Chapter 4! Hooray! Hope you like it!
Disclaimer:
Anyone who is stupid enough to claim that they own Sailor Moon is a Baka. I'm not, because I'll freely admit that I don't own it.
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"Gee, this is gonna cost a mint to get fixed, Artemis," Christina said, looking around the kitchen, which was now cleared of wreckage(excluding the small pieces of cupboard door hanging from their hinges). Artie threw a piece of splintered wood and a mangled game console into a half-full garbage bag and dragged it outside. He walked back into the house and flopped down onto the couch, turning back into his cat form with a flash.
"Yeah... Well, I think we got a few answers tonight. We know for certain that your friend Dee is Mars. All we need now is Jupiter," Artemis said.
"Any ideas as to who she may or may not be? Considering which of my friends could come tonight," Christina asked, sitting down next to her feline friend. Artemis sighed thoughtfully.
"Well, I think we could cross your friends Alice and Jess off as possibilities, considering how quickly the youma drained their energy," Artemis said slowly.
"And Matison," Christina added. Artemis nodded in agreement. "What about Nixx? So far she's been at two of the youma attacks, but she's never been in any danger, so we've never actually had the chance to find out whether or not she's a Scout. At the beach party, she and Dee ran off as soon as the youma showed up, and tonight she hid upstairs when you found out that there was a youma in the house," Christina said.
"Well, I doubt that she can avoid youma attacks forever, so I suspect that we'll find out whether she's a Scout soon enough," Artemis said. Christina nodded and walked over to the window. "Oh, and I must say, I quite liked the way you alerted us to the youma's presence, although you shouldn't do that all the time," Artemis added. Christina blushed.
"Well, I knew I couldn't transform in the doorway, 'cause Stephy would have seen, and I couldn't go any further into the room, 'cause then the youma could have got me. So I figured that if I screamed and ran to find a hiding place, I'd be able to find somewhere to transform, as well as alerting Steph and Bonnie to the Youma's presence," Christina said. Artemis nodded.
"That was some excellent quick thinking then," Artemis said. Christina smiled.
"I hope we can find Jupiter soon. Things seem to be getting harder, and we'll need her help," Christina said.
"I don't think that's such a big problem right now. The biggest concern is Tuxedo Mask. I think... He could be the reincarnation of Prince Endymion," Artemis said. Christina gasped and looked at Artemis.
"Are you sure?" she asked, her eyes wide. Artemis nodded. Christina frowned. "Well, if he is, then Stephy definitely needs to stay away from him." After a while, she shook her head to clear it and said,
"Any ideas when Jupiter will show up?" Artemis frowned.
"Well, Jupiter and Mars always got on well, so she shouldn't be far away. Maybe... Tomorrow?"
"That soon? I'd better get a good night's sleep so I'm ready for it, then. G'night, Artemis. See you in the morning." Christina gave Artemis a hug and then ran upstairs to her room.
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"Morning, Steph! Did you sleep in again?" Bonnie asked, smiling as Steph and Luna approached. Dee looked up from her book and smiled. Steph blushed a little and opened the door, leading her friends into the base.
"Wow, this is nice!" Dee said, looking around the room. Steph hurried over to the ice cream hatch and tossed menus to Bonnie and Dee.
"Oooh, cool! Do we get free ice cream?" Dee asked, looking down the list of flavours.
"Yes, we do. I don't think I'll have any today, Steph," Luna said, switching on the silver computer and putting on her microphone headset.
"Gee, Luna, you never seem to have any," Steph said, before turning away and ordering a double cone of Death By Chocolate.
"That's because I've got more important things to do than eat ice cream, Steph," Luna said, glancing at Steph.
"I'll have a single scoop of Boysenberry, please, Steph," Bonnie said, looking at her menu.
"Same in Chocolate for me, please," Dee said, pulling a bottle of water from her bag and taking a sip. Steph nodded and ordered the ice cream. Behind them, the computer hummed as it booted up, then beeped.
"Please enter voice identification passcode," the electronic voice said.
"The Fiery Planet Scout blazes into action," Luna said. Steph, Bonnie and Dee looked at one another and started giggling.
"Welcome, Luna. I'm pleased that Sailor Mars showed up so quickly. Now we just need to find Jupiter," the voice said.
"Sailor Jupiter... What do we know about her?" Bonnie asked, taking her ice cream from Steph and licking it. Jupiter's profile information flashed up on the screen. Steph, Bonnie and Dee approached the computer and stared at the picture of the last Scout, a beaded green hairtie glinting prettily against her high ponytail of brown hair.
"We don't know who she is yet, although we suspect that she could be one of your friends. That seems to be the pattern that the Scouts are appearing in," the voice said.
"That makes sense, since the Scouts and the Princess were all such good friends in the Silver Millennium," Luna said.
"Anyway, Jupiter can't be too far away. She might even show up today, so keep your eyes open," the voice said, before adding, "Oh, and Luna, you'd better start teaching Dee to control her civilian powers."
"Good idea. I will," Luna said, before switching the computer off.
"What do you mean, my 'civilian powers'?" Dee asked.
"Like this," Bonnie said, pointing at Dee's bottle of water, which froze with a sparkling snap. Dee gasped.
"Oh, wow! How'd you do that, Bonnie?" Dee asked. Bonnie smiled.
"I'm not exactly sure, but that's one of my civilian powers," she said, pointing at the bottle again and defrosting it.
"Bonnie can control Water and Ice in her civilian form because she is the Scout of Water and Ice. You, Dee, can control Fire in your civilian form, because you are the Scout of Fire," Luna said, jumping onto the floor. She did a backflip, and a small metal platform with a pile of wood on it appeared on the floor. Dee looked at it eagerly and smiled.
"Now, Dee, I want you to kneel on the floor next to the platform. Focus, and search your heart for your power. You should be able to stare at the wood and make your power light it," Luna said, sitting down beside the platform. Dee obeyed and closed her eyes, searching for her power. She felt a warm tingle deep in her heart, and opened her eyes. As soon as she looked at the wood, it burst into flames. Steph and Bonnie cheered.
"That's it, Dee. Well done," Luna said, smiling. Dee smiled and stared at the fire, then gasped as images began appearing in the flames.
"What's wrong, Dee?" Steph asked, her smile fading. Dee shook her head frantically and put her finger to her lips, still watching the flames. Suddenly, the flames went out, and Dee looked up.
"Didn't you guys see that?" she asked, looking from Steph to Bonnie. Both girls shook their heads.
"No one else can see anything in the flames, Dee. Fire Reading is another of your civilian powers. I was about to tell you, but it seems you found out for yourself," Luna said, smiling a little.
"What did you see, Dee?" Steph asked.
"I... I saw us in our Scout outfits, talking to Jupiter," Dee said.
"That's certainly good news," Luna noted, smiling.
"Luna, I know this is kinda off track a little, but do you think we'll find the Princess soon?"
"Princess? What Princess?" Bonnie asked.
"Part of our Mission as Sailor Scouts is to find and protect the Moon Princess and her Imperium Silver Crystal," Steph said.
"I hope so. At present, though, we need to find Sailor Jupiter. I suggest that you three go for a walk and see if you can sense anything. If you do, contact me with these," Luna said, doing three backflips and creating three mobile phones, each with one of the Scout symbols on it. The girls took their corresponding phone and slipped it into their bags. "Oh, and if you need to sneak into somewhere, you can take pictures of other people and transform into them using your phones," Luna added. The girls nodded and left.
"Where should we go?" Steph asked.
"Well, what about going to Gateway Plaza? I still have a bit of Christmas shopping to do," Bonnie said.
"Good idea," Steph and Dee said at the same time. The three laughed and ran off in the direction of the Gateway Plaza shopping centre.
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"Artemis, are you sure we should be doing things this way?" Sailor V asked, looking down at the Gateway Plaza car park below them. Artemis nodded.
"Yes. We need to keep an eye on Phoenix, and the best way to do that is by being in Scout form," he said, looking around. After a while, Sailor V said,
"Look, there she is." Artemis looked in the direction that Sailor V was pointing, and saw Phoenix walking towards the entrance doors.
"I can't just walk into Gateway as Sailor V, Artemis. I need to detransform first," Sailor V said, watching Phoenix carefully.
"Good point," Artemis said. Sailor V ran across the roof and jumped down into the empty carpark at the back of the plaza, detransforming as she jumped. Christina landed on the ground and glanced around, before signalling for Artemis to come. Artemis jumped down to Christina's side, then transformed into his human form.
"Now, let's get in there quickly," Artie said, tucking his tail into his shorts. Christina nodded, and the pair ran around to the front entrance, where they found Phoenix talking to Steph, Bonnie and Dee.
"Oh, hey, guys! We seem to be seeing a lot more of each other lately, don't we?" Christina called, slowing to a walk and joining the others.
"Hey, Chrissy! Hey, Artie! Fancy running into you again!" Steph said.
"I would have thought that you'd still be in bed, Christina. It must have taken you ages to clean up all the mess that that Youma made last night," Phoenix said. Christina shrugged.
"Nah, not really. About an hour," she said.
"Really? So how much stuff did you lose?" Bonnie asked. Christina laughed bitterly.
"What didn't I lose? We must've thrown out about three dozen video games, four game consoles, two TVs, roughly eight cupboard doors, the microwave, the fridge... need I say more?" she said. The other girls gasped.
"How are you going to pay to replace all of that?" Dee asked. Christina smiled.
"That's no problem. I'll just take a little out of my bank trust that Mum and Dad left for me. What I can't replace is all the records that I had on the games," she said bitterly. Suddenly, a loud grumbling filled the air, and Christina and Artie began to laugh.
"You hungry, Stephy?" Christina asked. Steph smiled and nodded, her cheeks turning pink.
"Well, what say we go get some lunch? I'm starving," Bonnie said, glancing at the other girls, who nodded.
"Sounds good, Bonnie. Where should we go?" Steph asked.
"Well, how about we split up and meet back here once we've got something?" Christina suggested.
"Good idea, Christina," Dee said. The others nodded, and then the group split up. Steph, Bonnie and Dee walked down to a cafe, while Christina and Artie followed Phoenix into a nearby snack bar.
"What would you like, Christina? I'll order for you if you'll go see if you can find somewhere to sit, OK?" Artie asked, looking at her pointedly. Christina looked puzzled for a moment, then realised that Artie was really asking her to go and see if she could sense anything. She nodded and said,
"OK, sure. I'll have a caramel milkshake and a bucket of chips, please, Artie," Christina said, then walked slowly towards the other end of the Plaza, focusing intently. As she neared the other end, she began to sense Steph's anger, along with Bonnie and Dee's amusement. She turned the corner and found a crowd of people blocking the entrance to the cafe. Christina pushed through the group to find Steph arguing with a tall red-headed boy.
"Riley, when are you going to grow up?" Steph yelled. Riley grinned in amusement.
"I will when you do, Meatball Head," he replied. Steph's eyes flashed in anger and pain.
"You are such an immature Jerk!" she yelled, before Bonnie, Dee and Christina dragged her away.
"Steph, calm down. He's never going to grow up. Don't waste your breath on him," Christina said, forcing Steph into a chair. Steph took a deep breath, her face bright red.
"Yeah, he's such a loser. Just ignore him," Dee said. Steph sighed.
"Yeah, I know. It's just, he gets on my nerves sometimes, you know?" she said. Christina, Bonnie and Dee smiled and nodded.
"Hey, don't boys usually tease girls 'cause they like them?" Bonnie asked. Steph went from red to purple to green faster than a traffic light.
"Eeeeewww!!! Him... like ME?!? That's just wrong!!!" Steph wailed. The other girls giggled.
"Anyway, Stephy, we'd better get some lunch and catch up with the others. They're probably waiting for us," Christina said. Steph sighed and nodded, before she, Bonnie and Dee went and ordered lunch. Once they had their orders, they followed Christina back up to the other entrance, where Phoenix and Artie were waiting for them. Artie passed Christina's order to her, then he and Phoenix pulled two tables together for the six of them to sit at. They all sat down, and began eating their lunch. Artie, sitting across the table from Christina, caught her eye and looked at her pointedly. Christina understood his silent question and shook her head. Artemis nodded understandingly.
"Guys, I'll be right back. I'm just going to get another bottle of soft drink," Phoenix said, throwing her empty bottle into a bin and walking away.
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At the other end of the plaza, a tall, blonde man wearing a strange outfit smirked and placed a piece of pink quartz in a pile of stuffed toys, then vanished with a swish of his cape. The pink quartz glowed, making the toys come alive and grow to ten times their normal size. The toys squealed excitedly and began pouncing on nearby shoppers, pushing them to the ground and draining their energy.
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Screaming echoed down from the other end of the Plaza, and everyone looked up to see Phoenix running away from a large white stuffed rabbit.
"Help! What is this thing?" she yelled, before diving behind the counter of a muffin shop. Steph, Bonnie and Dee looked at each other.
"Chrissy, Artie, we need to get out of here," Steph said, turning to look at Christina, only to find that she and Artie were already gone. Steph nodded, then looked at Bonnie and Dee.
"Let's do this! Moon Prism Power!"
"Mercury Power!"
"Mars Power!" Sheltered in a nearby supermarket, Riley caught a glimpse of the girls as the plaza was lit up by pink lights, blue bubbles and blood-red flames. He gasped as the elements died down and the Sailor Scouts whirled around and posed.
"I don't believe it. Meatball Head is Sailor Moon?!?" Riley whispered. Sailor Moon, unware of any of this, pointed at the horde of youma.
"This is one of the best places around here to shop, and I won't let you ruin things! I'm Sailor Moon! And in the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!" Sailor Moon shouted, not noticing that her friends were already fighting the giant stuffed toys.
"How about you skip the monologue, Sailor Moon, and help us?" Mercury said, before lifting a stream of water out of a nearby wishing fountain and using it to slice the head off of a stuffed horse, which exploded in a shower of stuffing. Mercury turned and sliced a dog toy-youma in half, while Sailor Mars threw flames at three stuffed cat-youma. Sailor Moon pulled off her tiara.
"Moon Tiara Magic!" Her tiara went spinning across the room, slicing a dozen toy-youma into little bits. Finally, all the youma were gone, and the Scouts looked around at the stuffing scattered all over the Plaza.
"Whew, what a relief," Sailor Moon said.
"It's not over yet. Look!" Mercury said, pointing to one of the small piles of stuffing. The Scouts looked, and noticed that the stuffing was moving across the floor, forming a pile in the middle of the room. The pile of stuffing began to take shape, turning into a huge brown stuffed dog toy-youma. In his hiding place, Riley frowned, then pulled out a red rose with a silver stem. A flurry of red rose petals surrounded him, turning his hair short and black, and forming a black tuxedo, mask, cape and top hat. Tuxedo Mask crouched out of sight, waiting for the right moment to help and contemplating his discovery, unaware that Sailor V and Artie were crouched in the aisle behind his, watching through a gap in the shelves.
"Let's take this thing down!" Mercury said, drawing two thick streams of water from the fountain and sending them at the youma.
"Moon Tiara Magic!"
"Mars Fire Ignite!" the three attacks went flying across the room at the dog-youma, bouncing off it and damaging a number of shops. The dog-youma let out an enormous, delighted bark and charged across to one of the damaged shops. It looked behind the counter, barked delightedly again and then dragged its find out into the open. The Scouts gasped as they realised who it was.
"Nixx! Hang in there! We'll save you!" Sailor Moon shouted, charging forward. Phoenix grabbed the youma's paw, and Sailor Moon skidded to a halt as the youma began to howl in pain, electricity coursing through it.
"What's going on?" Sailor Moon gasped, watching as Phoenix tightened her grip, and the youma yelped and whined as its pain increased.
"I... I don't believe it! Nixx... Nixx is Jupiter?!?" Mercury gasped as the green Jupiter symbol glowed on Phoenix's forehead. The youma pulled away from Phoenix, whimpering. Phoenix clambered to her feet, her eyes blazing. Suddenly, Luna appeared and threw a green-and-gold pen to Phoenix.
"Phoenix! Take this and shout 'Jupiter Power!'" Luna called. Phoenix caught the pen and stared at it, then thrust it into the air above her head.
"Jupiter Power!" Green lightning bolts burst from the pen, surrounding Phoenix and tying her, before creating a white leotard, a green skirt, collar, choker and lace-up boots, white gloves with green bands, pink bows on her chest and lower back and a tiara with a green gem on her forehead. Phoenix whirled around and posed.
"OK, I've had about enough of you stupid youma. This is the third time your kind has ruined our fun, and I'm not going to stand by and let you get away with it any longer! I'm Sailor Jupiter! And in the name of Jupiter, I shall punish you!" she shouted. She crossed her arms over her chest with her index and pinky fingers extended, and a thin rod rose from the top of her tiara. Electricity arced out of nearby machines and powerpoints and gathered on the end of the rod.
"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter shouted, sending the electricity arcing across the room. The dog toy-youma was struck between the eyes and flew backwards, slamming into the wall. It clambered to its feet, whimpering and growling.
"This thing is really tough!" Mars said, watching the youma warily. The youma growled and swept its tail across the floor, flicking a chair at an unsuspecting Sailor Moon.
"Look out!" Mercury yelled. It was at that moment that Tuxedo Mask showed himself, diving and pushing Sailor Moon out of the way. The table flew over their heads and hit the wall, breaking and showering them with splinters. They sat up, staring at each other. Sailor Moon swallowed nervously, her heart racing.
"Are you alright, Sailor Moon?" Tuxedo Mask asked. Sailor Moon nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I think so..." she said quietly. Tuxedo Mask nodded and helped her to her feet. Sailor Moon smiled at the masked hero, before turning to the toy-youma.
"I think we need to work together to bring this thing down, guys," she said, glancing at her friends.
"Aim for its nose!" Mercury said as her computer gave her the youma's weak spot. The others nodded.
"Moon Tiara..."
"Mercury Bubbles...
"Mars Fire..."
"Supreme..."
"Magic!" "Blast!" "Ignite!" "Thunder!" The three elemental attacks merged with Sailor Moon's tiara, which went spinning across the room and struck the youma in the nose. The dog youma reeled away, yelping madly. With a final loud yelp, it disintegrated into a pile of dust. Sailor Moon sighed, then turned to smile at Tuxedo Mask.
"Um... Th-thanks for saving me again, Tuxedo Mask," she said, her cheeks turning pink. Tuxedo Mask looked at her for a moment, before smiling.
"No problem, Sailor Moon," he said. The two seemed to get incredibly close together, when a yellow beam of light flew across the room and separated them. They jumped back and looked around to find Sailor V standing at the other end of the plaza, pointing at them. She lowered her hands and glared at Tuxedo Mask coldly. Tuxedo Mask sighed.
"See you around, Sailor Moon," he said, before running off with a swish of his cape. Sailor Moon turned to look at Sailor V, frowning.
"What did you do that for, Sailor V? You could have hurt him!" Sailor Moon said, her eyes wet with tears.
"Sailor Moon. I thought I said this before: stay away from Tuxedo Mask," Sailor V said.
"I know, but... But I just can't! He's a good person, I know it! He's saved me twice already, and he was there at the party last night too, except he didn't need to save me then. Can't you see? He's on our side!" Sailor Moon pleaded. Sailor V sighed, her blue eyes softening. Shaking her head in defeat, she smiled at Sailor Jupiter, then disappeared around the corner. Sailor Moon wiped her eyes, then smiled at her friends.
"Hey, we finally found you, Sailor Jupiter! It's great to have you on our team," she said, running over to the other Scouts.
"Finally," Luna said, smiling. "Finally, all four Scouts are back together!"
"Yes, but not for long," said a snide male voice. The girls whirled around to find a tall blonde man in a strange oufit smirking at them.
"I must admit, you girls are strong to be able to defeat my youma. But you won't defeat me," he said.
"Who are you?" Steph asked. The man smiled.
"I am one of Queen Beryl-sama's followers. I am Jadeite, one of the four Generals," the man said.
"Queen Beryl?!? It can't be," Luna gasped.
"And you, Sailor Scouts, are nothing more than an annoyance. An annoyance that I shall have great pleasure in destroying!" Jadeite yelled, pulling out four shards of crystal and throwing them at the Scouts. Suddenly, a yellow beam of light flew across the room, destroying the crystal shards and striking Jadeite in the chest. He grunted in pain, then he vanished in a cloud of orange smoke.
"Now that's what I call timing," Sailor V said, walking up to them and smiling. "I had a feeling that something evil was still here, so I stuck around to check. Turns out I was right."
"Thanks, Sailor V," Jupiter said. Sailor V smiled.
"No problem. Glad I could help. See you around," Sailor V said, before running through the entrance to the plaza. Sailor Moon turned to Jupiter and smiled.
"Yay! I can't believe you're a Sailor Scout, Nixx!" she said, smiling and hugging the newest Scout.
"I-I just can't believe it. You know, last night I was joking about there even being a Sailor Jupiter, and today I find out that I am Sailor Jupiter. It's just crazy," Jupiter said, smiling and detransforming.
"Yeah, we know that you were making jokes about there being a Sailor Jupiter," Mercury said, smiling. Phoenix looked puzzled
"How did you know that?" she asked. Moon, Mercury and Mars smiled, then detransformed. Phoenix's eyes grew incredibly wide.
"You... I... But... S-Steph?!? Bonnie?!? Dee?!? You guys are Scouts too?!?" she spluttered. The girls nodded. "What about Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask? Are they some of our friends too?"
"Dunno. Maybe," Bonnie said. Phoenix nodded understandingly.
"Hey, where's Christina and Artie?" Dee asked, looking around. As if on cue, Artie peeked out from behind the shelves in the supermarket.
"It's OK, Artie. It's gone. Where's Christina?" Bonnie asked.
"I dunno. We got separated when the youma started attacking," Artie said, faking concern. The group began walking through the Plaza, calling Christina's name. They looked and looked, and eventually found Christina hiding outside behind a car.
"Are you OK, Christina? We were worried when we found out that you'd dissapeared," Bonnie said, smiling and helping Christina to her feet.
"What happened? Did Sailor Moon and the other Scouts show up again?" Christina asked.
"Yeah, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask were all here, along with another new scout, Sailor Jupiter," Steph said, smiling and glancing at Phoenix, who smiled knowingly back.
"Sailor Jupiter... that's five Scouts now, right?" Christina asked. The others nodded. Suddenly, a loud grumbling filled the air, and they all started laughing again.
"I guess all that mayhem really did make you hungry, Steph," Bonnie said, giggling.
"Well, I guess we should be heading home. I need to finish reading a library book that I borrowed, 'cause it's gotta go back tomorrow," Christina said.
"OK, bye, Chrissy! Bye, Artie!" the girls called, waving to Christina and Artie as they began to walk home. Once they were gone, Steph turned to the others.
"How about we go get some ice cream?" she asked. The others nodded and smiled.
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"Phew, what a tiring day," Christina said, walking to the window and staring out into the sunset. Artie smiled and sat down on the couch, before changing back into a cat.
"Yeah. But at least now we know who Jupiter is," Artemis said. Christina smiled at him and nodded then turned back to the window.
"I wonder how long I'll have to wait before I tell them. I hate keeping secrets, but this is a really special secret, and I want it to be a surprise," she said, staring out into the darkness. Artemis smiled a little.
"Well, I know you're anxious to reveal this secret, and now that Jupiter has been found, I think it's safe for you to reveal the truth," Artemis said. Christina turned away from the window to look at Artemis. Her smile grew wider as she imagined her friends' faces when they finally found out her incredible secret.