Chapter Six
After a few days of things calming down, the parents begin to let their guard down just a little. The guardian cats, however, did not. They followed the children around like vultures would with their prey. Maggie Meioh got angry at the cats invasion of privacy. Luna was the worst of all. She would scorn at the children to do their homework; they'd obey, but then right afterwards Luna made them study. If the children didn't listen she got Ami. The children were surrounded by the guardians the whole day; without any freedom.
Gloria had been tempted many times to just abandoned them and go do her own thing, but the older cats would be in contact with a guard, their parents, or even Queen Serenity. Security was tight and the children were getting squirmy.
Madelyn Tomoe sat in the corner of the room, just staring of to space. Luna kept trying to get through to her, but Madelyn seemed to be in a trance.
"Luna, leave Madelyn alone." Gloria moaned, after the fiftieth time, it seemed, of Luna trying to get Madelyn's attention.
"Our attention span is running low." Faith commented.
"Yes, and we are tired of you guys always following us around." Daisy chipped in.
"I agree, it is becoming a bit of a pain." Hope spoke.
"Madelyn's already gone astray." Ariel said, worriedly.
"We can't take much more of this." Annika whined.
"Luna, Artemis, and everyone else we need a break. We need fresh air. It's not even time for exams and you guys are making us study, because you are afraid the enemy is going to attack. No offense, but they can attack at anytime." Maggie explained, exhausted.
Luna stared down at the ground unsure of what to say. Isabella and Emily played with the younger kittens, which were almost full grown. But they still had spunk. The door knobbed turned and everyone looked up to see who it was. The children were hoping it was someone who would save them from this awful time.
A pink haired girl, with pigtails walked in. She had on a pair of jeans with a yellow t-shirt. Most of the children sighed when seeing the princess. They knew they were in for something awful. Usagi glanced around confused at the bunch.
"Why is everyone so down?" Usagi asked.
"You tell me." Daisy replied, sarcastically and irritated.
Usagi appeared to be thinking. After a few seconds she finally turned to the cats and ordered them to back off. Luna tried protesting, but Artemis stopped her. Everyone agreed that they needed a break from one another.
"I'm willing to take everyone out of here if you stay with me." Usagi compromised.
"I don't care what you make us do, just as long as it doesn't have to do with studying." Gloria replied.
"Alright. Let's go." Usagi smiled, and watched one by one as everyone filed out. Usagi turned to check to see if everyone had came out of the room, there still remained three; Madelyn, Isabella, and Emily. Usagi walked over to Madelyn and got down eyelevel with her.
"I think I did something to her." Luna confessed.
"Naw, don't worry about it Luna. Madelyn just needs fresh air." The pink hair girl insisted.
"Madelyn, we are going outside." Usagi said and took Madelyn by the hand. Madelyn snapped out of her daze instantly. She was confused at first, but when she realized what was going on she smiled. Madelyn quickly joined her friends.
"Isabella and Emily lets go." Usagi emphasized.
Isabella looked up at Usagi and wrinkled her nose. "Why?"
"We are going to the park." Usagi stated.
Isabelle and Emily were quickly on their feet and out the door. Usagi kept a close eye on the children and made sure they didn't wonder off. She had a talk with Gloria before arriving to the park. Gloria promised she would not misbehave, and so far she stayed true to that promise. Madelyn walked up to Usagi and sat down on the bench.
"Why aren't you playing with the other children?" Usagi questioned.
"I'm tired." Madelyn replied.
"Are you sure your alright there, Madelyn?" Usagi asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." Madelyn said as she shut her eyes. "Princess, don't we have a party tonight?" Madelyn questioned.
"Madelyn I'm not a princess until my mother's mother passes on. And yes we have a party to go to tonight, why?" Usagi pondered, trying to find out if there was more then just tiredness wrong with the girl.
"I know you're not a princess yet, but it sounds more…. Ummm.. I'm not sure." Madelyn said and became quiet. Usagi knew she wasn't going to get an answer out of Madelyn, so she turned and watched as Gloria hung from the monkey bars, and little Isabella was on top of them peering down at Gloria. Usagi didn't know if she should be shocked or worried.
Emily realized her friend was on top of the monkey bars and started screaming, in fear that Isabella might fall.
"Emily please don't scream, Isabella is alright." Maggie commented.
"Yea, she climbs trees all the time." Faith commented, she appeared to be the only one with liveliness in her. Besides Gloria and Isabella, but they never really seemed to run out of energy.
"Faith what tree does Isabella climb?" Hope asked. She was sitting on the playground equipment, with Jordan in her lap.
Faith looked down at the ground. "Mainly the one in our backyard."
"Faith! You two are not allowed to be climbing trees, especially that tree in the backyard." Hope scorned.
"What is wrong with the tree in the backyard anyways?" Faith asked.
Hope's expression went blank. "I'm not sure. They just say not to climb it, probably because they are afraid you two will fall out of the tree." Hope explained.
"Yea okay.. That's still not going to stop me and Isabella from climbing the tree." Faith announced bravely.
"Ha, watch one of you fall out and break something." Daisy commented, not realizing her tone of voice.
"Daisy that was mean. What if Isabella was to fall out of the tree?" Maggie questioned.
"Isabella! What about me?" Faith asked a little hurt.
"Well, what are the chances of you falling out Faith? You're such an expert." Gloria comment, whom was still hanging onto the monkey bars. Isabella was sitting on top of them just listening to everyone talk.
"Well there aren't any chances." Faith replied boastfully.
"That's what we thought." Hope responded a little irritated.
"Hey Gloria, how long are you going to hang there for?" asked her little sister, Erin.
Gloria didn't reply. She just continued hanging on to the bar.
"Isabella why don't you hang on to the monkey bars like Gloria?" Chloe giggled. Maggie, Daisy, and Hope looked at Chloe wondering if she was asking for trouble. Isabella decided to listen, she braced both of her hands on to one of the bars not far from Gloria, she then let her little body drop and she dangled on the monkey bars with Gloria. The two faced each other.
"Chloe what was the point of that?" Daisy asked a little mad.
"Well, I wanted to make sure she could get down." Chloe implied. "And now I want to see who can stay up there the longest."
"Wait, what?" Gloria said shockingly. "I've been hanging here longer then she has."
"Come on Gloria." Erin begged. "For us?"
Gloria didn't see the point in this, but decided she could not turn down a challenge. "Fine."
"Just remember Gloria, your up against a five year old your eleven." Annika commented.
Everyone watched the two girls struggle to stay up on the monkey bars. Gloria's hands were getting tired, and Isabella didn't have much strength to hold on to something slippery and cold.
"Girls!" Usagi called as she walked up toward the scene. "We need to head home to get ready for the party that's happening tonight."
As if Gloria just received the worst news in the century, she let go of the bars and crashed into the ground. Usagi quickly went to her side to make sure she was okay. Gloria just stared up at her.
"We have another one of Queen Serenity's parties?" Gloria asked. Isabella took this chance to latch herself onto Usagi's back and slid down.
"Yes and if we don't leave now I'll never get you girls back to your quarters on time." Usagi said, as she started to shoo them toward the road. Ariel and Annika were one of the first to take to Usagi's order.
Usagi decided to carry Madelyn home, considering she had fallen asleep and was in a deep one at that.
"Is Madelyn alright?" Asked a concern Ariel. Usagi nodded as she hoisted her up onto her back. Madelyn just laid her head on Usagi's shoulder. The group of children begin to walk toward the quarters.
The first quarters to be met were the Venus, Mars and Mercury. They quickly said thank you to Usagi. Usagi continued up the stairs where the Saturn's and Jupiter's head quarters were. Usagi explained to Hotaru that Madelyn should probably get an hours worth of sleep before coming to the party tonight. She would tell the Queen that they may be late. Hotaru agreed and decided it'd be best if Emily took a nap as well. She was becoming a little cranky. Hotaru laid both girls down in the living room and went to gather their dresses for the party.
The Tomoe's ended up being fifteen minutes late, but as said, Usagi took it up with the Queen. Madelyn and Emily were perky and in a good mood, considering their nap. Hotaru was glad, because she didn't want to handle to cranky kids.
Madelyn went off with Ariel, Annika, and Gloria. Daisy and Maggie were off with Chloe and Erin. Faith and Hope were minding their own business somewhere else. Maia, Jordan, Emily, and Isabella were playing ring around the rosy near the exit door. Lydia was close by, reading a book. Julia had gone to the bathroom, so was not present at the time.
After the youngest girls were done playing ring-around-the-rosy, Maia decided she wanted to play leap frog. She got to go first with jumping over, or in her case, climbing over, and the other three. When she got in front of Isabella, she wrapped herself up into a little ball and waited for her turn. Jordan was next. She quickly hoped over everyone and landed into a position similar to Maia's. It was now Emily's turn to jump over everyone. As she was about to begin she heard a beautiful sound.
Lydia looked up from her book and eyed Emily suspiciously. Isabella glanced up at Emily who was slowly edging her way toward the door. Lydia stood up, sat her book down, and begins to make her way toward Emily. Isabella grabbed onto her friend and tried to pull her out of the trance, but Emily didn't appear to notice Isabella tugging on her arm. Jordan and Maia become impatient. The two looked up, as Lydia, Emily, and Isabella went out the exit door. It shut automatically. Maia sat there in shock, tears coming from her eyes. Jordan immediately ran over to the door and tried to throw it open, but it wouldn't work.
With Jordan screaming and banging on the door and Maia crying it got the whole dinner obscured. The adults tried everything possible to open the door. They didn't understand why it wouldn't open. Finally, Jordan blurted out everything that Isabella had told her. Queen Serenity didn't bother asking her why she waited until now to tell them what happened, she just walked away from the situation bringing Sestuna, Michiru, and Hotaru over to the side. She ordered everyone else to work on getting that door opened.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the door, the enemy was taking a liking to his three victims. He appeared human, but within moments his body was covered in vines, which were at his command.
"So, we have three of the outers. How so very endearing. You're the young girl that was behind the machine, Palpa was right… We should have done a way with you, but don't worry, that can all be rearranged right now!" he took every inch of the vines that grew out of him and forced them to engross the young girl.
Emily backed up in horror. She felt her whole body shaking. Lydia held the girl close, she knew she need to transform herself, but she couldn't reach her transformer. Emily was not going to let go.
"Emily darling why not put your past behind you and fight. Or would you prefer to watch your friend die?"
"I don't wanna be a sailor scout!" Emily cried out.
"Emily you're going to have to get off of me so I can transform." Lydia consulted.
"NO!" Emily screamed, embracing tighter.
Within the vines Isabella managed to find her transformer, she grasped it in her hands, as it was all she could do. The vine had covered her mouth and she was unable to speak the words she needed to. She begin calling to the planet of Neptune with her mind. She needed help out of this sticky situation.
"Emily you are either going to have to transform yourself or get off of me." Lydia ordered, trying to push Emily off of her, but it didn't work. "Why can't you be week like Madelyn, no offense."
Isabella's transformer showered the place with a bright light, it caused the monster to take back in its vines and release Isabella. When the light died back down, Emily ran over to her friend, giving Lydia the opportunity to transform. Lydia fought alone, while Isabella tried to get Emily to transform.
"Please Emily, just do it!" Isabella cried out. "We can't be complete without you."
"Fighting is evil." Emily choked out. "I don't want to fight."
"Emily Tomoe! You don't have a choice, you were born into this destiny now take it up and FIGHT!" Chibi Pluto screamed!
Emily stared at her in total dismay. Emily was struggling internally. The enemy once again got a hold of Isabella and this time Chibi Pluto; leaving Emily as defenseless as ever.
"Emily, Chibi Dosei, a coward. She'll be known as the six year old that let her friends down."
Emily eyes were filled with confusion, fear, and somewhat hope. She knew if she didn't fight back she would lose her best friend and Chibi Pluto, she couldn't allow this. She had to put back her fears just this once and fight. Emily took out her pen and screamed out the transformation. She was finally transformed into Chibi Dosei, a warrior of Saturn.
The enemy let his grip go on the two and they fell to the floor. Chibi Dosei looked at the enemy with determination of destructions to his wellbeing.
"RETREAT!" a voice boomed. Chibi Dosei went to attack, but it was far to late, he had ran. She untransformed back into her original form and immediately Isabella praised her. The two ended up walking off together. Lydia didn't bother going after them, the evil presence was gone. They were gone. And Emily had finally transformed. She watched as the two friends walked down the path toward the playground.
Lydia realized that the door was still stuck; she went to it and opened it. Faith, Madelyn, Haruka, Makato, and Minako fell threw the door.
"Hi." Lydia said.
"Where are they?" Ami cried out.
"They went that way." Lydia pointed.
Everyone ran toward the direction Lydia pointed. There was a lot of talk amongst them. Ami was concerned that Emily would need to go into immediate counseling. Hotaru just wanted her daughter in her arms and wasn't worried about counseling. When they arrived at the scene they just stopped and watched as Isabella made Emily laugh. There wasn't going to be as much counseling as expected.
"She already has a wonderful counselor right there. It would have probably taken us weeks to get her to laugh." Rei said.