"Sailor Angel and Sailor Phosphora: The Fight Against Catastrophe"
By Angel Sentier and M'Lila Cronk
Chapter Six
Minako was in her element. Lunchtime at school was usually quite peaceful, but with the outbreak of news that three classmates would soon be idols alongside the Three Lights, a large adoring crowd had gathered around her, Zara, and Celeste. Smiling her zillion-watt-smile, she soaked up the praise and answered questions... with only a few embellishments. Who would know that the Lights hadn't actually stood up and applauded her performance? She was sure Rei was having similar attention lavished on her at her private school and hoped she was having just as much fun.
Zara found much amusement in watching Minako get attention. She was enjoying herself too, but it was more fun to watch Minako try to answer everyone at once. 'She sure knows how to be an idol,' she thought, wondering how long Minako had practiced for this sort of thing. Zara effortlessly poured out charm to the girls surrounding her. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being around that conceited jerk all the time... After all, it's not like she would have to be alone with him or anything... She remembered snapping at Celeste the previous night and thought that maybe she should apologize, or at least make sure Celeste knew she didn't mean it...
Looking over at Celeste, she blinked in surprise. While she and Minako were quite comfortable in the sea of admirers, Celeste looked as though her lunch was the most fascinating thing on the planet, keeping mostly silent. Poking her in the arm, Zara sent her thoughts directly to Celeste, their close bond making something like that possible.
'Hey... What's the matter?'
Celeste glanced at her before sending her thoughts back. 'I'm not used to all this attention, that's all... I'm starting to feel claustraphobic.'
'Claustra-hoobie-whatie?'
Celeste smiled, knowing that Zara was purposly messing up the word to make her laugh. 'You know you've always been better at this sort of thing than me. I'm pretty much alone up in my galaxy when not performing my duties. I don't do a lot of social interaction.'
'You need a boyfriend.'
Usually, when Zara said something like that, Celeste would have laughed, a love life not really being possible for a senshi, but recently, she had been recalling things... Things she wasn't sure she wanted to remember, or was sure she was supposed to remember at all. They were so disjointed, like the floor of the editing room where different scenes of a movie had been cut out and thrown together haphazardly. She wasn't quite sure what all the different images meant, also, she didn't know she'd like what the whole picture would add up to. She knew there was a battle, there was Zara and Galaxia and herself... but someone else was there too...
Celeste shuddered at the memories, suddenly feeling cold. 'I think I'll pass...' Suddenly, she froze and a searing pain swept through her head, causing her to gasp.
Concerned, Zara asked out loud, "Celeste? What's wrong?"
She couldn't answer, her senses were swept with a vision and she clutched her head in both hands. Recognizing what was happening to her, Zara stood up and applied the charm to the crowd of fans again, effectively deflecting the attention from her friend.
"Celeste gets headaches sometimes... Would you please excuse us? She should go to the nurse's office."
Everyone politely stepped away and Zara was able to help Celeste to her feet and around the side of the music building, Minako following close behind.
"What's going on?" Minako asked as Celeste was still recovering.
"A vision," explained Zara. "They're very painful for her." She looked at Celeste who was leaning against the building's wall. "What is it this time?"
"Youma..." she managed.
"Again??"
"Different... Stronger... A lesser minion... not henchmen this time..."
"Huh?" Minako was clearly lost on the broken description.
"We battled some random youma the other night. You know, the kind that evil villans can create by the barrelful with no apparent effort? Well, the guy in Celeste's vision is one of those guys who are under the top evil guy. Stronger than your run-of-the-mill henchman, but just as annoying."
"Basically..." said Celeste, her eyesight cleared up by now. "We should hurry and find the others. My visions may be of the future, but not the distant future."
Nodding, the three girls ran off in search of the other senshi. They didn't notice the form at the music building's window, just within the shadows. Seiya thought their plan sounded good and also went off to find his cronies... They might be needed.
To be continued...
