It was a relaxing
afternoon on planet Mars as Princess Cipher of Clio and princess Enyo of Mars
decided to spend it in the garden brushing and styling each other’s hair.
Enyo’s royal guardians, Phobos and Deimos, accompanied the two princesses.
“Your hair is so pretty,”
Princess Cipher said as she took the obsidian brush and ran the bristles
through princess Enyo’s long glossy black hair. “It shines like the stars and
is as smooth as the finest silk.”
“Thank you,” Princess
Enyo said. “Your hair is also pretty.”
“This?” Princess Cipher
asked as she grabbed at the fringe like edge of her bob. “How could you compare
this to your hair?”
“But I think your hair is
pretty,” Enyo said. “I wish I could style my hair like yours, but my father
would not allow me.”
“King Ares seems like a
reasonable ruler,” Cipher said.
“He’s a reasonable ruler,
but not a reasonable father.”
“What if we asked Queen
Serenity? Would she not overrule his decision?”
“He would allow me if
Queen Serenity asked him,” Enyo sighed.
“But she would not order or ask him to. She does not want to interfere with the
way the kings and queens rule their planet, unless they rule as a tyrant, and
she certainly will not interfere with how he will raise me.”
“I am sorry,” Cipher said
as she continued to brush her hair. “Would your father object if I styled your
hair into a braid?”
“No he would not,” Enyo
said.
“I cannot allow my hair
to become as long as yours,” Cipher said as she divided Enyo’s hair into three
parts. “It tangles easily and it would become quite ensnarled whenever I would
swim with the dolphins.”
“I would love to be able
to swim with the dolphins.”
“You are always welcome
to visit Clio.”
“I cannot,” Enyo sighed
again. “As one of the four royal guardian soldiers I have to stay in this
system to protect Princess Serenity.”
“Would she not be
protected with just three of the soldiers and the royal soldiers of the moon?”
Cipher asked as she braided Enyo’s hair.
“No. We cannot ever leave
the system. You and the other ambassador princess’s are lucky. You didn’t have
to become soldiers to help us.”
“This kingdom and system
is beautiful and peaceful,” Cipher said. “We want to help keep it that way.”
She used a bright red ribbon to tie the end of the braid. “What did Queen
Serenity mean when she said someday when we become powerful enough we would be
able to use our attacks together as one?”
“I wish I knew,” Enyo
said. “I wish I knew.”
-
A loud droning buzz
removed Sadie from her dreams. She opened her eyes and stared at the clock. The
glowing blue-green numbers on the alarm clock had just turned to 6:00. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She wanted
to sleep in just a little more, but she had commitment to make. After grabbing
a change of clothes, She groggily walked to the bathroom and into the shower.
The freezing cold water jolted her to her senses.
“Breakfast,” Sadie
mumbled as she put some strawberry Pop Tarts in the toaster and poured herself
some coffee. Good thing she had prepared it the night before and had set the
timer for it to go off at six. Normally
she would sleep in on a school holiday, but today she had a major job to
perform.
“You are up early today,”
Uncle Robert said as he exited from the bedroom that he and Aunt Jaime shared.
His hair was standing straight up and he was wearing his dark blue bathrobe and
matching slippers.
“It’s part of the food
drive,” Sadie explained. “Now that we have all the food we are going to
ensemble them into care packages to deliver.”
“I thought you got them
done already,” Uncle Robert said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Almost have them
finished. We had to wait for today to add the rolls, the turkeys and the pies.”
“I see,” her uncle said.
“What time will you be home?”
“Around two,” Sadie said
before she took another bite. She wanted to be home for her family Thanksgiving
dinner.
“We won’t carve the
turkey until you get home,” Robert said. “We are all proud of what you are
doing.”
“Thank you,” Sadie said.
She quickly finished her breakfast before she waited for Riley to show up.
-
Sylvite paused by the
mirror to admire the dress she was wearing. It was a long dress that ended at
her ankles. Past her hips it poofed out into a bell shape and had lots of
ruffles. The shoulders and collar part of her dress were bright red. The part
that covered her chest was tan and the part that covered her midsection was
brown. The sleeves were orange past the shoulders and descended down to wrists
and alternated colors between gold, orange and yellow. Her skirt was made up of
the colors of red, orange, gold, tan, and yellow.
“I do make a beautiful
Autumn Queen,” Sylvite said. She will also make a beautiful queen of the world.
The cups of coffee in her
hands were going to get colder if she continued to stare at her reflection. She
had to deliver them to the two young men who were busy filling one of the float
cars with gas.
"All right Jim, that
should be enough," Doug said “I think she s got enough gas to drive to
Boston and back in one trip.”
“That does sound like
enough,” Jim agreed and lowered the canister. “There are still a few cars that
need some fuel.”
"You two look like
you could use some of this." Sylvite said as she approached them with two
cups of coffee. “Hard to be fully alert without the drink from the bean.”
"Thanks Sylvia,” Jim
said taking his cup. “I had forgotten to drink mine this morning.”
“I had mine,” Doug said.
“But I drank it too fast to really enjoy it. Thank you.” He took a sip.
“I hope it’s all right,”
Sylvite said. “I didn’t know if you wanted a lot of sugar in it or if you
wanted cream, or if you preferred it black.”
“This is just fine,” Doug
said. “You look like you had a few cups.”
“I do?” She couldn’t tell
if that was an insult or a compliment.
“You look so radiant,”
Jim said. “ Your face and skin is flawless. There are no blemishes, no circles
under the eyes.”
“Oh,” Sylvite brought her
hand to her mouth. “Why thank you.”
“You will make a perfect
Autumn Queen,” Doug agreed.
Sylvite giggled again.
"Well I just need my wig, jewelry and make-up."
"Right like you need
any make-up," Jim pointed out.
“You are already gorgeous.”
"You guys are sweet
but I have go finish getting ready.” Those two were sweet. She will certainly
spare them when she and the rest of the Dark Kingdom take over the world.
-
Laurine couldn’t believe
where she was. A year ago if she told her parents she would be spending
Thanksgiving at the sewers they would give her a look and ask if she was
feeling all right. Then again if she was party of a charity drive and she had
explained to them what she had told them this year then they would have
probably understood what she was doing.
She and Merlee were in
charge with the rolls and biscuits. Laurine was going to borrow her mother’s
car for the day but Mr. Xanatos told her that a car would not be able to hold
that much and gave them the keys to one of his vans.
"Merlee heads
up!" Laurine shouted as she dropped another large bag filled with packages
of biscuits and rolls down into
Merlee reached up to grab
the bundle. She grunted as she nearly fell.
"Laurine, I’m sorry
to ask this, but could you slow down please?” Merlee asked as she set the bag
down on one of the wheeled carts. “I nearly ended up on my butt."
"Sorry just tell me
when your ready." Laurine apologized. She hated for Merlee to fall and get
hurt, even though Merlee insisted the outfit she was wearing was one of her
oldest, Laurine didn’t want her to get dirty. “Oh and don’t be sorry to ask for
anything.” Merlee was one of the most polite girls Laurine has ever met.
“I will try,” Merlee
said. “I am ready now.”
Laurine returned to wagon
to retrieve the last bag. "Here's the last one." She gently dropped
the bag on Merlee. "I'll put this wagon back into the van. Then I'll join
ya." She ran back to the parking
lot where the borrowed van was and placed the wagon inside.
Mr. Xanatos was right.
They did need the van with all the food that they brought. A few people who
lived in the Labyrinth came up to them with two carts when the girls first
arrived and offered to help the bring the rolls and biscuits back to the
Labyrinth, but Laurine insisted that they could do it themselves.
"I have to say when
I joined the group I never thought I'd be walking in the sewers." Merlee
commented as they walked along the paths while pulling one of the carts.
"I know but it’s for
a good cause," Laurine said. “If I knew Mr. Xanatos was doing something
like this every year I would have signed up to help those previous years.”
“Me too,” Merlee said. “I
like to help people.”
“Yeah,” Laurine said as
she placed a hand over her chest. “I get this good feeling inside from doing
this.”
"I know, like a warm
feeling."
"I think that
feeling heated up the place," Laurine said as she wiped some sweat of her
brow.
“I do have a small
question,” Merlee said. “Where is your bunny?”
“Oh Celeste? She’s with
Apollo and Kayla. They are helping Detective Maza’s sister.”
The two of them turned
the corner and nearly collided with Kayla and a young woman with short dark
hair and large brown eyes.
“Whoops,” Kayla made her
feet do a sudden stop. Apollo jumped into the back of her legs. “Hey.”
Apollo responded with a
chuffing sound.
Celeste had enough sense
to stop when Kayla did and hopped on over to be next to Laurine’s feet.
“I’m so sorry,” Merlee
said. “Are you two all right?”
“You must be Merlee,” the
young woman said and held out her hand. “I’m Beth Maza, Elisa’s sister.”
“It’s nice to meet you,”
Merlee said and shook her hand.
“I’m Laurine,” Laurine
said as she held out her hand.
“It’s good to meet you
both,” Beth said. “Your Celeste’s owner, right?”
“Yup,” Laurine said as
she picked up her rabbit. “She wasn’t too much trouble was she?” She noticed
the look Celeste gave her and chose to ignore it.
“Neither one caused any
trouble,” Beth said. “I never seen rabbits trained that well and I heard they
are hard to train.”
“I think Laurine and I
own the smartest rabbits in the world,” Kayla said. She didn’t notice how
Apollo seemed to grin at the compliment.
“They both do have those
unusual markings,” Beth said.
"You two have the
biscuits right?" Kayla asked. She picked up Apollo and placed him across
her shoulders.
"Yeah," Laurine
replied as she put Celeste on her shoulders "We have the biscuits and the
rolls. What are you two hauling?"
"The pies,"
Beth answered. "All kinds of pies, and they are all pretty heavy.”
"We should be glad
were not hauling the turkeys," Merlee said.
“Speaking of hauling,”
Beth said as she grabbed onto the handle of her cart. “We should be getting
back to work.” She led them down the tunnels towards this place they called the
Labyrinth.
"Are you sure they
have the heating and water to cook this stuff?" Laurine asked.
"Yeah, Derek and his
friends made sure each of the apartments were equipped with the bare
necessities," Beth said
"Mr. Xanatos
provided the money?" Kayla asked
"That he did,"
Beth said sourly.
Laurine shared a confused
look with Merlee and Kayla. They knew that the clan and Mr. Xanatos used to not
be on the best terms in the past, but they had no idea what he had done that
caused Beth to dislike him.
“We are almost there,”
Beth said. “There a few things you need to know about my brother. He’s not
human. He used to be but he and a few others were mutated into gargoyle like
crea-“ She couldn’t finish.
Laurine stared down at
the ground. It was what she usually did during awkward situations. She looked
up to see the sad and confused expressions on both Kayla and Merlee.
“Here,” Beth said when
they reached a round metal door. “Here we are.” She knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” A man asked
from inside. He sounded like he was older than Laurine’s parents, about old
enough to be a grandfather. It had just a little bit of a gravelly edge to it.
“It’s me dad,” Beth said.
“What’s the password?”
Beth’s father asked.
“The password is let me
in,” Beth said.
“That’s not it,” her
father said.
“Oh come on,” Beth
muttered and rolled her eyes. “We have rolls and pies and they are going to go
bad if you don’t let us in.”
“May I try?” Merlee
asked.
“I don’t see how it could
hurt,” Beth said as she stepped back.
“Hello?” Merlee tapped
her knuckles against the door. “May we please come in?”
“That’s the password,”
Mr. Maza said. There was a bit of a shuffling sound inside followed by a few
clicking sounds. The large door opened.
“Very funny, dad,” Beth
said. She had her hands on her hips.
“All I wanted to hear was
the magic word,” Mr. Maza said. "Come on in girls." He lent his
daughter and the girls a hand and helped them inside. “I’ll have some people
bring those in. It’s a bit difficult to get those carts in through the doorway
when they are empty.
"Dad this is Kayla,
Laurine, and Merlee," Beth introduced the girls. “As you can see this is
my father.”
“Nice to meet you, sir,”
Merlee said as she shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Mr.
Maza said. “Nice to meet all of you, but you don’t have to call me sir. I
haven’t been knighted.”
“I hope you had a good
morning so far, Mr. Maza,” Laurine said as she shook Mr. Maza’s hand.
“I had a great morning,”
the older man said. “And you don’t have to call me Mr. Maza either.”
“Okay then, Mrs. Maza,”
Kayla said as she shook his hand.
Beth’s father laughed. “I
like this one. She’s got a sense of humor. You can all call me Peter. Come on
in. You shouldn’t be standing around in the entry way.”
“Thank you,” Laurine said
as she walked deeper into the Labyrinth. There were several people walking
around, man were wearing old, dirty and tattered clothing, but the rest of them
appeared to be clean. Beth was right. They did have water, and probably even
warm water.
“Hey Al,” Peter flagged
down a man that was a few years older than him. “I need you to get some people
to bring the carts in.”
“Sure thing,” Al said.
“Where do you want us to bring them?”
“Bring them to just
outside my son’s kitchen,” Peter said before he turned to the girls. “The
others are waiting for us.”
Laurine and the others
followed Peter through the central hub of the Labyrinth area and past the
apartments that were set up for the people to live in. They were groups of
people from all walks of life. They were young and old. They were from all
races and different ethnicities and although Laurine couldn’t tell she was
certain they were of different forms of religion as well. These were they
people they were trying to help. She and the others were going to make sure
they had a great Thanksgiving. She wanted to make sure they were also going to
have a great Winter Holiday. She was going to donate all of her old clothes and
see if any of her family members would do the same. She was going to ask to see
if the school would set up a box for donated clothes and toys for the kids
would be set up.
Outside of the dwelling
of Peter’s son were four stone gargoyles. They looked very familiar.
“Gargoyles,” Merlee said
as they came across the statues.
"Did some of the
clan come down last night?" Kayla asked.
“No,” Laurine said as she
got a good look at the gargoyles. “I don’t think these are the same gargoyles
that we know.”
The one that looked like
Hudson looked a little bit younger and he did not have a sword in his hands but
rather a mace like weapon with blades at the sides that resembled the edges of
an ax.
The one that looked like Broadway was just a
little bit larger and the row of spines on his head looked longer and curved
back a bit. He was also wearing more than Broadway. He had wide shoulder pads
and small round piece of chest armor held up by straps criss-crossing across
his mid section. He also had wristbands.
The one that resembled
Brooklyn also looked younger. His loincloth was different and he wasn’t wearing
his chest armor or tunic and instead of wrist bands he wore an arm band. He
also had both his ears complete and horns complete and did not have the scar at
the top of his beak.
"Laurine is
correct,” Beth said. "They are the clones."
“Clones?” Merlee said in
disbelief. “Someone took some of their DNA and grew new gargoyles from them?”
“That is correct,” Peter
said.
"This one looks a
little like Elisa," Kayla noted as she stared at the female.
The female gargoyle did
have a face that resembled Detective Maza’s. Her hair was similar except for
her bangs, but her wings were similar to Angela’s.
“She’s a hybrid,” Beth
explained. "Part of her DNA came from my sister."
“So there is some mad
scientist out there that’s making clones?” Laurine asked. “And making hybrids?”
“Yeah,” Beth said. Her
tone of voice was the same she used when she talked about Xanatos.
The creaking of wheels
brought their attention to the carts containing the rolls and pies. They were
being brought by several men and women.
“Thank you,” Peter said.
“Lets get this food settled.” He opened the door to the large dwelling.
Sadie, Riley. Elisa Maza,
Matt Bluestone and the Ayakashi sisters were bustling about. Half of them were
kneeling in front of large wicker baskets that contained either a box of
instant mashed potatoes or stuffing and several cans. The others were bringing
in more baskets.
"Do you have
everything?" Beth asked.
Riley nodded.
"Almost everything. All we need is the pies, the rolls and the
marshmallows."
"Marshmallows?"
Beth asked
"You can't have
candied yams without marshmallows," Calaveras said. “Mrs. Maza Miss Reed
and the kids are bringing them in.”
“Those are a lot of bags,” Petz said. She was
wearing a pretty dark blue jacket. “They may need some more help with them.
Koan lets go.”
“What?” Koan asked. The
youngest of the four sisters was helping unload the biscuits and the rolls.
“I said come on,” Petz
grabbed her little sister’s arm and dragged her out of the kitchen.
“Do they know?” Sadie
asked as she pointed at Laurine, Kayla and Merlee.
“Do we know about what?”
Kayla asked.
“About the mutates,”
Sadie said.
“We know about Beth’s
brother,” Laurine said. “He was altered into something that is not human.”
“We should explain to you
how he looks,” Peter said. “My son, Maggie, and Claw resemble large cats. They
look like human wild cat hybrids with wings.”
“There is also Thug and
the kids,” Beth said. “Thug looks like an alligator, Benny resembles a pill
bug, and Erin looks like a turtle.”
“Oh,” Laurine said. She
thought she would be able to handle that. She and the others had fought against
monsters that had a more frightening appearance.
“We got them,” Petz
announced as she and Koan entered carrying large boxes that were piled high
with several bags of marshmallows. They were followed by an older African
American woman and what had to be the mutates.
“Welcome to our home,”
the adult mutate said. She resembled a lioness with golden yellow fur and long
brown hair. Her bat like wings was red in color and folded across her shoulders
like a cloak. She was dressed in a pale green leotard. “I’m sorry if the place
is a mess.”
“You don’t have to
apologize,” Laurine said.
“Your home is very
lovely,” Merlee said.
“Thank you,” Maggie said
and set down the box she was carrying.
“Don’t be afraid of us,”
the smallest mutate said. From the tone of his voice he was clearly a child and
he sounded like he was either ten or eleven years old. He did look like a cross
between a pill bug and a human. “I know I look like a bug, and I can be kind of
scary.”
“We are not afraid,” Kayla
said and smiled at him.
“Your not a bug,” the
other mutated child said. From her height and voice Laurine figured to be
around Tracy’s age. She was a turtle mutant with light brown hair styled into a
ponytail. “You’re a crustacean.”
“I’m a bug,” the boy
said.
“You’re a crustacean,”
his sister said.
“Now kids,” Maggie held
up a finger. “You shouldn’t be fighting over something like that. You shouldn’t
be fighting at all on Thanksgiving.”
“I’m not fighting with
Benny,” the turtle girl said. “I was just correcting him.”
“But you are wrong Erin,”
Benny said.
“I’m sorry to tell you
this but your sister is right,” Merlee said. “You are a very special kind of
crustacean that lives on land.”
“A special crustacean?”
Benny asked.
“Merlee is right,”
Laurine said. “All the others live in water.”
“Wow,” Benny turned to
Merlee. “Your pretty.”
“Why thank you very
much,” Merlee said.
“I don’t think I’ve seen
anyone with such fine manners in a long time,” Mrs. Maza said.
“Thank you,” Merlee said.
“I hope you don’t think it’s rude for me to ask—“
“Merlee,” Laurine gave
her a light poke. “Remember what I said earlier?”
“Oh,” Merlee’s eyes
widened. “Well I wanted to ask how did this happen. Were you all transformed by
the Dar—“ This time she was interrupted by Kayla sneezing.
“Bless you Kayla,” Merlee
said.
"We can't have
everyone knowing our secret," Laurine whispered to her. She wondered if Kayla’s sneeze was real or
did she fake it to keep Merlee from spilling the beans.
"Girls we know you
are the Galactic Ladies,” Mrs. Maza said. "Don't worry. We handle a lot of weirdness."
“How did you know?” Kayla
asked.
“Uh,” Riley scratched the
back of her head.
“You told them?” Laurine
asked.
“I thought it would be
okay,” Riley said “You know considering the situation.”
“It wasn’t the Dark
Kingdom,” Peter said. “It was something far more darker.”
“What could be darker
than the Dark Kingdom?” Apollo asked. He bristled his back when everyone looked
at him funny. “What? They know everything. We no longer have to keep mute.”
Celeste sighed and shook
her head. “Please continue.”
“They were mutated by a
horrible man,” Peter continued. “His name is Doctor Anton Sevarius.”
“I think I’ve read that
name before,” Sadie said. “He went to jail for some questionable practices.”
“Oh questionable,” Detective
Maza said. “There are a lot of questions I want to ask and I want the answers.
“From what I have read he
has come off sounding like a mad scientist,” Laurine said. “At least that is
what I gathered from the articles that I read about him.”
“Is he the same mad
scientist who made the clones?” Kayla asked.
“He’s the same snake,”
Peter said.
“That is an insult to
snakes,” Beth said.
“You ‘re right,” Peter
nodded. “He’s lower than snakes, he’s lower than rats, lower than cockroaches.
He is slime.”
“I know you are not going
to like what I am about to say,” Detective Maza said in a tone that teachers
and parents used when a new rule was about to be passed that would ruin some
form of enjoyment for children. They hated to be the ones to tell, but they still
had to do it. “Sevarius was funded by David Xanatos.”
"What?" The
ladies, Ayakashi sisters, and rabbits asked at once.
“He stopped funding after
he found out Sevarius mutated people,” Sadie said in a hopeful tone. “Right?”
“No,” Detective Maza said
softly. “He wanted my brother to be a mutate.”
“What?” Riley, Petz and
Apollo asked.
“No,” Sadie, Merlee, and
Berthier said.
“Can’t be,” Kayla, Koan
and Celeste said.
“He wouldn’t,” Calaveras
said.
“That’s not like him,”
Laurine said and shook her head. The David Xanatos she knew would not harm or
alter children.
"I know you girls
view him as a saint but its true," Mrs. Maza said. “It is best you learn
the truth about him now so you can be wary of him.”
“But no,” Laurine shook
her head. “He wouldn’t, not the kids.” She opened her eyes when she felt
someone take her hands. It was Beth.
“He didn’t order the
children to be mutated,” Beth said. “That is pure Sevarius.”
“But why?” Sadie asked.
“Why would he do that?”
“He wanted to control the
clan,” Elisa said. “They refused to be under his sway. Xanatos wanted to have
warriors similar to gargoyles work for him. He tried robots and that didn’t
work. He tried to create a cyborg like gargoyle used robotic parts and the
stone pieces of some of Goliaths rookery brothers and sister. He turned to
making the mutates, and he wanted to change Derek to get to me.”
“Why would he want to do
that?” Koan asked.
“Because I was the one
who showed Goliath the truth about Xanatos,” Elisa said. “I convinced him to
leave the castle and seek shelter someplace else.”
“He’s different now,”
Maggie spoke up. “I heard he is different after his son was born. He saved the
gargoyles from an unruly mob, he let them return to the castle. He gave them a
sanctuary. Look at what he has done for the people down here. He made sure
everyone down here has electricity, water and heating. This is the second year
he has organized the Thanksgiving food drive.”
“He’s making amends,”
Berthier said and smiled.
“Doesn’t get him off the
hook any faster,” Peter said. “He’s still with that dark society.”
"He isn’t really
involved with them any more," Detective Bluestone said "He's been
well blowing them off most of the time."
“Is that what he is
telling you?” Elisa asked him.
“No,” Bluestone shook his
head. “That’s what Broadway told me. He was overhearing a phone conversation
Xanatos had with them.”
"That still doesn’t
make up for what he has done to our son," Mrs. Maza said. "He’s a
horrible rotten evil man. He’s only helping the girls and the people down here
out to further his own agenda.”
“What agenda would that
be?” Riley asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mrs.
Maza said. “ He is a selfish arrogant cold hearted man. After all that he has
done I can see he will never change. People like that never change."
A loud weeping sound
ended the subject. Everyone turned to Petz. She was shaking with sobs. She clutched her dark blue jacket closer
to her and began to wail "Safir." and ran off.
"Was it something I
said?" Mrs. Maza asked
"Mrs. Maza your
wrong. You’re very wrong. People like that do change," Calaveras said.
"Like who?"
Peter asked
"Us," Calaveras
said as she gestured to herself and her sisters
"Calaveras?"
Riley asked and looked at her instructor.
"Its true
Riley," She grabbed onto Riley’s hands. “Remember when I said my sisters
and I were in trouble and Sailor Moon and the others helped?” She waited for
Riley to nodd. “We were that trouble."
Berthier sighed. “It’s
true,” She turned to Bluestone. “Remember, Matt when I said we come from far
away.”
Bluestone nodded. “I
thought you meant Tokyo.”
Berthier shook her head.
“We came from farther away than that. We came from the future and on a planet
named Nemesis.”
“You guys are aliens?”
Benny asked. “Cool.”
“Not quite cool,” Koan
said. “Nemesis is also known as the Black Moon and were part of the Black Moon
family. We were sent to capture and even kill a little girl, and when we didn’t
try hunting her down we set up special areas or points. We didn’t steal energy.
We changed it from positive to negative. We caused happy loving people to
become angry and hate each other. We attacked Sailor Moon and her friends.”
“But you became good,”
Riley said.
“Yes we did,” Calaveras
smiled. “It was also because of Sailor Moon and her friends. They showed us the
error of our ways and convinced us to turn over a new leaf. She used her
crystal to wash away any negativity we had and we tried to live peacefully here
on Earth and during this time. Now if you excuse me, I need to find my sister.”
"I’m sorry,” Maggie
said as Calaveras walked past her.
"It’s not your
fault," Calaveras said before she left the room.
"B-but this is
different," Mrs. Maza said softly. “This is different.
"Terrorizing a small
child isn’t as bad as what Mr. Xanatos has done?" Koan asked "Besides hurting innocent people?"
“That actually sounds
worse,” Apollo said.
“Apollo,” Kayla glared at
her rabbit.
“What she asked.” The
golden rabbit said.
“You don’t have to
apologize,” Berthier said.
“You may have been bad in
the past,” Sadie said. “But you are different now.”
You have set a good
example that people can change," Maggie said
“We are still angry with
Xanatos,” Peter said. “You girls are right that people can change and maybe
what he is doing now is part of that change and it is for the better, but I
still can’t forgive him just yet.”
“Maybe if he found a cure
for the mutates,” Beth said. “Then we will forgive him.”
“But I don’t want to
change back,” Benny said.
“That’s not the point,”
Erin said to him.
"That’ right,”
Laurine said. She wanted to make sure everyone got back to the original
task. “Right now we need to make sure
lot of families have a good Thanksgiving meal."
Everyone nodded and
voiced their agreement.
They got to work. They
made sure each basket and an equal amount of vegetables and that one was a can
of yams and another was a can of cranberry sauce. They put in the turkeys, a
bag of rolls or biscuits, and a bag of marshmallows.
Calaveras and Petz
returned a few minutes later and got down to work with adding the final touches
to the baskets.
More baskets were arrived
when Talon, Claw, Thug, and few others brought them in. Talon was also called
Derek and was Beth’s brother. He looked like a black panther and wore a green
tunic. Claw was a tiger with a Mohawk and he didn’t say anything. Thug was man
that was part crocodile, or maybe he was part alligator. Laurine wasn’t exactly
sure.
"You still like
me?" Berthier asked Matt.
The Redheaded detective
looked into her eyes. "Berthier, I fell in love with the good woman you
are now and nothings going to change that."
“All this talking about
forgiveness and redemption has got me thinking,” Laurine said as she inched
herself closer to the red headed detective. “For the longest time I’ve been
angry with you because of what had happened at the museum.”
“Oh that,” Bluestone
said. “Elisa told me you are a reincarnated moon princess and that rock was
connected to your old kingdom.”
“Not quite,” Laurine
said. “It is true that I was once a princess, but I and the others here were
guests to the Moon Kingdom. I was angry because you stopped the music. It was a
song my lover in my past life created for me. Now he is the enemy and I can
hear that song whenever I want.”
“Your are hoping that he
will be likes us and give up his dark ways?” Berthier asked.
“Yes I do,” Laurine nodded.
She and the others had tried to reach out to him. “I wanted to say is that I
forgive you Detective Bluestone.”
“I accept your
forgiveness,” the detective said. “You girls can just call me Matt.”
“Sounds good,” Laurine
said. She looked up to see Sadie was sitting next to Claw.
"Your Mute?"
Sadie asked the tiger like mutate.
He nodded and pointed to
his head and then to his mouth.
“Your being mute has
something do with your head?” Sadie asked. “It’s psychological?”
Claw nodded again.
"Do you know what this
means?" She made gestures with her hands.
Claw shook his head
"I have a book on
learning sign language. Would you like to borrow it?" Claw nodded yes.
"I didn't know you
knew sign language." Merlee said
Sadie nodded. "My
aunt is deaf. I learned to sign since I was five. Now I'm trying to learn
Spanish."
"Spanish? I mastered
that language when I was eight," Merlee said. “But then it was a little
easy cause of the similarities to the Portuguese language.”
“You know Portuguese?”
Sadie asked. “Wait a second. Tempestadaes is a Portuguese name.”
“That is right,” Merlee
nodded. “And your family is German?”
“Yes it is. Did you take
anything in middle school or right now?"
"I learned French in
middle school. Now I'm learning Italian."
"Kayla is taking
Italian as well. Right Kayla?"
"Huh?" Kayla
looked up from the food.
"Your taking
Italian,” Sadie said. “You and Merlee could study together."
“Don’t forget I’m half
Italian,” Riley said. “It’s like a second language for me.”
"Yeah we could
schedule a study session for our foreign language classes," Kayla said.
“We’ll work on our Spanish and Italian to—yipes.”
“To yipes?” Apollo asked.
“The parade is going to
start soon,” Kayla explained.
"We'll take a
break," Elisa said
"Owen is waiting for
us. He staked out a spot," Laurine explained.
"Go ahead we'll
finish with the baskets," Berthier said.
“Are you certain?” Merlee
asked. “We would hate to leave you hanging.”
“Go ahead,” Peter said.
“Sadie and Riley did say this is Kayla’s first Thanksgiving here in the city.”
“We will come back right
after we see Santa,” Kayla stood up. “Thanks.”
“Thank you,” Merlee said.
Laurine, Riley and Sadie
also said their thanks before they left.
-
Trying to find Owen in
the crowd was easier said than done. Laurine tried to crane her neck as she
searched for the man. She tried to find a man who had short blond hair and blue
eyes, wore glasses and a suit, and despite being somewhat good looking had also
to appear very stiff and dull.
"Man its
crowded," Kayla commented as they squeezed through the people on the
sidewalks along the parade route. "How on Earth will we possibly find Owen
in this mess?"
“Celeste and Apollo could
find him,” Sadie said. “He really is Puck and if he gives off some funny and
odd energy.”
“We are trying to seek
out his energy,” Apollo said. He and Celeste both had their eyes closed.
“Let us know if we are
getting warmer,” Riley said.
“We don’t feel anything
quite—wait,” Celeste’s ears perked up. “He’s across the street and towards the
left.”
“Gotta make a mad dash,”
Laurine said as she and others raced across the street, hoping that no parade
officials will tell them to get out of the street. She breathed a small sigh of
relief when they reached the other side.
“Now where do we go?”
Kayla asked.
“Keep going left,” Apollo
said. “You are getting toasty.”
They kept squeezing
through the people while trying not to get shoved; an elbow to the face, or
their feet stepped on.
“I feel him,” Merlee said
and blushed. “Oh not like that, sorry. I meant I can feel his energy and we are
almost there.”
“I think I see him,”
Sadie said. “Mr. Burnett.”
“I wonder how long till
we can call him Owen,” Kayla said.
“I called him that when
we were doing the main charity drive,” Riley said. “He didn’t seem to mind.”
Owen said nothing when
the girls approached him but he did hand Merlee a wooden cane.
"May I ask what this
is for?" Merlee asked.
"They'll
explain," Mr. Burnett said as he pointed to the rabbits.
"I get it,” Riley
said. "This is your Lady weapon."
“Oh,” Merlee said. She
examined her staff. “I guess I should wait until it is the right time to
transform to power this up.”
“We usually like to wait
until the enemy pops up,” Kayla said as she cracked her knuckles.
“I would advise not to
wait until the last second,” Celeste said. “Merlee, as soon as the parade is
over and we are in the Labyrinth I want you to transform and power up your
staff.”
“I promise I will do that
Celeste,” Merlee said.
Laurine stuck her head
out and looked up the street in the not to far distance she could see a
marching band ready to walk out and play their instruments.
“What is it?” Riley
asked.
“I think the parade is
about to start,” Laurine said.
“Ladies and Gentleman,”
the announcer shouted through a microphone. “Welcome to the seventy first
annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”
The crowd applauded and
as Laurine squinted she could see the podium where the television hosts were
standing. She also saw people with television cameras scanning the crowd.
“I wonder if they get us
on camera,” Kayla said.
“Naw,” Riley shook her
head. “They want to get cute little kids on camera.”
“But we got cute little
bunnies,” Kayla said. “Apollo, do your cute face.”
“You mean this?” Apollo
said and made his eyes look big and moist.
“That’s the face,” Kayla
smiled. “And wiggled your nose. People love that.”
Laurine heard Celeste
sigh. “You don’t have to try and look cute if you don’t want to.” She told her
guardian.”
“Trust me,” Celeste said.
“I won’t.”
“They are setting up for
something,” Sadie said. She pointed to people setting up what looked like a
small stage.
“I think they are
preparing for a Broadway musical,” Riley said She seemed to have brightened at
the idea. “Actually just one song.”
She was right. Once the
stage was set up several actors gathered around and when the cameras started to
roll they people started to sing and dance. It was from the Chicago musical and
they were performing "All that Jazz."
-
Sylvite pinned the
orange, gold, red, and tan leaf clusters to her orange wig. She put on a
similar colored cloak and sat on her throne.
“We’ll be going out as
soon as the Rugrats Balloon has finished being led down the street,” A parade
official wearing a headset said.
“Thank you,” Sylvite said
as she glanced over the rest of her float, most of it was decorated with
flowers matching the colors of her dress and resembled fallen leaves. There
were a few fake leaves covered in fall leaves surrounding her throne and
several pumpkins as well.
“I know a lot of people
can be a bit nervous,” the official said.
“Don’t worry about me,”
Sylvite said as she stared at the helpers on the float all standing in front of
baskets filled with special pins. ‘You should worry about your own health when
I steal your energy,’ She thought.
-
Sadie tried to enjoy the
parade but there was a nagging thought at the back of her head that pushed
forward a cloud of depression. She did not want to think about that detail. She
wanted to concentrate on the parade, then think about helping the Labyrinth
families some more before she would rejoin her own family for Thanksgiving
dinner.
"Check out that
float," Kayla pointed it out. "It looks like a collection of Faerie
tales."
The float that was coming
down the street did indeed resemble classic moments from faerie tales. The
center had a house that was rich and brown and topped with a roof that looked
like it was made of candy. There was castle tower behind it that had a
beautiful girl standing in the window with hair that fell all the way down. A
woman dressed as a dark queen was standing in front of a mirror, while a man
dressed a prince was placing a slipper onto a serving girls foot.
After the float passed by
them the girls turned their attention to several parade horses that marched
down the street.
"Those horses are
beautiful," Merlee commented on the group horses. “I believe those are
Andalusians.
The magnificent creatures
were followed by a brightly colored car.
Several of the passengers tossed candy to the parade viewers.
Sadie made a mad dash for
some of the candy along with the rest of the girls. Her face fell when she
realized the candy she had grabbed was bubble gum. The same thing she had asked
her father to get for her ten years ago.
“Are you okay?” Laurine
asked.
“Bubble gum,” Sadie said.
She did not remove her gaze from the pack of gum that was in her hand.
“You don’t want it?”
Laurine asked. “I can understand if you hate gum. Do you want to trade? I have
a lollypop.”
“Sure,” Sadie said as she
handed the gum to her friend and received the sucker in return. She never
chewed gum, not since he disappeared.
“I wonder if our school
will ever march here,” Riley said as another high school marching band passed
them by. “I mean one of our schools. I forgot to ask you Merlee, but what’s the
name of the school you go to?”
“I got to saint Andrews,”
Merlee answered.
“Is that a Catholic
school?” Kayla asked. “And is it just for girls?”
“It is a Catholic
school,” Merlee nodded. “But not just for girls.”
“I love this float,”
Laurine said as blue and green float came down the way. It was decorated to
look like it was covered with seaweed and coral. There were seashells and
starfish and several other tropical fishes. There was even a dolphin. The
people walking beside the float were also dressed as dolphins.
"Laurine are you
sure you and Sadie didn't design that float yourselves?" Kayla asked
"Wish we could take
the credit. Right Sadie?" Laurine asked her friend.
Sadie just nodded the
group. Seeing the float made her think of the first and last time she went to
the aquarium with her father. She closed her eyes to keep the tears back. She
will not cry, not hear. She just had to keep herself from thinking about her
father.
“They are starting,”
Riley said.
“I forgot which play is
it?” Apollo asked.
“They said it was from
Rent,” Mr. Burnett answered. He did not say much.
Riley sang along with the
music. Her voice soothed Sadie’s emotions just a bit. There was always
something special about Riley’s singing voice. It wasn’t just beautiful. There
seemed to be a touch of magic in there as well.
When it ended a motley
colored group of clowns tumbled down the street, threw pies at their face and
even dropped a few down some of the other’s baggy pants Their goofy antics
caused nearly everyone to laugh. Even Sadie had to smile.
“Here comes another
balloon,” Kayla said.
Sadie looked down the
street and saw what the incoming balloon was. It was a few of the characters
from Rugrats. The babies, Tommy and
Chuckie, were riding on the back of Tommy’s dog, Spike.
“Kind of not as fun when
you are looking up at it from this angle,” Kayla said as she stared at up and
at the dog’s underside.”
“I don’t think you are
supposed to look at it from this angle,” Apollo said. You are supposed to look
at what’s coming next.”
Sadie turned her head to
see what is coming next. It was a pretty float that had all the colors of fall.
She heard Mr. Burnett refer to the float as the spirit of autumn float.
“Who is that?” Riley
asked as she pointed to the woman on the throne with the autumn colored ruffled
dress.
“The Autumn Queen,” Mr.
Burnett answered.
Several people on the
float tossed beautiful flower pins to the crowd.
Sadie watches as he
friends, even Merlee, scrambled around to catch a flower. Poor Apollo and
Celeste nearly fell off during the rush. She wished she could be enthusiastic
about it, but all that she could think about was that this was the tenth
Thanksgiving she was going to celebrate without her father.
-
She was eight years old
at the time and her brown hair went nearly beneath her shoulders. She was
wearing a purple shirt and a pink skirt. Her mother was fixing dinner and her
aunt Jamie was studying for her first math test in college.
"Hon, I'm going to
the store for the apples and milk," Sadie’s father said then picked up a
giggling Sadie "And what would my little Satellite want?”
"Strawberry
bubblegum," She said. "Please daddy, Danny challenged me to a bubble
blowing contest and I need to practice.”
"Sure thing Sadie,”
was the last thing he said before he left. Sadie never got that gum. She never
saw her father again either.
-
"Sadie is something wrong?" Merlee asked. Her voice had brought Sadie
back to the present.
"Nothing you can do
to help," Sadie sighed. She wished she could tell the others, but she felt
now was not the time. They already had a few bombshells dropped on them. She
did not want to explain what had happened to her father.
"Holiday
depression?" Merlee asked
Sadie nodded. "You
can say that."
“Something is not right,”
Mr. Burnett said.
“What do you mean?” Kayla
asked. She had managed to catch one of the flower pines and pinned on her
shirt, next to her brooch.
“Look at the crowd,”
Celeste said. Several people in the crowd around them and across the street
appeared to have been a bit fatigued.
“I don’t like the look of
this,” Laurine said. She also had one of the flower pins. “I’ve seen this too
much.” She paused to yawn. “This is how you usually can tell the enemy has set
up shop.”
"I did feel
something weird coming from the woman," Merlee said. “The one on the
throne.”
"Weird as in a
creepy dark feeling?" Riley asked as she ran her fingers over her pin.
“Yes she did,” Merlee
nodded. “She had the same kind of feeling as that monster we fought, but hers
is a bit stronger.
"I think you should
remove those flowers,” Celeste said. “Now.”
Riley, Laurine and Kayla tried to remove the
pins but couldn’t. The two rabbits leapt onto their owners and began to slash
at the botanical pins with their claws.
“Let me help you,” Sadie
said as she grabbed the flower and tore off a few of the petals.
“We might have to rip it
off part of her jacket,” Merlee said.
“I’m on it,” Sadie said
and using all of her strength she pulled the pin off her friend’s coat, tearing
off a small scrap of the material along in the process.
“Thanks,” Riley said. Her
legs were shaking. “Sorry, I need to sit.” She sat down
"Lets go and get
that float," Laurine barley managed to get out before sitting down next to
Riley.
"Yeah we'll catch
up," Kayla said and also sat down.
“I guess it’s up to us,”
Merlee said.
Sadie nodded before they
both turned and made their way through the crowd and ran towards the nearest
deserted alley.
"Centauri Galaxy
Power!"
"Nebula Galaxy
Power!"
The pale blue arches and
twirling yellow lights stopped. The girls were transformed.
"Lady Nebula hold
your staff over your head and shout Star pendant power-up!" Centauri
instructed.
Lady Nebula held her
staff. “Star Pendant Power-up!” The
wooden staff glowed along with the pendant. The glowing stopped and the staff
became shiny blue with thin green bands.
The girls ran back. They
leaped over the crowds and raced up towards the float where the jumped up on
top, right behind the throne. They could see the enemy as she flipped open her
compact to check her makeup.
"Dark Kingdom how
dare you ruin another holiday!" Lady Centauri shouted out. She may be
feeling miserable, but she will make sure everyone else will enjoy today.
"This is wrong and
we wont stand for it," Lady Nebula added.
"I am the soldier of
stone and justice," Lady Centauri said
"I am the soldier of
peace and storms," Lady Nebula said.
"Together we shall
punish you!" Lady Centauri said.
The Autumn Queen pulled
off her gown and ripped off her gown. Underneath was one of the generals,
wearing her usual green dress.
"Sylvite," Lady
Centauri said.
"Yes," Sylvite
said. “It’s me. Just because there are five of you now doesn’t mean you will be
able to defeat me.”
“We defeated you when
there was just three of us,” Centauri said.
“I only see two of you
right now. Did the others fall for my little gifts?” She threw some seeds that
landed on some of the confused parade members.
Three of the seeds landed
on people dressed as a bear, a turkey, and a pumpkin.
The Pumpkin man became a
creature with a green plant like body and a large pumpkin head. The man in the
bear costume became a creature that was half bear and half man. The man in the
turkey costume turned into a griffin like creature, except it had the ugly head
of a turkey with noticeable wattles, and the feathered tail spread out.
"Get them!"
Sylvite ordered cracking her vine like whip.
"Nebula mist
confusion!" The cloudy fog formed around the battle area. That may buy
them some time.
Centauri had her crossbow
ready to attack whichever youma would come closest to her.
The bear youma sniffed
her out. Its eyes glowed as it emerged from the crowd.
She shot two arrows
sending the bear reeling back. "Centauri Stalagmite Slash!" The youma
became impaled with shards from the street.
The fog began to
dissipate. The rabbits were leading the turkey on a chase and making it run
around in circles and Nebula had chilled the pumpkin youma with her rain.
"Andromeda Sound
Wave Shatter!"
Centauri looked over her
shoulder just as the sound wave rattled Sylvite and destroyed her throwing
leaves.
"Sun light Disc
Spin!" The glowing disks flew
through the air. One struck the bear youma and the other two landed on the
turkey.
"Comet Interstellar
Explosion." Comet’s explosion hit the Pumpkin monster head on.
Lady Centauri stepped foreword and breathed
deeply. "Centauri Magic dissipation." She summoned the biggest cloud
of healing dust ever and sent it raining down on the youmas. She had hoped it
would be enough and she was right. The monsters turned back into their normal
selves.
"How dare you!"
Sylvite shouted.
“How dare we?” Lady Comet
asked. “How about how dare you attack these people who want to celebrate a
national holiday?”
“It is almost enough,” Sylvite said. “We only
need to just harvest a little bit more and then take over.” She disappeared in
another tornado of spinning leaves.
“Who was that?” Lady
Nebula asked.
“That was Sylvite,” Lady
Sun said. “She’s one of the generals. There are three others. You may get to
meet them soon.”
“We won,” Andromeda said.
“We have another victory. I say we change back, enjoy the rest of the parade,
finish helping out at the Labyrinth and enjoy the rest of our holiday.”
-
“That’s the last,” Sadie
said as she set the tray of ears of corn onto the table. The food had finished
cooking and everyone had gathered around the table for dinner.
Uncle Robert pulled the
turkey out of the oven and set it down on the last clear area of the table.
Sadie, her mother, and Aunt Jaime made sure that they made that clearing big
enough for the turkey.
“Got the phonebook,” Mom
said as she placed the phone book onto the chair for Sadie’s three-year old
cousin to sit on.
“Thank you aunt Lisa,”
Joey said as he climbed into his seat.
“Your welcome,” Mom said.
“I hope we all have something to be thankful for.”
“I do,” Sadie said. She
was thankful for all of her friends, both new and old. She was thankful she was
part of a great team. If she got the biggest piece of the wishbone she will
wish for her father to return home if he does then next year she will have a
lot to be thankful for.
-
Sailor Pluto watched
patiently. She loved looking at sections of time when holidays were celebrated.
She watched the several different families celebrate Thanksgiving holiday. She
even saw several homeless people, living in a grand underground shelter enjoy
delicious meals.
“The time is near,” She
said. That would be the time when she must leave.