CHAPTER 36

Serena and her family had just driven to a luxury resort situated by an enormous lake. Her mother and father were so very thrilled about this. It was their first vacation together as a family since Serena's little brother Sammy had been a baby.
They left their car where they had parked it after the long drive and walked together to have a look at the lake.
Serena ran ahead of the others with her eyes wide open and a smile from ear to ear. "This is the most beautiful lake I've ever seen!"
Sammy just said, "So where's the video arcade?" His parents just ignored this question however.
Dad blushed and said, "Your mother and I have special memories regarding this place. This is where we met for the very first time."
Mum blushed in turn and replied, "It's all so fresh and clear to me as if it only happened yesterday."

Just then Serena noticed something several feet away. It was a statue on a pedestal by the edge of the lake. Serena ran towards it and her parents looked at each other and smiled.
"I'll go over and tell her what that statue means dear. You stay with Sammy," said Mum.
"Okay. Unless you'd like to go and see it too Sammy?" Dad asked him casually but Sammy wasn't interested in any old statue. He was beginning to worry he might die of boredom with no video arcade around.
So he stayed behind with Dad quietly fretting and hoping there'd be some form of decent entertainment while they were staying here and Mum walked up to Serena who was looking at the statue.

It was a magnificent stone structure depicting a lovely young maiden in the arms of a handsome young man. They were both smiling and the pedestal rested on a stone floor with a set of three steps leading up to it. Serena climbed the steps to read the plaque at the base of the pedestal.
"The Guardians of the Lake," she read out loud wonderingly.
Then she heard her mother's voice behind her. "There's quite a fascinating story behind the characters depicted in this piece of artwork Serena."
She turned around to see her mother's smiling face and replied, "Oh is there? What is it Mum?"
Her mother climbed the steps to stand next to her daughter. Putting her arm around her shoulders she told the story while they both looked into the Guardians' stone faces.

"The legend goes back thousands of years. These two people were in love and engaged to be married. But there was a beautiful water sprite who lived in the lake who also loved the man and she was inflamed with jealousy and turned into an ugly monster. She had a powerfully enchanted wand that she used to cast a powerful spell over the man's fiancee. It turned her cold as ice erasing all her memories of him and their love without a trace. Then she commanded her to help her attack everybody in the town unless the man agreed to marry her. The only way to put a stop to this was for the man to spend all his precious love energy to counter-attack the jealous sprite's magic upon his beloved. He succeeded in overcoming the hold the sprite had upon her and reminded her of their love but he used up almost all his energy. The maiden was so enraged at what atrocities had been committed that she harnessed what little remained of her lover's energy and combined it with her own to seal the jealous sprite inside the lake forever along with her fiendish magic wand. All her energy was used up along with his and they died in each other's arms. Together they rose into the sky to become two beautiful stars watching over the lake and the jealous sprite was doomed to be miserable for all eternity."

Serena was amazed and entranced by the story her mother told her. It panged her heart as it reminded her of the way Queen Beryl had been attempting to do away with all Darien's memories of his love for her. But she controlled herself. She didn't want to have to try to explain things to her mum if she began to cry. She just swallowed her sob and exclaimed, "That's a fabulous story!"
"It is, isn't it?" her mother squeezed her tightly close to her and grinned. "Now come on my dear little girl. We need to go check in at reception."
She led her down the steps and away from the statue. But while they were walking Serena couldn't help but wonder what had become of Darien since the last time she had seen him?

At this moment Darien was languishing in a dungeon in the Negaverse. As soon as the Gemini Twins had reported back to Queen Beryl he had rounded on her accusingly,
"You disgusting creepy queen! You've been playing with my brain, haven't you? Trying to turn me into your mindless slave!"
Beryl was taken aback at this for a moment before commanding the Doom and Gloom Girls to lock him up securely while she contemplated this problem.
She was now more convinced than ever that the Plant Trio were at fault for Darien's relapse. "If I can't prove it I'll just do away with them somehow. I'll think up a way to kill them and make it seem like an accident."
She fumed with malicious rage as she thought about this but then she realized that the most important thing right now was to do something about the problem with Darien.

After consulting her crystal for suggestions she found an idea worthy of consideration, so she summoned her people to her throne room. Castor and Pollux were there, though Pollux's broken arm was wrapped up and encased in a sling. They stood to attention along with Yasha, Malachite and the Plant Trio while Queen Beryl spoke.
"Listen to me you lot," she gestured with her hand over her crystal conjuring up a huge vision of the lake where Serena and her family were currently nearby. "I have detected vast amounts of energy emanating from this lake. It is not quite the same as our power, yet it is similar. I did some research regarding it and discovered this story."
Her loyal servants were awestruck as they heard the very same legend from their monarch that Serena had heard from her mother.
"Queen Beryl. Do you suppose this legend could be true?" Malachite asked her.
"Something is definitely inside that lake Malachite. If it really is this water sprite then she could very well still have the magic wand the story mentions. If we had it, it may be powerful enough to hopefully gain the upper hand with Darien."
Everybody was all eager ears and Malachite went on to enquire, "Who shall I send and what do you want them to do?"
Queen Beryl thought for a minute. Her trust and confidence in the Plant Trio was hopelessly destroyed by her own nagging suspicions about them. She would never depend upon them for anything really important again. She was convinced they were incompetent jerks. And the Gemini Twins were ineffective due to Pollux's injury of course. So she spoke up, "General Malachite. Since your hands have now healed so well I think you and your faithful manservant Yasha should have the honours this time. You shall both go to this lake, find the water sprite, free her from her captivity and get her magic wand. Whether she will consent or not I order you to bring it back to me. Is that understood?"
Malachite and Yasha both bowed. "Understood Queen Beryl. Yasha and I will set off immediately."

Later that early afternoon Serena and her family were relaxing in the natural sulphur spring pool at the resort. Serena and her mother had towels draped around their bodies. Serena's was a pretty pink and her Mum's was purple. Serena was very happy. "There may be no video arcade. But the view is spectacular and this pool is so relaxing."
Sammy however did not share his big sister's enthusaism. He was very gloomy and bored with no arcade or any other exciting things to do and he did not like the smell of the water.
"Come on in Sammy," his mum tried to encourage him to jump in from where he was standing by the edge with his swim trunks on.
"What's the matter? Afraid you'll melt?" Serena laughed but Sammy replied with deep hesitation,
"This water seems so weird."
Dad smiled and answered, "It's only the sulphur it contains. You'll get used to it."
"Really Sammy. It's not so bad," added Mum.
Sammy was still wrinkling his nose however and muttering something about how it smelled like rotten eggs, when Serena, who had climbed out of the pool on the other side, came slowly creeping up behind him and with a big shove pushed him in.
"Yaaaah!" Sammy cried out as he splashed into the pungent waters. Serena jumped in after him laughing.
"You're in now! HA! HA! HA!"
But Sammy was not in the least bit amused and retaliated by seizing her pink towel and pulling it off.
Serena gasped and ducked down up to her neck to protect her modesty. "SAMMY! Give that back!"
"Sammy. Will you please give your sister her covering back?" Mum cried out urgently and Dad agreed with her.
"Yes Sammy. Think about what would happen if any of the other guests or the staff suddenly came along. You'll get us all in big trouble."
"O-okay then," gulped Sammy as he held out the towel for Serena to grab with one hand. "But I'm out of here."
As Serena wrapped her towel back around her torso Sammy jumped out and wandered to the edge of the balcony railing. Glancing down at the lake far below he suddenly said, "Hey! There are two strange men down by the lake's edge. I wonder what they're doing?"
Serena was curious, so she climbed out too and walked over to stand by Sammy.
Sammy continued speaking, "From this distance it looks like one of them is wearing an antenna on his head."
Serena gasped in terror. She could recognize the figure of Malachite even from this distance up above and of course, the "antenna" Sammy spoke about were the horns on the top of Yasha's head.
She turned and ran away in a panic to the amazement of her family.
"Serena! Where are you going?" Dad cried.
"Serena! What is wrong honey?" Mum was very worried.
Sammy was confused. He didn't have any idea what was going on.

Meanwhile down by the waters' edge Malachite said to his servant, "Let's get started Yasha."
"Yes my master." Malachite and Yasha stood facing each other and they joined both sets of hands. Raising their arms high over their heads, their hands firmly clasped they combined their concentrated power.
"You ancient monster of the lake. Rise and be free," Malachite cried.
"We are ending your captivity," Yasha chimed in.
"From the depths of the lake we summon you to rise and obey us," Malachite finished and then the water began to bubble and churn.
Finally the monster burst out drenching Malachite and Yasha with a huge wave. They turned to behold the creature. She had a humanoid head and torso but her eyes resembled those of a serpent and her teeth were sharp like fangs. The rest of her body was a long fish tail. She looked like a hideous mermaid and in her hand she held the magic wand to the delight of Malachite and Yasha.
She leered at them baring her scary dangerous rows of molars. "So you have set me free after centuries of captivity. But why should I really obey you? What would be in it for me?"
Malachite was calm and cool as he replied to her, "Let me explain. Our queen seeks the assistance of your magic wand to aid her in conquering the universe. In return she could help you track down those who were responsible for sealing you away and gain your revenge."
The monster considered this for a moment. "Your proposition sounds very tempting. I do long for vengeance. Can you tell me more?"

Serena had very quickly slipped into one of the robes and sandals provided by the resort and ran as fast as she could to investigate what Malachite and Yasha were up to.
But Mum, Dad and Sammy had also left the sulphur pool and put on robes and sandals themselves. They were so concerned for Serena and wanted to find out what was wrong with her.
While Serena was puffing and keeping an eye out for her enemies, she heard her name being called out. "Serena! Serena!"
"Oh dear," she thought. "I don't want my family putting themselves in danger."
So she ran towards the sound calling out gently, "It's okay. I'm here."
When she met her parents and brother they asked her if something was wrong. "Why did you suddenly run off like that?" Dad was the first to voice his concerns.
"Yeah. What gives?" Sammy was puzzled while Mum went up to hug her.
Thinking very fast Serena said, "Oh. I, uh, I just wanted to have a look at the full moon. Isn't it so bright and awesome?"
She pointed up indicating the moon which could be seen already in the sky in the hour and a half before the sun would be gone. Sammy was flabbergasted. "You came running all the way from the resort to down here just to look at the MOON?"

But before anybody could say anything else the monster came swooping down from the sky with a hideous roar. She had overheard Serena's family calling out for her along with Malachite and Yasha. Malachite had said to her, "There are people nearby. Quickly! Come with us to our realm before we're seen."
He had expected her to be obedient after such a promising start to winning her over but he had underestimated her. "Me run away like a coward? Never! I have always terrorized people and defeated every attack except the one that sent me into captivity. I will deal with these bystanders and then go with you."
As she flew away with the precious magic wand still in her hand Malachite was deeply upset. "Oh no! Come on Yasha. We must watch her and get that wand whatever happens."
"I am with you my master."

So Serena and her family all shrieked in terror as they beheld the dreadful beast approaching them. "Run for the trees!" Mum yelled and nobody argued with her.
The monster was relentless in her pursuit however and pushed over some trees exposing them as they attempted to shelter from her. As her family cowered in fear on their hands and knees, Serena grew angry and stood up raising her voice defiantly.
"Leave us alone you freak from a creepy fish aquarium! Go back to whatever black lagoon you came from!"
Taking inspiration from his daughter's boldness Dad picked a big stick up off the ground nearby him and brandished it like a samurai sword.
Stepping in front of Serena he shouted, "Come on at me. I dare you."
But he soon regretted his rash actions as the monster did come at him. He gulped and took a step back. "N-now let's not be h-h-hasty," he nervously stammered before he was seized by the throat and forced up against a tree.
"NO DAD! NO!" Serena, Sammy and Mum all cried together and as Dad began to choke from being slowly strangled Serena knew she had to do something. Even though it meant transforming in the presence of her family, her Dad's life was at stake.

She was just about to shout the magic words to transform when suddenly unexpected help came along.
"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"
Electrical energy gave the monster a massively, huge jolt making her release Dad and throw her magic wand up into the air. It went spiralling in circular motion to land in the bushes several feet away.
Four familiar figures were standing together a short distance behind the monster.
"We will deal thoroughly with a swamp demon like you. I'm Sailor Jupiter!"
"I'm Sailor Venus!"
"Sailor Mars here!"
"And finally Sailor Mercury!"

Mum ran to Dad to support him. "Honey are you all right?"
He was barely conscious but he leant on her shoulder as she carefully directed him away toward Sammy and Serena.
Sammy was so excited, "Hooray for the Sailor Scouts. They'll fix that monster for sure."
Serena gulped, "I must help them. But how can I get away from my family?"
As she was thinking this she looked back over her shoulder while walking away. Her family was leading her towards the resort.
Sammy and Mum were praising Dad for his bravery and he gave a curt smile at the compliment.
But as Serena was glancing back she caught the eye of Sailor Mercury and in that passing second they immediately read what each other was thinking in their minds. Sailor Mercury knew what needed to be done to distract Serena's family's attention from her.
"MERCURY BUBBLES BLAST!"
She let loose the biggest spray of her bubbles that she could possibly muster. It did envelope the monster, who straightaway began to gasp, shiver and shake with chills. But it also spread over Serena, Mum, Dad and Sammy.
"Aaargh! I'm f-f-freezing!" Sammy gasped.
Mum's teeth chattered as she cried, "Oh d-d-d-dear!"
Serena took advantage of the cold fog to separate from her family while she shouted, "C-come on. The r-resort is st-st-straight ahead. M-m-make your w-w-way there c-c-carefully."
Dad had regained his bearings and he cried out to everyone to stay close while he stammered and shivered like all the rest.
But Serena had ducked to the side away from her family while they went ahead. Reaching out carefully she touched a tree trunk with her hands and cautiously maneuvered around it.
Just making out the forms of her family's departing backs she thought, "I hope they'll be all right."
Then she quickly warmed herself up by transforming. "M-M-MOON PRISM POWER!"

As the monster struggled with the cold fog thrashing her tail to dissipate it Sailor Moon joined her four friends. When the monster's vision cleared she beheld Sailor Moon standing in front of the others. "I'm Sailor Moon. Guardian of the innocent and champion of justice. How dare you attack my family? I will not permit it. In the Name of the Moon I will punish you."
Upon hearing this the monster scoffed and swung her enormous tail. Sailor Moon had to quickly jump out of the way to avoid being struck a devastatingly powerful blow. The tail whipped around smashing the trunk of a tree into splinters.
"We'll take care of her Sailor Moon," Sailor Jupiter strode forward with Sailor Venus by her side.
"We'll combine our strength to defeat her," said Sailor Venus.
"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"
The combined attack hit the monster head on and she screamed in pain but was not destroyed.
"Hoo-boy," Jupiter groaned.
"We tried our best Sailor Moon," Venus meekly added.
"Well let me take my turn. MOON TIARA MAGIC!" Sailor Moon sent her tiara spinning but to her dismay the creature simply deflected it with another swing of her tail sending it fluttering back to land in the dirt by Sailor Moon's feet.
"Waaaahh!" Sailor Moon cried stamping her feet. "There's nothing I hate worse then when my tiara is thwarted."

Sailor Mars put her hands together with pointer fingers extended and said, "This is strange. I can sense that she is full of evil bitterness and is very strong but she's definitely not from the Negaverse."
"You are so right about that Sailor Mars."
Everybody looked up into the air to see who had spoken. It was Malachite. He was hovering above the tree tops with Yasha by his side. Yasha clutched in his hands the magic wand that had fallen into the bushes earlier. He had rescued it on his master's orders.
Malachite continued to speak, "She is the jealous water sprite from the old legend about the lake. My loyal servant Yasha and I released her from her captivity and when she finishes you off we will take her to meet Queen Beryl."
"That's what you think Nega-slime! I know what to do about this!" Sailor Mars acted at once.
"I call upon the power of Mars. FIREBALLS CHARGE!" She threw one of her paralyzing charms at the monster. It stuck to her surprised face and she was overcome at least for a few seconds.
But even as she shrugged it off Sailor Mars made her next move. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"
The monster screamed in literal terror as she found herself surrounded by a ring of fire and even two bows of red and orange flame ran over her head from the ring forming a fiery cage. She was indeed trapped as since the fire wasn't directly attacking her she couldn't shrug it off like the previous attacks. But indirectly she was held secure by the fire.
"Well done Mars," complimented Sailor Moon.
"Now's your chance Sailor Moon," said Sailor Venus.
"Oh yeah right." Sailor Moon reached for her tiara that she had placed back on her head but Sailor Mars grabbed her arm.
"No wait Sailor Moon."
"What? Why wait Sailor Mars?"
"Because I sense that she is redeemable. She was once a good water sprite before she ruined herself through bitter jealousy and resentment. If you purify her I believe she will become the good creature she once was."
The monster was screaming in rage and discomfort and Sailor Moon looked at her. Then she turned to Sailor Mars. "If you're really sure I'll give it a try."
"It couldn't hurt," Sailor Mercury chimed in.

With that Sailor Moon whipped out her wand. But Malachite pointed to it and cried, "The Silver Imperium Crystal! Get it Yasha!"
Yasha began to swoop down upon Sailor Moon but her friends had other ideas.
"Back off buddy! VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"
The beam shoved Yasha backwards and the wand flew out of his hand. Malachite gasped and flew to catch it in his own hand while Yasha went tumbling head over heels in the air until he crashed into a tree. He landed sprawled over a big thick branch and groaned in agony. His ribs were fractured.
Malachite successfully caught the magic wand but the Scouts had forgotten about him. Sailor Moon was waving her wand over the monster.
"MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!"
In seconds the monster was gone and in its place was the most beautiful water sprite you could ever imagine in a very pretty colourful dress. Sailor Mars quickly removed her magic fire and the water sprite began to rise into the air. "I-I'm myself again. You've purged all the jealousy I foolishly infected myself with. Oh thank you. Thank you."
"Isn't she lovely to look at now?" Sailor Mars had a big smile on her face as she looked up asking this question and Sailor Mercury agreed.
"Yeah. So sweet."
Sailor Moon and the others all gazed adoringly as the water sprite disappeared into the sky. "I'm going to start anew someplace else now. I'll never allow myself to be corrupted again. Goodbye and thank you once more."
She waved at the Scouts who all waved back calling out, "Goodbye and good luck," while she faded out of sight.

But Malachite had very quickly ducked out of sight as this began to happen. Amazed he watched the water sprite vanish then seeing Yasha in a nearby tree he de-materialized and reappeared next to his servant.
"Lord Malachite. I hurt so badly," Yasha whimpered.
"Don't worry. I'll take you back to the Negaverse. It's okay. See I have the magic wand." Malachite held it up triumphantly as he touched Yasha's head with his other hand and de-materialized taking them both with him.
By the time any of the Sailor Scouts remembered about their enemies they were gone.

"Where did you girls all come from?" Sailor Moon asked when things were settled down.
"Raye had a premonition about some monster attacking you and your family while you were at the holiday resort," explained Sailor Mercury.
"Yeah. Luna and Artemis were very concerned when I told them the bad news," said Sailor Mars.
"They ordered us to go to the resort at once. Not that we needed the order to do so," said Sailor Jupiter.
"Sailor Mars had to charm all our families so they would not miss us all day long," Sailor Venus added.
"That's right and we'd better get back as fast as possible. My charms are due to wear off soon. I especially don't want Chad and Grandfather discovering who are at our temple."
Sailor Moon shuddered at the thought of what that would mean particularly. "You'd better be on your way then," she agreed.
Then they heard three very familiar voices calling out. "Serena! Where are you Serena?"
"You'd better transform and join your family Sailor Moon. Goodbye for now," said Sailor Jupiter. And with these words she and the other three all turned and ran away leaping and bounding out of sight.

Serena's parents and brother were all desperately calling out her name. Sammy was beginning to sob. "I shouldn't have been so mean to her all the time."
"That's for sure," said a familiar voice and Sammy turned around and gasped to see Serena. She ran into her family's open embrace and they all hugged her together joyfully.
"Oh dear Serena," cried Dad.
"We feared we had lost you," Mum had tears in her eyes as she spoke and Sammy was speechless.
"I accidentally became separated from you in the cold fog," Serena explained. "But Sailor Moon herself showed up and with the help of the other Sailor Scouts, they fought off the monster and protected me."
"Thank goodness for those Sailor Scouts," Mum smiled through her tear-stained cheeks and kissed Serena's forehead. "Now let's all head back to our room and get some sleep."

Later as she lay in her bed Serena thought to herself, "How lucky I am to have such a good family. Mum and Dad are always here for me. And Sammy? Ah well. We all must expect some measure of irritation in our lives."
But just then she heard music coming from her bag on the dressing table by her bedside. "Huh? My locket has begun to play by itself." It was muffled inside her bag so it didn't disturb her family in their own beds but Serena began to feel sad thinking about Darien as she listened to it. She quietly cried herself to sleep.

At that very same moment Darien was being subjected to the magic wand in Queen Beryl's hand. He vainly tried to resist but the power coursed throughout his body making his heart as cold as ice and his brain completely void of all his memories. He bowed on one knee before Queen Beryl. "I am your obedient servant your majesty," he said this with a cold emotionless voice.
Queen Beryl was very pleased. "Good Prince Darien. I have a most important task for you to undertake." She laughed triumphantly knowing that her control over him was at the strongest it had ever been yet.