Sailor Moon: Dark Stars

Chapter 4

Anna Kendon looked up with surprise at her father James Kendon, standing in front of the lush apartment's door. At first, both father and daughter regarded each other in silence for long moments, the look on their faces betraying the tension they felt towards each other.

"I asked a question, and I believe I deserve an answer." James Kendon began, breaking the too long silence. The tall dark-skinned man crossed his arms on his chest and walked up to the two girls in the living room.

"Oh, ummm, it's nothing, really Dad! Tanya and I were just talking," Anna said nervously. She then looked at Tanya. "OH! You remember cousin Tanya, right? She came to stay here while her father is away? Remember?"

James regarded the smaller girl with curiosity for a moment, then moved closer and offered an outstretched hand. "Oh yes! Of course I remember! Welcome to America, Tanya. I hope that you will be able to enjoy your stay here. Please let me know if there is anything that you need." said the man. "I enjoyed talking with your father, and I know he loves you and will miss you very much.

Tanya, unused to physical contact with strangers, just stood there for a moment, looking at the outstretched hand. Then gathering her wits, she shyly took her uncle's hand and shook it gently. "T...Thank you, sir! It's an honor to be here and to meet you. I'm sure I am going to have a great time in such an exciting country as America. My father has told me so much about it."

Although Tanya had been to her father's native country of Jamaica many times and knew it well, she had never been to his adopted country of America, and she had long dreamed of visiting it, especially New York. Excitment like none other raced through her veins at the many stories she remembered hearing about, and she smiled gratefully at him for the chance of coming here. "Oh, and that's my dog Marco!" Tanya pointed at the Golden Retriever.

"Another dog?" the dark-skinned man sighed. "Well, I guess we can deal with that for now, and please, call me Uncle James. You're family!" The tall man looked at Marco, then back at Tanya. He released Tanya's hand and gave Anna hard look. "Now, all I want to know is if you girls are all right. I heard on the radio in my office that your favorite restaurant downtown was blown up or something! I figured you girls would be there on your way back from the airport, so I had to rush over and see if you had made it home." James ushered the girls over to the large blue couch to sit down.

Anna sat on her father's right side, while Tanya sat on the left. "It's alright Dad, we're fine!" said Anna. "Actually, we managed to get out of that place just as things were starting to go crazy. But all of Tanya's clothes and things, and Marco's carrier was destroyed..." Anna cautiously began to tell the story of what happened in the restaurant, but carefully leaving out the part of Super Sailor Sirius and the monster that attacked them, going with the story of a fire.

"Thank God you girls are alright now!" said Anna's father when she finished, giving out a sigh of relief. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Especially you. I mean, what if you had broken a leg or something? You would never be able to start your gymnastics career," He nodded his dark head. "But you're fine now, and that's all that matters." James tried to take his daughter's hand, but Anna quickly snatched it away and stood up angrily.

"Is that all you care about? If I broke my leg and ruined my gymnastics career?" shouted Anna. Tears were already beginning to form in her eyes. "What about me? What if ME or Tanya would have gotten hurt?" She narrowed her eyes to slits. "I guess it wouldn't matter, because you don't give a damn!" Too angry to say any more, Anna tried to run to her room, unable to stand being in front of her father, but as soon as she turned, James stood up, grabbed her arm and pulled her to him roughly.

"You listen to me! Don't you EVER speak to me that way again!" James yelled back. "I worked too hard to bring you this far, and..and..." The tall man backed down a little when he saw the growing hate and distance in his daughter's eyes. He turned and looked at Tanya, sitting down with a confused and frightened look on her face. He let out a sigh. "It's just that..that..your mother and I was so worried about you!"

Anna's eyes narrowed at those words. "She's NOT my mother!" she hissed, pulling her arm from her father's grasp.

For a moment, James looked at his daughter with hopelessness in his eyes. Then he shook his head sadly. "Look, I'm going back to the office to finish preparing for my business trip. From now on, you are not to go anywhere without letting me know." he said softly, but the rage was still in his voice. He then turned and stormed through the front door, slamming it hard behind him as he left and shaking the glass ornaments and paintings on the wall. Marco and Dief growled low in their throats.

When her father left, Anna finally allowed the tears to fall. Tanya got up from the couch, walked up to Anna, and gently took her hands into her own. "Anna-chan, daijobu yo?" Tanya asked softly, hardly noticing that she had switched to her adopted language of Japanese.

"Hai, dijoubu wa," replied Anna. She carefully wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Gomen, it's just that, ever since my mother..passed away, he was always worried about my future and my career. It was alright at first, but ever since he got married again..." Anna felt a lump in her throat at the memories of her father pushing her beyond her endurance. Tanya placed a hand on her cousin's shoulder.

"It's alright. I completely understand. You miss your mom, as I miss mine." said Tanya sadly. For a few moments, there was just silence as the girls thought about their respective mothers. Then, Anna lifted up her head and smiled, determined to show her cousin a good time.

"Well, the day might be almost over now, but we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow. So what do you want to do?" Anna bent down and whispered in her cousin's ear "Maybe we can sneak out of here!" she whispered cheerfully, wiping away the last of her tears and smiling.

"Hmmm...let's see," Tanya placed a finger on her chin in thought, "OH! There is this one place that I've heard about that I am dying to see, and one thing I have wanted to do for so long: Go see Central Park and do some roller blading!" Tanya clasped her hands together in excitement.

The taller girl laughed happily, then turned to the two guardian dogs sitting by them. "Sounds alright to me! What about you guys?" Anna asked.

"Fine, just as long as we don't have to roll-over and play dead in the grass. Do you know what is IN there?" said Dief with a doggy frown. Both girls laughed as a sweatdrop appeared over Marco, and he sighed.

"Well, it sounds like a date for tomorrow then!" Anna cheered. "I got some roller blades and a new bike. Plus, I think I got some clothes that might fit you great!" She took Tanya's hand and dragged her to her bedroom as the shorter girl laughed.

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Central Park, New York City

The Next Day

Hidden in the shadows and shades of trees in a large area in the park, Pitkin secretly watched for the human with the greatest energy output for his minion Slicer to take over. The small bald-head man looked around at the humans with disgust and anger. "Look at those stupid humans, just wasting all that energy that could be used for my master and his ultimate plan!" the little man sneered. The small ball in the palm in his hand was pulsating a red glow, reading the energy of the humans not too far from where he was standing. Everywhere he looked, Pitkin saw humans walking, talking, reading, eating, or just listening to music. "Soon, all of you will be bowing to the might of the Meerages!" snickered the small man. He licked his lips in anticipation of what was to come. Pitkin then continued to point the silver ball at the humans. Suddenly, it started to glow even more brighter when it fell upon a young man a few feet away, just out of his teens, practicing martial arts by a broken lamppost and completely isolated from the other people. He was not much to look at, wearing baggy clothes and with unkept hair, but seemed very determined in his practice and martial arts.

"HEHEHE!" laughed out Pitkin, putting the ball away in his pocket. "At last, a victim to carry out our plan to bring this planet to ruin! Slicer, come forth!" He threw up a small hand. Suddenly, the wind blew a little stronger, and red mist appeared around the little man. It then rose to the air, then slowly materialized into a large insect monster that resembled a praying mantis. Its eyes were pitch red, and instead of the normal claws of the insect, it had large knives and swords sticking out of its arm sockets.

"Yessss, Master! How may I be of ssssserviccce!" Slicer growled, already eager for the taste of human energy. Pitkin pointed to the young man by the lamppost. "You know what to do! Go and collect energy for the Great Cause!" he said, then laughed a high-pitched sound.

The creature let out a loud growl, then leaped about 11 feet into the air with his hind legs. He landed directly in front of the young man with a loud thud. When the man saw the monster, his eyes widened in terror. "Hey! What the hell is going on?" he cried out as he went into a fighting stance.

"You will not be hurt, as long as you surrender to me! You can no longer resist, you are in MY power!" said Slicer as he stood before the frightened man. His red eyes began to swirl as he stared into the young man's eyes.

"I...I can not longer resist.." repeated the man blankly. His eyes also began to turn red and swirl around. With a evil and quiet laugh, the monster once again turned into a red mist, then floated right into the man's mouth. The man screamed as his arms began to enlargen and turn into large knives and swords.

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"Okay Tanya, you ready?" shouted Anna as she made a last adjustment on her bike helmet, then checked knee pads and elbow pads while sitting on the bike seat. The light tan shorts set outfit she wore accented her dark complexion beautifully, and her dark brown skin glowed brightly in the sunlight. After putting on the helmet and tying her long dark brown hair in a ponytail, she set her sandaled feet on the bike pedals.

"You bet Anna! Let's get this show on the road!" laughed out Tanya from behind. The bright blue shorts set outfit she wore hugged her body comfortably, showing off her perfect shape and flawless dark skin. She pushed a strand of black hair behind her ear, checked her knee pads and elbow pads, and made sure the straps on her roller blades were just right. She then grabbed on tight to the bike seat.

"Umm, are you sure you girls know what you're doing?" asked Marco quietly, trying to conceal his voice from the people passing by. Dief lay on the ground with both paws over his head.

"Of course we do, Marco! Now quit worrying and get out of the way!" said Anna with a frown. Looking back at Tanya and winking, both girls then nodded. "ONE, TWO, THREE, GO!" shouted Anna, then started paddling. Soon, they picked up speed, and Tanya felt the wind rush past her face and felt the ground roll by underneath her wheeled feet. Marco and Diefen quickly ran behind them.

"WHOAAAA! This is SOOO cool!" shouted Tanya. Both girl's hair were streaming wildly behind them as they rushed down a bike lane hill. People looked curiously after them as they continued to rush pass, shouting and laughing all the way. The ride went on for about 6 minutes, when Tanya noticed something Anna didn't as she looked up and over the taller girl's shoulders. Anna had her eyes closed with a wide grin.

"ANNA! LOOK OUT! YOU'RE HEADED RIGHT FOR THE GR..." Tanya never got to finish as Anna rode out of the bike lane and straight into the grassy part of the park. Trying to keep her balance, Anna didn't notice as they headed for a large mound made out of dirt. Unable to stop, both girls quickly headed up the mound, then came crashing down with a yell. Tanya landed right on top of Anna and the bike. The girls laid there for a few seconds, groaning in pain.

"ITAI! Where did that come from?" said Anna painfully as she got up and rubbed the small of her sore back. Tanya got up with a grunt, and rubbed her sore arms. "Next time, let ME be the one that's driving?" Tanya said between lagged breath. The cousins looked at each other, then started to laugh. The laughter died immediately in grunts of pain.

"Are you girls alright? Oh! I knew this wasn't a good idea!" said Dief as he and Marco came running over the mound towards them. Before either of them could answer though, a loud scream and panicked cries cut through the funny moment. Taking their helmets off at the same time, the girls looked over to their left at the fence, and watched a horrific scene unfold before them. A large man, with big red eyes and large knives and swords coming out of his arm sockets, was attacking the people in the baseball field. Red mist flew out of his mouth, and every time it went over someone, they fell to the ground unconscious. Then, a white light rose up out of them, and went straight into the possessed man.

"KAMI-SAMA! What is that?" said Anna, slowly backing away as her green eyes widen in fear.

"That is a call to duty, and for you both to live out your destiny!" said Dief, running up to both girls with Marco. "I hope you remembered to bring your henshin items. You must transform and defend these people! If you believe you can do it, you will!" Dief laid a black paw on Anna's foot.

"Hai!" said Tanya, then she turned to Anna. "Anna-chan! Hiyaku, henshin yo!" She kicked off the roller blades, then ran to a hidden spot to transform. Anna nodded nervously, then followed, kicking off her own roller blades and taking her henshin pen from her pocket. If I truly believe, I can do it! Tanya, Marco, and Dief believe in me! she thought, her heart beating heavily against her chest.

Finally standing next to each other under a shady tree, each girl raised a right hand in the air, and began their transformation. For some reason, the familiar phrase came rushing to Anna's mind:

POLARIS NORTH STAR POWER! MAKE-UP!

SIRIUS EMERALD STAR POWER! MAKE-UP!

In a flash, each girl was surrounded by a dark violet and pink light. When the transformation was done, Super Sailor Sirius stood in a fighting pose wearing a white, violet, and black fuku, while Sailor Polaris stood besides her, ready to fight in a pink, yellow, and white fuku.

Slicer moved forward towards a little boy, crying besides his unconscious mother. As he got ready to steal his energy, two young voices cut through the air. "MACHINASAI! Hold it right there, you disgusting bug!"

"What's thisss?" screamed out the large possessed man, then looked up to see who would dare disturb his work. Against the morning sun, two dark silhouettes appeared on the scene.

"How low can you go, disturbing the peace of the people in this park! Don't you dare think I will let you get away with that! As sure as the star that shines brightest in the heavens, I am Sailor Sirius, and you WILL be vanquished!" Sirius shouted, pointing her finger at him.

"You will not be tolerated! Representing the Star that has guided humanity since the dawn of time, I am Sailor Polaris, and you will be star-dust!" shouted Sailor Polaris. Both senshi stood back to back, arms crossed over their chest.

Slicer yawned, covering his mouth, then fixed the girls a cold hard stare. "OH SSSSHUT UP! I am SSSSlicer, and how'sss thisss for not being tolerated? YAHHHH!" With a angry roar, the mutated man shot out dozens of large knives at the two dark-skinned senshi. Quickly, Sirius and Polaris jumped up out of the way of the knives, flipping over the monster's head and barely missing the knives in time...or so they thought. With a gasp, Sailor Sirius suddenly felt pain. Looking down, she saw a medium sized cut on her thigh, and watched in horror as blood slowly came out and made a small trail down her leg.

"OOHHH! You ugly slime ball! You're gonna pay for that!" Sirius shouted in rage. She raised her right hand in the air, and magically, the Sirius Scepter appeared. She pointed to it at the mutated man and prepared to fire. He screamed, then began shooting out more large knives to cut the girls to pieces.

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To be continued.