Chapter 9: Magical Freak Show

Haruka Tenou touched her hand to Luna's forehead, temporarily changing the Moon symbol into a deep blue one for Uranus. Luna jumped up, did a flip, and in a flash, a pale blue bracelet appeared.

"Thank you, Luna. Now I have to meet Rei at the amusement park. I'm meeting the new Senshi there," Haruka said as she gave Luna a pat on her black, furry head. When Haruka arrived at the amusement park, she began her search for Rei. She not only found Rei, but also Rei's daughter Madoka and another girl were there. Haruka couldn't help staring at the new girl. Not only was she very tiny, only 2 feet tall, but she had the darkest skin Haruka had ever seen. Her hair was in a strange style that looked like ropes, too.

"Madoka! Jessica! Haruka's here!" Rei exclaimed. So the new girl is named Jessica. She must be the new foreign girl that Rei's taken in. I thought I heard she was from Jamaica, but she looks more like she could be from Africa, Haruka thought. "Um, Haruka, aren't you going to say hello to them? Why are you so distracted?"

"Huh? Oh, hello girls," Haruka said.

"Good afternoon, Miss Tenou," Jessica greeted her, bowing stiffly.

"Mom said you were going to give me magical powers," added Madoka. I wonder if I'll have the power of rollercoasters, that would be fun, she thought.

"Really? Do you even need them with your huge muscles?" Haruka teased.

"It couldn't hurt. The magic might allow me to reach things or enemies that are too far away," Madoka said sensibly. Before Haruka could even start to move her hand to her pocket where the bracelet was, a wild, squealing girl swooped in. She picked up Jessica, nuzzling her.

"YEEEEEK! You've got such a cute life-sized dolly here! It feels like it has skin! Here's your dolly back!" the strange girl giggled, tossing the dazed Jessica back to Madoka, who luckily caught her.

"That's because she's a real person, not a doll! And don't throw her!" Rei shouted, shoving the girl away from Madoka and Jessica protectively.

"Wow, really? She's real? You sure this isn't some kind of trick? Because she's so little but she looks like a teenager and..."

"I am most definitely real, mon," Jessica said coldly, getting her senses back.

"YEEEEK! The doll's talking! With a foreign accent!"

"Um, I think she's from Jamaica," supplied Madoka.

"Wow, you got a doll shipped in from overseas? Was that expensive?"

"She's a person, not a doll!" shouted Rei.

"Hey everyone, the freak show's over here! They've got a midget and a girl that looks like a mini-Hulk!" the girl called as she ran off. Haruka quickly pulled the bracelet out of her pocket and slipped it on Madoka's wrist.

"Take this now. It's for being a Sailor Senshi. There's no time to explain, there's a small crowd coming towards us," Haruka whispered.

"But who would believe that idiot? I mean, Cosmic Sparkle Land has never been part of the freak show business, and I thought those were all in the past," Rei said.

"Tell that to them," Madoka said, pointing to the group that probably was composed of all the friends of that hyper girl. Luckily, it looked like most of the amusement park patrons agreed with Rei.

"Come on, come all! Come see the amazing tiny midget and the incredible mini-Hulk, all for a nominal fee!" the girl began announcing.

"What mini-Hulk? All I see is a doll," one boy whined.

"That's not a doll, she's a real person!" Rei snapped. Not only was she annoyed at the crowd, but she was also worried about the fact that she couldn't see where Madoka had gone off to.

"Oh right, you freak show people are always trying to pull hoaxes on us," the boy snorted.

"I am not a doll, mon," Jessica stated coolly.

"Where's the ventriloquist voice? Where's the voice box?" the boy shrieked, grabbing Jessica, "How do you teach dolls how to talk?"

"That's not a doll, that's a real tiny human!" corrected the girl, "Now give me the money I just wrote on this sign, she's not yours to pick up for free! And where did that muscle girl go?"

"Don't use her to get money!" Rei shouted.

"Aww, come on, she CAN'T be your daughter, she doesn't look a thing like you!" the girl whined.

"She's not my daughter, but she is someone who's under my care for a few years. And your 'mini-Hulk' WAS my daughter and I think you scared her away though she usually doesn't get that scared!"

"Yeah, so go off, see the real attractions here and don't bother us!" Haruka added, glaring at the girl.

"What kind of man yells at a girl! Men should stay in their place!"

"Haruka's a woman, you stupid kid! Now put Jessica down and go away!" Rei ordered, and finally the girl left, especially since one of the park workers was staring at them and she didn't want to get in trouble.

Meanwhile, Madoka had not gone far, she was just riding happily on a nearby roller coaster. This did not last long, however, since a big orange lizard decided to hop on with her and swipe at her magic bracelet. She punched it and it started to fall out but it grabbed her with it. Rei and Haruka were underneath and Madoka and the orange lizard fell on them, fire streaming from the lizard's mouth.

"Bubble Gum Prism Power, Make Up!" Madoka called as she fell, pale blue lights flashing around her and forming her Senshi outfit. Luckily, Rei and Haruka were able to catch her in a way that didn't really hurt any of them, though they had to drop her quickly since the orange lizard was shooting fire at them.

"World Shaking!" called Sailor Bubble Gum, throwing a blue energy ball at the monster. She hit her target and it crashed into one of the roller coaster cars as it sped by. The monster jumped out and crashed on a rack of cotton candy. With a blast of flames, the cotton candy was burned to a sugary mess. People screamed and ran away, but the monster wasn't aiming at them. It flew back at Sailor Bubble Gum, who punched it this time. It crashed back into the burned sugar pile and flailed around in a sticky mess, then jumped on her again. This time it got stuck to her ponytail. She swung around and it fell off.

"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" called a familiar voice as Sailor Chibi Moon stepped onto the scene. Once again, the monster had landed in the sugar pile and Chibi Moon's attack got it even stickier.

"World Shaking!" called Sailor Bubble Gum. This time the monster, stuck in place, took it full blast and exploded in a bunch of orange sparkles.

"Maybe I should tell my Mom to make a rule that people should stay away from Senshi battles," Chibi-Usa commented.

Back in their apartment, the Magic Knights were surprised that this monster had been defeated. Well, at least Umi was.

"But I thought the fire monster was the best bet! And how come that silly Senshi girl wasn't killed when she fell off the roller coaster?" she ranted.

"I think you're forgetting that she wasn't that far off the ground and also the former Sailor Mars and Sailor Uranus were there to catch her," Fuu pointed out as she flipped through a book on Sailor Senshi history.

"What are you reading about?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what makes them Sailor Senshi. If we can take away whatever it is that gives them their powers, we can stop them from awakening without sending out the monsters. Ah, look here!" Fuu exclaimed. She pointed to a section on the royal guardian cats, Luna, Artemis, and Diana.

"It looks like the cats give the Senshi their powers, at least they gave Sailor Moon's group theirs, though it doesn't say anything about the others," Umi noted.

"That settles it. We can just make the next monster be one that tracks down the cats instead of the bracelets. If we kill the cats, then we'll get rid of the source of the Senshi's powers," Fuu decided.