As common as it was for Christen to have occasional, unprompted premonitions like; her mother, she never had the patience for meditation, which caused her to be unable to use precognition, and pyromancy could purify and had a sixth sense. As a result, she rarely tapped into it. Thankfully, this new enemy forced her to think it necessary to hone these in-born talents.
Queen Beryl had rather rudely stated, "I could count many times it would have been useful for you to know how to purify!" and Christen would cleverly reply with, "That's strange coming from you since I don't see you using any of yours power to help, kitty!"
Of course, this also led to many times Christen was either slightly off in her premonitions, misinterpreted her pyromancy readings, knocked out someone with her purification chant when she got pissed off or would appear with a soot-coated face and clothes!
As the girls, including Jewel, sat around a snack table, they sighed as loudly roaring flames sounded brief, followed by Christen's cry of frustration, and she walked in...
"If you keep getting covered in soot, people are going to assume you're practicing blackface." Gracie joked, not realizing how offensive this sounded as Emily glared at her.
"That's racist, and shut up," Christen grumbled as she shuffled off to wash up.
As often as Christen categorized stuff like racist comments (you could say "Wow! Look at your pretty tan!" or "OMG! You're so pale! Are you feeling OK?" and Christen would think that's racist to Latino's and goths (goths are paler than normal)) she was not always right though, in this case, she was.
"You shouldn't say that, Gracie," Chibiusa commented, noting the look on Emily's face.
"It was just a joke. I wasn't using it in a racist context." Gracie explained, which made Emily's heated look simmer a bit.
Being the only African-American Sailor Senshi never really posed much of a problem because the other girls always tried to make Emily feel included in any activity they did, even letting her have the last word in certain situations. Also, Crystal Tokyo made racism a crime punishable by law, so it almost did not exist! This fact did make Emily a little happier.
"A joke is not a joke unless everyone laughs," Trisha advised.
"Why isn't Christen's mother helping her?" Even Jewel remembered when her mother taught her some basic magic.
"Rei tried, but Christen believes this is something she has to learn on her own, though Christen is a late bloomer." Ariel sighed in exasperation, remembering how long it took Christen to get 'Phoenix Strike' to work properly...about 2-3 years!
As the day gave way to night, down a dark, lonely, dirt road, a crowd of cloaked people trudged, eventually veering off and into the concealing brush. No one knew there was a rough clearing within the depth of this brush because it was so secluded.
Surrounded by items such as red candles, skulls marked with black magic symbols, bones, some ground to dust in bowls, female skeletons, fresh food, ceremonial paint, items for sand painting, and animal pelts, these people sat in a circle! They appeared to be normal Navajo people, but the items surrounding them were anything but normal. There were a few children among the adults who seemed terrified and confused, new members or sacrifices to dark rituals and cannibalism?
Truth is...they would be either.
"Welcome back, brothers and sisters, and welcome for the first time, new young ones. But, unfortunately, I see one of our own is late." An older man wearing beaded jewelry spoke. "No matter, she will be with us before long, but if she takes too long, there will be little to no food left for her."
Not a second later, a wolf came barreling into the ceremony! Injured, it shape-shifted back into a woman so that the wound would be less crippling! Then, wrapping one of the cloaks around her naked body and dressing the injury with it, she turned to the older man, who is obviously the leader.
"Forgive my tardiness. I ran into some misfortune." This woman's wounded arm should have been reason enough, but that was not the "misfortune" she was talking about.
"Where are the Princesses or Love and Water, Mitena?" The leader, who earned Tyee's name after becoming a powerful and long-lived Skinwalker, meaning "chief, leader, big, and superior," scrutinized the young woman.
Mitena's name means "a new moon," and she hoped one would come soon and, with it, a new turn in her life. Mitena's life had not been easy since her parent's death; she had to care for herself and her baby sister from a very young age and, as it grew tougher and tougher when food and water in the village became scarce, she thought if she became a Skinwalker, she would be able to provide better for her sister.
However, to become a Skinwalker, Mitena would have to kill her sister! Her name...Sakari...meaning sweet...and her sister was so sweet as she did not cry or scream as Mitena stabbed her and she died in her older sister's arms. Mitena sobbed as her sister's blood stained her arms, but she did not stop crying for days. Sometimes she still cried.
"The earlier misfortune I was talking about," Mitena confessed she lost control of their captives.
Knowing Tyee's temper was not in the best of conditions, a man named Mato, meaning "bear," his most often used Skinwalker form, defended Mitena, "Doesn't matter. We only wanted them out of the way. They aren't a threat to us, anyway."
"Still makes all our work pointless." So a boy named Takala, meaning "fox," and earned it for using the said form to attack Crystal, argued.
Tyee took a few deep breaths to keep himself calm from blowing up over Mitena's slip-up. "Despite that, we have two more important victims now: The Princesses of Fire and Thunder. I don't think they'll be any more trouble than the last two. Mato, go with Mitena."
Mato chooses a Kodiak bearskin, and Mitena chooses a cat pelt as cats are a thing in the Crystal Palace. Mitena decided this would be the best disguise and, no matter how strong Ariel is, she is no match for a bear! Creeping around the Crystal Palace was not easy, but doable if you knew where all the blind spots are and, as much as Neo-Queen Serenity tried to eliminate that issue, it was never worth it as the Neo-Sailor Senshi accidentally kept smashing them when their attacks misfired.
Mitena knew this as she and her fellow Skinwalkers had a habit of stalking prey, if they are human, sometimes for years before trying to impersonate them, which is why it was preferable to use animals. Of course, Mato's size and slight arrogance were easily spotted, but the guards were no more than mere toothpicks to him as he swatted them aside without care, allowing Mitena to slip into the place!
"OK...So, he can back up his arrogance." Mitena thought.
As Mitena padded around, she admired the top-of-the-line fashions and smells of gourmet food! No wonder the Neo-Sailor Senshi defended this palace with undying loyalty. Maybe, once they take over, they could get to enjoy a bit of this luxury! Seeing how enormous this place is, Mitena started checking every room for Christen.
Unfortunately for Mitena, Christen shared her room with Ariel, and they did not fight as often as they used to, but Christen is still into her Gothic rituals, and Ariel has to leave the room when she practices them because she can't stand it: Perfect! Once Ariel left the room, and Christen started setting up one of her rituals, which hopefully would help her tap into her precognition, Mitena meowed loudly!
"Huh?" Christen peeked behind her and smiled when she saw the black cat with an upside-down white triangle on her chest and brown eyes. "Hello, kitty. Where did you come from?" It picks up the cat to feel for a collar. "Hm, no collar? It must be a stray. Don't worry. I'll take care of you."
Mitena smirked as she thought, "Yes, little soldier. Take care of me, and I'll 'take care of you." As Christen started meditating, Mitena felt a heaviness in air pressure, but she ignored it."How strange..."
Christen's precognition started to activate as she saw a pair of Skinwalkers in the form of a cat and bear! Of course, Christen was not sure, but better safe than sorry, she rounded on the cat and threw an ofuda and called, "Evil spirit, be exorcised!" Knowing she was screwed now, Mitena turned to flee, and the ofuda hit her tail, but it dispersed. "Hey, you! Get back here!" Christen gave chase, knowing what this cat really is now!
Leading Christen outside, Mitena saw Mato, still in bear form, fighting Neo-Sailor Jupiter! Thinking this could work to her advantage, Mitena ran toward them and reverted to human form behind Mato. Christen quickly transformed into Neo-Sailor Mars, but she was too late as Mato used a headbutt to knock Neo-Sailor Jupiter out cold, then he turned his attention, Neo-Sailor Mars! However, Neo-Sailor Mars's concerned eyes were only on Neo-Sailor Jupiter, who was sparking as she must have been trying to use a thunder attack just before she was knocked out.
"Listen well, Princess of Mars. We know all about you and your family and friends. I can provide you with answers your teammates seek, but to do so, you and your lighting friend here will have to join us?" Mitena proposed.
"You DO know what I'm going to say to that, right?" Neo-Sailor Mars is one of the smarter anime characters.
"I would advise the "yes" option to be a wiser choice unless you want to see, first-hand, what a hungry bear can do to a teenage body." Mitena threatened.
"When she wakes up, you're not gonna regret this." Neo-Sailor Mats hoped she and Ariel could handle whatever Mitena and her bear friend were going to put them through.
"We are too great in numbers and ability to be stopped by even an army," Mitena said confidently.
"The Neo-Sailor Senshi is better than an army..." Neo-Sailor Mars spoke, but her tone presented that she knew she could not win this battle on her own.
So, soon, Mitena and Mato, like a bear, took Christen and Ariel to one of the Skinwalker's lairs. Christen was familiar with a handful of the objects used in Skinwalker rituals as she used similar ones in hers, but those were not as dark in purpose.
Ariel wanted to freak out as she came to, but she was a master at keeping her cool in extreme situations. So what was going to happen to them? Everyone hoped it was not going to be worse than what had happened to Gracie and Crystal...