As the bells rang, dismissing high school students from their half-day of classes, teenagers flooded out of the large brick building and separated into school buses, parental cars, or the parking lot, eager to leave the grounds and spend the afternoon in freedom. In the parking lot as cliques separated out to hang around specific cars, or friends jumped into their rides and got in line to leave campus, a young blonde sophomore yelled across the lot in an attempt to catch the attention of a student intent on walking to wherever she was going.

“Brenna!” she yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the sound when her first attempt failed. “Hey, Brenna!”

The slight female figure stopped and turned on her heel to face the group of her classmates from three rows away. Her face tilted skyward as she flung herself around, looking and sounding exasperated as she yelled back, “Whaaat?” Her hands hung pointedly by her sides, showing that she should have been caught for shorts that were too short, but had somehow managed to avoid the eyes of teachers throughout the day. The girl was on the pale-side and incredibly small statured, but her response hinted at an attitude that was anything but.

“Aren’t you coming? I thought we were working on that history project today?” the blonde called back, not so much screaming as projecting her voice over the crowd.

At the mention of a project, the small girl’s demeanor changed completely. Throwing both hands up as if to tell them to wait, she looked around to find the easiest path to use to get to them, eventually choosing to squeeze between cars parked a little too close. She moved so quickly, however, that she popped out between the parked cars and into a lane with an oncoming old Ford. As onlookers gasped, some preparing to scream, the short brunette simply reacted: she jumped.

Luckily for the squeamish in the crowd, Brenna had years of training in martial arts, some of which included jumping, all of which included shorting reaction times. She easily made it over the roof of the hood, touching down once in its center to propel her forward, and somersaulted on the way down to cut air resistance. She landed easily in a crouch, then got up as if nothing had happened, readjusting her backpack straps. She squeezed between another set of cars, ignoring the screeching brakes behind her and the some-odd number of people clapping; her pale blue-green eyes focused solely on the slightly-dumbfounded group members.

She came right up to the blonde and slung her backpack to the ground, the cloth satchel leaned against her leg as Brenna took center stage. “Listen, all of you,” she started, her voice strong and nearly mesmerizing, “You have the talent, the vision, and the materials to see this project through.” Her eyes scanned the faces of the four-member group, the tall popular blonde girl, the shy and brainy brunet, the basketball player, and the anime-guy, “You can do this. You have our plan, and it’s a good one. I got the permissions from the teacher, our councilor, and the assistant principle; we hashed out what was required, skinned off the unnecessary, and what is left is a plan that will blow their socks off!” She pumped her fist in the air once, attracting their attention and giving them a burst of new energy. “You don’t need me to keep this going – you can do it, together! If you hurry, everything should be completed by five!”

The group was smiling, seeming inspired by her impromptu speech – something Brenna was known to make, occasionally – and so the short girl nodded once at them. “You can do it.” Without anything more, she hoisted her backpack over one shoulder and walked away, back in the direction she was going, through the parking lot and crossing the street beyond. There she sighed and rolled her eyes, Yeah, like she would spend any more time on that project. It was all she could do to force that speech out.

It was fun at first – the planning stage was her favorite time. The ideas, good and dumb, were fun to through around and test against others. Assigning roles, fighting for teacher approval, designing what everything would look like – that was what she did. Now they could put it together without her. Why should she waste another afternoon, especially a free one like this. Besides, the soccer club was planning to meet early with all that extra time given to them. She put her backpack back on, slinging her arms through the straps properly as she walked, her tennis shoes gripping the pavement appropriately. She liked spring.


Dusk was beginning to settle when the team called an end to practice. Brenna felt like she could keep going for quite some time, but the look on her team’s faces said otherwise, so she shrugged and grabbed a towel to dry off and sipped some Gatorade. It was a good practice – they were sure to win their match on Saturday. Especially with her working point. As the team broke for home, she did too, slinging her sports bag over her shoulder and taking a short cut through the kids’ park. Her home wasn’t too far away – lucky for her parents – so she constantly walked home, with or without her brothers for ‘protection’. The park was busy tonight; a little league baseball game was in the works, their families watching the show or chasing after younger siblings as they played on the playground equipment, laughing and running and having a great time.

These kinds of kids in this situation were the kind she wouldn’t mind babysitting. But anyway.

She had just passed the fields and was walking through the chain-linked tunnel that joined her neighbourhood to the park when a chill ran down her spine. She stopped, puzzled because she was still warm from the exercise and the weather was mild, wondering why else she would break out in goosebumps, but wrote it off to dehydration. She took another long swig from her Gatorade and started walking again when she heard the screams.

What in the world…?

The park was in chaos. Coaches were rushing to the dugouts, ushering the players off the field as their parents broke out in mass hysteria on the stands; completed families ran to the parking lot but were suddenly knocked down before they got there and stopped moving. Though she searched for the source, she could find nothing in the confusion. The unknown attacker both frightened and enthused her, made her heart grow cold even as her body reacted. Behind her were her sports bag and Gatorade, fading away as her legs pumped her forward, towards whatever threat had taken over.

What was she doing? She was being stupid! … and yet, she knew she wouldn’t have it any other way. Whatever this thing was, it was definitely a challenge. She was trained in Taekwondo and had had smatterings of lessons in other martial arts fields, she could take care of herself, and maybe help these people, too. Stupid – what chance did she stand against something that knocked crowds of people down? Probably none. … but then again, she was invincible, right?

It was a joke she used to use on her tormentors when she first started training – “I’m invincible! No matter what you do, I will win!” Crazy, perhaps, especially when one considers that she was taunting boys nearly twice her size, but just crazy enough to make them think twice.

Her run brought her past the now-empty fields, but suddenly she was thrown backwards by an incredible force. It must have been the wind, right? She pulled herself to her feet; strange, that she was the only one who did so. Everyone else lay very still, breathing, but not moving, all fanned out away from a central point… where stood a man and a monster. In the man’s hand floated a blue glowing wisp of smoke, impossibly keeping in place, but he was then gone, flashing away but leaving the creature behind.

It was a giant scorpion; the size of a bull-mastiff, as long as a car. Its stinger arched over its head menacingly. On six black insect legs it started to scurry away, stepping over, around, and on unconscious people as it made its escape. What could she hope to do against it? Fight.

“Hey!” she yelled, gaining its attention. As it slowly maneuvered its bulk to face her, she picked up a sizable stick and held it in front of her like a baseball bat mid-swing. Its red eyes alighted on her and it darted its tail forward. Instantly the grass in her direction started to bend; her reflexes allowed her to jump to the side, and she ran at it. In her head biology lessons, zoology lessons, early science classes, trips to the zoo and talks with that travelling-zoo man whizzed through her head, attempting to review what she knew about scorpions, but those lessons were so boring! All she could remember was that it was more of a spider than a bug (?) and its sting was poisonous. No matter, she wasn’t aiming for the sting.

It readjusted when it saw she was aiming for its side, and with another rearing of its tail she dashed aside again and kept running. It had nearly gone in a half-circle when she finally reached it and smacked it with the stick. … The wood broke on impact, splintering into a thousand pieces and doing little to no damage. She was screwed.

But just then a crow cawed above, distracting the scorpion enough to get her away

She caught the silver stick deftly in her right hand and wasted no time. A talking __ was enough to convince her that either she had passed out – ha ha – or something incredibly weird was happening and she wasn’t about to let this challenge go. So she raised it high over her head and yelled, “Saiph Star Power, Make Up!”

A reaction started. Trickling from the tip of her fingers wrapped around the stick and travelling down her arm she felt a line of energy, like heat, or electricity, engulf her. She closed her eyes instinctively; in seconds it was over and she opened her eyes to see the stick had disappeared completely. Her hands and forearms were encased in white gloves, ending in an olive band that kept them in place at her elbow; she felt a heaviness about her neck that reminded her of the kerchiefs she wore as a girl scout, forever many years ago; she wore a supportive leotard around the trunk of her body – glancing down she saw an olive collar, a cream-colored frilly girly bow, and a three-tiered olive skirt lined in cream, and felt the choker at her neck and band about her brow. Her hair was swept back in a ponytailed braid, rather than her trademark bun. All in all, an easy-to-maneuver in outfit. .. Minus the boots. Huge boots, knee-height and white and not all that comfortable encased her feet and calves. All she could think was that they had better be easy to run in, when suddenly it was as though her body instantly recognized them. She didn’t pause to puzzle over the sensation, but instead turned back to the monster, who by now had figured out the ploy.

Words rushed into the forefront of her mind; she didn’t know where they came from, but it felt like she had known them since before she was born. Holding her right hand aloft, she just had to think and a sword appeared. It was huge, the blade about three feet long, its crazy bladed embellishments stretching to make its width nearly a foot and a half. It was as though a monstrous sword had been split in two, its halves separated like pinchers. It was intimidating, that was for sure, but her hands held it like they were born to.

And that’s where the ease of using it ended.

The scorpion rushed forward, moving incredibly fast, and Brenna dashed to the side, learning at the point in time that her new costume had a long cape attached to the back. Great. She turned on her toes, thrown off balance by the sword and ended up staggering in the opposite direction. Super great. But it was slower to recover. There was an opening! She started running forward as an alien phrase made its way through her vocal cords, “Saiph Shining Sword!”

The sword began to glow and she felt herself moving faster – incredibly faster! Charging forward with the brilliant green sword held up to be slashed forward. It connects! With a downward arc she manages to cut off the threatening tail of the black scorpion and actually kept going. She stopped and turned, panting, to see the creature spurting bright green blood that steamed, even in the relative warmth of the evening. Before it could have the chance to recover, she lunged forward and stuck it with the sword, her double blades piercing into its eyes. … and then it was gone. It started to disintegrate, collapsing upon itself until it became a pile of silver dust. She stood back and watched in amazement as the dust blew away.

“Good job, Sailor Saiph,” the voice in her head congratulated, then was gone.**

--


Brenna went home that night to a news story about a strange flu that knocked out everyone at the park. Police and medical people advised that everyone take Vitamin C to ward off this new bug, but said that the risk of fatality were minimal. This wasn’t the first occurrence of the strange events, the reporter said, but by that point Brenna had already left the room, a bowl of cereal in one hand, a brand new pen and wrist watch in the other.

Staring at the clock on the opposite wall from the floral store’s register counter, the young nineteen-year-old woman sighed in relief as she stood up from the chair the moment the clock struck nine pm. “I’m heading out.” She said in her low voice, removing the apron and hung it up behind her, pulling on the wool coat over her black sweater. “All right, seeya tomorrow, Josephine.” The owner called out from the back. “Bye.” She added as she walked out of the small shop, beginning her trek down the sidewalk, shivering slightly as her body adapted to the biting February weather. She stopped at the nearest bus stop and sat down, sort of nodding her head towards to the person next to her, just to sort of show she acknowledged them. Leaning against the cool metal bench, she stared up at the cloudy sky, reflecting on her day.

Josephine was a second year student at the university in the city, a full time student and majoring in English with a minor in history. As you may have noticed, she is also a cashier at a small floral shop downtown, working there part time to help her pay for rent. From the sound of things, you’d wonder when she has time for a social life. Well, it’s quite simple really; she doesn’t have much of one. Josephine has always been a private person, so when she moved out of state for college, she knew no one in her school and hasn’t really made the effort to. She didn’t mind though, she enjoyed the solitude at home, but she wouldn’t mind someone to speak to from time to time.

She stood up as her bus arrived, putting the coins for the bus far in the small box, sitting in the nearest seat as she stared out of the window, silently watching the city lights zip by as it moved forward, also staring her at faint reflection, seeing her dark brown eyes look back at her with her long, curly auburn hair framing her face. A faint sigh escaped from her as she stood up after a few minutes and left the bus, pausing at the bus took after behind her.

Josephine stared at the barely lit park that separated her from her apartment, straightening her small handbag on her shoulder and walked forward. Her brows knitted as goose bumps crawled up her arms, her expression irking. Something didn’t feel right. The normally vacant park felt threatening, almost a claustrophobic feeling as she moved deeper and deeper in. Was someone watching her? A thug? Quite the pair on that guy if he tried attacking this six-foot even woman, while she never took any defense classes; she knows how to keep herself safe.

She heard a violent cough echo from within the park, walking faster as she saw a woman a bit older looking than her stagger into a streetlight overhead the path, clutching her throat, almost as if she was choking on something. Josephine’s eyes grew wide as she ran forward as the woman collapsed to the ground, lifting her up into her arms. “Miss? Miss! Are you all right?” She asked urgently, checking the woman’s pulse. She was still alive, but unconscious. She stared at her form, noticing no obvious signs of an attack. As she dug through purse, she briskly dialed 911, about to press call until she heard a low growl. Her head slowly turned upwards as a large frame came into view. It looked like something out of a B-grade science fiction movie; it looked similar to a scorpion, but humanoid as it walked on its two bent legs, its eyes glowing bright red. Her eyes grew wide in horror at the monster. “Wh-Wha-…” she had no time to finish whatever she was spouting out, letting out a yelp as she quickly rolled to the side with the unconscious woman in her arms. Her breathing became frantic when she saw the monster’s claw-like hand remove itself from the shattered ground. That would of killed her. Staring at the woman in her arms, she gently eased her down to the ground, standing up. Maybe if it followed her, she should run into traffic. The police would be there in no time to shoot this thing down, right? It was the best plan she could think of so that thing didn’t kill the woman or her.

Josephine took a deep breath in before she sprinted near the monster, grasping the first thing she felt in her purse, throwing her brush at it, hitting it in the head. The thing obviously didn’t seem all that effected, but it did annoy it, causing it to let out a deafening roar as it charged forward. Josephine immediately started running away, her head turned to watch the beast to make sure it didn’t strike her from behind. She forgot one feature scorpions usually have; a tail. The beast stopped in its tracks and spun around quickly, it’d long tail knocking Josephine to the ground. She let out a grunt of pain, as she tried to get up, looking at the beast behind her edge closer, a purple almost miasma-like haze coming out of its mouth as it got closer, causing her to coughing, covering her mouth as she crawled away.

‘Am I going to die?’ She thought, trying not to cough, afraid the violent spasms may make her mouth slower. A loud caw came from the sky, watching as a peach colored pen fell in front of her. “Josephine, take the pen, and repeat after me.” A voice said in her mind. ‘What-‘ “There’s no time! Take it and say-”

“Bellatrix Nebula Power, make up!”

Josephine cried out as she grabbed the pen. Almost instantly, the pen vanished from her grasped as a bright gold light enveloped her, making the monster cry out at the blinding rays, stumbling backwards. The auburn haired girl stood up, though in completely different attire. She wore white spandex gloves with crimson elastic, a white leotard that ended to her waist, where a layered peach colored skirt with crimson on the edges. The same colored red striped the sides of her white, knee high boots, and the bow behind her skirt, though the bow on her chest was peach. She brushed back her gray cape, touching the shining silver headband, confused.

Before she had time to wonder what the hell just happened, she dodged another attack from the large monster, frowning. “I’ve had enough of dealing with you.” She growled out. She naturally extended her hand in front of herself as a large Spartan-like spear appeared in her hand. It was seven feet long in length, its gold colored blade being two feet long with a jagged hook coming off from the two sides of the pointed blade. A crimson cloth seemed to be tied around where the metal of the blade and the staff meet, wielding the weapon with both hands. The monster charged for her again, but Josephine met it with a loud battle cry, stepping forward and thrust the blade into its heart. As the beast shrieked in agony, Josephine’s growled. “Bellatrix… Raging Impact!” She shouted as the golden blade glowed from within the monster, a burst of energy came from it, engulfing monster as it let out its final death rattle.

As the light vanished, Josephine breathed heavily as dust ran off the spear’s blade, stepping back and leaned against the tree. “Well done, Sailor Bellatrix.” The similar voice stated, looking up at the tree branch, staring at the crow above her.