Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Once In a Blue Moon ❯ Episode 02 - Girls' Arguments! Shadows in the School ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The room Umbra returned to was much brighter than she had left it, and she wondered why for a moment before noticing the lit torches in the sconces. The man was sitting in the black chair as she'd left him, but a broom was propped up next to him and the floor was remarkably cleaner. Atra was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't mean she couldn't be waiting in the shadows that still lingered in the corners.

"Back so soon?" The man asked suspiciously, "I'd've thought you'd be gone much longer."

"Sssorry, massster," Umbra began but was interrupted by a wave of the man's hand.

"What hindered you and why didn't you get any energy?" He asked, sounding very tired.

"Oh, I got energy," Umbra replied, looking slightly surprised. She held out one hand and an orb of pulsing energy materialized there. "Not asss much asss I ssshould have."

"Explain," the man pressed, taking the orb from the shadow's hands.

"I had only ssstarted when five girlsss tried to attack me. They were unsssuccesssful and I managed to freeze them in a ssshort time. But then another girl I had tried to take the energy of earlier changed into an outfit like theirsss and attacked me with fire," Umbra explained, fear showing in her eyes as she said the last part. "I'm sssorry massster, but I ran in fear."

"They attacked you?" His expression became concerned, "And they weren't wearing strange outfits, were they? With very short skirts?"

"Yesss, they were," the shadow answered.

"Damn!" The man punched the arm of the chair in anger, "What are they doing on Earth?! They're supposed to be on the Moon protecting their dear princess."

"Massster, the Moon isss no more," Atra stated, emerging from the shadows.

"What?!" He exclaimed, his eyes widening even more, "The whole Moon? That can't be possible!"

"It'sss ssstill there, but the Moon Kingdom isss not," Atra clarified.

The man smiled, "I wonder who had the honor of finally destroying that lot of pompous 'royalty'." He sighed wistfully, "If only I was there…"

"Massster?" Atra asked, confused.

He shook his head and came out of his thoughts, remembering suddenly that he was still holding the orb of energy. "Will this be enough, Atra?" He queried, holding it out towards her.

The shadow picked it off his hand and studied it for a few moments. She shook her head quickly, "No, thisss isss not sssufficient. We need at leassst three timesss thisss amount," she turned to the blue-eyed shadow. "Umbra, will you go and gather more?"

"Yesss, Massster," Umbra replied, bowing her head and turning to go.

"And try to hold off the Sssailor Sssenssshi until you get enough, thisss time," Atra added and Umbra leaped up through the hole in the roof.

~*~

Trish eventually shook her hand free of Sailor Mercury's, and began to trail the group for a few minutes. They ran down several streets and through one alley before even starting to slow down, and Trish was finally able to marvel at how she had been able to run so far.

Then the group started running faster again, but Trish felt so tired that she let them get ahead, then out of sight as they rounded a corner. She stopped, and looked around at her surroundings. Even in the dark, she recognized it as the same street that her host family lived on. The light from the full moon let her see the actual house only a few yards away, but not the bird that was perched in a tree outside the house's front gate.

A sigh escaped her lips as she tilted her head back to gaze at the perfectly round satellite surrounded by much smaller sprinkles of light. There was something special about this particular full moon, but she couldn't quite remember it. Suddenly, it came back to her; it was the second full moon in one month, therefore making it a blue moon.

Trish laughed softly to herself and whispered, "Heh, makes since. This sort of thing does only happen once in a blue moon."

"Chirp!" The bird in the tree called, breaking the silence of the night.

The pale girl jumped several feet into the air, then landed, glancing around frantically for the origin of the disturbance. But then she regained her composure and laughed loudly, berating herself for being so jumpy. After all, it was only a bird.

"Chirp!" The bird called again, and this time Trish was able to see it jumping from branch to branch in the tree, a dark shadow against the moonlight shining through the tree.

"Silly bird," Trish said, still smiling. "You scared the daylights out of me."

The 'silly' bird at that point decided to stop hopping around and launched itself from the tree. It glided swiftly down at Trish's face, causing her to step back in surprise and raise her hands to protect her face. But there was no need, for the bird landed gracefully on her shoulder.

"Okay, um, I don't have any food, birdie!" Trish exclaimed, trying to dislodge the bird from her shoulder.

As she did so, she recognized the bird to be a mockingbird. In fact, it resembled the same bird that had given her the white stone. Which reminded her that she was still in that silly outfit.

Unable to get the bird off her shoulder, she sighed and said to it, "Okay, okay, you can stay. But I don't believe you know how to get out of this ridiculous outfit?"

"Chirp!" The bird replied, and launched itself from her shoulder.

It flew around her once, and she watched curiously as it then hovered in front of the white stone that was attached to her front bow. The bird grabbed the stone with its feet and then tried to fly away with it. Trish, getting the gist of what the bird was trying to convey, flicked it away and grabbed the stone herself. A second later, she held it in her hand and watched curiously as her white outfit disappeared in a swirl of smoke, leaving her in blue jeans and a baby blue, sleeveless shirt as she had been.

"Well, arigatou, bird!" Trish said, somewhat surprised that it had worked. "Now, if only you'd explain how you knew to do that in the first place…and why I'm talking to a bird."

She slapped herself on her forehead with the back of her hand, "I'm losing it! Talking to a bird! Okay, where's the psychiatrist's number?"

The bird chirped again, and returned from lazily circling around her head to land on the pale girl's shoulder. This time Trish didn't try to dislodge the bird, and instead began walking briskly home.

"Ah, Irukano-san is going to kill me for being out so late," she thought out loud as she dashed up to the door of her host family's house and swiftly unlocked it with a spare key they had given her.

Inside, all the lights were out and it appeared as if the whole family, which included a married couple and three kids, had already retired to bed. Trish tiptoed down one hallway to her designated room, which she had to herself, and pushed open the door slowly to avoid the squeaky hinges she knew were there before slipping quietly through.

"I suppose you're hungry," Trish stated, as the mockingbird flapped off her shoulder and landed on her empty desk.

The bird nodded enthusiastically, very much unlike a bird, so the blonde quietly slipped off to the kitchen where she knew there was birdseed kept for an outdoor birdfeeder in the back yard. She returned a few moments later with a small bowl filled to the brim and placed it on the desk next to the bird. A few minutes of silence went by as she gazed at it while it ate.

"You're a very strange bird," Trish commented in a whisper. "Acting as if you know what I'm saying. Someone must've trained you. Tell me, do you have a name?"

It nodded again, and then glanced around as if searching for something. The blonde watched it curiously as it gave up its search and began to take seeds out of the bowl and pile them on the desk. She became even more curious when the bird started to arrange them in letters on the desk.

A short moment later, Trish read aloud, "Ora? Is that your name, then?"

Ora, again, nodded enthusiastically.

"Geez Louise, Ora!" Trish exclaimed, a bit too loud, "You birds are a lot smarter than people think!"

The bird nodded again, and then surprised the blonde by launching into the air. She watched in fascination as it performed an expert, midair spiral, but cried out in alarm as a bright, white flash emitted from the bird. When Trish could see again, Ora was flying straight at her again with a large, white piece of cloth in his claws.

Ora dropped the cloth in her lap and swerved around to land on Trish's shoulder. The blonde, still amazed and confused, stared at the heap of white cloth for a full minute before gently poking it with one finger. Satisfied when it neither blew up nor moved, she picked it up and inspected it carefully.

Trish found that the piece of cloth was actually a sort of sash, with a small pouch sewn on. She discovered a pale orange powdery substance inside the pouch, which she put a few sprinkles of on one finger and stared at it, trying to figure out what it was. The orange coloring of the powder danced before her eyes, like flame…

POOF! The bit of powder burst in flame, and Trish was so startled by it that she didn't even register that she the fire wasn't burning her hand. But when she did, the calm spell the flame seemed to have over her kept her from screaming bloody murder. Instead, she continued to gaze at it, probing it with her mind, and watching in fascination as it grew and shrank to her will.

Only a lone owl hoot from outside brought her forcefully back to Earth, extinguishing the small flame as she did. Horrified that she had been holding a flame that long, she quickly inspected her hand, but found no evidence of burn. It was only warm to her touch.

Still curious, Trish took out another bit of powder and made it burst into flame again. Ora watched, an aura of pride around the bird, as the blonde worked with the flame.

~*~

"Conti-san! Are you awake yet?" Iruka, the youngest of the three children in the family, called, gently opening the door to Trish's room.

Trish wearily opened one eye to check the clock, then bolted straight up as she saw the time. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep, and now she scanned the room for the fire she had been working on when she did. Not seeing it, she concluded that it must've gone out on it's own.

For at least three more hours that night, Trish had practiced her skills with the small bit of flame. In that short amount of time she had been able to make the flame burn up a piece of scrap paper while sitting in the palm of her hand and grow or shrink to several various different sizes, including dime sized and almost as large as her rectangular pillow.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Trish yelped to the startled girl, and shoved the door shut in her face so she could change into her school uniform.

A short few seconds later, she raced down the hallway to breakfast, completely forgetting the mockingbird that was still asleep on her dresser, and leaving the white sash next to the bird.

~*~

Trish was so tired throughout the school day that she didn't even notice Usagi, Ami, or a mockingbird trying to get her attention until she began her trek back "home" after school. The two humans came running up to her then, with another, unfamiliar, blonde girl tagging along.

"Hello," Trish mumbled for a greeting in English and gave the three a very unenthusiastic half-wave.

"Konnichi-wa, Trish-chan!" Usagi called cheerfully as they stopped in front of her, preventing Trish from continuing on her way.

"I'm Aino Minako," greeted the new girl, whose rich blonde hair went way down her back even with a large red bow in it.

"Hello Aino-san," Trish replied in the same monotone voice as she looked for a way around them.

"Trish-chan, would you like to come to our study session today?" Ami asked immediately.

"Study session?" Trish blinked, then shook her head, "I'm not so sure…I'm so tired…"

"Please, Trish-chan!" Minako begged, surprising the pale girl with the informality, "We want you to meet the others! Rei-chan and Makoto-chan both want to meet you, even if you don't want to meet them!"

Trish was so tired that she didn't feel like arguing, "Oh, all right. But when is it?"

"Right after school, or as soon as you can get there," Ami informed her.

"I'd better go tell Nikirau-san where I am, first," Trish stated, and the other three finally let her continue walking home, but they went with her.

The pale girl would've ambled the entire way to her host family's house, but the threesome rushed her forward, making her walk quickly. By the time she had gone there and then hurried off to the shrine where the study session was taking place, she felt like she was going to fall over dead.

"Can I sleep please?" Trish mumbled as she stumbled through the doors of the Shinto shrine, aided on both sides by Ami and Minako.

"Konnichi-wa!" Usagi cried to the two girls waiting inside, and bounded through the door, nearly making Trish fall flat on her face, which she did anyway.

"Trish-chan! Are you okay?" Ami exclaimed, and bent down to help the blonde up, who feebly tried to push her away.

"Noooo, let me sleep," Trish moaned.

"Up!" Someone barked, and Trish found herself being hauled to her feet to face an angry Shinto priestess with raven black hair and deep purple eyes, "You can sleep when you go home!"

"Hai, we have important things to discuss now," Ami stated, and helped the priestess set Trish down in a sitting position. "So please stay awake."

"Gomen," Trish replied, rubbing her eyes to help wake her up more. "I was up nearly all night…" she trailed off, realizing that she probably shouldn't tell them about the flame if she didn't want to end up in an asylum, "…studying."

The priestess and a girl with dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail and green eyes both raised their eyebrows, not quite believing that. But the two blondes took it happily, while Ami had already started studying. A silence fell over the group, and Trish became uncomfortable with the feeling that the priestess was studying her.

"So, uh, hello," Trish said, trying to break the silence. "I'm Conti Trish, uh, and, um…"

"I'm Hino Rei," the priestess stated, with a bit more warmth than Trish had expected. "And she's Kino Makoto," she gestured toward the brown haired girl, and paused briefly before saying bluntly, "And you're Sailor Platos."

At that moment, Trish preformed the longest blink in history. "Excuse me?"

"Do you know anything about that shadow…thing that attacked us yesterday night?" Rei asked, almost demandingly.

"Rei-chan, I doubt she knows any more than we do," Makoto said.

"Makoto-chan is right," a new voice said, and a black cat came strolling in from the slightly ajar door.

"The-the cat…talked!" Trish squeaked, pointing wildly at the cat who was now padding towards her.

"Yes, I can speak," the cat affirmed, and Trish realized it was the same cat that had been in the mall when she noticed the moon-shaped mark on its forehead. "My name is Luna, and I'm the guardian of the Sailor Senshi."

"Sailor senshi?" Trish blinked, "You mean those girls dressed up in different colored school uniforms that helped me attack that shadow - what was its name? - Umbra last night?"

Luna and the girls nodded.

"But then…" Trish continued, and suddenly it all clicked into place, "You guys would be those girls!"

They nodded again, and Luna said, "You're one of us too, now. Though what perplexes me is why…"

"Luna-chan?" Usagi looked confused.

"Yes, Luna-chan, you said something yesterday about a 'legend'," Ami said. "What did you mean?"

The cat sighed and settled into a more comfortable position, "It's a long story, but if you want to hear it…"

The other girls, including Trish, nodded silently.

"Back when I was a young kitten, during the Silver Millennium, when you five were still toddlers," Luna began, "there was an old, silver cat who would tell stories to the young princesses and cats of the Moon Kingdom. One of his favorite tales to tell was about the Legend of the Dimension Senshi. There were four of them, each a guardian of their respective dimension, and they always showed up in times of great crisis. But in between those times, they disappeared and lost their memories, to wander among common people.

"The old cat's favorite story to tell of these four was supposedly the most recent. It was the last battle before the Silver Millennium, against a large, unthinking, but extremely destructive force. It took all of their power, and the queen at the time's, Queen Summisa, to capture the thing inside an asteroid that came past this system once every thousand years.

"I never believed these Legends to be true, especially since we saw nothing of the foursome when Queen Beryl attacked the Moon Kingdom. But they must be, because we just found the first of the four last night, and now she's sitting in front of us," Luna concluded and settled her gaze on a now beet red Trish. She soon turned a deeper shade of red as the other girls fixed their gazes on her too.

"Do you mean to say, Luna, that if they had been there during the attack of Queen Beryl, the Moon Kingdom might not have been destroyed?" Makoto asked in a voice quite close to a growl.

"What? No, I never said that," Luna replied, a bit confused.

"But it's true, isn't it?" Rei joined in, "They abandoned us when they were needed most!"

"Rei-chan," Ami tried to intervene, "There probably was a reason…"

"Why?" Minako interrupted, looking at Trish, "Why weren't you there? Did you suddenly decide we weren't good enough for you?"

"Uh, um," Trish spluttered, backing away, "I don't even know what you guys are talking about!"

"Guys," Usagi spoke up.

"And how come you appear now?" Rei continued, ignoring Usagi, "Right as a new enemy appears?"

"Yeah, how do we know you're not one of the enemy?" Makoto asked, leaning forward.

"Guys…" Usagi tried interrupting again.

"Stop it!" Trish cried, halting Rei as she was about to talk, "I don't know anything, alright?! I don't know what you're talking about, this 'Moon Kingdom' of yours! Nor do I know this Beryl lady nor do I know what in the stars that shadow…thing was! So leave me alone!"

Silence fell over the group as Trish looked at the startled faces before her, then bolted from the room. They watched as she ran down the shrine steps and disappeared from sight before breaking the silence.

"Guys," Usagi tried again, "I was trying to say that she probably didn't remember anything like us, when we first found out we were senshi."

"Wow, odango atama actually had something intelligent to say," Rei commented coldly.

"I'm disappointed in you, girls," Luna cut in before Usagi could retort. "You scared away our newest member, who probably could've helped us with this new enemy."

~*~

Trish tried to stay away from Usagi and Ami the next day as best she could, but she couldn't find any way to disappear when lunchtime came around. Not only Ami and Usagi, but also Minako and Makoto quickly found her, though, when she plopped down beneath a large tree.

"Konnichi-wa," she greeted them dully, "Are you guys going to accuse me again of not being somewhere I've never heard of?"

"No," Makoto stated.

"We're sorry about that," Minako replied. "We got carried away yesterday."

"We didn't mean to scare you away," Makoto spoke.

"Apology accepted!" Trish cried happily, and bit into her sandwich.

"Will you join us?" Usagi asked hopefully.

"It would probably help us against this new enemy to have a sixth senshi," Ami commented, and sat down next to the blonde.

"Well, I guess," Trish stated. "I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

"You have a choice," Makoto said, looking surprised. "You can help us defend this planet or you can be a normal school kid."

"I don't have much of a choice," she repeated. "Already, I'm not a normal school kid. So I'll help. Just please, don't go off on me like you guys did yesterday?"

"We won't," Ami replied, smiling.

The other three girls sat down also, and they ate their lunch peacefully. When lunch was over, Makoto and Minako went their separate ways to their own classrooms, while Trish, Usagi, and Ami strolled off to theirs. Halfway there, though, Trish had a sudden thirst, so she left the other two in search of a water fountain.

She was returning to the classroom after a futile search for a fountain when she heard a rather shrill scream followed by a girl shouting, "The shadows are alive!"

Curious, Trish peeked her head around a corner to see a very frightened teenager staring at a shadow that had icy blue eyes and looked very familiar. The blonde nearly fainted with her own fright as she ducked back around the corner, hoping Umbra hadn't seen her.

"Ah, ah, ah," she stuttered, running frantic circles in her mind as she tried to figure out what to do. Her hand came across the white stone she had left in her pocket and she took it out for a moment, gazing stupidly at it. Trish suddenly knew what to do, though, when another scream from the poor girl was cut abruptly short and she heard the thud of a body on the tile.

She held the stone up above her head and called, "Platos star power, make UP!"

After the pale flames dispersed, leaving Trish still wondering what she was doing, she found herself calling out, "I am Sailor Platos, guardian of the first dimension! For whatever reason I have to wear this extremely short skirt, I shall, um, give you a good whacking!"

Umbra laughed, "Ssstill pitiful, but I mussst admit it isss an improvement on yesssterday!"

"Why, thank you!" Platos replied, beaming, "I do try!"

"Welcome," Umbra stated, then narrowed her two blue eyes. "But I musst continue with my mission, and right now, you're in my way."

The Shadow blew out a thick blast of icy blue air, and Sailor Platos stared at it briefly before the notion of getting out of the way came to her. The white senshi dropped to her hands and knees, barely giving the air enough room to fly over her head without hindrance.

"Not nice, not nice!" Platos squeaked, scrambling to her feet. "Isn't there some sort of law saying you can't attack that fast?"

"No," Umbra returned with another blast that had Platos dropping to the floor again.

As soon as she felt the coldness pass over her head, the white senshi jumped to her feet and bolted down the hallway. She swerved around the corner and dived into a bathroom, which, conviently, had it's door propped open by a janitor. Platos peered out the door long enough to see another blast of air hit the far wall and freeze it solid.

Gently, she shut the door, and then heaved a sigh of relief as she put her back to it, eyes closed. A startled noise that sounded almost like a cough made her eyelids fly back open. A female janitor had just emerged from one of the stalls and looked rightly surprised to see a girl dressed up in a strangely colored school uniform.

"Uh, konnichi-wa," Platos called to her, and gave a halfhearted wave. "Sorry to intrude on your work and all, but I'm in a predicament."

"I'm not surprised if the principal is chasing you around for what you did to that uniform," she replied tartly, quickly regaining her composure that had been lost by the surprise.

"Uh, well, it's a bit more of a predicament then that," the white senshi coughed.

"I can't imagine why you kids do those things," the janitor muttered darkly.

"Oh, Sssenssshi!" Umbra's voice called from outside, and Platos quickly pressed back harder against the door to stop her from getting in.

"What was that?" The janitor asked curiously, and strode forward with one hand outstretched so she could see for herself.

"No!" Platos exclaimed, stopping her briefly.

"There you are!" Umbra cried as she stuck her translucent head through the door.

Platos and the janitor both gave off blood curdling screams, and the Shadow winced visibly. The white senshi continued screaming even as Umbra spotted the janitor and came all the through the door to wrap her hands around the lady's neck, causing her scream to cut off abruptly.

Meanwhile, Platos lost all of her composure and bolted down the hallway, screaming bloody murder as she went until she finally collapsed from exhaustion in front of a classroom. Curious students disobeyed their teachers to poke their heads out the door and stare at the trembling girl.

"No, no, go back into your classrooms! I've got everything under control!" Platos managed to squeak out. A few of the students began to giggle.

"I'm not ssso easssy to lossse," Umbra said, her two blue eyes suddenly appearing in front of the senshi at her own eye level.

The students promptly stopped giggling when they saw the living Shadow, and a few of the ones who had watched the news a few nights before immediately scrambled back into their classroom. Sailor Platos stifled a screech and began backing up as fast as she could on her hands and knees. Umbra grinned wickedly and grabbed her throat with both of her hands.

Platos gagged and tried to pry the Shadow's fingers off as her energy was being steadily sucked away. She gave up, but gathered up her last bit of energy.

"Cyclone inferno!" She yelled, and fired her attack at point blank range,

Umbra's eyes widened in fear, but she didn't have enough time to react. With a last hissing screech, she was consumed in flames and went up in a swirl of smoke. Platos sighed and collapsed back to the ground. All too soon, though, she felt herself being dragged back to her feet.

"Platos! Sailor Platos! Are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked, shaking her back to consciousness.

"No, not really," Platos mumbled, opening her eyes to the sight of the other Sailor Senshi, minus Mars, standing around her.

Sailor Mercury glanced around at the students still watching and whispered, "I think we'd better find a quieter place then this."

"Hai," the others agreed.

It took both Jupiter, Venus, and Moon to effectively drag Platos along until they found an empty bathroom to dump her in. Platos ripped off the white stone attached to her front bow and watched dully as her outfit turned back into the school uniform.

The others detransformed also, and then began to interrogate Trish about what had happened until Ami interrupted to tell them they should probably return to class. Grudgingly, they agreed and split their separate ways, but made the pale girl promise to come with them to the study session that afternoon.

~*~

"WHAT?!"

Atra cringed as the thundering cry echoed around the small room several times. The orange haired man' face had gone an interesting shade of red as he battled to control his growing temper after the Shadow had told him about Umbra's demise. She was dismayed too, of course, that one of her own had been defeated, but not nearly as much as he seemed to be.

"Ah, ah," he mumbled, regaining his composure. "I believe that we've underestimated these senshi." He took a deep breath and sat back down in the black stone chair, "So, maybe we should go with a different plan of gathering energy. Something…more effective. Our last attempt harbored nothing, since all the energy was returned when Umbra was so brutally murdered."

"Massster, if I may ssspeak?" Atra hissed, relieved that the man was thinking rationally and not rampaging about with his anger.

"Hai, hai, go ahead," he nodded.

"I have a plan that should produce much energy," Atra said. "Thessse humansss frequently congregate together in large groupsss. If we ssstruck fassst at one of thessse groupsss, we could obtain plenty of energy and be sssafely back before thossse sssenssshi even heard about it."

"Makes sense," the man nodded, and scratched his chin. "Well, the sooner you put this plan to good use, the better. Go ahead and send a Shadow out to this task."

"Yesss, Massster," Atra closed her single eye, then spun around to face the dark corner. "Sssportula!"

"Yesss?" A Shadow stepped forward from the corner and opened all three of her jade green eyes.

"I'm sssure you heard Massster," Atra stated. "Go quickly and try not to let thossse sssenssshi interfere!"

Sportula closed her two outer eyes in affirmation before jumping up through the hole in the roof and zooming off toward the green and blue planet.