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Series One Episode Thirteen "How did you get so dirty, Pegasus?" asked Gami as she groomed Peagus2000 for what could easily have been the millionth time. "One of the new Grarrls," began her striped Uni in an anguished voice, "didn't know who I WAS" (this was said with tearful outrage), "and he pushed me into a mud puddle." She paused. "Oh - and that's not my special shampoo." "You're right; let me get yours." Gami left the cloud room that she'd had built for Pegasus and returned moments later with a new shampoo bottle. After fifteen minutes of pampering and washing, Gami stood up. "Pegasus, do you know the name of that Grarrl who pushed you?" "Some stupid name like I_Eat_Books, with all wrong capitals." "Okay. I'll talk to his owner. Meanwhile, I should get my homework from Jenna. She's smart - not like that genius brat Zelda, but smart enough - so it should be finished by now. Do you and GoldenBeauty want to come?" "Don't be silly. The food club competitions come on in a couple of minutes." "All right. I'll be back soon." Gami put on her coat and left for Jenna's house. Leslie, Kami, Zelda, Melony, and Brooke were walking together towards their homes. Brooke had just finished a grueling track practice, and was alternately gulping water and digging around in her gym bag for Baby Bottle Pops. The others, having just finished watching Brooke's grueling track practice, were chattering about its highlights. "And then that girl nearly passed Brooke-" "Which one?" asked Zoe, lifting an eyebrow at her sister. "The one with the weird hair," Kami chimed in. "Who are you to say anything about weird hair?" laughed Melony. Even Leslie smiled at that comment; Brooke exploded into laughter and nearly choked, since she'd been in the middle of a swallow of water at the time. They turned to cross the Little League field that some of the local pets and children played on, and were walking over the dirt when a sharp voice cut through their talk: "Why don't you take your little freak parade and hog someone else's path?" "Sorry for blocking the way, your Royal Highness," snapped Kami sarcastically, dropping a dramatic curtsy for Gami. "It's not your baseball field," Zelda added. "We can b-" Suddenly she froze in mid-sentence, eliciting a smirk from Gami but worried looks from her friends. "Is there a problem?" asked Gami snidely. "Someone screamed," Zelda said tightly, straining to hear with her second set of ears. "Now...more screams...somebody's crying..." "You're hallucinating," Gami laughed. "There's no-" "Come on!" Zelda grabbed Leslie's hand and broke into a run out past second base. The others followed, and Gami, after a few seconds' pondering, started jogging after them. "I'm standing a healthy twenty-odd meters from the Money Tree," announced the News-a-Roo reporter on a special bulletin that pre-empted the Food Club competition, "which is the scene of a grisly attack that began only a few minutes ago. As you can see behind me, the Money Tree is empty of donations except for those from a few ghosts flitting in and out. These ghosts have nothing to worry about, since they're already dead..." A Devilpup half the size of the Monoceraptor stood by the Money Tree. "We can't fight that thing," whispered Zoe in horror. "We just can't." "Perhaps not," said Leslie, "but neither can the rest of Neopia, and
at least we
"Yeah right," snapped Gami, walking up behind them. "Lupe-tail hair against giant Gelert - you'd be flattened in under three seconds." "Oh, shut up," snapped Melony. "Let's show her we mean business!" "Are you kidding?" asked Leslie incredulously. "She's almost as bad as Abbie was; she'll tell the whole school before lunchtime tomorrow." "Well, we have to do something - soon - look!" Brooke pointed beyond the Devilpup to where a young-looking couple lay unmoving in the grass. A girl of about eight was sitting next to them, sobbing. "Balthazar's claws," whispered Kami. "They aren't..." "That's it," Leslie snapped. "That thing won't get the chance to take any more lives. Lupe Neo Power - Make Up!" A bright column of green lightlifted Leslie from the ground and set her down as Sailor Lupe. She started running for the Money Tree as soon as she came out of her transformation. "Acara Neo Power, Make Up!" Sailor Acara emerged from a blue spiral of light to dash after Sailor Lupe. "Moehog Neo Power, Make Up!" Sailor Moehog, once out of her miniature Moehog stampede, joined the growing Sailor NeoPet stampede. "Peophin Neo Power, Make Up!" Sailor Peophin ran to accompany her fellows once out of her transforming waterfall. "Usul Neo Power, Make Up!" Sailor Usul sprinted after the others, looking for all the world like she hadn't just come from track practice. "At least one of us has the sense to call the rest of us," Zelda sighed, pulling outher communicator. She quickly dialed up Ji (aka Sailor Shoyru) before holding up her own henshin pen. Dr. Frank Sloth flipped through the Neopian TV channels until he found News-a-Roo. He took a swallow from a cup of hot Borovan and watched its coverage of the attack on the Money Tree. The Devilpup there was the result of months of controlled breeding and experimenting. It was the first huge Devilpup he'd managed to produce that didn't collapse under its own weight. It was also backed by pretty powerful Chaos magic, which made it virtually indestructible...even, he hoped, when it came to the Sailor NeoPets. The Devilpup's mission: to collect life energy and channel it back to Sloth's headquarters, where the Chaos Faerie could access it. It had taken the entire lifeforce of two people so far, young adults with plenty of it. The Chaos Faerie was pretty pleased with the results. "We now bring you exclusive footage," said the News-a-Roo reporter, interruping Sloth's thoughts, "of the Sailor NeoPets defeating this monster, definitely one of Dr. F. Sloth's mutants..." Sloth spit his mouthful of hot Borovan back into the cup in shock and outrage. He'd created that thing to be indestructible by the Sailor NeoPets, and yet as he stared at the events unfolding on the TV, there was no mistaking the fact that the sailors were holding their own. Maybe even winning. He counted quickly; all six soldiers were there. Good. Without reinforcements, they'd hopefully wear out soon, and he could send in Sailor Chia to finish them off... "Lupe Lunge!" "Acara Purr!" "Usul Bite!" "Zafara Flame!" "Peophin Trample!" "Moehog Kick!" The Devilpup roared and sank under the force of the combined attacks, but didn't show any signs of quitting. Gami watched from behind the book store, then looked down as something shiny caught her eye. The Sacred Chalice lay at her feet. "What's an antique like this doing out here?" she wondered, picking it up. The top opened, revealing a pink and yellow pen inside. "And how did this piece of junk end up in it?" she wondred, taking it out. Meanwhile, Sailor Acara hit the Devilpup in the face with Acara Tumble, but it closed its eyes and took the blow. "The darn thing's absorbing everything we throw at it!" she groaned. "Maybe if we could hit it more precisely - you know, with our attack energy more concentrated?" suggested Sailor Zafara. "I don't know about you," said Lupe, "but *I* can't focus my attack much more than the ones I've already hit it with." "Lupe," whispered Acara urgently. "What is it?" Lupe sounded impatient, but then, she had good reason to. "Gami - she's got a pen!" "Whaaat?!" Lupe turned to the bookstore to see that Gami was still behind it, holding a pink and yellow pen. The Devilpup opened its mouth and began ranting about being the servant of some comic book collector or whatever. Gami didn't listen. She was fingering the pen, words forming in her mind... "Uni Neo Power, Make Up!" A golden stream of light wrapped around Gami. She emerged in a short pink skirt edged with yellow, a sailor suit, boots, and gloves. When the light faded and she was back in the real world, the first thing she heard was a shout: "Gami - Sailor Uni - get over here!" "This outfit is SO last season!" Gami shouted. "How do I get it off?" The other sailors were distracted momentarily as the Devilpup struggled to its feet. Sailor Acara ran over to the new Sailor Uni and explained quickly. "You're a Sailor NeoPet, like us, so you have powers like us - now, come help us fight!" "How am I supposed to do that? In fact, when do I take orders from Acara Face?" "That creature killed two people." "Ah. I'll help." "Good. Just focus and your attack should come to you." And with any luck, thought Sailor Lupe as she watched the scene, it'll be too focused for this thing to absorb. Sailor Uni looked down the hill where the massive Devilpup lay. "Looks easy enough...um...Uni Horn Attack!!!" A Uni horn replaced the jewel on her tiara, and a golden beam of light shot from it straight at the Devilpup's eyes. The beam continued on through the Devilpup and faded only after exiting the other side of its head. The Devilpup fell with a heavy thud. A few Moehog Kicks and Usul Bites were thrown at the thing before they all concluded that the Devilpup was certainly dead. Sailor Shoyru then spread her wings and flew over its body to find the bodies of the people who'd had the girl crying over them. The young girl was nowhere to be seen, but the two adults still lay there unmoving. The other sailors ran around the Devilpup to stand by Shoyru's side and looked down at the bodies somberly. "Yes, they're really dead," laughed a familiar voice. As one the sailors spun around to see Sailor Chia standing atop the Devilpup corpse. "Their life energy has been so beneficial to the Chaos Faerie, she may even be able to take a physical form soon." "Who..." Sailor Uni stared at Chia for a moment, then exclaimed, "Abbie! You're one of these freaks too?" "I most certainly am NOT," Chia spat back. "Yes, I recognize you, Gami. But I'm not just Abbie any more - I'm Sailor Chia, and I have the power of the Chaos Faerie at my disposal. When the Chaos Faerie takes over this planet, I will be her second-in-command." Uni stared, dazed, for a moment, then processed what Chia was saying. "So...you mean if I joined you...I'd be able to control the planet?" Her voice rose with excitement. "Send all the freaks to the Lost Desert? Have Grarrls and Lupes waiting at my beck and call? Make my pets the most beautiful in all of Neopia?" Chia glared down at Uni. "Ex-CUSE me?" she snapped. "Are you suggesting that I would SHARE this power? Like, NO! It's all mine - and YOU are not going to be a part of this. I don't need to rule the school; I'll rule the WORLD!" She jumped off of the Devilpup and vanished before she hit the ground, teleporting away with Chaos power. Uni just stared blankly at the spot where Chia had just been. "That little...Her reputation is as good as GONE now," she said to nobody in particular. Then she turned to Sailor Acara. "I am NOT fighting alongside you freaks...now get me OUT of this RIDICULOUS uniform!" Sailor Lupe sighed. "Just imagine yourself turning it off. You'll go back to your normal identity, and you can use the pen to transform again." Before she had finished speaking, Sailor Uni was Gami again. "I'm NOT working with your little freak show," she snapped. "I'm going home." She turned and stalked off. The Sailor NeoPets watched her go, with mixed expressions ranging from sad (Lupe) to furious (Shoyru). "Hey!" called the News-a-Roo reporter from a safe distance. "You, Sailor NeoPets! Is it safe over there?" "It is," Zafara shouted in reply. To her companions she said, "Let's get out of here." Usul nodded enthusiastically, and the sailors left the scene. Dr. Sloth fixed himself a VERY strong cup of hot Borovan. Another experiment destroyed. He'd have to come up with something better. Maybe tomorrow... |