This will be a chapter slightly longer than the current average length for this story, but that's going to be necessary because we will begin to see some new characters in it here. They are currently substituting for Serena and a number of others while they are still on Earth, in terms of helping to protect the Moon, at least in part, if not entirely.
They will be young, for the most part, but they are still going to try and protect the Moon as best as they can, while Serena and others are otherwise occupied in their lives. They may appear more often in the future, if and when the need arises, but that will have to be determined later.
With no further ado, then, I will give you the next chapter of this story here, folks. TUS out.
Bethlehem Garden In The Imperial Palace
Moon City, Moon Kingdom, Moon
June 20, 987
While Serenity was primarily meeting either with her government's leaders or with Luna and Artemis, at least a few other girls were assembled in a garden that was also on the Imperial Palace's grounds, but at least a quarter of the way around the palace's grounds from the Hebron Garden elsewhere on them. There were four main gardens on the Imperial Palace's grounds, unlike those on the Crystal Palace's grounds, which numbered eight, in fact. Each of those four gardens was, in fact, named after one of four different Israelite cities back on Earth. Those four Israelite cities that had gardens on the Imperial Palace's grounds actually named after them were the Israelite cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, and Capernaum.
The Jerusalem Garden was along, or near, the Imperial Palace's eastern wall. The Hebron Garden was along, or near, its southern wall. The Bethlehem Garden was along, or near, its western wall. And the Capernaum Garden was along, or near, its northern wall, as well, in fact.
Those girls were not currently in their respective Sailor Scout states of being. But they'd all transform into each of them if they were then able to train with Queen Serenity for at least a while, of course.
The girls who were also the Junior Sailor Scouts Spyglass and Tranquility were no more than about six or so years old, in any case. They were also twin sisters, in fact. Even though they didn't have hair that was the same color currently, they were still twin sisters, just the same.
The names of the twin sisters here were Placida and Questa Starkey. While the other two girls now present here were Tiffany Jacobsen and Sachiko Mikono. The one named Sachiko Mikono was the Junior Sailor Rising Sun. While Tiffany Jacobsen was Junior Sailor Millennium. Sachiko was the oldest of the four girls. For she was about six or so years older than the twins were, and about two years older than Tiffany was. Questa was about twenty minutes, more or less, older than Placida was. But she was still only about six or so years younger than Sachiko was, in any case at all, currently, if she wouldn't always be that.
Sachiko had been a Sailor Scout for about four years. Which was at least a year longer than the rest of her companions had each been, in all their lives. Sachiko had mostly black hair with some light green streaks in it on the sides, when she wore it all the way down as she often would in her life. Sachiko was currently about 4'8", and about 103 pounds, more or less. She was in the middle of a bit of a growth spurt, at the present time. And she'd gained at least four inches of height and about twenty or so pounds of weight in the last four to six months, if not for even longer than that. She'd been quite small when she'd been born, having been only about eight inches long and about two pounds at that time. Periodically, she'd have these growth spurts in her life. And during each of them, she'd periodically gain at least a few more inches of height and at least a few more pounds of weight, in fact. She'd been born with a bit of a patch of light green-streaked black hair on her head. But not much hair was then on her head at all, for all the obvious reasons.
Sachiko could often be found wearing jeans and puffed blouses whenever she wasn't in her Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Rising Sun. Her favorite colors were red and white. She was a rather accomplished artist as well, with her main artistic interests currently favoring things like painting and sculpting, whenever possible, in her life. Pottery was also one of her current artistic interests. But it wasn't as much an artistic interest of hers as painting and sculpting currently were for her, in her life.
When Sachiko was in her Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Rising Sun, her shoulder pins were small red suns on gold-trimmed white epaulets of a sort, with one sun on each shoulder. The gold trim on those epaulets of a sort looked a lot, if not entirely, like fringes, in fact, whenever possible. Her uniform blouse was primarily red in color, while her neckerchief was mostly white with light green and black piping along its edges. Her locket opened from the top of it, and it would open to the bottom. Two red suns were present both inside and outside of the locket, with her first initial of "S" being on the outside of the locket, and her last initial of "M" being on the inside of it. Both initials were located between the red suns of the locket, as they needed to be here. She'd trace her first initial as she began to transform into her Sailor Scout state of being, and she'd trace her last initial as she then completed her necessary transformation process, once her locket was completely open as it needed to be here. As she traced her initials as needed, her uniform would then begin materializing around her, of course. Below her uniform blouse, while she was then tracing her first initial, a light green-trimmed red and black miniskirt would begin materializing just as quickly as she traced her first initial. As she traced her last initial, a pair of mostly light green boots with gold, white, and red stripes on them would begin materializing on her feet just as quickly as she was tracing her last initial, in fact. About half a minute or so later, at most, normally, after her boots then finished materializing on her feet, she'd raise her hands as far as she could above her head. A samurai-like sword would almost immediately afterward appear in her hands, with her right hand holding it by the hilt, and her left hand holding it by the blade. Just as fast as her sword would appear, her Sailor Scout tiara would appear on her head, if she wasn't already wearing it, of course.
This particular sword of hers would always be of a size that was then appropriate for her in her life. And it'd normally not be too hard for her to handle it well enough, whenever it appeared in her hands. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons. This particular sword would have a hilt of steel that had streamers of various colors on it, in fact. These streamers would normally be about four or so inches long, and they'd actually hang from where the hilt joined the sword's blade, as well. Those streamers weren't there just for decoration, as a matter of fact. They were all there so that they could often be used to distract her opponents during battle, so that she or other Scouts that she was with could often do something else against them in battle. No matter what it was, those streamers could often be used to distract opponents of the Scouts in a particular battle that Junior Sailor Rising Sun might be part of, whenever the need or desire for them to be used in such a manner ever arose for her in her life.
The still-young Questa Starkey had mostly bright red hair with some purple and blonde streaks in it, and she was normally about two inches taller and about four pounds heavier than her mostly cobalt blue-haired sister Placida was, in her own life. She quite often favored sweaters and slacks or jeans, whenever possible. While her twin sister Placida normally preferred wearing floor-length or nearly floor-length gowns, whenever possible. Questa could quite often be found wherever many scrolls were quite often kept, if she wasn't actually doing something else at all in her own life. She was also a writer of various kinds of stories whenever she could be in it, in actual reality.
Where Questa Starkey was often quite inquisitive, Placida Starkey normally wasn't. Placida, unlike her twin Questa, was normally very quiet in her life. And she would often talk in a very quiet voice, where her sister would often talk quite a bit louder, in fact. Placida also had several doves of her own that she kept as pets. Gardening was also one of her main interests in her life, whenever she wasn't otherwise occupied with other people and things in her life. Her hair was mostly of a cobalt blue color, except where some pink and crimson streaks appeared in it near her ears. Those streaks were just above her ears, in her mostly chin-length hair, unlike the streaks that were normally in her twin's mostly bright red hair, which ran essentially from her forehead back to about the middle of her shoulders. Placida's streaks ran mostly horizontally, while her twin's ran mostly vertically, if not totally for either or both of them here, in their hair.
When each of them were actually in their respective Sailor Scout states of being, they were either Junior Sailor Spyglass or Junior Sailor Tranquility, as the case might be for each of them here. And both of them would appear to be at least twice as old as they actually were in their lives, at least for as long as they were in their respective Sailor Scout states of being. That'd probably always be the case for either or both of them at least until the Moon Kingdom's end came, if not even longer than that, as well. Or at least as far as anyone else might then know in their very own lives, that might be the case here for them, at least.
Questa's Sailor Scout uniform normally consisted of a mostly black scooped-neck sweater with some bright red and gold piping on it, a mostly purple neckerchief, a mostly navy blue miniskirt with silver and orange lace trim, and mostly black sneakers, not to mention the required power locket. The neckerchief, for example, was mostly purple with aquamarine piping on it, whenever possible, along its normally visible edges. The uniform's mostly black sweater had mostly creamy white epaulets of a sort on it, and those mostly creamy white epaulets of a sort were both in the approximate shape of large six-pointed stars, in fact. The epaulets had red and gold trim on them as well along their edges. In the middle of each star-like epaulet, there was an appropriately-sized pin that was basically in the shape of a telescope, and that particular telescope-shaped pin was mostly purple with red or gold lines wherever they were actually needed on it. As for her own miniskirt, it was mostly navy blue denim in nature where it didn't have any silver or orange lace trim on it. And where her sneakers weren't actually black, they generally were either white or turquoise blue, in color. Her sneakers had turquoise blue soles and various white areas on them, as well, in fact.
When Questa transformed into her Sailor Scout state of being, the front of her locket would de-materialize, and re-materialize moments later just above the middle of her Sailor Scout tiara. A red and purple-streaked stone would be in the middle of the tiara at its approximate midpoint, not counting the part of her power locket located just above it, in fact. This stone was some sort of cross between an amethyst and a red ruby, as well.
As for Placida, when she transformed into her own Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Tranquility, the main colors for her uniform were white, crimson, cobalt blue, and pink. Other colors were only present on the uniform whenever the need actually arose for them to have to be there, as a matter of fact, as well.
Her shoulder pins were of mostly white doves. And both of those doves were facing toward her neck, whenever possible, on her shoulders. Her uniform's blouse was mainly white with cobalt blue and pink piping, while her own neckerchief was a mostly crimson one with even more white doves on it. Her miniskirt was mostly white with cobalt blue and light brown trim, as well. Her footwear as Junior Sailor Tranquility quite often was a pair of mostly cobalt blue high-cut boots with black, white, and/or pink trim as necessary on them both, in fact. Her own power locket would be just above the knot in her neckerchief, as well. Her tiara was gold, just like all the other Sailor Scouts' tiaras were, of course. In its approximate middle, a turquoise blue-streaked jewel of some currently-unknown type, most likely, and which was a jewel that was mainly of a brownish color, was in the appropriate location on it.
Junior Sailor Spyglass had various items and powers at her disposal as a Sailor Scout. But not very many, due to her still-young age in her life, of course. Among the things that she'd use whenever possible in battle would be any number of mirrors to focus her attacks or the attacks of other Scouts against their various enemies. These mirrors would be of whatever size or sizes that they had to be at such times, for all the obvious reasons. She also had the ability to turn her tiara into any number of items whenever the need or desire arose for her to do so at all. Items such as a spyglass or a telescope, for instance. She could use those items to spy on their enemies, if she wanted to and could do so, even from a quite considerable distance from those enemies, in fact.
As for Junior Sailor Tranquility, her various powers and items were mainly used only for defensive purposes, whenever possible. Her powers were much like Amy's either were currently or like Amy's would be, as well. They were sort of a combination of several other Scouts' various powers, in actual reality. In some respects, they were quite like at least one power of Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Corona, Eclipse, and Skyhorse, at the very least, if not more than one power from each of those Scouts. In others, they were quite unlike powers from each of those Scouts, as well. Tranquility had a power much like Moon's Silver Moon Star Blast power. But instead of attacking her opponents with stars and moons, she'd go after them by using comet-like arrows she'd shoot at them with several bows of various sizes and kinds. If they ever would happen to attack her, or anyone else close enough to her, in any battle, she'd then try to protect herself and/or them with shields of various sizes, shapes, and types, quite naturally, for all the obvious reasons, of course. She was expected to be a reasonably strong Sailor Scout sometime yet in the future, if at all possible. But only time would tell if that would actually ever be the case for her at all, quite naturally. She wasn't really all that strong at the current time in her life, when compared to any number of older Sailor Scouts. But she was still at least a little powerful as a Sailor Scout, just the same, in her own life, just as her sister actually was as well.
As for Tiffany Jacobsen, she was the Junior Sailor Scout Millennium. And she was a girl with nearly waist-length mostly black hair that she normally would wear down, whenever possible. Her hair wasn't all black. For in it, there were various streaks of auburn, dark brown, bright red, light pink, medium purple, and golden brown hair in mostly vertical stripes of some sort that ran from her forehead to the very bottom of it. Her hair was normally quite straight, whenever it was worn down enough for her. And whenever it was actually bound enough, which wasn't all that often, normally, she'd normally put hairbows in it that were colored many different colors, in fact. She had been known, however, to at least occasionally wear her hair in some braids or some sort of bun, whenever the need actually arose for her to do so at all in her life.
Her favorite kinds of clothes to wear were T-shirts and shorts, whenever she could possibly wear them at all, as well, in her life. But she wasn't always able to wear such attire whenever she wasn't in her Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Millennium. Her Sailor Scout uniform looked quite a bit like the future uniforms that Serena and others might actually ever wear in the future, after the Moon Kingdom's end, if not also before the end of it, in fact. However, instead of her wearing skirts that were so short, her Sailor Scout skirt would fall to at least the middle of her thighs, if not even lower than that. Yes, it might still be a miniskirt. But it still wouldn't be very short indeed, in any case at all here. Her skirt would be a skirt of several different colors, in fact. The colors of that skirt would be, from hem to waist, most likely, pink, fire engine red, orange, yellow, hunter green, royal blue, indigo, and violet, at least, if not also any other colors at all. Most likely eight colors at the very least, if not any others as well, in any case at all, quite naturally. More colors would actually be on her skirt than Super Sailor Rainbow had actually had on hers when she'd been a Scout so many long years ago, in fact. But her Scout blouse's primary color under her mostly pink neckerchief was teal, whenever possible. Other colors on her Scout blouse included any or all of the colors that were actually in her hair, as a matter of fact.
She'd often wear various kinds of earrings as the need or desire for her to do that arose for her. She'd often use earrings and other kinds of jewelry as weapons, in fact. She could often make various pieces of her jewelry into various kinds of weapons, whenever she was in her Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Millennium, as well. She'd been known to turn earrings into shields or various kinds of bladed weapons in the past at least once or twice before, as a matter of fact. She'd actually also turned any number of necklaces into chains of various kinds. And any number of pendants into grenade-like items, by the same token, at least a few times before in her own life as Junior Sailor Millennium. Needless to say, she was rather good at turning various things that she might wear either as a young girl or as a Sailor Scout into various other things that were of at least some use to her or others who were close enough to her in her life. And for that, many other people who were close enough to her in her life were quite glad, for the obvious reasons, of course.
When she was in her Scout state of being, her height was at least three or four inches taller than it was whenever she wasn't in it. And she was at least a few pounds heavier than she normally was, as well. She was at least Sachiko's height and weight, if not taller and/or heavier, whenever she was Junior Sailor Millennium. While Sachiko was actually the same height and weight in her own Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Rising Sun that she was whenever she wasn't in her own Sailor Scout state of being as Junior Sailor Rising Sun, unlike Tiffany/Millennium.
When all four of the girls were in their respective Sailor Scout states of being, their hair never changed colors or changed its general look. Or at least they very rarely did either or both of those things, as a matter of fact. And never automatically in any case at all, however.
At the current time, though, none of the girls were in their own respective Sailor Scout states of being, as already stated. They were talking to each other about Queen Serenity and several other Scouts, at the very least. And they all were now wondering if they'd actually be able to train with Serenity later on that day or the next one.
Sachiko said, "Tiffany, I wonder if Queen Serenity will be training with us at any time today or tonight."
Tiffany examined several nearby flowers in the garden quite closely, before she made another comment of her own, in fact. She eventually said, "I don't really think so, Sachiko, for Prince Raphael and Artemis thought that she might be quite tied up, in a manner of speaking, for at least a little while today and/or tonight."
"So what should we do in the meantime, if we don't get to train with her at all today or tonight, Tiffi?"
"Well, Chiko, I suppose that we could find something else to do that we'd all like well enough her, if that's the case," answered Tiffany.
"What about going to a ball tonight somewhere?" asked Sachiko.
"I don't think there'll be at least one being held anywhere in Moon City tonight, Chiko," said Tiffany.
"I see. Could we go to Rainbow Springs, then, Questa?"
"No, I don't think so. We're most likely needed on this side of the Moon while the Moon Princess and several members of her crowd are visiting the Earth for at least a little while, Sachiko."
"Does that mean that we can't, for instance, go to Tranquility City to see at least a few games of soccer, basketball, or ice hockey, Questa?"
"I believe that it very well might mean that, Sachiko. Placida might not like that very much, in fact. For it's been a while since she's been able to visit a few of our relatives in that area of the Moon. And those are her three favorite sports, if I'm not too mistaken, here in her very own mortal life."
"You're right, Questa. They actually are my favorite sports, as a matter of fact. I don't get to see them quite as often anymore as I was able to see them before I became a Sailor Scout a while ago, Questa," said Placida, not more than a few moments later, as she began checking out a few of the nearby rosebushes as much as she could then do so here.
"Couldn't we go there anyway to see our relatives or those games, Placida?" asked Questa.
"I don't think so, even though I might prefer to do either or both of those things here, Questa. Maybe there'll be other times that we can do that in our lives. But that doesn't seem to be the case here for us all right now."
The four girls conversed with each other for a while longer. And they eventually decided to go to Tiffany's Imperial Palace chambers for the rest of the night. This was because they'd decided to have a sleepover there. And when they got there, they saw several outfits that Tiffany was currently working on as a fashion designer. Those outfits might not actually end up looking as they currently looked on their various stands or models. But they were still being worked on periodically by Tiffany whenever possible, just the same. Tiffany was also hoping to become a rather well-known designer of clothes and jewelry in the future, if at all possible. Supposing, of course, that she was able to live long enough into the future, somehow. She hoped that the Negaverse wouldn't actually be able to force Queen Serenity to give up her Kingdom to save as many of its inhabitants as she could somehow save, of course. But she realized that they very well might do so, just the same, in fact.
Tiffany soon moved a few of her stands or her models toward various walls in her chambers, as the need arose for her to do so, in fact. After she did so, all four of them retired either to her bed or to sleeping bags, as the need arose for them all here. Not long after they all did so, they were all quite soundly asleep again in her chambers.
One more chapter remains before we go back to Earth with our story again. In it, we will again see the Monitors/Scouts from Peru, who will train with six Junior Sailor Scouts, four of them being girls seen in this chapter, and Sentinel Serenity, for a little while. Unfortunately, Sentinel Serenity won't be able to stay very long with them, once certain news reaches her from Moon City. She will have to return to Moon City alone, and attend to certain Moon Kingdom-related business, much to her regret, at least.
A lot of tragic events are about to hit the Moon Kingdom, and quite a few of them are going to hit very close to home for certain important people currently associated with it. At least one of the Scouts now on Earth is about to suffer great loss for herself, if not more than one of them, but I'm still not going to say just who will, and when, and how. You'll all have to keep reading on and find out, folks.
Until the next chapter, then, I'll close this. TUS out.