"Sailor Angel and Sailor Phosphora - The Fight Against Catastrophe"
By Angel Sentier and M'Lila Cronk
Chapter Four
In the dark dimention, where no light can enter and no goodness remains, an evil king sat upon his throne of grotesque twisted metals. He himself was the farthest thing from grotesque, however, with his pale dead white skin, delcate leathery bat wings protruding from his head, teeth that gleamed, or would if he smiled, and long elegant hands.
An artificial light came from above him, illuminating the throne room. He looked up, revealing cold metal-gray soulless eyes that could pierce through the heart of the bravest warrior... they seemed to burn with dark fire and yet still seem like ice... Ice from his black heart... He possessed an evil, chilling beauty.
This was Catastrophe.
He snapped his fingers. "Xerxak!"
A dark blue and black figure with gray eyes that were sunken into what looked like a skull immediately appeared before the throne and bowed. "Yes, Lord Catastrophe?"
"Our progress on arriving at the planet?"
"We shall be there in no time at all."
Catastrophe glanced away. "Good," he said with a wave of his claw. "Begone. I must think."
Xerxak bowed once more and faded into the darkness, leaving Catastrophe alone. He rose from the throne and walked a few paces. He waved one hand in the air and a dimentional window appeared, showing the planet Earth. A slow, sinister grin that might have been attractive in a lesser face graced his lips as he gazed at the small blue planet.
"Soon... Very soon all the power of the universe will be mine to possess..." His hand waved again and the picture shifted, changed, into the figure of a young woman. His expression changed slightly, though whether it was pensive or menacing was impossible to tell.
"I wonder if she will even remember..."
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Meanwhile on Earth...
"I don't want to go to school!"
Celeste rolled her eyes. "We have to."
Zara's shoulders slumped. "But why? I finished my schooling ages ago! Daddy got me the best tutor in the Veidan Galaxy! I don't want to do it again, science and math were horrible enough the first time!"
"Zara, I wish we didn't have to either, but to everyone here, we look entirely too young to not go to school. For heaven's sake, I stopped aging at eighteen! We have to--"
"Appear normal," Zara finished for her, downcast. "Yes, I know."
Celeste sighed, genuinely sorry that she was putting Zara through this. "I'm really sorry... At least there will be cute guys there..."
"Not even that can make up for biology..." Zara said with a huge sigh. "And besides... those uniforms are so BLAND!"
"I must admit, I agree with you there..."
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The next day...
"Come ON! We're going to be late! The morning star is up! Up and at 'em!" Celeste received no response from the lump under the covers. Grinning, she began to sing. "Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful..."
"SHUT UP!!... please... Want sleep... Sleep now..."
Celeste put her hands on her hips. "Well, fine, I'll go without you because I am not going to be late... but if you get detention, it's not MY fault!"
"Okay, bye now."
Celeste sighed and defeated, began the journey to Juuban High School. Once there and handed her registration cards, she walked to her first class and wasn't unduly surprised to find that Mercury was already there. She smiled and walked over to her. "Hey, Mer-I mean... Mizuno Ami!"
Ami looked up from her book and gave a small smile. "Hello... Celeste... Sorano Celeste."
She nodded. "That's right. But you can call me Cel-chan, if you want." She sat down next to Ami. "I'm so glad that you're in my class, I didn't want to be the only one."
"Usa-chan is in this class too, but I don't expect to see her for another..." She glanced at her watch. "Seven minutes and twenty-eight seconds."
Celeste looked at her sideways. "What?"
"Usagi is always late, but she's the most punctual late person I know. This is how I know exactly when she'll get here. So where is... Zara?"
"Right, Heno Zara. I couldn't drag her out of bed. But I'm sure she'll be here soon." She turned away slightly before muttering, "I hope."
A shrill bell sounded and a tall woman walked to the front of the class. "Good morning, class. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce you to our new students..."
Ami looked back down at her watch and mumbled a countdown while Celeste looked at her like she was crazy, but a moment later, a streak of blond and red hair shot through the doorway... Or tried to. Zara and Usagi tumbled into one another and fell on the floor.
Usagi appeared unfazed and immediately got up off the floor. She apologized to Zara before turning to the teacher. "I'm soooo sorry! I didn't mean to be late, I REALLY didn't! I promise I'll never be late again... and I mean it this time!"
The teacher was about to reprimand her when Zara stepped in. "I'm sorry, ma'am, it's my fault that she's late. You see, I am a new student here and she was the only person that would give me directions to the classroom."
The teacher paused for a moment before waving them away with a tired expression. "Okay, go to your seats. I'll excuse you this one time."
As they made their way to two vacant seats, Usagi mouthed a silent 'THANK YOU' to Zara who motioned that it was nothing.
The teacher continued. "Now today in biology we will be discussing..."
In one accord, Zara and Usagi dropped their heads onto their desks with exasperated sighs while Ami and Celeste sweat dropped.
"Now class, take out your beakers. We are going to be doing Lab Five today. All of the chemicals should be labeled..."
Usagi looked at the labels on the jars with an expression of 'huh?' on her face, while Zara, having studied before (with great trepidation) knew what they meant and thoughtfully remarked softly to Usagi, "Hmm... you know, if we take a little of this... and a little of that... we can always come back tonight in senshi form and blow up the lab so we wouldn't have to come back tomorrow. And if anybody asks, we can always say that we got bad vibes and that biology was clearly developed by the forces of darkness. I mean, honestly, who could argue with that?"
Usagi began to giggle uncontrollably until Ami came over to see what was so funny. "You know Usa-chan, you're not going to get any better in school and impress Mamoru-san with your grades unless you take this more seriously." Then she saw the two chemicals that Zara had been referring to. "You know, you probably shouldn't be handling those. They can be very deadly if mixed together."
Zara was about to reply when the teacher walked over to their lab table. "What's going on?"
Zara smiled sweetly. "Oh, I'm showing Mizuno Ami how to do this experiment."
Ami was shocked. "WHAT?"
Zara covered up the labels with her hands. "Yes, you see, if you mix this one and this together, absolutely nothing will happen because this one is a neutral and this one is a chemical."
And she started to pour one into the other. Ami began to shout, "NO! DON'T!"
While the teacher was staring at Ami's strange behavior, Zara used a small spell to change one of the chemicals into water as Usagi looked on in amusement. And nothing happened when the two were mixed, just as Zara had said. "See?" she smiled.
The teacher smiled back. "Well done! And Ami, I'm surprised at you! You usually have much better control over yourself!"
Embarrassed, Ami softly apologized to the teacher and blushed. As she went back to her table, she muttered under her breath, "Curse blushing! Curse the noun, curse the verb, curse the act!"
Celeste, having watched the entire display, put her head in one hand and silently prayed that the day would be over soon.
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"I'm not getting it!!!"
Zara turned her head to look in the direction she heard Celeste's whine come from. "Oh, come on, it's not that hard... It's only a box step for heaven's sake!"
"I CAN'T DANCE!"
Everyone in the gym sweat dropped, Celeste had been complaining for the entire gym period. And it didn't look like she was going to be stopping any time soon. Her partner sighed. Celeste turned back to him, cursing the fact that they were currently teaching ballroom dance in gym class. She had been noticing how every girl in the room had been staring over their shoulders at him and two others and wondered why.
"I'm really sorry..." she began.
"It's all right, not everyone gets it the first time. It's very simple..." He began counting the steps. "One, two, three, one, two, three... Let me lead! Now, look up and don't stare at the ground... That's much better!"
Celeste smiled big. "I'm dancing! It's a miracle!"
He laughed slightly. After a moment, she spoke up again. "You know, I don't even know your name..."
"Kou Taiki."
"It's nice to meet you! I'm Sorano Celeste." She looked over to see how Zara was faring with her partner...
"SHUT UP AND LET ME DANCE! I know how to do it! You DON'T have to explain everything to me like I'm a two year old! And WHY IS EVERYONE STARING AT US?!?!"
Her partner looked down at her like someone using a great deal of patience. "They're not staring at US, they're staring at ME. Don't you know who I am?" He sounded surprised.
"Should I? Or better yet... do I CARE? Let me think... Um, no."
His chest puffed out. "Well, I happen to be the lead singer of the Three Lights, Kou Seiya."
"Wow? I'm guessing that's a good thing..." At that point, everyone in the gym stopped and stared. Zara noticed the astonished looks she was getting. "What'd I say?"
Meanwhile, across the gym...
"YATEN! You're back!"
Yaten was hit full blast in the stomach by a flash of blond hair. When she loosened up enough for him to get air, he looked down at Minako and sighed. 'Oh no... How did she find us so fast?' He gave her a weak smile. "Uh... Minako! ... What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for school, silly! Why didn't you TELL us you were coming back? Didn't you go back to your little star galaxy thingie? Oh, Usagi's going to be sooooo excited! Not to mention, I'm excited-"
Yaten cut her off by holding up a hand. "It's okay... I'm a... happy to see you too..."
Zara popped up out of nowhere, not noticing Yaten's presence. "V! I got stuck with the MOST conceited, egotistical, self-absorbed idiot in the entire known universe! He keeps insulting my dancing and making me look bad! Please switch with me? Pleeeeeease?"
"Well, who are you dancing with?"
Zara pointed. "HIM."
Minako took one look and... "SEIYA!!!"
Zara gave Minako's back a glare and muttered under her breath. "Back stabber..."
Minako didn't notice the look; she was too busy hugging the life out of Seiya. She turned back to Zara. "Zara! These are Seiya and Yaten! Guys, this a good friend, Heno Zara! Say hi!"
Zara clenched her jaw. "Hi," she said with bare control.
Yaten gave a polite hello and Seiya gave an amused smirk. "We've met."
Flashing a brilliant smile at Yaten, Zara chirped, "Nice to meet you!" She shifted to Seiya, gave him the once over, then turned and walked away without saying anything. When Minako and Yaten gave him questioning looks, he shrugged. "What'd I say?"
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Later, at lunch...
"That Heno Zara!" Ami fumed. "She makes me SO mad!"
Usagi and Makoto were stunned. "Ami-chan... we've never seen you like this!"
"Like what?"
"Angry!"
"I'm NOT angry!!! ... I'm just a little frustrated, that's all..."
She sat back down and tried to calm herself.
Makoto sighed. "Things just keep getting stranger..."
"You guys!!!"
All three turned to see Minako streaking across the lunch area towards them. "GUESS WHAT?!"
"What?"
"THEY'RE BACK!"
"Who?"
She reached them and stopped to catch her breath. "It's so exciting!"
"What is?"
"You should have seen their faces!"
"Minako-chan!! Just tell us!"
"The Starlights are back!!"
Everyone paused. "WHAT?!?!"
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Meanwhile, in another corner of the school, the three lights were talking of the days events, while hiding from their many fans.
Taiki leaned against a wall. "So... Now that we're here, should we reveal ourselves to Princess Zara and the other one? And do you think we should get the other scouts involved?"
Yaten spoke up. "This is our mission. We don't need to involve them."
Seiya shook his head. "No... We shouldn't involve them unless it's absolutely necessary."
"You're just worried about Sailor Moon..." Yaten snorted.
"Yaten..." Taiki warned.
"I just want to know that he's not going to let anything interfere with our mission."
Seiya turned away. "Don't worry about Odango... She's got her boyfriend now..."
Taiki and Yaten were surprised at the bitterness in his tone. Yaten went over to him. "Oh, forget her already... You can have any girl you want! And besides... I saw the way you were looking at your dance partner earlier..."
"WHAT?!? You have got to be joking! That was the only time a female has ever insulted me in public! That's the only time a female has insulted me, period!"
"Except for Usagi," Taiki pointed out.
Seiya glared at them before walking away. "That's none of your business."
Yaten and Taiki looked after him knowingly before following.
To Be Continued...
