Dee: The Youma just seem to be getting stronger and stronger, don't they.
Christina: I hate to admit it, but the Negaverse does seem to be getting stronger.
Steph: We're stronger than they are, we can beat them!
Christina: I hope so...
Artemis: We will, Christina, you just have to have faith that we will.
Christina: Yeah, I know...
Artemis: Come on, Christina, buck up. Things'll turn out OK, you'll see. How about I do the disclaimer for you, since you don't seem to be in much of a mood to do it right now.
Christina: Sure, go ahead...
Artemis: OK. Sparrowflyaway does not own Sailor Moon or PGSM. She also doesn't in any way own the amateur acting company known as Holiday Actors.
Christina: But that's be awesome if I did, since H.A. is so fun.
Artemis: And it gets your mind off of the Crystals.
Christina: *groan* Don't remind me about them, Artemis, I feel bad enough already.
"Morning, Chrissy! How'd you sleep?" Steph asked, walking downstairs to find Christina sitting at the kitchen table in her pyjamas with her head in her hands, and Artemis sitting on the table beside her. Christina looked up, the bags under her eyes answering Steph's question. Steph dumped her bag on the table and shook her head. "That bad, huh?" Christina just groaned in response and put her head back in her hands.
"She didn't sleep at all," Artemis said.
"Maybe you should go back up to bed," Steph suggested.
"I've tried telling her that, but she says she has a lot of stuff to do today, and she needs to be awake for it," Artemis said.
"Well, clearly you're not awake, and you won't get any better unless you get some sleep," Steph said.
"I can't, Stephy, we have Holiday Actors practice, remember?" Christina said weakly.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Well, we'd better hurry up and get ready, then, hadn't we," Steph said. Christina nodded and stared through the gap between her hands, her eyes catching sight of flashing in Steph's bag. A Crystal Carrier? Here? Who could that be? Christina wondered. A loud bark reached her ears, and she glanced through the window to see her black-and-white terrier cross, Lucky, walking around in his pool and trying to eat the water.
"Crazy dog," she murmured. Lucky? Lucky's a Crystal Carrier? Well, I guess that if he's here, he'll be well protected. Christina sighed and stood up wearily.
"I hope we're only doing singing today, I don't think I could manage having to do dancing all day long," she mumbled as she trudged upstairs to get ready.
"Morning, everyone! Where's Steph and Christina?" Dee asked, wandering downstairs to find Lucy, Artie, Bonnie and Phoenix sitting on the couch watching television.
"They went to Holiday Actors practice," Artie said.
"Oh, yeah, they're doing "Oklahoma!", right?" Bonnie asked. Artie nodded.
"I hope Christina does OK today, she didn't get to sleep at all last night. I know, neither did I. I usually go to sleep a while after she does," Artie said, before stifling a yawn.
"Well how about you go on up to bed, Artemis. Even if she can't get any sleep today, that doesn't mean that you can't," Bonnie said.
"Smart idea as usual, Bonnie. That's something that Mercurians have always had. I think I will go have a bit of a catnap. Luna, you know where my computer is, and you know where I am if there's any trouble. See you later, guys," Artie said, before leaving the room.
"Well, what are we going to do today, guys?" Lucy asked.
"I dunno... I think it'd be wise to stay in the house, but at the same time I think it might be helpful for us to walk around town and see if we can find another Crystal Carrier," Phoenix said. Just then, a loud beep reached their ears, and Lucy changed forms and went to the closet where Artemis kept his computer. Opening the secret hatch, she found the computer switched on and her prediction program running, showing another pulsing black dot on the screen.
"Where is it this time, Luna?" Phoenix asked.
"I'm not sure, it doesn't look like Warrnambool to me," Luna said, pressing a few buttons.
"It's not. That's Dennington, and it looks like the same place that Steph and Christina are practicing at," Bonnie said.
"You're right, Bonnie, it is. We'd better get out there pronto," Luna said. The others nodded and began scrambling to get their bags organised. While they were getting ready, Luna transformed again and took out a piece of paper and a pen.
"Dear Artemis, we are heading out to Dennington to see Steph and Christina, as my program showed us that there'll be an attack out there. Please follow as soon as you can. From Luna," Lucy mumbled as she wrote. Leaving the note on the kitchen table, she followed the others out the door.
"I'm hungry. What should we have for lunch?" Steph asked, looking at the shelves of chocolate and lollies available in the milk bar near the practice hall. Christina shrugged and yawned, picking up a block of chocolate and taking it to counter to pay.
"I know we shouldn't be having chocolate, but I need the energy," Christina said, taking her change and then ripping open the packaging. She took a bite, then blinked as she spotted someone out the window. Swallowing her mouthful, she said, "Hey, isn't that Lucy?" Steph whirled around to see not only Lucy, but Bonnie, Dee and Phoenix too. She waved to them, and they smiled and entered the shop.
"What are you guys doing here?" Steph asked.
"We came to find you 'cause we have important news," Lucy said, lowering her voice. Steph and Christina followed them back out of the shop and over to a quiet area.
"What's up?" Christina asked, breaking off some chocolate and passing it around.
"My program said there'd be an attack here," Lucy said quietly.
"That means there's a Crystal Carrier here too, right? Who could that be?" Steph asked.
"Dunno, but keep an eye out," Lucy warned.
"We'll stick around just in case you need us," Bonnie added. Christina nodded.
"Sure. We'll give you a call if we need you," she said.
"Hey, Christina, I've been meaning to ask, but what do our Scout Powers do?" Dee asked.
"Well, they're not exactly "powers". They're more like the strength and agility of our past lives," Christina said, before glancing at her watch. "We'd better get back in there, our lunch break's almost over."
"Yeah, you're right. See you later, guys!" Steph called as she and Christina ran off towards the building where they were practicing.
"Well, now we wait," Phoenix said, sitting down on the grass. The others sighed and sat down too, none of them noticing a shadowy figure creeping towards the hall...
"Man, I'm exhausted, and we're only halfway through practice," Christina panted as she walked back to her starting position in the dance that they were practicing.
"Don't worry, Christina, It'll be over before you know it," a blonde girl smiled.
"Yeah, I know, Amy. I'm just really tired, that's all," Christina sighed, before the music started up again and they started dancing again for the tenth time.
"Feet in first position, girls! First position!" the choreographer's voice called over the music. Several girls looked down at their feet as they tried to comply with the order. Christina was fighting just to stay awake, having very little concern for what position her feet were in. Finally the music ended, and the girls sat down to watch the boys doing one of their dances.
"Anything from the Wand?" Christina whispered to Steph, who took her bag from behind her and opened it, her eyes widening when she saw the flashing from inside.
"Yeah, but who could it be?" she whispered back. Just then, the music stopped, and then a window shattered as a large youma burst through it.
"What do we do?" Steph asked above the screaming that had erupted amongst the group.
"Run."
"What?"
"We need to run, otherwise we can't transform," Christina whispered, digging her phone and her transformation pen out of her bag. She grabbed Steph's hand and ran towards the exit door, which was already packed with screaming teenagers. Dialling Artemis' number, she rammed the phone to her ear and jumped over a fence into a quiet yard.
"Artemis, there's a youma. The others are here, but I thought I should tell you," Christina said, before flipping her phone shut and grasping her transformation pen. "You ready?" Steph nodded.
"Moon Prism Power!"
"Venus Power!" Pink and orange lights flashed, and then the girls vaulted the fence and ran back towards the building, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter joining them as they ran.
"Let's take this thing down, guys!" Sailor Venus said, leading the group into the near-empty building, where a horrible scene greeted them. Several cast members were sprawled on the floor, unconscious, the youma was tipping over tables looking for more victims, and Zoisite was advancing towards someone they couldn't see. "Stop right there, Zoisite!" Zoisite turned at the sound of Sailor Venus' voice, revealing the person she was standing over. Amy? Amy's the Crystal Carrier?
"All of these teenagers are focused on their acting, and you go and interrupt them! I won't forgive that! 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.
"Sorry, little Scouts, but I don't have the time for you today. Get them!" she yelled to her youma, pointing at the Scouts, who instantly went into battle poses. As the youma launched itself at the Scouts, Zoisite sighed happily and turned back to Amy. "Now that they're busy, I can finish what I came for. Zoi!" Zoisite yelled, holding out her black crystal. The waves of black energy did as they always did, opening a hole in Amy's chest to reveal a glowing crystal floating inside. This time it was the Yellow Crystal. Zoisite grabbed it as it floated towards her and turned just in time to see her youma evaporate from a Crescent Beam Smash. Sailor Venus leveled her finger between Zoisite's eyes.
"Give me that Crystal," Sailor Venus hissed.
"Sorry, but I don't think I will. I'm on a tight schedule, too, so I'll be going. Have fun with Amarillo! Ciao!" Zoisite said, before laughing and disappearing in a cloud of black petals. Sailor Venus sunk to her knees, shaking in anger.
"Venus?" Sailor Moon asked timidly.
"Darn it! Not again!" Sailor Venus yelled, unable to hold her anger in any longer.
"It's OK, we'll get it back," Mercury said. Venus got slowly to her feet, tears of rage filling her eyes.
"No, it's not OK! None of you get it! You don't understand just how important our mission is! This is the fate of the world we're talking about! I-" Sailor Venus paused, thinking about what she was about to say, then decided against it and ran out of the room, passing Artemis, who was walking in just then.
"Should we go after her?" Sailor Moon asked.
"No, let her go. She probably just needs some time to clear her head. It won't take all five of you to heal Amarillo," Artemis said. Just then, a ray of dark energy erupted around Amy, which faded to reveal a large yellow dragon with black eyes.
"Amarillo," Luna breathed.
"Moon Healing- Ouch!" Sailor Moon yelped, leaping backwards away from the bright yellow flames that Amarillo breathed at her.
"We need to distract her!" Mercury yelled, before levitating the water out of a nearby drink bottle and creating an Ice Sword.
"Hey, that's cool! Let me try!" Mars said, creating a stream of fire in the air. Focusing her mind, she managed to form a Fire Sword. Jupiter grinned and did the same with a large bolt of lightning, creating a Lightning Sword. The three Scouts charged towards the yellow dragon-youma and waved their swords in front of her snout. Amarillo breathed a jet of bright yellow fire at the girls, but Mars sensed the movement and blocked the attack with her Fire Sword, which absorbed the yellow flames easily.
"That's it, Mars! Just like we did in training! Sense your opponent's movement!" Artemis called, smiling. Mars didn't reply, instead blocking another jet of flames.
"I can't keep this up forever, you know! Hurry up and heal her, Sailor Moon!" Mars yelled, running away from Amarillo's long tail.
"Right, sorry! Moon Healing Activation!" Sailor Moon called. Silver glitter and mist floated through the air and surrounded Amarillo, who howled in pain as her eyes changed from black to brown. Yellow sparkles filled the air around her, and then she changed back into Amy.
"Thank goodness that's over. Let's go home," Artemis said.
"I guess this means that practice is over, then, huh?" Mercury said.
"Looks that way," Luna said, nodding.
"You guys head home and wait for Chrissy. I'll stick around and help the others," Sailor Moon said, glancing around at the cast members sprawled around the room.
"OK. What are you going to tell them about where Christina is?" Artemis asked.
"I'm not sure..."
"How about you tell them that Christina ran away when the youma attacked, and she ran all the way home? That sounds reasonable," Mercury said.
"OK, I will. See you later, guys, Sailor Moon said, before detransforming. The others smiled and left. Steph looked around at the shattered glass and upturned tables, and sighed.
"Won't we ever get a break?"
How can they not see how important out mission is? Sailor Venus thought angrily as she ran down the road. Her anger increased as Artemis' words echoed through her head. "You're fighting for the wrong reasons, can't you see that?" Yeah, easy for you to say, Artemis. You're not responsible if the world ends. Her thoughts turned to the scene after Zoisite took the Yellow Crystal, and immediately Sailor Venus felt sick with guilt, her pace slowing to a walk. I shouldn't have yelled at them... It's not their fault they don't remember everything I do. They're not the ones who keep losing the Rainbow Crystals, I am. Why do I keep losing them! Man, this is so frustrating... I'm supposed to be the Princess, and I keep failing. Surely they must've figured it out by now... Surely they must've noticed that some things don't quite add up, and I'm not quite who I'm supposed to be... I guess I have changed a lot since I became V... I don't know how much longer I can keep this act up... I came close to blabbing today... I shouldn't have done that, Artemis and I have worked so hard to get things just right... Some Scout I am. I'm supposed to be the Scout of Love, and here I am stopping it. What am I doing? Should I even be doing this at all? Maybe I should just let the other Scouts handle things... They did pretty good without me... With such a poisonous cocktail of emotions raging through her, Sailor Venus was struggling to prevent herself from sinking to the ground and crying. Suddenly, a burst of negative energy hit her senses, and she whirled around, glancing left and right while trying to pinpoint the source.
"Hello, Princess." Sailor Venus froze as she heard the voice behind her and realised who it was.
"What do you want, Kunzite?" she asked, hatred filling her tone
"My, my, my. So feisty. You want to know what it is I'm here for, little Princess?" Kunzite asked. Sailor Venus whirled around, but Kunzite had vanished.
"Where are you! I'm not in the mood to play games with you! Get back here and tell me what you want!" Sailor Venus yelled.
"What I want..." Kunzite said, appearing behind Sailor Venus, who whirled around to face him, noticing a round, black, tennis-ball-sized crystal in his hand. He smiled, then threw the crystal against the pavement, smashing it and filling the air with black smoke. The smoke cloud wafted over Sailor Venus and trapped her.
"What do you want?" Sailor Venus coughed, her vision turning as black as the smoke around her. As her vision faded, she felt all the negative emotions in her heart growing, until all that she could feel was the negativity. Kunzite grinned as the smoke vanished, revealing Sailor Venus lying on the ground, unconscious.
"What I want... Is you," Kunzite whispered, before he and Sailor Venus vanished.