Estrella had just leapt toward the spinning icicle in a vain attempt to save her sailors. It was as if the moment stood still for her. Thoughts of losing her scouts so early in their time together plagued her mind as she had leapt toward the icicle. Estrella hoped that her powers did not leave her simply because she was in feline form. Estrella’s eyes, which were closed, shot open as she became face to face with the icicle. A beam of light seemed to come from her entire being as the icicle was encased in a white light a was shattered on contact. After the pieces dissolved she fell to the ground as her memories of her life on Sirius flooded back to her. She laid still as Aquarius ran toward an exhausted Virgo and Sagittarius. Once freed they all walked toward Estrella, who was still laying on the ground. They slowly surrounded her as her tiny body twitched and slight moans where heard.

*In a dream with Estrella* “My queen” whispered a human Estrella as she slowly walked toward Lezelia who was standing in a hall made of a silver marble. “Please wait,” Lezelia turned slightly as the voice was heard behind her. “Please I don’t know if I can take on this task of helping the scouts protect the world and defeat the various evils we must face.” Estrella backed down as she spoke the last words. She turned sheepishly away from the queen as her eyes started to tear over.

“I will make you proud, my friend. “ Estrella put her hand over the middle of her chest and cried out, “Star Transportation!” and was immediately followed by a beam of light that led her spirit back to Earth.

“My Queen the sailors are doomed this time. I have them trapped and their own scouts will destroy them. Won’t you join us to watch their demise?” Caterina walked toward where Diamond sat. Her long orange dress flowed behind her as she walked. Her long hair was down and almost touched the floor. Around Diamond’s throne the other Generals stood and watched their fellow comrade beam with pride as she realized that with the scouts out of their way they could finally have the power they needed to give to Cassiopeia and rule the Stars. Diamond sat with a slight smirk on her face. She started to speak without standing.

”Caterina, what makes you so certain that the scouts will not escape your trap? They have succeeded every other time defeating you when you thought you had them beat. Go back to Earth and make sure that your mission is fulfilled. Once you have made sure that the scouts truly are gone and can not return you will be made the ruler over Earth and the power of the Zodiac will be yours.” Diamond stood as the rest of the court followed. Caterina looked shocked that the Queen would not trust her in such an easy mission.

Please, your majesty. I will transport them here, to the lost courts, so that you may witness my abilities.” Caterina had a look of over-confidence on her face as Diamond contemplated the idea.

“Bringing the scouts here also brings great danger, if you were to loose they would be able to attack the rest of the court. We are not yet strong enough to take on a frontal attack from the three of them. Do not fail or else you will answer to Cassiopeia when they attack us. Do you understand?”

“Yes my queen.” Caterina bowed as she vanished in a puff of red-orange smoke. ~I don’t get why she is so afraid of these sailors attacking us. They don’t seem to pose that great of a threat. No matter, I will gladly destroy them and then take Diamond’s place on the throne when Cassiopeia sees what I have done for her.~ Caterina smiled to her self as she readied herself to go to Earth and ‘kidnap’ the sailors.

The three sailors were gathered around Estrella as Virgo gathered her lifeless body into her arms and buried her head into the fur. Tears soon soaked the black cat’s fur. Sagittarius kneeled down by Virgo and gently stroked the fur as tears gathered in her eyes. “You said that you would be with us forever, Estrella. Why would you lie to us? Why are you gone now?” Sagittarius trailed off as the tears finally overcame her and she put her head into her hands. Aquarius soon fell to the ground by them.

“It’s all my fault. If I had never attacked then Estrella would be fine. If I hadn’t wanted to get rid of Caterina so badly then she would still be with us.” As Aquarius finished talking she leaned onto Virgo’s shoulder gently starting to cry. Sagittarius lifted her head from her hands as the last of her tears fell past her cheeks. Virgo looked over at Aquarius as she sat the crying.

“That’s not true Aquarius, Estrella tried to save us. You didn’t hurt her you were only trying to do your duty. It’s that vile Caterina who did this to her.” Virgo started to speak more clearly as her tears dried. Sagittarius stood next to them, with both hands in fists. She drew her right hand up to bow and stood with her eyes closed for a few seconds before talking.

“You’re right. It is Caterina’s fault that Estrella’s gone. I won’t stand for this she’s going to pay for doing this to her!” As Sagittarius finished talking she pointed down at Estrella, then as if talking to plain air she started, “CATERINA! Show yourself! Stop hiding and come accept the consequences for your actions! I am Sailor Sagittarius, defender of all animals past, present and future! As a soldier of the Stars I will not let you get away with what you have done to our friend and guide! Come show yourself!” As Sagittarius finished talking she stood for a while looking in the direction that Caterina had vanished.

Virgo, who was watching Sagittarius as she spoke was startled when Estrella started stirring. “Sagittarius,” Estrella’s voice was weak but she wasn’t gone yet, “Sagittarius!” Sagittarius left her trance and fell to her knees next to Virgo and Aquarius they stared at Estrella as she struggled to speak. “Please don’t rush into this. Caterina is strong but you can defeat her. One of you may be strong, but in order to destroy our enemy you must unlock the power of three and use it to destroy her and send her back to her creator. Do you understand me?” The three nodded as Virgo sat Estrella down on her paws. “Now sailors go and defeat Caterina and she will trouble us no more!”

”But Estrella, we can’t leave you! Are you sure you’re strong enough to be on your own while we fight?” A large smile appeared on Estrella’s face as she heard Aquarius’s words.

“I’ll be fine. I used to be a warrior too you know.” Estrella looked to her sailors and nodded. “Remember what I said now go defeat her and send her crawling back to her master!” They nodded at her and looked toward the empty space that Caterina vanished to.

“Oh how sweet, I think I’m getting cavities! Estrella you washed-up feline, although I guess I should be thanking you! When Cassiopeia sees that I’ve defeated the sailor scouts I’ll have all the powers of the Zodiac and you to thank for it! For you see if you hadn’t prepared your scouts to fight me I’d have never found them on my own but since they’ve called to me why disappoint them! Meet your doom sailors!” Caterina jumped at them from behind and would have caught them if they hadn’t moved out of the way.

“Serpent’s Kiss!”

“Whip Unfurled!”

“Glacial Icicle!”

The three attacks flew towards Caterina with great accuracy but she deflected the attacks by vanishing in a puff of smoke. “Come out and fight us now!” shouted Sagittarius.

“You really want me to fight you? Fine then! I’ll move us to my playing field so all the court can see!” Caterina’s figure vanished as black fog rolled in. The air became dark and dank the ground disappeared and they seemed to float in space where they were standing, The scouts looked around confused and distorted. As if from the dark space around them they could hear cheers and shouts for their destruction. “As you can see my Queen! Their will be no problem in destroying these sailors!” Caterina’s voice filled the arena and the image of a woman in a blue dress filled the sailors vision. They stared at her with straight faces and complete confidence in their abilities.

“Hello Sailors. I am Queen Diamond. Although it won’t matter much to you since your fate is soon to be decided. I truly hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this but since you won’t surrender or just give us those amulets, I guess we’ll just have to take them from you when you are dead.” Diamond finished her last words and a hush fell onto the court. Caterina’s figure once more appeared in front of the Sailors. Out of the air they were standing on a giant black marble floor appeared below them. Their heels clicked on the floor as they finally had something to stand on. In the middle of the platform there was a great lake of black liquid. It seemed as though it was supposed to be water but no one could tell what it was.

“Now Sailors it’s time for your payback!” As Caterina spoke, she pulled her hands above her hands and a red-orange ball appeared in her hands. “Pyrite Stone Shatter!” Suddenly she brought her hands forward and the red-orange mass hurled itself toward the three sailors. Before the stone reached them it shattered into millions of tiny shards.

The three were braced to face the one stone but once it shattered they were caught off guard. They tried to run to escape the shards hitting them, but it was to no avail. Their shouts filled the air as they scattered in three different ways. “No matter what you do to us we still will finish you off!” Shouted Sagittarius as she tried to steady themselves from the attacks. “I say that it’s time to get this poor excuse for a villain out of the picture! What do you say?” Sagittarius faced the other two Sailors and they nodded in agreement with what she had said.

“Wait Sagittarius,” said Aquarius, “Estrella said that we must unlock the power of three in order to defeat her.” Sagittarius and Virgo both walked back toward Aquarius to try and decipher what Estrella had said. Caterina, who was growing bored, didn’t like the looks of this.

“What do you think you’re doing? Attack already! Pyrite Stone Shatter!” Once again the stone flew toward the Sailors but this time they expected the attack.

“I think I’ve got it!” Shouted Aquarius, “Just attack with your strongest attack in the order I say so okay?” The others nodded in agreement. There was only one problem in Aquarius’s plan, she had completely forgotten about the attack Caterina had just thrown at them and it was just about to shatter. “If we don’t do something about this attack it could very well be our final battle.” Just then Aquarius remembered the pool of black liquid that was in the middle of the platform. She sprinted toward the pool. She only hope she had enough time.

Both Sagittarius and Virgo stared at Aquarius as she sprinted toward the pool. “You know,” Virgo started, “that girl really needs to include us in her plans.”

She stood at the side of the pool and put both hands over the liquid. The reaction she was waiting for occurred. The liquid bubbled then rose up to meet her hands. “Raging Tempest!” the water shot up and over her hands, she then pointed at Caterina and the black substance flew at her soaking her through and through.

“Oh! You little twit! Do you have any idea what this dress cost? More than you’re even worth! I’ll get you for that!” She prepared to attack again but would never find the time.

“I think I understand the plan!” Virgo prepared for her attack, “Icy Wind!” With both hands above her head she slowly pulled them apart as a vortex appeared between them. She then shoved her hands at Caterina. Caterina, who was still busy trying to dry her dress, never saw the attack coming and couldn’t move fast enough. The winds hit her and she was knocked to the floor. She tried to move but could not, she was frozen to the core.

“Sagittarius!” Aquarius shouted, “Finish her off!” Aquarius looked at Sagittarius and nodded.

“Right! I am Sailor Sagittarius defender of the stars! On behalf of the stars your evil rampage is over!” Sagittarius then moved her hands as if she was holding her bow. Out of the air it appeared with a single arrow. “Hawk’s Beak!” Sagittarius shot the arrow with great accuracy. As it flew toward Caterina it took on the form of a hawk that cawed before it hit Caterina in the middle of her chest. Her eyes widened as the arrow hit its target shattering Caterina into thousands of shards of ice. The three sailors gathered together as the shards vanished into the air. Caterina was gone as was some of their problems.

As Diamond had witnessed what occurred she was disappointed but at the same time expected it. “So Sailors you were able to defeat me but little did you know that as you destroyed her, her life force went to me! So she may be gone but all her powers are now mine!” Diamond held up her hand to show the orange mist that was gathered in her palm. “Now remove yourself from my court and never return!” Before any of the sailors could rebuke Diamond had sent them back to their own dimension.

Soon they were standing were they were before Caterina had abducted them. They saw Estrella sitting on a park bench and quickly ran up to her. They had told her about the entire battle and finally of how Diamond said she now had Caterina’s powers. “But what I don’t get Estrella, if Diamond now has Caterina’s powers why didn’t she attack us again?” asked Sagittarius.

Estrella pondered for a minute then looked up to the Sailors, “Well if Diamond was strong enough firstly she would have never sent Caterina to do her work. So it makes sense now that she still isn’t strong enough. But don’t worry about that now, you girl’s have had enough to think and worry about. Plus we now have another Sailor on our team. Welcome Sailor Aquarius!” They all looked to her and smiled then walked in the direction of home to fianlly get some rest.

“My queen, the Sailors were in our world! Why did you not simply destroy them?” asked a voice from the dark. The girl simply walked from the crowd into the presence of Diamond.

“You dare speak out to me?!? It is not your place to ask such questions! Just get ready Angela. Get ready to take Caterina’s place on Earth and destroy those Sailors!” Diamond looked at the young girl and gave her a pink and blue orb. She bowed and then turned to walk out of the throne room. Diamond then left her throne and walked to her own quarters.

“I don’t understand! Cassiopeia please explain to me why we could not destroy those Sailors while we had them!” Diamond was on her knees and was looking toward the floor. Aloud voice boomed.

“Diamond why do you insist on asking me these simple questions when you very well know the answer!”

“But there are three!

“You know as well as I do that there were far more than three in the Great Era! We must wait till all of them are combined before we attack them for their amulets! Now get out of my sights!”

“Yes my majesty.” Diamond rose and slowly walked out of the room. She had much to do if she was going to prepare Angela to be able to destroy the Sailor Scouts.

Thoughts:

TODAY- "A $1.25 box of Cheerios will float, but a million dollar luxury liner won't."