A New Group is Born~ Chapter Six Mei sat awake in her room, in the Negaverse. “How can I possibly be the Zodiac General? I’m just the weakest Sailor Star Scout.” She sat up on her bed and pulled her legs to her chest and lowered her head to her knees and began to cry. Mei had been lost and confused for quite some time. Now she was at the point where she wanted to go home and just be normal again. There was a knock on the door. “Mei, her majesty requests your presence.” Nephlyte said. Mei didn’t say anything. Nephlyte opened the door. “Come on you ungrateful spore! We’ve excepted you here, now you listen to us!” Nephlyte grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She just fell on the floor. “You’re not getting sympathy from me!” Mei still didn’t budge. “Mei, what’s wrong?” She looked up at Nephlyte. “I’m so confused. I don’t understand what is happening to me. I just need a hug.” Mei said. Nephlyte looked at the spot where he grabbed her arm. She was shaking hard. Nephlyte let her arm go. He wiped her eyes for her with his hand. “Mei, sometime there are times where we have to be strong. One for you just happens to be now. You’re being tested Mei, it’s a test of character.” Nephlyte said. He helped her up from the floor. She suddenly put her arms around his lower chest. “Nephlyte, I’m so scared! I don’t wanna be something all mighty and powerful. I want to be a normal 16 year old girl again. Can’t I just go back home to England, before all this happened?” Mei said suddenly. He put his arms around her back. “Shhh, it’ll be fine. I’m sure you’re not the Zodiac General. No 16 year old girl could be so powerful.” Nephlyte told her. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thanks.” Mei simply said. The door creaked open. “Very beautiful, Mei the queen wants you now! Go!” Jedite said harshly. Mei let go of Nephlyte and she left. “Nephlyte, Nephlyte, Nephlyte, when are you ever going to learn. You should leave teenage girls alone. Remember Molly? What did she do after you died?” “I don’t know what you are talking about, that girl’s a Sailor Star. I’m not interested in her.” Nephlyte said seriously. “I was just comforting her.” “But, this one is more pretty than Molly. That black hair is really mysterious.” Jedite said as he left. Nephlyte looked around the small room. “I’m not in love again, am I? Nah, she’s too young for me.” Nephlyte dismissed the thought. He turned to leave but turned and faced her room again and gazed into it quickly then left. “Mei!” Queen Beryl said sharply. “You’ve shown many qualities of the Zodiac General.” Mei looked at her fellow scouts and then the generals. “You’re stubborn, brave, arrogant.” Beryl was cut off. “I hardly think a teenage girl who runs into her room and cries, is hardly arrogant, let alone Zodiac General material.” Jedite said. Beryl gave him a narrow look. “Jedite! You’re wearing my patients thin! Interrupt me one more time and you will cease to exist!” She snapped at the general. “Sorry, Your majesty.” Jedite said. He made a slight bow and went behind Malachite and Zoycite. “Mei, the other qualities you have shown me are independence and lack of respect.” Mei stood there glancing around the blank room quickly, she saw Nephlyte come in. “I can vouch for her lack of respect!” Denise started cheerfully. “She never listened to Sailor Deneb’s instructions. She always did whatever she wanted.” “Like hell you know what I did! You were gone for four days! Julia and I are friends!” Mei defended herself. “Thank you Denise and Mei hold your tongue! Denise you and your sister are starting to rank high in my opinion.” Beryl said to Denise. The two scouts nodded. Sailor Stars Scouts, you are dismissed. Get some sleep, because you’re going back to school tomorrow!” Beryl said. The three scouts left for their rooms and shortly after that Nephlyte left. “Beryl, he’s been acting very strange recently.” Zoycite told the queen. “Yes, I know Zoycite. I want you to keep a close eye on him. Tell me if he does anything strange.” She told her general. Zoycite nodded to her and left. Mei opened the door to her room and someone grabbed her shoulder. Mei screamed. “Shh! It’s just me!” Nephlyte said. “You scared the crap outta me!” Mei told him. Zoycite saw them and quietly watched from the shadows. “Mei, I need to talk to you.” She opened her door and proceeded to walk in. “No, Mei we can talk out here, everyone is asleep.” Nephlyte said. He sat down. She sat next to him. “You know, I really hate this dress and it looks terrible on me. This hairstyle really sucks too! It’s like Serina’s with no meatballs.” Mei said. Nephlyte laughed. “You don’t like Sailor Moon do you? Well anyways that dress looks great on you. I think you do deserve a more flattering hairstyle though.” He said. Zoycite stared for a while. ‘I know what’s wrong with him! He’s fallen in love with a mortal again. Not just any mortal this time, she’s a Sailor Star Scout. Queen Beryl is gonna love this.’ Zoycite thought. She started to pay attention to them again. Mei pulled her legs up closer to her body. “No, I don’t like her. Well is that all you wanted?” She asked him quickly. “No, I wanted to say I’m sorry, for how I treated you earlier today.” “Well apology excepted. You’re forgiven.” She stood up and then put out her hand to help him up. He grabbed her hand tightly. She used all her force to pull him. Nephlyte fell into her arms. “Sorry, Mei.” When he said that Mei put her arm around his lower back and laid her head on his chest. Then she looked up and kissed him quickly. “Good night, Nephlyte.” She said as she ran into her room. Nephlyte walked away from her room. Zoycite stopped him. “Nephlyte! Didn’t you learn anything from Molly?” Zoycite asked. Nephlyte gave her a peculiar glance. “Queen Beryl isn’t gonna like you dating our Zodiac General.” She finished. “Beryl isn’t going to care! You and Malachite are a couple.” “That’s different! He’s not the Zodiac General. He’s just the strongest currently.” “I’m sick of hearing that phase! Zodiac General! It’s not her! She’s too young, she’s just a Sailor Star!” “I’m sorry, but I have to report you’re actions to Beryl.” Zoycite walked away. Nephlyte just sighed and walked to his room. After school, Auriga hurried to Rei’s temple to see Julia. When she got there, Julia was sitting in Rei’s bed. “You look a hundred percent better today.” Auriga said. She sat on the edge of the bed. “I picked up you’re homework.” Julia took it. “Chad said you cried about me last night, is that true?” She asked Auriga. Julia leafed through the homework papers. “Gosh! We learned something new in statistics! Auriga did you ever take statistics?” Auriga ignored her last question. “So what if I did cry last night! I almost lost both of my comrades in one night!” Auriga snapped back at her. “What happened to Mei? Is she hurt?” Julia asked her. “Ah… you could say that. She joined the enemy to save her mother and then Georgia killed her anyway! They keep getting lower and lower. Who knows what they’ll do to get us? You tried to save her by fighting Denise. She kicked the crap out of you. So I brought you here and Amy’s mother helped you.” Auriga informed her. Auriga got up off the bed. “So you’re telling me, that Denise beat me up? I can’t believe I lost to her! She’s a terrible fighter! Have you seen any of them?” Julia asked. “No, I don’t get anywhere near you guys except at lunch and I just went to the gym and lifted weights during lunch. How could Denise have been so strong?” “That what I asked you silly! I have no clue how she could have beat me!” Julia answered back. She stood next to Auriga. Shortly after she stood up, she fell down. “They did say something about being their true forms, maybe that’s it.” Auriga suggested. The door creaked open slowly. Orion came in. “Girls, they’re not in the strongest forms yet! If they were they’d be wearing their goddess dresses. Their forms are just evil. That’s why they were stronger than you were. Georgia is here looking for you guys so you might want to high tail it outta here!” Orion told them. “How are we gonna get outta here with out her seeing us?” Julia asked Auriga. “Ah, I don’t know.” Auriga said. She was quickly looking around the room. Orion jumped over to the window. “That’s a great idea, Orion!” Auriga exclaimed. Orion jumped out the open window. Auriga ran over to the window and turned around to Julia. She noticed that Julia was having a hard time walking. Auriga picked her up and took her to the window. She helped Julia out and then left herself. As they left the door opened. Georgia came in with Chad. “See I told you they weren’t here.” Chad said to her. ‘I’m so glad the girls got out.’ Georgia looked up at him. “Listen to me! I know they came here! I don’t know why you’re hiding them from us! You’re just gonna get in the way and get hurt!” Georgia hissed at him. She grabbed the top of his church clothes and pulled his face close to hers. “Stop lying to me! Julia isn’t the only one how can read minds!” She threw him down and left. Chad let the proceeding scene sink in. He then stood up and ran after her. He found her outside and tackled her. “Maybe you shouldn’t mess with me little girl!” He said. The last two words stung Georgia’s ears. She tried to wiggle free but couldn’t. “I think you should watch who you are calling little, bub!” She finally got free. “Dark Polaris Celestial Power!” She morphed quickly. She lifted her staff in the air. ““I call upon the wrath of Polaris! Sky Bolt!” Polaris screamed. A huge bolt of white lightening missed Chad barely. Orion hoped over to Chad. “Stun Cloud.” The cloud hit Polaris. Orion hoped over to Chad. “Here, take this.” Orion did a flip and made a small knife appear. “You’re the legendary Mars Knight. Hold up the knife and say, Mars Knight Power.” Chad did as he was told and found himself changed into armor similar to Darien’s except he had red clothes instead of black. Chad pulled out a sword. “What were you saying, girl?” Chad asked her. She stuck her tongue out. “I’m not supposed to be fighting anyway.” Polaris said. She ran away. Chad put his sword away and morphed back to his church clothes. “Cat what was that?” Chad asked. Orion sat down. “There is one knight for every inner planet, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury. Their job in the past was to protect the princess. Yours was Princess Rei of Mars. You’re job is still to protect her. You must not let anything happen to her.” Orion teloported away. Chad stared into the distance. “Great Cat, but do I tell Rei?” He said aloud. Auriga and Julia were in Darien’s apartment with the inners, Darien and Rini. The two of them and Amy and Rei were explaining what happened. “Then my mother came and worked on Julia’s wounds. That’s about all that happened.” Amy said. “So now they’re using our family and friends against us.” Julia said. “I can’t believe they’d do that!” Auriga had carried Julia over. Julia still was too weak to walk. “Who are you girls close to? Do you have any boyfriends? Extremely close friends?” Darien asked them. “Well, Julia is very close to Mei now. They could use her against Julia.” Auriga supplied. “But I don’t have any family or many friends they could use. I have a hard time trusting people.” Rini hopped off Darien’s lap and moved over to Auriga. “Hey, you’re trusting us, aren’t you?” Rini asked her. Auriga looked down at the little girl. She gave her a crooked smile. “Okay, other than the sighting of Georgia, has anyone else seen them?” Serina asked. Auriga nodded. “Where did you see her?” “I was taking off my Chemistry lab coat. I looked out the door to see if, Denise was waiting for me, when I realized that she hadn’t been to school for two days and wasn’t even on my side anymore. I used to giver her rides to our meetings. Well, as I was saying, I looked out the door and saw Mei talking with one of her art friends.” She paused. “I couldn’t believe it. So I dismissed it as deja vu and left my class.” Julia stood up and slapped her. “What the hell was that for gimp!” Auriga stood up. Lita stood between them. “No name calling ladies! Let’s keep this civil!” Lita snapped at them. Julia forced her way around Lita. “For not telling me!” Quiet tears streaked her face. “I love Mei like a sister. I’m so worried about her! You know that!” She sniffled again and wiped her eyes. Rei took her hands. “Julia, you should get you’re rest, so that when the time comes, you can save Mei and help her come back to us.” Rei told her. Julia looked down at the shorter girl. Then up at Auriga. “You’re right.” She said in a defeated tone. “But yet, at the same time, you’re totally wrong!” She said in a more harsh tone. “Nothing we can do will save my friends! We’ve tried! Like Auriga told you guys earlier, once we start to fall, the rest just crumbles!” She wiped the tears from her eyes again. She fell down defeated. “I don’t know why I’m the leader, I’m not the material that leaders are made out of. I can’t do it anymore. It hurts too much.” She now had her head facing the ground, crying in hysterical tears. Mina and Amy who had been previously quiet looked at Auriga. “It’s your job to comfort her!” Amy told her. “You are her last remaining scout. You need to tell her it’ll be all right. Only you can do it. Nothing we say to her will ever amount to what you can say.” “Amy’s right! It’s your job. She is depending on you.” Mina said softly to her. Julia wiped her eyes and looked up at the two of them. Auriga looked down at her. She opened her mouth to say something. “I…I…I… Awww forget it!” She turned and stormed out. Julia jumped up after her, but Darien grabbed her shoulder. “She needs to be alone. She needs to sort out what is going on in her life.” He told her. Julia turned to look at him. She nodded in agreement. Auriga ran down the frigid streets. ‘I can’t do this anymore! Julia and I can’t do this anymore.’ She thought. Her school skirt bumped up and down on her knees. She stopped briefly. She pulled her earmuffs out of her pocket. They were black, the same brand as Mei’s. ‘How come, everything I see reminds me of you guys?’ She then put on her gloves and continued to run. She looked around, ‘Where is a Christian church any kind!’ She ran on until she found a beautiful Catholic Church. “I guess I’ll go in.” She said to herself. She pushed open the huge doors. She walked up the else and sat in a pew in the middle. She pulled a crucifix from out of her shirt and took it off her neck. She clasped it between her hands and started a small pray. “Oh heavenly Father, help me decide what I should do. Three of my good friends are in great danger and I cannot go on any longer. I don’t know what to do. I’m so confused. I know that I’m not a good Christian, hell, I don’t even really think you exist but I’m coming to you in a dire hour of need.” A priest tapped her shoulder. Auriga spun around surprised. “You do know that you’re not supposed to be in here now, don’t you?” He told her. “No I didn’t sir. I just need some guidance.” She told him. “What’s your name, ma’am?” “I’m Auriga Nential.” She said choking back the surprised sound of her voice. He took his hand off her shoulder and extended it to her. “I heard your pray, Auriga. I didn’t mean to overhear it but you don’t hear many selfless pray nowadays. I was interested in it. You sounded so sincere. What is exactly wrong in your life?” “I’m sorry, it’s something, I can’t tell you. It’s a secret and must remain that way.” She said holding back. “Come to my office and you can tell me. I won’t tell.” She nodded and followed him back. “So Auriga, tell me, is it drugs, boys, or school.” “None of those. It’s way different, my decision could mean the fate of the world.” Auriga told him. He was shocked. “I know decisions seem like that when you’re a teenager, but it really doesn’t mean the fate of the world. Now tell me what is it really.” “If you’re sure you wanna know.” He nodded. “Okay, I’m a Sailor Star Scout. I know that sounds weird but it’s true. The Negaverse has captured three of my friends and only me and other friend are still fighting them.” He nodded. “We don’t know what to do, we’ve both given up hope!” He took her hands. “First thing is first, never give up. There is always a slim ray or even trickle of hope. Second, you and your friend must find out why each of you is fighting, if you really are a scout.” “What makes you think I’m not!” She snapped back. “Nothing, it’s just, I don’t know many people who come out and say it. Just remember don’t give up and follow your instincts.” “I need to be going.” She stood up. “Oh yes, Auriga, God does hear your pray even if you are a non-believer and he does care about each and every atheist out there.” He told her. Auriga wasn’t quite listening anymore. She was thinking hard again. “Thanks.” She said as she walked away. Auriga left the room. The priest turned around and took out his ponytail. “So the remaining Sailors are questioning their abilities. This is excellent! Zoycite and I will easily be able to take them over." Malachite said. She teloported out of the room. "You're parents know that you are a scouts right?" Rei asked Julia on their way back to Rei's Temple. Julia nodded. "So they understand that you're staying with me so that you can be safe?" She nodded again. "Good! Now our last thing to do is to talk to Auriga and convince her that it's okay not need protection." Julia had borrowed some crutches from Amy's mother and was now able to walk. Julia saw Auriga. "Look Rei! It's so convenient! She's right there." Julia said to Rei. Rei saw a girl coming from behind Auriga. Rei ran over to her. Julia dropped her crutches and ran too. She stumbled and fell at first, but she picked herself up and tried again. She fell once again. "Come on Julia! This is for Auriga." She stood up and ran full speed. When they got there, they saw a girl they had never seen before. She was dressed like Wicked Lady, except her dress was dark purple and her undershirt was dark blue. She had dark purple highheels shoes and black hair. Her hair was done in pigtails. She had a dark blue upside-down crescent moon on her forehead. "No it can't be Mei!" Julia screamed. "Mars Star Power!" Rei screamed. Red and orange ribbons of fire and ash swirled around Rei. "Deneb Divine Power!" Julia screamed. Ribbons of two different shades of purple swirled around her. "You're evil reign is over scouts! We're here to stop you." Deneb said. "On behalf of Mars, you're gonna be burnt!" Mars said. The three scouts looked at them. "Oh, stop it the tired old tricks! I call upon the powers of the holy star Algol! Heavenly Death and Destruction!” Algol whispered. The wind picked up around her. She had to strain herself to protect herself against the wind. A black light appeared at her feet. It quickly traveled to her finger and charged up. She brought her hands together in a clasp and threw it. The energy hit Mars and Deneb. “That’s strong stuff!” Mars screamed. “Mars Celestial Fire Surround!” The fire gathered in a circle around Sailor Mars. She waited until the moment felt right and then let it go. The fire hit her dead on, but didn’t seem to hurt her much. “Julia, you wanna try? Auriga, do you wanna try and morph?” Auriga got knocked out of her little dream world she was in. “Capella Ethereal Power!” Auriga screamed. Stars of dark red and black swirled around her. She posed. “Full Moon Strike!” She screamed. She raised her sword toward the heavens and a beam of light struck it. She then jump up and came crashing down on Auriga. It seemed to do little damage to her. “You’re up Deneb.” “Psy Flare!” Deneb screamed. Deneb raised her arms high. Her tiara’s gem turned red. A large ball of flare light appeared on her hands. Then lowered her arms and shot the energy. She rubbed her forehead. The flare spell hit Mei and did the least amount of damage yet. Algol stood there, laughing. “Girls, girls, when are you ever going to learn.” She raised her arm and made her scythe appear. “Dark Star Scythe Strike!” She spun the scythe above her head and then took it in one hand. She raised her empty arm and dark energy gathered around it. She shot it at the scythe and then did a diving strike to Cappella. Her aim was on, Cappella had fallen to the ground. “Psy hold!” She pointed at the other two. She took out a dark energy crystal and pointed it at Cappella. Cappella’s body was encased in a black shield. Cappella morphed back to Auriga and Algol picked her up. Hold spell wore off. Algol hovered above their reach. “Give her back!” Deneb screamed. “You’re not like this! You’re kind, nice, and gentle!” The tears formed in Deneb’s eyes. “All’s fair in love and war, Julia!” Algol said. Deneb desperately tried to reach Auriga. She failed and the pain shot through her leg. “This isn’t war Mei! It’s friendship!” Rei told her. Algol made a scoffing noise. “Believe whatever you want! I’ll be back for you Julia!” Algol said. She teloported away. Deneb collapsed down and morphed back. Mars morphed back too. Rei picked up Julia’s crutches and gave them to her. Julia didn’t take them, she just fell on Rei’s shoulder and cried. “It’ll be fine! I won’t let them have you!” Rei said determinedly.