Chapter 9: Saggitarius
It was the day that Makoto Kino had been dreading. The day after Sailor Scorpio was awakened, she knew it was her turn next, to give the brown star pendant to Sailor Saggitarius.
"I'm scared, Miharu," Makoto confided, "I don't know how well Emily Remington is going to take being a Senshi."
"Don't be. From what I've seen, she's pretty obedient. And while that doesn't exactly fit her sign, at least she's not likely to reject her destiny. Why are you scared of her? It's not because she's blind, is it? That shouldn't be a reason; she can still use her other senses in battle," Miharu asked, confused in a puppy-like way. Makoto sighed, fingering the pendant.
"No, it doesn't have to do with that. She just has this gloomy air about her, and while she speaks politely, she never smiles. I also saw that she had a bunch of macabre stories in her room. Frankly, she reminds me of how Hotaru was back when she was possessed by Mistress 9, only much worse."
"Well, Hotaru grew up to be a very powerful Senshi, didn't she? I think that will make her a great Senshi. If she's used to monsters and ghosts, then she won't be too scared to fight them. Heck, she might even know the best ways to defeat her enemies!" Miharu yapped cheerfully.
"You're forgetting that the enemies are our children, not otherworldly beasts. But perhaps I have no choice, since she's here. She didn't seem like she had a choice either, like maybe her parents forced her to come here from England," Makoto said, more determined now. She and Miharu headed for Emily's room, and they met up with Kristina on the way.
"Oooh, you've got another of those pendants! Who's this one for?" she asked eagerly.
"Emily Remington. She's Sailor Saggitarius," answered Miharu.
"Good luck getting her! Even if she transforms, she's too slow and calm to be a Senshi!" Kristina guffawed, but then her laughter turned to a yelp of pain as Miharu bit her on the leg.
"That's enough! Do not mock the other Sailors!" she scolded.
"You shouldn't bite people either," Makoto snapped back, "And you, Kristina, don't make fun of her just because she's not as active as you. Sometimes the physically weaker ones can be great Senshi, like Hotaru and the Queen herself." Miharu hung her head, but she and Kristina still glared at each other as Makoto walked up to Emily's door and knocked.
"May I ask who is calling?" came the crisp English-accented reply.
"Makoto Kino. I'm here to give you the power of Saggitarius. Kristina and your guardian dog Miharu are with me," Makoto answered. She opened the door slightly and saw Emily waiting on her bed, her dark green eyes not really focused on anything.
"Hey, guess what? You get to have a doggy now! I mean, she also belongs to Stormy and Bunny, but she's also yours. I'll show you," Kristina announced eagerly, picking up Miharu. She dropped the dog on Emily's lap, startling her.
"I thought I was going to be a Senshi. Does the dog help me transform?" Emily asked expressionlessly.
"No, but she's supposed to be your guardian dog, like how Luna and Artemis helped us when we were Senshi," Makoto explained, handing Emily a brown star pendant. Emily touched it gingerly, then put it around her neck.
"Thank you, Mrs. Kino. I shall do my part to uphold my duty," she responded coolly. Miharu yapped happily and jumped onto the floor.
"Okay! Good! First we need to find you a horse to ride! Saggitarius people love horses! Well, maybe not...um, how about doing archery? Saggitarius is the sign of the archer. We could use sound-based targets," the puppy suggested.
"I do not see the point. Does this have to do with my powers?" Emily asked, now just confused.
"Yeah, because..." Miharu trailed off, sniffing Emily's leg. "You smell like pizza. You have an aura of pizza." Kristina snickered.
"Maybe you're just smelling what she ate recently? If you can do that, what do I smell like?" she challenged. Miharu walked over and sniffed her too.
"A zoo. You smell like lots of different kinds of animals. And I know you didn't just go to a zoo, so you can't use that excuse," Miharu replied. Kristina pouted a bit at having been shown up, but then she burst out giggling again.
"Hey, what kind of power is pizza, anyway? Is she going to cook the enemies and eat them?" she jeered.
"Would you like me to demonstrate?" Emily asked. Her voice was mostly calm, but there was an air of menace about it too.
"Stop that, Kristina. Some of the others have food powers too, like Scorpio and Libra. That's just what they've got. You know, one time Sailor Moon herself used a pizza as a weapon. It was when she was Eternal Sailor Moon, so she didn't have her tiara anymore. We were fighting a monster in her house, and she threw a pizza at it. That actually worked fairly well," Makoto told the girls, hoping to stop what could escalate into a fight. But Miharu sighed.
"Why? Why are the Senshi I'm in charge of so quiet and calm?! They're the Fire Sign Zodiacs, so they should be more fiery, like me!" she whined.
"From the way you dogs talk, it sounds like none of the Zodiac Senshi act the way you want them to. Maybe you should just let them be themselves? What's so bad about them being quiet? When I was much younger, I got in trouble for fighting at school. Do you wish that on them?" Makoto reasoned.
"Well, yeah, if it fits their Zodiac signs, then they should be that way," Miharu humphed.
"I agree with you, pup. I think that everyone should know how to fight," said a new voice. Ayumi Mizuno, Ami's daughter, had arrived. She had her red hair in a long ponytail, and she was wearing a purple dress that looked oddly like the first school uniform Usagi wore.
"Not you too, Ayumi. I should've known that Ami wouldn't be spared," moaned Makoto when she realized what was going on.
"Ami wouldn't be spared? Mom's not here. Those two evil Zodiac Senshi are, though, and I'm going to teach them how to fight," Ayumi smirked, "The first lesson is, getting out of a sticky situation!" With that, Ayumi, flung a bunch of purple slime at Emily and Kristina, covering them and the nearby floor with it.
"Hah! I bet this will come right off if I do this! Taurus Zodiac Power, Make Up!" Kristina called.
"I suppose I must do what I came here for. Saggitarius Zodiac Power, Make Up!" added Emily. When her transformation was completed, Sailor Saggitarius was wearing a mainly brown uniform with lime green bows, and her shoes were reminiscent of the tall boots of the Sailor Starlights.
"That's good, Saggitarius! Now, charge in there and fight! Taurus, you remind her to plan, but Saggitarius, don't listen!" Miharu commanded.
"What?! Shut up, you stupid dog! Taurus Animal Transformation!" Sailor Taurus yelled, and turquoise lights swirled around her and changed her into an alligator. Ayumi stared, confused.
"Why did you turn into that? I can easily beat you if I just run in circles," she taunted. Taurus-alligator looked back at Sailor Saggitarius.
"Now, Emily! Use those pizza powers! And make it a meat pizza too!" she ordered. Sailor Saggitarius sighed.
"As you wish. Saggitarius Pizza Magic!" With those words, a large pepperoni pizza appeared in the blond Senshi's hands, and she flung it at Ayumi. Taurus-alligator sniffed, and then roared happily, snapping at Ayumi's ankles viciously until she tore a good chunk of flesh out. Ayumi screamed and began flinging her slime wildly, most of it not hitting the Senshi and just landing around Emily's room. In a flash of pink light, Chibi appeared.
"You're pathetic, what kind of tough tomboy are you?" she snapped before teleporting Ayumi away and disappearing again. Sailor Saggitarius picked up the piece of bloody flesh that was laying on the floor.
"An alligator attack...that's a good idea. Perhaps it would be a novel idea to combine the genres of macabre horror and adventure tales," she mused. She then nearly got her own hand bitten as Taurus-alligator snapped at her.
"Mine! I want that meat!" she growled.
"I hope she turns back into a human soon," groaned Makoto, "Then she can help clean up the mess Ayumi made."