Chapter 6: Wind Knight And Plant Warrior
Makoto was riding on the intracity bullet train, on her way to her friend Minako Aino's house. She was curious to meet the new girl who Minako had taken in from Ireland; the most she had heard was some rumor that the girl had scary-looking fangs. She hoped this girl would accept the idea of Senshi and not get angry like Rainbow had and try to bite her. When she arrived at Minako's house, she was greeted at the door by a young woman. She had rainbow hair in braided pigtails, pink eyes framed by a pair of glasses, and a jar of money in her lap. The most visually startling thing about her, however, was not only the fact that she was in a deep indigo wheelchair, but that her legs cut off neatly at the knee. Makoto remembered, however, that Minako had explained that was a birth defect and not the result of an accident.
"Hi, Miss Kino! I brought you some money since it must be hard taking care of the new foreign boy. Mom said you don't have as much money as we do, and..." The young woman was interrupted by the appearance of Minako, who gently took the jar of money away from her.
"That's nice that you want to give her stuff, Akane, but that's my money for shopping," Minako scolded, but she wasn't really angry.
"Minako, she's 17 now, don't talk to her like she's a child!" Makoto exclaimed, a little surprised at her friend's condescending tone.
"No, you misunderstand. She does this a lot, I think it's some kind of game; maybe she's going through a phase where she's acting immature to get attention," Minako said.
"I am NOT!! It's horrible that you and Dad get so much money from your jobs but you don't give any to your friend who has to support two people now!" Akane retorted.
"Makoto can find a way, I believe in her and that's why I don't. I mean, if someone gave me money for free, I wouldn't even work!"
"So you think Miss Kino will be lazy if I give her charity money?! What kind of a friend are you?!"
"Don't talk back to me, young lady!" Makoto watched the argument between Minako and her daughter with a bit of confusion and also somewhat hurt by the assumption that she would be lazy if she received charity. Then she spotted Bridget reading a biology book on a nearby chair and remembered what she was here for. Luckily, Minako understood the meaning of it when Makoto took the pink bracelet out of her pocket, and she gently put her hand on Bridget's shoulder.
"My friend Makoto Kino has a present for you. I think you're going to be a Sailor Senshi," Minako explained as Bridget stood up obediently. Bridget was 6 and a half feet tall, making the length of her long red braid all the more surprising, but the most striking thing about her was the extra-sharp teeth she possessed. One could even say she had fangs.
"Good afternoon, Miss Kino," Bridget said politely as she bowed to Makoto.
"It certainly is a good one, and a special one for you," Makoto agreed as she slipped the bracelet onto Bridget's wrist, a magically perfect fit.
"Where am I?" Fuu woke up in a strange, dark place that smelled like food. She stuck her arm out and opened the door, then she nearly shrieked when she realized she was in someone's cabinet! She remembered thinking about finding the next Senshi and then she was gone. She realized she must've stepped in the teleport pool by mistake. If she was at the house of the new Senshi, then she was in luck. All she had to do was think of how to get out of the cabinet. She kicked her feet out and opened another door, also knocking a few boxes to the floor with a crash, which Makoto heard.
"Minako, do you have a dog or some kind of large pet?" she asked.
"No, why? I...What was THAT?!" Minako shrieked as she heard more crashes coming from the kitchen, these now sounding like metal. This was because Fuu was busy trying to squirm out, she had her feet on the stove and she had kicked a pot on the floor.
"Maybe it's a monster. Maybe you need to transform. I'll help, we'll be in this together," Akane said to Bridget, who seemed quite frightened.
"No, Akane, you're not a Senshi yet. It could be too dangerous..."
"But I'm GOING to be one later, Mom! And I could run it over with my wheels!" They heard another, much louder crash as Fuu finally got free and fell on the floor in a dazed heap.
"Should...I transform now? If it is a monster?" Bridget dared to ask nervously. Akane used that chance.
"Me too! I'll help fight the monster! Or can't you do it, Mom, since you didn't give up your powers yet?"
"No, we all gave up our powers to Luna so she could create the new Senshi powers. Akane, if you really want to, fine, Chibi-Usa fought before she was a Senshi, but just be careful. I want you to survive to see your first real battle," Minako sighed, the last part she meant as sarcasm.
"Yes. Cupcake Prism Power, Make Up!" As the pink Senshi outfit with the brown bows finished wrapping itself around Bridget's body, Akane beckoned for her to follow to the kitchen, where they found Fuu just standing up.
"It IS an attack! What are you doing here, don't you guys send out monsters?" Makoto asked, too curious to leave so she had joined the two younger girls.
"My being here is an accident, the reason for it you don't need to know. Emerald Typhoon!" Fuu called, and a powerful gust of wind blew through the kitchen. It made Sailor Cupcake and Makoto stumble backwards, but Akane wasn't as affected by it since she was closer to the ground.
"Don't let her push you around, you can beat her. Remember the story about Rei's vision; I hope Minako told you about that," Makoto whispered to the quivering Sailor Cupcake, who nodded and stood back up.
"Vines Entanglement!" she called out and long, twisting ivy vines flew out of her hands to wrap around Fuu. But then the other two Magic Knights appeared, touched their hands to Fuu's, and they all disappeared.
"Wh-what was that?" whimpered Sailor Cupcake, startled that her new plant magic couldn't hold the Magic Knights.
"Maybe that green Magic Knight didn't want to be here. She did say that she came by accident," Akane suggested.
"Fuu, please don't be absent-minded like that again. You really could've been in trouble, what if that pink Senshi had captured you like they did to Umi?" Hikaru sobbed as she clung to Fuu. They were safe back in their little apartment now. Umi sighed.
"What should we do? Keep sending out the monsters?" she asked.
"What else can we do? It's not safe for us to fight the Senshi directly. Remember, if we destroy their transformation items first, then they won't be able to awaken and thus hurt us," Fuu reminded Umi and Hikaru.
"Yes, we know. We've been over it many times. YOU were the one who made the mistake. We had to rescue you," Umi snapped. Fuu opened her mouth to retort, but Hikaru butted between them.
"Please stop fighting. I said it before, and it's really important. Don't you remember how our teamwork was so important on Cephiro? Why can't we be friends like that again?" she pleaded.
"Oh, Hikaru, you're right. Fuu shouldn't have been lecturing ME about not doing what she just did, though, that was being hypodermic," Umi said.
"That's called being a hypocrite, and maybe I was a bit of one," Fuu muttered, rolling her eyes at Umi's mistake.
"I just want my friends to stop fighting with each other. They've gotten so irritable since we started fighting the Sailor Senshi," Hikaru whispered so that only Mokona, who was sitting in her lap, could hear her.
Back at the Aino residence, Makoto was preparing to leave.
"Thank you for giving Bridget her Senshi powers, even if they didn't work very well. I have a funny feeling that I'm going to be seeing your daughter and the English boy you're taking care of soon," Minako was saying.
"I'll bake a cake for you then," Makoto offered as she opened the door.
"Great! I'll bring home some for Akane and Bridget, that is, if I don't eat it all first," Minako giggled as she waved goodbye to her friend.
"That would be quite generous of her. Maybe you should bring her something too since you have more..."
"Akane, if nothing else will please you, I'll give Makoto a free preview of the next Twinkle Twins episode since I did one of the characters in it. Fair enough?" Minako teased in a mock-angry tone.