Sailor Heart 

Sailor Elements

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CHAPTER 5: SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK

          The sun was shining brightly as the weather became increasingly warmer.  Being the
middle of July, this was not uncommon.  People were either swimming in the lakes or their
pools, or soaking up the air conditioning in their homes.  But for some, it was time to work.

          "Why are you going to school in the summertime?" asked Aqua.

          "Because," replied Tara "the principal was recruiting people to help clean the school
before the new year starts and I volunteered."

          "I simply can't believe you, you know.  Why anyone would waste their time in school
when
the don't have to, is beyond me..." Aqua murmured as she walked away.  As Tara went to leave,
Poseidon met her at the door.  He glanced around to see if Aria or Aqua was around.  When he
was sure that they were quite alone, he did a backflip and handed Tara a communicator.

          "This is for emergencies.  If you need any of us, call.  With so much Negaverse activity
rearing it's ugly head, we'll have to be extra careful."

          "Right.  Well, see ya later Poseidon.  I'm off." she waved as she walked down the path to
the sidewalk.

          "I've been saying that for years!" called Poseidon loud enough that only Tara could hear.
She turned to look at him, the smiling smart-aleck, and laughed along with him.

          "Jedite!  Neflyte!  Report to me now!"  Queen Beryl was not happy.  The energy being
collected by her servants was being used as fast as it had been conserved.  Reserves were
dwindling and she was losing patience.

          "Y-yes, my Queen?" asked Jedite hesitantly.  He was no fool when it came to dealing
with Beryl.  "You summoned us?"

          "No, I just like to hear the sounds of your names ringing in my ears.  Of course, I
summoned you!  Our energies are at an incredible low.  What are your plans for collecting
more?"

          "My queen, this plan will not fail and will replenish our reserves and then some." started
Neflyte.  "We've noticed that humans spend a lot of time trying to keep themselves cool in the
hot summer season.  This heat also gives them lots of energy.  This is the time of the maximum
output during an entire solar year.  All we have to do, is tap a few hundred people, easy as pie,
and boom, our energies are fulfilled and more is profited."

          "And you're sure that this plan will work, Jedite?" asked Beryl.

          "Without doubt, my Queen.  I have one of my best operatives at work as we speak.  With
Neflyte's plans and my agents, we cannot fail."

          "You seem to forget about the Elemental Scouts, Jedite.  How can we be sure that they
won't stop you, like they have every other time?

          "Leave that to me," said Neflyte as he noticed Jedite's clenched teeth. Jedite hated when
she talked like that to him.   "By the time we're done, we'll have all the energy we need, and the
Elemental Scouts will be no more."  Jedite and Neflyte laughed as the queen looked on.  She still
was not in a good mood.


          "Good afternoon, Miss Sugano.  I hope it wasn't too much trouble getting here." said the
principal.

          "Oh, no trouble at all, Mr. Michaels." said Tara.

          "Good.  Well, I guess we'll dispense with the small talk.  Your team will be handling the
classrooms.  I want the walls, floor, windows and blackboards washed.  Make sure you keep the
windows open so the fumes of the environmentally friendly cleaning products," he made a point
of emphasizing the products' environmental safety. "Won't disturb you or your team."

          "But sir, it's very hot outside.  Wouldn't it be better to use the air filter system instead?"

          "Normally, that would be true, but we've been having some problems with it lately.
Besides, heat gives you more energy, don't you think?" asked the principal.

          "I suppose you're right.  Well, I better go collect my team.  See you later, Mr. Michaels."

          "Thank you for your hard work, Tara.  And remember, have fun."

          "I will." said Tara and she started down the hall.  Mr. Michaels went into his office and
proceeded to take out a laptop computer-like device and pushed a few buttons.

          "Chameleon, report!" said Neflyte.

          "All is going to plan, sir." said the now altered form of "Mr. Michaels".  "I have rigged
this school's public address system to collect all the energy from all the hard working students.
It's designed to work slowly so that the students don't feel massively drained in the first few
seconds, so it'll be like they are working really hard.  And, as to your request, I've made sure that
all the windows are open, and their air filter is destroyed."

          "And what about the human you've taken the shape of?"

          Chameleon chuckled to himself.  "I have trapped him in a stasis pod.  When I release
him, it will be like nothing ever happened."

          "Excellent work.  Keep it up and report back to me at the end of the day.  Neflyte out."


          "So, Flame, what's on your agenda, today?" asked Adrian.

          "Well, I'm meeting a few friends at the mall, and we're gonna take it from there.  Why?"

          "No reason.  So you're going out.  I'll have to set the answering machine; that's all."

          "Expecting a call?  Maybe from that cute girl you've had your eyes on the past couple of
weeks?"

          "No... it's not that." Adrian said, blushing.  "Actually, I'm waiting for a call to find out
about a job.  Oh, by the way," he said trying to change a most embarrassing subject "Poseidon
told me to give you this.  It's a Scout communicator.  Use it only for Negaverse emergencies,
okay?"

          "Are you implying that I'd use it for anything else?" asked Flame.

          "Right.  Just for the Negaverse, okay?" laughed Adrian.

          "Oh all right.  Say, does Tara have one?"

          "Yeah, Poseidon made sure to give it to her before she left for the school."

          "Okay, well I'll see ya later." said Flame on her way out the door.

          "Be careful!  You never know what could happen." said Adrian in a protective voice.

          "Sheesh, you'd think I was a normal kid instead of an Elemental Scout.  I can take care of
myself and you know it."

          "You're right, sorry, force of habit."  said Adrian.


          Tara and her clean-up crew were busy.  All of them had broken into a positive sweat due
to the heat.  Still, they managed to get a few rooms done.  As they were starting the ninth room,
one of the girls collapsed.  They put her up onto a group of desks and tried to revive her.  Tara
ran to the water fountain to get something to help revitalize her.  On her way back to the
classroom, she decided to tell Mr. Michaels what had happened.  But first, to the classroom.

          As the girl drank the water, her eyes fluttered and finally opened.  Her face was having
water rubbed into it.  When she sat up, everybody sighed with relief.

          "Must have been heat stroke or something." said one and the others, except Tara, agreed.

          "It was like my whole body was drained of energy.  It was the weirdest feeling."

           I'll bet it was a lot more than a feeling.' thought Tara.  But since she couldn't prove it to
herself, she decided to go along with the others.

          "Should we tell Mr. Michaels?" asked a boy.

          "Might be a good idea." replied Tara.  "I'll go and you guys keep working and take it
easy, okay?"

          They all agreed and Tara made her way down to the principal' office.   Gee, first time,
I've ever been sent here,' she mused.   And it's not even on a school day.' she giggled quietly.
When she reached his office, the door was open, and Tara could hear voices inside.

          "Our energy is almost at capacity.  We'll have to send some to the Negaverse so that we'll
have room for more.  How are the slave... er, students holding out, Chameleon?"

          "So far, no one seems to be noticing the effects.  They consider it what they call heat
stroke.  Today was the perfect day to launch this plan.  Congratulations on your success, master."

     "Make sure you keep up your success, Chameleon, and you'll be pleasantly rewarded."

     Tara heard all of this and quickly ran to the rest room in order to contact the others.
However, unbeknownst to Tara, Chameleon had heard her leave and had decided to follow.  She
managed to elude Chameleon when she ducked into a supply closet.  She was just about to call
Adrian and Flame when Chameleon burst through the door.  Tara dropped her communicator
into her pocket so the Chameleon thought   she was just an ordinary, but snoopy kid.

     "Did you actually think you could get away from me that easy?  You know, it's such a
waste to get rid of such an ambitious youth.  You could be a great asset to the Negaverse, but I
guess we'll never find out now, will we?"  Tara wanted to transform, but an instinct told her that
it wasn't the time to show her true colours.  She'd wait for a more suitable time.  She was bound
and gagged and hung on a hook in the principal's office.  A few minutes later, the girl who
fainted came into the office and asked where Tara was.

     "Well, she was feeling dizzy," said Chameleon who was now back in the form of Mr.
Michaels "so I sent her home.  Do you want to go too?"  The girl nodded and explained what
happened.  Mr. Michaels agreed and sent her home.  "No point in wasting all of my good
workers, right?"  The girl looked over her shoulder and smiled.

     It was getting later into the evening and Poseidon was pacing.  Flame and Adrian were
home and had been for hours.  He was concerned about Tara, though.  Maybe there was a logical,
safe reason why she was late and hadn't called.  Or...

     He clawed at Adrian and scampered into his bedroom.  After Adrian had come limping
into the room he noticed the concerned look on Poseidon's face.

     "This had better be good enough to give me prison-stripe legs." said Adrian as he winced.

     "Sorry, I forgot you were wearing Bermuda shorts.  But it is important.  Tara isn't back
yet.  She told me she would have been back by now."

     "There's probably a good reason why she's late and hasn't called." said Adrian.  "Maybe
her friends went out for dinner and she just forgot."

     "Ordinarily I'd agree but I've got a bad feeling about this."

     "So what do we do?" asked Adrian.

     "I suggest you collect Flame and we go to that school.  Maybe somebody is still there."

     "Okay, then.  So, Poseidon, leash tonight?" asked Adrian and laughed.  Poseidon was not
amused.

     "Jedite to Neflyte.  Come in Neflyte."

     "What do you want?" asked a slightly perturbed Neflyte after being informed about
Tara's eavesdropping.

     "I just wanted to tell you to keep up whatever you're doing because we've almost got
enough energy to cover the amount we used in the last four attempts."

     "Excellent.  So far, no distractions.  And Jedite, don't ever talk like that to me again."

     "Right.  I'm out."


     Mr. Michaels was standing at the front door when he saw the red Trans Am pull up.
Adrian and Flame got out casually and walked up to him.  Poseidon snuck out and did some
snooping on his own.

     "Good evening," said Michaels.  "You're Tara's brother and sister, right?"

     "Yes, sir.  And she hasn't come home yet.  We were wondering if she was still here?"

     "Come now, Mr. Sugano.  You can't honestly believe I can keep people here after they
need to be, right?"

     "Err... right." said Adrian a little bewildered.

     "So you haven't seen her, right sir?" asked Flame.

     "No, young lady I haven't.  Not since she and her friends left about an hour ago."

     "Oh, I figured that's what must have happened.  Thanks for your time, Mr. Michaels."
said Adrian a little unconvinced.  "I guess we'll be on our way then."

     "A pleasant evening to you both.  I hope you find your sister safe and sound." said
Michaels.

     "Yeah, right.  Come on Flame." said Adrian pulling his sister along behind him.  When
they got to the car, Flame grabbed her hand away from Adrian and gave him a puzzled look.

     "He's hiding something, that's why." said Poseidon.  I found her, but I can't reach her to
do anything.  Follow me and I'll take you right to her."

     A few minutes later, they were outside the window to the principal's office.  They peered
in to find that Mr. Michaels was changing into a Negaverse monster.  Poseidon recognized him.

     "Chameleon.  He has the ability to take any shape he chooses.  Tara's in the closet and I
have a feeling that he put her there.  We've got to get her out of there."

     Flame had already transformed into Sailor Fire and just as she was about to break through
the window, Adrian stopped her.

     "We've gotta be subtle, rescue Tara first then destroy that Nega-creep."  They turned to
watch Chameleon take Tara out of the closet.  Poseidon had managed to open the window so that
they could what was being said.

     "Master Neflyte!" said Chameleon.  "Open the portal, I am bringing this girl to the
Negaverse where she can be sucked dry."

     "Not while I can help it!" yelled Sailor Fire as she broke through the window.  "Your
days are numbered.  On behalf of the moon and of Earth, you will rot in hell!"

     "Not likely!" said Chameleon as he threw Tara at Fire.  With that, he disappeared.

     "Great!" said Tara.  "He's gone and now we'll never catch him."

     "Yes we will." said Poseidon.  "I know Chameleon.  He's not going back to the
Negaverse till he tries to eliminate you.  And He'll try it again real quick.  Adrian, you and Tara
better transform."

     "Right.  Ready Tara?  Heart!  Crystal!  Power!"

     "Gotcha.  Earth!  Crystal!  Power!"  Within a matter of seconds, they were their
respective Scouts.

     "Look!  There he goes!  After him!" said Fire.  They all ran out and managed to corner
him.

     "Okay pal, time to rock!" said Sailor Earth.  "Earth!  Tectonics!  Rumble!"  Chameleon
stood there and took the beam.

     "Is that it?"  He was not impressed with the attack until the ground under him began to
tremble and he started to shake violently.

     "Guess it's time for you to fry!"yelled Sailor Fire.  "Fire!  Inferno!  Rage!"

     Chameleon ignited, his whole frame engulfed in flame.

     "My turn!" said Sailor Heart.  "Heart's Pendant!  Coronary!  Shock!"

     Chameleon was disintegrated into dust.

     "Heart Burned." said Adrian profoundly.

     "Excellent teamwork, you guys.  You fight just as well as you did in the Moon
Kingdom."

     "Speaking of the Moon Kingdom and teamwork, Poseidon..."

     "I told you!  I'll know when I know, okay?!?!?!?!?!" and he ran off, back to the car.

     "What's with him?" asked Sailor Earth.

     "I don't know," started Sailor Fire.

     "But I bet we find out what he's been hiding from us soon." finished Sailor Heart.

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