Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of the Past ❯ The Dead Come Back ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

I don't own many of these characters. The ones I don't are owned by Naoko
Takeuchi and countless others. The ones I do, I can only say one thing about
them. At least tell me if you want to use them (riiiiiiiight... you just keep
thinking that, M.H.) and put some sort of thing in the story somewhere saying
that I created the character. But anyway...

Shadows From the Past
by: M. H. Torringjan

Part six: The Dead Come Back

The next morning, Raye was awake before the rest of the house. She felt
hungry, but thought that it was a bad idea to eat before the Tsukino family.
She figured that she could wait for a while.
After waiting for about a half hour, she got fed up. Of course, she was
awake at six in the morning. She decided to make breakfast for everyone.
Raye went into the kitchen and, trying not to make enough noise to wake
the rest of the house, got out some pans and pots. In the fridge, she found
the ingredients she needed: eggs and cheese and a little bit of meat. She took
a look in the cupboard to find some spices that would make her food taste
better.
Within ten minutes, Raye had two omelets laying on a plate on the dining
table. She was surprised that she hadn't woken any of the Tsukinos up with all
the noise she had made. If they didn't get up soon, she would have to eat the
food by herself, and Serena wouldn't have forgiven her for that.
Soon after she had finished, Mr. Tsukino came downstairs, dressed for
work.
"Good morning, Mr. Tsukino," Raye greeted.
"Hello, Sere..." Mr. Tsukino said without seeing who he was talking to.
He looked at Raye for a moment as she stood at the stove. "Oh, sorry Raye. You
get used to only having one girl around the house after about fourteen years. I
was wondering how Serena could be up this early and cooking without burning or
breaking something. What are you cooking?" He looked at the table and noticed
the omelets laying on it. "Oh, you didn't have to do that."
"It's the least I can do for your hospitality," Raye said. "Besides that,
I was the first one up. I decided to do something productive with my time."
She pulled the chair out from under the table for Mr. Tsukino to sit down. He
began eating greedily as Raye returned to the stove.
About another fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Tsukino came down the stairs to
the sight of Raye cooking and Mr. Tsukino eating. Mrs. Tsukino decided not to
ask questions and sat down to join Mr. Tsukino. They really liked Raye's
cooking, and Raye thought that she sensed a little bit of jealousy coming from
Mrs. Tsukino.
Raye stopped cooking only long enough to eat an omelet for herself. She
was surprised to see Serena come down at seven o'clock. It was a bit early for
Serena, Raye thought, since Serena was yawning all the way to the table. She
only noticed the omelets as she sat down. She began eating as quickly as she
could.
"This is really good, Mom," Serena said in awe.
"Well, you have Raye to thank for it," Mrs. Tsukino said. "She cooked up
all this with no help."
"Good going, Raye!" Serena said. "I've never had your cooking, but it's
good!" She looked up at the clock. "Oh, no! I'm late!" Serena rushed out the
door at a cheetah's pace and raced down the street. Raye realized that if
Serena was late, then she was late, too! And she didn't even have her uniform
on!
She grabbed her uniform out of her bag and raced up to Serena's room,
where Luna was trying to get some sleep. She had her uniform on and was out the
door in record time for the Tsukino house. She hoped to everything holy that
she would get there on time. "Well," she thought, "If Serena can do it, so can
I!" She rushed down the street faster than Serena had trying not to run anyone
over.

"All right!" Rubeus exclaimed as the Juggernaut came out of the remodeling
chamber. It now had giant legs and feet to walk on instead of wheels. That
would make it even harder to beat! It could do anything that Rubeus could ever
want it to, including destroy the Sailor Scouts!
It also had a jet pack on its back, giving it the ability to fly. Rubeus
had given it infrared sight so that it could track anything that registered heat
within a mile of its position. It seemed eager to do whatever Rubeus commanded
it to, but it needed to be recharged first. That would take a couple of hours,
considering the size of the Droid.
There would only be one problem. The Scouts had their whole party
together, so they had a chance to beat the Juggernaut. He hoped that they
wouldn't be able to piece the puzzle together. He watched the Juggernaut as it
walked through the door to the recharging chamber. Maybe he shouldn't have put
that symbol on its back.
The next target would be the artist, Loni Lenai. She would be easy enough
to get, and there would be added mayhem because the attack had been scheduled
for the time that she was holding an exhibition for charity. The other people
there would be terrified out of their checkbooks!

Raye arrived a school with only a couple of seconds to spare. She sat
down at her desk to catch her breath, and Jessica came over to check on her.
"What happened to you?" she asked, noticing Raye's breathlessness.
"My friend lives too far away," Raye answered back.
"'Scuze me?" Jessica said.
"You heard what happened to the Temple?" she said.
"Yeah. Rough luck, eh? Sorry about that."
"Oh, don't be. I've got a place to stay, and it's so far away from here
that it's not even funny. I had to run at light speed and a half to get here
even close to being on time. It might have helped if I hadn't cooked for them."
"Yeah, I think. Well, you got here on time, so be glad. I bet you're
hating those Sailor Scouts right about now."
"What?"
"The police are saying that from what they got from witnesses, the Sailor
Scouts demolished the Temple during a fight."
"No, I hadn't heard that. I really don't think that it was the Scouts'
fault. It was probably the monster's."
"Yeah, you just keep thinking what you want. The Sailor Scouts have gone
too far this time, destroying a sacred place like that. We should get them,
their monster, and everyone who knows them and lock them all away." Raye was
glad that the bell rang at that moment, because she was sure that if Jessica had
gone any further, she would have tried to strangle her.

Later that day, in the park, the three guardians held a meeting. Luna and
Artemis sat together across from Rigel on a bench. They only talked when people
weren't close enough to hear them. Luna was worried about the situation with
Raye.
"Let's be serious about this for a moment," Luna said. "The Droids are
increasing in toughness, and this one right now is the first one that we've met
that we couldn't beat. We need some major help, and I think I know where we're
going to find it. You all remember that power that we can only use once per
lifetime?"
"The Moon Resurrection?" Rigel confirmed in a fearful voice.
"That's it," Luna said.
"You mean that matters have really gotten that bad?" Artemis asked. "I
mean, there's got to be another answer. Wait a minute, why would we need to use
it?"
"Raye told me about her newest visions, and she explained that the symbol
on the back of the Droid looked like a bauble that her mother owned. I can only
come to the conclusion that the bauble has some power that will help us. That
is why we should use it."
"But don't you think that we should save it up just in case we need it for
something else?" Rigel asked.
"Let me put it in ways that even you, lowly dog, may understand it.
Unless we use this, there won't be a something else. We'll be dead at the hands
of the combined power of this Droid and the Super Shadow Warrior."
"Crap," Rigel said, completely understanding the repercussions of the
situation. "Who wants to tell them?"
"I'll tell Mina," Artemis said.
"Then, I'll take Raye," Luna said.
"I'll tell the four at Crossroads. I always check in with Michael
anyway," Rigel said. "How long does Central Control say that we have
until the Droid returns?"
"It hasn't even spotted the Droid yet" Artemis answered. He was usually
the one who communicated with Central Control. "We've got plenty of time to
prepare them."

"Serena, pay attention!" Ms. Haruna said as she taught the Japanese class.
"You haven't gotten one answer right today. That isn't really unusual, but it's
extremely disappointing. You need to pay more attention in class, or I'll send
you to the administrator's office."
"Sorry, Ms. H, but I was up late last night trying to study for today's
lesson. It's not as easy as you might think." Serena sat up in her seat as she
said this, not realizing what she was saying.
"Well, Serena, if you really tried, I'll try and make it easier," Ms. H
said. Serena couldn't believe that she was hearing that from her teacher. She
decided to take advantage of the mood and try to get her math homework easier.
"Don't push your luck, Serena. I could just set it all back to normal." Serena
shut her mouth before it could say anything else. Ms. Haruna must have gone on
another date last night, or else she wouldn't have been this way.
Ms. Haruna was in such a good mood that she let the class out for lunch a
few minutes early. Michael, who had been moved to the back of the room upon
Amy's return, commented on this.
"Maybe she's been taken over by the Negaverse," he mused with a laugh. He
sat down with Serena and Amy while they waited for Lita to emerge from the
school house. "So, Amy, what's it like being taken over by the Negaverse?"
Amy's expression drooped notably at the question. "You have no feelings,
no mercy, no friends, only enemies. You think that everyone is out to get you.
You feel no love at all. That was the worst part of it. I saw Greg and the
others tortured, and I liked it. I acted like I was on their side. I would..."
She began to cry.
"I'm sorry, Amy. I didn't know that it was that painful to remember,"
Michael said under the warning gaze of Serena. "Let's try another subject. Why
are all these people being captured?"
Amy tried to contain her tears, but she failed miserably. Serena took the
liberty of explaining the problem to Michael. "The people who are being
kidnapped were the ones who carried the parts of the Imperium Silver Crystal.
If the Negaverse gets all of them, they'll get this big critter called the Super
Shadow Warrior. We were able to stop them once before, but now, they've got an
advantage over us. We should be able to take them out before they take the
final two, but if they get those final two, we're dead meat."
"You should have more faith in your powers," Rigel said from his customary
hiding spot in the bushes.
"Why do you always hide there, Rigel?" Serena asked.
"Take a look in here and see," Rigel replied, withdrawing into his cubby
hole. Serena poked her head in to see what there was to make that place so
desirable. When she withdrew her head, she had an astonished look on her face.
"What's in there?" Amy asked between sniffles.
"He's got a mini TV, a mini fridge, a pad for laying on, and a mini
entertainment system with everything," Serena replied, unable to wipe the stupor
from her face. "Leave it to a dog..."
"Man, Rigel, you've been holding out on us," Michael said, effecting
offense. "Actually, I'd have expected it from Artemis, from what Mina's told
us."
"Do you blame me?" Rigel asked. "I knew that if you knew, you'd take it
from me. But anyway, I have something extremely important to talk to you all
about. You are all ready to know about this, so where's Lita?"
"Here I am, Rigel," Lita said from where she was coming towards the group.
"What's up? Is the Droid back?"
"No, not yet. What I need to talk about is another power that you have.
It's a combo for the whole group called the Moon Resurrection."
"Really?" Lita asked, her ears perking up at the mention of the word
"resurrection."
"Yes. We have some problems with this power, though. It is extremely
dangerous, and you only have a ten percent chance of living."
"Don't listen to him on the ten percent" Michael said skeptically. "He
just grabs random numbers out of mid-air."
"Whatever, Mike. Anyway, you can also only use this power once in your
lifetime. You don't have enough spirit stuff to support you after two uses, and
you supposedly die after a long, painful disease."
"Thanks, and right after we ate," Lita said. Rigel shot a dangerous
glance her way.
"I think that we should be serious about this. We need to know if you
feel right using this power, because you can't do it again."
"I think so, but why are we using this?" Michael asked.
"Raye has a clue that we think can help us defeat the Droid. If any of
you noticed the symbol on the back of the Droid, it looked like a trinket once
owned by Raye's mother. We think that it can help us. But the snag is, Raye's
mother is dead, as most of you know. We have to use the power to bring Raye's
mother back. We then use the item on this Droid. If we do it, we'll do it
after school today at Serena's house."
"Makes sense," Serena said.
"I'm in," Amy said.
Lita paused but agreed. She had hoped that when she had first heard the
power explained that they would be able to use it to revive her parents. They
had died when she was a child, leaving her with relatives until she moved out on
her own.
"All right, then I'll find Mina and Raye to tell them," Rigel said as he
left the school yard.
"All right, you guys, so when do you think that this thing's coming for
us?" Lita said, changing the subject. Amy had stopped crying by then, and she
wasn't interested in talking about the Negaverse in any way.
"Do you think that we could talk about something else?" she asked.
"Okay," Michael said, realizing that she meant another subject completely.
"Have any of you seen that movie, 'Night On the Moon'?" None of them had.
"What? Y'all are like the only ones in the city. I went to see it last night
with Mina, and we loved it! That movie is so awesome! The computer graphics
are so good! You can't even tell that they're computer-made, most of the time!"
"Okay, so what about the plot?" Serena asked.
"It's pretty good." Michael went on to tell them about the movie, and
then offered to take the lot of them when he took Mina again. "The only problem
was that Mina came out of the theatre crying."
"It's a tragedy?" Amy asked.
"What do you expect with the ship going down and almost everyone on board
dying?" Lita asked. Amy saw her point.

"Mina, I've got to talk to you," Artemis said from the bushes, watching
her eat her lunch. "You remember the Droid that we fought last night? How
tough it was? Well, we think that we've found out how to beat it, but we only
have one shot at it."
"Cool! I don't care what the risks are, we've got to get rid of that
thing," Mina exclaimed. "What's the plan?"
"We have a special power involving all the Scouts, but it can only be done
once per lifetime. It doesn't have a high survival rate, either. You still
in?"
"Didn't I just say that I didn't mind the risks? If it'll save us, then
I'm doing it."
"All right. It's called the Moon Resurrection, and it's going to be used
to bring back Raye's mother from the dead so that she can help us, at least we
think that she can help us."
"All right! I finally get to meet Raye's mom. And for that matter, she
gets to meet her. I wonder what her mom'll say when she finds out that she's
been dead for ten years. Wait a minute, if she's been dead for ten years or so,
then won't the body be a bit decomposed?"
"Nope. The Moon Resurrection makes any necessary repairs to the body so
that it's as if it never died. The worst thing about it will be the bad case of
disorientation. We're going to meet after school at Serena's house so that we
can do the deed."
Mina watched as Artemis retreated into the hedge as one of her friends
approached. She decided to join them in their offer of a game of kickball
before the final bell.

Across town at Raye's school, she sat in her class, being bored to death.
She hated English class; did she care about how Americans spent their free time?
She looked at the window and saw Luna trying to get her to come outside. Raye
raised her hand.
"Ma'am, can I go to the bathroom?" she asked politely.
"Is it an emergency?" the teacher asked.
"As a matter of fact, it is," Raye lied. She walked out of the room to
the entrance, where she let Luna inside. "What's up, Luna?"
"You remember that discussion that we had last night?" Luna said. She
looked somber, but her voice betrayed her steady visage.
"Yes. What did you mean by 'getting her to give us the bauble?'" Raye
asked.
"I've got some good news about that. We have decided to use our single
use power, the Moon Resurrection to help your mother." Raye almost burst out
with happiness when she heard that, but she restricted herself to hugging Luna.
"Oh, thank you, Luna, you don't know how much this means to me."
"Remember that we're not doing it only for you, but also to help save us."
Raye nodded. "Good. Now, we're going to meet this afternoon in Serena's house,
her back yard to be exact, so that we can work our magic.
"Well, that's about it. You can go back to class now."
"Thank you, Luna! Thank the others for me, too!" Raye said as she began
to head back towards her class. Luna wandered out of the school, wondering if
Raye would be able to figure out some sort of excuse to account for a woman who
has been dead for ten years suddenly coming back to civilization.

"Rigel, you've got to work fast! The Droid's back and it's changed!"
Rigel listened as Central Control made a report of their observations. He would
have to work fast if he was to get the Scouts to do this. They would be getting
out of school soon, so they would be at Serena's house soon.
"When will it get here?" Rigel asked.
"At approximately seven o'clock," the reporter for Central said. "You
have to get them to work now if they're going to be ready!"
"But they won't be back to full power any time today if they do the
Resurrection today," Rigel complained. "If we combat it at, say, half power,
what do you think it'll do to us?"
"Point taken, but look at it this way, would you rather have it destroying
the city or just have the Carrier taken?"
"We have to protect the Scouts, or else the future goes with them!"
"Look, man, it's your job here. Just work with us."
"All right, but how do you propose to save the Scouts from injury?"
"They'll be all right, but if anything drastic happens, send them here.
We'll send you a transporter unit for them." A small black box appeared in
front of Rigel, who took it gratefully.
"Thank you, Central. I'm out." Rigel turned the communicator unit off
before walking away with the transporter unit in his subspace pocket.

That afternoon, Serena's parents had gone out for dinner, leaving the
house at the mercy of Serena, Raye, Rini, and Sammy. Sammy had decided to go
out to the store, so that only left Rini to be dealt with. Luckily, she chose
that night to insist that Serena give her the Imperium Silver Crystal. She
began the process by approaching with a very scared-looking Luna in her hands.
"All right, give me the Imperium Silver Crystal, or the cat gets it," Rini
said with a glint of mischief in her eyes.
"Rini, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't have it!" Serena
yelled. "Now, let my cat go, you little twirp!"
"I want the crystal!" Rini yelled.
"She doesn't have it!" Raye yelled from the entrance of the room, where
she had witnessed the entire scene. "Now, I want you to go away, *after*
putting the cat down, and think about what you did." Rini had more respect for
Raye, so she put Luna down and went to her room.
"Wow, Raye, where did you learn to handle kids like that?" Serena asked.
"I just use what I remember from when I was a kid. It sort of comes
naturally."
"Well, you are sort of the authority figure at times." At that time, the
door bell rang. It was the others, who were ready for action. Raye got excited
when they all walked in, she was ready to see her mother.
"All right, everyone," Luna said. "Let's go out back." They went to the
back yard for enough room to perform their power. After a quick check for
eavesdroppers, Artemis told them that it was safe to transform. A moment later,
a group of very eager Sailor Scouts stood in the middle of the yard.

Rini watched from the window of her room as Serena and her friends
transformed. She wasn't surprised. She had seen them do it before. She just
wished that Serena would drop the act and just give her the Imperium Silver
Crystal. She so wanted to save her mother. She needed the Silver Crystal for
that, and Serena wouldn't give it to her. She tried to hold the tears back, but
they wouldn't be contained. She cried to herself as she watched the Sailor
Scouts go about their business, getting arranged for something. Something big.

"All right, we're ready," Artemis said. "Say your different
transformation calls, then Moon, you say, 'Resurrect!' as loud as you can.
Everyone, think of Raye's mother while we do this. Okay, go!"
"Europa Star Power!" A purple energy trail came from Europa's chest,
stopping in the middle of the circle.
"Venus Star Power!" An orange trail joined the purple one from Europa.
"Jupiter Star Power!" A green trail followed the other two.
"Mars Star Power!" A red trail.
"Mercury Star Power!" A blue trail.
"Moon Crystal Power! Resurrect!" A pink trail entered the pack.
A bright flash of light came from the center, where the trails had met,
and a large figure of light appeared in the center. The output of energy nearly
threw the Scouts out of position, but they were able to keep their balances. If
they had been knocked away, their labor would have been for naught.
Soon, the figure of light began to get some matter to it. Moon had begun
to feel the effects of the exertion. She had to fight to stand upright.
"Hold it together, Scouts!" Moon heard Luna call from the hiding place of
the guardians.
"Be strong, my daughter," Moon thought that she heard the voice of Queen
Serenity say. Mars heard the same thing from another source, the figure that
was in the center of the circle. It was just their imagination, though.
After a couple of minutes, the other Scouts were beginning to feel the
effects of the activity. They didn't have much left, but it wasn't very much
longer until the activity would be complete. Mars didn't look like faltering
for another couple of hours.
"Maybe we should have gotten her to do it alone," Rigel joked.
"No, you have to have all the Scouts for it to work," Luna said. "How
much longer does it have?"
"Not much longer," Artemis said nervously. "I don't think that the other
Scouts will last that long, except for Sailor Moon, maybe. It's ironic that we
finally found something that Moon can do better, and she can only do it once."
The figure in the center of the Scouts was almost solid, and she was well
on her way to life. Mars had closed her eyes as the magic had begun, and she
now opened her eyes to the sight of her mother almost back. She could hardly
contain herself, but she knew that she would have to if she was to attain the
goal of that night's exertions.
The action finished, and the Scouts all slumped to the ground. All except
for Mars, who was looking at her mother with teary eyes. She rushed over to her
mother, who was looking around, bewildered by her surroundings. She embraced
her mother, something that she had wanted to do for a long time.
The woman was a little bit taller than Mars, had brown hair, about the
shade of Lita's hair, blue eyes, and a kind look on her face. She was wearing
the same thing that she had been wearing on the day that she had been killed.
Her name was Jennifer Hino.
"Excuse me, but who are you and why are you hugging me?" she asked.
Raye looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes. "Don't you recognize
me? I'm your daughter, Raye."
"You can't be my daughter. My daughter was just born! You're at least fourteen."
"Mom, I am Raye. I have some shocking news. What is the last thing that
you remember before you were here?"
"I was in the hospital room. I closed my eyes, and that's the last thing
I remember. I don't know how I could have gotten here from there. Then, of
course, I am here, so there must have been a way."
"Well, not exactly. You died in the hospital after giving birth to me.
We, the Sailor Scouts, have just revived you because we need your help." Mars
finally reverted to her teenager form. Her mother saw the girls who stood in
front of her, and her mouth dropped as wide as a frog's mouth.
"You look like Raye, but..." She stopped for a moment to think again.
"You are Raye, aren't you? Why did you bring me back?"
"We need your little magic charm from you, or we're going to get our faces
rearranged by this big monster."
"Why are you being chased by a monster?" Jennifer asked.
"Like I said, we're the defenders of this planet from the forces of evil,
and they've got a big monster that can beat us. The only thing that'll save us
is your charm."
"Imagine, my daughter a super-heroine. What is this magic charm you're
looking for?" Jennifer asked
"It's the ruby necklace that you're wearing," Mars replied.
"What, this old thing?" Jennifer said, taking off her necklace and handing
it to Raye. Luna and Artemis came out, followed by Rigel, and they approached
Jennifer.
"Thank you, Miss Hino," Luna said.
"A talking cat? Are you sure that I'm not dead?" Jennifer asked.
"Yes. They're our friends and guardians. They brought us together and
trained us with our powers. Since you know our secret, we'll have to make you
swear to secrecy."
"Of course! Anything for my little girl." Raye blushed. Two minutes
alive, and she was already humiliating her daughter in front of her friends.
"Is there anything else that I can do to help?"
"Not really," Rigel said, "It's just that we needed the jewel, and you
were the one who had it. We had to bring you back to life to get it. Now, we
have to go! There's a Droid whose butt we've got to kick!"
"Wait a minute! I don't even know how to use this thing!" Raye said.
"And what about the others?"
"You'll be fine on your own with it! That's the Mars Crystal, a special
item that only you can use."
"How??"
"It's just like your regular transformation stick! Just say, 'Mars Power
Transformation,' and you'll be Mars, but stronger."
"Cool! Mom, can you stay here and take care of my friends while I dispose
of this giant Juggernaut?"
"Of course!" Jennifer said, sitting down under a tree. She couldn't wait
to see her father and her husband.

Raye and the three guardians arrived at the site of where the Droid would
show up and sat in waiting for the portal to open. Soon, the portal started to
appear in the middle of thin air. Raye prepared to receive her new powers.
"Mars Power Transformation!" she called out as the Droid came out of the
portal. She was surrounded by fire with the strength of ten times the original
transformation. She was first dressed in her normal fuku of red and purple.
Then, she got some gauntlets, leg guards, a breastplate, and the rest to make a
full suit of armor. The armor was made out of steel, studded with rubies and
red sapphires. At her side was a sword of tempered iron with a hilt of gold.
"Whoah! I like this new transformation," Mars called to the guardians. "What
are my new powers?"
"Mars Explosion, Blast!" Artemis called out. Mars mimicked the call, and
a giant explosion happened under the Juggernaut, who hadn't even noticed her
before. He was only interested in the Carrier. It broke the wall of the
building which contained the art exhibition and grabbed Loni Lenai. It pointed
its finger at her, and a beam shot out of the finger. Loni disappeared in a
second. The Juggernaut realized the danger that it was in when it felt the
second explosion rock its outer hull. It had been blown on its back and was
trying to get up when the third explosion rocked it.
After that, it got seriously ticked off. It pointed its finger and shot a
blast of ice water at Mars. Mars was able to escape the brunt of the blast, but
she got a knick by the rubble that was sent flying when the blast broke the
sidewalk. She was only slightly slowed down by the weight of the armor, but
that was enough for the Juggernaut to catch her and pin her to the ground.
"Mars! Call out, Fire Armor, Sear!" Rigel called from the place that the
guardians had taken.
"Fire Armor, Sear!" Mars yelled.
The surface of the armor became as hot as molten lava, but Mars didn't
feel a thing inside it. The Droid, however, felt it very painfully. The foot
that it was using to hold her down was melted off by the armor's heat. In
response, it took a shot at her with its cannon in the holster at its side. The
shot that came out of it was a larger version of Mars' explosion attack which
could be aimed. Mars froze in fear in front of the fireball. As the fireball
passed over her, she felt no pain.
"Luna, why didn't I just get burnt to a crisp?" Mars asked.
"Your armor gives you protection from the element which it represents,"
Luna said. "That is true for all the crystals."
"There's other ones, then?" Mars asked.
"Of course! Why would one planet have something that another would need
just as badly? Each Scout has one."
"All right!" Juggernaut took advantage of the pause in Mars' action to do
some attacks of his own. He used his jets to fly up into the air so that he
could get a good aim at stomping Mars flat. About halfway up, he ran out of
energy and fell to the ground. His impact caused the ground to shake so
violently that a couple of buildings in the vicinity fell to the ground.
"Mars, do your finishing move, the Sword of Spirit!"
"Sword, I lend you the power to defeat the enemy which I face now," Mars
said, drawing the sword. She ran towards the still form of the Droid and
plunged it into the body where she thought that the central power source would
be. The Droid began to disintegrate almost immediately, and was gone in a
couple of moments.
"Mars, you did it!" Luna called out as the three guardians approached.
"And you didn't even need the others!"
"I would have liked to have had them here, though," Mars said. She
decided to return to Serena's house dressed as she was. She wanted to show off
to the others, including her mother.

"DAMN!" Rubues yelled in rage. "It never fails! Those Scouts always get
the upper hand on me whenever I'm beating them! For once, I'd like to kill
them, but then, once would be all that I'd need. Unless, of course, they've got
another trump up their sleeves like that resurrection power." He would need to
work hard to get that final Carrier. He didn't know what his next move would
be, but he knew that it would sting so badly.
He heard the Carriers in the prisoner room yelling to get out, to be saved
by someone. He didn't care what they did. He considered torturing them for a
while to let some of his anger off. There was only the priest to capture last.
Unless the Scouts interfered, which they probably would, that would be an easy
catch.

"So, what does it feel like to have a second chance at life?" Michael
asked Jennifer as they waited for Raye to return. Everyone had woken up and
were trying to rest up from the exertions of the afternoon.
"I feel like singing. It almost makes me want to become religious or
something," Jennifer responded.
"I don't know if you'll have a choice," Lita said. "Raye lives at the
Hikawa Shrine, or at least, she did before it was demolished."
"Someone demolished a Shrine?" Jennifer asked. "Isn't there a law or
something against that?"
"Not when the Negaverse destroys it," Mina said, sitting next to Michael.
"So, what do you want to do when we're through here?"
"Maybe we can go to the museum or something," Michael answered.
"I don't know if I've got the energy for that," Mina said. "Maybe rent a
movie."
"Yeah, then we can watch it at my place," Michael said. "My parents don't
mind girls over, as long as they're there."
"Wait a minute, where will Miss Hino stay if Serena's parents are already
pushed for space?" Amy asked.
"That's a good question. Lita, can you handle that one?" Michael asked.
"You're the only one of us who has no parents to ask questions about it, and
you've got plenty of room in that apartment." Michael didn't realize that what
he had said hurt Lita's feelings, but then, she didn't show it.
"Sure, I don't mind. Someone else's mom is really good company," Lita
said in a tone that bordered on bitterness.
"Good." What Lita had said hadn't registered with Michael, so he went on
with his business. "Where do you think that Raye is? I would have thought that
she would have been back by now with all the hype of how powerful this bauble
is."
"Well, she could be dead," Amy said. "The power rating of the crystal was
only a theory, so we might have been wrong and Raye could have gotten
massacred."
"Hope for the best," Mina said. They heard something in the tree, and
they looked up to see what looked like Mars in armor sitting on a tree branch,
swinging her leg loosely.
"Hey, you guys, how do you like the new suit?" she asked as she jumped
from the tree.
"Hey, now you be careful jumping out of trees like that," Jennifer
scolded.
"Mother, I am fully capable of taking care of myself," Mars said,
reverting to her original form. Raye looked somehow more mature now that she
had the crystal on.
"Wow, Raye!" Serena mused, "I want something like what you've got!"
"You can have one," Rigel said as he and the cats caught up with Mars.
"We've just got to find it. All of you have one, it's just hidden somewhere
around the world. We'll have to find them later after we've taken out these
Droids and Rubeus."
"Cool! You mean I've got armor like that? That looks so cool!" Serena
exclaimed.
"Yes, but I'd just like to remind you that it's not just for looks," Luna
said. "Has anything that we've given you since the beginning been for looks
only?"
"The Luna pen," Serena said. "It changes your looks."
"That's not the point," Luna said, slightly annoyed. "Your armor has your
strongest powers, well, almost your strongest, but that's not the point. Raye
just trashed that giant Droid all by herself, and she almost had fun doing it."
Serena heard the front door of her house open and close. Her parents were
home.
"Uh, oh," Serena said nervously. "Everybody scatter! Raye and I promised
that we wouldn't have friends over, and if my parents find you out here, they'll
probably throw Raye out, and then ground me." Everybody sensed that Serena was
telling the truth, and they hid just as Serena's parents went outside to see
what Serena was doing.
Everyone was able to find a convenient exit, and they went about their
business. Mina and Michael followed out with their plan to rent a movie, and
Lita went to get Ms. Hino set up in her apartment. Amy went home to do her
homework. Serena and Raye both sat down to do homework, forced to do so by Mr.
and Mrs. Tsukino. Rini had gotten her revenge on Serena while she had been
outside by trashing her room. Serena dragged her in the room and made her clean
it up again.
Serena finally went to sleep at about ten o'clock that night. She had
stayed up later than she had intended to. She would probably be late for school
and Raye's cooking the next morning. She didn't like that idea. Much.
She was only slightly jealous about Raye's new powers, but she thought
that she would get over it when she finally got her own. Her final waking
thought was of how Raye's mom would change the proceedings of the Scouts.

End of Part six

Coming next: The Mother's Touch

Well, how'd you like it? E-mail me at: jmh6187@uncwil.edu. Only three
more chapters to go!