Here I am again...and here are the rules...

1. SM. Not mine.

2. Felicissa, Erkyte, all mine.

3 Comments go to wrengrif at wrengrif@udel.edu

Special note: This chapter is dedicated to Kevin Wibble, who without a
major factor of the story would of been left out. Thanks Kevin, I owe you
one!!

Chapter 7
*********
Material 'Goods'
****************
Jubian Mall. Three white glistening stories filled with stores, food
shops, and SALES. For over two hours, Serena, Mina, Lita, Raye and Molly
hit every store they could think of in this massive structure, and they
were just getting started.  They were totally emersed in finding the
perfect Sale on shoes, clothes, games, toys, just about anything! So when
Darien, Felicissa, and Ami sneaked out of the fourth shoe store, the five
girls hardly noticed. The three escapees found a bench, sat and let
out a collective sigh of relief.

Ami pulled her legs up, took off her shoes, and rubbed her feet. "I
never ran through so many shops in my entire life..." she said ruefully.

Darien put his hands to his face, and groaned through his fingers,
"Those girls bring new meaning to the words, shop till you drop!"

Felicissa leaned her head againist the back of the bench. She turned
slightly, glaring at Darien. She said slowly, "The last two hours were
punishment for one too many shoulder throws, weren't they?"

Darien laughed, and smiled evilly. He said, "Might be. It's
very possible. More then an 90 percent chance..."

Felicissa growled deep in her throat. Darien merely smiled again. Ami
giggled, then she looked down the mall corridor. She sighed, "Oh
dear...they've found us." Sure enough, the five girls laden with bags,
were heading straight for them.

Felicissa and Darien groaned together, "Oh man...we must not have
crawled away fast enough!" They tried to get off the bench, and attempt
some type of escape, but it was too late. The five girls had already
descended upon them in a giggling, hyper hoarde.

Serena skipped up, kissed Darien on the cheek, and said happily, "There
you three are! Are you guys ready for more shopping?"

Darien, Felicissa, and Ami looked at each other, and mock collapsed on
the bench. The rest of the girls lifted their eyebrows slowly. "We beg
you...no more shoe stores...no more woman's clothing departments...no
more!" the trio pleaded in unison, slowly sitting upright.

The girls looked at each other, then at the three on the bench. They
snorted deversly. Raye said dryly, "I'll take it you three are a
_little_tired?"

Felicissa raised an eyebrow, and said, "A _little_ tired? THAT is the
world's biggest understatement! We are shopped out!"

Ami added, "Do you realise that in the past two hours since we came in
here, we've hit 30 shops? That's 15 shops per hour! That's 7.5 shops
every thirty minutes! That's--"

Lita cut her off, "We get the drift, Ami!" She grinned and rolled her
eyes at her intelligent, if slightly overwraught, friend.

Darien said, "The _point_ is, can we take a breather? We can't shop at
the pace you guys set. We just aren't as _dedicated_ as you are to the
cause of a good sale."

Serena looked at the others. All of them had their hands full of bags. She
said thoughtfully,  "You know Muffin, I think you're right. We need a
break...", to which all three of the benchers sighed with relief, "..So
let's go hit the food court! I'm starving!!" At this, everyone groaned.
Serena grinned, and added, "Oh come on, like you guys didn't expect it!"

Mina said, "Now _Serena_ has a point. When food is involved...we should
of known Serena would show interest!"

"Why you little--!" Serena yelled, and began to chase the other blond d
own the mall corridor. Lita shook her head, and held her hand out to Ami,
Raye' hand went to Darien, and Molly to Felicissa. They pulled the
three to their feet.

"Come on, we'd better save Mina from Serena. Knowing those two, they
might just end up in the mall's fountain..." said Lita dryly, as they set
off after the two girls. They could still hear Serena's yells of rage
echoing off the mall's walls.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Unbeknownst of the group, a man and a woman watched hidden behind a
nearby pillar. The woman growled, "Why are WE stuck with the babysitting
duty?" She pushed her dark glasses up on her nose, and blew a whisp of
blond hair out of her face.

The equally blond haired man sighed, "Because Erkyte and
Malachite are off gathering energy. We're the distraction. IF they try to
leave...we'll be here to stop them...". Both were dressed simply jeans and
sweaters. The woman's was dark green, while the man's was a royal purple.

The woman growled, "TRY to leave? We've been following them for the past
two hours! They aren't going anywhere!! Except maybe into more shoe
stores..."

The man gritted his teeth, and spoke lowly and flatly,"But_they_could.
Malachite and Erkyte need to get started gathering energy...without
THEIR untimely interruptions."

They watched as Serena ran after Mina, and the rest went after her.
Jedaite squinted after them, as he and Zoeisite left their pillar and
slowly followed the group again. All right, there was Moon chasing
the other blond, Venus. Then following was the tall one called Jupiter,
pulling Mercury along. Mars had grabbed the young man's hand; Jedaite
could ONLY conclude that was the Infamous Tuxedo Mask. Was there some
kind of tension in Mars's eyes? No...he was just seeing things. Then there
was the mortal girl Molly...Nephlyte's love.

Jedaite felt a twinge of pain, he missed his old companion Nephlyte.
His  only 'friend' was not to be saved from oblivion like the rest of
them; he had lost his 'usefulness'. It was a shame to hear from Erkyte on
their trip to the mall on the tragic cirumstances of Nephlyte's death.
Malachite was driving, and Erkyte had turned to them, saying, "While
you're at the mall...you might see one of Moon's closer friends who is not
a Scout. She could be a useful asset. After all, her involvment with
Nephlyte was very..helpful before.."

Noting Jedaite's baffled look, Erkyte then proceeded to tell the
tale of Nephylte and his love for the girl Molly. It was that love that
preceeded his doom at the hands of Zoeisite's youma. Jedaite was
surprised, he had always thought Nephlyte's desertion, (he had gathered
what he could from Beryl's echoing voice), as one of a simple power
struggle. He had never known Nephylte had become a 'traitor'.

He glared at the back of Zoeisite's head. Had she been that greedy for
power? Stupid question, of course she had been. They all had been. Why he
hadn't been caught in any power overthrows? He smiled bitterly; he knew
why. His unemotionality. He was cold, had no vices, and lived only to
serve Beryl, as twisted as that was. How can you attack a man's weaknesses
if he has none?

He turned his attention back to the group in front of him. He had
identified all of them except one, the other red haired girl. He couldn't
see her very well, he and Zoeisite were keeping away at a discreet
distance. However, the girl seemed a few years older than the other girls,
more around Mask's age. She was chatting with Jupiter and Mars happily
about some silly mortal thing or another. He smiled, a sinister twisting
of the lips. Perhaps THIS was the girl they could use to get Moon's
'assistance'...  

*****************************************************************************

The two Moon cats leaped lightly from high beam to high beam that
supported  the glass ceiling of the mall. Perched high above the mall
floor, Artemis gulped and tried not to look down. "Luna, couldn't we've of
watched over the girls a _little_closer to the ground?", he asked
nervously.

Luna grinned over at the white cat. She said dryly, "Afraid of heights,
are we Aretmis?"

"NO! I'm just having trouble keeping track of them from up here,
is all!" Artemis said indignantly. Luna rolled her brown eyes.

"How CAN you miss those meatballs?" she said sarcastically, gesturing
with her black paw to the bobbing head of Serena, far below. Luna looked
over at Artemis and grinned evilly, then added, "Afraid of heights, AND
going blind in your old age, Artemis. Very bad sign..."

Artemis's blue eyes narrowed, and then suddenly, he smiled innocently
back. He prepared to jump to another beam, then turned to say, "Well
Luna, if I'm going blind in MY old age...you must be going senile in
YOURS, Miss-Yes-Artemis-I-just-KNOW-that-there-is-a-Scout-for-the-Moon
or Oh-No-Artemis-Serena-can't-be-the-Moon-Princess..." He paused to
shake his head mock sorrowfully, then added, "You're definately losing
it, Luna!"

Leaving a very ticked Luna, he leaped easily off to the next
beam, a grin plastered on his furry face. Luna growled and leaped after
him.

Standing on a second story outcropping, a stately woman stood, watching
this whole scene play itself out. She smiled at the last interlude between
the two Guardians. Then she turned her gaze down below again, as the
Princess, her Prince and her friends all fell into one laughing group of
youngsters again, Serena having given Mina a good nooging for making fun
of her. They never even noticed the two Generals following them. Or did
they? Raye kept looking behind her, a frown on her face. Well, Mars always
was the one with the good intution...

The woman brushed her long green hair behind her, and pushed her
tinted glasses over her red eyes. She watched for a while longer, then
drifted into the crowd. 'Time to check on the other two...' she thought to
herself, as she went off to a discreet hallway, and simply vanished...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A young man leaned casually on one of the pillar of the jewelry store,
dressed in a loose suit of black, with a tight white t-shirt underneath.To
the normal eye, he was just a rather attractive red haired man lounging
around, waiting for someone. No one would of guessed the evil presence
that lurked underneath the charming exterior.

Erkyte nodded at two more drooling school girls as they passed
him, hearts in their eyes. He almost laughed, it was so droll. He could
understand why Jedaite, Nephlyte and Malachite would chose to drain young
girls. Their energy was so easily gotten, and so pure...

He stood up as the white haired General exited the store. Dressed in
a tan suit, and a blue shirt that matched his eyes, his hair pulled back
into a ponytail, he looked the part of the suave young executive. With a
smirk, he tossed a purple glowing crystal to the red haired man. Erkyte
grinned, and put the crystal with the other two in his pocket. This was
the third shop full of humans they had drained. As they walked away
casually, Malachite said, "This way is so easy...why didn't any of us
think of this?"

Erkyte shrugged, and said, "You were all pushed for big plans, and fast
results." He smiled bitterly, adding, "Had Beryl been half as intelligent
as she thought she was, she would realised that simply laid out plans,
ones that don't capture the attention of the media, and the Scouts, would
be the way to go. Sneak in, get the energy, get out."

As they walked on, a dark skinned, green haired woman stepped out of
an alley and followed them. The men paused, and looked down the street.
"An arcade...perfect." said Erkyte. Malachite nodded.

"An hour, you think? To drain the whole crowd of kiddies?" asked
Malachite thoughtfully. Erkyte nodded.

"Sounds about right..." Erkyte said, as he reached into his jacket and
pulled out two crystals of clear purple. He handed one to Malachite,
adding, "I figure this will take two..."

The two men grinned at each other, and strolled into the street. The
green haired woman frowned, and stopped. She pulled out a small cell
phone from her purse, and dialed a number. She spoke into the reciever,
"Hello Tokyo Police? There are a number of stores around the downtown area
that have people in them that seem to be drained of energy..." She said a
few more details, then said goodbye. She then called a local TV station,
telling the woman operator the exact same thing. The woman eagerlly
pressed her for more details, but she hung up.

'There, now the time flow is how it should be. The Scouts and the
Generals will meet...' she thought to herself. She stepped into a nearby
cafe, and decided to watch the action from there. The waiter came up,
stunned by the woman's exotic beauty, and asked her what she would like to
order, "Green tea, please..." she said with a quiet and cultured tone.

She glanced at the clock above the counter of the cafe. She was sure the
police would be momentarily at the jewelry store, and the news was
probably all ready doing a bulletin. She sat back, satisfied. She had
done all she could for the moment. The wheels of fate and chance were in
motion. She, The Guardian of Time, would sit, and wait, and watch them
play out their little parts in the time stream. As she always did.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The girls, and Darien, had taken over a large table in the far end of
the food court, by the public bulletin board. Serena and Darien sat
together, next to Felicissa and Molly. Lita, Raye, Mina and Ami sat on the
other side. They were all talking about school, life, family; just normal
chit-chat. Felicissa sat with a dazedly happy look on her face. 'My...my
fondest dream...' she thought to herself quietly. One part of her felt
like  just laughing hysterically. The other felt like sobbing with joy.
She settled for eating her lunch.

"Hey Felic-Felic-- oh gosh darn it! Fel-I-ciss-A!", sounded out
Serena. The rest of the girls giggled, and Darien hid a smile. Felicissa
turned to the young blond and grinned.

"Yes, Se-Ren-A?", she said teasingly. The girls and Darien laughed.

Serena squished her nose at the older girl, then said, "Well first of
all...can I just call you Cissa? Felicissa sounds so overly...formal."

Felicissa took a bite out of her hot dog, and chewed thoughtfully. After
swallowing, she replied, "You're right Serena...it IS too formal. One of
the MANY set backs to being born into a trend setter family. When I was
born, apparently LONG and complicated names were popular..." She looked
over at her younger companion, suddenly smiling and added, "I would love
it if you called me Cissa..."

Serena grinned, then added, "Secondly...do you want the rest of your
fries?"

The newly dubbed Cissa smiled sweetly at Serena, and said, "Touch the
fries, and the meatballs will be history..."

Darien watched as Serena made her best face at the redhaired girl, the
two acting with total familiarity. 'Why does this seem so..right...' he
thought to himself, his arm over Serena's delicate shoulders, watching as
her blond head bobbed up and down happily, talking, while Cissa pushed
her red hair out of her eyes, listening attentively to Serena tell her all
about how Darien and Serena had met. Cissa was giggling when Serena got
to the part of throwing her test over her shoulder and bopping Darien in
the head with it.

Why did it seem like Cissa was just meant to be there? A missing
piece of the puzzle that was their past...

He was broken from his musings by Lita's yelling. She had gone to get
another soda, and stopped to look at the bulletin board. "WOW! Hey guys!
Come and check this out!!" she said, pointing to something sticking on the
board. All the girls except for Cissa jumped up and went to go see what
Lita was harping about. There were a lot of of ohh's and ahhh's, and
sighs. Serena murmered, "Oh...I want to go.."

Darien looked over at Cissa, raised an eyebrow, and walked over to
where the girls were grouped. He looked at the thing, whistled, then
said with slight awe, "Whoa, what fancy deal this is..."

Cissa's curiousity got the better of her; she had to find out what
everyone was babbling about. She got up and looked over Mina's shoulder.
On the board was a elaborate poster, that she recoginzed. It was an
announcment for the "Moon Masquerade", a annual ball held by the Tokyo
Club. It was only three weeks away. The poster portrayed a elegantly
dressed dark haired woman being held by a dashing looking blond haired
man, both masked. In bold curvy letters, the poster said, The Moon
Masquerade, Invitation and Formal Dress required. Something below said
how they needed help setting up; a typical recruiting poster for hired
help.

Cissa snorted deverisly, "OH that thing!" She shook her head and was
heading back for the table, when Mina grabbed her arm.

"Whoa...you know about this?" Mina asked, her blue eyes wide and amazed.

"Know about it? I drew that poster, as a favor for some of my parents
old friends. Another overpriced affair where the snobbish pretend that
they like each other, but it's really just another contest to see who can
flash the most money..." Cissa shook her head in disgust, and started for
her seat again, adding, " I can't believe they invited me..."

Mina dragged her back, and all the girls squealed, "YOU GOT INVITED??"

Cissa nodded, then said casually, "Yeah...but I can't go...they
gave me my own table. I don't know that many people in Tokyo...why are you
all looking at me that way?"

The girl's eyes were glazed over, and they all started to surround
Cissa. Serena began to speak slowly, "Cissa, you could take us...we're
your friends, aren't we? You like us, right?"

Cissa gulped nervously, as she began to back away, "Well sure I
like you guys. But--but you'd have to buy dresses. FORMAL dresses. Which
cost money."

Lita interupted, "We're in a mall, with MANY sales. Easily done."

Searching her mind, Cissa added quickly, "Yeah,
but...ahhhh...Serena will want Darien to go! And he'll need at tuxedo...or
something..." She felt herself being backed into a table.

Serena looked over her shoulder at Darien and winked. Darien grinned. Ami,
Mina, Lita and Raye giggled. Darien said demurly, "I have my own...tux.
You might say I never leave home without it."

Molly, curious, asked, "Cissa, why don't you want to go? It sounds like
a real blast, Dressing up, good food, hobnobbing with all of Tokyo's
finest..." She got a dreamy look in her eyes.

Cissa sighed heavily, and said, "It just reminds me of all the bad
things about my parents. A bunch of shallow people trying to out do each
other...What fun would I have there..." she stopped and said thoughtfully,
"Actually, if you guys came, just regular people, it might actually be
decent...for once."

Serena squealed, and hugged Cissa, as all the girls circled Cissa and
exclaimed their happiness about going. Cissa managed to get out, "Wait...I
never said that....uggghhhh..." She gave up over the jubulation of her
young friends and just smiled tiredly.

Serena said happily, "NOW we can do more shopping! We all need new
dresses!" All the girls grinned happily, even Ami. Cissa groaned softly.

Mina gasped, "I know where I can the BEST dress!!"

Raye, Lita, and Ami all said dryly, "Don't tell us, Le Girl...back at
the beginning of the mall!"

Mina grinned at the three of them, "Gee, how did you guys know?"

"You were drooling over that cream colored ball gown for ten minutes.
This gives you the perfect opportunity to try it on!!" said Raye, poking
her blond haired friend playfully.

Mina smiled again, and said, "Oh like you don't want to see if that red
sequined number isn't still there, Raye!" Raye blushed brightly.

Lita chuckled, then looked over to Serena and Molly. She said, "You guys
coming, or plunging on?"

Serena and Molly looked at each other, and said simutanously, "Plunging
on."

"All right...when are we meeting back up?" said Ami. She checked
her watch, which of course, had the exact time.

"Uhhhh, another half an hour?" said Serena, "By the entrance?"

"Cool...all right, catch you guys later!!" called out Mina, dragging
Lita and Ami by the arms away from the group. Raye shrugged at the
remander of the group, smiled weakly, and followed.

Serena and Molly looked at each other. "Are you thinking, what I'm
thinking?" asked Serena, with a devilish look in her blue eyes.

Molly tossed her short hair and said wickedly, "A La Mode? I've got the
cash, how about you?"

"Ohhhh yeah..." said Serena happily, "I'm actually flush..." And with
that, they started off, with Darien and Cissa in tow. Darien, as he was
being dragged along by Serena, grinned widely.

Cissa glared at him, as Molly pulled her arm. She asked dryly,
"And what are you grinning at?"

Darien said cooly, "I now feel fully avenged not only for the shoulder
throws, but for being run over by Mack Truck Cissa. YOU are now in over
your head, and _I'm_ loving it..." His blue flashed with amusement.

A smirk flickered over the red haired girl's face, as she
answered suavely, "And I'll remember who put me in that postion, the next
time we have Self Defense, pal. Prepare to become intimately involved
with the mat..."

The smile left Darien's face.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On a television in a electronics store, a smooth looking TV
commentator was speaking in a monotone, "This _just_in. Apparently,
several stores in the downtown area have been struck by that strange
energy draining disease that struck the city a few months ago. We have our
on the street reporter, Jai Hung, here with the report."

"Thanks Bill..." said a slicked back TV reporter. Her perfect do wasn't
even mussed by the wind, and her purple suit had nary a wrinkle. She began
to speak, the fake sympathetic tone of her voice matching her personality.

Holding her microphone in required reporter fashion, she said
hurriedly, "I'm standing in front of one of the _many_jewelry stores in
_many_jewelry stores in the downtown area of Tokyo, filled with
_sleeping_customers..."

Hung entered the store, and the camera man followed her. She prodded one
of the unconcious people with her expensive purple pump, then turned back
to the camera. "These poor innocents _seemed_to be struck by the strange
sleeping, loss of equiliberium disease that has plagued the city for over
a year now." she said calmly, "The oncome of the disease is usually
procluded by the appearance of some type of weird monster, but today's
attack was strangly nonviolent....ACK!!!"

One of the men lying on the floor was weakly trying to grab Hung's foot.
"Heeellp..mee..." the man gasped, trying to move.

Hung hopped up and down on one foot screaming, "LET GO OF ME, YOU
DISEASED FREAK!!! THESE SHOES ARE VERDUCHI!!! AUUGHH, YOU'RE GETTING
GREASY FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER THEM!!"

For some reason, the news suddenly went to station break.

Luna and Artemis, both watching the TV from the safety of some nearby
shrubbery, looked at each other and nodded. It was time for the Sailor
Scouts to check out the scene. Artemis went off after Mina and the rest of
the girls, Luna charged the other way after Serena and Darien. It looked
like the peacefulness of the day was about to be shattered...