Chapter 8: Scorpio
Fuyumi, the Blue Laborador puppy, was searching for Melissa Bouvier, who was to be Sailor Scorpio. When she found Melissa, she was with Setsuna and Bunny. Melissa grinned when she saw Fuyumi.
"It's the cute puppy! I don't care if she bosses me around, she's still cute," she commented happily. Setsuna turned away from telling Bunny about the Senshi's past battles to address Fuyumi and Melissa.
"Now that Fuyumi has found us, it is time for Sailor Scorpio to be awakened," she said as she handed a yellow star pendant to Melissa.
"And thus, you must need to tap into the power of revenge," added Fuyumi.
"But that's mean! I wanna have the power of love and cute things!" whined Melissa, who looked at her new pendant as if she was scared of it.
"Don't start, Fuyumi, you'll make her reject her Senshi powers," warned Setsuna, but Fuyumi didn't listen and she continued.
"Think of something that someone has done to you. Like that mysterious girl who poked your eye out. Direct your anger and hatred, which must be boiling beneath your cool, controlled exterior, towards defeating her. First of all, what did she look like?" the dog asked Melissa.
"Well, I don't really like to think about it, but I do remember her. She had blue hair in pigtail braids, kind of like my hair only I just have one braid, and her eyes were purple and evil-looking," Melissa answered, somewhat hesitantly.
"That's Hotaru's daughter, Isuzu. It sounds just like her," Setsuna gasped softly, "And I was going to give her my own powers. She always was a fiesty one, but I suppose she's been turned evil like Small Lady and the others."
"Yes, Isuzu. I want you to devote your life as a Senshi to hating her. You must have a desire for vengeance. All Scorpios do," Fuyumi declared.
"But I don't want to! I mean, I know I probably have to fight her anyway, but that's no fun to always think about hating someone. I wanna have fun and play and read cute romance stories and do fun sweet things!" Melissa protested, her single purple eye tearing up.
"Perhaps she is not the Scorpio you expected her to be? Astrology really isn't scientific anyway," Bunny commented, innocent yet cold.
"Science doesn't matter when it comes to being Sailor Senshi! You just do what you feel like! Science ruins everything and is evil! Look at Taiki and Viluy!" Fuyumi shouted.
"Taiki's not evil, though. I used to think she was, but she and the other Starlights proved that they were on our side," Setsuna corrected the yapping puppy.
"Okay, okay, but Taiki had to learn that science is evil and that dreams and romance solve all our problems before she could be good, right?" Fuyumi challenged. Setsuna sighed.
"I don't think that's quite true. What I meant was, she wasn't evil to begin with. And dreams and romance can be very useful sometimes, but they don't solve everything. There were many times when Usagi herself needed more logic and to think things through. Take the battle with Mistress 9, for example. We were only saved because..." Setsuna gasped in pain as she was cut off, Fuyumi's teeth sinking into her leg.
"How DARE you! Usagi's love is all-powerful! How dare you insult her!" Fuyumi screamed. Melissa cowered and put the pendant in front of her face as protection against the dog teeth. Setsuna shoved the angry puppy back, slapping her on the face.
"Bad dog! No matter how much you are dedicated to defending Usagi, you may NOT bite people!" she scolded severely, one of the few times she'd actually raise her voice at someone. Fuyumi backed off, clearly repentant.
"I apologize, Lady Pluto. I should've remembered not to attack a Scorpio like that. But you, Melissa, that is how you should act. Go ahead. Yell at me. It's part of your destiny in the stars."
"WAAAAH! You're being mean to me again! I don't wanna be bossy!" Melissa sobbed.
"Good, good, now just say that in a different, more forceful way. Tell me confidently that you shall not take my orders, in fact, say it coolly, like you think you're superior to me. Which you should. You Scorpios are a special breed you know," Fuyumi instructed. Melissa only cried harder, and Setsuna grabbed the dog's collar and yanked her back.
"That's enough, Fuyumi. You're obviously not helping if you're upsetting her," she admonished.
"Why did you need the dogs if you had the powers yourselves? They only seem like they're getting in the way," Bunny asked, her question mostly innocent but it still made Fuyumi bare her teeth in anger. This time the dog let Setsuna explain instead of biting, though.
"Yes, we did have them, but we could not create the Zodiac Star pendants on our own. That is what we needed the dogs for. And we did not know they would be so obsessed with astrology when we first met them; we assumed they would be like Luna and Artemis and teach you girls battle techniques and make sure you did you jobs as Senshi." At least, Fuyumi stayed quiet until that last line, which insulted her, and she yapped indignantly.
"But I WAS trying to teach her how to be Sailor Scorpio! And battle techniques...that's directing your anger at your enemy! And one of our enemies is the one who poked Scorpio's eye out!" she retorted.
"Really? She's Scorpio now? How interesting. I did sense something but that was pretty surprising anyway," sneered a voice that was familiar only to Setsuna and Melissa, and one which the latter viewed with dread. It was Isuzu Tomoe, who had poked Melissa's eye out before she ever knew of her destiny as Sailor Scorpio.
"I know you won't listen even if I tell you that Hotaru wouldn't want you to be doing this, so I'll just say to leave. Now. Before you get hurt," Setsuna warned. Melissa grinned.
"I guess I get to use this thing. I mean, I always thought the Senshi outfits were cute. Scorpio Zodiac Power, Make Up!" she called.
"Aries Zodiac Power, Make Up!" When the two girls were done transforming, Sailor Aries was wearing her regular outfit, and Sailor Scorpio's was mainly yellow with purple bows. Fuyumi snarled when she saw that.
"No! That's all wrong! Those aren't Scorpio colors! You're supposed to be wearing black and red!" she protested.
"Well, um, this is the outfit the pendant gave me. And I think it's pretty the way it is. The bows match my eye color," shrugged Sailor Scorpio. Isuzu smiled devilshly and stepped over by Fuyumi.
"Do you really like this doggy? I mean, would it be okay if I took her with me? I think she'd be a fun pet to have," she said.
"No, you can't have her. She stays with us, no matter how much she tries to make up silly rules for the Zodiac Senshi to follow," Setsuna retorted sternly, but Isuzu grabbed Fuyumi anyway, and set the poor dog on fire. Sailor Aries eyed her coldly and aimed.
"Aries Numerical Escalation!" she called, shooting some random numbers of energy at Isuzu, who was knocked on top of Fuyumi. Though the dog was trying to roll the flames off, she hadn't put them out entirely and Isuzu got burned by her own fire too.
"Um, I think you need something to eat. Scorpio Salty Snack Rain!" Sailor Scorpio blurted out, somewhat nervously, and a bunch of chips and pretzels rained down on Isuzu's head, seemingly coming out of nowhere.
"Owwiee! How dare you get salt in my eyes!" she wailed, flinging more fire at Aries and Scorpio, but water flew at them and put the fire out. Setsuna was nearby, holding a bucket that had had water in it. She then gave Isuzu an icy stare before flinging the bucket at her head, knocking her out.
"Sorry, Hotaru. But I didn't want her to burn everyone to a crisp," she sighed, gazing at Isuzu sadly as she disappeared in a flash of red light.
"Hotaru? Won't she be angry at us, then? I...I forgot we were fighting your children here! I don't know if I can do this!" Sailor Scorpio cried before detransforming and falling into tears.
"I know all about it already. The last one who attacked was my own daughter Nadeshiko. I understand that she needed to be stopped, and Sailor Libra and Veronica did the right thing. So don't worry about that. That's one reason why we called upon people from other places; people who didn't have the personal connection to those girls that we do," Setsuna explained. Melissa looked at her pendant with a sad smile. Hopefully they could do something to heal those girls of their evil influence.