Chapter 2

The next morning I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock buzzing. 'Darn thing,' I thought and destroyed it as it hit the wall. Lita was still asleep and didn't notice when I silently looked into her room. I left our apartment and went down the hall. It was a little too early for anyone to be up, but I bumped into a girl carrying a bundle of clothes.

"Oh! Sorry," I said.

"That's alright. Would you help me?"

"Okay, what do you need?"

"I live right down the hall and could you unlock the door for me?"

She handed me a key and pointed to a door that was not very far from where I lived with Lita.

"I don't live very far from you. Would you mind telling me your name?"

The girl stared blankly at me for a moment. "My name is uh umm..."

"You forgot your own name?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Um, no I just don't talk to many people."

"I don't talk much either."

I turned to get a better look at the girl. She was wearing black shorts and a "Save the Whales" shirt. The strangest thing was that her hair was a bluish-green color, it looked very similar to Michiru's.

"My name is Cleo."

"Nice name."

I unlocked the door and opened it for her. She put her bundle down and turned to me.

"Would you like to come in?"

"Umm...sure."

She led me into her apartment. It was filled with boxes and clothes, two more girls were inside unpacking some boxes.

"Who's your friend Cleo?" a girl with blond haired asked.

"Oh this is...you never told me your name."

"I'm Ivy Starr. I live a few doors down."

"Ivy is it? Well I'm Zoe and this is Elsie. Sari will be back in a few minutes."

Zoe was tall and she had golden hair in a braid, she looked very familiar. Elise had dark brown hair that was almost black and she had deep brown eyes.

"I'm back and who is this girl?" Sari gave me a disgusted look, she had black hair and her eyes were black.

"My name is Ivy and you must be Sari." I gave a small polite bow, which she did not return.

"Yes. Well it's nice to meet you Ivy, but I think you should go now." Sari started to push me out the door, when Elsie coughed and made a motion to stop.

"Uh, Ivy tonight we're having a small dinner party, we would be honored if you came?" Sari gave me a big fake smile; her eye started to twitch from the false kindness. I just laughed nervously.

"Sure, I have a roommate. Would you like me to bring her too?"

"The more the merrier, be here at 6:00 P.M. okay?" the fake smile got bigger.

"Alright. See you tonight." I was pushed out the door and it slammed in my face.

'I hope the library is better than this place,' I thought.

I turned to the elevator and pushed a button. The bell dinged as the doors opened and I walked in.

"Nice going Sari! You almost blew out cover!" Zoe screeched.

"I was able to recover wasn't I?" Sari replied.

"I felt something from her," Cleo spoke up. "Did anyone else feel anything?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"How are we going to throw a party tonight?" Elsie asked.

"We can handle this, we were able to find living quarters, so a dinner party won't be that bad. Besides we need to blend in more and from what I have read some Earthlings do this, when they just move to a new residence," Sari stated.

"How are we going to get food though?" Zoe complained.

Lita and Ivys' Apartment...

Slowly I pushed the door opened, the waft of Lita's sugar cookies greeted my nose as I threw my library bag on the couch and then collapsed in a chair.

"Lita! I'm home!"

My roommate popped her head out of the kitchen and smiled.

"Hey Ivy. Where were you this morning?"

"The usual, got up early, went to the library, and came home."

"Lunch is ready and I made your favorite," she grinned.

"Pizza?"

"No, salad."

"Umm...yum."

Yuck I hate salad! I swear that she does this on purpose, at least she always makes dessert. Lita and I have this little deal; if she keeps the kitchen, makes the food, and pays half the rent, then I do most of the cleaning, and the dishes. We rotate cleaning the bathroom every week. But every time I do clean a room, she says I don't do it right and she comes in and cleans everything over again.

I silently ate the salad, most of it ended up in my napkin. After we polished off a plateful of brownies, I told Lita about the dinner our new neighbors invited us to.

"What are they like?" she asked.

"Sari, she was a little rude to me. Elsie, she's pretty, Cleo, she reminds me of Michiru, and then there's Zoe, she seems to be nice."

"I'll bring some of the cookies I just made."

"Lita have you even started on the homework they assigned for the break?"

Lita sweat-dropped and put her hand behind her head. "Not really, I've been baking and doing other things."

I nearly choked on my last brownie. "Lita! You need to study or you'll get detention on Monday!"

Lita always spends her vacations cooking or cleaning the apartment. The last time I cooked, I kind of made the cookies burn. I began to clear away the dishes. Lita was off in her own world, probably dreaming about

the party and how everyone would compliment her cooking.

I have the tendency to sigh a lot and this was one of those moments. Something was going to happen; yet I had no idea what it was.

Later that night...

"Lita are you ready yet?" I called from the hall.

I glanced at the clock, it said five minutes after six.

"Ivy I'm almost finished. Let me just pack these cookies."

"Lita! They live down the hall. It's not very far! You can get there in 10 giant steps."

"I thought it was a 15," Lita stammered from the kitchen.

"If you don't come out right now I'll do the cooking for the week!"

Lita bolted from the kitchen, the cookies were in one of the small boxes she carried her lunch in.

"No offense, but I don't want you to burn the building down."

"Ha ha ha."

As we walked down the hall I noticed that Lita was wearing a somewhat fancy dress. Compared to my shorts and T-shirt I looked a little plain. When we reached the apartment, I didn't have to knock on the door, instead it flew and Sari hustled us in.

"Hi Ivy! Who is your friend? Oh, you brought some cookies let me take those for you. Elsie, Zoe, and Cleo are in the other room." Sari disappeared into the kitchen with the box of cookies.

"Is this the girl who was rude to you earlier?" Lita asked, while raising an eyebrow

"She could have been in a bad mood or maybe she took peppy pills."

We walked into the living room, which earlier had been covered in boxes, but now was clean as a whistle. I sat down by Cleo and Zoe, while Lita sat by Elsie and they started talking.

"Looks like those two hit it off," Cleo said.

"Yeah, if I'm lucky I won't have to hear about a cute guy she saw today," I replied.

Zoe turned away from Lita and Elsie and spoke to me. "Ivy do you like to fight?"

"Fight? Do you mean the martial arts?" I asked.

Lita heard the world martial arts. "Ivy's a champion. Other than school it's the only thing she does."

"Lita!" I warned.

Zoe's eyes started to glisten. "You're a champion?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Zoe!" Cleo sounded really mad, "I can't believe you would want to challenge someone already!"

"Its alright Cleo. I wouldn't mind sparring a little, it could give me something to do."

"Oh really Ivy?" Zoe smiled, "Then I challenge you to a fight."

"Ivy. Zoe. Please. Can't this wait till later?" Cleo pleaded.

"Alright Cleo. Zoe and I can finish this tomorrow at the gym. I'll give Zoe directions and she can meet me there tomorrow morning."

It seemed the night ahead of me was going to be a long one and I don't think the dinner was going to be any good either, since smoke was billowing out of the kitchen.

The next day at the gym...

It had been a while since I had stepped foot in the gym I belonged too. I slipped into my training clothes and stepped into an empty room. Blue mats covered the floors, I stepped onto one, and it sagged as I walked to the center of the mat. My legs automatically crouched into a starting pose and then I was off. I did one of the practice routines I had been doing since I had learned karate at the age of ten.

My teacher came in and watched, I didn't really notice him until he coughed. I was in midair, my concentration was broken and I fell to the ground.

"Sorry about that Ivy," he said. He ran over and helped me up.

"It's alright. I'm just practicing for a match someone challenged me to today, so I just did a few warm ups."

"Yes, you have a special gift for the martial arts. I am surprised it only took you only a few years to win the blackbelt. Others have to take years of classes before they earn the last belt."

I blushed. "I thank you then Fukuyama-sensei." I bowed to my teacher.

"Ivy! Please, you are on equal grounds with me. I though you didn't like to bow, anyway."

"Sorry, I'll remember that."

"So, my student, who is brave enough to challenge you?" He asked with a sly smile.

I blushed again. "Her name is Zoe. She's about as tall as my friend Mina and she has blonde hair in a braid."

"I wish both of you luck. Tell me what happens."

My teacher walked out the door. He probably thinks I'll win. I have lost many matches throughout the years, but most of the time I have come out on the top. I have had to stop training for awhile, since school was getting harder and I needed the good grades to transfer a school in Nerima. My studying has made me an honor student, I am but not as smart as Ami. My thoughts were interrupted as Zoe came into the gym.

"Are you ready to fight Ivy?" Zoe was already in a training outfit that was different from anything I had seen before.

"I am. Shall we begin?"

"Anytime."

"Hold it you two!" Lita yelled from the doorway. She was also a martial arts student, but this time her uniform wasn't on.

"Shouldn't you be doing homework?" I asked.

"You need a judge and I'm here. We'll begin with the basic match of three rounds. Winner of 2 or 3 is the champion. Bow to each other and begin."

"That is no excuse!" I yelled.

Zoe and I bowed. She started off with the basic kick, which I easily dodged. I did a back flip and punched her. Zoe was a little surprised, but she got me back with another punch. She then tried another kick, which I caught and let her leg drop.

She came at me and was about to jab me in the stomach with her elbow, when I jumped over her head and hit her on her blindside. There still were a few tricks up my sleeves. She tried to push me to the ground, but I dodged and kicked her in the shoulder and she fell.

"Match one. Winner Ivy. Take your positions. Now!" Lita was having fun being the judge. The rest of the match was pretty thrilling. Zoe was pretty good, she won the next round. On the final round it was a little close, but I beat her. She was getting a little smug, she had me pinned to the ground, but just as she was about to punch me I grabbed her hand, swung her over my head and threw her to the ground. She didn't get up.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She got up gruffly and left. I heard her say, "How could I be beaten? How could I?"

The thing that really startled me was that a few of her positions reminded me of Sailor Zeus. I was once told that martial arts moves can be like fingerprints, if that was correct, then Zoe had to be Sailor Zeus.

Spaceship...

"Hades! Where are you?" Cronus was running down the hall of the spaceship. She wore a dark blue fuku. Her two bows were a dark army green and her slippers were dark blue. Her weapon was scythe, similar to the one Father Time carried and her eyes were a dark army green that were as blank as a clear sky.

A voice yelled from a room with an open door. "What do you want Cronus? I'm busy!" A head with blood red hair poked out from the door. She wore a blood red fuku with black bows and red ballet slippers were on her feet. The eyes she owned were dark blood red and they could have scared death in its tracks.

"I was just looking for you. Selene wants us to go down and mingle with the Earthlings, like she has."

"I don't see why we have to mingle with such a primitive species. Is anyone else coming?"

"Yes, Aphrodite and Hermes are assigned to come with is."

"Not those two! I do not want them ruing our plans, Cronus," Hades complained.

"We have our own plan Hades, so don't worry," Aphrodite joined the conversation.

She had very pale blonde hair that was almost white. Her fuku was pink with red bows, she wore pink high heels and she carried a hand mirror of tarnished red and gold. It had precious stones encrusted around the glass. Her eyes were almost pink and they were filled with vanity.

"Oh you do, my friend," asked Hades, "When we get to this Tokyo, we will split up. That way we won't have to deal with each other."

"I couldn't have said it better Hades," Aphrodite giggled.

"Actually we can't do that, Selene said that we have to stay together," Cronus stated.

The Sailor Senshi groaned, Hades and Aphrodite started to stare at the other one.

"Are you three going to chat all day?" Hermes leaned on the doorframe. She wore a sky blue fuku, the bows were golden yellow and she wore gold winged sandals. She carried the Caduceus (Picture the medical sign) in her hand. Her eyes sparkled and they were light blue and her hair was blonde, short, and prim.

"Hermes, we should leave these two to their staring contest," Cronus grinned.

"What!" Aphrodite and Hades yelled.

"Just playing with your minds, let's get to the transporter and end this stupid mission."

Cronus went down the hall with Hermes, the other two ran behind them.