The sun started to rise over the city skyline, on a Sunday morning. The once dark blue lightened in color while the clouds reflected the colors of the rising sun, taking on hues of gold and pale orange. Many of the citizens of the city were still asleep, some had planned on waking up a little later to attend worship services while everyone else planned on sleeping even longer.

Celeste had counted on the hopes and luck that those who were awake were not really awake as she snuck out of the apartment building and made her way down into the subway. She waited by the one of the columns when the train came rolling in and when the doors opened she dashed inside.

“I hope that guide on the Internet is true,” Celeste said as she crawled under one of the seats. She had borrowed Laurine’s computer to do a search on the star pendants and on the Cosmic Whip. The silver star pendant was said to have been purchased a year ago by multibillionaire David Xanatos and displayed in the castle on top of the Aerie tower.

Getting there was going to be a problem for a rabbit. It would have been a lot more difficult for an average teenage girl. Celeste had been informed that security was tight at the tower. You needed a special pass to get inside and even a pass of higher security to get into the castle, at least that was what Laurine had been told.

“Stay hidden,” Celeste said to herself as she hopped off the train when it pulled into the right stop and she raced towards another one. As long as nobody saw her then she would be all right. She just had to keep alert and not fall asleep as she rode the train and made sure she got off at the right stops.

After what had seemed like hours Celeste’s journey came and end. She darted from the train, through the station and up the steps. The only other hassle was trying to get across the street and she waited for the walk sign before she ran across.

“I best not tell Laurine about this,” Celeste said as she reached the main entrance to the tower. “She worry’s about me too much.”

One of the glass doors opened. “I’ll be right back,” a young man with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth said. “I just need a quick smoke.”

Celeste bolted inside and ran straight for the elevators. She found the one that went to the castle and jumped to the press the button. She hopped inside and pressed another button. She had no idea where in the castle the pendant may be.

When the doors opened she leapt onto a strip of fancy plush carpet.

‘Careful girl there might be cameras around’, She thought and leapt into the shadows. Slinking against the wall she took in everything. Her eyes widened at some of the tapestries and paintings. She would not let herself become distracted by the decorum of the place. She had to keep focused on the mission. With each new entrance she checked inside, hoping to find any sign of the pendant.

She was about to venture down a different hallway when she heard strange voice coming from around the corner. She ducked behind a plant.

"I would like the number of Laurine Chancerdd." The dull voice said. It belonged to a blond man with glasses and a narrow nose. He wore a business suit and held a phone to his ear. "Hello Mrs. Chancerdd Sorry about calling this early. Is your daughter there? She is out on her morning skate?"

‘Actually she is on her way to that shop to purchase her ax,’ Celeste thought.

"Tell her I'll call back. My name is Owen Burnett." He pressed the hang up button and walked off.

‘I wonder why he wants to speak with Laurine,’ she thought after the man had left. There was also something odd about that man. She could sense powerful energy coming off of him. She shook her head. She still had to find that pendant.

She entered the next large room with paintings, sculptures and glass cases. She looked at the cases filled with unique jewelry. There were even gemstones displayed in jewelry cases, including the largest emerald Celeste has ever seen. One piece caught her eye. It was a silver necklace with a star shaped pendant and a purplish pink stone set in the center.

"Eureka," she said almost too loudly. She glanced around the room to make sure no one had noticed her. Now she just had to make another trek back home.

_____________________________________________________________________

The store was called Renaissance Express and it was located half way between the Neon Lizard and Central Park. Laurine had called ahead of time to make certain that the ax was still there. She didn’t want to go out of her way to get to the shop and not be able to purchase her so called Lady Weapon.

The shop was what she had expected it to be. There were full suits of armor flanking the doors when she entered. There were medieval, Elizabethan clothes and what appeared to have been cloths from the eighteenth century hanging up on the racks. There were swords of various lengths and widths displayed on the walls. Bookshelves filled with books on facts of the era as well as fantasy novels. There were statues of dragons, unicorns griffons, elves, trolls, goblins, and fairies. There also some books on Dungeons and Dragons.

“You seem lost,” the guy behind the counter said. He was about in his late twenties to early thirties. His light brown hair was long enough to put into a ponytail and he had enough chin scruff to serve as sandpaper. He wore a tie dye shirt and wooden beaded necklace with an ornate Celtic cross.

“My name is Laurine Chancerdd,” Laurine said with an air of uncertainty. She had just noticed the coffee mugs that had grotesque faces decorating the sides. “I called about an ax.”

“Oh you’re the one that wants to see the Daranu Dorrwr?” He set down his copy of the latest Sailor V manga, and stepped around from his counter.

“Uh, yeah.” She had forgotten what it’s name was. “What does that mean?”

“Thunder cutter,” the clerk said. He removed one of the ax’s from the rack that had several. “That’s what it means in welsh.”

‘of course it does,’ Laurine thought. Why would it not have a name like that?

“Here it is.” He held it out for Laurine to grab it. “Just be careful. It’s heavier than it looks.”

“Thanks,” Laurine accepted it with both hands and felt it weigh down on her arms. It didn’t seem to impressive. It had a simple wedge shape like the type used for chopping wood and not a wide curved or a double sided ax like the type it should be for a weapon. It's length was from Laurine's elbow to her finger tips. The handle was encased in a dark brown leather. The blade had been kept in good shape despite the fact the edge was probably dull. It shone when the light’s struck it. It was a little heavy but not too difficult.

"This is a nice little ax," The clerk said. "Made in Wales over a thousand years ago. Don’t get me wrong but you don't seem the type that is interested in this sort of thing."

"We're learning about the U.K around that time period in our English class," Laurine told him. "Those lessons really sparked an interest."

“I hope the interest lasts.” The clerk slipped behind the counter and typed up a few buttons on the register. “I just need to see the tag please.”

“Oh right,” Laurine set the ax down on the counter.

“Would you like to purchase a display for it?” He used a hand held scanner to read the tag. “That will be eighty dollars and sixty seven cents.”

“I’ll think about it,” Laurine said as she removed her wallet from her purse. “I may make it. I love to sculpt.” She handed him four twenties, two quarters and a couple of dimes

“You pretty good?” He put the money in the tray and handed her back three pennies.

“I like to think I am. I did win third place at the Central Park Art festival.” She put her money back into her wallet and placed that back in her purse.

“I read about that.” The clerk slipped on a velvet cover onto the blade and placed the ax into a bag. “I also heard there was one of those energy sucking monsters there.”

“Yeah, that was scary,” Laurine said.

“Did you see Lady Andromeda?” He handed Laurine her bag.

“No,” Laurine shook her head. “I was too busy running.”

“I heard another one appeared at a football game a couple of days ago. I also heard that Lady Andromeda has got a friend.”

“I heard the same thing,” Laurine said. “bye.”

“See you around.”

“I’m popular today,” Laurine said once she stepped outside. Correction, it was her alter ego that was popular. Why did she care about that? How many comic book characters complain about the popularity their costumed forms got? Not much unless their crushes happen to love said hero instead of the character and Laurine did not have a boy friend, nor a crush.

“I better head off to the park.” She sat down and placed on her skates. Celeste wanted her and Riley to meet. Her rabbit wasn’t in her hutch when Laurine woke up and she had a feeling her pet was doing her kind of research. She better not get stepped on or Laurine will lecture her until her long ears fell off.

“Laurine watch out,” Riley Dipoesia shouted as she nearly ran into her.

“Eeep!” Laurine made her self brake. “We have got to stop meeting like this.”

“I’m sorry.” Riley held up her hands. “I know we are supposed to meet up at the same bench as before but I was passing by this new shop and I just had to show someone.”

“And I’m the closest?” Laurine folded her arms. She and Riley were not exactly friends, not yet anyway. They were team mates and they still had to go over a lot of information, but a friendship may develop out of it.

“Yes,” Riley did not lose her smile. “C’mon you have to see this.” She grabbed Laurine by the wrist and pulled her along until Laurine relented and skated behind her.

Riley stopped in front of a store that had the sign for a grand opening for tomorrow.

“The Sweet Nature Health store,” Laurine read the name of the store. She remembered from their conversation over their treats at Morton’s diner that Riley was into the healthy stuff. It didn’t mean that Riley shunned all sugary foods as was evidenced by the taller girl requesting her pie be ala mode at the time.

“Isn’t this place cool?”

"This place won't open until tomorrow." Laurine pointed out.

"I know but look at what they will be selling here," Riley gushed. She pointed into the display window some of the items on the shelves. "Multivitamins, herbal teas, flavored rice cakes, natural juice drinks, health food cookbooks..."

"Yogurt covered pretzels! I love those." Laurine blurted out when she saw the clear tubs of the snack. “I didn’t know those were healthy.”

“They are when they use fat free yogurt and low fat and low sodium pretzels,” Riley said. “They also have all natural herbal baths and oils and a pharmacy."

"Tomorrow I'm going to get some yogurt pretzels and a variety pack of herbal teas for mom." Laurine stared into the shop and tried to figure out what else she wanted to buy. She couldn’t see much more, and the only movement came in the form of the two employee’s stacking items and attaching price labels.

“What time do you want to meet?” Riley asked.

“About eleven, although it might be best to meet inside if we bring our friends.”

“Good idea.”

____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile inside the shop a tall woman with reddish brown hair set in tight curls and wearing a simple skirt and blouse with a name tag was overseeing the stock boys at work. She looked outside the main store window when she thoughts she had heard a sound and saw two teenage girls staring back inside. Good, some potential customers for tomorrow.

“You two are doing a great job,” the woman said as she adjusted her glasses. “Keep up the pace and you may be able to leave early.”

“Thank you Miss Green,” the two stockers said as they continued to shelve items and tack on the right prices with their pricing guns.

“I have some more work to do in the back,” Miss Green said. “I’ll be back to check on your progress in an hour.”

She headed back to the employees only area and into the even smaller room of the manager’s office. She was not alone. There was someone seated in the large chair but had it turned around so the back was facing the door.

“Miss Green?” The chair spun around. Sylvite stared back at her servant with an amused smile on her face.

“It was her name not mine,” Miss Green said. “I hope you are not offended General Sylvite.”

“Offended?” Sylvite leaned back in the chair. “I would have been flattered actually. I believe that was one of my childhood nicknames.” She placed her feet encased in a pair of bright green high heels on top of the desk.

“It was a pure coincidence,” Miss Green ran her hands down the full length of her skirt. “The real Wanda Green is unconscious and stuck in one of her closets.”

“You don’t have to give me the details of what you did with the body.” Sylvite selected one of the candies from the clear plastic dish. It had a wrapped that resembled he appearance of a strawberry. “Details like that can bore me.”

“I am sorry General Sylvite.”

“Oh and another thing,” Sylvite said as she unwrapped the candy. “Please do not call me general, call me Lady Sylvite.”

“As you wish Lady Sylvite,” Miss Green bowed. “I have come to tell you that everything is in place for the grand opening tomorrow.”

"Good work Tofaina," Sylvite said. “Or perhaps I shall continue to call you Miss Green.” She placed he candy in her mouth. Her eyes brightened and the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile.

“Either is fine.”

Sylvite nodded. "Many humans are health conscious. They will be filling this store up."

"With plenty of energy for the kingdom," Tofaina said.

"Yes, but be careful Tofaina dear, There are now two of those Galactic Ladies."

"Don’t worry I'll watch out."

____________________________________________________________________

"Yeah the eggs have hatched," Laurine said looking at her tank. A tiny seahorse was emerging from the adults pouch. Four more were swimming around it. Laurine sprinkled a pinch of brine shrimp eggs into the separator.

"Eat up babies. You too papa," She said smiling. She put the cap back on the food container and sat on the floor.

“Remember what we have discussed at the meeting,” Celeste said. The poor rabbit looked exhausted and it was no wonder. She had told Laurine about her trek across the city.

“Five ladies who fight together against the dark kingdom,” Laurine said. She did not remove her gaze from the aquarium. She felt like the discussions she had been having with her guardian rabbit were becoming old hat.

“What else?” Celeste asked.

“Each lady has a weapon that only they can use,” Laurine continued. “But the weapons have to be powered by the star pendant every now and then or else they are just ordinary weapons. I guess that means the old thunder cutter can be used by anyone.”

“Yes it can, but please don’t call it that.”

“I know,” Laurine rolled her eyes. “It’s called the Melody Ax, but since it’s not powered up its just the thunder cutter.”

“Well I suppose,” Celeste sighed.

“Great,” Laurine yawned. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“We are still not done.”

Laurine clenched her hands. What more was there. “Lets see five Ladies against the dark kingdom who live in the dark realm and we each use our powerful weapons as well as our powers against this kingdom and the weapons are powered by star pendants.”

“Who do you fight with and where do your powers come from?”

“We fight with other warriors,” Laurine closed her eyes. They just covered this in the meeting they just had today. “And they are sailors.”

“Sailor Soldiers,” Celeste corrected.

“Sailor Soldiers and our powers come from different aspects of space,” Laurine said in the space of one breath. “And the powers were granted by a moon queen. I remember you told me that part a few weeks ago.”

“Correct,” Celeste nodded.

“Great, can I have a cookie?” Laurine asked in a sarcastic tone.

“No, but you can go ahead and take your shower.”

“Finally,“ Laurine sighed.

She stood up to take a shower when the phone rang. She ignored it, figuring her sister would be on it like college student on pizza. She gathered up a change of clothes.

"Hey Laurine its for you," Tracy knocked on her door.

‘Why does it seem like the universe is trying to keep me from taking a shower?’ Laurine thought. “Did they say who it is?” She opened the door.

“Some guy named Owen” Tracy held out the phone. Laurine took it.

"Hello Laurine Speaking"

"Hello this is Owen Burnett, an Employee of David Xanatos." The man on the other end had the most wooden tone of voice she had ever heard. It was even more dull than Mr. Noss’s

"Oh," she had no idea what an employee of David Xanatos would want to speak with her, unless he somehow new Celeste had been in the castle, and even if she had been spotted then how would they know she belonged to her.

"Mr. Xanatos is interested in buying your "Loss of Innocence'“ Sculpture."

"Really?" She wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly. “Really, are you serious?”

"Yes I am perfectly serious. When is a good time for you?"

“Lets see. When do I not have afternoon gym class or have to work. Thursday sounds good.”

"Excellent we will see you Thursday after school," Owen said.

"Thank you and goodbye."

"Goodbye Miss Chancerdd."

Laurine slowly handed the phone back to Tracy.

"What was that about?" Tracy asked.

"Mr. Xanatos wants to buy my sculpture," Laurine said in a daze. “He wants to buy my sculpture. Someone wants to buy one of my sculptures.”

"I heard you the first time."

“My first work of art that is gonna be bought,” she grabbed her little sister’s shoulders. “I’m gonna make it as an artist.”

“Duh we always knew that.”

“Thank you for your confidence,” Laurine grabbed her change of clothes. “I think. I’m gonna take a nice quick shower.” And while she cleaned herself she was going to think about her sculpture and what Celeste had told her.

_____________________________________________________________________

The alarm buzzed. That damn droning buzz that will not stop until she either turned it off or changed it to music setting, which she should have done in the first place.

“Laurine,” Celeste said from inside her hutch.

“I’m on it,“ Laurine grumbled and rolled over. “It’s not like I had a real dream or anything.“ She stumbled over to her desk and looked at her clock, it read 5:45am. It was time for school and a quick glance at the calendar confirmed it was Monday. She turned off the alarm and was certain there was something written on the calendar. She took a second look. It was Columbus day. No school! She can sleep in.

“Ah sweet,” she crawled back into bed and pulled up the covers.

"Don't you have to get up?" Celeste pushed open the door of her hutch and stuck her head out.

"Holiday no school." Laurine said before closing her eyes and welcomed back the deep embrace of sleep.

She was in the ballroom of either an elegant castle or mansion with pristine silvery white walls and columns. There was no one around. No one was dancing and even if they were there was no music playing to dance to.

“Princess.”

Laurine turned to see who was calling her and saw a young girl in a golden dress with long blond hair approaching her. She knew who this other girl is, but she couldn’t remember her name and she would probably know it, if it weren’t for that annoying poking in her shoulder.

The image faded to darkness. It was just a dream, but the poking in her shoulder did not stop.

“What?”

"Yo Lazy bones Wake up!" Dylan was practically yelling in her ear.

"What time is it?" Laurine asked and rolled over.

"Its 8:30, I'm hungry." Dylan said.

“You can pour yourself some cereal.” Laurine sat up. “Or you can get Tracy to make you breakfast.”

“Her room stinks.” Dylan ran out of the room.

“That’s just potpourri.” Laurine got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. She didn’t feel like changing clothes, not until she ingested a good does of caffeine. She opened the freezer and saw nothing that she could use for a quick breakfast. There were no Eggo waffles, no microwavable pancakes, nothing.

She opened the fridge and was about to pull out the eggs when she saw a tall metallic blue can. She pulled it out. They were cinnamon rolls. Now that was something she could handle. She twisted the top until it opened, then pulled out a round baking tin, arranged the rolls and stuck it in the oven. She then turned on the coffee pot. She then poured herself a cup of coffee that her parents have made. She felt sorry for them. They didn’t get a day off.

She had just poured her cup, added twp spoons of sugar and a small trickle of milk when her brother came bouncing into the kitchen

"Is breakfast ready yet?" Dylan asked.

"No in ten minutes, go bother Tracy," Laurine sipped her coffee and sat down at the dining room table. Soon the apartment filled with a warm cinnamon aroma. Laurine took out the rolls and waited for them to cool.

"Is it done yet?" Dylan whined

"Did anyone ever tell you your annoying?" Laurine asked

"I tell him that all the time," Tracey said. "Dylan, if you were so hungry why didn't you get some cereal?"

"I don't want cereal," Dylan said.

“I’m surprised he didn’t wake me,“ Tracy said as she opened the fridge.

“Your potpourri kept him away,“ Laurine said and took another sip. Her sister loved the scent of potpourri and kept plenty of it in her room. There was one decorative saucer plate on the night stand next to her bed, another bowl on the top of her dresser, a third dish placed on the hope chest at the foot of her bed, and a fourth small dish on the window will.

“It wasn’t her potpourri,“ Dylan said. “That is not what stunk. I tried to wake her up first and she rolled over and farted in my face.”

Laurine nearly spat out her coffee.

“I did not,” Tracy said. She had pulled out the carton of orange juice.

“You were asleep.”

“I don’t fart in my sleep.”

“Well you did.”

“It’s too early for this,” Laurine sighed and checked the rolls they were cool enough for the icing They were. She used a butter knife to scoop out the sugary white topping and spread it around on top of the rolls. "Hey parasites, grub is ready." She grabbed a couple put it on a plate and sat down.

Tracy poured herself a glass of orange juice. “I do not fart in my sleep.” She slammed the carton against Dylan’s chest before she sat down.

Dylan opened his mouth to comment back but Laurine turned around and gave him a look that caused him to quickly shut his mouth. He set down the carton and grabbed another glass from the shelves

After a few bites from her roll Tracy was in a better mood. "No school, parents are at work and the weather is perfect. I'm going to the mall with Cindy and then were going to the pool at the YMCA."

"I'm going with some friends to Coney island," Dylan said.

"I'm going to call some friends see what they are doing, check out that new health

store," Laurine said. "Anyone want anything?”

"Um Bagels?" Tracy asked.

"Okay. I will see if they have them," Laurine said before she took another sip from her coffee.

At 10:00 Bobby Jacobs arrived with his mother to take Dylan to Coney Island. Mrs. Jacobs assured Laurine that Dylan will be ok. After they left Tracy grabbed her purse and ran out the door.

Alone at last Laurine called her friends. Ricardo was still grounded for not taking his brother to the playground last Friday. It was a stupid reason, but she was not going to tell Mrs. Cabellero that. Next she tried Sadie, but she had to go to work that day. Ethan said he was going to visit his grandmother. Ashley had promised her mother they would do some bonding. Donna said she would be there. Mrs. Dipoesia said that Riley would meet Laurine at the shop once she was finished with her jog. Gina was also going to meet her there and she just woke Leslie up. Whoops.

Laurine watered the various flowering plants around the apartment, including the ones in her room. She will feed the fish before she went to work. All she needed was her purse and back pack. She put in a small lunch, a swimsuit for later, her ax, and her transform pen.

"C'mon Celest lets go,” Laurine said. Celest followed Laurine out the door

____________________________________________________________________

The streets were crowded. Many students around Laurine's age were hanging around doing Nothing. Ah school holidays were the cure for monotony. Many stores had their Halloween decorations up.

Laurine paused by one shop to see what would be the popular costumes for that year were going to be. There the outfits from the popular movies of that year. There were black suits with sunglasses on a couple of mannequins, There were displays of various dinosaur shaped masks from the Lost World and even costumes for Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Bat Girl along with Batman and Robin even though that was the crappiest of the four movies. There was also the tried and true Power Ranger costumes and once again gargoyle costumes seems popular for this year.

“I wonder what I should be?” Laurine thought as she took a gander at some of the Halloween candy. She could be Lady Andromeda, but that is to close too home. Maybe she could dress up like that princess from her dream, or maybe create her own princess costume

“Trying to figure on what to be this year?“ Donna asked her.

“Thinking about making my own,” Laurine said as she turned to greet her friends. Donna and Gina were right on time.

“I hope you are not planning on dressing as Lady Andromeda,” Gina said. “I already bought the leotard and I found a pretty silver skirt at a thrift shop.”

“I figured everyone was going to dress as her,” Laurine said.

“Told ya so,” Donna smirked.

“What are you going to be?” Laurine asked her.

“Megara,” Donna answered.

“From the Disney movie?” Laurine asked.

“The same one. I like her attitude and style.”

“I think I might throw something together,” Laurine scratched her head. “Gina if you need any help I’ll go with you to the fabric and craft shops.”

“Thanks Laurine,” Gina smiled. “What is this shop?”

“It’s called the Sweet Nature store. It has all kinds of healthy and natural stuff. C’mon I’ll show you.” She lead her friends to the store. The place seemed crowded from the outside but that did not surprise her. Stores tend to be crowded on days of their grand opening.

It wasn’t too crowded to the point where they can’t move around and they were able to pick up hand baskets.

Donna zeroed on shelves displaying a variety of natural fruit drinks. “I have heard about these.” She picked up one of the eight ounce bottles. “Wow, these are great prices.” She put six of them into her basket.

Laurine checked out the pharmacy area. There were some OTC medicines, mostly herbal remedies such as garlic pills, gingko balboa, and saint John’s wort. Amongst the natural medicines were tubes of a medicine cream that was supposed to be good for sore muscles, at least that was what it said on the tube.

“Hey Donna. They have some muscle cream.” Laurine held up one of the tubes. “Want me to grab you one?” There had been times after gymnastics when both she and Donna had felt stiff and sore.

“Sure,” Donna said from the snack aisle.

Laurine headed over to where her friends were. Along the way she found some multigrain bagels for Tracey, and a tub off yogurt pretzels for herself.

“I have to start getting into shape,” Gina said as she placed a bag of dried fruit into her basket that already contained a cook book. “I’ve gained about five pounds since school started.”

“You are not fat and you are not getting fat,” Donna told her.

“Donna is right,” Laurine said as she handed Donna the second tube of medicine.

“I’m not gonna stop eating,” Gina said. “I’m just going to have healthier eating habits and exorcise more.”

“You did use to ride your bike a lot during the summer,” Donna brought up.

“Yeah that is true,” Laurine nodded. “Maybe you can bike with me when I skate.”

“I’ll think about it,” Gina chewed on her bottom lip. It was what she did when she was trying to remember something. “I know I should get something else.”

“Don’t have to blow your entire wallet today,” Donna told her.

“I just need to get some teas for my mother,” Laurine said as she approached the shelves with the teas. There were so many different kinds and varieties it was hard to choose. She thought about getting a variety pack, but there were different kinds as well.

“Looking for something in particular?” Donna asked.

“Trying to decide which kind of pack,” Laurine said. One box had six kind of herbal teas, another had a variety of citrus flavors, a third had a variety of green teas.”

“What about the super sampler?” Donna pointed at the box on the shelf above Laurine. It contained a peppermint mix, a chamomile, a hibiscus, an orange flavor, mint mix, lemon flavor, green tea, English breakfast tea and an Earl Grey tea.

“Donna, this is perfect.” Laurine grabbed the box and put it in her basket.

“Where did everyone go?” Gina asked. She had her arms stretched out and she twirled around. “The place isn’t crowded any more.”

“That’s odd,” Laurine said as she checked the next aisle over. All she saw was a young man checking out the various kinds of energy bars.

"Thats right people, free samples of our natural herbal lotion," The voice echoed through out the room. “Come on and give it a try in the beauty section.”

“That must be where everyone went,” Laurine said.

“Anyone want to check it out?” Gina asked.

“It is free,” Donna said as she headed on over to the beauty section.

Laurine was right in her assumption. It seemed like half the store had gathered around in one corner of the store and was surrounding one sales lady with reddish brown hair.

“You will love this,” the sales lady said. "It’s made of natural milk cream and fresh herbs." Other sales people were handing out small bottles of lotion to customers. "Go ahead and try it right here."

The people in the store started to rub lotion on their hands.

"Come on guys lets get some," Gina said and tried to squeeze through the crowd, but no one was letting them through.

“There is no need to struggle,“ the announcing saleslady said. “There is plenty for everyone.“ She turned to Laurine, Gina and Donna "Here you go dears."

Gina immediately started to apply some to her hands ,arms, and a her neck. Donna sniffed hers first and then squeezed a small dab into the palm of her hands.

Laurine opened her bottle and smelled it. It had an heavenly aroma of fresh cut roses. She tried to read the ingredients, but the sighs and thuds made her look up.

The other customers were collapsing.

“What’s going on?” One of the young sales girls who was handing out the bottles asked.

“We need to call someone,” the other girl said.

“Don’t worry,” the head sales lady said and placed her hands on the shoulders of her sales girls. “I’ll take care of this.”

“You’ll take care of this,” the other sales girls said in a monotone. Their eyes were glazed over.

"Laurine, I don't feel so good," Gina said. She dropped her free sample and collapsed.

“I need to sit down,” Donna rubbed her head and sat down next to her friend.

"C'mon you both just need to get some air," Laurine lead grabbed Gina around by the shoulders and dragged her outside of the store, followed by Donna. After Laurine set her friend down Donna collapsed next to her.

"You rest," Laurine said and looked around for a place to change. “Celeste, go find Riley.”

“I’m on it,” Celeste said and climbed out of the backpack.

___________________________________________________________________

Celeste ran towards the direction of the park. She had run only a few yards when she bumped into her query.

"Oops. Sorry Celeste," Riley apologized. She was not wearing her standard jogging outfit and instead wore a pink blouse and denim skirt. Her hair was still pulled back into a scrunchie.

“Laurine is right,” Celeste said as she tried to catch her breath. “We have got to stop meeting like this.”

“Is something wrong?” Riley asked. “Is one of those monster’s attacking?”

“Yes. They have already drained half of the store.”

“The new health store?” Riley frowned. “Is Laurine in trouble?”

“She may be,” Celeste told her. "Into the alley quickly!"

Celeste followed Riley into the alley and ducked behind the dumpsters

Riley pulled out her pink galaxy transform pen.

"Comet Galaxy Power Make-up!" Pink sparkles formed at her hands, feet and head, and like a sparkling fuse they moved towards her body. Once they reached her torso a bright pink flash exploded. When the flash settled Riley was Lady Comet.

"Lets go," Celeste said.

Lady Comet leaped onto the top of the dumpster and then leapt onto the last platform of the nearest fire escape and leapt from platform to platform until she was on top of the building while Celeste clung to her shoulders. She ran across the building and leapt again and landed on the next building over. She continued to race and play hopscotch with the buildings until they reached The Sweet Nature store. Both of them crashed through the side entrance.

The store was a mess. Items were scattered on the floor and bottles were shattered. There were unconscious bodies on the ground and several others were crawling to get away. There were two sales girls who were lying together, both with bruised lumps on their foreheads.

In the middle stood a tall muscular woman with grayish green skin and orange spiky hair. Her outfit looked like an eighties exorcise tape threw up on her. She had on a black spandex leotard, bright yellow sneakers, bright orange legwarmers were worn scrunched on her calves. She also wore a black headband and bright orange wrist weights. Her left arm had a slight gash that was bleeding green blood and a boot print on her abdomen.

In front of her stood Lady Andromeda. Her silver white hair was disheveled. Her right eye was puffy and was a grayish purple color, her ax had a little green blood dripping from it. She had bruises on her arms and her bottom lip was bleeding.

Lady Comet glared at the monster and felt her whole body heat up from the boiling anger within.. Without thinking she ran at full speed ramming her fist into the monster’s gut.

The beast woman grunted and slid back and inch.

“You bitch.” Comet continued to pummel the monster until she felt a slap against the side and sent her sprawling to the ground.

“You got healthy muscles,” the monster said. “But not healthy enough. Have some vitamins.“ She showered Comet with capsule shaped energy units.

Comet dodged them.

“She had enough for today,” Andromeda said and smacked at some of the capsules with her ax. One of the capsules was hit head on and was sent back to the monster. It struck her in the face.

“I can’t see,“ the monster said as she grabbed her face and rubbed her eyes.

"Comet Interstellar Explosion!" Lady Comet sent her fireworks against the monster.

The monster lady shrieked again.

Lady Andromeda put aside her ax. "Andromeda Sound wave Shatter!" The sound wave struck the monster, rendering her to stardust.

“Oh God,” Comet said. “Andromeda are you all right?”

“I will be in a couple of days,” Andromeda answered. She gingerly touched the area around her eye that was hurt. “I guess I’ll tell my friends that I ran into something when I was trying to run away from the monster.”

“You did get a good hit with that ax,” Comet said as she pointed to the still dripping green ooze on the edge of the ax’s blade. “Looks like she hurt them as well.” She pointed at the two unconscious sales girls.

“Actually I did that.” Andromeda put her hand behind her head.

“You did?” Celeste asked.

“They were under some kind of mind control,” Andromeda explained. “I didn’t really want to hurt them, but they attacked me and I had to just knock them out for a little bit.”

“You did what you had to do,” Comet said.

“Comet is right,” Celeste nodded. “You two need to change back get out of here.”

______________________________________________________________________

Sylvite paced around in the manager’s room. She had been holding a third energy in her palms. It was beautiful, just like the other two that she had sent to Borice. The third had stopped growing and after a few minutes it had shattered before her eyes.

“Those little bitches,“ she said and opened the door by a crack. Sure enough Tofaina was destroyed and the two Galactic Ladies had disappeared. “Next time they are not going to be smiling. That is for certain.“

“Uh,“ the real store manager moaned from the floor. She was coming too.

“Looks like this office is yours once again.“ Sylvite snapped her fingers. Bright green leaves swirled around her as her surroundings changed from the office to her home.

_____________________________________________________________________

Laurine sighed as she watched the late afternoon sun hang low in the sky. The trip to the pool was canceled. She had passed by the Neon Lizard on her way home and after seeing her face, Mrs. Carson told her to take the day off. No pool and no money.

Gina and Donna were still feeling lethargic and Laurine had felt it would be best if she saw that they got home safely and maybe take a nap.

Riley decided to spend the rest of the day with Laurine and they had decided to do that on the rooftop of Laurine‘s apartment. Both of them wore tank-tops, shorts, sandals, and sunglasses. they each had a glass of ice cold lemonade. Between them was a bowl of yogurt pretzels

"You know what sucks?" Riley asked before reaching for another pretzel.

"What?" Laurine asked. She held a plastic baggy full of ice and wrapped in a washcloth against her eye.

"We have to go to school tomorrow"

"Yeah"

"Its not the end of the world you know," Celeste said. She had a small bowl of water with a few ice cubes and a saucer with shredded lettuce and carrot sticks next to her.

"Yeah we prevented that." Laurine said. Both girls clicked their glasses together. “They do seem to be stepping up their attacks.”

“What do you mean?” Riley asked and sipped some more lemonade through her straw.

“They usually just attack once a week,” Laurine said. “And it’s only been three days.”

“Our enemies do not have a set schedule on when they decide to attack,” Celeste said.

“I wonder why they have gotten a bit more ambitious lately,” Laurine frowned.

“We’ll figure it out.” Riley leaned back and sighed.

"I don't want you using your ax again until we get your star pendant," Celeste said. "Maybe you can ask Mr. Xanatos about it when you sell him your sculpture."

“I’ll ask but I don’t know what good that will do,” Laurine said. “From the way you described the display sounds like it is one of his most prized treasures.”

_____________________________________________________________________

Guarding the gates of time was a lonely and sometimes boring job, but Sailor Pluto had seen it as a job of honor and she performed the task without a single complaint. There were only a few times she had left the gates and that was only when she was needed.

She had come across a variety of travelers who had the clearance to move through the gate including a crimson gargoyle with a beak and a long white mane who was lost, and not just about how he got there or where and when he was going to but why him. Sadly she was only able to answer a few of his questions.

Pluto had been able to peak on the gargoyle when his journey had ended. He had aged to a mature and wise warrior with a beautiful and clever mate, a curious and brave child, an egg containing another child and a cunning beast.

There was something else about that era. An energy that she had sensed, both good and bad. She knew that few members of the Dark Kingdom had lived and escaped this was where they decided to harvest energy.

The second source of energy had been confirmed when she had seen two teenage girls, dressed in outfits similar to what she and the other soldiers wore, save for the lack of bows and tiara, arm bands instead of gloves and different collars and skirts.

“The princess ambassadors have been awoken,” Pluto said. She saw through the mists and found the other two girls living in the same city who were not fighting. Their warrior abilities were still dormant. “Where is the fifth?”

The image before her changed again to a place in Hartford Connecticut. The fifth Lady was putting an end to a bank robbery.

Sailor Pluto sighed. “You will all be reunited and fighting together, young ambassadors. You will also know of the past.” She knew she would be the one to show them it.