Rikko came up behind Dura and dumped the bags that he was carrying into the cart. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, nothing bad's gonna happen. My master once told me a very old saying that went, 'Nothing is wrong, until you get caught.' Besides, what harm is there from just looking?"

    Zoisite merely blinked at first, not realizing he had been addressed. Shifting his jaden gaze up to the man, one brow of crimson gold slowly arched. Did he really just call Zoisite... the king of fire... a -she-?
    Cherubic features still showing nothing but pleasantness, he picked a red rose from the collection presented. Holding it out to the man, a symbol much like Nephrite's used to turn humans to youma burned within the nest of soft petals. "Is there something wrong with these roses?" he asked in flutish tones, needing the man to only take it... like the wicked witch offering Snow White the too shiny apple.
    Bubba looked up from his transformation, grinning wildly with a mouthful of needlesharp teeth. Lunging forward his now lengthened and vibrating nails, like those of a tattooist's insturment, headed straight for the three.

    Rikko saw the tattooist comming toward them and in one quick motion went around Dura, drew his sword, and held it in front of him like a shield with both hands, the sword pointing toward his right side and his right forearm against the side of the blade. He considered his last statement and said, "Ok, maybe I was wrong, but I've seen Nazi dentists that looked friendlier than this guy."

    Michiru backed away, pulling Dura with her. "I can see that Bubba's not in the mood right now, we'll just leave!" she said and ran, pulling Dura with her. *Wonderful, another youma attack at my favorite tattoo parlor and I can't transform to defend it.* she thought.

    After a stunned moment to note dagger-toothed Bubba, his needle fingers, and Rikko's sword stance, Dura caught Michiru by the waist with the crook of her elbow, and bolted for the exit. "No harm in looking, huh?! C'mon, we gotta get the cops down here!"

    Dura's father peered at the flower. "Something wrong with it?" he asked back. "What exactly?" He left the corrupted blossom in Zoisite's hand and examined the bush it came from. "It seems healthy enough... this one specimen came from a highly regarded garden up north."
    Rikko heard what Dura said and realized that the police were not what they needed. He had had a hunch about Michiru and decided to act on it. He swung his sword at the creature's open spot, just enough to stun it, and took off runing toward Dura. He grabbed her by the wrist and lead her and the captive Michiru into an alley to a side door in an abandoned building.
    Using his sword, he broke the chain that held the door locked and said, "Dura, hide in here. I don't want anything to happen to you. Michiru, we're gonna hide you somewhere else, so he can't follow the trail."

    "But there's no phone here!" Dura protested, as the door closed behind her. She looked around for a window to see what was going on.
    Rikko looked at Michiru and expressed his hunch to her. "You know, ever since I met you, you have reminded me of someone else that I met here in Japan," he said with a questioning look on his face, "But I looked a bit diffrent then too."
    He pulled out his crystal and shouted "Gentle Earth Power!" causing the pavement of the alley to rise around him. The pieces began to swirl around him and then flew toward him, and then away, revealing the Earth Knight.

    "What the--?!?" exclaimed Dura in the abandoned building. "First the local tattoo jockey turns into Edward Scissorhands, and now this?! What sort of freakshow neighborhood did we move into?!"

    The Benefactor watched Dura from his domain. A small smile appeared on his face. Lifting his hand, he transported the young Dura to his place. When she appeared he spoke, "Welcome, Dura. I am the Benefactor and I have been looking for you."

    "Huh?! Where--?" Dura whipped her head about until she fixed her eyes upon the Benefactor. Then she propped up her head with her hand. "Oh, no! This must be a bad nightmare! Please let me wake up now! I'm too young to go insane!"

    "This is not a dream," he said to her. "You are in my domain," he explained as he studied her. "Do not worry. I will not hurt you. But I have brought you here because you are part of a group of warriors that protects the Earth from the Dark Kingdom," he explained to her.

    Dura pinched herself. It hurt. So she didn't feel this was a dream.
    "Me?!?" she demanded. "I can't be a warrior! Sure, I'm big and strong... enough to chop wood, I guess, but I'm not a trained fighter!" She shrugged. "I'm just a gangly farm girl!"

    His cat-like eyes narrowed. First, he had been insulted. That was strike one. Now the man had not taken the bait, leaving Zoisite hanging. Strike two.
    "Well," he said softly, trying to control his annoyance, "we can't all be conniseurs of the flower like yourself, sir. I can tell that you take great pride in your work," he continued, reaching up with a slender hand and twirling a gold lock between his fingers. "I'll buy the whole dozen in that bush," he said abruptly, walking over to the counter, then stopping, looking about him. He turned suddenly and cried, "Oh! My rose!"
    He had 'accidently' dropped it, and now wore the look of a damsel in distress. Surely the human wouldn't be so pig-headed as to ignore the flower on the floor.
    Bubba growled, crashing out the door of his parlor and looking any which way. His ears caught the noise of rolling earth, and he made for the alley where he saw one of his targets.
    Quick as a wink, he hawked a huge ink bubble as big as his head and sent it sailing towards the Knight and the girl that was with him. His intenion was to blind as he darted forward, his nails reaching for Michiru's neck.
    The Benefactor looked at Dura and smiled. "Each Senshi and Knight have their own special abilitly and talents that make them warriors. No matter what it is, they help contribute to the fight against the Dark Kingdom," explained the Benefactor as he lifted his hand and a transformation device appeared.
    "Now, look into your heart and find the power within you," he said as the device floated to Dura.

    Dura shook her head. "Power within me? Great, from lunatic tattoo monsters to New Agers in black. What's next, doormice in teapots?" But then she recognized the item floating to her: a burlap sack no larger than a bag of sugar. Taking it, she looked in it.
    "Soil," she said. "Very rich looking stuff, too."
    She relaxed a little. This was more familiar stuff. Very familiar.
    Deja vu familiar.
    She let the soil run through her fingers a couple of times. She yearned to be back on her farm, working the ground, planting the seeds. There was power there.
    And there was power here, too. She felt it work from under her fingernails, up her arm, and filter into her head and heart.

    A single blue rose soared from Guardian's hand and across the clawed hand before the nails could reach towards Michiru's neck. The black clad warrior stepped forward his hands calmly at his side as he stared at the youma, unmoved by its presence.
    The Benefactor looked at Dura and smiled. "Call forth the power that flows through you," he said to her.
    Michiru nodded a thanks to the Guardian and slipped away, allowing him to take on the youma while she found a safe area to change at. She glanced at the window for Dura; not seeing her she pulled out her henshin.
    "Grant me the power to keep this world living in peace. PeaceKeeper Make-up!" she cried and ran back to the scene to help in what ways she could.

    The youma roared, and snipped the rose into tiny pieces, and shot out an ink blast at the newcomer.

    Zoisite looked over his shoulder as he waited for the man's reaction:... he sensed that something was wrong with his youma.

    Only one thing was really in Dura's heart: protests. She didn't have any power from within; this was from the bag of dirt! And besides, her heart was pulling in all directions as a teenage girl. They were shaky already as was. Never mind being in a new city and school. Never mind being a hulking giant. Never mind she was now in some crazy mystic limbo with a strange man after watching a tattoo monster and her first friend here get -- Never mind... her mind! Splashes of vision came into it. A barren, fallow field. A young, large, strong, kindly smiling man. Several grasping creatures choking life out of people under a bright orange sky. And some words:

    "Amazon Earth Power Make-up!" she cried.

    The world around her spun. She crouched down, and slowly extended her arms out, and brought them in a graceful arc over her head. Vibrant, colorful, life-stuffed energy coursed all over her as she did.
    When her hands hit their apex, she looked down and hopped in shock. She now wore a white top, white gloves, dark boots, a forest green skirt, a gold tiara, and a rich earth-brown sash tied in a bow around her waist! Except for the colors, it was almost just like Michiru's new get-up!

    The Benefactor smiled as Dura transformed. "Very good Sailor Amazon," he said with the clapping of his hands. "Now to return you to the battle that is taking place," he said and with the lifting of his hands brought the new senshi back to Earth and near the fight.

    Guardian leapt forward, over the blast and letting another rose fly at the youma as he landed, his hand drawing his blade as he moved forward, behind his rose.

    Growling as he dodged the rose, Bubba launched a barrage of needles at the incoming attacker.

    She pointed correctively at the Benefactor. "No! It's not Sailor Amazon," the new Senshi corrected... And then she was back on the streets.

    "... my name is Sailor Amazonia!" she said pointing at the approaching tattoo terror. The effect was a lot grander than she'd intended. Or felt, when she saw where she then was. Too surprised to panic, she said, "No more needlepoint! Go take up macrame!"
    "Rrrr?" growled Bubba in question. "Macrame??....Energy mine!" he roared, shooting an ink blot at Sailor Amazonia.

    Zoisite took a few steps away from the counter, his jaden eyes slitting around like a sepentine. Something full of energy had arrived on the scene; big enough to put him on edge. Him youma must not fail...
    Guardian dived and hit the floor, but still felt the needles tear through his cape as he dived, thankfully none tore through his body.
    He rolled across the ground in case of another barrage and flipped back to his feet and paused his charge only lone enough to let a rose fly at the ink blot soaring the new Senshi.
Sailor Amazonia sashayed surprisingly lightly out of the ink blot's way, and fished out her Titan Soil pouch. When the rose punctured the blot, and fell to the floor, stem down, she tossed some soil onto it. "Fair rose," she said, "take root, flourish, and stop this creature with your beauty!" The flower's stem quickly sprouted roots that penetrated the floor. It rapidly grew into a bush, which branched out with two very thorny, long-stemmed blossoms to entwine around the youma.
Sho Materyo looked down saw the fumbled rose, and said, "Don't worry, I got it." Then he heard a siren pass by quickly. He dashed over to the door to see what it was. In transit, he stepped on the rose, which stuck to his boot and fell off midway down the aisle. "Holy cow," he exclaimed. "They're going where the kids' went!"
Bubba howled as he tried to cut the piercing thorns with his own needles, growling and shredding as much as he could to ribbons. A few blocks away, Zoisite's face hardened as he turned towards the old man. With a flick of the wrists, the door slammed and locked, as did the windows. The blinds were thrown down, leaving the garden center in a frightening dimness.
Peacekeeper entered the tatoo shop. "Roses??" she asked puzzled for a moment.
"My handiwork," Sailor Amazonia answered. She then bounded lightly, tumbled over Bubba, landed behind him, and grabbed from the back. Wresting his hands away so he didn't carve up anyone else, she shouted, "Amazonia Stoneback!" Her skin, hair, features, and fuku then hardened and turned into a uniform caramel brown and tan marble. Though she moved slowly, and sounded like bricks dragged across a stone floor, she had the youma neatly wrapped in a rocky restraint.
Dura's mom looked up in alarm as everything in the shop snapped shut. "What's going on?" She looked to Zoisite? "How'd that happen?!"
"Hey!" Sailor Amazonia cried to her nearby comrades as the youma struggled. "Someone stop this guy while I got him!"
"Same old, same old for me," said Zoisite quietly, raising his hand in a sigh towards the parents, beginning to drain them of energy. "It seems my youma as of late haven't been able to hold up against the sailor senshi... No loss, if I just take home some of the energy I wasted in creating it," he said, picking up the tainted rose, and with a flick of his wrist made it explode over the shop.
Peacekeeper turned to the new Senshi. "Your handy work?" she asked. "And who are you?"
"In the meantime," said Zoisite, his regular clothes turning into the Dark Kingdom uniform, "I think you have a rather long sleep ahead of you. Zoi!" he cried, sending a flurry of flower petals at both parents, then shooting up a blast at the lightbulb in the ceiling, making the shop in total darkness. There was some scuffling, and a shout... A few moments later, he was smiling again as he stepped out into the light. True, he had gotten scratched on his cheek, but they were both down for the count. He breathed in the air deeply, and giggled as he walked down the street, his leather returning. The faint smell of cherries wafted around him, as he said, "Who would have thought a 'little girl' would be capable of such acts of violence. What is this world coming to?"
"Sailor Amazonia," she replied to Peacekeeper. "Is there anything we can do with this guy?"
Guardian swung his blade as he whispered, "Imperium Spirit Cut." The faint blue glowing blade tore through the youma's neck neatly decapitating it, missing the new Senshi by only a few centimeters. He watched as it turned to dust. Something wasn't adding up to him still regardless. He sheathed his blade and turned his attention to surrounding area, what was the Dark Kingdom after here?
Peace Keeper was about to answer Amazonia. "Guardian! That was a human you just wasted! what the hell were you thinking!" she cried.
Guardian's black void of a face turned as his monotoned voice spoke, "It at one time was but whoever was turned to a youma. We have no way to turn youma back to humans and we can't just let them walk free."
Even though she had stone skin, she was still rattled from Guardian's near miss. And she looked balefully at the pile of dust that was once a tattoo artist. "That's not going to be much comfort to this guy's family," she said. Then she snapped up. "Family?! Oh, great... we still haven't made the delivery for Ma and Dad!" And she looked down at herself. "And I can't make it looking like this!"
Her new tiara sparkled. Then the stardust lightly cascaded from her crown down all around her body and fuku. As it showered, her newfound skirt and warrior wear changed back to her street clothes. She was Dura Materyo again. Looking around, she was thankful no one else was around to see that, except for Sailor PeaceKeeper and Guardian. To the former, she stepped within whispering distance. "Michiru," she said in sotto voice. "I saw you transform. Don't worry... I won't say anything." With that , she took the cart of grass and booked it as fast as her powerful legs could push it. The approaching sirens came almost as fast....
As quickly as Guardian had appeared he slipped into the shadows to observe unseen and watch to make sure the sirens were directed at the now ended fight and not something else that may be occuring elsewhere.
Once she dashed over, dropped off the grass seed, and nominally checked the invoice she dashed back to her folks' garden shop. That's when she saw the place locked down. After tugging at the locked front door, she finally wrenched it open, and saw the mess. And her mom and dad splayed out on the floor.
    "Mom! Dad!" she shrieked. "What happened?!"
    Slowly Dura's father groaned. Her mother exhaled as she felt for her overturned wheelchair.
    "Some woman came in and ransacked the place!" Dura's dad gasped.
    "It was a man, Sho," said her mom.
    Her dad stared incredulously. "That pretty little thing?!"
    "Had an Adam's apple," completed her mom. "I spotted it. Anyway, your father was a little slow in tending to him, and he must've done some magic trick. Doors slammed, there was a big flash, and then flower petals flew all over the place, I ran over his toes before he could get to the cash register, felt weak all of a sudden, the lights went out... and that's all I can remember."
    Sho slowly staggered up to the register as Dura set her mother's wheelchair upright and helped her back into it.
    "That's funny," he muttered. "Didn't take one yen."
    "We heard sirens," said Mom. "Are you and your friends all right?"
    "Us?!" Dura stammered. "Are YOU all right?!?"
    "Pretty woozy, but I think we'll be okay."
    Dura's dad shook his head. "I told you, moving into the city was a big mistake. What kind of nuthouse neighborhood is this anyway?"
    Dura looked to her newfound friends, grateful, but silently pondering the same question.

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