-Episode 02-

   More than a few blocks away from the mall, Trish finally stopped running, and leaned against a brick wall to catch her breath. Ora, who had taken flight when they left the building, landed to rest on her shoulder. Thoughts ran too fast through her mind for her to notice, most of them questioning what had just happened.

   The vast emotions that had overwhelmed her with the shadow’s disappearance were enough to make her bolt towards the exit. Trish had too many of her own queries to deal with without the questions she knew would come from the soldiers. Nearly everything impossible to her had just happened in just the last hour.

   Attempting to calm her racing mind down, she gazed upwards into the deep, black night sky. Hundreds of stars twinkled softly in the ribbon of darkness, but outshining them all was the exquisitely full moon. Indeed, it was actually the second full moon of the month...making it...

   "A blue moon," Trish whispered, her eyes widening. As she processed this, she unexpectedly giggled, making Ora squawk with surprise.

   "After all," she continued, "this sort of thing only happens once in a blue moon..."

   As if listening, Ora chirped. With the events of the night taken into account, Trish was fairly certain that the bird had been agreeing with her. The blonde smiled softly as she continued staring up at the moon.

   The lonely hoot of a far-off owl finally brought her back to reality, and to the many questions rampaging around her head. She looked down at her outfit, immediately wondering how she could return to her normal clothes, to escape more queries from her exchange parents than she already deserved.

   Sizing it up, she attempted yanking at the skirt to see if she could just take it off. It didn’t budge. Using the wall as a balance, she grabbed one foot and tried to yank the boot off. But the boot felt like it wouldn’t move for all of Rome.

   "Crud," she muttered, worriedly chewing on a fingernail. "And with my luck, it’ll probably start raining."

   As if on cue, Trish started feeling wet prickles on her arms and head.

   "Alright, somebody up there has a sick mind!" The blonde grumbled, shooting a nasty glance towards the sky.

   Ora took to the air suddenly, and circled around Trish once before attempting to land on the black stone which was placed on her front bow. Only, he wasn’t trying to land, because he attempted to grab it with his feet before launching back off again.

   Quickly catching on, the blonde let him fly back to her shoulder before firmly grabbing the stone with both hands. Then with a powerful tug, she yanked it off. The next few moments were filled with intense white light, before it faded and she found herself standing in her blue jeans and baby blue t-shirt again.

   Just in time, it seemed, for the gods decided it was a good time to really let it rain. With a yelp of shock due to the cold, her other questions were forgotten as she bolted home through the deluge.

   If Trish hadn’t been preoccupied with her own thoughts throughout school the following day, she probably would’ve felt that the girls she had met previously were avoiding her. But as things were for the scatterbrained child of pixie sticks, she hardly noticed until she found that Makoto and Ami weren’t waiting for her at the end of the day.

   "Strange," she muttered, as she remembered them clearly inviting her back to the shrine again.

   Heading down the sidewalk, she shrugged, figuring that they thought she could find her own way there. Besides, Trish certainly didn’t need to be shepherded around everywhere.

   Things seemed rather quiet as she made her way through town. Noise was even scarcer on the outskirts, where the shrine was located. The only thing she heard in the deafening silence as she made her way up the steps to the building was the shrill trill of a bird. In fact, it sounded fairly familiar...

   "Ora!" Trish exclaimed in surprise as the mockingbird flitted down from a tree to land on her shoulder, chirping merrily.

   "Silly bird," she chided him, reaching the top. "I thought I told you to stay back home!"

   Coming to the door of the smaller building where they had met before, she stopped, finding it shut firmly. Nevertheless, voices managed to drift through the cracks, and what they were saying halted her from reaching for the handle.

   "Her realm seems to be much like yours, Rei, but where did she come from?" Makoto was saying.

   Curious, Trish leaned against the door, pressing her ear gently on it. Ora gave an annoyed chirp of disapproval, but the blonde ignored him.

   "Who did she say she was?" Asked a rather high-pitched voice Trish had never heard before.

   "Sailor Platos," Minako stated.

   Trish forgot to breathe for a few seconds as that statement sank in. But how could they know about Platos...unless they were there last night?

   There was silence inside, and the blonde started to breathe again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a white cat come trotting up. She turned her head to see him fully, and the cat stopped, staring at her suspiciously. It was the same cat from the day before, Artemis.

   With another suspicious glance, he scrambled past her and through the open window. Inside, she distinctly heard whispering, but couldn’t make it out. A short moment later, she found that the door she had been leaning against had been opened, and Trish tumbled inside, landing in a heap between Makoto and Usagi.

   "Uh, hi?" The blonde mumbled embarrassedly as they stared at her.

   "How long was she there, Artemis?" Minako asked the cat as the others stared blankly at Trish.

   The cat looked deploringly at Luna, who nodded, before he said, "A while, considering the way she was leaning against it."

   Trish’s mouth fell open, and her eyes widened with shock. The cat had talked! But cats can't talk. Everybody knows cats can't talk.

   "That can’t be possible!" She croaked.

   "What?" Usagi wondered, scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion.

   "Trish," said the same high-pitched voice from earlier, and now the blonde could clearly connect that it came from the black cat, Luna. "This will probably be hard to believe, but you must. If the legends are true..."

   "Legends?" Rei and Makoto piped up, swiveling their heads to look at the cat.

   "What legends?" Usagi leaned forward.

   "Let me explain everything, first," Luna stated with a hint of exasperation.

   The cat plodded to a spot in front of the still flabbergasted Trish and plopped herself down, clearly ready to launch into a very long tale.

   "Trish, or rather, Sailor Platos," the cat began, swishing her tale, "you are a Sailor Soldier. Our duty is to protect the princess and the solar system. Only, I am not sure if that is so in your case.

   "We are also Sailor Soldiers," she continued, waving her paw around at the girls. "Artemis and I are their guardians, protecting them and guiding them as well as we can. It seems you have your own guardian," she nodded at Ora, "but we will still aid you, as long as you don’t decide to be our foe."

   As Luna took a breath, Trish blinked, her mind exploding with questions. But the foremost one which kept recurring was the one she blurted out first.

   "What do you mean about legends?" She asked, her curiosity spiked.

   All the other girls were also leaning forward, inquiring, since this was obviously something which was new to them. Luna glanced swiftly around at them, made a quick decision, and curled up.

   "I had always thought it was pure myth," Luna began, "with maybe but a small basis in fact. Tales were often told to the younger members of the royal family to lull them to sleep back in the Silver Millennium. I remember a particular old, grey cat who often told stories to the children - Morty was our nickname for him. Actually, I don’t think we ever did find out his real name - but I’m off track.

   "Artemis and I, as well as a few other cats who lived at the palace, frequently came by to listen, because his tales were so captivating. His favorite seemed to be about four senshi of myth, who appeared whenever terrible disaster came upon the Moon Kingdom. Because of their timing, they were associated with bad omens, and the tales he told were fearful."

   Her eyes were directed straight at Trish then, filled with an inner glow. "I have an excellent memory, and I remember rather well the descriptions he gave us of each of those four senshi. Those four senshi who took their powers and names from the known four dimensions. One of those descriptions just happens to fit you, Trish, perfectly."

   Luna suddenly shivered. "Those legends couldn’t have been just fables if we have one of those senshi sitting in front of us. Which also means that something is going to happen. Something terrible enough to wake you."

   Trish couldn’t help herself; she shivered as well. Glancing around the room, she found the feeling was mutual; Rei looked haunted, Makoto concerned, and Usagi could’ve been a bunny facing a car’s headlights.

   "B-but, we defeated Wise Man and his guys!" Minako sputtered, "who else could be left?!"

   "Many more, probably," said Artemis sullenly.

   "This is bad, though," Luna went on. "Unless..." she paused thoughtfully.

   The girls and Artemis leaned forward further, if possible.

   "Unless," said Rei, "it’s a fluke. I’m sure it’s probably happened before. Platos could’ve been accidentally awakened. This new enemy could be nothing more then flies compared to Beryl or Wiseman."

   "True, but it could also be the opposite," said Makoto.

   "We should still be very careful until we are sure," said Ami.

   Luna nodded. "You guys should keep a lookout for any more of those shadow monsters. And for any more senshi. We certainly shouldn’t go looking for them, but if another happens to awaken..."

   "We’ll be sure it wasn’t an accident," said Rei, nodding, and looking at Trish strangely.

   Trish looked back, and then, before she could stop herself, burst out, "You don’t like me, do you, Rei?"

   Rei looked shocked as she returned, "What? Of course I like you. I mean..." She trailed off and sighed.

   "It’s just, when I first saw you, I felt a strong aura from you," the raven-haired priestess explained, "and I was afraid you might be a new enemy. Peace is wonderful, and having to fight and watch your back constantly is tiring and stressful. And now that you’re here the peace we’ve had for only a short time could be gone soon."

   Silence fell upon the group as Rei finished. Trish felt absolutely terrible, especially that her new-found, exhilarating power could hurt others in such a way she’d never intend.

   Finally, Usagi broke the hush, "Is the meeting over now? We should show Trish the arcade!"

   "Usagi-chan," Luna muttered.

   "Sounds like a good idea to me!" Minako chirped, standing up. "Come on, everyone!"

   "It’d certainly lift the atmosphere," said Makoto. The group headed off to the arcade.

   Trish skipped down the hallway from class to lunch, having just found out she got a rather high B on her Geometry test. The promise that she’d be returning to the arcade that afternoon also filled her mind with happiness, especially after beating Usagi three times in a row at the Sailor V game.

   "Hey!" She cried, bouncing over to the tree that they now considered their meeting spot during lunch.

   Only, they weren’t there. Blinking, she scratched her head, then shrugged, and sat down, thinking they could just be held up by Usagi. The blonde opened up her light blue cloth bag which contained her lunch and munched contentedly. While she ate, she worked on her Japanese homework.

   Fifteen minutes later, she had completed her homework and her lunch, and the three girls still weren’t there. Slightly concerned, she fiddled with her empty lunch sack for a few seconds, trying to figure out what she should do. Trish jumped several feet up into the air and nearly fell over when she heard a very loud, piercing scream.

   Kids around her turned to look at the school, confusion clearly on their faces. Trish stared at the school for a few seconds before grabbing her school sack and sprinting towards the school.

There was practically no one in the hallways as she ran through them, but every once in a while, she saw kids passed out along the walls. Now, completely lost, she started wondering why she was still running, until she turned a corner and nearly ran through a shadow.

   With an exclamation of surprise, she stumbled back a few steps, and tripped over another kid. The shadow whirled around to glare at her, both orange eyes narrowed maliciously. Trish glanced down quickly at the kid, and gasped when she saw it was Ami.

   "You again?" Umbra hissed angrily.

   "Err, sure, only, not for long," Trish squeaked. "I’ll just, uh, go now?"

   "No," said the shadow angrily. "You’re going to pay for the other day."

   Umbra lunged at her, but the blonde managed to duck out of the way and bolt back down the hallway. She ran as fast as she could, not daring to look back until she got several hallways down and around a corner.

   She breathed a sigh of relief when she looked around the corner and didn't see the shadow. With another glance around, she slid through the door behind her, which turned out to lead to the guy's bathroom.

   "Geez," she grumbled as she took a quick look around to make sure no one was there.

   Feeling slightly embarrassed, she grabbed the black stone out of her pocket and hurried over to a stall. Locking the door behind her, she made a point not to look at the disgusting toilet and walls, and instead closed her eyes.

   "Platos star power, make UP!" Trish cried, both hands raised above her head.

   Flames swirled around her feet again and up, covering her body, before receding back to the ground and dissipating. She was left standing there, in the still not-quite-familiar white outfit, and feeling quite out of place. She unlocked the door and walked out, straight into a custodian.

   "What do you think you're doing in the male bathroom?" The custodian cried, checking to see if anyone else had been in the stall with her, and then flicking her gaze pointedly at Platos' chest.

   "Ah, shadow, monster, hallway," Platos blathered in return, still overcoming the surprise of running into the lady.

   "So the administration's after you, eh?" The custodian returned, raising an eyebrow and looking over Platos' outfit again.

   "No, no!" The white senshi exclaimed.

   "Don't surprise me, especially after what you did there to your uniform," she continued, ignoring Platos. "Kids these days..."

   Fed up, Sailor Platos ignored the custodian's protests and marched back out into the hallway, straight through Umbra. Realizing what she had done, she shivered with disgust and whirled around to come face to, err, eyes, with Umbra, who was grinning triumphantly. Platos, feeling her courage take a swan dive, attempted a pitiful speech.

   "I am Sailor Platos and-"

   "Ah, ssshut up," Umbra growled, holding up a shadowy hand, which already glowed icy blue.

   "Gah!" Platos squeaked and dropped to the ground, feeling Umbra's attack graze her head.

   "Die, girl," the shadow hissed, grabbing the white senshi by her hair, making her wince in pain, and yanking her to her feet. "Die like your friendsss will when I catch up to them asss well."

   Platos scrabbled in a desperate attempt to get away, but Umbra kept a firm hold. The shadow brought the senshi's face up to her own and grinned. Platos attempted to kick her, but her foot went straight through. Umbra cackled and then pushed the senshi away, making her hit the hallway wall hard and slump to the ground. The shadow held up her hand, already glowing blue, and with a grin, shot it at her.

   The white senshi snapped her eyes shut, feeling rather stupid.

   "Sparkling wide pressure!"

   Platos felt heat blaze past her face, and quickly opened her eyes to see an angry Sailor Jupiter, and a frightened Sailor Moon.

   "How dare you hurt our friends?!" Raged Jupiter, the antennae on her tiara sparking. "I am Sailor Jupiter, and on behalf of Jupiter, planet of protection, I will punish you!"

   Sailor Moon, slightly annoyed that Jupiter had stolen her lines, added in, "And I am Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

   Umbra, miffed that her attacked had been countered, laughed scathingly. "Worthlesss children! Meddling in affairsss you don't underssstand will only lead to death! The Ssshadowsss will rule all, ignorant daughtersss of wormsss!"

   "Worms?! I'll show you worms!" Jupiter cried.

   Meanwhile, Platos was getting shakily back to her feet, using the wall behind her as support. Where's Ora? She wondered briefly, before remembering they were deep inside the school. Umbra saw the white senshi's movement, and turned to glare at her.

   "You will die!" She screeched, sending another ice attacked.

   Platos dropped to the ground and rolled over to Moon and Jupiter. Jumping to her feet, she found herself being glared at by Umbra still.

   "You will die firssst!" Umbra nearly screeched, randomly throwing two more attacks, which both hit the wall behind the senshi, nearly touching the ceiling.

   "Whoa," Jupiter blinked, "somebody's wreckless."

   "Wrecklesss?!" Umbra cried, blue eyes flashing, "I'll sshow you wrecklesss!"

   Holding both, now glowing, hands up above her head, the shadow spun on the tips of her translucent toes. Blue orbs shot out from her hands in every direction, bouncing off or freezing to the walls. The three senshi had to drop to the ground and cover up their heads.

   One of the orbs ricocheted off the ceiling and straight into Jupiter's back. The senshi of protection froze, her eyes staring blankly ahead as Sailor Moon screamed. Platos, shocked, barely saw that the shadow had stopped, and was aiming another orb directly at Moon's head. Reacting rather then thinking, the white senshi shoved the shorter blonde out of the way.

   A cold, numbing pain filled her arm as she realized she'd been hit. As if in a bubble, she heard Sailor Moon scream again. Out of the corner of her immobile eyes, she saw the senshi scrabble to her feet, Moon Rod in hand, and glare at Umbra, who apparently was chuckling madly.

   "Moon princess--!" Sailor Moon cried, but choked as she found Umbra wrapping her opaque hands around the soldier's throat.

   Moon's eyes widened as she tried to grab the shadow's hands to yank them off, but her own hands went straight through. Umbra laughed in the girl's face and pressed her back against the wall. Sailor Moon's face started to turn blue as she changed her tactics to kicking.

   Suddenly, Umbra dropped Moon in surprise as a rose went straight through her head. A man in a black tuxedo stepped out from around the corner, his black top hat dramatically tipped over his eyes.

   "Disturbing the learning environment of school for your evil ways will not be tolerated!" He announced, looking up to reveal his eyes, which were covered by a thin white mask. Holding up another red rose, he continued, "I am Tuxedo Ka-"

   The man halted to duck the blue orb Umbra had sent his way. From the floor, Platos could see Sailor Moon staring at Tuxedo, stars in her eyes and her face flushed.

   "Tuxedo Kamen!" She exclaimed, hands clasped together in front of her, "I knew you'd come!"

   Umbra rolled her eyes, striding forward toward Kamen. The man blinked in surprise before whipping out a black cane like a sword. The shadow didn't even look at the cane as she walked through it and grabbed him around the neck. In a few seconds, Kamen collapsed, unconscious, his energy clearly gone, and Umbra swiveled back around.

   "That wasss too easssy," she hissed delightfully, then narrowed her eyes. "Now die."

   The shadow started walking forward again, but halted as a bird appeared in a shower of purple sparks, and its song filled the air. Ora dived straight through Umbra, then circled around her head, certainly trying to distract her.

   Platos felt a strange warmth fill her body, her eyes suddenly able to dart left and right, taking in Jupiter next to her, who was also stirring, and Moon, who stared, petrified, at Kamen still.

   "Ora!" The white senshi croaked as she felt her lips and voice box warm up.

   The mockingbird, with a shrill trill immediately stopped his assault on the shadow and flew over to alight on Platos' shoulder, who had stood up and was shakily leaning against the wall.

   "Cyclone...!" Sailor Platos yelled with as much strength as she had.

   Flames encircled her feet and flew up to her head as Umbra attempted to charge the senshi.

   "...inferno!" Platos finished, firing the little tornado straight at the shadow's eyes.

   With a strange shriek as the flames hit her blue eyes full on, Umbra dissipated, her translucent particles flying outwards and disipating. Nothing was left where she had been.

   Platos, astonished, blinked twice and then fainted.

   The Shadow's master sat tapping the crystal, which covered the lady's face, and muttering to himself. Unbeknownst to him, Atra had just arrived from Earth, and was watching with amusement, hidden with the other Shadows.

   "...yes, and then we'll rent a yacht and go out on the sea and just stare at the water for hours, either speaking or in silence, whichever you prefer, Kaisha. Of course, we'd probably have to get the money for the yacht, but that's no matter, we could probably just steal it..."

   He stopped and looked up, thinking he heard giggling coming from the corner. Atra stared back at him, and as he realized she was there, he flushed red and embarrassedly got up and plopped down into the black stone chair.

   "How-how long have you been there, Atra?" He asked shakily, trying to sound casual.

   Atra, attempting to be deadpan, returned, "The entire time, Massster."

   The man went pink, "Well-well, report what happened on Earth, then. And where's Umbra? I notice she's still gone."

   The orange-eyed Shadow brightened up slightly as she hissed, "Umbra wasss killed by the soldiersss. Ssshe was power-hungry, though, Massster, ssso it isss not a real losss."

   "It is still a loss, nevertheless," he returned, narrowing his eyes. "I expect better of your Shadows in the future, Atra. We don't have many of them."

   "Yesss, yesss, Massster," Atra replied, attempting not to roll her eyes.

   "What of the energy?" The man asked, changing the subject.

   "I arrived in time to sssave mossst of it," Atra stated, holding out a hand, which soon spat up a glowing ball of white light.

   "But you didn't arrive in time to save Umbra?" He said snidely, "I see."

   Atra tried not to meet his eyes as she deposited the energy into the stone.

   "Well," the man sighed. "That's that. How much more do we need?"

   "Twice that," the Shadow blinked. "I will sssend another Ssshadow sssoon."

   "Do that," he ordered, leaning back in the chair. "I need sleep."

   As he closed his eyes, Atra glared at him, and then turned to a dark corner of the room. "Sssportula!"

   "Yesss, Massster?" The three, jade-eyed Shadow answered, stepping out from her fellow Shadows.

   "Thisss time we ssshould aim for a larger group," Atra commanded, thinking fast. "Preferably where they are raisssing energy, rather then that of a ssschool, where they are losssing it. Try one of thossse human 'sportsss'."

   "Yesss, Massster," Sportula bowed, as a small gift-basket shaped from the shadows to hang from her arm.

   Closing all three eyes, she streaked upward through the small hole in the ceiling. Atra gazed afterward, grinning, before disappearing through it after her.

Back | Next