Chapter 82

"No one's around," Serena muttered. Recalling what her friends had said earlier in the day.

"I have to work on the temple. You could come along and help if you wanted to make yourself worthwhile," Raye said.

"Gymnastics practice. We've got another meet coming up," Mina said.

"I have to visit my friend Ken, haven't seen him in awhile," Lita said.

"I'm heading home to study, why don't you come along Serena?" Amy asked.

"No thanks," Serena had replied to both Raye's and Amy's suggestions.

All her girl friends were busy. Darrien was in class...and the guys..

"Well...never mind," Serena said just imagining what mischief they could be up to.

So what do I do with my time? she thought.

As she walked by a part of the park she heard the sound of a violin, it was being played quite expertly and Serena found herself drawn to the sound. She walked into the park and towards the melody. She could see there was a figure standing on the stone orchestra shell. She also noticed another figure sitting in one of the stone benches that sat in front of the stage. As Serena got closer she recognized the figure on the stage.

That's Michiru. She thought and soon realized that the other new student in her class, Haruka was the one sitting on the bench. Michiru kept playing as Serena approached. Her eyes were closed and she didn't look like she was giving playing a thought. Serena held back out of the view of Haruka, not wanting to intrude. The piece went on for another minute and then ended. Michiru brought the violin away from her neck and opened her eyes. Serena couldn't help but start clapping and grinning happily. Michiru showed no shock at her impromptu ovation and merely grinned slightly and nodded.

"So you liked what you heard?" Haruka asked not moving from her seat.

"Uh..yes..I did..you're really good Michiru," Serena said.

Michiru smiled.

"I'm glad that you think so," Michiru said. "You're from our class aren't you? Serena is it?"

"Uh..yeah..it's kinda hard not to know my name when Miss H is yelling it every minute or so," Serena said. Haruka and Michiru grinned politely. They act so much like adults. Serena thought. So mature.

"So are you interested in music Serena?" Haruka asked.

"Oh..uh..not really...I mean I like to listen to it..but..to tell you the truth I don't have many interests," Serena said. "Still...you played very well."

"It's taken hard work to get this far," Michiru said.

"It always does, doesn't it?" Serena muttered almost bitterly.

"Are you all right dumpling hair?" Haruka asked.

"What?" Serena said.

"You're hairstyle..it reminds me of dumplings," Haruka said.

"Uh...oh..heh...I guess it might," Serena said suppressing her urge to snap at the critical remark on her hair. "Uh..and I'm fine," she added.

"If you liked my kind of music, you might want to attend the performance tonight," Michiru said.

"Performance?" Serena asked.

"Yes, there is a violin recital involving some of the best violinists in the country, as well as an up and coming violinist about your age," Michiru said.

"Really? Don't you play in the recitals Michiru?" Serena asked.

"No, I prefer to keep out of the spotlight," Michiru said.

"That isn't to say she couldn't perform," Haruka said.

"Haruka you're too kind," Michiru said.

"She's right though," Serena said.

"Yes..perhaps," Michiru said.

"Say dumpling hair, would you like to get a drink with us?" Haruka asked.

"That is if you aren't too busy with your schoolwork," Michiru said.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Serena said and grinned.

"I'm just curious..." Rick began.

"Yes?" Steve asked.

"WHY ARE YOU BUILDING ANOTHER STUPID ROCKET!" Rick shouted.

"Oh..that," Steve said wiping the excess glue off the side of his latest creation.

"Couldn't you find a better way to spend your money then on these things?" Rick asked.

"Well..maybe..but someday, my rocket will fly and then...I'll laugh," Steve said.

"Until then, it'll be everyone else doing the laughing," Rick said.

"Greetings," Mike said walking up. He had a red beret on.

"Where'd you get that thing?" Rick asked.

"Oh the beret. Some paramilitary group was hiring..it's a part time job though," Mike replied casually. Rick and Steve each glanced at each other.

"Hah...had you going," Mike said. "It's really just a group of wannabes..think they're all tough because they've got nerve gas."

Rick and Steve looked at Mike with dangerously narrow eyes.

"I think I'll pay a visit to the monastery..see if the monks have anything they want to talk about," Mike said and hurried off.

"Thank goodness. With him gone things can get back to normal," Steve said.

Rick sighed.

Haruka and Michiru had taken Serena to a restaurant she had been at before. It had several outdoor tables which the three were now occupying.

"So..you have lots of friends," Haruka said.

"Oh sure..plenty," Serena said. "You might say I'm quite popular."

"We've noticed you sitting at your lunch table. It is a very unique bunch of friends...from all different areas of life it seems," Michiru said.

"How would you know where they come from?" Serena asked.

"Call it intuition," Michiru said.

"Yes. We've noticed the way you act together, in class, and such.." Haruka said confidently.

"Didn't know we were that interesting," Serena said.

"Well...you are an intriguing group," Haruka said.

"Uh...yeah...intriguing....you're uh not the first to say that," Serena said. Haruka managed a small glance and grin at Michiru.

"But..my friends..we're just you're usual run of the mill students," Serena said.

"I should say not. The antics of those three boys.." Haruka said.

"Oh them..well they're abnormal," Serena said.

The three heard a whistling.

"That's an odd sound," Michiru noticed.

"Sounds like a rocket," Haruka said.

"It probably is," Serena muttered as she noticed Rick and Steve hurrying down the street.

"I think it went this way," Steve said.

"Yeah! Well it was underground for several minutes!" Rick shouted back.

And the two passed the three.

"Hey Serena!" they both yelled and kept going.

Serena sighed.

"Hmm..they can be trouble can't they?" Michiru asked politely.

"Well...we all have our quirks," Serena said, spilling her drink.

"Ahem..like that...I'm sort of a klutz..." she said before having another drink spilled on her, by a waitress who tripped passing by.

"An unlucky klutz at that," Serena said.

"Well...no one's perfect," Michiru said.

"You have a good heart," Haruka said.

Serena grinned slightly.

"So...where did you two come from...I mean..you transferred in and all," Serena said.

"Another part of the city, that's all," Michiru said.

Haruka nodded.

"So you went to school together and transferred together. Are you related?" Serena asked.

"No..we're just very good friends. We're both orphans and so moving together wasn't much of a problem," Haruka said solemnly.

"Orphans....a friend of mine is an orphan, so's someone else I know. It must be rough," Serena said.

"We manage," Haruka said. Serena could see the cheerful manner of the girl disappear as she said it.

"Sorry..I didn't want to bring up anything painful..I was just curious," Serena said.

"It's all right..it's only natural for you," Michiru said.

"Well...now that you're here, what do you think of our school and all?" Serena asked.

"It is sufficient," Haruka said bluntly.

"Sufficient?" Serena asked.

"What Haruka means is that the education we'll get will be enough for us to succeed in later parts of life," Michiru said.

"It seems like you don't like school though...I don't blame you," Serena said.

Haruka merely nodded.

"Well...we'd better be going Haruka. We have things to do," Michiru said.

"You're right. Nice talking to you Serena," Haruka said.

"See you later. Don't forget the performance we told you about. That is if you want to see it," Michiru said and the two girls paid the bill and walked off.

"They're so mature for their age," Serena said and sipped what was left of her drink. As she did she recognized the familiar face of Lizzie Tillman walking towards her. She was carrying a violin case.

"Hey Lizzie," Serena said.

"Oh..hey Serena..wish I could stay to chat, but I've got practice," Lizzie said.

"I didn't know you played the violin," Serena said.

"Oh, yeah..I like it a lot," Lizzie said. "In fact I'm performing tonight."

"That's great...hey..wait..is that at the concert with all those other violinists?" Serena asked.

"Well..yeah..I'm pretty good at it," Lizzie said.

"Wow...I'm going to see it," Serena said. "I had no idea it was you."

"Well...here's your surprise for the day I guess," Lizzie said.

"I've already had plenty of surprises," Serena said.

"If you so much as look at another rocket..." Rick began.

"Yeah, yeah," Steve muttered. The two were walking back to Steve's house. When they arrived they found Mike and Greg sitting in a pair of lawn chairs in the driveway.

"Well there's a sour look," Mike said seeing Steve's expression.

"Why are you two sitting there like that?" Rick asked.

"Well I found Greg...and after we both realized that you two would be probably be heading back to Steve's house at some point with ugly looks on your faces..well I convinced him to come along and see it himself," Mike said.

"It really wasn't worth it, I should go back and study with Amy," Greg said.

"Hey..that's right..study.." Mike said.

"Study...heh heh," Steve said.

"Swoosh," Rick said and the three guys all made gestures with their hands.

"What are you three doing?" Greg asked.

The three looked at each other and then back at him.

"We have no idea," They answered.

"There you are?" came Raye's voice. The group turned to see the five girls standing there.

"We didn't do it! The guy was dead when we found him!" Mike shouted. The other eight teens looked at him. Mike just casually grinned and gave them all a small thumbs up.

"So..what brings you girls over here?" Rick asked.

"We wanted to find you. You see you guys are going to take us on dates tonight," Raye said.

"That's right," Lita and Mina said definitively.

"Do we have to be so pushy about it?" Amy asked the group of he friends.

"Yes," the three replied.

"Care to explain yourselves or do we get to ask twenty questions?" Mike asked.

"Serena has discovered a violin recital and we got tickets to it. So you guys are going to take us," Lita said.

"Hey..isn't it interesting how we had no say in this decision?" Mike asked.

"I'd say so," Steve said.

"I concur," Rick said and the three began nodding.

"Knock it off!" Raye shouted.

"Now...you guys will have to be on your best behavior..and you'll kinda have to rent tuxedos,:" Mina said.

"You're assuming we don't have them already," Rick said slyly.

"Why would you?" Raye asked.

"Because we're slick,"Rick, Mike, and Steve said repeating the weird hand gesture they had given Greg minutes before.

The girls all sighed.

"I'd be glad to take you Amy," Greg said a few feet away.

"Didn't doubt it for a minute," Amy said and smiled.

"Could we get on with this, I still have to get Darrien," Serena whined.

Later that night the five couples arrived at the concert hall, and stood in a short line to get in. In front of them were various other couples.

"Wow..look at him," Lita said gaping at one of the handsome younger men escorting a woman towards the door.

"Ooo..." Mina and Raye said.

"So when we swoon over someone it's wrong..but when you do it it's right?" Rick said.

"Yeah, that's the idea," Raye said.

"Well as long as it's fair," Rick muttered.

"So let me ask you girls something. Are you only attracted to handsome guys who already have girlfriends..or am I just jumping to conclusions?" Mike asked them.

"You're just jumping to conclusions!" Raye, Mina, and Lita snapped.

"Actually, if we were to study this scientifically, there would be a high level of correlation between..." Amy began.

"Never mind," the three said.

"You know I would never forsake you don't you Darrien?" Serena asked him as she clutched his arm tightly.

"Of course Serena," Darrien said grinning.

"Hello Serena," said the man in front of her, which turned out to be Andrew, with Rita on his arm.

"Oh...hi Andrew," Serena said bubbly. Darrien sighed.

"Coming to see my sister play?" Andrew asked.

"Wouldn't miss you..ahem..it?" Serena said still bubbly.

"Oh.hey Darrien..how are things going?" Andrew asked.

"Well..that's hard to say," Darrien said frowning.

Andrew smiled.

"Well...maybe I'll see you inside then," Andrew said as he and Rita were lead in the door by an usher.

"Now what we're we talking about..oh yeah...Darrien you wouldn't leave me would you?"

"Of course not Serena," Darrien said. "Unless I had a real good reason," he added with a playful grin.

"What?" Serena said.

"I haven't been on that many group excursions. Is it always like this?" Greg whispered to Amy.

"Always is a very definitive word," Amy replied.

"75 percent of the time then?" Greg asked.

"Ninety," Amy replied.

Serena and Darrien were let in the door of the concert hall, and were soon followed by their friends. As they walked into the lobby, Serena noticed Haruka and Michiru standing by a painting. They had just turned away from it in time to notice her.

"Hello Dumpling hair," Haruka said.

"Dumpling hair?" the other nine people with Serena said.

"Dumpling hair! That's almost as good as meatball head!" Raye shouted and burst out laughing. Serena turned and scowled at her.

"Cut it out pyro. You know you could knit a sweater out of your hair and still have enough left for a matching scarf," Serena said.

"Well..that could come in handy in winter couldn't it?" Raye snapped.

The two stuck their tongues out at each other. Lita, Mina, and Amy, immediately tried to intercede.

"You must be Serena's date," Haruka said talking to Darrien.

"Uh...yeah.." Darrien said in a mixture of embarrassment and nervousness over the fact that he found both Haruka and Michiru highly attractive. "They call me Darrien.."

"Is that your name?" Michiru asked.

"Uh..yeah...makes sense doesn't it?" Darrien bubbled.

"Just what are you trying to do here Darrien?" Rick asked.

"Yeah...it doesn't really sound like you're having a conversation," Mike said.

"I remember you from our class," Haruka said. "The sombrero people."

"Hola," the three said.

"You three are awfully cute," Michiru said.

"Yes, very entertaining. Well I had hoped to talk to Serena..but I can see she's busy," Haruka said. Serena and Raye were in the midst of trying to come up with some kind of way to make a new face each second to each other. The other three girls were pleading with them to act their age.

"Guess we'll see you in class," Michiru said and grinned. The two girls walked off.

"Did you hear that...we're cute," Mike said dreamily.

"I heard it, and I expected to hear it," Rick said.

"You did not," Steve said.

"Sure I did...that's why I'm Rick the Slick," Rick said.

"That you're latest nickname?" Steve muttered.

"Guys...we're also very entertaining," Mike said dreamily.

"Also not surprising," Rick said.

"I doubt that," Steve said.

"Would you prefer they didn't say it?" Rick asked.

"I never said that," Steve said.

"And she grinned at us," Mike said.

"Yes, she did," The other two agreed.

"Who grinned at you?" Raye, Mina, and Lita said.

"Oh..there you girls are..." Mike said slightly nervously.

"Did I miss anything?" Amy asked Greg, who was standing off to the side trying to avoid the whole mess.

"I don't think so," Greg said.

"Where'd Haruka and Michiru go?" Serena asked.

"Uh...away..." Darrien said still recovering himself.

"You all right?" Serena asked.

"Never better," Darrien said.

"Uh..right..let's find out seats," Serena said.

The group moved into the large concert hall and sat down in the row of seats they had managed to get. It was towards the back because of the lateness of Serena's reservation of them.

An orchestra was up at the front warming up.

"So..uh..where do we get the foam number one hands?" Mike asked.

"You didn't bring one?" Steve asked pulling a hand out in front of him.

"Where'd you keep that?" Lita said in astonishment.

"It's collapsible," Steve said and put it back in the pocket of his tux.

"How do you think we snuck a hundred of them into church that one day," Mike replied.

"You did what?" Mina said.

"Well..they're not telling the whole truth," Rick said.

"You're right of course Rick. Change church to funeral," Mike said.

"What?" Mina said. A bunch of people shushed at her.

"Sorry about that..she just heard that Heyden's Messiah was going to be played tonight. She's a huge Heyden fan," Mike said.

"Oh..." most of the people said and nodded understandably.

"Who's Heyden?" Mina whispered.

"Tell you later," Mike said.

"Can you guys at least try to behave?" Raye muttered.

"Yeah..quiet down...you're spoiling the moment," Serena said hugging Darrien's arm.

"Yeah..orchestra warmups," Darrien said. "Romantic..."

"That's not the point," Serena snapped. "Jeez...you're near them for a few minutes and you're already acting like them."

"We have this effect on people," Steve said. "Sorry."

"Oh..there's Haruka and Michiru," Serena said pointing to a balcony seat lining the concert hall.

"They got good seats," Darrien said.

"They're really into this stuff," Serena said.

"I believe it's starting," Amy said. The orchestra had calmed down and a guy in a tux had walked out onto the stage.

"Good evening...and welcome to our Violin Orchestral Performance. Our first performer is Miss Elizabeth Tillman," the guy said.

"But she's not married," Serena whispered with concern to Darrien.

"You're right, she isn't," Darrien said resisting the urge to make another snide remark.

Everyone clapped as Lizzie Tillman walked onto the stage in a very formal dress with her violin.

She raised her instrument to her chin and the room went silent. She played a piece with some small orchestral accompaniment. When she finished everyone began clapping again. The clapping drowned out as a creature jumped onto the stage. It fired some sort of energy blast at Lizzie which knocked her to the ground. Then it let loose an attack of massive musical notes which flew at the orchestra. The entire crowd began to yell and hurried towards the exits. The creature started launching more large musical notes at the fleeing crowd, which included the scouts rushing out to find somewhere to safely to transform. As it turned out the energy attack the creature had used was a one shot deal that could only be used to knock one person, the intended victim out. With the crowd leaving the creature utilized the star on it's neck to begin drawing Lizzie's heart out.

"Hey! Stop that!" Andrew said racing towards the stage. The creature launched a note at Andrew and knocked him unconscious. Rita who on Andrew's order had fled had no idea what was going on with her boyfriend.

In the confusion of the fleeing crowd, the scouts found it hard to keep together. The girls had been separated from the boys.

When the Sailor Scouts emerged from the Ladies room where they had transformed they didn't see their allies anywhere.

"We can't wait," Sailor Moon said and dashed back into the concert hall. The other four scouts followed.

The creature noticed them and turned quickly and sent a wave of oversized musical notes flying at them. They all screamed and dived out of the way as fast as they could.

"Hah hah! I am the god of absurdly large musical notes!" the creature shouted.

A rose flew through the air and slammed into the stage. The creature looked up.

"Music is too beautiful to be used as a weapon," Tuxedo Mask said standing on a balcony.

"Sorry to hear it," The creature said and flung a note at him. Tuxedo Mask shot his staff at it, but that didn't stop the note from blasting him backwards into the hallway behind the balcony.

"Hah hah! I thought he was the tough one," the creature said.

"He is!" Sailor Moon shouted.

"Shut up!" the creature shouted and launched more musical notes at the Sailor Scouts who dived out of the way again.

Four roses landed into the stage in various places, and at different angles.

"What the?" the creature said and looked up at the balcony. Standing there was four guys in tuxedos, wearing top hats and masks.

"Da Da, Da Da!" The four shouted.

The five Sailor Scouts all hit each of their heads with their hands.

"I don't care who you four idiots are you will pay!" the creature said and shot several musical notes at them. The four leapt forward. They avoided the notes hit the floor and jumped at the daimon. The creature hit them dead on with a note and blasted them backwards.

"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!"

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"

"Jupiter Thunderclap Crash!"

"Mars Celestial Fireball Surround!"

Four attacks hit the creature before it could react and caused it to shout in pain and stagger backwards.

"Moon Spiral Hearts Attack!" Sailor Moon shouted and blasted the creature to pieces.

Tuxedo Mask jumped down from the balcony and turned to the four guardian scouts lying in various positions on the seats they had landed in.

"What are you looking at?" Neptune asked.

"We should get that heart back into Lizzie," Sailor Moon said and moved forward. To her shock Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus landed on the stage next to Lizzie.

"Stand back," Sailor Uranus said menacingly and moved towards the heart. Sailor Neptune stood facing them ready to attack if necessary.

"It's not a talisman," Uranus said with annoyance.

"Hey! What are you doing anyway!" Sailor Moon shouted.

"None of your business," Uranus said.

"Stay out of it, involving yourselves will do no good," Neptune said.

"We're already involved," Sailor Moon replied.

"Then you are making a mistake," Uranus said and dropped the heart back into Lizzie. The two then turned and walked to the back of the stage and then disappeared.

"I don't like the look of them one bit," Jupiter said.

"Yeah..they look like Sailor Scouts, but how can they be with that kind of attitude?" Venus asked.

"They have an agenda, that much is clear," Mercury said.

"But for good or evil?" Venus asked.

"Yeah, what happens when they find those talismans they're talking about?" Mars said.

Lizzie began to wake up. So did Andrew.

"I'd better go see her," Sailor Moon said. The group all turned back into humans. The girls walked up to Lizzie to see how she was doing, as did Andrew.

The four guys and Darrien stood around the four roses the guardian scouts had thrown. One was imbedded in the back of a chair. Another sat bent along the ground. The third was sticking into the ground, but at a ninety degree angle.

"How'd you pull that off?" Darrien asked.

"No idea," Mike said.

Only the fourth was sitting in the ground as it should look.

"Hey..who threw this one?" Darrien asked.

"I think that was Greg," Rick said.

"Greg huh? Good shot," Darrien said. "At least one of you can throw a rose right."

"Well..we don't practice much," Mike snapped.

"And if we did, that would probably be even worse," Steve said.

"I second that motion," Rick said and the three nodded.

Darrien just began laughing.

CHAPTER 66 CHAPTER 67 CHAPTER 68 CHAPTER 69 CHAPTER 70  CHAPTER 71 

CHAPTER 72 CHAPTER 73 CHAPTER 74 CHAPTER 75  CHAPTER 76 CHAPTER 77

 CHAPTER 78 CHAPTER 79 CHAPTER 80  CHAPTER 81  CHAPTER 82 CHAPTER 83

CHAPTER 84 CHAPTER 85  CHAPTER 86 CHAPTER 87 CHAPTER 88 CHAPTER 89

 CHAPTER 90 CHAPTER 91 CHAPTER 92 CHAPTER 93 CHAPTER 94 CHAPTER 95

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