?" Angela said, "I believe they are not shooting stars but rather something that is traveling to Earth and has finally reached it. It might be good or it might be bad, but nonetheless we must get to it first before others find it."

"Right-o," Maddy said, "Let's go!"

The three put on their coats and set out into the night.

XXXXX

Angela had her healing rod out and was scanning the forest for different energy levels.

"Ah, the handy healing rod," Annie said, "Why didn't the rest of us get one?"

"Face it An-chan. Even if we had one, we wouldn't be able to use," Maddy replied.

"Why?"

"Because we wouldn't know how."

"Oh, good point."

Angela stopped before a grove of trees. The other two stopped as well. Angela was analyzing the holographic image that the healing rod projected. From what Maddy and Annie could tell, they were standing before the brightest part of the image.

"This is it. The bright white area on this map shows that it is exuding a large amount of energy. Beyond this grove, we will found out what those shooting stars were," Angela explained.

Annie and Maddy nodded. They waited for Angela to do something. She didn't.

"Um… Ange? You still awake there? Aren't we going in?" Annie said.

Angela replied, "Well, I was thinking that maybe we should be more cautious."

"Like transform?" Maddy suggested.

"Exactly," Angela said.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Annie said and raised her hand up, "Leo Power!"

"Aquarius Power!"

"Sagittarius Power!"

A bright light surrounded the three and they were now transformed into Star Buds.

"Let us go," Sagittarius said as she stepped into the grove.

The other two followed her. The land was starting to slope downwards and there were more trees the further down they went.

"Are we there yet?" Aquarius asked.

"Almost," Sagittarius replied.

As she said this, she stepped onto level ground and found herself no longer surrounded by tall trees. In fact, there were no trees at all. Before them was a large circular clearing; it was like the forest had stopped growing there and only bordered it.

"Whoa, this is weird," Aquarius said.

"There," Sagittarius whispered as she walked to the middle of the clearing.

"Wait up Ange," Leo said as she was catching her breath.

Sagittarius got to it first. Aquarius came to it moments later and Leo got to it last. The three stood, looking down at what they discovered.

"Um… what are they?" Leo asked, as she used the end of her staff to poke at one.

"They can't be cats. Cats aren't that… weird looking," Aquarius said.

"Unbelievable," Sagittarius uttered in awe.

The other two Star Buds looked at her, waiting for an explanation. Clearly, she had some notion of what they were looking at.

"These three creatures… are guardians."

End: Part I of Episode III