Chapter 9: The First Battle

“It still hasn’t come!” Jacey said, exasperated.
“They’re biding their time,” Athena said looking out the window.  It was September; four months after Apollo and Athena started to train Jacey.  The whole summer long, Jacey had trained and trained, but no evil ever surfaced.
Jacey glared at Athena.  “They’re biding their time,” she mocked.  “I am so sick of this!  I just want to do some battling so I can get on with my life!”  Apollo and Athena just looked at each other.  “Please, can we ease up just a bit?  School’s already started and I have to be the biggest loner around.”
“Well,” Apollo mused.
“All right,” Athena said.  Apollo just looked at her.  “You can cut back on training.  But still be alert, there is evil out there, whether they show themselves or not.”
Jacey’s face lit up.  “I love you guys!” she said and she dashed out the door.  “I’ll be at Griffin’s if you need me!”
“We said cut back!  Just remember that!” Apollo yelled after her.
“She didn’t hear a word of it,” Athena said blatantly.  Apollo just shot her an evil look.  “She is a teenager, Apollo.  She needs to be free, even just a little.  Luna gets great results with the other Scouts, and she has 3!”
Apollo sighed, “But Artemis only has one, and he has problems with Sailor V all the time.”
“That poor girl’s had a tough life, Apollo.  And she’s a superb Scout.  What do you expect from a guy training a teenaged girl by himself?” Athena said lying down for a nap.
Apollo began to sulk.  “She needs a firm command.  She’s going to be taken completely by surprise when this all goes down.”
Athena opened one eye and just stared at him.  “You’ve been spending way too much time with her.  I just had to say that,” she said alluding to his newfound vocabulary.
Apollo blushed.  “Her psychic visions are sporadic and inconclusive!  She still needs to be trained,” he said lying down on the bed.
“When she gets her butt kicked in battle she’ll be running back to train.  Just wait and see,” Athena said yawning.  “But as long as she thinks she’s the queen, she won’t be up for training.”
Apollo grumbled and closed his eyes.  “I hope you’re right,” he said begrudgingly.  Then they heard the front door slam.
***
“Jace!” Griffin said, surprised to see Jacey standing on his doorstep.  “Haven’t seen you over here in a while.”
She smiled and walked in the house.  “Yeah, I know.  I’ve just been so bogged down with everything lately.  I’ve totally felt like a loner!”
Griffin nervously fiddled with the pen he held in his hands.  “Really?  Oh, well, always good to get back into the social game!”
Jacey could tell he was nervous.  “What is up with you today?”
“Nothing!” he blurted.
Jacey smiled coyly.  “Oh, nothing, really?” she headed towards the stairs and Griffin winced.  “Griffin I can read you like a book!  That is definitely not a ‘nothing’ face.  Who’s up there?” she asked excitedly.
“Grif, who’s down there?” a girl’s voice called from upstairs.
A pain shot through Jacey’s heart.  She never would have believed it if she hadn’t heard the voice.  Tears formed in her eyes, but she tried so hard to keep them back.  “Hey Liz, it’s me!” she called up in reply, trying to control her voice.
“Jace,” Liz’s voice sounded desperate and frightened, like she had been caught.
Jacey looked over at Griffin.  “Jacey, its not what you think!” he said frantically.
She began to sniffle and wipe her eyes to keep from crying.  “Really?” she whispered bitterly.  “Griffin, you don’t even know what I think anymore!”
Jacey made a break for the door, but Griffin caught her arm.  “Jacey, I can’t explain. . .”
“I figured, now let me go!” she said ripping her arm from his grasp.  She ran down the front steps and over to her house, slamming the door behind her and never looking back.
Griffin sighed and hung his head.  Liz came down the stairs and laid a hand on his shoulder.  “Grif, is she gonna be all right?”
“I don’t know,” he said.  He looked up at her.  “You should have told her, Liz.  It would have been a lot easier on all of us.”
Liz sighed.  “I know, I know.  But it would break her heart.”
“It couldn’t have been more broken than it was just now,” he said looking sadly over at Jacey’s house.
***
“Jacey!  Get down here or you’ll be late for school!” Jen called the next morning.  Jacey’s eyes fluttered open and she looked at her clock.
“But it’s midnight, Jen,” Jacey yawned looking at the red 12:00 flashing in front of her eyes.
“No it’s not!  You have ten minutes to get to school!”
Jacey looked at her watch.  “It’s 7:30!” she screamed leaping out of bed.  “Why didn’t you wake me up?” she hissed at Athena who was only just waking up herself.
Athena stretched and yawned.  “Your alarm never went off,” she said sleepily.
Jacey ran around the room, desperately trying to get ready in time.  “This is great,” she said brushing her teeth.  “I have a huge Chem test 1st period and I’m gonna be late!  I’ll never hear the end of it!”
“Well this should teach you a lesson in punctuality,” Apollo said coming in the room.
Jacey glared at him.  “It’s not my fault the power went out last night!  I don’t even know why it would have gone out.  All I know is, I’m late!”  She looked at her watch, which now read 7:38.  Freaking out, she flew down the stairs and grabbed a Pop-tart from her aunt’s hands.
She tore out the door and down the front steps.  “Grif, let’s go!” she said but then froze.  Griffin hadn’t been waiting for her.  The previous afternoon came back to her in a rush, flooding her eyes with tears.  “Jen.  Did Grif come for me this morning?” she asked sadly.
“No,” she called back.  “I saw him leave about an hour ago by himself.  I thought it awfully strange.”  Then Jen looked at the clock in the kitchen.  “Jacey it’s 7:45!”
“Ack!” Jacey screamed and she tore off down the road.  She ran as fast as she possibly could, her heart pounding in her chest.  “What does this mean?” she thought.  “Is Grif not talking to me?  Or did he have something to do this morning at school?  I can’t think about it now, I’, late!”
Jacey dashed up the front steps of the school.  “Only ten minutes late, not bad,” she said reaching for the door.  She grabbed the handle and felt a surge of negative energy shoot through her body.  “What was that!” she cried out, falling to the ground.  Someone inside the building screamed.  “Shoot!  Of course it comes now!” she breathed.  She shot up her hand.  “Earth Scout Power!”
Jacey transformed and kicked through the door for effect.  Inside the school was barren.  “What is this all about?  I can feel the evil, but I don’t see it,” she said.  She began to walk down the hall, searching so carefully for this thing that threatened her and everyone else.
“Sailor Earth,” she heard a voice call.  She looked up into a window and saw Apollo and Athena on the sill.  “We felt some evil, seen anything yet?” Apollo said.
“No, but I heard a scream and I was knocked down by the negative forces around here,” she said.  The cats leaped down next to her.  “I have a bad feeling, to a major extent.”
“So do we.  I think you’re finally honing your Scout skills,” Artemis said, craning his neck to look for the threat.
“Thanks Artemis, that really means a lot to me,” Sailor Earth said, her eyes getting misty.
Athena rolled her eyes.  “Can it you two!  We have a potential evil monster on the lose!”
Sailor Earth shook her head.  “Right, we have to get this evil.  Evil. . .evil. . .evil. . .evil. . .” she said over and over in her head to keep herself focused.  The threesome walked down the hallway, keeping their eyes and ears open for whatever they were looking for.
Jacey looked to the right when she approached the “T” in the hallway.  She began to turn left and turned to see what was in front of her.  She gasped in horror and Athena’s back arched.  “EVIL!!!!” Sailor Earth choked.  There stood an ugly squid monster, with it’s tentacles wrapped around a handful of students while what looked like the rest of the student body lay motionless on the floor.
“You can beat it, Sailor Earth,” Apollo urged.  “Just remember to believe in yourself and what we taught you!”
“Right,” she said.  She turned to face the monster and took a deep breath.  “Hold it right there, Squid Face!”  The monster turned around and looked at her.  “You heard me!  Drop those innocent people!”
“Why should I?” it cackled.
“Because I am Sailor Earth.  Defender of Right and punisher of Wrong!  And I definitely think you’re on the wrong side, you ick thing.  On behalf of this beautiful and sacred planet, I’m gonna dust you!”
Athena looked at Apollo.  “Well, she’s got the opening lines down pretty well.”
“Ha!  Another whimpy little Sailor girl.  I’ll have to tell Queen Beryl when I finish pulverizing you!”  it said, dropping the energy-less people to the floor.
“I definitely don’t see that happening, you Negatrash,” Sailor Earth said coolly.  Just then she saw a brown tuft of hair on the floor begin to move.  “Griffin!” she shrieked, running up to him.  “Griffin, oh, oh are you all right?” she asked frantically.
“Sailor Earth,” he said with much difficulty.  “Fight, just save everyone.  Don’t worry about me.  I’ll be fine, I promise.”  He began to try to get up and pushed her in the direction of the monster in the process.
“Are you. . .”
“Yes now GO!” he said hobbling down the hall trying to get to a safe area.
Sailor Earth looked at the evil monster with contempt and hatred.  “You hurt my friends and all of these innocent people you low down slimeball!  There is no way you are gonna get away with this.”
“Yeah right,” it said and shot a tentacle out a Sailor Earth.
She closed her eyes and the key inside her started glowing. Then, she began spinning in the air and her left hand went up and her right hand went down, stopping right above and below the key, and she said, “Mountain. . .”  She moved her hands so the heals were touching and a small white ball went into them and she continued, “Avalanche. . .”  Finally she moved her right hand, now containing the white ball, upward with her left hand clasping her right wrist and she jerked to a halt facing the monster and opened her eyes and screamed, “COVER!”  The white ball grew to an immense proportion and a giant wall of snow went rushing at the monster, who screamed when it all fell on its squiddy head.
“I did it!” Sailor Earth shrieked jumping up and down.  “I actually beat my first monster!”
“Good job, Sailor Earth,” Athena and Apollo both congratulated. 
“I’m beyond ecstatic!”  Sailor Earth gushed.  “I’ve never been prouder.”
“Neither have we,” Apollo said, rubbing up against her leg and purring. 
“I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!” the monster screamed, jumping from its snowy prison.  Before Sailor Earth or Apollo and Athena had time to even blink, Sailor Earth was wrapped in its deadly tentacles.  “This will teach you to cover me in snow!”  it shouted.
Jacey’s eyes slowly began to close.  “Help me. . .” she murmured.  “She’s draining all of my energy.”  Apollo and Athena could only stand by and watch in horror as Sailor Earth’s energy was slowly drained from her body.
Just then, an aquamarine rose shot out of nowhere and pierced the monster’s tentacle, freeing Sailor Earth.  “How dare you drain the energy of these innocent humans!  They came to this school to be educated and to socialize.  You tried to take all that away, but Sailor Earth and I won’t let that happen, ever,” a man said.
Sailor Earth regained her energy and stood up.  “Thanks,” she said to the man.  “I think I can take it from here!”  Her key began to glow and she began to spin around, just like before and her right hand went up and her left hand went down.  Her right hand stopped above the key and her left hand below and she shouted, “Canyon. . .”  She moved her hands facing out so the heels were touching and a small brown ball moved into them and she continued, “Rock. . .”  Her right hand grabbed her left wrist and moved her right arm up, still holding the brown ball, and she stopped facing the monster and finished, “SLIDE!”  A shower of rocks rained down on the monster and encased her again.  “Did I get her this time?” Sailor Earth asked.
“NO!” the monster screamed, emerging again.
“Quick, Sailor Earth,” the man shouted.  “Use your Razor Bow!”
“Right!” she nodded.  She pinched the blue button on her bow and the green bow came off with ease.  It glowed aquamarine and turned into a deadly disk.  Sailor Earth spun around and shouted, “Razor Bow Action!” and threw it at the monster.  The monster was instantly cut in half and turned to dust.  “I did it!  I really did it!” she shouted jumping up and down.
Apollo and Athena just smiled.  “Good job, Sailor Earth,” the man said. 
Sailor Earth gasped and looked up at where he stood.  He was a tall man with dark hair, dressed in a white suit with a black vest and a white cape and mask.  “Who are you?” she said.  “What’s your name?  Where did you come from?  Are you my friend or my enemy?”
“Sailor Earth, my name is the Midnight Façade.  I have been sent to fight by your side in all cases.  But that’s all you can know, for now.  Goodbye,” he said throwing his cape over his shoulder and disappearing.
“Oh, he’s so dreamy!” she cooed.
***
Griffin woke up laying on the floor in a science lab.  He blinked open his eyes and shook his head.  “Where am I?  What happened?” he said groggily to himself.  A rush of images flooded his mind, of a man in a suit and a beautiful soldier in a Sailor suit.
“Was that me?” he said out loud.  “Am I that man, the Midnight Façade?”  He stared at his hands and the rest of his body.  He was in the clothes he left the house it.  “But I feel it.  I know I am.  I never realized I had that kind of power.”
He stood up and brushed himself off.  Then he remembered the girl.  “She was beautiful,” he thought.  “That red hair and those green eyes.  Wait!” he stopped.  “Those eyes!  It was Jacey!  She’s Sailor Earth.  Oh God!  What do I say to her?” he thought.  “Oh well, I’ll deal with it when it comes up,” he said and he walked out into the hallway.
***
“Griffin!  Griffin where are you!” Jacey called out down the hallway, which was littered with the bodies of her half-concious classmates.  She had already de-transformed and called 911 to help the students.  Now, she just had to find her best friend.  “Oh God, Griffin, where’d you go?”
She began to become frantic as her search turned up nothing.  “I told you not to worry about me,” a voice said from behind her. 
Jacey whipped around to see a healthy Griffin standing up against the wall.  “Griffin!” she cried out, running to him.  She threw her arms around him, totally forgetting the day before.
“Hey,” he said.  “Did you see a girl in a Sailor suit in here before?  I think she was called Sailor Earth.  She saved everyone.”
Jacey blushed, “No, I didn’t see anything.  I just got here.  I was running late, without you to pick me up.”  “Did he see me transform?” she thought frantically.  “Oh God!”
“Oh,” he said shrugging.  “I just wanted to know.”  He looked into Jacey’s eyes, the same green eyes that Sailor Earth had.  “Jacey, I have something to tell you,” he started.
“What,” she said.
He cleared his throat and let go of her.  “Well, I. . . I love you,” he said, blushing profusely.  “I have for ten years now.  I knew the first time I looked into your green eyes that you’d be mine.  And I’ve waited patiently for so long and through so many of your boyfriends, but, I won’t wait anymore and I won’t take no for an answer.”
“I. . . I don’t know what to say,” she choked out.  This was the confession she’d waited so long to hear.  But she remembered the day before, and Liz.  “But what about Liz,” she said, looking away.  “You can’t just leave her high and dry.”
“There’s no me and Liz.  I can’t tell you the situation, because it isn’t any of my business.  Ask her about it sometime,” he said, stepping closer to Jacey.  “But, I still haven’t heard you say what I want you to,” he said, bringing his body close to hers.
“I love you too,” she whispered in his ear as she leaned up to him.  He tilted her chin in his hand and kissed her.
“I won’t say anything about today,” he thought.  “She needs Griffin now, not the Midnight Façade.”

Chapter 10

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