THREE:Wednesday Thank You, Come Again.
Darrien stood there dressed entirely in white floating amongst the clouds. Serena floated towards him, the folds in her dress trailing behind her.
"Darrien, you're back," she said.
"Sure I am. What do you think of this dream huh?" He asked.
"Well..I've had ones like this before at least," she replied.
"Really?" Darrien said and before she knew it, Serena had been hit in the face with a pie.
"What the....hey! Who did that?" she whined.
"I did of course," Darrien said.
"Why?" She asked.
"I don't know. it's your dream," He said and flung another pie at her. She floated out of the way of it.
"Hey! Stop it!"
"I wish I could, but your mind is running the show here," He said and began to fling pies one after another. Serena managed to dodge a few, but most of them hit her somewhere.
"All right, since this is my dream and you're not real...." she said to herself as she floated right at her boyfriend. He flung another pie at her, she rolled to the right of it and kept coming. He frowned.
"Hmmm....well this isn't good," he said and disappeared leaving behind a
massive floating creme pie in his wake as tall as he was. Serena let out a yell
before she crashed into it.
"Well Amy, you win some you lose some I guess," Lita said standing out in front of Crossroads Junior High. Despite the chaos of the day before, things had pretty much returned to normal. Lita's injury had forced her to be on crutches for the next few days, but she coped with it.
"it was a brave thing you did Lita," Amy said.
"Any one of us would have done the same, but you know I was in trouble until those two guys showed up."
"Oh you mean Steve, and that other dark haired kid."
"Right, it's sort of humbling to have to rely on others, but that's what life's all about. Accomplishing with friends what you couldn't accomplish alone. The only problem is while Steve and Sailor Jupiter have hit it off, the same cannot be said about Steve and Lita."
"At least you know now that deep down he's a good person," Amy said.
The alarm went off. Serena picked herself up out of bed and without thinking began to wipe herself off. it took her a minute to realize she wasn't covered with whipped cream.
"Uhh....I hate dreams like that," she said.
"Don't you also hate being late?" Luna asked her.
"Yeah, but I've got...plenty....of...time," she said looking at the clock and realizing she was already an hour late.
"Not again!" She screeched and hurriedly began to dress herself.
When class began, Serena once again wasn't there. With Miss Haruna still recovering from what had happened a sub was at the front of the room unaware of the history of Serena's absence. The sub read of the role call and each of the students responded that is until the teacher reached Serena's name.
"Serena Tsukino," the sub said. No answer.
"Serena? Does anyone know if she's sick?" the sub asked.
"If there's anything she's sick of, it's school," Melvin squeaked.
"That isn't a good attitude, is she some sort of delinquent?" The teacher asked. The whole room began to chuckle. The door swung open and Serena stumbled in huffing and puffing.
"Ahh...are you Serena?" the substitute asked.
"I uh...yeah," Serena said and collapsed to the floor from exhaustion from her dash to school.
"Hmm...strange girl," The sub muttered.
"Sorry for the delay," Oksua said walking into room 7 which D.V. Patterson and the school psychologist were occupying.
"That's all right, it's not like I've got anything better to do," Patterson said snidely.
"That sounds like the old Patterson to me," Oksua said.
"No it doesn't sir. Patterson's just a bit bitter that's all," The psychologist said.
"Well that's understandable. The aftermath of our little incident here has been overwhelming. I've been awfully busy, but now we can get on with this."
"Finally," Patterson said.
Raye had tried not to stare at Rick as she sat in class but she couldn't hold off the urge and found herself studying him instead of the blackboard.
He looks like a rebel. There's no doubt in my mind he's the perfect match for me. Now if he'd only notice that.
At that moment Rick's pencil slipped out of his hand, bumped onto the table and landed on the ground near her desk.
"I'll get it," she said.
"No, don't bother," Rick replied.
They both reached to grab it, but Raye was there first. Unfortunately for Rick he came down on her head and she smashed into him as she came back up.
"Ouch!" Rick yelled.
"Fujimori! Detention!" The teacher yelled without even turning to look.
"Thanks a lot," Rick snapped to Raye.
Jerk. Doesn't even realize what an act of kindness is. Raye thought to
herself.
Despite his weirdness, Mina couldn't avoid getting into conversations with Mike. She had been pleased when he sat down next to her since her teacher had no interest in assigning seats. Occasionally throughout class, he would rattle off some witty comment about the teacher, and she would giggle. She didn't mind the risk of detention she was taking, because it added color to the school day. Besides with their teacher, it wasn't really a problem.
"You know the problem with you kids these days is that you can't keep your mind on anything for longer than a minute at most," her teacher said.
That's not true Mina thought, before she noticed Mike's blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. That's an interesting cut. She thought. He turned towards her.
"He's got a point there, I can't think of anything for longer than two minutes max," Mike said.
"Me neither," Mina said willing to agree with anything Mike said.
"Like take those two for instance," Their teacher was saying pointing at Mike and Mina still looking at each other.
"Does anyone think they're actually paying attention?" The teacher asked.
"No," The class replied.
"it looks like they're more interested in each other then me doesn't it?" The teacher continued as Mina and Mike became increasingly more embarrassed.
"Furthermore that's surprising because I didn't think Mina had a social life," The teacher said. The class began ooing. Mike began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Mina snapped.
"it's a good line," Mike said.
"I'm glad you liked it Mike, but you're still not the man," the teacher said. The class ooed again.
"So you two an item or what?" The teacher continued. The rest of the class began to giggle.
I'll get him for this, Mina growled.
Meanwhile Serena was sitting half asleep in math class. The teacher rattled along showing various equations and diagrams. Serena couldn't make any sense of it, and her mind drifted.
I wonder when Darrien will be back. Why hasn't he called? He said he'd call every night. Maybe this friend of his is more than he says. If Darrien's cheating on me I'll kill him and he would do it too the jerk! When I first met him he was capable of anything. "Serena!" The teacher barked.
"Wha....?" Serena said in surprise.
"I asked you a question."
"I don't know the answer."
"Hmm..well you'd better because we're going to have a test tomorrow."
"Test?" Serena screeched.
"Yes you banshee, a test. I suggest you actually study for this one," The teacher said.
What am I going to do? Serena thought. I can't just keep failing these
things, but I've got other things on my mind.
Later that day, Amy was sitting in the back of the room in her life sciences class listening intently to the lecture about cell structure. Melvin was sitting to her right doing the same. The rest of the class looked half asleep with boredom. The teacher turned away from the board and faced them.
"Now. Who can answer this question from the reading you were supposed to do last night. What is present in the plant cell that is not in the animal cell?" he asked. Amy and Melvin raised their hands.
"How about someone besides Amy or Melvin?" he asked. "Come on, didn't any of you read?"
"Chloroplasts," came a male voice from the back of the room The doorway in fact. The class all turned around in their seats to see who had spoken. A slight grin formed on the teacher's face.
"That is correct, Mr. Patterson. You're a bit late," The teacher said.
"Sorry," Patterson replied.
"Well class, I looks like we now have another student who isn't brain dead. This is D.V. Patterson." the teacher said. "What should it call you? D.V.? Or some other name?"
"Patterson," Patterson said.
"There's an open seat over there next to Amy," the teacher said beckoning to it. Patterson paused for a minute in nervousness.
"Umm..right," he said nervously and slowly walked to it and sat down. He saw that Melvin was looking at him with a touch of fear in his eyes.
That's the kid Melvin said was crazy. Amy was thinking simultaneously. I guess he's not.
"Hello," Amy said politely.
"Uh....hi," Patterson stammered.
Hmm...shy. She thought. Sort of like Greg.
Psychos look like normal people. By the time you realize they're crazy it's
too late. Melvin was thinking.
At lunch that day Amy had helped Lita with her crutches and the two arrived at their lunch table later than usual. They found Serena, Mina, and Raye all sitting at their table with scowls on their faces.
"Well look at all the happy people," Lita said.
"There is nothing to be happy about," Raye snapped.
"Yeah," Serena moaned and rested her chin in her hands.
"This has not been a good day," Mina said.
"What's everyone so upset about?" Amy asked.
"I messed up again today. I got Rick into detention inadvertently and now he hates me," Raye said.
"Hmm...that is a problem isn't it?" Lita asked.
"He probably doesn't hate you Raye, you've just gotten off on the wrong foot like Lita did," Amy said.
"Thanks for mentioning that Amy," Lita growled.
"That's nothing compared to what I've got. My teacher told me I have a math test tomorrow. If it fail another one my parents will kill me," Serena said.
"Well you have to study for it then," Amy said.
"I don't know how," Serena said.
"I'll teach you," Amy said.
"Would you?" Serena asked.
"As long as you don't try to avoid the work," Amy said.
"I promise," Serena said.
"I'll help keep an eye on her. it's not like I have anything else to do," Mina moaned.
"What's your problem?" Raye asked unsympathetically.
"My teacher embarrassed me in front of the class and Mike laughed at me," Mina said.
"Was it an evil laugh or one that friends share?" Lita asked.
"I was kind of friendly, but I wished he hadn't done it," Mina said. "My teacher singled me out and said I had no social life."
"But you don't have one," Raye said.
"I do to!" Mina shouted. "And you don't have anything more than I do."
"I've got plenty," Raye said.
"Stop fighting you two. I'm sure the teacher didn't mean anything by it," Lita said.
"I hope not," Mina said.
My friends have as many problems as I have right now. Serena thought. What
does that mean? I mean I'm supposed to be the one that's always in trouble, but
now it's them. I mean sure...I'm failing every class and my boyfriend doesn't
call me, so I'm up to my old tricks, but them?
Later that day in the afternoon, Raye had nodded off to sleep as she rested at home.
Raye began to dream. She was standing somewhere. A quick look around showed her it was outside her house.
"Do you have something to say to me?" Someone asked. She turned to see Rick standing there.
"Listen Rick. I'm sorry," Raye said to the dream version of Rick caught up in the reality of the dream.
"it's too late for that," Rick said.
"What?" Raye asked in surprise.
"You lost your chance," Rick said. His eyes narrowed and in an instant his clothing changed into an ancient samurai suit of armor. At his side was a sword which he quickly drew.
"it's time for battle," He said. "Prepare yourself."
I need a weapon or something Raye thought and in a moment something appeared in her hand. A banana.
"A banana! I can't fight with this!" She shouted.
"No! You can't!" Rick said and leaped at her. She screamed and jumped out of the way as Rick swung his sword down on the stone ground. She stood several feet away and prepared herself for his next move.
I need a better weapon. She thought. The banana disappeared and was replaced by a wooden sword.
"it's better than nothing," She muttered. Rick charged at her and leapt into the air swinging down with the blade. She brought up her wooden sword to block it and the blow bounced off. Rick stepped back to plan his next move. Raye held her sword out waiting.
"I'm ready for you," She said. The wooden sword disintegrated into a pile of dust in front of her. Her eyes widened in fear as Rick saw his opening and leapt towards her. She ducked and rolled away. Rick flew by her and onto the steps behind rolling down about fifty of them before recovering and standing back up. Raye stood at the top and looked down at him confident that she might have slowed him. Her confidence was short lived as Rick jumped the entire height of the steps and kicked out connecting with Raye's chest and knocking the girl backwards. She stumbled and hit the ground hard. Rick held out his sword and advanced.
"Hah hah, you wouldn't believe how many times I've fallen down the stairs," he said. "But now.. it's over for you," he said. Raye struggled to get up, but fell off balance and tripped hitting the ground again. She kept trying to stand, only to fall again. She began to panic.
"No, no it's not over," she said.
"Yes it is," Rick said menacingly. "it's over."
"it's not!" Raye shouted before realizing she was awake again and Chad, the hired hand, was looking at her.
"You okay?" Chad asked.
"Uh....yeah..." Raye said so overcome by relief that she didn't even care that Chad had intruded. "What are you doing in here."
"I heard you crying out. Thought you might be in trouble," Chad said.
"Oh...uh..thanks," Raye said. Dreams can be annoying.
Serena meanwhile had been trying her best to get rid of all the thoughts that her own dreams had left lingering as well as get rid of all her worries about school and Darrien. She was sitting in her favorite restaurant sipping on a milkshake staring at the empty booth across from her. With Amy at her computer class there was no studying to be done until later that night so she had some time to kill. Lita was immobile with her leg hurt and Serena didn't even want to bother Mina and Raye who were obviously in bad moods so she was alone.
"Hmm...what do we have here?" a voice said. She turned to see one of the waiters, an incredibly handsome young guy with jet black hair.
"Can I get you anything else?" the guy asked.
"No..." Serena said. "I'm fine."
"You don't look too good."
"I'm just having some problems that's all."
"Well...sometimes it helps to talk about them. My names Godfrey, but my friends call me God."
"Your friends call you God?" Serena asked.
"Sure..pretty cool nickname huh? So tell me..what could make a girl like you so depressed."
"Well for one thing...I stink at school."
"Maybe you should try showering."
"I didn't mean it that way!" Serena shouted.
"Sorry..just a little joke. Don't do your homework huh?"
"No.."
"I blame society."
"Hey..that's not a bad excuse."
"Yeah...I was like you. Never did my homework, got bad grades, flunked out of school..."
"And you're a waiter..what's the inspiration there."
"Um....there isn't any I was just trying to relate. But come on, school never depressed anyone that much. At least except for that blue haired girl that was in here once. Had an eighty nine on a paper, boy she was a wreck."
"Oh....heh..what a nut," Serena said laughing a bit. Amy got an eighty nine. How embarrassing? She thought.
"But..let me guess...you've got guy troubles?"
"How'd you know?"
"I've had the same problem...ahem....I mean...the other way...you know...not..that way...not that's a problem if I was..but I'm not..so it's not an issue...ahem...."
"My boyfriend went away and he hasn't called me in a two days," Serena said.
"Uh oh..."
"What do you mean? Is that a sign that my relationship is in trouble?"
"No...I meant uh oh, my boss is looking at me like he's going to fire me again...I gotta get back to work, nice talking to you," Godfrey said and got up.
"Yep..he's going places in the world," Serena muttered.
With her leg in it's condition, there wasn't much Lita could do with herself. it did give her the opportunity to think. As she lay in bed with her leg propped up, she remembered the past, and the time now seemingly in the distant past. it had been over two years ago when she had fallen in love with Matthew. The minute she had set eyes on him, she knew he should be hers. In fact, every girl in her junior high thought the same thing, but she went after him, and she got him. The two had been going for three months and things were going well, but then everything was shattered by a rainy day.
Lita and Matthew had taken shelter from a sudden downpour under a gazebo. While she watched the rain fall and saw the beauty in it, Matthew was having other thoughts.
"Isn't this nice, even though it's wet?" Lita asked.
"Uh..Lita. I was going to tell you this sooner, but I don't think we should keep seeing each other," Matthew had said. She had been so stunned by these words that she had felt sure that she had dreamed them up herself, and she didn't respond.
"Did you hear me?" He asked. The realization hit her and she whirled around to face him.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I mean that it's over," he said. "You're a nice girl, but I've found someone else."
it was such a heartbreaking experience then that Lita now, two years later couldn't help, but shed a tear. Matthew had walked off into the rain. She had followed for a few feet, but then realized the futility of such a move. She stood there watching him go, the tears swelling inside her eyes as the rain soaked her. Something had interceded then, an umbrella had been placed over her and protected her. Holding it was a boy her age. A boy she knew.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"No, Ken, I'm not," she said.
"Here take this," Ken said and handed her the umbrella. She took it.
"Thank you," She said.
"Your welcome."
Lita immediately began to feel better. The two had been friends for years and they still were Lita never considered Ken as a boyfriend, and he wasn't. She treated him just as she would treat any other good friend, and they got along fine. it suited Ken fine, since he didn't like complex relationships. Lately the two hadn't seen each other. Ken was a hard worker and his school work didn't leave him much time to see her. Still she tried.
it was with all this thought that Lita realized that she was truly in love
again, or at least truly deluded. Either way, she knew she had to act, but first
she needed to call Ken.
Coardite with severe trepidation walked into the chamber that housed his minions. Ever since they had arrived he had learned that he had not been given troops of very good quality. His superiors back on the nega moon were becoming sick and tired of operations around the Earth and had become to lose interest in an invasion, so he had been given a rag tag group of misfits with little discipline whose only interest in the mission was promotion for themselves. The negaverse's waning interest in the mission was also why Coardite was sent to Tokyo to collect energy and not the other parts of the world where the Sailor Scouts might not find him. The negaverse's power base was here and to establish a new one would take so much energy that the nega moon did not care to invest, so Coardite was stuck. As he walked in his troops were all engaged in some sort of team sport. The object was to get to the other side of the room carrying a skull of some kind, and the way to that was to incapacitate your opponents with your various attacks. So he watched as the two sides charged at each other shooting energy out of all parts of their bodies and fighting hand to hand with their limbs, tails, mouths, wings, claws, and whatever to succeed.
"Hey!" Coardite shouted. The game abruptly stopped.
"What?" the group replied annoyedly.
"I need one of you for a mission." Another casualty of the energy crisis was that Coardite didn't have the energy to send more than one negacreature into the Earth's dimension before having to recharge.
"What is the plan this time?" the group asked in unison.
Coardite outlined it for them. The minions paused a minute before beginning to laugh.
"What?"
"it's so stupid!" They all replied.
"Well...too bad...now does one of you want the job or not?"
Serena walked down the street towards Amy's computer class. Mina was also going to meet them there. Serena hoped that her friend was feeling better. When she arrived she found Mina waiting outside the door leaning against a lamp post.
"Hey," Mina said without any feeling.
"Hey," Serena said equally without feeling and stood there.
"Love is so....annoying."
"Yeah...why do we even bother?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I. I mean I thought I was doing the right things, but look at what happens. How many people can say they're boyfriend once turned evil and attacked them, then lost his memory, then got I back only to not want to see me..and then...when it's all done. He goes off to see a long lost friend he thought was dead!" Serena said. "How insane is that?"
"Hmm....somehow, when I hear about how bad it is for you, I feel better," Mina said.
"You what?" Serena muttered.
"Well it's just that compared to you I realize it's not so bad. I mean...I may still have a chance with Mike yet. But even if I did, he's so weird. I'm a romantic, he's not. Am I that desperate to take any guy who comes along?"
"I don't know, but I can tell you that for being a romantic you're awfully annoying!" Serena shouted.
"Oh...um..I guess maybe I said things the wrong way," Mina said with a nervous smile and laugh.
"I've already had a bad conversation with God today, I don't need anything from you," Serena said.
"Uh huh...maybe this isn't the best of times," Mina said. The door opened and Amy walked out.
"Hi guys should we get going?" She asked.
"Uh....we'd better," Mina said.
"Yeah...before Mina says anything else," Serena said.
Amy just glanced at her two friends who were simultaneously glaring at each other and shook her head.
I like to think I understand my friends, but there are always times like
these....
Minutes later they had arrived at Serena's house.
"What chapter are you on in your math class?" Amy asked.
"Um...one of the ones in the front I think," Serena said.
"You don't know what chapter you're in?" Mina asked in surprise.
"Um....no," Serena said.
"Do you have any idea what you're supposed to be studying?" Amy asked.
"Umm...that's the problem isn't it?" Serena asked.
"She's hopeless," Mina said.
"No one's hopeless," Amy said.
"Can I have something to eat?" Serena asked.
"There is such a thing as hard cases though," Amy muttered.
At a convenience store on a street corner a block from Serena's house a strange event was occurring.
"Whady'a want?" The owner asked standing behind his counter.
"Um.....a breakfast burrito, a couple packs of gum, and um...uh...a ummm..uh..um..." the customer said.
"A what?" The owner asked.
"This," The customer said and pulled out something from his pockets. it was a small round black object.
"What's that?" the owner asked.
"Have a closer look," The customer said.
"No...I've fallen for stuff like that before. I am a convenience store owner you know."
"Ahh...I see.. Well then..." the customer said and blasted the owner with a beam from his eyes. The owner fell to the ground drained of energy.
"That was fun," the customer said as he morphed into his true self a large green skinned lizard creature.
"I wonder what this gum stuff is?" he asked as he jumped behind the counter.
"If X is two and Y is three then what is X plus Y?" Amy asked.
"XY?" Serena answered.
"No, that would be X times Y," Amy said.
"Why?" Serena asked.
"No X times Y," Mina said.
"I know that!" Serena yelled.
"Heh heh, sorry," Mina said. You know toying wIh Serena's emotions could get to be a very evil habit. I've got to control myself. Still...I can see why Raye likes doing it so much.
"Serena think about it. X is equal to two and Y is equal to three. So if X is added to Y what would the answer be?" Amy asked slowly.
"X is equal to two. Y is equal to three....." Serena repeated and began to think.
"She may get it," Mina said.
"I think I've got it. The answers W!" Serena shouted.
"W?" The other two asked.
"Sure, take a look at this. X is equal to two. Y is equal to three. Now look at the letters that make it up two and three. W is in two and it comes after X and Y," Serena said.
"Serena...did you're parents ever you know....drink from a brown bottle before you were born?" Mina asked. Amy shot her a glance. it's like having Raye in the room. She thought.
"Sorry, I think I've been around Mike too long," Mina said.
"Two days is too long?" Serena asked.
"For him it is," Mina said.
"Serena. The answer is five," Amy said.
"Oh..five...two plus three. X plus Y. They could have just said so," Serena said. The other two girls just moaned.
"Why don't we do some examples?" Amy said.
"Okay," Serena said and pulled out her pencil.
"Serena. There's no point to that pencil," Mina noticed.
"Oh...whoops, guess I chewed on it during class and well it's blunt now," Serena said.
"I don't even think you'll be able to sharpen that. We need another one," Amy said. Serena looked through her drawers, but failed to find one.
"Oh no! I don't have any. I'm doomed!" She yelled and then grinned slightly. "Guess I can't do any more work huh?"
"No. I'll just go down to that store a block over and get you some more," Mina said.
"Gee..thanks Mina...you're a real friend," Serena muttered.
Mina grinned and walked out.
"Come on Serena. You have to want to succeed or you'll never make it," Amy said.
"Easy for you to say," Serena said. "You're the best there is Amy. The rest of us are just dumb compared to you and I'm the stupidest."
"Serena. You're not stupid. Maybe ditzy, clumsily, and a big eater, but...." Amy trailed off.
"Wonderful pep talk..." Serena muttered.
"I'm not done. Doing well in school takes work. You don't even try. If you put in just an hour a night your grades would go up. I don't know how far, but it would be a start."
"Yeah I bet. This stuff never makes any sense," Serena muttered.
"Then you really are hopeless," Amy said. Serena looked at her friend in surprise. She hadn't expected Amy to give up.
"What do you mean Amy?" she said.
"I mean it give up. If you're not going to show any interest in learning, I have better things to do then babysit you," Amy said stoically.
"You can't mean it," Serena said.
"I do."
Serena looked at her.
"I'm not hopeless," Serena said.
"You are."
"I'm not. I'll prove it!" Serena said and picked up her math book.
"X equals 10. Y equals 9. Y times X equals 90," Serena said. Amy began to perk up.
"X equals 14. Y equals 7. X divided by Y equals 2," Serena said.
"X equals 2. Y equals 4. X times Y divided by X plus Y equals 8," She said rapidly.
"Serena, you're doing it. See?" Amy said.
"I told you," Serena said.
"Try this one," Amy said showing a problem to Serena.
X=2 Y=4
X+Y(X-(XY)+Y)/2
Serena looked through it for fifteen seconds and then proudly announced.
"Forty," she said.
"Amazing. You've got this down for sure," Amy said.
"I guess you giving up motivated me," Serena said.
"I hadn't given up," Amy said.
"You what?"
"I just thought maybe if I made you feel guilty you'd study, and you did."
"You sneaky....you tricked me!"
"Less talk, more work," Amy said. I just hope Mina gets back with those pencils soon so we can finish. She thought.
There's a whole other side to Amy I never knew about and it scares me. My
friends are beginning to worry me. Serena replied.
"Anyone here?" Mina called. The convenience store had been strangely deserted. There was no one behind the counter when she walked in. Considering the type of store is was and the stereotypical history of violence expected there she thought there would be someone standing there.
"This is strange," She said to herself.
"Ahh..a customer," the creature said looking at the security cameras in the back room of the store. He assumed the form of the original shop owner and walked out.
"Hello," he said.
"Uh...hi," Mina said a bit surprised at the man's arrival.
"Can I get you something?"
"I'm looking for the pencils?"
"Oh...well there right over here," he said pointing at a rack with several pencils on it. Mina picked a few up and walked to the counter.
"Let me show you something cool," The owner-creature said and pulled out the black object. Mina stared at it.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Take a good look," he said.
Mina looked at the dark object and began to feel weak. She sensed danger and pulled back just as she felt her control slipping.
"So you avoided my hypnotic weapon, but you won't avoid me!" The owner-creature said and jumped over the counter morphing into his true self at the same time. Mina let out a small scream.
"I guess it'll have to get you the hard way too," The creature hissed. The beams shot from his eyes. Mina dived to her right, stuck her hands into the floor and bounced up propelling herself with a flip behind a shelf. She pulled out her communicator quickly. it took a second for Amy and Serena to respond.
"What is it Mina?" Amy asked.
"Monster at the convenience store it's.." she tried to say before she saw the creature shooting it's beams at her. She leapt up and dodged out of the way.
"You're awfully stubborn for a weak human," the creature said.
"I've had enough of this!" Mina yelled and pulled out her power stick.
"Venus star power!" She yelled and instantly she felt her transformation occur.
"Woah...it's Sailor Venus. That would explain a lot," The creature yelled shooting another eye beam. Venus dived out of the way.
"Venus love chain encircle!" She yelled. The energy weapon flew out from her hands and hit the creature in the head. it staggered backwards and paused to catch it's breath.
"Not bad," it said and rapidly flung a nearby bag of dog food at the heroine. Venus rolled out of the way and the bag slammed into the wall behind her causing the kibble to splatter all over the place. Venus felt a wet drop on her arm and she looked in surprise to see a brown spot of dog foot sitting there.
"Ugh!" She said.
"Hah!" The creature yelled and leaped at her. She was caught entirely by surprise and barely managed to duck out of the way of the fiend's arm.
"Awfully lucky aren't ya?" it asked and grabbed her flinging her into a shelf causing bags of peanuts to fall off and landed on top of her followed by a rain of oats from a couple of broken bags on top.
"Hah.....this is pathetic," the creature said and moved in for the kill.
A blast of energy flew through the air and slammed into the right side of the creature. it whirled around for the source and found a figure dressed in black standing in the doorway with his energy sword drawn.
"Well....it seems we have a visitor. Maverick isn't it?" The creature asked.
"Yes," Maverick said. "You and me, right now," Maverick replied.
"Any time!" The creature yelled and shot his eye beams at the mysterious one. Maverick slid to one side and the blasts flew by him. He unleashed an energy sword attack that missed the creature and hit the cash register causing it to explode and money to be blown into the air.
"That's the first time a cash registers been forcibly opened that way I bet," Venus said catching her breath. The creature let out a howl and unleashed another energy attack, following it up immediately by a leap at the dark warrior. Maverick ducked the energy and stuck out his sword slamming it into the creature's arm. The creature quickly swung his other arm around and knocked Maverick towards the recovering form of Sailor Venus. Venus let out a shrill cry before the two collided and crashed backward into a pyramid of canned pork chunks. The creature smiled as the two hurried to extricate themselves.
"Hmm...you'll never win," he said.
"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!" Came a cry from nearby. A powerful wave of energy hit the creature on it's left side and plowed it into the counter as a mist fell over the store. As it cleared the creature was once again standing, but in the doorway now stood Venus as well as Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. Maverick was nowhere in sight.
"Three of you, how nice," he said.
"I've heard of convenience store violence, but this is crazy," Sailor Moon said.
"Ahem..." the other two scouts said.
"I was getting to that," Sailor Moon replied. "I am Sailor Moon champion of justice. I will right wrongs and triumph over evil and on behalf of the moon I will punish you!"
"Do you practice that at home!" The creature yelled and leapt forward. The scouts scattered. Sailor Moon and Venus dove to the left. Mercury to the right. The creature stopped short of his target and whirled to face the blue haired Mercury.
"Venus Love Chain encircle!" Venus yelled quickly. Her attack flew at the creature who at the last moment ducked. The attack flew at Mercury. She dropped to the ground almost instinctively and the attack hit a counter covered with pretzels causing the pieces to be destroyed and to fall over the heroine.
"Heh heh, I've got eyes in the back of my head," The creature said, and for
the first time Venus realized that two round red dots on the creatures neck were
probably what it meant.
"Dang it! We've got to hit it from the side," Venus yelled. Mercury crawled backwards along the ground hoping to get the opportunity to stand up. The creature advanced quickly.
"What now?" Sailor Moon asked.
"I've gotta think of something. I can easily dodge my attack " Venus said. Mercury in her position couldn't execute her attack without giving the creature time to strike. Mercury continued to retreat waiting for the creature to make a move, not noticing the small black disk lying on the floor a few feet away. The creature saw it and he pressed his advance.
"This is so much fun..." he said. Mercury continued to back up.
"I've got it," Venus yelled.
"What!" Sailor Moon said. Venus turned and whispered something in her friends ear.
"Why not?" Sailor Moon muttered. The two ran at the creature.
"What are you doing?" The creature asked and whirled around. The two dived and pushed forward into it hitting each leg with speed. The creature's knees buckled and it began to wobble. The two scouts rolled out of the way as it fell to the ground.
"Got em!" Venus yelled. Mercury screamed. A hand had reached out from the void disk and grabbed onto her arm. She pulled hard against it.
"Mercury!" Sailor Moon yelled in fear.
"Try and help her. I'll try and stop this guy!" Venus yelled again. The creature staggered up grasping the arm that had been injured at the hands of Maverick.
"No more fun and games I said. Sailor Moon hurried to Mercury and began to pull on her friend to keep her out of the void.
"Venus love chain encircle!" Venus yelled again. The attack was aimed right at the creature's injured arm. it hit and the creature screamed. it fell to one knee.
He's getting weak. Venus said. The creature suddenly swung around it's healthy arm. She was knocked backwards into Sailor Moon and Mercury. Mercury hit the ground while Sailor Moon stumbled into a wall and hit. Mercury yelled as the void creature pulled her closer to it. Venus grabbed onto Mercury and pulled with what little strength she had left. The creature advanced on both of them nursing it's arm. The two were so occupied with Mercury's plight they didn't see it shoot it's eye beams at them. They both felt their energy drain away. The void creature took it's advantage and pulled dragging Mercury and Venus still clasped onto her into the black hole. The creature smiled and turned towards the wall Sailor Moon hit. The heroine's limp form wasn't there.
"Moon Scepter Elimination!" he heard. A white light surrounded him and he screamed.
"No! Not this way!"
it was over in a few seconds. Sailor Moon searched for the void her friends had been sucked into. She heard a scream and the black disk began to evaporate.
"What's happening?" She said fearing she might never see her companions
again. The disk disappeared, but it's in place all the victims of the negaverse
appeared on the floor. Venus and Mercury both appeared as well as the store
owner and the customer the negaverse creature had taken over. The three sailor
scouts quickly hurried out before drawing any attention to themselves.
"That was a tough fight," Serena said.
"Too tough if you ask me," Mina said.
"I'm so tired, Serena, do you mind if I go home now?" Amy asked.
"Yeah..me too," Mina said yawning.
"You guys better get some sleep. I'll try and finish my studying," Serena said.
"Are you sure?" Mina asked.
"Sure," Serena said.
The three friends parted and headed their separate ways. Mina and Amy both got to their houses relatively quickly, but by the time the two had gone to bed themselves, Serena was already fast asleep.