-Episode 04-


The three senshi stood there for a few seconds in silence, staring in the direction Brekke had fled. Sailor Platos instinctively knew of the discussion, which would come next, from either the two other soldiers or the girls awakening around them, and felt uneasy. So she did what was becoming natural to her, and bolted away, in the direction towards her Japanese home.

Unfortunately, though, at night the entire city looked different, and Platos soon found herself taking turns at random until she was completely lost. She slowed down, finally remembered she was still in her white fuku, yanked off the brooch, and at last realized she did not know where she was.

"Ah, confound it," Trish muttered, also conveniently remembering that she had left even Ora behind.

The blonde stood there for a few seconds, shivering in the slightly chilly night air of early summer. As if on cue, but a little late, Ora spontaneously appeared out of a shower of sparks and circled her head once before landing on her shoulder. The mockingbird chirruped and nibbled on her ear, as Trish looked at him sideways, raising an eyebrow.

"You're a very strange bird, you know that?" Trish commented.

Ora chirped brightly.

"If you're so cheerful, why don't you show me how to get out of being lost?" The blonde grumbled.

Ora chirped again, and took to the air, circling once before speeding off down a side street. Trish blinked in surprise before gathering back together her wits and racing after. The bird led her all over the place, it seemed, and once or twice, Trish felt her pants snag on something.

After a minute or so, the blonde leaned against a tree next to her host family's house, regaining her breath. The bird chirped merrily from her head as if to say, "My! What a jolly jog we've had! Let's do it again, what?"

"Someday, you'll wake up with all your feathers plucked out, bird," Trish grumbled and straightened up.

She suddenly remembered her pants, and bent down to inspect them. The blonde found that the entire seam on one pant leg was undone, and gave a loud groan.

"Great, just great," she muttered. "One of my three jeans now ruined."

Annoyed, she stomped into the house, the bird following her, and went to bed.



"Trish-chan?" Amai, her exchange student mother, poked her head in through the doorway of the bathroom as the blonde brushed her teeth.

"Mrsh?" Trish muttered through the brush.

Amai looked nervous briefly before quickly bringing out what she had been holding behind her back; a pair of badly bleach-stained jeans.

"Gomen nasai," Amai said quickly, "I was doing the laundry and the cat tipped over the bottle of bleach. If you wish, you may go to the shops tomorrow, and I will give you money to buy a new pair."

Amai quickly left, leaving Trish with the toothbrush in her mouth and spit dripping down her chin, staring after her.



"No, no, Usagi-chan," Ami said slowly to the blonde, "you divide first, then add the terms together…"

"Konnichi-wa, Trish-chan," Rei greeted, a bit more warmth then usual in her voice, as the shorthaired blonde opened the door to the shrine.

"Konnichi-wa, minna!" Trish chirruped, taking the empty place between to Makoto and Minako.

As Ami attempted to help Usagi, the other four girls chattered away about school that day, and other random topics. Trish noted that the two cats were napping in a patch of sunlight, which streamed in through an open window. Out of curiosity, she leaned over until she could see out the window.

Nestled in the cherry blossom tree sat a mockingbird, who sang gaily, ignoring the girl looking at him. Trish rolled her eyes and straightened back up.

"Trish-chan, what were you looking at?" Makoto asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

"Just a bird," Trish replied.

As if in reply, the mockingbird gave a loud squawk of indignation, and came shooting in through the window to land on Trish's head. Surprised, Trish toppled backwards, her feet flying up into the air as her head hit the carpet. Ora gave another angry squawk and proceeded to claw at her head.

"Gah!" Trish cried, and attempted to swat the bird off.

The other five girls stared at her for a few seconds, watching her antics, before breaking out into uncontrolled laughter. Even Ami found herself giggling. After a minute or so, Ora decided he had tormented the blonde long enough and left her, still attempting to swat him, to land on the table.

When Trish realized that the bird had left her hair, she turned a light shade of red and hastily made an effort to straighten herself out. After failing at that, she tried to laugh it off.

"Baka Trish-chan," Makoto commented as the blonde laughed rather hollowly.

Ora chirped in agreement. Behind him, Luna had awakened and was then crawling up onto the table. Before anyone could breathe, the cat pounced on the bird and rolled off the table with Ora in her paws.

The girls watched silently as Luna struggled to keep the bird underneath her paws. Ora, however, was only willing to stand this for a few seconds before he disappeared in a flurry of angry violet sparks. He reappeared in the air above the table and joined in the laughter with his own trills over Luna's perplexed look as she stared down at her paws.

The cat turned a shade of red with embarrassment as she realized the bird was flying around above her. Embarrassment turning to annoyment, the cat jumped back up onto the table and cleared her throat, trying to quiet the chuckles and giggles.

"If you would kindly stop laughing, I believe we have some topics to discuss?" Luna grumbled.

The girls settled back down as Ora alighted on Artemis' head, who had crawled up onto the table as well. They all turned their attention to the black cat and watched her expectantly.

"Artemis and I continued looking for a way for Ami to get a proper energy scan of the large…rock in space," Luna stated, nodding at Artemis. "The observatory at the edge of Tokyo appears to be a good place as any, since the equipment there can easily be used to get the proper sort of scans."

"Oh! I know of that place!" Ami interjected, "It's not too big, but it should work. I can stop by there tomorrow afternoon, since they always tend to have lighter staff on Saturday."

"Somebody should go with Ami-chan," Rei put in.

"Yeah," Makoto agreed, "although it may be more suspicious, it'll be safer. Better to have backup in case anything happens."

"I'll go!" Usagi volunteered.

Nearly everyone in the room shook their head at this, and Ami clarified, "No, Usagi-chan. You need to stay here; for all we know, the enemy is after you again. It's simply not logical to take you with me."

"Besides, you're a klutz, odango," Rei stated.

"Well, you're too mean!" Usagi shot back, a wet raspberry following it.

"Which is why, I should go," Rei smiled sweetly.

"You'd blow up the whole laboratory-thingy with your temper!"

"And you'd probably knock over some sort of expensive equipment!"

"Girls! Girls!" Makoto shoved herself between the two.

"Neither of you two should go," Luna commented as the two settled down.

"What?! Why?" Rei flared up again.

"Because, I think we should give the newcomer a chance," Luna said calmly, nodding at the pale blonde.

It was Trish's turn to flush pink, "Eh, wha-what? No, no, I really shouldn't-"

"We need to know if we can trust you," Luna stated, shrugging. "And what better way then a simple mission?"

"Yeah, and after the incident at the mall and the school, I think we can trust you enough for this," Artemis chipped in. "Besides, you need the experience."

"Oh, alright..." Trish blushed.

Rei looked slightly miffed about it, but didn't have any chance to change the subject as Usagi asked Makoto, "how'd practice go yesterday?"

"Eh, well, not as we expected…" Makoto began, her face losing the smile.

"Yeah!" Minako interrupted, "Practice was going along alright until this really snobby American walked onto the field with all her friends, demanding for Mako-chan's team to get off the field! Of course, this made absolutely no sense since Mako-chan's team had signed up for the entire night to use the field, yet the girl refused to listen. In fact, she only understood English! She was such a rude American--"

"Mina-chan," Makoto sighed, interrupting the jabbering blonde, "that's not what matters."

"Oh, well," Minako shrugged, "and some shadow thing attacked, and then the rude American started cursing at us! And then she stormed off without even apologizing!"

"Wait," Rei held up her hand, "go back a little. Another shadow attacked?"

"Yeah," Makoto nodded, and started explaining everything that had happened before Minako could continue on about the rude American.

"You said she only spoke English?" Luna said thoughtfully after the brunette had ended, "and yet she could speak Japanese in senshi form…"

"What was her name again?" Rei wondered.

"Brekke," Trish stated. "I didn't catch her last name. She probably has a father in the United States army, which is why she's over. He's probably stationed somewhere around…"

"And how would you know that?" Rei asked suspiciously.

Trish shrugged. "Most kids who come over here, who aren't in an exchange program, have a parent in the armed forces. Besides, she had way too many accents to have come straight from America."

"And now we have another senshi on our hands," Rei sighed, backing off. She leaned backwards and looked thoughtful.

"Guess it's not a coincidence then, huh guys?" Usagi commented lightly.

"I wonder who this new enemy is…" Minako trailed, also looking thoughtful.

"Someone powerful enough to have whoever's controlling things believe we need these new senshi," Artemis grumbled.

Ora chirruped brightly from the white cat's back, where he had slowly moved to during the conversation, since it was much more comfortable. This gained the attention of all the girls in the room, who turned to stare at him attentively.

"I wonder…" Makoto trailed, narrowing her eyes.

"Wouldn't that bird know anything?" Usagi asked innocently. "I mean, he was the one who gave those girls their henshin items…maybe he knows if there's going to be more of those…what were they? Dimension Senshi?"

"Yeah bird," Minako frowned, gaining her interrogator's glare. She leaned her face into the bird's, "where were you the night of June 7th, 1992?"

"Mina-chan," Artemis sighed.

"Just kidding," Minako smiled, but then turned serious again. "Alright, confess. Are there more senshi who're going to turn up? Who's this new enemy we're up against? What do they want?"

Ora stared back at her for a few seconds, his face unable to show emotion, and chirped, almost mockingly. Suddenly he jumped through the air to land on the blonde's head. Minako, surprised, spiraled her arms around her, trying to regain her balance, but to no avail. She ended up in a heap on top of Makoto, and Ora took flight to spiral above her head, chirruping in a way akin to laughter.

"Evil bird! Evil bird!" Minako cried, rolling off of the squashed brunette to grab a pillow and lob it at the mockingbird.

Ora deftly dodged the flying object, which managed to hit Luna, knocking her off the table. The room erupted into laughter for a few seconds and as Trish wiped the beginnings of tears from her eyes, she found Ora had perched on her wrist. As she watched, he tapped at her wristwatch a few times, and then looked expectantly up at her.

"Oh dear!" The blonde exclaimed, "It's almost five and I told my host parents I'd go shopping for new jeans today!"

She scrambled to her feet, the others barely noticing her as they tried to recover from their laughing fit.

"Bai bai!" She called and trotted out the door.

A few of the girls waved as she left. Ora left her wrist for her shoulder, and stayed relatively quiet as she walked down the steps of the shrine down to the street below. The two walked in silence along the road, watching cars go past, people walk by, and the sun slowly setting above the trees in the distance. The air was relatively calm, with a sporadic breeze rustling her hair, and a scattering of clouds in the darkening sky above.

She reached the street of clothes shops only a short while later, and entered the first one she came to. Ora left her, opting for the outside air, and the blonde didn't see where the bird flew. But a chirping nearby gave her reassurance.

Inside she found few others, probably since it was getting so late. Trish didn't stay long there, for she quickly found they were all too short. In fact, the first eight stores didn't have a single pair of jeans long enough to reach her ankles. The last store on the block had something about tall ladies in its store name, which comforted her as she walked inside.

Browsing the racks, she quickly found two pairs of jeans that might actually fit her, and she quickly made a beeline for the back of the store, feeling her joy for shopping return to her. In the back she found changing rooms, where she found that the jeans actually did reach past her ankles.

As Trish left the small rooms to go pay for her jeans, she suddenly stopped. Just over the racks she could see the top of a black-haired head the same height as her. The jeans over her forearm, she crept forward, wondering if it was whom she thought it was.

Crouching next to the closest rack of shirts, she could hear the unmistakable, deep voice of Brekke talking to another girl.

")No, no, way to bright,(" Brekke grumbled, of course in English.

")How 'bout this?(" A higher voiced asked, in a strong American accent.

")Sleeves are too short.("

")Dude Brekke!(" The other voice gave an annoyed sigh, ")You're too picky!("

")I love you too.("

")Maybe this?(" Meanwhile, Trish was slowly lifting her head up above the rack, having stood up a short time beforehand. She looked over in time to see a black, long sleeve turtleneck.

")Perfect,(" Brekke grinned, grabbing the shirt from her brunette friend.

")Dude, you're too mor-(" the brunette sighed, briefly halting as she caught a glimpse of the blonde out of the corner of her eye, ")-bid?("

Trish immediately popped back down, but Brekke had seen her.

With a hiss, the black-haired girl looked over the top of the rack and down at the blonde on the other side. She narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything, turning back to her friend to grab the turtleneck from her.

")Com'on, this is good enough,(" Brekke stated coldly and marched over to the cash register. Utterly confused, her friend followed.

Trish got to her feet and slowly walked over, as the black-haired girl attempted to get the cashier to hurry up. She kept the jeans over her arm and got in line behind her. As Brekke finished paying, she noticed the blonde there and narrowed her eyes even further.

")What do you want?! Are you trying to stalk me?!(" Brekke finally cried.

")N-no!(" Trish stuttered, and then quickly composed herself. ")Brekke! You gotta listen! You can't run from what's happened to you!("

")Watch me,(" Brekke hissed, before grabbing her friend's hand and leaving the store in a huff.

Trish stared after her in silence for a few moments until the lady behind the counter politely coughed. Absently, the blonde paid for her jeans and then went outside onto the street. Across the way, she could see the black-haired girl roaming around in another store and wondered if she should continue pursuing her.

")Who was that girl?(" The brunette wondered, grabbing a scrunchie out of her pocket to put her straight, long hair into a ponytail.

")I don't know,(" Brekke muttered, attempting to focus on the rack in front of her.

")Yes you do," the brunette pressed. ")If she's stalking you, you've seen her before. What's going on? What did she mean about 'what's happened to you'?("

")It's nothing, Jen',(" the black-haired girl shrugged. ")Really. She's just some girl from yesterday's match who was spouting nonsense.("

")Some girl, eh? Speaks pretty good English, that some girl,(" Jennifer said softly. ")Is she at the base as well? If she is, I haven't seen her there. Some new girl?("

")No, I don't think she goes to the base,(" Brekke shook her head. ")I would've seen her before then. Besides, she was rooting on the Jap' team. She must be some…exchange girl. Her Japanese is too good to have just come off the base…("

")For being nothing, you sure are getting into analyzing where she comes from,(" Jennifer laughed.

Brekke raised an eyebrow, ")You'd be analyzing your stalker too, ya'know.("

")I'd feel special enough to have a stalker,(" the brunette laughed again.

")Pfiff."

")Oh don't 'pfiff' me, you psycho,(" Jennifer giggled, and then suddenly gave a start. Looking around curiously, she asked, ")What was that?("

")What was what?(" Brekke returned in monotone, trying to sulk.

")That!(" The brunette cried, giving a squeak of pain as she grabbed her leg, ")Geez, it feels like someone's poking me with a knife!("

")You're not going to fool me with that,(" Brekke rolled her eyes.

Jennifer didn't reply but stared blankly at the black-haired girl for a few seconds, before her eyes rolled up into her head and she passed out. Brekke gave a soft cry of fright and paled, backing up a few feet. It took her a few more moments before she could regain her bravery and kneel down to check her friend's pulse. Jen' was still alive.

Frantically, Brekke glanced around the store for help, but it seemed as if everyone had just decided to leave. Feeling fear creep slowly through her veins, she took a couple of deep breaths, quickly trying to think of what she should do.

But she barely had time, for an unexpected pain filled one leg the next second and if it hadn't been for the rack next to her, she would've toppled to the ground. Biting her lip against the pain, she brought her leg up to her, immediately feeling the throbbing subside.

She looked around her at the ground, trying to find the source of whatever was hurting her. But she saw nothing but shadows cast from the racks, and a pale red blur which quickly disappeared. ")Pale red blur?(" Brekke said out loud, and attempted to kick the area where she had seen it.

That only resulted in more pain, and a sudden weakness, which filled her body. Brekke collapsed to the ground, gasping, and clutching at her leg. There were a few more moments of silence, and then a hissing laughter came from underneath the racks.

"You are a ssstuborn one, yesss."

Brekke froze; she would recognize a hissing voice like that if she had been half deaf. She watched, dark brown eyes wide, as a shadow formed itself in front of her, two small, pale red eyes staring mockingly at her.

"But you are ssstill human," the shadow added, almost thoughtfully.

The black-haired girl hurriedly attempted to crawl backwards and away, but her entire right leg was numb, inhibiting her progress. The shadow grinned wickedly and reached out both translucent hands to grab hold of her wrist. Immediately, sharp, tear-jerking pain rippled throughout her arm, and it took all of Brekke's strength not to scream.

Brekke kicked weakly at the shadow, trying to get away, but every time a part of her connected with the demon, she was rewarded with even more pain. She was on the brink of passing out, the shadow's hissing laughter filling her ears, when the sound of glass shattering brought her back to reality.

Out on the street, Trish had just come to the conclusion to leave Brekke alone so she could cool down when Ora went flying past her face, nearly chipping out a piece of her nose, and straight at the window of the store. Alarmed, Trish attempted to yell that there was glass in the window, but the pane shattered and flew all over the pavement before she could even try to yell.

The blonde stood there for a few moments, wondering if the bird was still alive after the impact. The sound of Ora's screeching stirred her into action, and Trish found herself gripping the black stone in her pocket. Another second went by and it was above her head.

Forgetting to check and see if anybody was watching, Trish yelled, "Platos star power make up!"

Fortunately for her, no one was around, and no one saw her as she twirled around on tiptoe amidst pale orange flames. As soon as she was free from the warm flames, she raced after her bird, leaping through the broken window into the clothing store. It was oddly quiet.

Uncomfortable with the silence, she quickly cried out, "Hello! Anyone here?"

"Another human?" Came a hiss from a few racks over, and a moment later, Platos could see the head of a pale red-eyed shadow.

"Another shadow?" Sailor Platos mocked, just as Ora alighted on her shoulder.

Nearly unconscious next to the shadow's feet, Brekke groaned. Here she was, in dire need of help, and her only rescuer was the dumb blonde from yesterday, who had allowed for a dangerous demon to escape. Life just wasn't fair!

She slowly propped herself up on her elbow, searching her pockets with one hand. Strangely, she had kept the white stone with her throughout the day, feeling an odd sort of attachment to the object. Touching the stone now filled her with a sudden confidence and energy. Brekke gradually crawled underneath the rack to the next aisle, without the shadow noticing.

"Come out here and fight like a man!" Platos crowed.

"Like a man?" The shadow simply laughed.

"Err, shadow then!" The white senshi corrected.

"Fight you like a ssshadow, then?" The demon continued chuckling, "Alright then!"

The shadow suddenly disappeared from sight. Nervously, Platos shifted from foot to foot, glancing around at her surroundings for any sign of the shadow. However, there wasn't any until she felt something wrap its hands around her neck from behind. A second later she cried out in pain and sank to her knees, grappling with her hands to get the shadow off of her. Ora gave a screech as well and left her shoulder, spiraling around in the air above and looking utterly lost.

Brekke made it to the next aisle and rolled over on her back, exhausted. When she had recovered her strength, she tediously raised herself to her feet, and held the white stone above her head.

"Mikos star power, MAKE UP!"

The black-haired girl twirled on tiptoe, much the same way Trish had, feeling energy coarse through her body again. Confidence returned to her as the black senshi posed, her nearly black eyes glinting maliciously. She turned her attention to her white counterpart, who had turned a paler shade then she normally was, nearing white.

Narrowing her eyes, she held out her gloved hands in front of her. "Aqua…" dirt and water met in her hand to form a glowing glob of mud. "…shock!" Mikos lobbed into with all her strength at the demon and Platos.

It hit them both, sending them crashing into the wall behind them. The shadow was dislodged, and rolled away from the white senshi, who looked as pale as a blanket of snow by then. Swiftly, Mikos jumped over the racks separating her from her counterpart, and landed in a crouch beside the white senshi, throwing a glare at the demon.

The shadow glared back, and then leaped forward, its hands outstretched. Mikos yelped and rolled out of the way, then sprang to her feet. Her hands were out in front of her again as she gained her footing.

"Aqua shock!" The black senshi growled, sending another ball of mud at the demon.

It was thrown back again, and without wasting a second, Mikos swooped down, hefting the white senshi into her arms. The next moment, she sprang through the broken window and back out onto the street. She set Platos down on the sidewalk, and turned around to face the shadow.

The demon had gotten back to its feet, and was watching Mikos from the other side of the wall wearily. Suddenly, beside the shadow, another eye appeared, but this one larger and of a bright orange. Soon Mikos could make out the shadow the eye belonged to, standing right behind the red-eyed one.

Sensing there was something there, the first shadow looked back, jumping a few inches into the air when it saw the orange-eyed one. "Massster?" It hissed.

"Give me the energy before you fight, Dolor," the other shadow ordered.

Dolor obliged, producing a large glowing sphere of energy, which the second shadow absorbed. The master grinned, shooting a glance at the two senshi out on the street.

"Now you may dessstroy the sssenssshi," it stated, before abruptly disappearing again.

The shadow nodded to the empty air, and then turned to face the senshi. Grinning, Dolor hopped over the wall and into the street. Mikos backed up a few steps and then threw another attack. But it only knocked the shadow back a few feet, and it quickly recovered.

As much as Mikos hated to admit it, she realized she needed some sort of help. Almost sadly, she looked down at Platos, who was starting to stir. In her moment of distraction, Dolor bounded forward, slamming itself against the senshi and sending them both crashing to the ground.

This time Sailor Mikos couldn't stop herself from giving a scream of pain, as the throbbing, piercing feeling washed over her entire left side. The sound made Platos stir more, and slowly, she got to her feet, opening her eyes to see her counterpart being held to the ground by the shadow.

"Brekke!" She squeaked, and with determination held out her hands in front of her. "Cyclone…inferno!"

Mikos heard her cry, and with her remaining strength, kicked through the shadow, temporarily surprising it. She was able to roll away before the flaming tornado hit it, and watched as she gasped for breath on the curb. Dolor gave a shrill scream as it was engulfed in flame.

But a few moments later, the flames were gone, yet the shadow was still there. A triumphant look on its face, Dolor laughed. It lunged again at Mikos, but stopped and nearly fell backwards as a blur flew in front of it and then began flying around it in circles.

"Ora!" Platos cried happily, leaning against the shop wall.

The mockingbird gave a quick chirrup in reply and continued creating dizzying circles around the shadow. Dolor stood, perplexed, trying every once in a while to grab the bird out of the air, but always missing.

Thankful for the extra time, the white senshi sprinted over to her counterpart and helped her up. Leaning against each other, they watched the bird for a few moments, each trying to think of what to do next. However, their instincts took over as Dolor finally managed to hit Ora, sending the small bird into the near wall with a dull thump.

Anger swelling up inside the two, they griped at each other's hand, and then leaned apart.

"Ying!" Platos cried, holding up her other hand, which began to glow black.

"Yang!" Mikos yelled, holding down and out her opposite hand, which began to glow white.

"Pax!" They shouted together, and energy shot from each outstretched hand, to form a glowing yinyang, which flew at the surprised shadow.

In a flurry of black and white sparks, the shadow evaporated, without a single sound. Astonished and exhausted, all the two senshi could manage to do was stare at each other.



Atra landed neatly on the stones beneath the large hole in the ceiling and immediately bowed to the man before her, who apparently had been expecting her. He beckoned her forward, noting that Dolor was not with her.

"The energy?" He stated, gesturing to his chair.

The shadow nodded and held her hands out in front of her. A glowing glob of energy appeared, which she deposited into the stone. Straightening back up, she met his eyes.

"We've lossst another Ssshadow," she hissed.

"Yes, I noticed," he returned, almost mockingly. "We seem to be losing them like flies next to a bug zapper. And you don't seem to be doing anything about it."

"It isss not entirely my fault that they are incompetent and ambitiousss," Atra grumbled.

"Well you are the one responsible for training them," he narrowed his eyes, then waved his hand. "Will this be enough energy?"

"No, we ssstill need a bit more."

"Oh, alright," he sighed, leaning back in the chair. "Go get it, then."

Slightly annoyed, Atra returned to the corner of Shadows who awaited her. Quickly glancing through the eyes before her, she grabbed onto the shoulder of the jade-eyed one, pulling her away from the others.

"Sssportula," she hissed, "now is the time to redeem yourself. Go to Earth and collect more energy."

"Yesss," Sportula nodded.

"What wasss that?" Atra growled.

"Yesss Massster," Sportula added.

"Good, now go."

The jade-eyed Shadow turned away and walked to underneath the hole, rolling her eyes as soon as Atra couldn't see her. A second later, she sprang up through the night.



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