Chapter 2 - Episode 1: Sailor Polaris

Sailor Moon P
Episode 1 : Sailor Polaris

Night had fallen on the Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium. Queen Serenity, her silver hair falling around her, watched as her daughter was taken and killed before her eyes. All around her, her kingdom was crumbling. Her people were dying, and her culture was vanishing. The Negaverse, a power-hungry race of world domineers, were spreading through her satellite. She saw the earth on the horizon, darkened by the presence of overpowering negative energy. The whole of the Zodiac system was under their power, now. Her peers were dead; her loved ones were dead; and most importantly, the next generation were all destroyed. There was nothing left. The beautiful era she’d been raised in was over.
The queen, tears in her eyes, fell to her knees in defeat. She could hear the malicious laughter of Beryl, Queen of the Negaverse as it echoed around the ruins of her palace. She glanced to where the body of her young, blonde, 14-year-old heir was hanging suspended in the air near her dead fiancé from Earth. They were going to inherit the throne, and unite the Earth and Moon in a bond of eternal harmony. But, the evil queen would rule her kingdom now, and turn her peaceful land into a pit of villainy. She looked down to the wand she held in her h and, and the glittering orb-like crystal resting in the curve of the crescent. She heard a voice nearby. “Your Majesty!!!”
The two magic cats Luna and Artemis were standing at her feet. She held up the Crescent Moon Wand. “There is only one hope…”
“No! Your Highness! Not the Imperium Silver Crystal!” Luna begged.
“I have no choice.” She removed the treasure of the moon kingdom from its place and held it before her. “I will send everyone to the future where they may live happily forever.”
“Queen Serenity-!?” Artemis said, disbelieving.
“They will live in peace on Earth.” She said, tears still flowing. “I will use the last of my energy to make sure that everyone will be happy.”
“But Serenity! If you do that…” Artemis was too frightened to finish, but his monarch knew what he was trying to say.
“I know, but if the Negaverse wins, then no one will live.” Serenity said, woefully.
“It is the greatest sacrifice.” Luna said. “But your kingdom will live on.”
“No…” New tears came as her heart broke. “They will have no memory of this place, or our lives here. They will not remember me.” The crystal floated and left her hand. “In case the Negaverse attacks again, the Sailor Soldiers will be available to combat them. It will be your mission to find them.”
The cats gasped.
“Now go…and find the Moon Princess, so that our kingdom and my beloved daughter will not truly die. The Negaverse will not win as long as Princess Serenity lives.”
“YOUR MAJESTY!?!” But in a flash, they were encapsulated and sent away. All over the solar system, members of the royal families were disappearing and phasing into the future. The columns fell around her as the bubbles of their energy trailed away. She lay against one, her energy nearly spent, and watched as the last of them vanished. Now, with her entire world broken and crashing down around her, she was completely alone. She sobbed for her herself, her kingdom, and her child. Even though she loved it all so much, she would be forgotten, and unable to join them in the kingdom of the future. It broke her heart.
Then a voice, and a turquoise cat appeared from behind one of the fallen columns, her great brown eyes opened widely. “Queen Serenity?” The queen looked up and cast her forlorn silver-blue eyes to her. The cat stepped tentatively forward. “What is happening?”
“It’s over.” Serenity sighed, drops of sadness splashing on her empty wand. “I am left alone and unremembered, and will die.”
“You are not alone, my queen.” The cat said. “I am here.”
She looked to the cat. “Yes.”
“And we will all die.” She added.
The queen realized that this young soul and many like her would not survive the fall of her kingdom either. It was terrible.
The young feline walked up and sat down beside her. “And… I haven’t forgotten you.”
Serenity gazed down, somehow, this little person had touched her heart. It was because, even though it seemed that she had failed, Queen Serenity was still loved by her people. It seemed that this young feline didn’t mind perishing with her. She smiled weakly. “What is your name?”
“Niobe, your highness.”
“Were you a member of the court?”
“No, your highness.” She answered. “But I frequented your palace. My mother, in life, was an important name in our society.”
“Niobe,” Serenity’s smile warmed. “You are noble and compassionate to think of me in the midst of all of this turmoil. Even Luna and Artemis will not remember me in the future; the will remember only the mission I have given them. You…” She reached her hand out, “you will be the keeper of my memory. You alone will recall still the ways and people of the Silver Millennium. When you arrive in the future; find the others. They are looking for the Moon Princess and the Sailor Soldiers. With a memory, you will help them greatly. I will make it so that you can show them the past and help them in the future.” Her body began to shimmer and dissipate as she reached out and touched the cat. Placing her finger in the crescent moon shape on Niobe’s forehead, it began to glitter gold, the cat’s eyes deepened in swirling blackness. “Go, my messenger.”
Niobe gasped. Before her eyes, a sparkling, colorful vortex swirled. She was sucked into the blackness, twisting around and around through the cloudlike spots of brilliant color and the pinpoints of imaginary stars. Her mind was sealed in this way, and her body encapsulated like the others. She too, vanished into the future.
“You have eased my heart…give my Serenity my love…”

* * *

A Sunday afternoon sun was shining bright in the window of 11-year-old Olivia Miles’s bedroom. She had been trying to nap, but as she tossed and turned, she couldn’t get to sleep. Her stuffed orangutan, Schweethart was squished under her weight. She got his furry paw in her face and sneezed. Her blue-hazel eyes opened groggily. Spitting a wad of her golden-blonde hair out of her mouth, she surrendered to consciousness and pried herself from her bed.
She headed downstairs where her older sister was watching TV. Brown hair and hazel-green eyes, Jennifer Miles met her with an untimely “Good morning.”
“Hey.” Olivia stopped and looked at what her sister was watching on television.
“MST3K from yesterday.” Jennifer said, simply. “Wanna watch it with me?”
Typically, she would have loved to, but this wasn’t an episode Olivia had liked the first seven or eight times she’d seen it and declined. “Nah, I’m going out for a walk. Maybe it’ll wake me up.” Her two big dogs, a black and white mutt named Gabriel and a brindle greyhound named Angel sprang to their feet.
“You said the ‘W’ word.” Jennifer observed.
“Aww.” Olivia looked to her pets. “No! Not with you. I’m going on my own ‘pedestrian excursion’, you’ll just have to stay behind.” She looked up at Jennifer again. “Tell Mom I’m gone.”
“’K”
Walking up the street from her house, Olivia blew aside her bushy bangs. “Man, I really gotta grow these out, they tick me off.” It wasn’t a long trek, but at the top of the hill and across the street was a Quik Trip. Sugar sounded good to her then, and she got the inspiration to go buy some candy. She stopped and waited at the crosswalk.
In the middle of the street she noticed something out of place. A ball of turquoise fur was huddled tightly. Trucks and cars zoomed by over it’s head, and the animal was petrified. Olivia caught a glimpse of a pair of wide, horrified amber eyes.
“Hold it – is that a cat?” She started into the traffic, but pulled back as a pickup truck rushed by. She glanced anxiously to the stoplight. It seemed like forever, but the signal turned and the girl rushed into the street. She glanced down at the shivering creature. “Oh my gosh! You poor little cat!” The 11-year-old glanced both directions to see if anyone was around to claim it. She was alone, so she scooped the cat off the road and headed back to the sidewalk. “Don’t worry, kitty, you can come home with me.” With a new spring in her step, Olivia headed back to her house, and the cat bounced along in her arms. “You know, if I’m lucky, maybe Mom will let me keep you. I’ve always wanted a cat.” Back down the street and to the Miles residence they went. Olivia hopped up onto the porch of her house, but stopped herself when she reached for the doorknob. “Hold it…I’ve got two huge dogs. Maybe I shouldn’t take you in the front door.” She checked to make sure that the dogs were in the house before heading around back and down to the basement door.
The basement of the house was carpeted and nicely finished. Olivia shut the sliding door and left the cat on the carpet just inside. “You stay here, I’m going to go ask mom if I can keep you or not.” The girl rushed away, her great bush of blonde hair streaming behind her.
Once alone, the cat took a moment to regain her bearings. Unlike most cats, this one was very intelligent and thought through her mind, tracking what had happened. ‘How did I get here? The last thing I remember…I was…where? I was on the moon! Queen Serenity…is this what she meant by the future? And I suppose that the kingdom fell after all.’ She was sad for a moment, but recalled her mission. ‘For her sake, I must find Luna and Artemis. I have to give them the message that she told me to deliver. And help find the Moon Princess and the Sailor Soldiers, too. If I’m here, I might as well help.’ She listened to her savior traipse around above her head. ‘Who is this little girl who’s found me? She has golden hair, and bluish eyes. There is a possibility that she is the moon princess… I should lie low…I’m sure if she is the princess, she will reveal it herself somehow. She should have a crescent moon on her forehead.’
The ceiling muffled the conversation above, but the cat could hear Olivia pleading with her mother. “Please, Mom! I’ve always wanted a cat!”
“No, Olivia, a cat wouldn’t survive five minutes in this house!”
“But it’s in the basement.”
“It’s WHAT!?!” Her mother cried. “You brought it home!? Did you think that it might have rabies or something!?!”
“It seems okay.” Olivia assured. “I think it got hit by a car.”
“Okay, just let me wash my hands and we’ll take it to the pound. There they can take care of it and find it a home where it will live more than a day.”
In a second, Olivia had sulked back downstairs. “This bites.” She looked to the cat. “I can’t keep you, and we’re going to have to take you to the pound in a minute.” She sat down next to her on the floor. “Oh well, if I can’t keep you forever, I should at least give you a name. I mean, it would be kinda rude for you to be known as ‘the Funny Colored Cat’ in the pound. So, hmm…” She put her hand on her chin and had her bangs fall in her eyes again. She brushed them out of the way. “For crying out loud!!!” The cat on the floor watched intently as he brushed across her forehead. Something was special about her. More than just having saved her from the street, the cat felt that she’d at least seen this girl before, and her memory of this time was limited to say the least. She realized what was going on when she spotted an ice blue, eight pointed star shimmer faintly as Olivia became frustrated with her hair.
The cat gasped. ‘POLARIS!!’
“Names, names, um, I could call you Aqua.” Olivia had no idea that anything was going on and the symbol faded as she clamed back down and focused on naming the cat. “You’re so interesting looking, there’s got to be something I can name you that’d be clever or whatever.” She looked again at the cat and spotted the crescent moon spot above her eyes. “A moon? That’s interesting…I guess I should call you something like Moon… Mooney! I like Mooney, you’re Mooney now!”
The newly christened Mooney was not interested in what her name would be. She hadn’t been in the future for more than a day and she had already found a Sailor Soldier. She broke her silence and spoke. “Olivia…”
“Yeeah!!!” The girl jumped backward. “You talked!!!”
“Yes, I talked.” Mooney answered. “I’m not your ordinary stray cat.”
“Uh, duh… How can you talk?” Olivia asked.
“I come from the past…or…I guess that the story would be kind of confusing since Queen Serenity said that you wouldn’t remember anything. I came to give you something. Hovering above them in the air, a gold-plated, light blue wand materialized. It fell and Olivia caught it in both hands.
“Wow, Mooney, it’s pretty.” She turned it over. “It looks like a pen.”
“It’s a special wand.” Mooney told her. The light of the overhead lamp caught the planet-shaped decoration on the golden cap, making the light blue star in the center glitter. “It will let you turn into a Sailor Soldier.”
“A Sailor – “ Olivia was no stranger to who the Sailor Soldiers were. There were five in Tokyo already, but she never imagined that SHE would be one of them. “I’m a Sailor Soldier? Like Sailor Moon?”
“That’s right.” Mooney said, and then thought; ‘I suppose Luna and Artemis have already been at work’.
“So who am I? Sailor Saturn, or Neptune or Pluto…or what was that last one?” She thought a second.
“No, you’re none of them. You are Sailor Polaris. If you hold the pen in the air, you will be able to transform and turn into her right here.” Mooney instructed.
“Sweet!” Olivia hopped up and threw the pen into the air. The action seemed to trigger something in the back of her mind and she cried out the magic words as if she’d been saying them for years and years. “POLARIS POWER!!!”

Her hair and skin faded to a light, sparkling blue against a background of pink, blue and white crystal. She put one hand to her hip, and held the pen up in the other. From the symbol swirled long currents of liquid. They stretched like sparkling tongues down around her and gathered at her feet, where they condensed into a tightly swirling whirlpool. She spun, her long hair became the same color as her flesh, but her eyes still glowed their lively bright hazel-blue. She turned her back, and the whirlpool shot up from below, freezing her inside a concave column of ice. Her hair stood out about her hips, forming a solid veil that hid her body from view. Then a crack, and a sudden explosion as the ice broke into fragments, revealing Sailor Polaris dressed in the familiar light blue. Her boots reached up to her knees and ended in a white lined-point. Her hair lifted off her back as she slowly spun majestically around. Her short blue skirt twirled out from a white leotard, and the matching collar ended with a pink bow on her chest. She did not have the familiar bow at her lower back, it was instead replaced by a blue one clipped in her hair. With tiara, and choker, she posed and surfaced back in her own house.

“Wow!” She looked herself over from her boots to her hair bow. “That was such a rush!”
“I remember you now.” Mooney smiled. “Sailor Polaris, soldier of the North Star and the ice of the North. You were quite the hero back where I come from.”
“Okay, cool I guess.” Sailor Polaris said, still amazed at what had happened. “I like how small my bow is. Did you say that I was the soldier of ice? Does that mean I freeze stuff?”
“That’s right.” Mooney assured. “Would you like to go try it out?”
“Sounds fun! Maybe we can run into Sailor Moon and beat up bad guys together.” Polaris grinned. “Let’s go!” She opened up the sliding door and headed out of her backyard and out toward downtown Tenth Street.

* * *

“There is another Rainbow Crystal!?” Queen Beryl, still the queen of the Negaverse, was sitting on her throne. Behind her, a shape lurked in the shadows and a woman’s voice ventured out in a bland but young monotone.
“Yes, your majesty.”
“An eighth rainbow crystal…But there were only seven dark warriors…how could their be an eighth?” the Queen demanded.
“It is the final piece of the Imperium Silver Crystal .” The voice assured. Without it, the other crystals would be unable to fuse into the all powerful jewel that we seek for the Negaforce.”
“This is important.” Beryl said. “It was good of you to return with this information. I don’t think even Tuxedo Mask or the Sailor Soldiers know about an eighth crystal! We have a head start. And by your report, without this final piece, the crystals are near useless. I will send a general to find it.” The shape disappeared back into the dark of her throne and vanished. Beryl raised her hands to her crystal energy ball and light returned to her great hall. Before her, there were legions of willing servants…members of the Negaversian army. They were all ready to serve her at her slightest command. Her voice turned cold, and she called out over the heads. “General Malachite!”
The man who bore the name, the tall, mysterious head of her army, appeared from the crowd. He saluted her with his hand to his chest and bowed, his long silver hair and billowing cape falling across his back. “Yes my queen.”
“You will handle this.” Queen Beryl said. “Go down and find the carrier of the final Rainbow Crystal. Return with it and you will be rewarded handsomely.”
“Your majesty…” Malachite began, his cold blue eyes shut. “Excuse me, but am I correct in saying that this is General Zoicite’s position. She is conditioned and equipped for this job…”
“Are you saying that you are unable to complete this task?” Beryl asked with a hint of contempt. “Are you saying that you are useless? If that is what you are saying, then resign and you will never have to deal with jobs that are too difficult for you again.”
Malachite smirked to himself with this new development. He couldn’t pass the bill now. “I am fully capable to complete this, my queen, I will go to grant your wishes.” With that, he vanished, zapping himself through the dimensional rift and to earth.
“Arrogant fool…” Beryl huffed. Amused, her insult was followed by a loud cackle.

* * *

The five Sailor Soldiers, Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter were spending their Sunday afternoon shopping. There was a strip mall on the outskirts of the Tenth Street Shopping complex that they hadn’t hit yet. Luna and Artemis were sitting on the curb while the girls were inside. “I’m getting a strange vibration.” The black cat announced.
“I am too, Luna.” The white one agreed. “I feel like there is a lot of activity going on, both positive and negative energy is fluctuating.”
“Perhaps we should have the girls transform and check it out.” Luna suggested.
“That would be a good idea, except that we are dealing with Serena, Raye, Amy, Lita, and Mina. We will never be able to get them out of this mall to do something serious.”
Luna sighed. Serena, the pig-tailed blue-eyed blonde who was also known as Sailor Moon came wandering up with a big bag of doughnuts. She was sucking the jelly filling out of a long john as she spoke. “You guys don’t know how to have fun. Are you talking about work still?”
“It wouldn’t hurt you to be serious for a change, Serena.” Luna challenged. “And you should stop eating those doughnuts, too many sweets is bad for your health.”
“Whatever, Luna.” Serena bade.
Raye and Amy walked out of the store and into the fall air. Raye shut her violet eyes, her long raven hair cascading down her back. “There is nothing in there that will ever look good on me. I know now why we haven’t shopped here in a while.”
“I think it has just been a long day.” Amy offered, combing through her short blue hair. “Perhaps we should call it quits for now.”
“Quits? Are you kidding!?” Raye cried. “I’m not stopping until I find something I want!!! What’s the point of going shopping and not getting anything?”
“It has been fun.” Amy answered. “You don’t have to spend money to have fun shopping.”
Just then, Mooney and Sailor Polaris went running down the other side of the street. The two cats and the available girls watched them go. Serena was too busy in her doughnuts to care. Luna rose to her feet. “I knew I felt something strange! That looks like a Sailor Soldier!”
“But I thought we’d found all the Sailor Soldiers.” Raye recalled.
“We had.” Artemis assured.
“This must be the Negaverse!” Luna resolved. She turned over her shoulder. “You girls transform and follow that imposter soldier!”
“Right!” Raye agreed.
Serena grabbed out another long john. “Do I have to? I paid a lot for these.”
“SERENA!!!” Luna snarled.
“Okay okay!!!” Serena submitted. She grabbed out her transformation brooch. “Moon Prism POWER!!!”
Raye and Amy took out their magic pens.
“Mars POWER!!!”
“Mercury POWER!!!”

A swirl of magic expanded around each girl. Sailor Moon was assembled under a dome of sparkling pink, red, blue, and yellow. Mars was drawn from Raye in a storm of red energy and fire. Amy became Mercury in a swirl of blue and a ribbon of water. In seconds, three Sailor Soldiers were ready to pursue their target.

Sailor Mars closed her eyes. “Yes, I’m getting some really negative vibes from somewhere in the direction she was headed.” She turned her raven head to the cats. “Should we wait for Lita and Mina?”
“You three go ahead!” Artemis urged. “I’ll tell them to follow when they come out.”
“If you say so, Artemis.” Sailor Mercury agreed. She bent down and picked Luna up on her arm.
“Lets go!” The four of them took off after Mooney and Polaris, who were already very far ahead and had disappeared around a corner.

* * *

‘Hmm…’ Malachite stood atop a building in the heart of Tenth Street. ‘A carrier of a rainbow crystal with the power to unite all the other crystals into one… what kind of person would that be?’ He scanned the people below. ‘All the others had shadow warriors concealed inside them to indicate their presence. Perhaps this type of person would distribute the same trait.’ He vanished from the roof and reappeared beside a building on the ground. ‘They would have to be a really great person, and have a truly unique energy. – ‘
As he watched, a girl wandered by. She was dirty looking, like she had no home, but there was something in her violet eye that caught him. She had a very vivid aura. The dark skinned girl walked off down the street in her frayed sweater and old jeans. Malachite pursued her secretly to see where she would go. The young teen wandered up the street. She neared the door to a restaurant and was shoved down by one of the greeters. “Get out of here, street kid!”
She looked to him, her eyes softening and hardening at the same time. She looked like she was studying him. “You have a good heart, but tainted mind. Go adopt a pet, it will probably make you more caring to your fellow man.”
“Who do you think you are?” The man fumed.
“My name is Cristie.” She answered. “And I can just sense things. I sense that you are lonely. Trust me, a nice Labrador puppy would make you feel so much better.”
“Well…” he eased up. “I did have a lab when I was little. His name was Roger. He was like a brother to me.”
“See…” She smiled at him, but quickly saddened and walked away.
‘Truly remarkable aura.’ Malachite resolved. ‘I must have found the right person.’ He followed her still until she came to a stop at an old Victorian house. It was just outside the city limits in a bad part of town. The house was old and vacant, and as she entered, she was greeted by nearly a dozen other drifters.
“Hey, CristieChick!” One called. “What you been doin’, staying away for so long?”
“I’ve been avoiding you.” She answered. “You need a hobby, why don’t you start a collection, Craig?” She asked. “It would be something to keep you occupied so you wouldn’t have to bate women for entertainment.”
“This is my hobby!” Craig answered. “Why don’t you come over later and we can make out or something.”
“That isn’t what you really want, Craig.” She answered, that same look in her eyes. “You would much rather be on a beach somewhere in the sun.” She headed up the stairs and into the heart of the house, leaving Craig perplexed and forlorn. Malachite reappeared in the living room of the house. Cristie looked up as she entered. “Oh? Who are you?”
“You tell me.” He said. “You can read minds, right?”
“No.” She answered. “I sense things. And I sense that you are not a good person.” She backed toward the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for something.” He said, stepping forward. She backed against the door, the noise of the people on the deck audible through it. “I’m looking for a gem. I think that you have it.”
“I don’t have anything.” Cristie insisted. “I have never met you.” She set her eyes on him. “You are not looking for a jewel. You are looking for something else. You don’t want to be here, I can sense it. You aren’t as bad as first sense implies.”
“Quiet, I don’t need you analyzing me.” Malachite growled. “Now give me your Rainbow Crystal!” He raised his hand and a rush of power and wind shot toward her. The room shook. A candle on a rickety table nearby fell to the carpet. The dry curtains went straight up in flames, the room being lit by the flickering heat. Cristie’s analytic eyes were not sensing anything, she was frightened as she watched the fire spread quickly around her.
She turned and pounded on the door. “Help! Help! Fire!!!”
Malachite appeared beside her, grabbing her shoulders. “The crystal! Give it to me!”
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”

* * *

Down the road, smoke could be seen filtering up through the buildings from the house. Mooney stopped. Sailor Polaris took a couple steps and turned back. “What’s up?”
“See that smoke?” Mooney asked, jerking her head toward the pillar that was rising into the air.
“Yeah,” Polaris answered, stepping over. “What do you think it means?”
“It’s probably a fire.” Mooney said. She looked at it and then brightened. “That’d be perfect!?”
“What’s so perfect about a fire?” Polaris asked.
“Your element is ice.” Mooney informed her. “You can help the firemen. It will be good practice for you. Your ice powers will do well against a burning building.” They altered course and headed toward the target. When they arrived, they found all the tenants, homeless men, women, and children, fleeing from the scene as the flames destroyed the two story Victorian house. The firemen had yet to arrive, and they could hear people still screaming from inside.
Mooney turned to the young soldier again. “Go! Polaris, there are people in there!”
“PEOPLE!?!?” Polaris cried. “We should call the fire department!”
“This is serious.” Mooney stated. “We don’t have time to wait around for the fire department, you need to go in there now and get those people out!”
“But…” She glanced, unsure to the building, “but…I’m scared, I don’t want to do it.”
“It’ll be okay.” Mooney assured. “I’ll be right with you. Now, lets go.” The two of them rushed up the front stair and burst through the door. Malachite took one look at them and let Cristie go.
“Drat. The Sailor Soldiers are here already!”
Sailor Polaris turned and saw him. “Hey!!! You! Did you do this!?”
Malachite whipped his cape around him and vanished into the smoke. Polaris took a double take. “Whoa…where’d he go?”
“Nevermind!” Mooney called. She was near the girl. Polaris kneeled down to the dark-skinned young woman.
“Hey, you okay?”
Cristie looked up. “Sailor Moon?”
“No, Sailor Polaris, but don’t worry, we’re on the same team.” Polaris answered. She grabbed the girl’s arm with her gloved hand and got her up. Cristie looked into her eyes.
“You are good. I can see it.”
“Yeah,” Polaris was a little perplexed but shoved the girl toward the door. “Now, get out of here. This whole building is probably going to come down!”
Cristie headed out but turned back. “The others!!! There are people upstairs still!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get them.” Sailor Polaris assured. “Now go!”
Cristie nodded and ran off. Mooney stared after her. “That girl had a very unique aura to her…I wonder if she is the moon princess…”
“Mooney!!!” Polaris cried. “We’ve got to get upstairs now!” She headed into the foyer off the living room to find the already rickety stairs blazing in flame. “Oh no way!”
“Calm down, Polaris, you’ve already saved one person.” Mooney assured. “This is just an obstacle. You are a Sailor Soldier after all.”
“What can I do to keep myself from getting roasted trying to get up these stairs?” Polaris asked. “I can’t fly can I?”
“No…but you might try freezing them.”
“Oh yeah, the element of influence thing.” Polaris recalled. “Would freezing them really do anything? I mean, how much harder would it be to walk up burning steps as opposed to ice steps.”
“If you want to just go for it, go ahead.” Mooney said.
“Okay, how do I freeze them?” Polaris asked.
“Raise your hands above your head and call out ‘North Star Power Now’” Mooney instructed.
“North Star Power Now?” Polaris asked. “That’s really lame, Mooney. Couldn’t I say something a little snappier?”
“These are ancient words passed down by the Sailor Polarises of the past.” Mooney said, impatiently. “Live with them.”
“Okay, okay.” She raised both hands above her head. “Alright, if it’ll save those people up there, it’s worth a shot.”

Ice crystals danced about, tinted blue and pink. Polaris was surrounded by them. She turned and brushed her long blonde hair out of her way. “North Star! Power!-” She began. Bent down, her arms straightened behind her, she slowly brought them up and straightened her posture as well. A gentle tinkling could be heard as all the crystals gathered above her head. Her hands reached for the sky, and the crystals turned into a liquid ball between them. “Now!” She thrust the orb forward, and the wind shaped it into a spinning icicle as it flew.

When it hit the stairs, they exploded in sparkling crystal dust. A cloud of it hung in the air around the steps, chilling it, and when it gently settled, the stairs were incased in ice. Polaris stared at her gloved hands. “Wow! That was so cool!”
“Let’s go!” Mooney said, leading. The two of them struggled up the solid block of ice, and found the top floor filled with smoke from the fires below.
Mooney hacked horribly as her lungs rejected the thickened air. “Let’s split up! Look around for anyone left up here!”
Polaris covered her mouth to keep out the smoke and gasped between coughs. “Right!”
* * *

The three Sailor Soldiers and Luna had arrived at the scene of the fires. Mars closed her eyes. “She’s in there!”
Sailor Moon glanced from her to the house. “There!? Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.” Sailor Mars announced. “Her aura is really really strong.”
“Do you think she went in intending to put it out?” Mercury asked.
“Either that or she set it.” Sailor Mars huffed. “If she’s from the Negaverse, I’d guess that she’s out looking for trouble.”
Mercury took out her visor and began to analyze the condition of the house on her handheld computer. “The fire is relatively fresh, but the house is so old and dried out, it’s spread very quickly. We need to get the fire department here before it collapses.”
“I’ll get on that.” Sailor Mars said.
“No,” Luna corrected. “You’d better stay here and help. You can build up a firewall to contain the blaze. There are a lot of other buildings around that could go up, and thankfully there’s enough lawn left to actually make a blockade. Moon should go get the fire department because her tiara is not going to help us much.”
Sailor Moon sighed with relief on having been excused from entering the house. “Whew! Thanks, Luna!”
“Wait!” Sailor Mercury interrupted. “I’m picking up life-forms inside. There are several on the top floor.”
“You mean more than just that little fake soldier?” Sailor Mars asked.
“Oh yes, I read at least five.” Mercury confirmed. “They aren’t moving, and the building is horribly unstable. We have to get them out!”
“And if the soldier is in there too…” Sailor Mars began, realizing the gravity of what was going on. “She’s probably going to hurt them somehow!”
“Change of plans, girls!” Luna cried. “Sailor Moon goes in and rescues the people on the top floor from the strange Sailor Soldier. Mars works on containing the fire. Mercury, go find a phone and call the fire department! We need to work quickly if people are in danger!”
“Right!” Mars and Mercury took off, but Moon tarried.
“What’s wrong, Serena?” Luna interrogated, impatiently.
“I don’t want to go into a rickety old building that’s going up in flames!” She wailed. “What if it falls on me!?”
“Pull yourself together, Sailor Moon!” Luna commanded. “Remember, it is your job to protect those innocent people in there. They are counting on you!”
Serena turned the situation over in her head and shifted into hero mode. “You’re right, Luna! I’m going in!” She turned and dashed into the building. Some of the people who’d hung around to watch the blaze cheered as they saw her run past. She leapt up the stairs and crashed through the door. The living room was ablaze, and she shielded herself from the heat. “This is crazy!? Why did that little girl come in here?” She heard stomping upstairs, and headed for the foyer. There she stopped dead, staring confused at the frozen stairs. The case of ice was melting next to the flames. “The whole building’s up in flames, and the stairs are solid ice!” She glanced around at the rest of the house. “That soldier must have special powers. No normal person could have done that!” Sailor Moon began slipping and sliding her way up the stairs. The going was difficult, her feet kept faltering on the wet ice and he had to grab onto slick banister for safety. “How’d that little kid get up these!?!” She asked herself, panting. After much toil she made it to the top step, but just when she thought she had made it to safety, she lost balance and fell all the way back down. Landing with a crash, the soldier shoved herself back up. “Just wait until I get my hands on that kid! That really hurt!”

* * *

“Olivia!!!” Mooney cried, choking from a bedroom doorway. “There looks like a Woman and an…” she took time out to cough “infant in here!”
Olivia stumbled through the smoke out of an adjacent room. “I don’t see anyone in here!”
“Check around the corner!”
Polaris hacked a couple times and missed Mooney’s command. “What was that!?”
“The bathroom!” Mooney clarified.
She coughed before choking out. “right.”
Mooney trudged back into the bedroom. A mother and child were unconscious on the floor. Thankfully, they were below the smoke line, but even down there it was hard for Mooney to breathe. She wandered to a window and took a breath through the broken glass. There, her ears perked up. The sound of sirens came filtering over the crackling of flame. She turned back to the door. “Polaris!” She ran out across the hall, but couldn’t seem to find the bathroom in the thickening blackness. She coughed as she called out to her partner. “The firemen are here! Come get these people and take them to the front of the building! That way the firemen can get to them easier!”
Polaris heard her cat’s voice and wandered out into the hall. “Okay!” She hacked as she got a lungful of smog. “Moo – “ she heaved, “Mooney!? Where are you?”
At just that time, Sailor Moon crawled over the top step and collapsed on the creaking floor, panting. “I made it!” but her panting drew in a great breath of smoke and she joined the coughing. “Ack! Let’s hurry this up and get out.” She stumbled blindly down the hallway, passing Mooney by completely and running into Polaris, who was trying to find the cat. They collided and took a second to figure out what had happened. Moon reacted first. “Hey! Little girl!” She reached out and grabbed Polaris’s sailor collar with both fists and shook her back and forth, screaming and coughing. “What do you think you are doing!?! ‘You nuts? You drinking under aged!? You are going to kill yourself!”
“I-I-I’m just trying to help!” Polaris argued, struggling. “There are still people in here! Let me go!” Sailor Moon obeyed and loosened her grip on the girl’s uniform. Polaris shoved past. “You’re Sailor Moon, aren’t you?” The other soldier nodded. Polaris began to issue orders. “Go into that room there and help Mooney with the lady and the baby. I’ll head to the front room and open a window.”
Moon nodded and took off, shooing away smoke. She ran through the doorway and found the woman with the child on the floor. Kicking soot, she made her way across the ground and bent down to them. “They’re out cold. I guess I have to carry them.” She took the mother up as best she could, but she was heavy and the fourteen-year-old sagged under her weight. Sailor Moon stared down at the baby on the floor, knowing that there would be no way to carry them both. Then she remembered what Polaris had said. “Where’s that Mooney person? I could really use some help over here!”
Mooney crawled out of a corner, coughing and covered in soot. “Huh....?”
Sailor Moon noticed her as she coughed out more smoke. “Who’s there? A cat?” Mooney stumbled around, trying to shake the ashes out of her eyes it had been kicked up, and she had a face full of it, disabling her from speaking or seeing. Moon didn’t know anything was wrong. “Poor kitty.” She said. “I wish I could grab you, but I’ve got my hands full.” She shifted the mother onto her shoulder, swaying dangerously under the weight. Teetering over, she bent and took the infant in her newly free arm. She turned to the cat. “Follow me, kitty, we have to get out of here.”
“I- “ She tried to speak, but every time she tried, the smoke filled her lungs. “I –“ Then she realized that she was covered in blackening soot. Sailor Moon couldn’t see her color, or more importantly, the yellow crescent moon that was on her forehead. To the Soldier, Mooney was just an ordinary housecat, and she couldn’t say anything to prove that she wasn’t. Feebly, she tried again. “I-“ Another cough. “I’m not - ”
Sailor Moon worked as best she could to get the two victims out of the bedroom. The smoke was nearly blinding and she couldn’t breathe at all when she was straightened up. She nearly lost both of them when a cough shook her. The Soldier decided to run as fast as she could to the front of the house. She ran into Sailor Polaris again, who was coming out of the front room. They knocked each other down. Polaris looked up to find the mother lashed across her stomach and Sailor Moon stuck awkwardly out where she’d caught the infant on the fly.
“Is that everyone?” Polaris asked.
“Yeah, but I didn’t find whoever you called Mooney.” Sailor Moon replied. “Whoever she is, she wasn’t in there.”
“Mooney!?” Sailor Polaris drug the body of the woman to the open window where smoke was pouring out. Outside, Sailor Mercury was directing the ladder of the fire truck up to it. Moon did the same as Polaris rushed back out into the hall. The second story was nearly completely veiled in smoke now, and she was getting lightheaded from breathing the fumes. Still, she was determined to find the cat. “Mooney! Mooney!”
“Hey!” Sailor Moon rushed out after her and launched into a spontaneous coughing fit. “We gotta….” She held her hand over her mouth as she breathed more smoke. “We gotta get out of here!”
“Not…” Polaris was suffering the same affects and coughed mid sentence. “…until we find Mooney!”
“I don’t think there is anyone else up here.” Sailor Moon shook her head. “She must have found her own way out! No matter what, we can’t stay up here; its getting harder and harder to breathe and we can’t see a thing!”
“But-!”
“We can’t stay here!” Sailor Moon insisted. “Let’s get down and help Sailor Mars with the firebreaks.”
Polaris coughed and squinted through the smoke. Moon was right. “I sure hope Mooney is okay.” Then turned to the fellow soldier. “Alright, lets go.” The two of them made their way quickly to the stairs. The ice casing had melted and put out the fires around the foyer. It wasn’t nearly as cloudy below and Moon started down in haste. Unfortunately, the torched and soggy stairs had lost their stability and the soldier fell straight through with a cry. Polaris leapt forward and grabbed her hand. “Sailor Moon!”
“Aahh! Help!” Sailor Moon kicked her legs in the cavity under the stairs as the boards under Polaris sagged dangerously.
“Wait!” Polaris said. “I’ve got an idea!”
“An idea is good!” Sailor Moon said. “Just get me up!”
“Is the floor down there!?” Polaris asked.
It seemed like a silly question, but Serena checked. “Yeah…”
“I’m gonna let you down, we’re too heavy.” Polaris answered.
“What!? Don’t drop me!” Sailor Moon cried, but Polaris lowered her slowly so that she only had a foot to fall before landing in a heap on the wet, sloppy, sooty floor. She sat in the grime until a door opened beside her and Polaris reappeared.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Hmph…” Sailor Moon huffed. “You still shouldn’t have dropped me.” She stomped past, her butt covered in wet filth, and headed toward the living room where the firemen had put out the flames. It was just then, however, that Polaris caught something moving out of the corner of her eye. It was the shape of a figure. She was sure that it had dashed out the back door.
“Wait! I thought I saw something!”
“Saw something...what?”
She didn’t wait to explain, and dashed down the hall to follow the shadow out the back and across the lawn, “this way!”
“Hold on!” Sailor Moon cried. “What did you see!?!”

* * *

Just outside, Mercury had arrived with the firemen. She was helping Mars put out the flames around the yard, when Polaris dashed out after a cloaked figure. Mercury’s head shot up, her blue-black hair bouncing with the sharp motion. “Mars! Look!”
“It’s that other Soldier!” Sailor Mars cried, she caught sight of Sailor Moon’s long blonde locks chasing the two into the woods. “Moon’s after her! Let’s go.”
“Wait!” Luna interrupted, turning the two soldiers’ attention back to the ground. “If this is a full-blown Sailor Soldier, then you’ll need backup! I’ll call Artemis and he’ll get the other two soldiers on their way! Be expecting them to show up!”
“Right!” The three took off in different directions, two soldiers into the alleys, and one black cat toward the road.

Polaris was gaining on the man now. She could see his pale gray mop of hair flying out behind him along with his long navy-blue cape. The man was swift on his long legs, and seemed to be moving away from her twice as fast as she was running after him. He dashed sharply around a corner ahead. She set her sights, focusing on picking up speed. She took the corner quick and tumbled down into a hole in the sidewalk. “Ahh!!” Malachite peered down at her. “That’s what you get you little brat. Think of this as a taste of what you get when you mess with the Negaverse.” Olivia got up and tried to jump for him, but the hole was too deep. When she landed back down, she stomped on a pipe and one of the rings came loose, spitting water all over her. He sniggered. “And I hope you drown in there.”
“Let her go, Malachite!!!”
His head snapped up. “You!”
“That’s right! Me!” Sailor Moon cried. “I stand for love and justice! A pretty Soldier in a Sailor Suit! I am Sailor Moon!” She pointed one gloved finger at him. “And in the name of the Moon, consider yourself punished!!!”
Sailor Mars and Mercury appeared behind him. “And that goes for us too!”
“You think you have me so easily!” Malachite said. “But your wrong!” He bounded into the air and shot negative energy bolts to the girls below. They shielded, but there was nothing that could stop the power from penetrating them. With a wail, they sank down to their knees and winced.
“Guys!?” Sailor Polaris couldn’t see what was going on. The water was filling quickly around her and she could see Malachite standing on a ledge above, very pleased with himself. “What happened!? What did you do!?”
“There is no convincing you girls!” He said. “You are nothing next to the power of the Negaverse!
“That’s enough from you, Malachite.”
Polaris glanced around for the source of the voice, but could see nothing outside the walls of her prison. Suddenly a flash of black and red came down over her and a man grabbed her around the waste. Before she knew what had happened, they’d leapt out of the watery grave and were back on the street. He set her down, his long cape swaying out behind him.
Sailor Moon looked up. “Tuxedo Mask!”
“Tuxedo Mask!?” Polaris looked up to her rescuer, a tremor in her heart. His hat and mask hid his face, but his voice rang straight to her.
“Don’t deal out threats when you are outnumbered!” He challenged the man above them. “You will find yourself stuck in your false words and your ego sore.”
“Philosophical, Tuxedo Mask.” Malachite replied. “But your words are more empty than mine!” He leapt up off the ledge and materialized a sword out of negative energy. Tuxedo flung one sharpened red rose up and caught the man in the shoulder. He pulled back, but turned ever more forcefully to the man on the ground. Tuxedo Mask quickly shoved Polaris aside and whipped out his cane to strain against the blade. Malachite pressed with fury on his staff, petals falling off the rose in his flesh.
“We’re here!” Sailors Jupiter and Venus appeared running with Artemis up the street. Malachite gave them a glance and Tuxedo Mask threw him off. The general turned and hacked with the saber, barely missing the caped man. Sailor Polaris stood, wishing she could do something. Tuxedo Mask darted aside and bashed the man’s hand with his cane. The sword swiped above his head, he ducked and tackled. Malachite found himself on the ground, the hand with the sword flattened along the wrist to the ground by the cane. Tuxedo Mask stared down through the lenses of his mask, putting his weight on the cane.
“Give up! You’ve had it!”
“Not so soon!” Malachite powered up his fist and shoved it into Tuxedo Mask’s chest. The power exploded and threw him off, leaving the cane behind and Malachite free.
Sailor Polaris screamed. “Tuxedo Mask!”
But Sailor Jupiter’s voice came next. “Supreme…!”
Malachite realized what was coming. Sailor Jupiter had her lightning rod raised and electrical energy condensing around her, ready to strike. He’d used up much of his energy stores and threw up his cape. “This isn’t finished!!!”
“Thunder!!!” Electricity shot out, but he vanished just in time to miss it, returning to the Negaverse in a portal of black. The electricity scattered, hitting concrete. Jupiter snapped. “Dangit!”
Sailors Moon, Mars, and Mercury rose and walked over. “It was about time you guys got here.”
“What was Malachite doing here?” Venus asked.
“I don’t know…I think he set the house on fire.” Sailor Moon replied.
Polaris interrupted their conversation. “Where’d Tuxedo Mask go?”
Jupiter gave her a look. “Who the heck are you?”
But Polaris’s mind was stuck. She looked frantically around for the caped man. She caught sight of red and black over the edge of a building and took off. With a skill she didn’t know she had, she bounded up the building and appeared on the roof. He was walking off slowly, holding his left arm just below the shoulder. His white gloves were stained against a cut. She called out to him, afraid he’d leave without seeing her. “Wait!” He turned back to look at her, dropping his hand and trying to act as if there was nothing wrong. His strength made her heart beat in her throat. “What’s that? Did you get cut?”
“Its nothing you need to be concerned about.” He said simply.
She dashed up beside him. “What do you mean by that!? You saved me!” She took his arm and put her hands over the scrape. “Good, its not all that bad.” She looked up in relief and found him looking down at her. She froze up. “I, I wanted to thank you for helping me out. And..” She stopped a second, then continued. “I wanted to ask you. Everyone else seemed to think that I was some kid in a suit. You didn’t even question whether I was real or not. Did you believe in me, or was it just because I was in trouble?” She looked up. She could see his blue eyes looking back through the lenses of his mask, and turned away, blushing. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”
“No.” His voice was soft, and somehow familiar. “I’ll answer. It’s simple.” He had to bend down to look her in the face. He used one hand to raise her chin so that their eyes met before he continued. “The others may not see it, but there is something special about you. Something genuine. You glow with it, Polaris. I can see it.” Her eyes wavered, and he straightened up again, and removed her hands from his arm. “Thanks.” With a smile, and a swirl of his cape, he left, and she stood watching him until he vanished completely.
She put a hand to where his had been touching her chin before. What was this feeling? “Who? Who are you?”
“Hey!” She turned and saw Sailor Moon and the others running up. “Kid! Wait!” The others stood around her and Sailor Moon smiled. “It’s Sailor Polaris, right?” Olivia nodded. “Well, we explained everything, and I guess there is nothing left to say but ‘welcome to the club’.”
The eleven year old smiled widely.
“I think you’ve earned you place.” Luna smiled.
The other Soldiers circled in to congratulate her, and she accepted their invitation with open arms. The Soldiers led her out of the woods and back towards town. “How about heading to the fruit parlor for a good long chat?” They asked.
“That’d be the best!”

* * *

As the sun set a single creature walked alone down the road. Ashen and exhausted, she moved off to nowhere. She had people to find and messages to send, but didn’t know where to start. All she knew was that she hadn’t found anything where she was. Turning around to look back one last time over the city, she whispered.
“Goodbye, Olivia, good luck.”
Then, the dusty turquoise cat disappeared over the horizon.

~Fin~

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