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Published: 2009-01-21 16:51:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 260; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 2
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The Arrival of A Mission – First Lone FightThe sun shone through the open curtain, catching the metallic sheen of a large, blue-winged butterfly charm. The light hit Bree's face, convincing her that she had to wake up. She tried to snuggle deeper into the covers, hoping to ignore the pile of homework waiting for her on the desk. Missing all those days of school at the start of October would not be easy to catch up. On top of it all, track practices had doubled since Ally had disappeared. Usually, she would welcome the chance to work hard, but right now it seemed overwhelming. She reached over to grab her cell phone off the night table for the time, and instead touched something else. Lifting up the butterfly, she muttered, "Oh yeah."
Swinging herself out of the bed, she shifted around the objects and papers in her table drawer, looking for a note she threw in the day before. She had just found the pink sticky-note when someone knocked at her door.
"It's open!" she called, reading the note furtively again to make sure she was neither dreaming nor going to forget the very important meeting she had today. Mene had told her that she could only appear at certain times, for reasons unknown to her.
The door opened wide to reveal Bree's second roommate, Steph. "OOOO," she exclaimed, spotting the butterfly charm on Bree's night table. "That's really pretty, Bree. Where did you get it?"
Bree glanced towards the charm, which was also her transformation item that allowed her to become Sailor Zephyrus. "Uh," she thought, and then answered truthfully. "Someone gave it to me as a gift when I was in the hospital. I don't know where you could get one," she added quickly predicting the girl's next question.
Steph looked disappointed. She tugged on one black pigtail, looking uncomfortable.
"What is it?" Bree asked. She expected something bad. Steph never had any problems telling or doing something awkward usually. If the ebony haired girl looked uncomfortable, it was usually a bad sign.
"The police found Ally last night, after you reported that it was her that hit you. She was wandering the streets, really confused. It looked like she had been beaten too. They took her to the hospital to treat her for shock. The doctor and nurse left her alone in the room for the night, and I guess, she stopped breathing or something."
"Ally's dead?"
"Yeah. But the weird thing is, her body was covered with gouges and scratches that she didn't have when the nurse last checked on her. And no one entered the room. I guess the cops did a search, and found no trace of anyone."
Bree thought for a second. "Hey, how did you find this out?"
"Ally's little sister called me. She and I used to be really good friends back in the day, and since you and Ally were on the track team together," Steph explained. "I hate to give you this news and run, but I've got a class." Slowly, she turned and left Bree's room, forgetting to close the door behind her. Unconsciously, Bree closed the door and slid down to the floor. She had destroyed the monster version of Ally in the park. Had that actually been her, or something that had inhabited her? What the hell was going on? Was it only the monster that she defeated while the real Ally was somewhere else? The wounds on Ally's body … those were just like the ones caused by Zephyrus's attacks, her attacks. It was all too confusing to Bree. She needed Mene to explain things to her.
The sticky-note read: "9PM, Astronomy building". Bree's day was going to drag until that time.
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Dark and deserted, night classes still in session, Bree wandered the university halls until she reached the Astronomy Building. Classrooms were mainly empty in that particular building, as the actual observatory was located on city limits, not on the brightly lit campus. A few classmates haunted the study rooms, and individuals sat in the simulation labs. One or two students occasionally haunted the halls, but the building was virtually deserted at night. Bree wondered how Mene, a spiritual entity, knew about this place. Nonetheless, the blonde girl wandered into the basement. Old telescopes were scattered around everywhere, dusty charts, and out-dated system models. She wouldn't be surprised to find things about Pluto's planetary status lying around somewhere.
She felt an out of place cool breeze before she heard Mene's wispy voice call her.
"Over here, Sailor Zephyrus," the apparition called. The spirit appeared in a large storage room. Upon entering, Bree studied her more closely. Her long blonde hair had a silver tinge to it, and though her clothes were similar to the ones Bree donned as Zephyrus, they were definitely different. Mene wore a full skirt, and she wore what looked like a dress. Bree decided her uniform was much more practical to fight in.
"So," Bree said, grabbing a seat on an old miniature filing cabinet, "do I get a complete explanation today?"
Mene nodded, and began.
"You are Sailor Zephyrus, a sailor warrior whose purpose it to protect planetary systems from evil, planets and organisms alike."
"Ok, well, what is a star seed? Ally was talking about it."
"Everyone has one. It's pretty much your soul. But since you are a warrior, you have a very special star seed called a sailor crystal. It's what gives you your powers, allows you to know about your past lives as other Sailor Zephyrus's, and is what the entity Chaos wants so it can control the universe."
Bree was stumped for a second. Had she heard right, or was Mene really saying Chaos was an actually thing, and not just an abstract idea?
"So, my mission is to protect star seeds from Chaos?" Bree inquired.
Mene shook her head. "Not so broad. Specifically, your mission is to find the individual who carries my star seed, and wake my powers in her body."
"Hold on. How can you appear like this is your star seed and if my guess is right, spirit, is already in someone else's body?"
"Because I still have my powers somehow, outside of this individual. I don't know the specifics. I just am. I think it's the fact that there's a threat to the system right now, and there is no one to protect it. The other warriors aren't around to deal with this threat right now for some reason."
"Other warriors?"
"The other warriors of this system. Most systems in the universe have cycles of their warriors, but ours was knocked out of whack somehow. I should have woken up when the first sign of a threat appeared in this system, but I haven't been able to for millennia. Something is wrong. I think the only way I can be woken in my new form is for another warrior to use their power to call me."
"What if I can't find you? There are six billion people in this world!" Bree exclaimed.
"I know my star seed is close to you. My star seed is in this area, at a close range. I can feel it. Zephyrus, you have to wake me up."
"And what if I can't find you?"
Mene looked down. "Then it's up to you to protect the Sol System on your own. Systems without warriors disappear into Chaos."
Bree considered the weight of her mission. "I really can't screw up, can I?" Mene shook her head. Bree stood up in determination. "Well, I guess I'll start looking for this person. How will I know when I've found the right one?"
"You'll know," Mene assured her. Suddenly, Mene disappeared. Bree looked around the room for the blonde spirit, but saw nothing. She had just disappeared.
Left to puzzle out some details and questions on her own, Bree trudged out onto the campus lawn, watching students filter out of night classes. The butterfly charm felt heavy in her pocket.
The sun was setting earlier and earlier. Bree watched the sun go down from the café window when she felt something, an energy force, a dark energy force. These feelings of energy forces had been growing stronger and stronger. It took her a few days to figure out what she was actually experiencing. At one point, it finally dawned on her that she had suddenly acquired a sixth sense along with her new identity.
Bree looked around the café. It was inside, she knew it. But, the force was moving, getting weaker as it moved farther away. Quickly paying a passing waitress, Bree left the café, thumbing the charm in her pocket.
"AHHHHH!" a distinct scream came from the alley.
"I knew it," Bree mumbled to herself. She ran between the buildings, glancing around. "West Wind Metamorphosis!"
Transformed, Sailor Zephyrus ran into the alley. There was a bald man with grey skin crouched over a girl with long blonde hair beside one of the dumpsters. He waved his hand, and the girl started to glow faintly.
"Hey! You!" Zephyrus shouted to the man/monster. He was emanating evil energy, oozing it like slime. The dark energy made it felt like worms were crawling all over her skin.
"A true shine," the thing muttered. Suddenly, its arms extended one towards the unconscious girl and one towards Zephyrus. The arm curling around the girl was slow; however, Zephyrus didn't even see the one that shot at her. Struck square in the chest, she was knocked onto her back.
Zephyrus made a motion like she was throwing a ball with her right hand, crying "Razor Rain!" Tiny, razor sharp water droplets appeared and flew towards the grey monster. Once barraged with the rain pellets, the thing howled, but did not release the blonde girl it had in an increasingly tighter grasp. I have to make it let her go, Zephyrus thought to herself, while trying to come up with a plan.
"Razor Rain!" She attacked again. This time, she noticed grey pieces fly off the monster. One of the drops hit the girl, causing a long cut down her free arm. Still growling, it appeared the monster was trying to engulf the girl.
Zephyrus studied the body of the monster. There were shreds of grey missing and they weren't growing back. If there was some way she could shred the monster without hurting the girl.
A warm glow began to emanate from her chest. The butterfly charm was glowing. Zephyrus threw her hand in the air. "Gale!" she shouted. Energy began to cluster around her hand. She threw her hand forward, palm outwards. "Force!" Wind billowed from her hand in a force close to tornado strength. The wind barraged the monster, and quickly ripped it to pieces, a dry leaf in the wind. The poor girl fell to the ground, surrounded by globs of grey.
The first thing the girl saw when she open her eyes was Bree with a water bottle.
"Here," Bree offered. "What happened?"
The girl looked confused for a second. "This guy wanted to show me something. But when we got around the corner, he changed and then dragged me into the alley. Then, I felt drained, and then I fainted."
Bree unscrewed the water bottle, and handed it to the girl, helping her stand up at the same time.
"I think he ran off when I came around the corner. He looked funny, but I didn't really see him."
"Thank you," the girl replied.
"No problem," Bree said, waving her hand. "Just don't go off with strange guys. It's not a good habit to make." The girl nodded, and then Bree made sure the girl was fine and able to walk home before setting off to her apartment herself.
Contemplating her new attack as Sailor Zephyrus, she didn't see the silver VW Bug that came to a screeching halt right in front of her on the cross walk. Bree just looked at the girl in the driver seat in shock. The girl just stared back from under blunt blonde bangs. Bree could audibly hear the shouting of the older brunette in the passenger seat, not specific words, but she got the point.
Bree walked away muttering. One near death experience was enough for her in a year, let alone in a month.