Chapter Thirteen

The following Wednesday, it was December 5, 1990. And Sylvia was with Mary and Kiena again at the restaurant/arcade where they'd met each other for the first time knowingly while they were all in their civilian states. The name of that restaurant/arcade, in fact, was The Prophet's Pizza Parlor, and it'd been in business since just after the Yom Kippur War. Naomi and Joelle Abraham's Uncle Ezekiel and Aunt Hephzibah owned and operated it, as well.

Naomi and Joelle would also become Scouts, but just not for some time yet would they do so at all. Naomi, Joelle, and another girl that eventually would become familiar enough to them all also normally worked part-time at PPP. But none of the three had yet shown up for work there that afternoon. It was now just after 4:30 pm local time. When Sylvia, Kiena, and Mary got there, the restaurant/arcade wasn't very full. For most of its usual patrons hadn't yet appeared there as they often would after getting out of school for the day.

A hostess soon seated them in a booth in the restaurant part of the establishment. And they gave Sylvia and her companions some menus to peruse for at least a few minutes until a waitress could get to their booth well enough. Sylvia and her companions studied those menus for a little while until a waitress came to their booth to take their orders. The waitress came to their booth around 4:45 pm local time. And soon after doing that, she took their respective orders for some pizzas and beverages.

While the three of them waited for their food and drinks to arrive at their booth here, they pulled a few of their school books out of their respective backpacks and opened them as they saw fit to. They put them on the table in their booth, and studied for a while with each other. If needed or desired, they periodically helped each other with some schoolwork they did while waiting for their food and beverages.

Eventually, by about 5:10 pm, their ordered food and beverages came to them. Courtesy of the waitress, of course. When their food and beverages came, they set their books, et cetera, aside so that they could consume their just-ordered items as needed or desired. Moments later, then, the waitress left them alone again, in order to attend to other patrons elsewhere in PPP.

Little did the three know yet, if at all, that their waitress was also going to be a Scout someday. But that was still quite some time in the future, most likely. That same waitress wasn't named Naomi or Joelle, in fact. She was actually named Etana Warren. And she would represent the planet Jupiter for the Sailor Scouts, at least in the Jerusalem Zone of Earth, most likely.

Etana Warren was a Terran Caucasian girl who was now fourteen years old, as of the current day. She was now an orphan, having lost her parents at twelve in a terrorist bombing of a Pan Am flight bound for the United States from the British Isles. She'd been staying with friends of her family at the time of her parents' deaths due to the aforementioned terrorist attack on their plane. Eventually, she found herself living with a good-sized inheritance in an apartment suite. This apartment suite was in the very same apartment building that Mary and her family now lived in, by the way. And it was on the same floor of that apartment building, for that matter. Her parents had left her that apartment suite by the terms of their wills, among other things that they'd left her in them. She'd been an only child. For her now-deceased parents had been unable to have any other children in their lives besides her, even after about twenty or so years of considerable trying to have more than one child for themselves in them.

Etana's inheritance was currently under the primary control of a court-appointed trustee, for no known living relatives could be found to take care of her well enough. At least not as of the current time, anyway. That trustee checked in on her periodically, whenever necessary. Like every month, if not even more frequently than that, in fact. Sometimes more than that, but always at least once a month. Etana had generally lived on her own ever since receiving part of her inheritance from her parents through the probate court that handled her parents' case. She'd taken the loss of her parents hard, of course, after their untimely deaths. She didn't have many friends, especially rather close ones. After her parents' deaths, she often tried dealing with her grief over their losses by fighting other people. She'd gotten kicked out of three high schools in the local area since then, for fighting, and was about to enter another, as of the following day.

The high school that she'd begin attending the following day would be DBJHS. However, she wouldn't be wearing the usual DBJHS female student uniform or uniforms. For she was too tall for them, and they wouldn't fit her well enough, in fact. At least not at the current time, anyway. She was now in 9th grade, for that matter.

Etana was now about 6'2" and about 154 pounds in her life. She was rather muscular and quite physically fit. Her normally straight hair was shoulder-length and auburn, and it was often worn in a high ponytail secured with a green-beaded hairband near her scalp. Two mostly pink rose-like earrings left to her by her mother were often worn in her ears as she saw fit, whenever possible. Her favorite colors were green and pink. She also often went bargain-hunting, did some cooking, and read romance novels, in her spare time. Not all the time, for the obvious reasons, but still quite often, just the same.

She might possibly be the next target for one of Nephlyte's monsters, or one of his next targets for them. But only time would tell if and when that might be the case, though. Until she was attacked, at least, she wouldn't realize she'd be a Scout, for the obvious reasons. But she eventually would realize that, when circumstances forced her to do just that, in fact.

Some time later, after Etana had given them all their food and beverages here, Sylvia and her companions finished those items. That done, they soon left some money for the waitress on their table, before leaving PPP behind in order to patrol elsewhere in the city. Both for payment of their bill, and for a tip, in actual reality.

They soon left PPP behind again, and began patrolling with each other at about 6 pm, more or less. First as normal civilians. And then, once it was safe enough for them all to do so, as Sailor Scouts. They patrolled around the city in various areas of it for about an hour or two, before heading back toward PPP, in order to hang out there for a while.

They returned to the restaurant/arcade at around 8:30 pm, and hung out there for a while longer. While they were still there, Rolando came into it with James and several other boys. Those boys had just left the nearby Athletic Club behind after having played some pickup basketball with each other there for a while.

When Rolando entered the restaurant/arcade with his associates, Sylvia said, all of a sudden, "Mr. Volois is here again, Kiena." She did that as she indicated where they now were heading in it.

Kiena and Mary turned to look at them, and Kiena soon said, "I wonder who those boys with him are, Sylvia. I know that one of them is James Selannis, but I don't recognize any of the others, it seems to me."

"Nor do I, Kiena."

Mary said, "I can recognize one or two of them well enough, I think. The boy with short brownish-black hair and a black and green sports-style jacket seems to be Kenneth Zumehai. The boy with a thick head of black and bushy hair who's wearing a military-style jacket is, I believe, called Chadwick Martuzalo. Though I could be wrong about such things, of course."

"And the others, Mary?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, if I'll ever be, Sylvia."

In fact, the boy that Mary thought was called Kenneth Zumehai had also been sent into the future by Queen Serenity about a thousand years before. So had the boy she thought was Chadwick Martuzalo. And so had Etana Warren, for that matter. However, Etana's name back in the Silver Millennium hadn't been Etana, it'd been Lita. Most specifically, it'd been Lita McKinley, and she'd been a Jupiterian Princess during the Silver Millennium.

Princesses Sylvia and Lita had often spent time with each other back in the days of the Silver Millennium, as had a lot of other people in either or both of their lives. They both had eventually fallen in battle against the Negaverse just before Queen Serenity had put them both and so many others into suspended animation. But neither girl currently knew that well enough in their lives here, for all the obvious reasons.

Sylvia, Kiena, and Mary spent at least some time, if not a lot of time, just observing the boys in Rolando's just-arrived group. For they were now hoping to see if any of them might strike their fancy at the current time well enough. Eventually, one of the boys got up from where they were all having hot chocolate with each other, and began moving toward the three girls. It was now about 9:05 pm local time, when they did so.

The aforementioned boy came toward them all, and asked, "How are you girls tonight?"

"Just fine, young man," said Kiena. "Why do you ask?"

The boy introduced himself as Matthew. Matthew Zebulon Jotibular, in fact. "I asked because I haven't seen any girls as good-looking as you three in quite a while, I believe."

Kiena said, "That must be a line. I've heard that kind of thing often enough before in my life, Mr. Jotibular."

"Well, believe it or not, but you three are quite good-looking, just the same. May I know your names, please?"

Kiena briefly conversed with her companions, and then said, as she indicated who was who here as needed, "I'm Kiena Jacano. These other two girls are Mary Josephus and Sylvia Wakefield, Mr. Jotibular."

"I see. Are you a composer, by any chance? Or a dancer, perhaps, Miss Jacano?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Why did you think that, by the way?"

"Because I think I've seen your name in various programs related to assorted dancing or music performances that I've attended in the past. You have been part of assorted programs related to dancing or music performances, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have. I have often been part of such programs in the past. Both for school and for certain other groups I've worked with in the past, in fact."

"And do you have a favorite musical instrument that you like to work with the most, whenever possible?"

"The piano is my most favorite musical instrument. But I can also play some other musical instruments reasonably well, whenever necessary, Mr. Jotibular."

"Such as?" asked Matthew.

"Cellos, tubas, French horns, flutes, guitars, trumpets, clarinets, harps, some drums, some cymbals, and assorted other instruments, as needed, quite often."

"I see. And why is this the case?"

"Because I want to be rather skilled at music composition and performance in my life, if at all possible. Also, I'm working on at least one musical piece with parts related to any or all those instruments at the current time, in fact. I expect to complete work on that musical piece or those pieces in the very near future, if at all possible, by the way, Mr. Jotibular."

"Call me Matthew, or Matt, please, Miss Jacano."

"Why should I?" asked Kiena.

"Because I have a long last name, that's why."

"I see. Very well, I shall call you Matthew, then," said Kiena, after some silent consideration of that fact here that he'd just shared with her.

"And what should I call you?"

"Call me Kiena, I suppose. At least as long as we're going by first names outside of school. You're still young enough to attend high school, aren't you?"

"Yes, I attend DBJHS, by the way. I'm now a senior there."

"I haven't seen you before around there, I think."

"No, I don't suppose you have. My school-related social circles are mainly made up of seniors only at the current time. I'm also the kind of guy who doesn't have many friends outside of school or my interests, for that matter. I am the kind of guy who'd rather watch a stageplay than a typical television show or a typical movie. I spend a good deal of my time outside of school attending assorted theatrical productions or musical performances, if and whenever I'm not participating in them at all somehow. I have even written scripts for two produced stageplays in the past. They were both performed within the last two years in New York, London, Tokyo, and Calcutta. One of them was performed this past summer, and the other was performed during both of the summers of 1988 and 1989, in all four of the cities I just mentioned here."

"For the performances in Tokyo and Calcutta, were they generally performed in English or in the primary languages spoken in those places?"

"The Japanese performances of those plays were performed in Japanese, if and whenever possible. While the Indian performances of them were performed in Hindi, English, and assorted other languages or dialects, if and whenever possible."

"Such as, for example?"

"Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Marathi, Meithei, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Telugu, and Urdu."

"How was that possible?"

"Quite often, the assorted audience members who attended those performances in India were able to listen to those same performances in sets of headphones. Their headphones were each connected to a console in front of their seats, of course. And the audience members could normally choose the particular language that they then heard in those headphones while the related performances were going on, for that matter. The consoles would then register their assorted language choices as needed, and pipe in the appropriate lines of dialogue spoken in those languages by paid translators who could speak quite fluently in them as needed. And things would go from there with the applicable performances, of course."

Matthew talked a while longer with Kiena, Sylvia, and Mary, before returning to where Rolando and others were elsewhere in the restaurant. The girls watched him leave them, as the time then neared 9:45 pm local time. After he left them, they all spent only a few more minutes, at most, in the restaurant before leaving it for the rest of the night.

They left the restaurant just minutes before Etana did, and headed away from it. Eventually, they parted from each other as needed and/or desired, and they each went to their families' respective residences in the area. The last of them to arrive home for the rest of the night was Sylvia, and she arrived there in her van around 11 pm local time.

The following afternoon, during her lunch period, Sylvia encountered Etana under a tree near the school's main entrance. Etana was eating her lunch under a tree when she suddenly heard some older students picking on other nearby students who'd decided to eat bag lunches outside here. She arose from her place under that tree, and nearly avoided running into Sylvia as she arose and as she went to see what was now going on just around a corner of the school's main building.

Sylvia had been passing by, not hearing the older students while they were picking on students with bag lunches. When Etana nearly ran her over unintentionally, Sylvia turned and followed Etana, hoping to find out what was going on now.

Etana reached the students that were picking the fights, and began defending their intended victims with her assorted fighting skills. It wasn't long before the preyers were running away, due to Etana's defense of their intended victims. Among those intended victims was one of the girls that Sylvia had seen at the dance hall. That girl was the one that had the weird hairstyle Sylvia had earlier seen, in fact. Etana said, "That should keep them from picking on young kids like you, I hope."

The girl with the weird hairstyle said, "I hope that it will too. My name is Selena. Selena Moon, as a matter of fact."

"My name is Etana Warren, Miss Moon. Have we met before, by any chance? You seem at least a little familiar to me, for some reason."

"I don't think so. Are you from around here?"

"Now I am, at least, if I haven't always been."

As the two girls chatted briefly with each other, all the other students that Etana had just defended went about their business. Etana said, "If you have any more problems with anyone, just let me know, and I'll try to take care of them as needed, if at all possible, Selena."

"Perhaps I might just do that. Thank you for defending us."

"It was my pleasure, Princess."

"Princess? Where did that come from, Etana?"

"I really don't know for sure yet, if I ever will. In the meantime, though, I suppose we'd best get done with our lunches, and get to our respective next classes just as quickly as we can." A new friendship had now most likely been born between Etana and Selena here, in fact.

So Etana and Selena did those things that Etana had just suggested. And they did them just as quickly as they could do them here. As they were starting to head to those next classes for themselves, Sylvia's locket detected possible Negaverse activity developing nearby. In fact, it was flying in the direction of DBJHS in apparent avian form at the current time. This trouble was currently in the apparent form of a rather large vulture, or nearly so. Sylvia immediately searched for a safe enough place to transform, and to notify the other two known Scouts. And she soon found one in a small shack on the school's grounds. She quickly transformed, and before the potential trouble arrived on school grounds, or above them, she was again Skyhorse.

Skyhorse had to wait a bit longer before she could engage the possible new threat to her school, because it was still too far away for her to fight. As she waited, the other Scouts joined her near that shack, and prepared for possible battle. The trouble soon arrived above the school's grounds, and dived toward an open window of a classroom on the side of the school's main building that they were then on. Before they could stop that trouble from doing so, the vulture-like being swooped through that window and grabbed up a girl from that room. That done, the being then began draining energy from them as they flew out that classroom's window with that girl. The being drained them nearly dry, if at all possible here, and then dropped her toward the ground below. Trinity ran to catch that girl, and the other two Scouts waited to engage that monster, once it got close enough for them to do that here.

Two minutes after dropping the girl in question, the monster landed on the ground and began changing their current appearance into a slightly more humanoid form, but still quite vulture-like, just the same. The monster, now recognizable enough as a female, soon introduced themselves as Vultreska, and made the usual Satan-loving comments. They did this just before the Scouts introduced themselves, and made brief speeches of their own.

For the next several minutes, at least, if not even longer than that, the Scouts battled Vultreska as needed. As they were doing so, Pilgrim also suddenly appeared to aid them in the battle, after he saw they were having at least a little trouble dealing with her at the present time. The Scouts, Pilgrim, and Vultreska battled for a while with each other, before the Scouts and Pilgrim wore Vultreska down well enough to allow him to leave the battle's location. It wasn't much longer, then, before Skyhorse was able to finish Vultreska off completely, as necessary.

Five minutes later, at the very most, after making sure that the girl Vultreska had grabbed was sufficiently okay, all the Scouts were in their appropriate civilian states. And they all were in their appropriate class periods, after each having gotten to them about ten or so minutes into them, more or less. Of course, they all were marked as tardy in those classes, for all the obvious reasons. Sylvia, for one, didn't like it very much, quite naturally enough. But she actually had been late to her first after-lunch period, and the school's attendance rules had to be followed, just the same.

The Scouts didn't have to fight again for the rest of the school day, at least. Whether it was against a Negaverse monster or any terrorists, they still didn't have to fight anymore during the current school day, in fact. Just after the day ended, Sylvia, Kiena, and Mary were briefly conversing with each other a bit more near the school's main entrance/exit. As they did so, the girl that they'd fought to protect passed them about ten or so feet away. Sylvia asked, "Mary, do you by any chance know her name?"

"Her name is Amy Meredith. She transferred into the area from the Haifa area, I think. From what I hear, she's a brainy sort, it seems. Not many friends at all at present. She's what some people might call a loner, if what my sources tell me is accurate enough. There is this boy in 8th or 9th grade who is often a rather good source of information about assorted people and assorted things. I'm not quite sure of his name at the moment, but I do know that there is such a boy who goes to school here, just the same."

"She seems to have a weird hair color," commented Sylvia.

"Yes, I don't think you see many people with bluish-black hair in their lives. At least not hair that seems to be naturally that way. Her hair seems to be that way, from what I've heard and seen of her around this school," said Mary.

"When did she transfer into this school, as far as you know, Mary?" asked Kiena.

"When the school year started. It seems her mother works at one of the local hospitals. Her father is elsewhere, wherever that might be. From what I've heard, her parents aren't together. Possibly even divorced from each other. I'm not sure about that yet, however."

A little while later, Kiena and Mary left the school grounds, along with many other students and/or teachers. However, Sylvia stayed, for she had other things she wanted or needed to do back inside the school's main building. She went back inside the school, and worked with a teacher on a science project for a while, before the teacher let her leave the school again.

Sylvia arrived in the cavern at about 5 pm local time. When she got there, Mary and Kiena were already talking with Serenade and Isaiah. Serenade had run from Sweet Musicalisti in the middle of the day, and come to the cavern as quickly and as safely as he then could. Isaiah had been patrolling and hunting in the area of the cavern all day, generally, after Kiena had let him leave her house that morning. When Sylvia got there, Isaiah asked her, "Did you get the feeling that this Etana Warren girl is or was somewhat familiar to you earlier, Sylvia?"

"Not really. If she is, I can't really tell at the moment. Supposing I ever will, of course, Isaiah. We were too busy fighting a monster to spend much time in studying her at rather close range, if at all, I believe. Perhaps she might be one of the people we're looking for, or she might not. I really can't tell here, though," said Sylvia.

"Anyone else at the scene that might be at least a little familiar to you, in any way whatsoever, as far as you can currently recall, Sylvia?" asked Serenade.

"Mary, Kiena, and I, for the most part, fought against a Negaverse-associated monster that sought to drain someone by the name of Amy Meredith. And we continued to fight that monster even after the Pilgrim showed up to help us in the fight. Eventually, the Pilgrim left, and we finished off the monster. Some time later, Mary found out the girl's name, and we now believe she might possibly become a Scout. What side she might fight on, if that's eventually proven to be the case, we don't yet know, for we just encountered her for the first time today, I think, Serenade."

"Did the girl in question here possibly see you in your civilian states, girls?" asked Isaiah.

"We don't believe so, Isaiah," said Kiena. "She possibly could have seen us again later in the day while we were just being students, but we're not sure if that's the case here, just the same. I think she might have only seen us in our Scout states, if at all."

"Was she unconscious when you left her, Mary?"

"Of course not. We made sure that she was completely conscious and awake when we left her as Skyhorse, Renaissance, and Trinity, for the obvious reasons, Serenade," said Mary, in a slightly confused manner, wondering why he'd asked that here at least a little bit.

"I was asking you that for the obvious reasons, Mary. I just hoped you wouldn't leave someone alone who couldn't take care of themselves well enough at a current time, if it could possibly be avoided, that's all."

"We'll never do that, whenever we can possibly avoid doing so. As sure as we're Scouts, we'll never do that, if we don't ever have to, Serenade," said Mary.

"Good. Now let's discuss your most recent battle against Vultreska, if that's what the monster's name was, girls," said Isaiah. So all three girls did so. And eventually, their guardians were sufficiently informed about it.

After they were, they had the Scouts begin training in and around the cavern's area as directed by them. Whether with each other or with other items at their current disposals, they still did so. They did this until about 8:30, after which they ended their training in and around the cavern for the rest of the night. The three girls soon powered up into their Scout states, and their guardians went with them in time. Serenade with Skyhorse, and Isaiah with Renaissance and Trinity. Skyhorse rode Serenade, of course, while Isaiah rode in Ren's van with Trinity.

Sky went to one part of the city, while Ren and Trinity went to another. The three Scouts and their guardians then patrolled for at least an hour, if not longer than that, all over the city as needed. Not necessarily with them all being together, but they still did so, just the same. They eventually stopped patrolling just before they all went briefly to Sweet Musicalisti. Of course, by the time they all got there, all three Scouts powered down, for all the obvious reasons.

They were all together at Sweet Musicalisti from about 10:45 to about 11 or so, before they then began parting from each other for the rest of the night. They began parting from each other while still on the stable complex's grounds, and Sylvia was the last of the secret Scouts to leave those grounds as necessary. She stayed there until about 11:30 or so, after which she went briefly to PPP, in order to pick up some things for later Wakefield family consumption.

As she picked up those things there, she encountered a young woman of 18 who was wearing a college sweatshirt from the same college that Tatiana currently attended. She encountered them as she was about to exit PPP for the rest of the night. And she did so when they nearly collided with each other, in fact.

The young woman introduced herself as Raneda Kodesse. Raneda was a college freshman from Lima, Peru, and she had moderately tanned skin. Her hair was black and just about halfway down her back currently, more or less. When Sylvia encountered Raneda, Raneda had been heading toward a table, and she had been heading toward PPP's main entrance/exit.

They briefly conversed with each other, and then Sylvia left. Sylvia didn't yet know that Tatiana also knew Raneda, from frequent meetings in their college's student union. But that would eventually change, once the need arose for it to do just that. Possibly in the near future, depending on if and when the need arose for it to do that arose then, of course.

Sylvia returned to Wakefield Castle by about midnight local time. For a little while, then, she attended to the necessary food and beverages. At least in the Wakefields' kitchen area, if not anywhere else at all in Wakefield Castle. She was in her room by 12:15 in the morning of Friday, December 7, 1990. For about half an hour or so, she then did whatever she felt she had to do. Including, of course, consuming some food and a cup of cocoa that she'd brought to her room with her, in fact. By 1, she'd done that well enough to suit her sufficiently here. So she began getting herself ready for the following day of school and for bed, in very short order.

With those things done, she then climbed into her bed, and wrote in her journal or read a book for a little while there. Eventually, after about ten or so minutes in her bed doing those things, she put her things in the necessary place or places in her room. And she turned out all her current sources of illumination that she could, for all the obvious reasons. After she'd done that as best as she then could, she climbed back into her bed, and went to sleep by 1:45 in the morning, dropping off to it quite quickly. And quite soundly indeed, by the way. By 2, she was quite soundly asleep and quite soundly lost in her all-too-frequent dreams of the past again.