Chapter 8! Yay! I had to completely rewrite this one, seeing as my computer decided that the file was all of a sudden not going to work anymore. So here's the rewritten version as best as I can remember it. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. I also don't own a computer that is actually willing to work properly all the time. *sigh...*
"Wow, today was exhausting," Bonnie said, sitting down on the couch in Christina's living room.
"Yeah, but you totally kicked Zoisite's butt," Christina smiled.
"Thanks, Christina. But one thing still doesn't make sense. I still don't understand why Ethan turned into a Youma," Bonnie said, rubbing the Blue Crystal gently.
"That's quite a long story, but I guess I could try and tell you a little. See, a long time ago we all lived together on the Moon," Artemis began.
"We lived on the Moon? How is that possible? There's no air there," Phoenix pointed out.
"Bear in mind that this was a long time ago. There were lots of plants and greenery on the Moon, at least until the Silver Milennium ended," Artemis said.
"How'd it end, Artemis?" Dee asked.
"In a word, badly. See, one day the Negaverse Queen, Queen Beryl, attacked the Moon Kingdom and destroyed it. She also tried to assassinate our Princess. The Earth Prince, Endymion, who was in love with our Princess, stepped in and took the blow, sacrificing his own life for that of our Princess. Our Princess was so distraught at losing Endymion that she took his sword and killed herself to be with him," Artemis said.
"Why? Why would you do that, Christina?" Phoenix asked. Christina looked away, unwilling to answer.
"Don't be too hard on her, Phoenix. You have to remember that our Princess loved Endymion. Just imagine how you'd feel if someone you loved sacrificed themselves to save you," Artemis said. Phoenix nodded slowly.
"I get all of that, but what does any of this have to do with Ethan?" Bonnie asked.
"Well, as I said, Beryl attacked and destroyed the Moon Kingdom. Her army was huge, and it was mostly made up of Youma. There were seven Youma that were particularly strong. They were known as the Seven Great Youma, and they were all powerful Dragon-shaped Youma. Queen Serenity, our ruler and the mother of our Princess, trapped the Seven Great Youma in her Imperium Silver Crystal, which then shattered into the Seven Rainbow Crystals," Artemis said.
"So... Then Ethan is..." Bonnie trailed off as reality struck.
"He is the reincarnation of one of those Seven Great Youma, yes. However, now that Steph has healed him, he'll be able to transform at will into his Youma form," Artemis said, smiling.
"And that will come in very handy against the Negaverse," Luna said.
"Well, now that we've gotten all of that straightened out, I think we should probably put the Blue Crystal somewhere safe and go to bed. We'll need all the sleep we can get if things continue the way they are," Christina said.
"You're right, Christina. You go on up to bed, I'll hide the Crystal," Artemis said, taking it from Bonnie and going to the cupboard where he kept his silver computer. He opened the hatch and pressed a small button beside the computer, which slid out and to the side to reveal a small but strong safe. Artemis punched in the code and opened the safe, then took a small black velvet bag from inside and placed the Blue Crystal gently into it. He placed the bag on top of five brightly-coloured folders, then shut the safe and returned the computer to its original position. Satisfied, he shut the hatch and walked upstairs, where he found Christina sitting on the bed watching Steph and Luna, who were already fast asleep.
"They went down quickly," Artemis noted, jumping up onto the bed. Christina only nodded. The two sat quietly for a while, then Christina broke the silence with,
"Do you think they know? I mean, I've tried my best to hide the truth, but sometimes I think they know, you know?" Artemis chuckled.
"I'm sure they don't, Christina. You've done very well. Admittedly, there are a few things that could have been done a little better, but all in all things have worked out ok," Artemis said.
"Yeah. But we need to keep things under control, or the past will repeat itself."
"You need to stop obsessing about that so much, Christina. All we can do is try our best, and if it isn't meant to be, then that's that."
"How can you take such a light-hearted view of this, Artemis? This is the fate of the world we're talking about here!"
"I know, but you don't need to get so worked up about it."
"Artemis, you know I-"
"Come one, we'd better get some sleep. We'll need all the sleep we can get if today's anything to go by," Artemis said, cutting Christina off. Christina sighed.
"Alright, but we're not finished talking about this," she said, before grabbing a pair of white and orange pyjamas from a drawer and leaving the room to change. Artemis sighed. I wish she'd lighten up a little, Artemis thought. It'd be really hard on all of us if she was ruling us the way she is now...
Wow, things have been chaotic around here lately, Christina thought, flicking through the TV channels. The Negaverse is probably looking for the next Crystal Carrier as well... And that means we won't get a rest any time soon...
"...And in other news, there have been widespread blackouts across the state. Areas that are most affected include Hamilton, Mortlake and Warrnambool," a newsreader announced. Christina scowled at the TV and switched it off. Guess that means we won't be training today. I told Artemis that we should have gotten a generator for the Base. Oh well, at least we still have a generator here, Christina thought, throwing the TV remote onto the couch and going into the kitchen. While she was getting out some bread, Lucy and Artie came downstairs.
"Good morning, Christina!" Artie said.
"I guess it is," Christina said, putting a slice of bread into the toaster.
"What's the matter?" Lucy asked.
"The power's out in town, which means we won't be able to go down to the Base and train," Christina said.
"That's alright, we'll just make do here," Artie said.
"Are you serious, Artemis? We can't train here, we'd be way too vulnerable! And I have no intention of putting a forcefield up. The one around the base took hours, and this house is over triple the size!"
"Ok, so we'll just skip training for today. Why don't you go out and see if you can sense anything. That Crescent Moon Wand that Luna and I gave Steph flashes if a Crystal Carrier is nearby, so you should take that too," Artemis suggested.
"And in the meantime, I'll install my prediction program on Artemis' computer, so that we don't need to go all the way down to the Base to use it," Lucy said.
"Now that sounds like a good idea. I'll go wake the others and we'll set off soon," Christina said, buttering her toast and leaving the room with it. Artemis watched her go, then sighed.
"She's changed so much, Luna."
"I'm so sleepy! Why did we have to get up so early, Chrissy?" Steph asked.
"I told you, we're seeing if we can find the next Crystal Carrier," Christina said.
"Yeah, but I still don't get why I need to carry this with me when I'm not transformed," Steph said, pulling the Crescent Moon Wand out. Christina snatched it away and stuffed it back into Steph's bag.
"Be careful with that! You can't just go waving it around, what would happen if someone saw?" Christina hissed.
"Hi Christina!" a voice called.
"See what I mean?" Christina whispered, before turning to find Jess walking towards her. "Hi Jess! How are you?"
"Pretty good. Better than I was at your party, at least," Jess smiled.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Christina said.
"Hey, don't worry about it. It's not your fault a Youma decided to crash your party," Jess said.
"Yeah. It's probably a good thing that the Youma crashed it, or we might have been there all night. You remember Steph, Bonnie, Dee and Phoenix, don't you?" Christina asked.
"Of course! How are you all?"
"We're all pretty tired, actually. But I think Bonnie's probably more tired than the rest of us," Dee said.
"Oh really? Why? What happened?" Jess asked.
"Nothing much. Just another Youma attacking people. This time it was at Aquazone, and me and a bunch of my friends were there," Bonnie shrugged, glancing at Christina, who she could sense was getting impatient to continue their search. Christina tapped her foot and sighed, then gasped as she spotted something glowing in Steph's bag.
"Stephy? Can I talk to you for a second?" Christina asked. Steph looked surprised but nodded. The two girls walked a few paces away, then Christina turned to her cousin.
"Have a look in your bag," Christina whispered. Steph looked confused but did as she was told, then gasped as she pulled out the Crescent Moon Wand and stared at the three gems below the crescent moon, which were flashing madly.
"What's going on?" Steph asked.
"Luna told me this morning that the Crescent Moon Wand flashes if a Crystal Carrier is nearby," Christina whispered.
"So that means that Jess is..." Steph trailed off, looking up at Jess. Christina nodded, frowning thoughtfully. Then, suddenly, her frown vanished.
"Hey, Jess, wanna hang out with us?" Jess looked surprised, but smiled.
"Sure! That'd be fun!" she said. The group, now slightly larger, continued down the footpath. Bonnie slowed her pace slightly to walk beside Christina.
"You changed your mind fast," she said.
"What do you mean?" Christina asked.
"I thought you wanted to search for Crystal Carriers," Bonnie whispered.
"She is a Crystal Carrier. Luna told me that the Crescent Moon Wand flashes if there's a Crystal Carrier nearby, and it started flashing when Jess got here. So that means that we need to keep an eye on her," Christina said, pulling out her phone. "Artemis? Yeah, it's me. We found one. What do we do with her?"
"Stay with her. If the Negaverse attacks, you'll need to stop them from getting the Crystal," Artemis said.
"Gotcha," Christina said, before flipping her phone shut and slipping it back into her pocket. "I have to admit that I wasn't expecting us to find a Crystal Carrier so quickly."
"Yeah, but we did, and at least we'll all be here if Zoisite does decide to show up," Bonnie pointed out.
"Yum, this was a good idea of yours to get chips for lunch, Chrissy," Steph said, stretching out on the grass of the Civic Green and taking another handful of chips.
"Well, I figured we'd probably be out here for a while, so we may as well get something to keep us going," Christina said, shielding her eyes from the sunlight that was reflecting off of the windows of the nearby Art Gallery.
"Warrnambool is so boring! Don't you wish something exciting would happen?" Jess asked.
"Not really. It seems like there's been tons of excitement around here for ages. I wouldn't mind a little peace for a change," Christina said. Looks like Jess is the one who gets her wish, though, she thought as a tingle of negative energy hit her senses.
"Guys, someone's coming, and I think it might be her," Christina said. Everyone except Jess gasped. Jess just looked confused.
"You sure?" Steph asked. Christina only nodded and looked around, spotting a shadowy figure hiding behind one of the pillars at the front of the Art Gallery.
"Who are you guys talking about?" Jess asked.
"Don't look now, guys, but I think Miss Freaky over there is being her usual self again," Christina said, watching as the figure left its hiding place and walked towards them.
"Hello there girls, how are we all today?" Zoisite(for her it was) asked.
"Why do you care? You never cared before, and you're so cold and heartless that I highly doubt you'll start caring anytime soon," Christina spat.
"My, you're rude. You should mind your manners, little girl," Zoisite said.
"I'll be as rude as I like to you, Nega-creep! Venus Power!"
"Moon Prism Power!"
"Mercury Power!"
"Mars Power!"
"Jupiter Power!" Jess gasped as the others transformed.
"You're the Sailor Scouts?!?" Jess and Zoisite chorused.
"That's right, and we're here to stop you, Zoisite! I'm Sailor Moon!"
"I'm Sailor Mercury!"
"I'm Sailor Mars!"
"I'm Sailor Jupiter!"
"And I'm Sailor Venus! And in the name of our guardian planets..."
"We shall punish you!" the scouts chorused.
"So, you showed up again. Just when you're not wanted, as usual. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you girls, but I really don't have time to bother with you. Here," Zoisite said, throwing a handful of tiny black crystals into the air. The crystals flew around and transformed two seal statues, a magpie and several tufts of grass into youma, which grabbed the five Scouts and threw them across the Civic Green. Zoisite sighed happily, then turned to Jess.
"There. Now that that little problem has been dealt with, I can get down to business. Zoi!" Zoisite yelled, holding out her black crystal. As with Ethan, the waves of dark energy released by the black crystal opened a hole in Jess's chest, revealing a violet crystal floating inside.
"This is too easy," Zoisite chuckled, taking the Violet Crystal as it floated towards her.
"Not so fast, Zoisite!" Sailor Venus yelled, destroying the magpie Youma with her Crescent Beam Smash. She conjured up two arrows and sent them flying across the grass at lightning speed. One arrow flew too far right and landed in the grass, while the other grazed Zoisite's arm, making her yell in pain and drop the Violet Crystal. Sailor Venus ran and dove across the grass, snatching the dropped Crystal up and then rolling away from Zoisite with it.
"Come back here!" Zoisite yelled, running after Sailor Venus, who sprang to her feet and ran across the Civic Green, laughing. Meanwhile, the other four Scouts had defeated the remaining Youma and were tending to Jess, who was shivering and unconscious.
"Do you reckon she'll turn into a Youma like Ethan did?" Mercury asked.
"Probably, so we'd better give her some space. You saw how big Azul was," Sailor Moon said, stepping back a few paces. The others nodded and stepped back too, and sure enough, Jess became engulfed in a ray of dark energy, which faded to reveal a large, bright purple dragon-youma with black eyes.
"Ah, just in time. Purpura, get that Crystal back from Princess Venus!" Zoisite ordered. Purpura growled at Zoisite and then breathed a jet of purple fire at her.
"Aaargh! Purpura, what are you doing? Get them, not me!" Zoisite yelled, narrowly dodging another jet of flame. Purpura roared and breathed more fire at Zoisite, who dodged it and threw another handful of crystals into the grass, creating several more youma. The grass youma swarmed Purpura but were quickly incinerated. Unfortunately, Purpura was distracted long enough for Zoisite to reach Sailor Venus, cut her arm with one of her Dark Swords and take the Violet Crystal back. Cackling, Zoisite vanished in a flurry of black flower petals.
"Darn it! She got the Crystal!" Sailor Venus yelled, pulling one of her gloves off and pressing it over the long bleeding cut down her arm.
"Are you OK?" Mercury asked. Sailor Venus gritted her teeth and nodded as her wound began expelling orange sparks. When the sparks died down, she removed her blood-stained glove to reveal a thin white scar.
"What the... How'd you do that?" Sailor Moon gasped.
"What, healing so quickly? We can all do that as long as we're in our scout forms," Sailor Venus said, pulling the glove back on.
"Do our scout outfits get cleaned when we detransform?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah, of course. You think people want us to turn up to fights with burnt, ripped and blood-stained outfits? What kind of an image would that be?" Christina asked, shaking her head.
"So what do we do now?" Mars asked.
"Well, how about for starters you heal Purpura, Sailor Moon," Sailor Venus said.
"Yeah, good point. Moon Healing Activation!" Sailor Moon called, holding the Crescent Moon Wand out towards Purpura, who howled in pain as her eyes faded from black to blue. Purpura blinked at the scouts a few times and was surrounded by purple sparkles, then changed back into Jess.
"Jess! Are you alright?" Sailor Venus asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. That was really weird, though," Jess said. Sailor Venus nodded, then detransformed.
"Well, I dunno about you guys, but I feel like getting some ice cream," Sailor Moon said as she detransformed. The others detransformed, laughing.
"We just had chips, Stephy," Christina smiled.
"Yeah, but I work up an appetite when I'm fighting," Steph said.
"Well we'll have some ice-cream when we get home. For now, we should probably get out of here before people start turning up to investigate. You can come with us if you like, Jess," Christina said.
"Thanks, but I should probably go. My sister's probably waiting for me by now," Jess said.
"OK. Well, you're welcome to come by anytime and meet Luna and Artemis. I'm sure they'd like to meet you," Christina said.
"I might not be able to in the next few days, but I'll try. See ya," Jess said, before turning and leaving. Christina sighed.
"Speaking of Luna and Artemis, I hope they're not too mad that I lost the Crystal," she said.
"Hey, don't feel too bad. You tried your best," Steph said.
"Yeah, I know, but it's not good enough. I should have ran straight to the Base once I got it instead of teasing her," Christina sighed.
"Oh well. We'll get it back, don't worry," Phoenix said.
"If we combine our powers, we can do anything! Right, guys?" Dee asked.
"Exactly, Dee. We just need to work together, like you told us," Bonnie said. Christina smiled a little at the memory that the others were talking about, the memory of her disaster of a party when Dee had awoken.
"Thanks guys. I just hope that Luna and Artemis don't take it too badly," Christina said.
"They won't. And if they do, I'll yell at them until they stop telling you off. Now let's go home," Steph said. The others nodded and smiled, and the five exhausted scouts set off for Christina's house.