The black sky overhead reflected on the crystal clear pools of water that lined the walkway to the Dark Kingdom. "Caterina, you have yet to prove why you should get the honor of capturing these amulets we need. You failed in capturing that girl and now she knows why we were after her! Estrella now has come back and made her aware of who she is. Capturing the others will not be easy. What news do you have for me?" Diamond's voice echoed through the ebony halls.

"Please your majesty, if you would allow me a day or two to develop a plan to…"

"You have 24 hours in which to capture that pesky Sailor and bring her back here. Do you understand?

"Yes. I will not fail again."

"You'd better hope not or your friends will be missing you terribly." Diamond's voice was etched with frustration and impatience. Caterina bowed and vanished from the room leaving only the cloud of orange vapor behind.

Caterina walked down to her chambers. ~Stupid scout. If it weren't for her I'd be on Diamond's good side. I have to think…what could I do to disable that little twit? She seemed to get very worried when I attacked her kitten…that's her weakness! Animals, what could I use?~ Caterina thought for a long time on this subject, and for her thinking about anything took quite a long time. "I've got it!" she shouted loud enough for the entire palace to hear. ~That little twit will be begging for mercy when I'm done!"

"Wendy…Wendy!" Vanessa whispered loud enough for the class to hear her. Luckily though not a one of them were awake enough to care. Wendy sat diagonally from Vanessa which made it easy for Vanessa to talk to her but made it a risky move for Wendy to talk. "Wendy catch!" Vanessa threw a folded piece of paper toward Wendy and with luck it landed right on her desk. She picked up the tiny piece of paper and quickly unfolded it. To her dismay all that way written on the tiny paper was 'hi, w/b'. She looked at the paper and then stared at Vanessa with a 'what the heck is this for' look. She then went back to the paper and scribbled something down, and tossed it backward without looking.

Vanessa caught the paper with ease and unfolded it silently. 'Why did you write that? This is so boring, only 15 minutes left until school is out!' The tiny piece of paper continued to count down the seconds of what was left in the period and once the bell rang it was tossed into the trashcan never to be seen again. (Don't ask why I spent a paragraph talking about a piece of paper…I don't know. But this is something we really do in Spanish class.) They both walked out the door quickly as to not get run over by the other students rushing behind them.

"What are you doing after school, or rather now?" asked Vanessa to Wendy.

"Don't know, why?"

" Well maybe you can come over and I can teach you how to play chess. You still want to learn?"

"Yeah! But I need to call my parents first." Wendy walked over to the nearest payphone, which was right next to the office. Vanessa followed but slower as to not intrude on the conversation. ~Estrella said I couldn't tell anyone, but I'm sure Wendy will understand. Heck she might even think it's neat.~ Wendy hung up the phone and turned to face Vanessa, almost running her over. "They said I have to be home before 10:00."

"Awww. That's when the vampires come out…let's go." They walked off in the direction of Vanessa's house and somewhat ran all the way there.

"How are you going to get an animal to help you, Caterina?" Blayd's voice was deep and sounded like the waves crashing on the rocks of an empty beach. She had explained her entire plan to him and he thought it was good with only one flaw: Caterina was weak and the animal would probably attack her and win. That hadn't stopped her though she kept up with her plan and hadn't stopped for three hours and Blayd was getting tired.

"That's only a small part in the plan!"

"It's your whole plan! If you don't get one to help you at least then kidnap one…" Blayd had unintentionally given Caterina an idea that was better than one she ever could have come with on her own. "Well do what you want, I'm going to go eat." He vanished in a puff of a bluish cloud. Caterina continued to play around with the idea until she got it just right: she would kidnap a few cats and dogs from the pet store then tie them to the string above the boiling vat. ~Surely she will not let those animals suffer for too long~.

"Wait until you see the new cat I got!" They both journeyed up the winding stairs and burst through Vanessa's bedroom door. "She's the cutest thing! She even came with her own necklace." She joked. She walked over to where the black cat lay asleep on her desk. She was sleeping peacefully until a poke came with the eraser end of a pencil. Startled she twitched at the pencil's eraser and pulled it from Vanessa's hand. "Estrella!" The cat poked its ears up and opened its eyes to look at the very peeved girl standing in front of her.

"Meow!" was the only response she could think of at the moment with another person in the room.

"Anyway, this is Estrella my new cat who is very lucky that she is not thrown out into the street." She looked at Estrella knowing she could understand everything she had said.

~I wonder…who is this new girl? Why does she seem so familiar? Could she be-no of course not. Sagittarius is doing just fine by herself. There is no need to involve another.~

With that thought Estrella sat back down and watched the two girls carefully as they played their game of chess.

"Come on Sagittarius! You can do it! Just don't get hit by that disc!" Estrella's words seemed to fall onto deaf ears. Sagittarius once again got smacked right in the arm by yet another disc. "Now what is so hard about avoiding those discs? It's not like they are so small you can't see them! You are Sagittarius, the Archer, you have great aim as well as great eye sight. You can do this."

"It's not that I don't hear you ,Estrella, it's just really hard since all I have to go on is that I am to avoid these discs! I don't know any other way except to run, and that hasn't really been working." Sagittarius was tired and almost out of blood to spare for the training. "Just look at my arms! It looks like I was thrown in a blender. Please can't we just stop?"

"Do you remember when you first attacked?" She nodded 'yes'. "Remember how scared you were? Well if you have to get that scared any time you want to attack we are in big trouble! You have to be able to control the attacks and be able to know you can do it when you have to not when you're too scared!" The cat simply looked at the beaten up girl. She looked tired but there was a certain spark in her eyes that let her know she was the right one for the job and no matter how many days of training it took she would make Sagittarius that fighter she once was. "Alright, that's enough, you can go home."

"Thanks." Vanessa walked the half mile back home and scampered by her mother who was busy in the kitchen to get to her room and sleep. ~Why is she getting so hard on me now? Did I do something wrong last time? Owww. Everything hurts and I'm never going to be able to explain to my friends.~ She looked down at her arms and marveled at what she saw. The blood had vanished and the scratches were turning to scares then fading away. Her arms were back to normal. ~Okay now it's starting to get freaky.~

"The animals are in place, Master. What else is there that you require?" Caterina looked at the fragile looking being. The plan was going perfect. The animals were hung just right and Leocada would hide behind the bushes and at the right time pow! She would leap out onto that sailor. Caterina let the scene unfold in her mind and it seemed as though nothing could go wrong.

"No, Leocada. Go into your spot and don't move until you see her." The faithful servant walked to the bushes and melted into the leaves. "I can see your tail! Hide it!" The tiny tail vanished within seconds of the warning. The cats and dogs meowed and wolfed making such a racket that Caterina was sure Sagittarius would hear the noise. ~She'll be here any second and I'll get her amulet and Diamond will make me queen of the world! Well not really but she will reward me greatly!~ While thinking to herself she failed to see the approaching figure.

"Attacking innocent animals now!? This is a new low even for you! I am Sailor Sagittarius, defender of peace and friend to all animals! On behalf of the stars you will be banished!" Sagittarius drew the bow and arrow preparing to fire but was knocked off balance by something jumping from the bushes.

"Meet my faithful servant, Leocada, she'll have you begging for mercy when she's threw with you! Finish her off!" Leocada leaped at Sagittarius again but she was ready for the assault this time. She dodged the creature like she was one of the discs from the earlier practices she and Estrella had. While evading the attack she saw Estrella running up looking worried.

"Sagittarius! Are you okay?"

"Sort of. I think I can do this, what was my attack again?" Estrella looked at the girl and knew at that moment she needed assistance.

"Serpent's Kiss!!!" After the cat had given the girl this much help she vanished in a puff of black vapor.

~Oh great the only time I need her and she poofs out of here.~ "Serpent's Kiss!" She called out the attack and let the arrow fly. Almost having too much confidence in her self she was shocked when Leocada dodged the arrow and managed to get another good hit on Sagittarius. She was in big trouble and losing this battle. ~Estrella I need you please hurry~

~Please hold on…just hold on.~ The cat leapt onto the window seal and into Wendy's room. To her dismay the girl was no where to be seen. ~Oh great the only time I need you and you aren't here…Vanessa has the best friends!~ She heard a noise coming from the back room and decided to follow the sound of laughing.

"Why aren't you ever online when I am? Stupid Nesa." Wendy was seated at her computer and trying to contact Vanessa. She constantly tried and tried but to no avail.

"She's not online you foolish girl." Estrella jumped onto the keyboard and looked Wendy in the eye.

"Aren't you Vanessa's cat? What are you doing here? And what did you call me?" All these questions flew from her mouth before she had the chance to think of what just happened. ~Oh, a talking cat? Okay.~

"I'll tell you later right now Vanessa needs help and you are the only one who can save her!"

"Right, I'm the only one. What about her family?

"No, you are the only other who possess this power. Hold this up and call out 'Virgo Crystal Transform'. Just please do it and trust me!"

"Okay cat, but you'd better have a good explanation for this! Virgo Crystal Transform!" Once the words left her mouth a bright light shone in her room and stars covered the walls. Once the light had dimmed covering her feet were knee height boots. She was dressed in a tiny skirt, which reminded her of a cheerleader, and bows were covering her chest and backside. Her hands were covered in white gloves and her head felt heavier with the silver tiara covering her forehead. ~What?~

"Much better! Now you have a friend to save!"

The battle scene had not improved much. Sagittarius was on the ground trying to avoid the whips of Leocada. She advanced then would whip out the metal tasseled rope and would laugh as Sagittarius let out a little cry. "It's time to end this Sailor! Meet your doom!"

"Virgo Whip Unfurled!" A giant gust of wind started out of the end of the whip and flew toward the scene. Caterina vanished at the sign of danger and left Leocada to take the front of the attack. The wind hit her with such a force it first knocked her into the nearest trees then crumbled her to dust. The rope fell to the ground and the cats and dogs were let down from the ropes. Sagittarius scrambled to her feet. What she saw was definitely a surprise. Her best friend standing next to Estrella clad in the same outfit she wore only with purple, her favorite color.

"Well I guess the secret's out Estrella. She knows." Sagittarius pointed toward Virgo. "What's up with this. I could have handled that on my own." She held a little smirk on her lips to let them know she was joking, she would have been hog tied if they hadn't showed up when they did.

"This is what you do when you're not on the internet then, huh?" Vanessa nodded. "Very fun. So I guess I'm stuck for life being your friend?"

"Oh of course. Well only you die." They walked off with Estrella in the direction of home.

"Give me one reason why I should allow you to still dwell in my court!?"

"Diamond please I can do this! It's not fair, how was I to know there was another one she was hiding!?"

"She wasn't hiding anything! You allowed another Sailor to be awakened! If you do not improve you will regret ever coming here! Do you understand?" Caterina nodded her head and stood silently in the presence of her ruler and Master.

Thoughts:

TODAY- "Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway."