Chapter 6: Gemini

Makoto Kino opened the door, ready to go to the grocery store with her daughters, Nozomi and Miaka, when she saw Diana the cat sitting on the front sidewalk.

"Hello, Diana. What brings you here for a visit? We were about to go to the store, but that can wait for later," Makoto said cheerfully.

"I'm here to see Miaka Kino. It is time for her to become Sailor Gemini," Diana said, and then she jumped in the air and did a twirl, rainbow-colored sparkles flying around her little gray body. In a flash of light, a rainbow-colored, star-shaped brooch appeared in mid-air, landing on the sidewalk with a clatter. Miaka stepped forward and immediately grabbed the brooch, knowing it belonged to her, and a rainbow-colored Gemini symbol glowed on her forehead, showing that she was correct.

"Thank you, Diana," she said gratefully, glad to finally be able to experience the power of a Sailor Senshi for herself after having heard her mother talk about being Sailor Jupiter. While the stories about the dark Sailor Saturn were her favorite, being a Zodiac Senshi sounded mysterious and exciting too.

"You're welcome, Miaka Kino. I have to go back to the Crystal Palace now, so you can go ahead to the store like you said you were doing," Diana said, bowing her head before scampering away down the sidewalk. Makoto, Miaka, and Nozomi also left, to go to the grocery store like they had initially planned.

Meanwhile, in the Dessert Ladies' house, Cookies n' Cream also had just been asked by Princess Lollipop to go find some sweets to stock their supply.

"You mean like on Earth? But I don't know where Earth people get their food!" Cookies n' Cream protested.

"According to my research, they often get it from places called grocery stores. They have sweets there, but they have other foods there that aren't sweet, too. I'm not sure why Earth people would want to eat things that aren't sweet, though," said Strawberry Shortcake. Princess Lollipop got out the crystal ball she used to spy on the Sailor Senshi, and she noticed something.

"It looks like Sailor Jupiter and her daughters are in a place like that. It has lots of different foods, both regular sweet ones and weird, not-sweet food that I'd have to change into sweets," she said.

"Great! I'll just take some sweets from there, and fight those Sailor Senshi too!" Cookies n' Cream bragged, and she teleported away, carrying the bag that she had been given. She reappeared in the store and was happy to see that there was an entire aisle full of candy. She was in the process of filling her bag when Makoto, Nozomi, and Miaka entered the candy aisle and noticed her. While they didn't recognize her exactly, Makoto did think that her frilly dress looked rather similar in style to the one that Blueberry Muffin had been wearing. She also remembered that Neo-Queen Serenity reported that one of the Dessert Ladies who attacked at the Crystal Palace had red hair like that, and was also wearing blue. Cookies n' Cream also noticed them.

"The Sailor Senshi! Great, you're not transformed. I can just take your transformation things," she declared, and she shot freezing energy beams out of her hands that hit Makoto and her daughters, causing ice to start to encase their bodies. Fortunately, Cookies n' Cream made the mistake of freezing their feet first, which meant that they could use their hands to take out their transformation items.

"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!" yelled Makoto.

"Libra Cosmic Power, Make Up!" shouted Nozomi.

"Gemini Cosmic Power, Make Up!" finished Miaka. Cookies n' Cream immediately stopped freezing them when she saw them take their brooches and wand out, but by the time she made a move to grab Miaka's new brooch, rainbow-colored lights surrounded Miaka while she transformed. This created a momentary force field that repelled Cookies n' Cream, blocking her from interrupting Miaka's transformation into Sailor Gemini. Sailor Gemini, like Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Libra, also had pink bows on her chest and the back of her skirt, but unlike her mother's deep green Senshi outfit and her sister who had mainly blue, her collar, skirt, and boots were striped with rainbow colors.

"No fair, you even broke out of the ice?!" Cookies n' Cream whined, noticing that the power and light that accompanied the three Senshi's transformations had melted and broken the ice around their feet.

"You shouldn't accuse us of being unfair. You're the one who tried to steal our means of defense and attacked us first," Sailor Jupiter argued.

"Yeah but there's three of you! How is that fair when I'm by myself?" Cookies n' Cream argued back.

"Because we're family, and we protect each other," Sailor Gemini declared coldly. "Try to freeze us again and I'll test out my new powers on you."

"I'll freeze you first!" Cookies n' Cream bragged, and she sent another beam of ice at Sailor Gemini, who ducked out of the way. The ice hit the floor behind her, freezing it instead.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

"Libra Swirling Gust!" The combination of both attacks overpowered Cookies n' Cream's ice, and she flew backwards, crashing into a display of oranges. She jumped back up, grabbing the oranges and freezing them, and then she threw the frozen oranges at the three Sailor Senshi. Sailor Libra and Sailor Jupiter were able to dodge, but Sailor Gemini, who had been about to try the new attack that come into her mind, was hit in the head and she crumpled to the floor with a cry of pain. Cookies n' Cream shot her ice beam again, aiming for Sailor Gemini. Sailor Libra jumped in the path of the ice beam, protecting her younger sister, and ice quickly began to cover her arms, preventing her from summoning her wind.

"Jupiter Oak…WAAAGH!" Sailor Jupiter attempted to use her electric attack again, but she slipped on the patch of ice on the floor, interrupting the recitation of her attack phrase.

"You'll pay for hurting my family," Sailor Gemini growled as she stood back up shakily, "Rainbow Fireball!" A ball of energy that swirled with many colors appeared in her hands, and she threw it at Cookies n' Cream, who was too busy encasing Sailor Libra in ice to dodge.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Sailor Jupiter called, and this time she was successful. The combination of electricity and the energy ball knocked Cookies n' Cream unconscious, and she then disappeared with a flash of blue lights, having been teleported to safety by Princess Lollipop. She reappeared in Princess Lollipop's house, along with the bag of sweets she had stolen, where Blueberry Muffin set her on a couch to recover. In a different room, Princess Lollipop and Strawberry Shortcake had been watching the fight in the crystal ball, and Strawberry Shortcake noticed something.

"She was fighting three Sailor Senshi at once. And there are even more Sailor Senshi in total, and new ones are still getting their powers. Is there a way for us to recruit more people to join us, or else something that could help us fight enemies who outnumber us?" Strawberry Shortcake asked.

"The Sailor Senshi seem pretty resistant to being recruited, and the way my powers are now, even if we recruited other people on Earth, I'm not sure if I could give them the same kind of powers you and the other Dessert Ladies have, powers to equal the Sailor Senshi," Princess Lollipop said, thinking aloud, "But there might be a way to make you and the others stronger when fighting against a bigger group."

"Really? How would you do that? Can you give us stronger powers?" Strawberry Shortcake wondered.

"Possibly. I know I have a book of magic spells somewhere. I can see if that might have something," said Princess Lollipop, "I should reward Cookies n' Cream anyway, since she brought me the sweets I asked for even though she got overpowered by the Senshi."

Back at the store, Sailor Libra was able to break free of the ice, although it left her gloves and part of her Senshi bodysuit very cold and damp. She then detransformed and quickly began to feel much better, since her regular clothes were warm and dry. Makoto noticed the mess on the floor made by the ice and spilled oranges, and she started to pick some of the oranges up when she saw Midori Kaiou, Michiru's older daughter, come up to her.

"Woah, what happened here? Did you just fight an enemy? Or were you just dressing up and pretending?" asked Midori, noticing that Sailor Gemini was still transformed.

"Yes, there was a real enemy, and I'm a real Sailor Senshi now. I'm Sailor Gemini, a new Zodiac Senshi," Sailor Gemini said coldly, disliking the implication that she was just "playing pretend". Michiru came around the corner behind Midori, pushing her own grocery cart, and she had heard what they were saying.

"I thought I felt like there might be a problem here, but it seems like it's been taken care of for now," she commented.

"So when do I get to be a Sailor Senshi too? You know I'm devoted to protecting the royal family," Midori said, "Mom here said I'm not going to be her successor, but what about you, Mrs. Kino? Did you pass on your powers to anyone yet?"

"No, I haven't, but I don't think it would be right for you to be my successor. I do sense that you might have the potential to be a Sailor Senshi, but I don't know when that will happen or who will give that power to you. There's a good chance you might be a Zodiac Senshi like both of my daughters, though," Makoto said, although she was unsure that she could give Midori a good answer since she didn't have the same ability to sense auras that Rei and Michiru did. One thing she did know, though, was that since the other new Senshi all had at least one Sailor Senshi for a parent, it was likely that Midori and her sister Himeko would eventually become Sailor Senshi themselves as well.