1Chapter 3
"Who are you?"
Tommy sat of a stone bench outside of Mugen High. Next to him was Micha, his new friend. The two were waiting for their siblings. Tommy had gotten a note that Kit had hurt her ankle, so he came to walk his sister home. Micha came along to walk her sister home. The bell rang and students began filing out of the school. Tommy strained his eyes and found his sister walking between two other students. There was another set of three behind them. Tommy waved his hand and the six kids came their way. Behind them were four other students. The ten finally got to the stone benches.
Kit and Brian sat down with Tommy. Micha got up and gave her sister a hug. "Well," Micha began, "I took your advice. I found Mitch kissing another girl, a cheerleader at that. I broke up with him, but he was so angry that he chased me!" Jeane's eyes opened wide. Micha told the whole story, from being chased to meeting Tommy to the fight.
Jeane looked at Tommy and gave him a giant hug. "Thank you for helping my sister! Thank you so much!" she cried. Tommy looked a little shocked. Jeane let go. The story of the whole day, from morning quarrels to outdoor accidents, was told to Micha and Tommy.
"I've got lots of homework, so we had better get going," Tommy said after a while. "Come on. See you everyone." Tommy and Kit left down the street. Kit limped, but it wasn't enough for Tommy to help her.
Micha and Jeane went the opposite way, saying good bye. Mei, Hikari, Jason and Donna left as well, crossing the street to take a short cut through the park.
Tommy and Kit arrived home fifteen minutes later. After taking painkillers, both felt up to anything. "Look," Tommy said, "I have a lot of homework. I need a lot of quiet and no distractions. Why don't you take a walk if you're ankle isn't bothering you."
"Cool. I need to return some book to the library anyway!" Kit said excitedly. She left with her bag full of books without any further words.
"Is the minion ready?" questioned a cool voice.
"Yes, master," the slave replied coldly. "Your minion is ready to do your dirty work that you refuse to dirty your hands with."
The slave flew a few feet as a brown whip struck her back. The weights that were chained to her wrists and ankles flew with her, landing on the slave. "Insolence will not be tolerated," the cool voice said as the master of the poor slave emerged from the shadows. "Now, say it."
The slave stood as much as she could. The weights held her down; she hunched as she stood. She bit her lip as she said, "I will obey my master, Wizana, and I will neither show disobedience nor insolence toward her."
Wizana smiled with satisfaction. She kicked the slave off to the side so that she could better examine her minion. The creature was still, waiting to be awakened. Wizana took her whip and snapped it. It wrapped around the still creature. An aura surrounded the creature. It moved, now awakened and ready to strike Tokyo. The slave crouched in the shadows, tending to the head wound that stained her light-brown hair a blood red. The slave looked up in horror at the monster she had made by orders of Wizana. She felt shame as the creature stood; ready to jump into a portal that would deliver it to a place in Tokyo that was sure to have innocent humans.
"Stupid slave, come here!" Wizana shouted suddenly, "Come here!"
The slave hobbled over to Wizana. "Yes, master Wizana?" the slave asked.
"Look at this minion," the master demanded, "Look at it!" The slave looked, scared that Wizana may not be satisfied. "This minion is by far the best I have ever seen. I am quite happy. Congratulations, you lose two of your weights."
The slave sighed with relief as the weights attached to her wrists disappeared. "Thank you, master Wizana," the slave said.
"No, thank you. Now, I have the perfect minion that will do three times as much as any other minion has ever done!"
The slave felt shame at this comment. A portal appeared next to the slave. The slave trembled as the monster stomped its way over to the portal. As it passed the slave, it stomped onto the weights that burdened her ankles, turning them to pebbles. The slave noticed right away, but Wizana seemed to notice nothing. The monster jumped into the portal with one swift bound. Then, without thinking, so did the slave. The last thing the slave heard was Wizana's horrible shriek.
"Hey Kit!" yelled a childish voice. Kit turned around to see Hikari running toward her. "Hey Kit!"
Kit smiled as Hikari stopped in front of her, panting from trying to catch up. "What's up, Hikari?" Kit asked.
"Well," she began in between breaths, "I thought you got hurt."
"I was, but with a little painkiller, it doesn't hurt."
"What are you doing out so late?"
"Returning books to the library before it closes. I'm mainly staying out of the house while Tommy does his homework. Say," Kit said, eyeing Hikari, "What are you doing out so late?"
"I'm doing last minute errands for my mom. She busted her ankle a few weeks back so Jason, Donna, Mei, and I take turns doing errands. Today was supposed to be Donna's turn, but Jason and she had some meeting to go to for the science club."
Kit smiled. "Older siblings always have some excuse for something," she said.
Hikari laughed, agreeing. "So, I have to get home. I'm in a hurry, so I'll take the shortcut through the park. I normally wouldn't, though. It is way too dark. Well, see you later!" Hikari said as she jogged into the park. Kit lost sight of her, so she continued on down the street. She turned left at the next half-block into a construction zone. It was her usual short cut, approved by the manager of the project. Kit was allowed to use it as long as no one was working.
She was halfway through the construction zone when she heard a whimper. She turned around to see a gray Siberian husky limping toward her. Its leg was bleeding. "Poor thing, come here," Kit said in her softest, sweetest voice. The dog looked up at her, sadness and pain in its eyes. Kit walked over to the dog swiftly and smoothly. She got on her knees and began to comfort the poor creature. The dog laid its head on Kit's lap; it was still whimpering sadly.
Suddenly, a growl could be heard; it was low and rumbling, shaking the construction zone. A tall, hideous creature grew from behind a stack of iron poles. It was taller than the steam roller when it had finally stopped rising. The dog whimpered louder, obviously scared. Kit was scared as well, but she tried to hide it. She placed her hands gently on the dog's mouth. It quieted. The monster looked around. It caught Kit's shadow; Kit was found. The monster stomped over to Kit. As it stepped into better light, Kit could see its face. It was black; its eyes were fuchsia, at best. The body was smooth and black. It had three fingers on each hand. Its feet were rounded with no toes.
Kit could feel the color drain from her face. The monster reached a hand out to Kit; Kit screamed. Suddenly, all of the lights went out. A light was growing on the south wall, to the far right of Kit. A figure stood on the wall, enveloped in the light. The figure jumped down in front of Kit. "Be gone, monster of evil. Let this human be!" the figure cried. The figure carried a staff that was white. The figure held the staff out in front of her in a defensive way. Just then, three more figures joined the single one.
One of the figures was very small and glowed in a blue aura. The next figure was the same height as the white figure, but it glowed darker than dark. It, too, held a staff, similar to the other. The fourth figure was tall and glowed in a green aura. The white figure held up its staff. Instantly, the construction zone became bright. The four figures no longer glowed. The figure that lit the area and the figure that glowed darker than dark looked alike; their outfits were neon green and hot pink, but they were opposite of each other. The one that had the most pink wore her hair down, straight, and black. It touched her shoulders. The figure that wore the most green also had her hair down, straight, and black, but her hair was down to her ankles. The small figure had a short, light blue braid. It produced a wand out of thin air. Its outfit was light blue, black, and white. It wore no gloves and had a single light-blue gem on its forehead.
The final figure had waist-length, blond hair. She wore an outfit of brown and green. This figure appeared to be the leader. Kit noticed that their outfits were similar to those of the legendary sailor warriors. "You're sailor scouts!" Kit exclaimed.
The leader-like sailor turned around. She smiled. "Yes, we are," she said, "And you got yourself into a bit of trouble." Kit could only nod. She noticed an unusual characteristic of this sailor scout; she had pointed ears! The sailor scout turned back toward the monster. "Monster black, tell us: From where to you get your orders to attack?"
The monster made no reply; it only growled its low rumble. It stomped forward, alarming the four sailor scouts. They jumped away, leaving Kit unguarded. Kit stared the monster in the eyes, fear obvious in hers. Kit looked in both the directions that the scouts had jumped. The twin scouts had jumped mistakenly into wet cement. The leader scout was caught is a jumble of wires. The little scout could not be seen. Kit looked back at the monster, who was now reaching for the poor girl and the dog. Suddenly, a wall of dirt stopped the monster's hand. The little scout appeared on Kit's side of the wall. "Don't worry! Sailor Taurus is here to protect you with her powers of earth!" Kit, pale faced and shaking, only nodded at the small warrior. The barrier shook. The monster was trying to break it down! "Elveno! Castor! Pollux! Help!" the little warrior cried. Suddenly, the monster stopped. It was suspended in mid air!
Four warriors jumped down from a crane. Two of the warriors, a boy and girl who were apparently twins, had rods the lengths of their arms. The rods were held above them. They wore armor of gold and silver; the female to silver and the male to gold. The next warrior was a female and was decked in orange and blue, wearing a uniform similar to the sailor scouts. The next warrior was male, wearing armor that was made of brown, bronze and green leather. The boy had pointed ears, too! His hair was slicked back, lengthy and blond. They landed on the monster's side of the barrier. "Are they friends of yours?" Kit asked hopefully to Sailor Taurus.
Taurus looked at Kit, saying, "I've never seen them before." Kit craned her neck to see the four new warriors. The rod-carriers began to glow, the female in white and the male in yellow. The monster flew up higher and higher. The other two drew weapons; the female drew out a sword and the male drew up a dagger. The weapons glowed in blue and brown. They yelled out. The male yelled, "Elveno Nature Dagger!" The female yelled, "Elvenstone Sword of Stars!" They threw the daggers at the monster, but before they hit the monster, it disappeared. "Curse that monster!" the blue and orange girl yelled. The gold and silver twins let their arms drop.
"Sailor Castor! Sailor Pollux! Sailor Elveno!" Sailor Taurus cried. The mysterious twin warriors and the second male turned toward Taurus.
"You don't have to scream, little warrior," the female twin, "There are no Sailors Pollux, Castor, and Elveno. Just the Knights exist."
Taurus shook her head. "I don't even know you," she said, "I'm talking about my friends." Sailor Elveno emerged from the pile of heavy wires. She joined Taurus as the two helped Sailor Pollux fish Sailor Castor out of the wet cement. The black haired twins had wet cement all over them.
Meanwhile, Kit was still on the ground with the wounded dog on her lap. The blue and orange warrior walked over to Kit and knelt down next to her. She took out her dagger and brought it close to the dog's neck. "Please don't," Kit pleaded, "Don't end this dog's life. I think it can make it." The warrior smiled.
"I'm not ending its suffering," she said. "I will end it, yes, but I won't kill it. I mean only to help it." The flat side of the dagger touched the dog's neck. The dog did not move. "Please, Kit, will you place your hand on the dagger?"
Kit did so, but asked, "How do you know my name?" The dagger glowed. Kit could feel begin to feel weak. The scout took the dagger away. The dog jumped up and began to give the scout kisses. The dog then went to Kit's side as Kit slumped over a bit.
"You will feel a little weak. You helped that dog live by sharing your life energy," the blue and orange scout told her. Kit nodded. She wanted to ask about the scout's knowledge of her name, but Kit was too weak to.
The scout joined her three companions. Sailors Elveno, Taurus, Castor, and Pollux stood opposite of the four. Kit was easily in the middle. "So, who are you four?" Sailor Elveno asked.
"We would like to know who you are, first," the blond knight said, "But I am the knight of Elveno, Elveno Knight." He motioned his hand toward the male and female twins, "These two are the Knights of Gemini." He motioned his hand more directly to the silver knight. "This is Castor Knight. The gold Knight is Pollux Knight." He then placed his hand on the left shoulder of the blue and orange scout. "This is Elvenstone Knight. Yes, she is an elf." The knight pushed her orange hair back a bit to reveal pointed ears. "So, now that we have introduced ourselves, how about telling us who you four are?"
Sailor Elveno replied, "I am SAILOR Elveno." She put a lot of emphasis on sailor. "I've never heard of a knight of Elveno." She motioned toward the black-haired twins. "The one with the long black hair is Sailor Pollux. The short-haired girl is Sailor Castor." Sailor Elveno put her hand on Taurus's head. "This little squirt is Sailor Taurus." Sailor Elveno stared at Elveno Knight. "It seems that there have been two teams defending Tokyo all along. Nonetheless, we are THE Sailor Scouts. This is our turf. We defend Tokyo and we need no help."
Elveno Knight scoffed. "Well," he said, "It appears to me that you are the freshmen and we are the seniors. We are clearly older than you, even if we appear to me of similar ages. The Gemini Knights are older than Elvenstone and I. It appears that Taurus is far younger than you three. It would seem that your group is therefore out of your league. I suggest that you leave the fighting to us. At least our twins don't go swimming in cement." The Gemini Knights burst out laughing. With that, the two teams began to argue their points, defending their rights to defend Tokyo and quarreling about who started fighting first.
All the while, Kit stayed on the ground, supported by the dog. She wondered at the two teams, both who have intentions of defending Tokyo yet must quarrel amongst their teams. Finally, she had enough. Mustering all of her might, she yelled out to the teams with her loudest voice. "Stop it now!" she croaked, "You are on the same team! You shouldn't be fighting each other; you should be fighting the people who made that creature!"
The fighting ceased. The eight stared at Kit. She wheezed due to the effort of yelling. Elvenstone began to approach Kit when suddenly a swift figure jumped down from out of nowhere and blocked Elvenstone from getting to Kit. "I'll care for her now. You eight can go on quarreling amongst yourselves," the strange person said.
"I know you!" Elveno Knight cried, "You're one of the ones who always interfere with our battles!"
"Of course we interfere; without us none of the battles would have been won!" the figure said. Two other figures jumped down to either side of Kit. "As I said, we will take care of Kit and the dog." Before any of the other scouts could do anything, Kit was picked up by the two new figures and disappeared into the sky. The first figure picked up the now barking dog and jumped up, disappearing into the sky. As the knights turned around, the four Sailor Scouts disappeared. The four knights looked at each other with concern. They jumped, in unison, up and over the far north wall of the construction grounds, disappearing into the night.
"What's going on?" Sailor Elveno yelled. The four scouts had just gathered in their hollow oak tree. Still in their uniforms, the four discussed the situation.
"We should have followed those three shadows!" Taurus cried in dismay, "We have no idea what they are really doing with Kit! They could be part of the enemy!"
"Hang on," Castor piped in her child-like voice, "Those knights said that those three shadows have aided them in battle before. Those three can't be part of the enemy!"
"Don't be so gullible, Castor," Pollux scolded. "We have no idea which side those knights are on, whether it is good or bad! For all we know, their side might be a third or they might not even be on a side!" Castor became down-hearted at this.
"We should have pursued, yes, but those three shadows disappeared before we could get a lock on them!" Elveno cried.
"We could have chased them the old-fashioned way!" Pollux argued, "Just like the old scouts did!"
"Did anyone notice that the Elvenstone Knight knew Kit's name?" Taurus piped.
"Actually, now that you say that, I did notice that!" Castor cried. "Those shadows knew her name too!"
"Kit must be important or something," Pollux said, "More important than we must know about. I think we should keep an eye on her at all times."
"I agree," Elveno said, "Taurus, Castor: do you agree?" The two scouts nodded.
"Okay, what just happened?" Elvenstone asked. She sat on the second sturdiest limb of an age-old pine tree. Castor and Pollux Knight sat on an opposing tree limb, which happened to be the sturdiest. Elveno Knight paced under the shadow of the pine.
"I don't know what happened," Castor shrugged. "But there was something familiar about those Sailor Scouts."
"They were Sailor Scouts, but how could they be the Sailor Scouts of the same realms as us?" Pollux questioned.
Elveno continued to pace. After a time, he spoke. "They knew Kit's name, those rouge scouts," he said as he paced, "And by the way that Sailor Taurus looked when you called Kit by her name, Elvenstone, they know her name, too."
"But what can that mean?" Elvenstone asked.
"It means that you goofed when you called Kit by her name!" Pollux exclaimed.
"But she was nervous! She needed to calm down!" Elvenstone cried.
"Now is not the time to fight amongst ourselves!" Castor cried desperately. She looked down at Elveno Knight, who continued to pace.
"Kit clearly has some importance," he said, "This means that those same-name Sailor Scouts know her name, meaning they may be around us all of the time and we may not know it. It may apply to those rouge scouts, too."
"Look, we have to get home. We'll see you tomorrow, guys," Castor said. She took Pollux by the arm and pulled him down. The two leaped into the shadows and disappeared.
Elvenstone slid off of the tree limb and stood by the now still Elveno. She tilted her head to get a better look at Elveno's face. "You're worrying about her, aren't you?" Elvenstone said. Elveno looked at her. "You care a lot about her, I can tell."
Elveno took Elvenstone by the hands, looked her in the eyes, and said, "I care about her because strange things have been happening to her, things that may affect everyone else. These are strange days, but don't forget - I care about our relationship the most."
"Some things just have to come first, right?"
"Yes, the safety of everyone else. If no one else is safe, how will we be safe? How will our relationship be safe?"
Elvenstone smiled in relief. "You're right," she said.
"Here, I'll take you home," Elveno said. Holding hands, the two leaped into the shadows and disappeared.
"What do you mean your plan has fumbled, dear Wizana?" Giltion questioned. Wizana stood, sullen faced, in a small shaft of light as her oldest sister paced around her. "Well? Shall we receive an answer? How exactly did the slave's weights get crushed? How did you lose control of the minion? Why can you not locate either of them?"
Rildowa and Freda stared on as Giltion question Wizana about the loss of both her minion and her prized slave. "I do not know how I lost them!" Wizana screeched. "I do not know! As far as I can tell, my monster has taken liking to its creator, even though I gave it life!"
"Then your former slave must have some kind of control over it," Freda said.
The other three looked at their sister. "You have that look, dear Freda," Rildowa said with a raised eyebrow. "What plan have you conjured up?"
Freda smiled evilly. She walked up to Wizana and said, "Dear sister, might you tell me what the twin looks like?"
Wizana stared at Freda with surprise. "Why do you ask me?" she asked, "Who said I would know? I kept a shadowed veil over her face, remember?"
"If your monster has taken favor to one, might it take favor to the other?" Freda asked.
Wizana smiled, seeing Freda's plan. "Capture one in hopes of finding the other? Use the girl to attract my monster? Ingenious plan, Freda." Wizana congratulated. "Very well. I hid her appearance before, but come with me and I shall show you…"