Episode 7: New Arrivals *** Rei lifted her head sharply. "Nani?" she cried in worried alarm, leaping to her feet. Her eyes focused on the sacred fire blazing before her. "The Satellite Senshi are in danger!" She pulled her communicator from a pocket and called everyone. Usagi, Ami, Makoto, and Minako. They all answered within a few seconds of each other. "Minna," Rei said. "We have a problem. Remember Artemis telling us about the Senshi in America?" Everyone gave affirmative answers. "They are in danger! The reason there have been fewer attacks involving Kunzite here is because he is helping the evil forces there! They need our help!" Usagi spoke up. "But how, Rei-chan?" Minako answered. "The Sailor Teleport Luna and Artemis told us about!" Rei nodded. "We need to get there as soon as possible. We?ll all meet here in a half hour and teleport to America." "Hai!" everyone said, and disappeared from Rei?s screen. Thirty minutes later, the Inner Senshi had gathered behind the temple, hidden just enough by the trees. "Ojii-san and Yuuichirou are gone, luckily. We won?t be noticed," Sailor Mars assured. "I didn?t have time to get anything to eat, Rei-chan!" Sailor Moon whined. Mars just sighed. "Ready, minna?" Sailor Venus asked. "Hai!" they all said, and joined hands. Luna and Artemis, going as well, sat in the center. "Sailor-" Artemis cried. "Teleport!" Luna finished. The Sailor Senshi; Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus, were each surrounded by their own colored light and in a few moments disappeared, leaving only a circle of overturned ground. Amythite listened politely to Kunzite explain tomorrow?s plan. It was a good plan, as good as any she had come up with. They?d started the beginnings about a week ago, in Lunar Valley. No one suspected any odd things happening. "Amythite, any suggestions?" Kunzite asked. "Not really," she answered. She didn?t mind being put under command, as long as it was fair. She appreciated the fact that he wanted her input. "It?s quite solid. Foolproof." Kunzite nodded. "Fine then. We?ll start the attack tomorrow. This plan should have taken down the Senshi in Tokyo, and since there are only two here, it will be easy." Amythite nodded. "Understood, General Kunzite. Until tomorrow then." She rose, bowed once, and returned to her room. *** Merlyn, Tristan and I were in Stellar Park, stretched out under some shade trees. It was a nice day, and we were enjoying the pleasant weather. The Dark Kingdom had been still for the past week. I?d hoped against hope that they?d given up. Even if they hadn?t, I was glad for a break. Tristan seemed to be worried that a new attack was coming, and a big one. His intuition in that area always seemed strong, so I partly agreed. But the part of me that was happy about the four day weekend that had just started really didn?t like the idea of anything spoiling that. I listened quietly as Tristan and Merlyn discussed a plan of action if anything happened. I was busy thinking. It had been a while since all of this started. Since I became Sailor FlowerPower, since Tuxedo Rose came along, since Sailor Stardance joined me, since my life had changed. I had loved the change at first, but now the responsibility was starting to get to me. I did have a life to live outside of being Sailor FlowerPower, didn?t I? I rolled over, looking up at the sky, thinking of what Sailor Moon was doing right now. "Sunny, are you paying attention?" Merlyn asked, poking me in the side. "Sure," I mumbled. "What?s wrong, Sun?" Tristan asked, leaning over me and blocking my view of the sky. "Nothing," I lied. Tristan didn?t move, watching me carefully. "Ok, so I?m tired of fighting. What do we have to plan for? Nothing?s happened in the past two weeks, nothing probably will again. Why are you so worried?" "Sun, do we really have a choice? Probably is not positively," Tristan stated quietly. I looked away. "I don?t know." "But you care." I pouted a little. "Yes..." "Then that?s what we?re doing it for," he said, gently touching my face. "Just in case, because we care." I sighed, sitting up. This was not what I?d expected. "Ok, where were we?" "Talking about finding the Hanazuishou," Merlyn stated, like a book. "Where are we going to find it and how?" "I haven?t the slightest, Merlyn. We still don?t know anything about it. We don?t even know what it looks like," I said. "Well, we know it?s a crystal, of some sort," she offered. "We could check local jewelry stores and see if they know anything about a 'Flower Crystal.'" "Good plan, Merlyn. Where do we-" Tristan was suddenly cut off by a loud crack, like thunder, and a flash of bright light. There was no time to think, no time to transform. Was this the attack I?d been denying? Quickly the light faded, and before us stood a circle of five girls, hands joined. Sailor Senshi. While standing there, still slightly glowing, their Sailor uniforms disappeared, leaving them in their street clothes. The glow completely faded, everyone opened their eyes. One girl with raven black hair looked over at us and blinked. Then she turned to a blonde girl with pigtails and started yelling. "Baka Usagi!" The rest was just a matter of the dark girl screaming at the blonde one in what I realized to be Japanese. The blonde girl sniffled a little, looking about ready to burst into tears. I watched in amazement. There were three others. A blue haired girl, who was typing quickly on a computer and trying to ignore the two fighting. Next was a brown haired girl, very tall, and looking quite bored. Then I recognized the girl from the Sailor V show. Suddenly the blue haired girl began to speak, trying to talk over the other two, but in vain. The brown haired girl started yelling at the two fighting, and total chaos broke out. I sat there for a few moments, dumbstruck at what I was seeing. "These are the Senshi?" Then, having heard enough, I stood up and yelled, quite loud, "HOLD IT!" Suddenly everyone was looking at me. I sighed. "Thank you. Now," I took a step forward, "what the heck is going on?" I shouted. From the middle of the group, a white cat stepped out, followed close by a black cat. "Artemis?" I said. "Hello again, Sun-chan," he said. "We?ve brought the Sailor Senshi." "What?" I asked, shocked. The black cat spoke up. "I'm pleased to finally meet you, Sunny-chan. My name is Luna." The black cat was about Artemis? size, and had a crescent moon on her forehead also. "Luna," I said. "What is going on? How did you get here?" "I can explain that," the Sailor V player said, stepping out from the group of girls. "I?m Aino Minako, but you can call me Minako-chan," she said, smiling brightly. "I can tell we?re going to be great friends, all of us." Merlyn and Tristan came up to stand beside me. "Ah, ok then, Minako-chan." I blinked. "I?m Sunny Marina. This is Tristan Andres... My boyfriend," I added after a moment. Five new girls; I didn?t need anymore competition. "And Merlyn Beier." My two companions each nodded or waved at the mention of their name. "Minako, what is going on?" Luna was turned around, speaking to the other girls in Japanese. Translating probably. Minako spoke. "Rei-chan had a vision in the sacred fire about you. We know you are Sailor FlowerPower, Sunny-chan." I gasped. "How can you know that?" I asked in shock. "I told them," Artemis answered. "They had the right to know. And so do you." He turned to Minako. "Introduce them, please, Minako-chan." She nodded at Artemis, and turned back to me for a moment. "The cats and I can speak English fluently, but the rest of my friends are not so lucky. Ami-chan knows quite a bit, and the others know enough to get by. We should be ok, but we?ll have to work hard." I vowed silently to learn Japanese. She turned to the other girls, who had lined up. Minako stood first by the other blonde girl, who?s hair was in two pigtails, but topped with buns. I though it was cute. I began to step closer to her. "Tsukino Usagi," Minako stated. "Sailor Moon." I reached Usagi, and we both gasped. We looked very much alike, save for slight differences in hair color and style, and my green eyes. "You look like me!" I cried. She said something in the same breath I did, but in Japanese. Minako laughed. "She just said the same thing about you, Sunny-chan!" she laughed. Next was Mizuno Ami, Sailor Mercury, who looked like Merlyn, oddly enough, save hair color. Neither said anything, only looked at each other until they both started to smile. Hino Rei, Sailor Mars, the girl with the vision and who had yelled at Usagi. Minako said that was always happening. Kino Makoto, Sailor Jupiter, was last, a tall girl, who was gazing glassy eyed at Tristan. Minako stepped up to her. "Sunny-chan no boyfriend, baka!" she hissed. Makoto immediately backed off. She smiled apologetically at me. "Gomen ne, Sunny-chan." I smiled back, taking Tristan?s hand. "S?ok." We took the girls back to my house, where I made a rather shaky explanation to my mom. "Um, they?re some friends from school, Mom," I mumbled, herding everyone upstairs. She only rolled her eyes and went back to what she was doing. Once in the safety of my room, I sat everyone down. "All right, Artemis, Minako-chan. Will you please explain to me how and why you are here?" Artemis nodded to Minako, who began speaking. "Well, it all started when we noticed a lack in Dark Kingdom activity a few days ago." I raised an eyebrow at the statement, but said nothing. "We were worried about Tokyo until Rei-chan had a vision in the sacred fire. She?s a Shinto priestess, you know. Anyway, as soon as she realized it was about you, she called us and told us that we had to help. Rei-chan is generally not wrong about this. She said the reason there were no attacks lately in Tokyo was because the Dark Kingdom forces usually in Tokyo are here!" Merlyn looked over at me. "Told you." "Oh, gimmie a break," I sighed. "So I was wrong, big surprise." Minako smiled. "I think Usagi-chan knows that feeling..." At this, Usagi, listening to Luna translate, scowled at Minako. "Anyway," Minako continued, "we met at the temple, used the Sailor Teleport, and got here. Sailor Moon thought of you, and that?s why we appeared right before you. Rei was upset because we appeared and detransformed in front of you." Rei looked a bit sheepish. Usagi just looked smug. "Where is Chiba Mamoru?" Tristan questioned. "I?d been corresponding with him, but I haven?t heard from him for a while. I would have thought he?d be with you." Usagi closed her eyes, looking very hurt. I looked at her curiously, then back to Minako. Minako tilted her head down sadly, and spoke quietly. "Mamoru-san was.. taken.. by the Dark Kingdom. Right after we found the Ginzuishou and Princess Serenity was discovered. We also found out that he was Prince Endymion. Now Queen Beryl has him, and she?s brainwashed him. He fights against us now." Minako looked over at Usagi. "Usagi-chan is the Moon Princess, Serenity. Serenity and Endymion were together in the past." I looked over at Usagi, who, looking back at me, allowed a tear to course down her cheek, revealing the heartbreaking pain of one who?s lost their soulmate. On impulse, and for this girl that looked so much like me, I went over and hugged her tightly. She didn?t respond for a moment, but then returned the hug. I held Usagi a little longer, and felt my own tears welling up at her pain. I couldn?t imagine losing Tristan, soulmate or not, without the same pain Usagi was feeling now. Our lockets suddenly clicked together, and I released her, looking down at her locket curiously. Hers was simple, like mine, and pretty. She too, was looking at my own locket, and had an odd expression on her face. She started suddenly and drew from nowhere a wand with a crescent moon mounted on the top. Cradled in the moon shape was a beautiful crystal, glittering silver and reflecting the light. "Moon Stick to Ginzuishou," she said softly. My eyes widened. The Silver Crystal! "Do you know about the Hanazuishou?" I asked. But Usagi seemed to be ignoring me. Her eyes took on a far away look, and a crescent moon signet appeared on her forehead. As I stared at her; everything else in the world seemed to stop. Her attire completely changed, her clothes shimmering into a long white dress. She had become Princess Serenity! Holding the Moon Stick and Ginzuishou up to me, to my locket, the Flower Locket shimmered, glowing, and began to open. I watched in frozen fascination as my locket opened, revealing a rainbow streaked interior and a small round crystal, like the Ginzuishou, that floated out between us, glowing brightly. It was the Hanazuishou, finally discovered! The rainbow reflecting sides glittered and glowed back at me. I raised my hands and held the Flower Crystal. Something stirred in my memory, something from very long ago... To be continued... Ep. 7 - http://eternal.dreamhost.com/fanfics/ss7.txt Beverly "Usagi" Alliss - beverly@magicalgirls.net Merlyn "Ami" Baker - yumesan@yahoo.com First Written, 1998. Recent Editing, May 2000. Tsuki no Yume http://eternal.dreamhost.com/fanfics/