It was morning. A bright and sunny morning when the air is warm and clear, and birds sing. It was also a morning when Alex West needed to get up for work and didn’t want to. His mom called in Zelgadis Greywords, Gourry Gabriev, and Amelia Will Tesela Seyruun. When they arrived they found a lump under the covers with a fan blowing cool air on it.
     “Mister Alex?” Amelia said as she approached the lump. She poked it and it mumbled something.
     “Do you think he’ll do to us what he did to Andrew that morning when he didn’t want to get up?” Gourry asked. A mumble from the lump answered his question, for a moment later the group found themselves getting electrocuted.
     “A monovolt,” Zelgadis moaned as he rubbed his head.
     “At least it wasn’t a....” Amelia began to say as a hand came from beneath the covers and pointed at them. A mumble came from beneath the covers, and a moment later they found themselves on the business end of a fireball.
     “You just had to mention that,” Gourry sighed, smoke rising from his body, “he’s harder to get up than Lina is.”
     The covers pulled away, and a nightmarish figure rose from them. Amelia recoiled in terror and hid behind Zelgadis, pulling his cape over her head. Gourry began to back away from the figure as it blinked at him, a wry grin forming on its face.
     “It’s.... it’s..... the creature from the black lagoon!!” Amelia cried, pulling Zel’s cape tighter around her body.
     “No, it’s a very tired spell caster,” Alex sighed as he fell back onto his pillows, a light spell forming above his head.
     “Hard night?” Zelgadis asked.
     “Long night. Stupid negaverse creep showed up, so I was awakened from my sound slumber to go and kick this thing’s butt.”
     “You ARE aware that we are due at work at some point today that is very soon,” Amelia said as she crawled between Zel’s legs, “as in, the next two hours.”
     Alex grumbled something and leapt from bed, sailing over their heads and out of his room. A moment later they heard the shower running and sighed before retreating to the living room.
     “You think Alex will use the Dragon Slave at the store today?” Amelia asked as she fidgeted on the couch, “I mean, it is a major day for promotion and such and they’ll have people coming and going and others in costume.”
     “Don’t remind me,” Zelgadis sighed, “Lina threatened grievous bodily dismemberment if she had to dress up in a costume.”
     “And Alex?”
     “It’s on his schedule,” Gourry said. Amelia and Zel looked to one another before paling.
     “We’re all doomed,” Amelia moaned.
     Several minutes later a hyper caffinated voice said, “I’m almost ready.” The three looked up to see a very hyper Alex bouncing through the house in preparation for work. About three minutes later he stopped before them, his pack slung over his left shoulder, his hair not nearly as messy as it had been, but not exactly dripping wet. What shocked them was Alex’s eyes blinking out of synch.
     “Just how much coffee did you drink?” Zel asked, arching an eyebrow at the over energetic warrior.
     “Not coffee,” Alex replied, “cherry cola, the magic elixir of the gods, the drink of kings...”
     “With twice the caffeine of regular cola,” Amelia said, handing an empty can to Zelgadis.
     “How many cans of this stuff did you drink?!” Zel exclaimed.
     “Three or four... maybe five,” Alex said, “as well as a healthy breakfast.”
     “I hope your caffeine kick keeps up,” Gourry said, “it promises to be a long day at work.”
     “How so?” Alex asked as he stuffed a couple more cans of cola into his pack.
     “Promo day,” Gourry said, “you’ll see what I mean when we get to work.”
     “Well, O.K., I guess I’ll wait,” Alex said as he bounced back through the house, kissed his mom, and bounded out the door with the other three in tow.

     With about an hour to kill before work, Alex, Zel, Gourry, and Amelia dropped by the Cherry Hill Temple to visit Rei Hino. Thanks to Chad’s and Tony’s help in running the temple Rei was able to get a part time job at the store. Lita Kino was also able to get a job in the bakery, since people loved what she baked. Both were sitting in the main room of the temple with a very hyper Mina Aino. Chad showed the four visitors in and closed the door as he left.
     “So, you guys hear about the new carnival that’s in town?” Mina asked, bouncing over to the newcomers.
     “Not much about it except for all the way cool rides and stuff,” Amelia said.
     “Ami will probably go to research the mechanics of the rides,” Lita sighed, “personally I want to go on the 1,002 nights. It’s supposed to be cooler than the pirate ship.”
     “I want to try the midway games,” Gourry said, “maybe I can win something cool for Lina.”
     “That monster we fought last night was one of the toughest ones yet,” Rei said from by the temple fire, “I get the feeling there’s a new evil in town.”
     “You mean the carnival?” Lita and Mina asked in unison.
     “Considering the creature disintegrated into plush fluff, it’s very possible.”
     “We still have some time to kill before work, so we’ll give it a fly by,” Zelgadis said, “then we’ll devise some sort of plan at the store.”
     “I’ll consult the fire spirits and see if they can tell us anything,” Rei said.
     “And since I’m part of the promo team I’ll keep extra alert for trouble,” Mina beamed. Everyone else sighed.
     “How much cola did you give her today?” Zel whispered to Lita.
     “Way too much. Her brain is totally fried,” Lita replied. Zel groaned.
     “See you guys in a while,” Alex said as he bounced out the door, followed by Amelia and Zelgadis. Once in the courtyard the three cast Ray Wing and took to the sky in the general direction of Meadow Park, the location of the carnival.

     As the threesome sailed through the sky they all began to sense a truly evil presence. The closer they got, the stronger the sense was. It eventually became so strong that a sudden surge in the power knocked Alex out of the sky.
     “Alex!” Zel said as he caught the plummeting wizard by the armpits, “I got you.”
     “And I appreciate it,” Alex mumbled as he rubbed his head, “that’s one really strong force we’re dealing with here. Any closer and I could have suffered permanent damage.”
     “I sense it as well,” Amelia said, floating nervously nearby. The town clock chimed a moment later. “And by the sound of that bell we’d better get to work and keep alert for whatever trouble may come our way.

     “We’ll also keep an eye out for things,” Lina said. Around her were some of the other people who worked in the store, and all were in the training room located off of the front end.
     “With this many people we’ll need the extra effort from everyone,” Naga said.
     “And the star means you get to dress up,” Amelia whispered to Alex as he looked at his schedule. Alex turned his head and Amelia held up an elf suit, a big grin on her face. Alex took one look, recoiled, and shook his head.
     “Not on your bleedin’ life,” he said, terror in his eyes, “I’d rather face a dark lord with one hand tied behind my back.”
     “But if you’re on the floor then we know you’ll be looking for trouble,” Amelia said.
     “But it goes against everything in the warrior handbook. I am adamantly refusing to humiliate myself like that.”

     Five minutes later Alex stepped from the back room with a basket of candy in hand with his tracking computer hitched to the handle.
     “This is humiliating and degrading,” he said, his voice muffled by the plastic head.
     “Not as bad as the Zelgabunny,” Lina said sarcastically. Zel recoiled.
     “Suck it up,” Ihrie said from inside a giant cartoon bee costume, “we’re all humiliating ourselves as well.”
     “But this is an insult to all elves everywhere,” Alex said.
     “If trouble is brewing we’ll be there,” Mina said from inside a rabbit suit, “anyway, it’s for a good cause.”
     “If you call fattening your wallet a good cause,” Alex said sarcastically.
     “Just get out there and mingle and have fun,” Amelia said. The three in the suits sighed, sweat drops forming on their heads. They reluctantly dragged themselves through the store, greeting customers, posing for pictures, and handing out candy galore.
     ‘I’d rather be stuck on the express lane and be the only one open than do this again any time soon,’ Alex thought, rubbing the shin that a rowdy five year old had just kicked. He glanced over at his computer screen a moment later, several dots moving throughout the store in strategic positions. ‘Mina and Ihrie have the parking lot and dairy section covered. Zel and Gourry are handling the main floor. Lina, Sylphiel, and Amelia have the front end covered. Derek, Lita, and Rei are covering the deli, produce, and the bakery. That leaves me, Naga, and Fam to take care of the rest of the floor.’
     As he thought that a pair of red dots appeared on the screen, racing rapidly through the store. He turned around a moment before he was mowed over, the plastic head flying off into the crowd. He pulled the padded gloves off, grabbed his computer, and set about tracing the position of the fast moving enemies.
     “Alex, what the hell is going on?!” Lina demanded through the communicator, “something just shattered that big picture window.”
     “I know that,” Alex said, his transformation pen appearing in his hand, “it just hit me pretty hard.”
     “We saw it as well,” Lita said, “Rei was taking care of produce and it buzzed both of us.”
     “Just be careful because there are two of them.”
     “Anything to make our lives more difficult,” Mina said. A moment later her scream filled the air.
     “MINA!” came from several people located in different parts of the store, each person running towards the source.
     “We should probably transform,” Lita said as she took out her transformation pen. Running along side her were Derek and Rei, who also had their transformation pens in hand. Customers ran past them, screaming about some demon creature draining the energy of a girl in a rabbit suit. The three found the rabbit head first, followed by Mina’s goody basket. As they rounded the corner they saw Mina pinned to the wall by a wraith like creature with bat wings. A second one hovered nearby. The three wasted no time in transforming.
     “Jupiter Crystal Power!”
     “Mars Crystal Power!”
     “Pluto Super Nova Power!”
     Three flashes of colored light brought forth Sailors Mars and Jupiter and Warrior Pluto, all ready for battle.
     “Guys, stay back,” Mina managed to say before she passed out. The second creature spat three globs that expanded into webs and pinned the three would be rescuers to the wall. The three could feel their energy draining away as well.
     “What a way... to go,” Lita said before they passed out.

     Elsewhere in the store, or outside to be more precise, stood Erika, Michelle, Susana, and Nicole. All four stood still, watching the masses of people exit the store screaming.
     “What do you suppose the problem is?” Michelle asked, turning to Erika.
     “I haven’t a clue, but if I had to guess then I’d say there might be trouble,” Erika replied.
     “Shouldn’t we go and help?” Nicole asked.
     “Probably,” Susana replied, “though this is the store where Alex and Derek work, right?”
     “Yup,” Erika replied, “so they should be able to hold down the fort for a while.”
     A tall man with long blonde hair crashed through the window near them, sailing over their heads and into a lamp post. Nicole ran to the man’s side and started to help him to his feet.
     “Mister Gourry, are you all right?” Nicole asked.
     “Well, I think so,” Gourry said, “but the others are in real trouble.”
     “You think it’s the Negaverse?” Michelle whispered to Erika and Susana. Both nodded.
     “Nicole, take care of him,” Erika said, “we’re going to go and give them a hand.”
     “But...” Nicole began to say in protest, but the other three were already gone. “It figures they’d leave me behind, since I’m the youngest.”
     “You go on ahead,” Gourry said, “They’ll need Sailor Saturn if things get too hot.”
     “But what if you’re injured? I can heal you if you are.”
     “I appreciate the thought, but I’ve fought fierce dark lords and emerged with only a few scratches and bruises.”
     “O.K., you take care,” Nicole said as she took her transformation pen from her pocket. She entered the store a moment later, running to catch up with the other three. Gourry moaned in pain as she left, his left arm covering his ribs and stomach.
     “Take care of yourself,” he said to the wind.

     Inside the store was chaos, since the two demons had multiplied into four, all of whom were screeching through the store at high speeds.
     “Damn!” Lina cursed as her spell missed its mark by millimeters, “they’re too fast for conventional spells.”
     “You’re not going to use the Dragon Slave, are you Lina?” Zelgadis asked from behind a register.
     “I use that and we’re ALL gonna get cooked,” Lina replied, ducking lower as one of the creatures buzzed over her head.
     “Look, there’s Miss Michelle, Miss Susana, and Miss Erika,” Sylphiel said before diving under a register. The three Sailor Soldiers leapt behind the courtesy counter and crawled over to the little door and opened it.
     “Four at the last count,” Zelgadis replied, “though I’m not sure about that.”
     “And our spells are useless,” Lina added, “we can’t hit something that moves that fast.”
     From the main entrance came a shout of, “Saturn Crystal Power!” which was followed by a flash of indigo light. From around the corner stepped Sailor Saturn, glaive in hand.
     “Nicole,” Michelle scolded, “we told you to stay outside and keep an eye on Gourry.”
     “He told me to come inside and help you, says he’s fine,” Sailor Saturn protested, hitting the deck as two of the flying creatures dive bombed her. “Are those the things we’re fighting?”
     “Yeah,” Alex said over the communicator, “watch them, though. They hit fast and hard and can drain you in the blink of an eye.”
     “I think it’s time we transform ourselves,” Erika said. Michelle and Susana nodded, all three producing their transformation wands.
     “Uranus Crystal Power.”
     “Neptune Crystal Power.”
     “Pluto Crystal Power.”
     “MAKE UP!”
     A flash of golden light brought forth Sailor Uranus. A flash of aqua light brought forth Sailor Neptune. Finally, a flash of violet light brought forth Sailor Pluto.
     “This is when I wish that Sailor Mercury were here,” Sailor Neptune said as she cart wheeled out of the path of two of the lizards, “she could give us the tactical data we require.”
     “I’ve got your tactical data,” Alex said as he leapt over the courtesy counter, his visor glowing with readouts, “at the moment there are six of them, all moving in excess of ninety miles an hour, so they do hit VERY hard.”
     “Are all of the innocent bystanders out of the store?” Sailor Uranus asked, her hand glowing with energy.
     “Yup. We’re the only ones in here.”
     “Then let’s teach these things a lesson or three,” Lina said as she whipped off her store shirt, her clothes changing to her sorceress gear.
     “World.... SHAKING!”
     A globe of energy formed around Sailor Uranus’ outstretched hand, a ring spanning her body and circling the globe. She smashed the globe into the ground, sending it after one of the flying pains in the neck. The attack connected with one of the lizard creatures, shaking it and sending it screeching into a void of nothingness.
     “Diem Wing!”
     Lina’s wind spell picked a shopping cart up from the ground and sent it sailing into one of the flying creatures. The cart continued on its trajectory, smashing into a wall top first and caging the beast.
     “Venus Meteor Shower!”
     A wide spread of crescent beams split through aisle two, catching one of the creatures in its wake and vaporizing it quickly and painlessly. From that aisle stepped Sailor Venus, her hair a mess and sweat pouring down her face.
     “If I EVER volunteer for an assignment like this again I want someone to make me stay in bed,” Venus said, mopping her brow, “It’s incredibly hot inside that suit.”
     “Guys, I’ve got bad news,” Ihrie said over the communicator, “the remaining creatures just combined into a giant nagaette thing.”
     “That’s just peachy,” Sailor Uranus said, “it’s getting stronger and we’re getting weaker.”
     “Everyone rally around the front end,” Zelgadis said into his communicator, “that we can keep tabs on this thing and we’ll be sure to get it.”

     ‘What the hell hit me?’ Sailor Jupiter thought as she struggled to awaken, ‘I remember two flying serpents, then Mars and Warrior Pluto and I were wrapped up and...’
     Her eyes shot open, the antenna extending from her tiara. Electricity sparked around the antenna as she concentrated on her target - the webbing around Mars’ arms.
     “Come on Rei, you need to wake up,” she mumbled as she sent a small chain of electricity at the webbing. The bolt broke through the webbing a lot faster than she had expected, and it took the full focus of her mental powers to keep from electrocuting Mars.
     “Lita?” Sailor Mars mumbled as her eyes blinked open.
     “I’m here Rei,” Jupiter said, “and I freed your hands so that you can free all of us.”
     “I’ll see what I can do,” Mars said, clasping her hands together with her index fingers extended. A spark formed over her fingertips, which quickly grew to form a small fireball. The fireball split into three streams of flame that quickly burned away the webbing. Mars and Jupiter slid down the wall once freed, too weak to stand under their own power. Pluto, on the other hand, keeled forward, and surely would have landed on his face if Jupiter hadn’t leapt forward and caught him.
     “I got ya Derek,” she said, brushing her bangs back from her face, ‘he reminds me of my old boyfriend,’ she thought as she looked into Derek’s face, ‘actually he’s better than that jerk Freddy because Freddy dumped me!’
     “Earth to Lita, come in Lita,” Mars said, waving her hand before Lita’s face. When Jupiter was snapped back to reality she said, “We have to go to the front end now.”
     “Why?”
     “Because Zelgadis told us to rally there. That way we know who’s out of action and who’s still able to fight.”
     Jupiter tried to get to her feet, but dropped to one knee from weakness. ‘Come on Jupiter, you can do this,’ she said in her mind, ‘you’re the butt kicker of the bunch. You’re strong as an oak, you’re butt kicking Jupiter.’
     She managed to get to her feet and grabbed the still unconscious Warrior Pluto under the arms before slowly dragging him toward the front end. As they turned a corner they saw the Nagaette creature sail down one of the aisles, dragging Sailor Venus behind it by one of her love chains. Being dragged behind her were Zelgadis and Gourry, both trying to find some way to stop the fast moving creature. From around another corner came Warrior Saturn, sweat pouring down his face. When he saw the other two he said, “Which way did it go?”
     “Down aisle eight,” Sailor Mars said, “and it was dragging Venus, Zel, and Gourry behind it like water skiers.”
     “Ducky,” Saturn said before he disappeared down aisle eight, only to emerge a second later followed by the monster and those it had in tow.
     “Mars,” Venus shouted as she sailed by, “stun it!”
     “I’ll try,” Mars said, taking a scroll from behind her back, “Aku Ryo..... Tai San. Evil spirit be gone!”
     The scroll sailed through the air and burst into flames just inches from the creature.
     “Well, that’s just dandy,” Venus said as she tried to dig her heels into the floor. Somehow her heel found a crack in the flooring, which nearly wrenched her ankle severely out of joint, but provided optimal leverage so that she, Gourry, and Zel could hold the creature in place.
     “Looks like a new player is up,” Jupiter said, “Sparkling Wide Pressure!”
     The globe of electricity struck the creature in the back, electrocuting it. Unfortunately those holding the chains got a taste of the attack on a lower power setting.
     “Ouch,” Venus said, her hair curling and frizzing, electricity sparking around some of her hairs.
     “Sorry guys, guess I kinda forgot,” Jupiter said, putting her hand behind her head. The others sighed.
     The monster took that moment to release what could only be described as a scream, which caused everyone’s hair to stand on end.
     “Just shut up,” Lina grumbled as she brushed her hair back into place, “I’m tired, I’m cranky and there’s going to be violence, so plunge that monster into a bubble of silence.”
     A globe of sorts formed around the creature, silencing its screeches and giving everyone peace of mind again.
     “Now to toast this turkey,” Amelia shouted, “hammer of justice!”
     A large hammer of energy formed in Amelia’s hands, which she swung with all of her might. The impact and follow through sent the monster about three feet into the floor, where it sat, stunned, in a nice blast crater. Amelia took a moment to admire her handiwork as she leaned on her hammer.
     “What is it?” Fam asked, poking the prone form with her staff.
     “According to my readings it’s definitely evil in nature, and working for a larger power,” Warrior Saturn said as he scanned it. His visor beeped, locking onto something important. “Fam, by your staff is a marking of a skull and crossbones, and the skull has clown hair.”
     “He’s right,” Sailor Uranus said, kneeling beside the hole, “but what does it mean?”
     “The dead moon circus can’t be back,” Sailor Venus replied, “we sent them screeching into oblivion.”
     “It’s not the circus,” Sailor Pluto said, “it’s the Dead Moon Carnival.”
     From behind her back she took a rolled up piece of paper, which she proceeded to unroll. Gasps went up all around when they saw the poster.
     “We have a new enemy,” Zelgadis said moments before the creature in the hole disintegrated into cotton candy. Gourry dropped to his knees a moment later, clutching his ribs.
     “Mister Gourry,” Amelia said, placing her hands to his ribs and reciting a Recovery spell.
     “All will be fine in a few moment Gourry,” Lina said, adding her spell to Amelia’s, “all will be just fine.”

     In another part of town, in the back office of a ticket booth, several dark and mysterious forms stood around a table, their figures highlighted by a glowing orb in the middle of the table.
     “So the Sailor brats are in town,” a deep and sultry female voice said, “this is going to be fun.”
     “Yeah, a real scream,” a high pitched and energetic female voice said in a New York accent, “we’ll make them die laughing.”
     “You two are really sick and twisted,” a somewhat gruff male voice said.”
     “No we’re not,” the two women said in protest.
     “Can we please have some silence?” another male voice said, this one more refined than the first man’s. Once he got as he asked he said, “We have much work to do. We got the energy of four of them.... three pretty soldiers and one warrior.”
     “But they managed to destroy our monster,” the second woman whined.
     “Yes, but with the energy we collected we can send out an entire swarm of monsters to do even more damage,” the second man replied, “but now I need status reports.”
     “The children of the town are in love with us,” the first woman said, “they just want to have fun ALL day long.”
     “Same with the young adults,” the first man said, “they would rather goof off and have fun than work, so this town is pretty much ours.”
     “It IS ours,” the second woman said, giggling wickedly, “and soon enough we’ll have enough energy to resurrect our queen of night!”
     The four laughed maniacally as the globe at the center of the table dimmed, their voices echoing in the darkness.

     “Who runs the Dark Moon Carnival? What is the true reason they’re here? And who is this queen of the night? The answers to those questions and many others are coming up in the next episode.”