Chapter Twelve
Three days or so later, Sylvia had decided to invite several girls to her house for a slumber party. She had gotten permission for that slumber party from her parents. And now several girls ranging from about 10 to 20 years old, more or less, were present in her room.
Those people included Liz McCall, Sonja Darram, Leila Kisbell, and Ashley Cornale, of course. Others also present in her room for that slumber party were Kiena, Mary, and Tatiana. Kiena had also asked Naomi, Joelle, and several of her friends or classmates if they'd be interested in coming to the slumber party, at Sylvia's request. But none of the people that she'd asked at Sylvia's request actually chose to come to it. The only seven people besides Sylvia who'd wanted to come to it were the aforementioned young ladies, in fact.
The girls came to Wakefield Castle by 5:30 pm local time on Friday, November 23, 1990, and they were all in Sylvia's room by 5:50, after getting there well enough. Sylvia had cleared enough space for the other seven girls to sleep in after getting permission from her parents to host a slumber party, of course. She did this by taking enough things to the cavern for a while in her van, just as quickly and as safely as she could, in fact.
After everyone was settled enough in her room, Sylvia then set up some things for them all to do while at Wakefield Castle in her room. Among those things that she now set up were several jars of paint safe enough to use on people's skin, such as on faces, for instance. A few puzzle books were present, and so were some 500-piece jigsaw puzzles and some makeup kits.
In time, several of the girls began working on one of the puzzles, as two others decided to paint each other with some paint from the paint jars that Sylvia had earlier provided. Mainly on their faces, if not anywhere else at all, for that matter. The girls who'd decided to paint each other were Sylvia and Leila. While Tatiana, Mary, Kiena, Ashley, and Sonja decided to work on the puzzle they'd chosen to work on together. As for Liz, she chose to work on a crossword puzzle in one of the available puzzle books.
While this was all going down, Sylvia had also decided to leave a window open in her room. She did this just in case Isaiah might want to visit her there for a while. She hadn't seen him for a little while, in fact. And she'd gotten a feeling that he might eventually decide to come and visit her, for some yet-unknown reason, sometime in the last few hours or so.
First, Sylvia chose to paint on Leila, when Leila thought she should then do so. When she chose to do so, Leila was then wearing a one-piece mostly light green strapless swimsuit under a nearly-matching sweater and blue jeans. Leila soon showed her a picture from a photo album she'd brought with her to the party, and asked Sylvia, "Could you paint a picture like this on my skin where necessary, by any chance?" She'd just shown Sylvia a picture that she'd drawn in her free time. She'd drawn it while working with her parents on an archeological expedition several months ago, during her life's most recent summer. It was a picture that essentially featured a cabin on a lake in an unknown mountain range, in fact. Leila didn't know where the scene she'd drawn was set, but she'd still drawn it, just the same.
Sylvia said, after then looking at that picture for a long enough period of time, "I think I can well enough. This might take a while, however, to complete, just so you know. And you'll eventually have to remove your sweater, at least, in order for me to complete it well enough, I believe, Leila."
"That's fine, if that proves to be the case here, then, Sylvia."
Sylvia then had Leila make sure her hair was quite sufficiently pulled back off her neck and face, so that she'd hopefully be better able to paint her as requested here, of course. Miss Kisbell had normally straight black hair that was often worn down to about her shoulders, more or less, and often unbound. Leila then put her hair up in an appropriately-sized bun, so that Sylvia could paint her as the situation might require here. With that done, Sylvia prepared Leila's currently-exposed skin as needed for the painting of it as desired.
When her friend's currently-exposed skin was sufficiently prepared, Sylvia sat down in front of her so that she could paint that skin, of course. After she did that, she began painting Leila as needed there, starting with her face, and working down from there as time went on.
As Sylvia then painted Leila's face and neck, the other ladies periodically glanced at them both. As the mountains began taking shape as needed, Liz asked, "Leila, when did you draw the picture that Sylvia's working from here, and where did you draw it?"
"I drew it while Mom and Dad were working on a dig near Nazareth, during some free time in July. I had found myself alone near a deserted house in the area, when I got the idea to draw it. A little while after finding that same house, I entered it, intending to investigate it briefly. Several brief moments after I entered the house, I found myself experiencing a vision that soon led me to draw the picture Sylvia's working from here now. This vision led me to draw that picture, and I drew the picture using whatever I could find to make it at that time. It took me about thirty minutes to sketch out the basic lines of the drawing well enough to suit me enough. And about six hours of very intense effort to complete the drawing accurately enough to please me then, for that matter, after that happened well enough."
For a while, Sylvia painted mountains on Leila's face and neck, as well as all the necessary vegetation, et cetera, on them. Eventually, though, she said, "Leila, I need your back and your shoulders available now."
Leila then removed her sweater, as needed. Sylvia then prepared the newly-exposed skin for painting as the situation warranted here. A little while later, then, that skin was ready to be painted on as well. Sylvia soon began painting that skin when it was.
It took her until just about 7:45 or so, if not even longer than that, for Sylvia to finally finish painting Leila as she'd been requested to paint them. When she was done, and Leila was sufficiently pleased with her work, Sylvia then had Kiena take a few pictures of her work, with a camera elsewhere in the room. This was for all the obvious reasons, of course, before it would eventually have to be washed off as needed later.
After Kiena took enough pictures of Sylvia's work, as requested by Sylvia, she then set the camera aside again wherever needed in the room. And then Sylvia began searching for a good enough swimsuit to wear if and whenever necessary while Leila would be painting her as well. She soon found a suitable one, and went to the nearest bathroom in Wakefield Castle briefly in order to change into it. After changing into that suit, she soon returned to her room. And then Leila asked, "What do you want me to try and paint on you now, Sylvia?"
Sylvia went to her desk, and opened a drawer of it. She took out a sketchpad filled with several drawings she'd done recently. She briefly glanced at each one, and then picked out one that showed a scene from one of her recent dreams. It was a scene that she'd dreamed about not too long after she'd secretly become Skyhorse. Several girls were in part of the scene, with her in the middle of them, in dresses of assorted colors and appearances. When she was sure that scene was the one she wanted Leila to try to paint on her skin, she showed it to her.
Leila said, "This is quite intricate as well, Sylvia. It might take a while for me to do this one as well, for the obvious reasons. Is there a certain area that you want me to focus on more than any other area of the picture, or not?"
"If you have to zoom in on any part of the scene, zoom in on the girls in the center of the scene. Especially on the girl who looks a lot like I might, in fact."
"I'll see what I can do. But this may be considerably difficult for me to do, just the same, Sylvia. I hope you can understand that well enough."
"Sure I do, Leila. Sure I do."
Leila then had Sylvia put her hair in a bun, of course. When Sylvia had her hair secured well enough to suit her sufficiently enough, she then began preparing Sylvia's skin for being painted on as needed. Starting with her face, obviously enough. When Sylvia's skin was quite sufficiently prepared, Leila had Sylvia close her eyes and mouth, at least, if nothing else as well. With that done, Leila began painting Sylvia as needed here.
Some time later, Sylvia's face and neck were done. But much more of the painting had yet to be done. So Leila had Sylvia remove the sweater that she'd donned after changing into her swimsuit, in order to make it possible for Leila to prepare more skin for the necessary painting here, of course. After that skin was also ready for painting, Leila continued painting Sylvia as required. It took her quite a while longer for her to finish painting Sylvia as the circumstances related to that painting then warranted.
By 9:35, though, the required painting of Sylvia's skin was then completed sufficiently well to please both Sylvia and Leila enough. When it was, and when she was requested to do so, Kiena then took some pictures of Leila's work on Sylvia for a little while. Also for the obvious reasons, of course.
In fact, the scene that Leila had just tried to paint on Sylvia here was from a dream of a ball Sylvia had attended on the Moon during the Silver Millennium. The scene had taken place when Sylvia had been about twelve or thirteen years old, perhaps. It had happened sometime in 986, in fact. The scene had happened a little while before she'd gotten her first romantic kiss from, and given her first such kiss to, a certain Terran boy who'd been at that ball with many other people. Including her, of course.
Eventually, while that ball was still in progress, she and that certain Terran boy she'd kissed, and been kissed by, had retreated to a balcony near the ballroom in which that ball was taking place. They'd talked for a little while on that balcony. After doing that, they eventually had decided to kiss each other at least once apiece, if not more than that. They'd ultimately kissed each other only once during that ball, before eventually parting for the rest of the night, around the end of it, if not at the end of it.
That boy, in fact, was Rolando. But nobody in Sylvia or Rolando's currently-mortal lives knew that well enough. Not even Sylvia or Rolando, for that matter. For their memories of the past were not fully restored to them yet, if they'd ever be in the future. In time, she and Rolando might realize they were once quite close to each other, in terms of being in true love with each other. But at the current time, they didn't yet know that well enough, if even a little bit at all for either or both of them.
After Kiena had taken enough pictures of Leila's work, she returned the applicable camera to wherever it then belonged elsewhere in Sylvia's room, of course. And then Sylvia and Leila decided to work on the puzzle that everyone except they and Liz had generally been working on for at least a few hours, if not even longer than that. By 10 pm, then, that puzzle, which had been a puzzle with a picture of a few Dutch windmills for it, was most certainly completed here.
After the puzzle was completed, Sylvia took some food and a pitcher of lemonade out of a small fridge in her room, and distributed it among her guests and herself as needed or desired. And the eight ladies enjoyed that food and several glasses of lemonade near each other, even while talking at some length with each other.
As they were doing so, Isaiah suddenly flashed into the room through the still-open window that Sylvia had left open here. He flew right to Kiena's shoulder, and Kiena set down her current glass of lemonade. Kiena headed off toward Sylvia's balcony, and spent a few moments there with Isaiah still on her shoulder. When it was safe enough for her to do so, she then asked, "What's the matter, Isaiah?"
"I couldn't reach you on your communicator or through your locket. So I came here, hoping that you'd be around for a while here. It seems some more potential trouble is developing as we speak, Kiena. And it's seeming to give off Negaverse-related signals of some sort, for that matter. You might really want to let Sylvia and Mary know what's going on at the moment, of course." He said this in a way that she could understand, but that anyone else who didn't yet know he could talk might not understand well enough. If any unaware person was listening to them here, they'd most likely think that he was communicating in some bird language. If they weren't unaware, though, they'd most likely be able to understand what he was saying to her, for all the obvious reasons.
"Understood. Stay here, then, for about five minutes or so, until I return."
"Will do." She then left him alone for a few minutes, so that she could relay what he told her to the other two girls who were secretly Scouts here, obviously enough. Kiena went with them both into the nearest bathroom, where she then relayed the necessary information to them.
When they returned to Sylvia's bedroom, Sylvia eventually said, "Tatiana, it seems that Kiena, Mary, and I have some things we need to do for a while that we forgot to do earlier in the day. I'd like you to watch over everyone else here until we return to this party, please."
"Because I'm the oldest one of us ladies here, by any chance, Sylvia?"
"Yes, that's what I mean, Tatiana."
"Very well, Sylvia. How long do you think these things will take for you to do, then?"
"It's hard to say. But I can assure you that we'll be back here again as soon as we can, if at all possible, Tatiana."
"Understood, Sylvia. Then I'll do my best to do what needs to be done here while you're out and about elsewhere around here, of course."
"Thank you, Tatiana." Five minutes, at most, later, then, Kiena, Sylvia, Mary, and Isaiah left Sylvia's part of Wakefield Castle behind with each other. Kiena let Isaiah ride on her shoulder out of Sylvia's room through her bedroom door. Sylvia led the way out of her room, and as soon as Mary was out of her room as well, Sylvia had Tatiana lock its door again, for the obvious reasons.
A few more minutes later, and the three girls were with Isaiah in Sylvia's van. On the way there, then, and while they were all still in her van, the girls all transformed into their respective Scout states. Sylvia did so while still driving, so she couldn't make the usual movements she might make while transforming, in fact. They eventually parked about a block or two away from where the potential disturbance seemed to be developing elsewhere in the city. They did this so that Sylvia's van wouldn't be anywhere near where they might have to fight any Negaverse monsters, by the way, if things went well enough for them all during the upcoming fight.
Then they ran to where the disturbance was developing. This disturbance was being caused by a Negaverse monster near and in a pet store, in fact. And the Negaverse monster was now in the process of draining the energy of a cashier at that store, when they arrived there. They showed themselves to the monster, and then made rather brief speeches before beginning to fight them as needed.
The monster almost immediately dropped the cashier they'd been draining of energy, and began fighting them all. It was a long fight, with the Scouts and their opponent often taking hits from each other during it. But eventually, once the Pilgrim showed up as well, the Scouts began getting the upper hand in it. Even Isaiah got into the fight, attacking the monster periodically, whenever possible for him to do just that.
Eventually, the monster was worn down quite a bit, and the Scouts were about to eliminate him in the necessary manner. But before they could do so, the monster said, "You might eliminate me, but the Negaverse will ultimately prevail against you all, Satan willing."
"Never will the wicked Satan ultimately prevail against the righteous! He is already eternally defeated by the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ! Satan was defeated for all eternity past, present, and/or future, at the Cross on Calvary, when Jesus Christ died and rose again to live forevermore!" Skyhorse then slew the monster in the proper manner. He was ashes no more than a second later, and then those ashes vanished as well. The energy that the Negaverse monster had just drained from that cashier returned to him completely, and the cashier began to revive. As he did so, the three Scouts and their allies then left the scene behind just as quickly and as safely as they could. Which, quite fortunately for them all, at least at the current time, was immediately after he began to revive and stir in the store, in fact.
The three Scouts and Isaiah, but not the Pilgrim, soon rejoined each other near and in Sylvia's van, and left the area behind just as quickly and as safely as they could here. On the way back to Sylvia's house, they powered down just as they had powered up, if and wherever they had done that, in fact. And by the time that they all returned to Wakefield Castle, they were again back in their civilian states. Just as they had been when they'd left its grounds, of course. It was now just after 12:15 in the morning of Saturday, November 24, 1990, when they returned to Sylvia's room again. Isaiah hung out with all of the currently-present girls there for about another half hour, more or less, after Sylvia, Kiena, and Mary had returned there, before leaving them all again for Kiena's residence.
Until about 1:05 or so in the morning, then, the three secret Scouts resumed enjoying themselves with their fellow party attenders, before the ladies all began getting rather tired here. When they did so, they all began getting ready for bed in the necessary ways, of course. Even Sylvia and Leila began doing so here, in fact. Sylvia and Leila soon had both of their recently-painted skins completely clean again, after first having both taken somewhat short showers in the nearest bathroom, if and whenever possible. And they'd both changed into some appropriate enough attire for them to sleep in back in Sylvia's room here, quite obviously enough.
By 1:30 am, then, at the very latest, all eight ladies were in their respective sleeping bags, or in their bed, wherever applicable. And the bedroom's lights were all completely out here. By 1:45, they were all quite soundly asleep in them. Even Sylvia, by the way. Sylvia took just a little while longer to get quite soundly asleep in her bed than any of her guests did. But she was still quite soundly asleep again, and dreaming again, by 1:45 in the morning. Dreaming more of the past she once knew well enough in her life, for that matter, in fact.
About a week later, then, after school ended for her on Thursday, Sylvia encountered Tatiana again. Tatiana was at the pet store that the Scouts had last appeared at, and she wasn't alone. She was with her boyfriend Sergei Zivachonov, and they were looking at various animals that were there, when Sylvia encountered them. Sylvia had come to the pet store to pick up some supplies for the Shermans to use later on at Sweet Musicalisti's stable complex, while Tatiana and Sergei were looking for a pet that she could have for her own.
Tatiana didn't know just what kind of pet she might want to have here at the moment, but she did know she wanted one, just the same. So she was at the pet store with Sergei, looking for a suitable pet to have for herself here. And they were periodically talking with store personnel as they were doing that, of course.
Eventually, Tatiana settled on a mixed-breed male puppy of about three or four months in age. According to one of the store's people, this puppy's family tree had four different known breeds in it. Two on his mother's side, and two on his father's side. The two on his mother's side were a Canaan Dog and a Doberman Pinscher, while the two on his father's side were a Borzoi and a Siberian Husky. The puppy's mother had actually been born in a litter of five, due to a rather unexpected mating. And her mother had been a Doberman Pinscher, while her father had been a Canaan Dog. The puppy's father had been born to a Siberian Husky male and a Borzoi female, after much careful consideration and quite extensive negotiations related to their pairings between the necessary owners of both dogs had been conducted as needed. Eventually, both of the puppy's parents had unexpectedly encountered each other while their owners had been working together as actors on a movie set. They mated without anyone realizing they had before it was too late to do anything else about the situation well enough. And time still went by, of course, during the related movie production. Their owners eventually found out about that mating, when the necessary signs became quite evident to them both as well. The aforementioned puppy had been born in a litter of nine, two of which had died within 48 hours of birth. Three of the seven surviving puppies from that litter had been given away. Two had been kept. And the other two had been sold to the store that Tatiana was now in with Sylvia and Sergei. One of the kept puppies went to each of the owners of their respective parents, for all the obvious reasons.
The puppy had a moderately-thick coat similar to the Siberian Husky, in fact. But it wasn't very thick, even given the presence of Borzoi blood in its unique genetic makeup. Also, it was quite similarly colored, at least to some degree, if not to a great degree, to a typical Doberman Pinscher. It was largely black and tan on its sides, but not on its back, head, neck, tail, or legs. Its head and neck were Borzoi-like, in terms of their approximate shapes and colorations. Its tail was quite similar to that of a Canaan Dog, in that it curled up much like a normal Spitz-type dog's tail might often do, and it was generally about that length, more or less. As for its back or legs, they were all now generally colored like a Siberian Husky, if and wherever possible, and of quite similar conformation and configuration.
The puppy in question now weighed about fifteen or so pounds, and he was now about thirteen or so inches high at the shoulder. After getting all the information that she could from the necessary people at the store about that puppy, she decided to buy that puppy for herself. It cost her the equivalent of about 600 American Dollars, after she bought all the necessary things related to that puppy, for that matter. But she still bought that puppy for herself. Sergei had strongly suggested that she buy a cat or a kitten, but she'd chosen a puppy instead.
Eventually, Tatiana and Sergei left the store with her just-made purchases, as Sylvia was then finishing her loading of all the necessary supplies for the Shermans in her van. Before they left the area of the store behind again, they briefly let Sylvia see the puppy Tatiana had just bought at it. Sylvia eventually said, "He looks rather interesting, Tatiana. I wonder if you have a name picked out for him yet."
"No, I don't. Hopefully, though, I'll eventually come up with one for him before too much longer. That's if the need arises for me to name him, of course." After a bit more conversation between Sylvia, Tatiana, and Sergei here, Sylvia drove away from the store's area, and headed off toward Sweet Musicalisti's grounds again. She left that store's area just a few minutes before Tatiana and Sergei did, in fact.
Sylvia arrived back at Sweet Musicalisti's grounds around 6:30 pm local time, and parked her van wherever the need arose for her to do that at the present time. Several people helped her unload the necessary supplies from her van wherever appropriate. After which, she parked her van in a parking lot on the grounds, of course. That done, she drew some curtains inside her van shut, and changed into some clothes more appropriate for riding in, for the obvious reasons. After doing that well enough to suit her enough, she then opened those curtains again, if and when the need arose for her to do so here. And she soon exited her van, just before heading directly to Moonlight Serenade's stall.
He was quite glad to see her again, for he'd not seen her for about a day or so, more or less. He'd not had a chance to see her the day or night of her slumber party, in fact. So he was quite glad to see her again after so much time away from her here. She got him ready for another ride, and soon climbed up on him as well, of course.
After they were far enough away from Sweet Musicalisti to talk safely enough with each other, she eventually told him everything she could tell him now. And she told him everything she could about what'd now happened for her and others they were now associated with in their lives since their last meeting with each other. It took her at least half an hour, more or less, if not even longer, for her to tell him enough about the battle in and near the pet store they'd most recently fought against a Negaverse monster. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons.
When she was finally done telling him enough about at least a few recent events that she'd been part of that he'd not been, he soon said, "Good job, Sylvia. I wish I could have been there to see your last fight."
"Perhaps one or more of our cameras picked up it somehow and somewhere, Serenade."
"But to know that, we'd have to check them, of course. Either up close and personal, or at a considerable distance, I'm sure."
The two of them patrolled for a while in the city with each other before heading to the cavern. Mostly with her not yet powered up, in fact. They both spent a few hours there from about 8 to about 11 or so, doing whatever then came to both their minds while they were still there. Sylvia practiced her hand-to-hand fighting skills against assorted training dummies in the cavern area, just in case she might eventually have to use them in the future during any of her Scout-related battles. Even if they might not actually fight back against her, she still did that, just the same.
As she practiced for a while with them, she also periodically viewed some taped footage they'd just been able to retrieve well enough from the Scouts' latest battle with a Negaverse monster. She even took some notes, if and whenever necessary and possible, in fact. That way, she could hopefully be able to discuss those battles at some length with the other Scouts, if and whenever possible in the future, of course.
When it got to around 11 or so, then, she began preparing to leave the cavern again on his back. She picked up a few things from her nook in the cavern's area, and put them in her backpack that she'd brought to the cavern with them both, which was hanging from one side of Serenade's saddle. Not too many things, of course, but still at least a few things, just the same. When she was sufficiently satisfied with the contents of that backpack, she soon climbed on his back again, and they left the cavern behind again, as usual. They eventually returned to Sweet Musicalisti with each other, after delaying their return for at least a little while to there, in fact. They arrived back on Sweet Musicalisti's grounds sometime around local midnight. Half an hour or so after that, then, both Moonlight Serenade and Sylvia were taken care of in the necessary manners. Especially Serenade, for that matter.
After they were both taken care of as needed, Sylvia eventually left the stable complex's grounds for Wakefield Castle. It was almost 1:15 in the morning of Friday, November 30, 1990, when she did so. She returned there by 1:30 or so local time. And soon afterward, she was in her room for the rest of the night. Sylvia prepared her necessary clothes for the following day of school before retiring to her bed, of course. She worked for only a few minutes or so, at most, on whatever homework she needed to do before retiring to her bed. Then she changed into some appropriate enough sleepwear. With that done, she climbed in her bed, where she then wrote in her journal and/or read for a little while. After she began to get quite sleepy there, then, she set aside her journal and/or current book, if and wherever needed, and turned out the necessary lights in her room. By 2, at the very latest, she fell quite soundly asleep. And she was again dreaming more of the past that she'd once been part of in her life, but no longer was.