Chapter Three! Huzzah! Sorry it's taken so long.
Disclaimer:
Fire, Ice, Love and Light,
Thunder and Lightning, they're ready to fight,
Fighting evil and saving their home,
but Sailor Moon Rights I do not own.
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"Where's Steph? She's supposed to be meeting us here, isn't she?" Bonnie asked, staring down the street. Luna nodded.
"Yes, she's coming, but she had to help her Mum get things organised for an afternoon tea that her parents are having at her house," Luna replied. After a few minutes, Luna said,
"Well, I'm sure Steph will know that we're waiting for her in the base. Let's go inside."
"Luna, I get that this is the entrance to the secret base, but how am I supposed to get in?" Bonnie asked, staring at the door.
"Concentrate on your transformation pen, Bonnie," Luna replied, looking around. Bonnie took out her transformation pen and closed her eyes, then pulled the door open and went down the stairs. Luna shut the door and followed Bonnie down to the secret base, where she smiled as she watched Bonnie looking around the room.
"Would you like some ice-cream, Bonnie?" Luna asked, going over to the hatch in the green wall. Bonnie nodded, and was soon settled in the blue chair at the table, tracing the crescent moon with her finger and happily eating a scoop of caramel ice-cream. Luna jumped onto the table and did a backflip, the trail of silver sparks merging to form a glass of water, which landed on the table in front of Bonnie. Bonnie looked curiously at the glass.
"What's this for?" she asked, finishing her ice-cream.
"Bonnie, as the Scout of Water, you have control over Water and Ice, and there are certain abilities that you can use whether you're in civilian form or in Scout form. This is for you to practice those abilities on," Luna said. Bonnie picked up the glass of water and looked at it.
"OK, so what do I do?" Bonnie asked, placing the glass back on the table. Luna smiled.
"Well, to start off, try gently rubbing your finger and thumb together. There should be a cold spot on your fingertip about the size of a pinhead," Luna said. Bonnie did as she was told, and winced as she felt the icy-cold dot on her finger.
"OK, I found it, now what?" Bonnie asked.
"Try pointing it at the glass and sending a wave of energy to that spot on your finger," Luna said, smiling. Bonnie pointed her finger at the glass, but nothing happened. She rubbed the spot gently to check if it was still cold, then tried again, with the same results.
"Don't rush it, Bonnie. Close your eyes and imagine yourself travelling down your arm to that spot, then try again," Luna said gently. Bonnie nodded and closed her eyes, then, with her eyes still shut, pointed at the glass. A thin, wispy stream of coldness shot out of her finger, and the water in the glass froze with a snap. Bonnie opened her eyes and stared at the glass, then looked at Luna, who was smiling at her proudly.
"That's it, well done! With practice, you shouldn't need to close your eyes and travel down your arm, it should just come naturally. But you did well for your first time," Luna said, her eyes twinkling happily. Bonnie stared at the ice in wonder, then looked at Luna and smiled.
"This is fun! What else can I do?" Bonnie asked.
"Well, we could try defrosting it," Luna said. Bonnie nodded eagerly. "OK, well, basically you do what you did to freeze it, but when you're pointing at the glass, you want to take the energy away from it instead of putting the energy into it." Bonnie closed her eyes and pointed at the glass, which trembled slightly for a moment before defrosting with a splosh. Bonnie opened her eyes and smiled.
"Nice work, Bonnie! Shall we try something a little harder this time?" Luna asked.
"Sure!" Bonnie replied, encouraged by her successes so far.
"Well, alright. Try focusing our mind and lifting the water out of the glass and into the air, Bonnie," Luna said. Bonnie's eyes widened.
"You mean, levitate it?" Bonnie asked. Luna chuckled before replying,
"Yes, I suppose it is a lot like levitation. But you're only able to levitate water and ice. Give it a try."
"OK," Bonnie said, sounding a little sceptical. She closed her eyes and thought about the water, and the funny, ripply shapes it would make if it were floating in the air. The water in the glass began to ripple, and then several drops separated from the water and floated above the glass. These drops were quickly joined by more, which merged into a large, formless blob of water in the air. The blob got bigger and bigger, until all the water that was in the glass was now floating above it. Bonnie slowly opened her eyes and gasped, watching the blob quiver and float in the air.
"Excellent, Bonnie! Now try freezing it while it's in the air," Luna said. Bonnie focused on the water and pointed at it, but just as a stream of cold was flowing out of her finger, the water collapsed and splashed onto the table, getting both Bonnie and Luna wet. Luna sighed and looked at the puddle at her feet.
"What happened, Bonnie?" Luna asked gently. Bonnie brushed her wet hair out of her eyes and frowned.
"I dunno, I lost control of the water when I was trying to freeze it," Bonnie said.
"That's alright, Bonnie. It's quite difficult to do both things at once. Don't worry, it'll come," Luna said. Bonnie squeezed water out of her white jumper and looked at the water all over the table. She sighed and closed her eyes, and the water slowly reformed into a blob, which drifted back into the glass and settled there with a splosh.
"Wow, Bonnie, that's amazing! How'd you do that?" a voice asked. Bonnie and Luna looked up to see Steph gaping at the water.
"I've started teaching Bonnie to control her civilian abilities," Luna said. "Why are you so late today, Steph?" Steph sat down in the pink seat and sighed.
"I just ran into that jerk Riley again," Steph glowered, thinking about the confrontation she had had with the annoying redhead.
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"Where could Bonnie and Luna have gone? They said they'd wait for me here," Steph said, standing outside the bowling alley and looking around. "I know I'm a little late, but it's not like them to be later than I am, especially Luna. Maybe they've already gone inside..."
"Talking to yourself, Meatball Head? That's the first sign of madness, you know," a teasing voice said. Steph whipped around to see Riley leaning against the wall of the bowling alley.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" Steph said, glaring at him. Riley chuckled.
"I just came to watch," Riley said, grinning.
"Watch? What are you watching?" Steph asked, racking her brains. There wasn't a tournament on at the bowling alley, was there? Riley's grin grew wider.
"Your descent into madness, of course!" Riley said, grinning cheekily. Steph's eyes blazed, and she screamed in anger and slapped him hard across the face, before spinning on her heel and storming off around the corner. A few minutes later, she peeked back around the corner to see that Riley was now inside the bowling alley. She was rather pleased to se that one side of his face was now bright red. She sighed and darted through the door to the secret base.
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"Forget about him, Steph, he's a hobo," Bonnie said, smiling at her friend. Steph sighed.
"Yeah, he is. I just wish he'd grow up," Steph said, shaking her head. Then she brightened and said, "Bonnie, do you think you could show me some more tricks with water?" Bonnie smiled and nodded, before levitating the water out of the glass again. This time, when she pointed her finger at the water, it froze, and the chunk of ice clattered onto the table. Bonnie tried to pick it up normally, and Steph laughed as it kept slipping out of Bonnie's fingers.
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"Hi, Artemis, I've got big news!" Christina said, bursting into the loungeroom and jolting Artemis awake. Artemis uncurled and stretched out on the couch.
"Oh, hello, Christina, how was the party?" Artemis asked.
"Sailor Mercury showed up today, like you said, but guess who she is? Bonnie! Bonnie is Sailor Mercury!" Christina said excitedly. Artemis stared at her.
"Bonnie? Bonnie Mizuno? She's Sailor Mercury?" he gaped. Christina nodded fiercely.
"And that's not all. I also found out that my cousin Steph is Sailor Moon!" Christina said, her excitement growing. Artemis' eyes grew to the size of tennis balls.
"Stephanie Tsukino?" Artemis asked, stunned.
"Yeah, there was a Youma at Bonnie's beach party, and Steph told me to hide and that she was going for help, then she started marching across the sand towards the youma. I transformed so that I could protect her, but then she transformed, and I was so shocked that I completely lost track of what I was doing, and I was just sitting there watching. The youma dropped Bonnie, then went for Sailor Moon, and it caught her and threw her away down the beach. You should have seen the look on Bonnie's face, she was so furious, she looked like she wanted to throttle the youma! Then the Mercury symbol appeared on her forehead, cat who looked like a black version of you – I'm assuming it was Luna – gave her a transformation pen, and she transformed. The youma grabbed the snacks table and threw it, and," here Christina paused and blushed, "it hit me and knocked me out. Next thing I know, Steph and Bonnie were standing there, and there was snack food and Youma Dust all over the beach. Steph and Bonnie told me that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury had showed up, so they obviously don't know that I'm V, or they would have told me that they had transformed into them. But anyway, they also said that Tuxedo Mask helped too," Christina finished. Artemis looked puzzled.
"Tuxedo Mask? What's he doing interfering with Scout business?" Artemis wondered.
"I dunno. I haven't seen him around for a couple of weeks, and back then he was robbing jewellery stores. Although I guess I do have to thank him," Christina said, grinning. "It's because of him that I'm so famous!" Artemis chuckled at Christina's pleasure, then frowned again.
"But he's now involved in Scout business. What's he up to? You'd better be careful around him, Christina." Christina nodded slowly.
"Which Scout do you think will be next to appear, Artemis?" Christina asked. Artemis thought for a moment, before replying,
"I think that the most likely Scout to appear next would be Mars. She was your second in command under the Princess," Artemis said.
"Maybe she's another one of my friends, and we just don't know it yet," Christina remarked. Artemis stared at her for a moment.
"That's actually a very distinct possibility, Christina. You should get all your other friends over here. And while you're at it, get Steph and Bonnie over too. I'd like to meet the newest Scouts," Artemis said. Christina opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it.
"OK, I'll call them. I'll say that since the beach party got ruined, I'm inviting them over to continue it here," Christina said, pulling out her fuzzy orange phone book. Artemis smiled as he watched Christina pick up the phone, then he jumped off the couch and went into the closet, where he opened a secret door in the back and switched on the silver computer behind the door. Artemis took a microphone headset from beside the computer and pulled it on as he waited for the computer to boot up. He listened, and could just hear Christina saying a telephone number aloud as she pressed the buttons on the phone.
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Steph heard a buzzing sound from inside her bag and jumped, then pulled out her flashing phone.
"Hello? ...Oh, hi, Chrissy! What's up? … oh, really? Cool! I'd love to go! ...Oh, really? Well, she's right here. Hang on a sec, I'll just ask her," Steph said, before covering the mouthpiece of her phone and turning to Bonnie.
"Chrissy thought that since your beach party got ruined, we could continue it at her house, and she was wondering if you'd like to go," Steph said. Bonnie let the water fall back into the glass with a splash and smiled.
"Sounds good!" she said. Steph smiled back, then returned the phone to her ear.
"Chrissy? ...Yeah, Bonnie's coming too. ...OK, see you tonight. Oh, Chrissy? I almost forgot, I'm supposed to be babysitting my neighbor's kid Matison tonight. Do you mind if I bring her with me? ...OK, great. See you later. Bye," Steph said, before pressing a button and stuffing her phone back in her bag.
"If the party's at five, we'd better get going and get ready," Bonnie said, before levitating the water out of the glass and into her mouth. Luna smiled.
"You're getting the hang of this, aren't you, Bonnie. Well, I suppose you two could go to the party tonight. You'll probably be need there anyway, since Youma are attracted to large groups of people rather than individuals. It wouldn't surprise me if another Youma tries to crash this party too," Luna said. Steph and Bonnie smiled at each other and ran up the stairs. Steph stopped halfway up and thought for a moment, before dashing back down and poking her head into the room.
"Sure you don't wanna come too, Luna?" Steph asked. Luna smiled.
"I think people would be rather shocked if you brought a talking cat to a party, Steph," Luna said, walking over to the computer and turning it on.
"Please enter voice identification passcode," the electronic voice said.
"The Beauty of Water has appeared with a splash," Luna said. Behind her, Bonnie giggled at the passcode.
"Welcome, Luna. It's good to hear that Mercury has been found, and she and Sailor Moon took care of the youma without needing Sailor V," the voice said.
"How does Central Control know about what happened at the beach party?" Steph asked.
"Shhh, Steph, Central Control knows a lot of things," Luna said.
"Anyway, Luna, I have a feeling that Sailor Mars will be the next to appear, and she'll probably appear tonight," the voice said.
"Another Scout? That's two in one day! How many other Scouts are there?" Steph asked.
"There's only one other scout you have to worry about finding apart from Mars, and that's Sailor Jupiter," the voice said.
"So do we have any idea who Mars could be?" Bonnie asked.
"Unfortunately, Bonnie, we have very few leads as to Mars' civilian identity," The voice replied.
"You know who I am?" Bonnie asked in amazement.
"Yes, I know about you, Bonnie, and I know about you too, Steph," the voice said, sounding rather smug. Steph and Bonnie looked at each other, then back at the screen. Sailor Mars' profile information flashed up, and Steph and Bonnie stared at the picture of the girl, whose long, dark hair sparkled as much as the tiara on her forehead.
"I wonder who she could be," Bonnie said.
"Well, if she is going to show up tonight, she could be going to the party, so I suggest you two go and get ready. And it looks like I'll have to go to the party after all," Luna said, before switching the computer off. "Oh, by the way, Bonnie, I have a present for you," Luna said, jumping onto the table and doing another backflip, the silver sparks forming a small blue computer with the mercury symbol on it. Bonnie picked it up and flipped it open, smiling as she pressed the buttons.
"It's your Mercury Computer, Bonnie. It can tell you what Youma are weak against, analyse energy, and it also has profile information on all of the Scouts," Luna said, smiling. Steph pouted.
"Don't I get a present, Luna?" she asked. Luna sighed, then did another backflip, this time creating a small gold crescent-moon-shaped pendant. Steph picked it up eagerly, smiling as she examined its shiny surface.
"It's called a Moon Charm, Steph. It's kind of like a good luck charm. Moon Charms are made on Earth during solar eclipses, and they're quite rare, since Lunarians very rarely went down to the surface of Earth. Of course, our Princess was the exception to the rule. She went down to Earth whenever she had the chance," Luna said, smiling. "Now, I think that's enough messing around. Hadn't you two better be getting ready for that party now?" Steph and Bonnie nodded and raced out of the room.
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"...OK. ...No, that's OK, I understand. Have fun," Christina said, before hanging up and turning to the couch, then stopping. "Artemis?" she called, looking around. Artemis poked his head out of the closet, then switched off the computer and went back to the loungeroom.
"Oh, there you are. I rang all my friends, but only Steph, Bonnie, Dee, Nixx, Jess and Alice are able to come. Steph has to bring her neighbour's kid Matison with her, 'cause Steph has to babysit her tonight. But even though we've got one extra person, at least Steph and Bonnie will be here, so you can meet them," Christina said. Artemis sighed and nodded.
"I suppose it's better this way, because if Sailor Mars is one of your friends, we'll have less people to check at one time," Artemis said.
"Um, yeah, about that, Artemis. How are you going to meet my friends? I mean they'll probably all be going, 'oh, what a pretty kitty you are!' and things like that, you know, talking to you like you're a baby. And what happens if you accidentally forget, and start talking back to them?" Christina asked, biting her lip.
"Oh, that's nothing. I'll get this place cleaned up, and then deal with that problem," Artemis said, before picking up one of the newspapers scattered on the floor and throwing it into a closet. Christina shrugged and went upstairs to change.
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"I wonder whether Chrissy's heard from her mum and dad after they went on that extended holiday," Steph wondered, smoothing out a crinkle in her pink party dress. She noticed a leaf stuck to the botttom of her matching high heeled shoes, and sat down on Christina's doorstep to remove it, smiling up at Bonnie as she did so. Bonnie smiled back, the blue of her dress almost exactly matching her twinkling eyes.
"That Charm goes really well with your dress, Steph," Bonnie said, smiling as the dying light danced on the smooth surface of Steph's Moon Charm. Behind them, a small brown-haired girl sighed and began kicking at a clump of grass.
"Steph, I'm bored. Let's go," the girl whined, kicking a rock loose from the dirt. Steph stood up and sighed.
"Matison, I already told you, I'm your babysitter, and that means that you need to stay with me. Besides, we haven't even gone inside yet," Steph said. "And stop kicking at the dirt, you're getting your shoes dirty," she added, looking at the dark-brown marks on Matison's white shoes. Steph turned around and knocked on the door, which was answered by a small, silver-blonde boy wearing a white t-shirt and yellow shorts.
"Hi! I'm Artie, Christina's cousin. You must be Steph and Bonnie. Come on in!" the boy said, holding the door open for the girls. Steph and Bonnie looked at each other and shrugged, then went inside, Matison following grumpily behind them.
"Hi, are you Matison?" Artie asked, closing the door and smiling at Matison. She nodded.
"Well, I don't think you'd be very interested in talking with Christina and the others about boys and shopping – bleaugh – but she's got some video games that you could have a go at," Artie said, guiding Matison into the games room, where she eagerly pounced on a selection of Playstation games. Artie pulled out a Digimon game and showed her how to play it, then left her to enjoy herself. Artie walked through the house to the loungeroom, where Steph and Bonnie were just sitting down on the couch nest to Christina, Dee and Phoenix, who were chatting away. All three wore pretty party dresses – Christina's orange, Dee's red, Phoenix's green – and they all smiled at each other.
"Hi, Christina, I didn't know you had your cousin Artie staying over," Bonnie said, watching Artie, who had gone into the kitchen and was pouring himself a glass of lemonade. Christina blushed a little and glanced at Artie, who flashed her a grin and a thumbs-up.
"I didn't know you had a cousin called Artie!" Steph said. Christina blushed a little more and looked thoughtfully at Artie, thinking about what had happened less than half an hour ago...
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"How do I look, Artemis?" Christina asked, smiling and twirling around in her orange party dress. Artemis smiled.
"You look great, Christina. But remember why you're having this party. We need to find out whether any of your other friends are Scouts," Artemis said.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You did a good job of cleaning up, Artemis, but there's still the problem of you being a talking cat at the party," Christina said. Artemis chuckled and closed his eyes. There was a flash of white light, and Artemis transformed into a small boy with short, white-blonde hair and twinkling midnight-blue eyes.
"How doI look, Christina?" Artemis giggled, his voice higher than normal.
"Artemis... When did you... How did you... That's..." Christina spluttered, staring at her guardian.
"Call me Artie, Christina, and pretend that we're cousins. It'll help to prevent arousing any suspicion," Artemis said. "It also might help to prevent suspicion if you pretended that I was an annoying cousin, and you order me around a bit..." he added as an afterthought.
"Oh-kay, well, that's one problem solved, at least," Christina said, trying to ignore the strangeness of the situation. Artemis smiled.
"People are unlikely to stare at me, Christina, because one big telltale sign of my normal form is gone. See?" he said, pointing to his bare forehead. Christina nodded slowly, then stared.
"What about that, then?" she asked, pointing at Artemis' long white tail, which was still there. Artemis frowned.
"Unfortunately, I can't change that. I'll just have to hide it," he said, tucking the tail into his yellow shorts and pulling his white t-shirt down over it. "There we are. Perfect." Christina giggled.
"Yeah, but you'd better hope it doesn't slip out during the party," she said, before going upstairs to finish getting ready. Artemis sighed and sat down on the couch, before wincing and jumping up again.
"OK, I guess I can't sit on it like this," he murmured to himself. "Guess I'd better get some snacks and things ready, 'cause all the girls, especially Steph and Bonnie, will be rather hungry after what happened at the beach party." Artemis walked over to the pantry and began pulling out soft drink, chips and lollies.
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Christina smiled to herself, then thought about what Artemis had suggested. Well, she thought, he did suggest that I treat him like an annoying cousin, so...
"Hey, Artie! Don't suppose you could get us a few drinks over here, could you?" Christina called, her eyes twinkling with glee. Artie looked up sharply and stared at Christina, quickly realising what she was doing.
"You're so lazy, Chris. I'm not your servant. If you want drinks, come and get them yourself," He said, folding his arms and staring challengingly at Christina. Christina's eyebrows jumped upwards as she saw that he understood, then she marched over to the kitchen and placed her hands on her hips.
"For the last time, Arthur, don't call me Chris," Christina said, glaring at the young boy. Artie instantly caught on.
"And for the last time, Chris, don't call me Arthur!" he said, glaring back.
"And I thought sibling rivalry was bad," Bonnie muttered, watching the two 'cousins' glaring at each other.
"Aaargh! You are so annoying, Artie! Don't ruin my party!" Christina yelled, storming upstairs, where she slammed her bedroom door in pretend anger and then collapsed onto her bed in a fit of silent giggles. Downstairs, Artie was staring at the stairs with a worried expression on his face.
"Should someone go check on her?" Steph whispered nervously. Artie glanced at Steph, looking like he was about to cry. In reality, he felt like he was about to burst out laughing.
"I-I'll go," he said, before walking slowly upstairs. He knocked on Christina's bedroom door and quietly called,
"Christina? Can I come in? It's just me." Artie heard a quick patter of feet approaching the other side of the door, which opened to reveal Christina, red-eyed and grinning. She glanced around to make sure no-one else had followed, then dragged Artie into the bedroom and shut the door, and the two of them dissolved into giggles once again.
"Oh, Artemis, you deserve an Oscar for that performance!" Christina gasped between giggles. Artie sank onto the bed, giggling madly. Suddenly, there was a flash of white light, and Artie turned back into a cat. They immediately stopped laughing and gasped.
"Why'd you turn back, Artemis? You can't let the girls see you like this," Christina said. Artemis sighed and changed back into a little boy, before saying,
"Unfortunately, this form has several triggers that make me change back. Sneezing is one of them. It seems that laughing is another." Christina nodded slowly and wiped her eyes, which were wet from crying with laughter. She smoothed out her dress, checked her face in her mirror and then turned to Artie and smiled.
"Shall we go back down now?" she asked. Artie nodded, and the two went back downstairs, where Steph, Bonnie, Dee, Phoenix, Alice and Jess were sitting in a subdued silence. Christina smiled a little at her friends and began pouring herself a glass of raspberry soft drink.
"Um, listen, Christina. I'm sorry for upsetting you. Here, let me do that," Artie said, tugging the bottle of soft drink from Christina's grip and filling her glass, before grabbing two more glasses and filling them. He passed Christina's glass to her, then picked up the other two and handed them shyly to Steph and Bonnie.
"Thanks, Artie," Bonnie said, taking the glass and smiling. Artie blushed a little and sat down, taking a few lollies from the bowl on the coffee table. He looked up at Christina, who winked back at him and walked out of the room. She wandered back and forth between the loungeroom and the dining room, trying to sense any warm energy, indicating that a Scout was nearby. As she neared the games room, she finally sensed a tingle of energy, but it had none of the warmth of a Scout's aura. Instead it was cold, dark and foreboding. Christina peeked into the games room, where a horrific sight greeted her. A tall, pitch-black Youma with glowing red eyes stood amongst a mess of ruined games, TVs and games consoles, and there, struggling weakly in the youma's grip, was Matison. Christina glanced around, noticing that Steph had a clear view of the door of the games room, but had no view of the youma. Christina looked around frantically for a place to hide so that she could transform, but came up with nothing. I can't transform here, she thought frantically, Steph will see! And I can't go further into the games room to transform, because the youma will be able to get me! Guess there's only one thing for it, then... Christina took a deep breath, screwed up her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs, before running through the loungeroom, out the back door and into the shed, where she quickly and quietly transformed. Jumping onto the shed roof, she watched and waited.
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Steph and Bonnie looked up sharply when they heard Christina scream, then looked at each other in alarm as their friend ran past them. Artie stood up and ran down to the games room. As soon as he spotted the youma, he turned and ran back to the loungeroom.
"Guys, we need to hide. Right now. There's a youma in the games room," he said, panting a little and opening a cupboard. Alice and Jess dived into the cupboard, slamming the door behind them. Pheonix darted up the stairs, Steph and Bonnie jumped into the spacious pantry, and Dee and Artie hid in separate cabinets under the sink. Artie opened his cupboard a little, and saw pink and blue lights flashing underneath the pantry door. They really are Sailor Scouts, he thought as the pantry door opened and Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury stepped out. They turned just in time to see the youma burst into the kitchen and began throwing cupboards open in search of victims, seemingly oblivious to the two girls standing in the middle of the room. The two scouts glared at the youma
"Hey, you! Blackie!" Sailor Moon began, pointing at the youma. Sailor Mercury turned to look at Sailor Moon.
" 'Blackie'? You have an entire dictionary of nasty names to use, and you choose 'Blackie'?!?" she asked, incredulous. Sailor Moon blushed a little, but continued.
"Oi, jerk-face! Stop right there! I won't let you disrupt this party any longer! I'm Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"
"Parties are supposed to be fun, not scary! I'm Sailor Mercury! And in the name of Mercury, I shall punish you!" The youma either didn't hear them or was ignoring them, because it didn't even hesitate in its search. It found the cupboard where Alice and Jess were hiding, and, ignoring their shrieks of fear, grabbed one in each hand and drained their energy. It then dropped the unconscious girls on the floor and resumed its search. Sailor Mercury frowned.
"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" In an instant, the kitchen was covered in a thick blanket of fog.
"Yeah!" Mercury cheered. Suddenly, the fog swirled very fast and began to lift. Within seconds, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury were able to see why: the youma was inhaling the fog. It swallowed the last of the fog and grinned, then began searching the cupboards again.
"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon's tiara flew across the room and hit the youma, bouncing off it like a trampoline. Sailor Moon jumped and caught her tiara as it flew back to her, then turned to Mercury.
"Mercury, use your computer to find out what this thing's weakness is, while I hold it off!" she said, before picking up a nearby chair. Mercury pulled out her computer and began typing away at it.
"Well, we know that it's not weak against your bubbles or my tiara," Sailor Moon said, shoving the youma away from the cupboard where Artie was hiding.
"Could I throw a pot at it?" Mercury said, glancing up and giggling. She continued tapping away at her computer. When the computer gave her an answer, she gasped, then groaned.
"Sailor Moon, we've got a problem. This thing's only weakness is fire!" Mercury said, looking up at Sailor Moon, who was now having a tug-of-war over the chair with the youma.
"I guess you can't throw a pot at it, then," Sailor Moon said, before the youma threw her, chair and all, across the kitchen. She slammed into a cupboard door, which splintered to reveal Dee hiding there. The youma roared with delight and seized Dee, pulling her out of the cupboard and into the air. Dee grabbed the youma's fingers and attempted to free herself.
"OK, that's it. Stop hurting my friends, you jerk!" Sailor Moon yelled, picking up the chair and swatting the youma over the head with it. It glared at her, then yelped as its fingers began smoking where Dee was gripping them. Dee glared at the youma, the Mars symbol glowing on her forehead.
"Dee is Mars?!?" Sailor Moon yelped, staring at her friend. Suddenly, Luna jumped through a window onto the youma's head. She gave its face a good scratching, then pressed a red-and-gold transformation pen into Dee's outstretched hand.
"Shout 'Mars Power'!" Luna instructed, before dodging the youma's free hand and landing on the floor.
"Mars Power!" Dee shouted, before the youma's fist became engulfed in flames. It yelped and dropped his prisoner, who landed gently on her feet, the flames making her hair long and dark, and creating the usual white leotard, a red skirt, collar, choker and high-heeled shoes, white gloves with red bands, a red bow on her lower back, a purple bow on her chest and a tiara with a red gem on her forehead. The fire went out, and Dee opened her eyes and glared at the youma.
"You're going down, you ugly youma! I'm the Passionate Sailor Scout of Fire: Sailor Mars! And in the name of Mars, I shall punish you!" she shouted. She pressed her hands together with her thumbs and pointer fingers touching, and a ball of fire appeared at the tips of her touching fingers.
"Mars Fire Ignite!" she shouted, sending the fireball hurtling across the room and into the youma's stomach. Mars helped Sailor Moon to her feet as the youma shrieked with pain, its flesh sizzling.
"Sailor Moon, I-" Mars began, before spinning around as the youma let out another roar. All eyes were drawn to the red rose embedded in the youma's burnt stomach.
"I think we need to combine our attacks, Sailor Moon," Mars said, turning back to Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon nodded and took off her tiara.
"Moon Tiara..."
"Mars Fire..."
"Magic!"
"Ignite!" The fireball surrounded the glowing tiara, and the combined attack flew across the room at the youma. The youma let out a screech of pain, then exploded into dust.
"Yeah! We did it!" Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars cheered, high-fiving each other. Luna and Mercury smiled.
"Well done, Sailor Scouts," said a voice, and everyone looked up to see Tuxedo Mask standing in the kitchen doorway. He nodded to them, then disappeared with a swish of his cape.
"Welcome to the team, Sailor Mars! Now we only have Sailor Jupiter to find!" Luna said, smiling. The sliding glass door to the backyard opened, and Sailor V stepped inside, her blue eyes twinkling behind her mask.
"Well, it's good to see I wasn't needed for once. I'm glad that you realised that teamwork is necessary when your individual attacks don't work," she said, smiling at the three Scouts and Luna. "A word to the wise, though. Be careful of Tuxedo Mask. Who knows what he's doing interfering with Scout business."
"He's helping us," Sailor Moon protested.
"Yes, but why? What does he have to gain from helping the Sailor Scouts? What's he up to?" Sailor V asked.
"Well, I..." Sailor Moon trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"Until we know what he's up to, it would be wise to stay away from him, Sailor Moon," Sailor V said.
"I think you're right, Sailor V," Luna said. Sailor Moon looked faintly dissapointed, but nodded.
"Be careful, girls. I'll see you around," Sailor V said, before disappearing out the back door again. She ran over to the shed and jumped inside, sliding the door shut and detransforming. Grinning, Christina sat down on the floor of the shed and curled up in pretend fear. In the kitchen, Sailor Moon sighed and detransformed. Mars started, staring at Steph.
"Steph?!? You're Sailor Moon?!?" she gasped, detransforming. Steph smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, and guess who Sailor Mercury here is," she said. Dee looked at Mercury, who smiled back at her. Dee gasped again as Mercury detransformed.
"Bonnie?!?"
"No, I'm not, don't lie!" Bonnie said, giggling. Steph suddenly grabbed Bonnie's arm, looking horrified.
"Oh my gosh! What about the others? Where are Nixx and Alice and Jess and Matison and Artie? Where's Chrissy?" she said, looking around. The girls began searching, and quickly found Artie hiding under the sink. He climbed out and helped them lay Alice, Jess and Matison on the couch, then they went searching again. Upstairs, they found Phoenix hiding under Christina's bed, which was a rather cramped hiding place considering all of the junk that was stuffed under there.
"Is it gone?" Phoenix asked, crawling out and pulling one of Christina's white shirts off of her shoe.
"Yeah, it's gone, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Tuxedo Mask and another Sailor Scout called Sailor Mars destroyed it," Steph said, helping Phoenix to her feet. Dee looked at her for a moment before understanding that they needed to keep their identities secret.
"Sailor Mars? Seems to me that all the Sailor Scouts are named after the planets. What's the next Scout going to be called, Sailor Jupiter?" she asked jokingly. Steph, Bonnie and Dee just looked at each other knowingly.
"C'mon, let's go find Christina, you guys. She's not going to be happy that her party got ruined twice," Artie said from the doorway. The girls all trooped back downstairs.
"Well, it looked to me like she went outside," Steph said, stepping out the back door into the cold night air. "Chrissy? Where are you?" she called, looking around the yard.
"Maybe she's in there," Artie whispered, pointing to the shed.
"Why are you whispering, Artie?" Bonnie asked. Artie blushed and shrugged. Dee marched over to the shed and yanked the door open, the faint moonlight revealing Christina, curled up in a corner. She let out a cry of surprise when the door opened, then jumped up looking relieved.
"Is it gone?" she asked, looking over their shoulders towards the house.
"Yup, it's all clear in there," Bonnie said. Christina climbed out of the shed and smiled.
"Phew. What happened?" she asked.
"Sailor Mars appeared and helped Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Mask defeat the youma, didn't she, Steph," Dee said excitedly. Steph smiled at her and nodded.
"Well, I guess we'd better get inside and start cleaning up. There's probably a pretty big mess in there, if the beach party is anything to go by," Christina sighed.
"Yeah, there's a pretty big mess in the kitchen," Steph said.
"And there's practically nothing left of the stuff in the games room," Artie added
"Aw, man! I was up to the final battle in one of my Digimon games!" Christina wailed. Steph, Bonnie, Dee, Phoenix and Artie looked at one other and burst out laughing.