Back at the Crystal Palace, the enchanting Christmas lights and ornaments wiped away most of the horrible things the girls had witnessed that day! Chibiusa and her team dropped off their backpacks as Jewel presented Elizabeth with her new toy, which she began bating, rolling, eating, and biting immediately in a zealous manner! Elizabeth even shared her toy with Comet, Asteroid, and Diana!
"Girls, it's time for you to decorate the tree!" Neo-Queen Serenity called.
Excitedly, the girls stampeded into the Throne Room, where the enormous Christmas tree stood!
"Me first!" Gracie adored a set of Styrofoam, silver and gold glitter-coated star decorations she owned, which she made sure got put on the tree first every year!
Crystal loved a plastic snowflake, which looked made of crystal glass, but it was rather heavy, so it needed the strongest branch!
"Is this allowed?" Christen held up a Luna-P-looking hanging, which was agreed is acceptable.
Chibiusa, Alexis, Emily, and Jewel decorated the rest with candy-like ornaments as Ariel and Holly circled it with colored light and silver-gold tinsel! After all the smaller parts were complete, Trisha came in with the finishing touches: A new, red tree skirt with decorative cut, a green margin she had sewn, with Holly's help here and there, and a porcelain, blonde, blue-eyed Christmas angel in all white and holding two clear Christmas lights, one in each hand, for the top of the tree!
On Dec. 24th. movies, games, music, caroling, and a Christmas dinner of chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables (except carrots *Usagi doesn't like them*, asparagus *Rei doesn't like it*, and mushrooms *Michiru dislikes them*) with cherry pie, pudding, and white cream cake, sponge cake frosted with whipped cream, topped with strawberries and with a chocolate plate for dessert made Christmas for the girls! Jewel never recalled having so many home-cooked things she liked to eat and enough of it as the Dark Kingdom members often had to bring fast food home for her and themselves, though that never seemed to be a problem for them.
"OK. Who wants to open a present early?" King Endymion asked, and, of course, all the girls raised a hand.
Weighed down by food and sweets, the girls followed the king and queen sluggishly, but they could only imagine what gifts they had gotten! Gracie noticed something out the window as Chibiusa showed off her new, fluffy, pink, heart-shaped earmuffs.
"What? Are those...lights? What use could such small lights be out in the woods?" The strangeness of the situation made questions swirl around Gracie's mind.
These lights are red and moved rhythmically, up and down slightly.
"Gracie!" Chibiusa's voice piped up.
"Huh?!" Gracie whirled around in shock, a bit light-headed.
"It's your turn." Chibiusa gestured toward the towering mountain of presents.
"O-Oh! Yes." Gracie really did not want to chance to dig into the mountain base if it came tumbling down and hurt someone.
So, she picked up a gift, at floor level, and unwrapped it carefully: The newest Sailor V video game! As everyone got excited over it, Gracie looked back out the window, but the lights had gone...or now what she knew had to have been the eyes of a tall, wild animal! Gracie decided to dismiss this experience and enjoy the other girl's gifts too.
Colorful make-up for Crystal, a cookbook with more complicated recipes for Ariel, a sewing kit for Holly, a paint book for Alexis, an art book for Emily, a hairstyle set for Trisha, a manga for Jewel, and, as if Christen did not have enough books already, she got another one, this one showcasing all kinds of Native American legends! Well, the girls were pleased with their gifts! Later that night, Gracie heard what sounded like knocking on her bedroom windows!
"Who would be...?" Gracie got out of bed, opened the blinds, and sees what she believes to be a lost puppy, though it was quite big for a puppy, how can you resist a good, poor, baby dog? Saying so, tenderhearted Gracie could not resist helping it out.
Gracie knew it was not safe to bring this animal into the place with the cats around and Asteroid slept with her, being Minako's daughter and all. However, that was not an issue because as Gracie approached, the puppy fled deeper into the would, but it was definitely injured as it ran as if tripping over EVERYTHING!
"Wait! Venus Pendant Power! Make-Up!" Gracie transformed, hoping her loving aura as Neo-Sailor Venus would help calm the puppy. Sadly, Neo-Venus could not see the puppy anymore, but she did find something else. The eyes she saw earlier belonged to a wolf, but not any kind of wolf she'd seen before; this one walked on two legs, albeit hunched over! Neo-Venus screamed as it lunged at her from the darkness, but...
"Heart Chain Constrict!" Neo-Venus was able to immobilize the monster.
As Gracie stared into the monster's eyes, she began to feel dizzy! In an almost trance-like state, Gracie broke her chain, freeing the creature. It did not attack her, but fled. As Gracie trekked back home, she thought, "Let the fun begin..."
Gracie returned to the Crystal Palace, but was she really Gracie or someone else?