Alarmingly, when Jewel reached Gracie and Crystal, they were out of earshot from the Crystal Palace!
"Gracie! Crystal! Where are you going?!" Chibiusa called into their minds, using Jewel's magical link.
Gracie and Crystal gripped their heads.
"W-Where are you?!" Crystal looked around, knowing she clearly heard Chibiusa.
"Get out of our heads!" Gracie snarled, a warning tone in her voice.
"I believe our princess asked you a question?!" Christen snapped.
"We can't tell you." Crystal answered in an almost automatic way.
"That's our business," Gracie replied.
"You two are our business!" Ariel added, and the other girls swore they saw the real Gracie and Crystal's expressions for just a second.
"If t-that's t-t-true, c-c-come, f-f-fight us!" Gracie struggled to get these words out, but her message is clear: Save us!
"We're coming! Hang on, you two! Keep fighting it!" Holly cried as the Neo-Sailor Senshi, Jewel, Elizabeth, and Selina sprinted from the Palace!
Diana, Comet, and Asteroid scampered to the Control Center. If a Skinwalker is coming close, they could warn the girls. As the girls charged towards their friends, they dived deeper into Gracie and Crystal's minds. It became clear how much they were crying for help. In the possessed girl's minds, they were scratched up and cornered, shaking in fear as an animal, shrouded in darkness, guarded them! A wolf for Gracie and a fox for Crystal. The Neo-Sailor Senshi and Jewel used their pendants light to back away the shadowy animals, but it did not eliminate them.
"Gracie, are you OK?!" Chibiusa rushed up to her frightened friend.
Still trembling, Gracie looked up, "Girls? Thanks. I guess I really am useless."
"What do you mean?" Chibiusa asked.
"Well...a couple of nights ago, I saw this puppy...or what I thought to be a puppy...it seemed injured, so I went to help, but it took off. Still worried, I transformed and tried to find it, then I was attacked by this wolf and...I don't know how to explain it...it told me, "The heart is useless, and beauty is pointless. Power is all that matters." As I thought more and more about it, it sounded right. What good is a weak heart and beauty?" Gracie hung her head.
"Your heart is filled with love and friendship, Gracie. That doesn't make it way your always so loving and cheerful makes you beautiful. If I ever feel dark or lonely, I come to you for a joke, and you never disappoint. You always leave me in stitches of laughter!" Jewel hugged Gracie.
"Uh...Girls, I think Gracie's "guardian" is unhappy." Queen Beryl pointed Elizabeth's paw to the wolf, who was crouched and growling at them.
"I'll take care of this. PHOENIX STRIKE!" Out of Christen's body burst a Phoenix, which soared straight toward the wolf!
Of course, the wolf tried to avoid the magical bird as it headed toward the girls, but just like Christen, the bird was not willing to give up! Forward, backward, left, right, rinse, and repeat, the movements went on! Finally, when Christen was about to punch the wolf to get it over with, the bird grabbed it by the face! Though it appeared the bird incinerated the wolf, it just disappeared like; a fading nightmare.
"Gracie...you'll never be useless." Holly, the teammate Gracie always had a difficult time getting along with, assured her.
That gave Gracie the strength to get to her feet, and she did not doubt herself anymore. Unfortunately, Crystal's story is more or less the same.
"Last night, I had just picked up a few things we really needed, and a colony of bats attacked me out of nowhere! I froze them into Popsicles, but then I ran across a fox. I waited for it to run, but it didn't, so I tried to side-step it, but it attacked me. In my head...it told me, "Your power is only a fraction of what Alexis's can do. You'll never be good enough." Crystal began to cry as Emily hugged her.
Emily is the teammate Crystal had a difficult time understanding. As lively as Emily is, she is a bit socially awkward, which is a part of her mild learning disabilities. Crystal is not.
"If it weren't for your awesome power, the ocean wouldn't exist, and lots of plants, animals, and even people, depend on you." Alexis urged Crystal to realize how important she really is.
"Look out!" Queen Beryl yelled, and the girls turned to see the fox heading towards them with its teeth bared!
"Looks like I'm up!" Ariel jumped in front of everyone and started charging up. Ariel held off attacking from afar as she did not want this battle to drag out as long as the one with the wolf did. Ariel waited until the fox is a mere 5 feet away and..."ELECTRIC DRAGON!"
Direct hit but, instead of getting fried, the fox melted away as Crystal got to her feet with the support of her teammates! In reality, Gracie regained consciousness to see Chibiusa, Holly, Christen, Ariel, and Jewel (Queen Beryl on her hair) sitting around her. Beside them, Alexis, Emily, Trisha, and Selina are hugging a dazed and confused Crystal. After getting their bearings...
"Look, I don't know why, but I feel like we should have a musical number about friendship saving the day or something?" Christen asked with an obvious joking tone in her voice.
"It's getting dark...let's go home. I'm so drained I'd faint in the middle of a song. I could use a good night's sleep more." Gracie stretched.
"Me too." Crystal yawned.
Thankfully, no Skinwalkers attempted to try and kill them on their trek back to the Crystal Palace or the rest of the night.