Chapter 10: Quack Experimental Deadly Hyrax
"You want to see the WHAT at the zoo, Chibi-Usa? Are you sure that's not some brand of glue or something?!" Mozzarella exclaimed incredulously.
"Yes, the hyrax. I accidentally came across some pictures of one when I was looking in the encyclopedia at school today. It sounds like a very interesting animal. And guess what? We can take Luna and Artemis to the zoo! They said they were curious about coming and since people know they're the royal cats, no one will try to put them in the cages," Chibi-Usa explained.
"Aren't zoos kind of cruel to the animals, though?" asked Maria Delgado. She and Ahmed Hussein were the other two who had been summoned to live at the palace for a few years, and they, Mozzarella, Parallax, and Chibi-Usa were going to take a trip to the zoo that day.
"Sometimes zoos take care of animals that otherwise would be extinct in the wild," replied Luna, who had been listening with Artemis.
"Isn't Diana coming along too?" asked Mozzarella.
"She didn't want to. The Queen wanted to talk to her anyway," Artemis said. He followed the others out, but Luna stayed behind with Chibi-Usa.
"You look like there was something you needed to tell me," the pink-haired girl said, kneeling down to be closer to cat level.
"Yes. Rei had another prophecy. This one was very vague, but I don't think Artemis and I are going to be around much longer. And I think the zoo is the place where our successor is. Diana is going to have a partner, but not a cat partner. From the description Rei had, it might be a hyrax," Luna explained.
"So that's why I had that animal in my mind! I wondered why, since I usually go to the zoo to see the cute foxes and rabbits. But why don't you think you're going to be around much longer?"
"Chibi-Usa, you may not realize it, but Artemis and I have been around almost as long as Sailor Pluto," was all Luna would say.
In the room she shared with Hikaru and Fuu, Umi was gloriously estatic and feeling like she had the key to ultimate victory. She was dancing around the room holding an anime DVD.
"I'm tired of sending Pokemon-based monsters! I want a real killer! And I have found it! Excel from Excel Saga! She's perfect for this job, she's always trying to eat that cat of hers! DVD Magic! Make Excel come to life! Her mission is to destroy Luna and Artemis! Go!" Umi crowed, flinging the DVD like a discus into the teleportation pool. It vanished, but not before sending up the flickering image of a hyperactive blond girl dancing around--Excel.
"Um, Umi..." Hikaru started to say hesitantly.
"Yes, Hikaru, I know, it's a wonderful idea, isn't it?" Umi gushed.
"No, Umi, um, Menchi was a dog, not a cat," Fuu said meekly, fearing the hot-headed girl's reaction to realizing her mistake. It didn't come, however.
"A dog? Well, that's fine too. Dogs are stronger than cats, if she can subdue a dog then she can certainly kill two cats," Umi shrugged.
"The Rock Hyrax, though rabbit-sized, is most closely related to the elephant and the hoofed mammals. It has characteristics of many animals such as the horse, the rhinoceros, and the capybara," lectured Ahmed as he read aloud from one of the several signs posted around the animal habitats. They had found the hyrax. It was a brownish-gray creature that resembled a rabbit-sized guinea pig at first glance. It had short ears, short legs, and a short tail. The strangest thing about it, however, was its feet because its toenails resembled hooves.
"It's almost like Neo-Queen Serenity herself. It looks like an ordinary housepet on the outside, but when you dig deeper, it has majestic and exotic characteristics too," commented Maria.
"Or maybe like Luna, who seems to be a regular cat until she opens her mouth and starts talking," added Chibi-Usa. Luna, on the other hand, was too busy staring at the hyrax with a strange trance-like look in her eyes, as if she was able to sense that yes, this was the one who held the dormant power to be her successor and Diana's partner. It was Artemis who snapped her out of her reverie.
"Luna, I think it's time to awaken Sailor Butterscotch to her Senshi magic. Only one of Haruka's power successors, Sailor Bubble Gum, has received her bracelet," he pointed out. Luna nodded and turned to Maria.
"Did you hear what Artemis just told me?"
"Yes, I did. I agree to be a Sailor Senshi if I can be one who works for peace and isn't violent," Maria answered, thinking of the stories she had heard about Usagi, who had beat Galaxia and Nehelenia by showing compassion towards them. Luna then jumped up and did a flip, causing a bracelet to appear in a shower of yellow sparkles. Maria began to reach for it but then in a flash someone plowed past, screaming like a maniac and snatching the bracelet. Luna was thrown into the glass cage that held the hyrax, and she lay dizzily on the ground.
"Cinnamon Power, Make Up!" Parallax quickly shouted, scrambling to protect Maria, who was frantically looking around for the speedy assailant. She then looked up and saw a blond girl sitting on the top of the hyrax cage, dressed in a strange teal and black outfit and brandishing a sword.
"Who is that?!" exclaimed Mozzarella.
"She doesn't have the aura of a Magic Knight!" added Sailor Cinnamon.
"I am not a Magic Knight! I am Excel Excel, on a mission for Ilpalazzo!" the girl announced cheerily as she leaped down and smashed the hyrax cage with her sword. Meanwhile, Luna had recovered enough to stand alongside Artemis, their crescent moons glowing. Two beams of energy shot out of them to the hyrax, which began to glow as well, and a crescent mark appeared above its eyes.
"Huh? Is Ilpalazzo the real name of that Senshi who attacked the Starlights?" asked Maria in confusion.
"How come her voice sounds like the Queen's?" added Ahmed quietly.
"Starlights?! I'm here for those two kitties! I need them for food! I'm hungry!" Excel roared, and a torch materialized in her hands as well as a spice rack and a skillet.
"Fire Soul!" called Sailor Cinnamon, but Excel blocked it with her torch, which grew as the magic fire was added to it. She did not, however, anticipate the hyrax biting her in the back of the neck with its sharp teeth. Screaming, she flung her torch, skillet, and spice rack into the air. They came down in a burning heap on Luna and Artemis. The yellow bracelet flew out of her hands too, luckily not on fire, and it landed near Maria's feet. Putting it on, she could hear the magic words in her mind.
"Butterscotch Power, Make Up!"
"Aww, when do I get to be a Senshi?!" whined Mozzarella.
"I don't know when. But I must stop that girl. Aurora Hypnosis!" called Sailor Butterscotch, sending a beam of colorful energy at Excel. It didn't hurt the hyperactive girl, but it did make her dazed and she was dancing around, giggling in awe at the pretty lights she apparently saw while blood gushed out of the hole in her neck.
"Fire Soul!" the pigtailed Senshi tried again, and this time Excel was set on fire too, only she didn't seem to realize it. Meanwhile, Artemis and Luna were nothing more than fried, dead cats, unnoticed by all but Ahmed and Chibi-Usa, who had disappeared to find some water. They returned with a bucket but were obviously too late to save the guardian cats.
"So I have been given power through the death of another," the hyrax suddenly spoke, using a eeriely flat, feminine voice.
"They DID send power to it! Do you have a name? Are you going to be able to give the rest of us our Senshi powers too?" asked Mozzarella, ignoring the kitty corpses behind her.
"My name is Zelda. And yes, I probably will be able to give you Sailor Senshi your powers later on. I suppose I must go live at the palace now," the hyrax sighed. Suddenly Luna and Artemis began to glow and they turned into their human forms. Then the pink beam of light came down from the sky and they floated up into it.
"That looks like the same light that appeared whenever I time-traveled," Chibi-Usa whispered in awe. Parallax sat down with a thump, her eyes staring at nothing.
"The felines of the Moon Kingdom have taken on the curse of Time. The Soldier of Revolution is freed," she intoned before falling in a panting heap.
"I think Puu is free now. I guess Luna and Artemis are now the Time Guardians," Chibi-Usa said.
"Let's go back before the zoo keepers come back and find that my cage is broken. They could bill the house of the Moon," Zelda suggested.
"Let them. They should know about Senshi battles; it was Excel's fault, not ours," Chibi-Usa shrugged.