Chapter 2: Taurus
Minako was walking down the hallway when she tripped over something. When she looked at what it was, she saw that someone had stretched a piece of string across the pathway. She was knocked back down again when someone else ran by, plowing her down.
"AAAH! I wanted her to trip too!" a girl with a German accent shouted. Minako looked up to see a girl with her black hair in twin braids glaring down at her. Minako replied with an equally fierce look.
"Kristina, that's dangerous! You could've really hurt someone!" she snapped.
"I was just doing a science experiment," Kristina whined, "I knew that was a really old trick and I wanted to see if anyone here would fall for it." Instead of getting angrier, Minako smirked and held out a turquoise star pendant.
"Take it. You are now a Sailor Senshi," she said, still with that smirk. Kristina went to grab it, but then she stared back at Minako.
"Are you tricking me? What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously. Minako giggled, dropping the pendant on the floor.
"The catch? The catch is that you have to fight monsters whether you want to or not! You'll have to see your friends hurt and you might not be able to save them! You won't have any free time to date and what time there is you have to hide your identity from your boyfriend! It's a pretty tough thing, being a Sailor Senshi!" she exclaimed loudly, and then she brought her voice down to a whisper. "But you get lots of friends and teammates too. Do you think you're ready for such a big responsibility?" Kristina nodded importantly.
"Of course I am. If I can go be an exchange student, I can be a Senshi too!" she declared, slipping the pendant over her head in an almost defiant manner that challenged Minako to yank it away from her. She then turned around giggling when she heard a shriek. Minako did too, as she saw what was quite a silly mess. A girl that looked oddly like a younger version of Setsuna was standing in shock with green slime dripping all over her body, a bucket perched atop her head as if it was a hat. The girl roared with anger and she flung the bucket at Kristina. It missed and clanked across the floor.
"You did that on purpose! I bet one of you did that to me and it probably wasn't you, Minako, since I know you're not bad like that," the girl snarled.
"Yeah, it was me, and it was really funny! And I'm a Sailor Senshi!" Kristina giggled, showing her pendant. The girl glared at her.
"I'm in a hurry, but I'll get revenge on you later," she snapped before running off. Minako sighed.
"I knew when I saw her that she was unfriendly, but I didn't know she would take the joke so bad," she commented. Kristina looked confused.
"Who's that? Isn't she one of those American girls who came to the palace?" she asked. Minako nodded.
"Yes, Samantha Sanchez. She's not related to the other three girls by blood but since they live together they're like sisters. I guess she doesn't like pranks though," she said.
"You shouldn't be playing pranks. You should want to clean up that mess and make things look pretty. It is your nature as a Taurus," scolded a voice. Kristina looked down to see a cute little Yorkshire Terrier with green fur who was staring up at her.
"Who ARE you and why are you telling me how to act? I like the slime on the floor," Kristina challenged. The dog sighed.
"I'm Chinatsu, guardian pet of the Earth Sign Zodiac Senshi. That is, of course, you, Virgo, and Capricorn. And my job is to make sure you fulfill your destiny as a Taurus," she explained.
"That's stupid. I'll make my own destiny! What are you gonna do, take away my powers?" Kristina challenged.
"No, but..." Chinatsu sighed, "Maybe when you actually use your powers, you'll come to realize your true destiny."
"Don't transform just because she said that! Wait until there's a real danger!" Minako exclaimed in a panic. Kristina shrieked, giggling.
"There's one! There's an evil fly buzzing around! I'll protect you from it! Taurus Zodiac Power, Make Up!" she yelled before anyone could stop her. When the process was finished, she was wearing a turquoise Senshi outfit with black bows. Minako rolled her eyes.
"You know, when someone tells you NOT to do something, don't do it," she said in exasperation. Sailor Taurus giggled at the feeling of the power building up inside of her.
"This is fun! Here's what I say! Taurus Animal Transformation!" she called, and in a poof of aqua light, the human girl had disappeared. In her place was a cute German Shepherd puppy with black and aqua fur.
"Huh? Awww, that's cute! But why a puppy?" Minako asked. Not only was she relieved that Sailor Taurus wasn't going to be zapping things with her powers, but she was also confused at the choice of animal. She had almost expected a frog, since they were supposed to catch flies.
"Because I wanted to be a dog like Chinatsu. I just decided it would be interesting. Dogs get away with a lot of fun stuff because they look cute," Sailor Taurus-puppy asserted.
"Yeah, that's true. I guess I'm just glad your powers don't hurt anything, as long as that spell wears off some time. I wouldn't want to have you try to go back to Germany when your exchange time is over and tell everyone that you got stuck being a weird talking dog," Minako commented. She then shrieked as her feet suddenly began to be covered in ice.
"Who's that behind you? I don't recognize her. Is she a Zodiac Senshi too?" asked Taurus-puppy.
"I'm not a Zodiac Senshi. I was sent to get rid of them. I'm Yumemi Hino," the new girl giggled. Minako stared at her in shock. That green hair, those red eyes...it couldn't be!
"Please stop this, Yumemi! Rei wouldn't want you to do this!" she pleaded.
"Um, no, freezing you is too much fun. I was bored on the Moon with that bossy Bertha not letting me do anything, and now it's my turn!" Yumemi chirped.
"Don't freeze people! GRRRR!" snarled Taurus-puppy, and she ran up and bit Yumemi on the leg.
"Get off of me, you stupid mutt! I'll freeze you too!" Yumemi shrieked angrily, and she encased Taurus-puppy in ice up to her head, which was left unfrozen so she could watch.
"Star Serious Laser!" called a voice, and Yumemi was sent flying across the room. Minako cheered when she saw Sailor Star Fighter had joined the battle.
"EEEEEK! Bertha didn't tell me there would be Starlights! EEEEEK! That hurt!" Yumemi squealed in fright, grabbing Minako and speeding up the freezing process. Star Fighter ran over and yanked her off of Minako, holding her down.
"If you're Rei's daughter, I don't want to hurt you, but I will not let you freeze people like that," she scolded. Yumemi kicked upwards, shoving Fighter away from her. She jumped back, ready to freeze the newcomer too, but she suddenly stopped, and then sighed.
"Fine, Bertha. But I almost had them," she said reluctantly, then she grinned, "I'll play with you later! Bye!" With that, she disappeared in a flash of blue light, an aura that reminded Minako of Mercury.
"Hey, how do we get unfrozen! It's cold!" cried Minako. Taurus-puppy yapped in response. Seiya detransformed, unsure of what to do. She didn't want to attack, because she was afraid her powers would be too strong and that she would accidentally hurt Minako and the talking dog.
"Maybe we should get Sailor Mercury? She was always good with doctor things," Seiya suggested. Minako stared for a moment.
"Um, what are you doing here? I thought you were on Kinmoku," she asked.
"We never made it back. When we tried to go back after the fight with Galaxia, a strange force sent us here. I saw Neo-Queen Serenity and we figured out we were sent through time somehow. Taiki and Yaten are with her now, but it was too hard for me to just stay with her, with her husband and daughter..." Seiya cut off her explanation, afraid she would cry in front of Minako. Suddenly, Taurus-puppy glowed, and she broke out of the ice. She found herself as a human girl, Kristina, again.
"Aww, I guess the thing's only temporary," she pouted.
"Um, that's good, silly, remember what I said? I don't WANT you to stay a dog forever," Minako sighed.