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Series One Episode Sixty-One ". . . Pixie Dust!" Sailor Mynci, with new Earth Faerie wings on her back and a shimmering lime and banana Sailor Neopet outfit, flew above Sailor Chia; pixie dust sprinkled on the black-clad sailor and she fell - THUNK! - to the ground, snoring loudly. "Gelert Crescent Kick!" Sailor Gelert kicked Chia hard in the forehead, knocking her awake but giving her a throbbing headache. Dizzy, she teleported away. The two remaining senshi gave each other a high five. "Great job, Sailor F--" THUD! Maxima never got to hear what Sailor Gelert had been saying; falling out of bed and landing on the hard carpet woke her up. Her sister Trista, whose room was across from Maxima's, woke at the sound and ran into Maxima's room. The tall girl's hair was a mess, not yet up in its usual ponytail. "Oh my Donna! Maxie, are you okay?" "Yeah, I think so. My head hurts a bit." "Okay. Well, get back to sleep." Trista patted her little sister on the head and walked out. ". . . no problem . . ." And she fell back asleep. Had Maxima stayed awake any longer, she might have noticed the bottle on her nightstand with two little wings on the sides of the stopper, full of multicolored liquid. Well, not exactly liquid. She also might have realized that she had knocked her small granny-style glasses off of said nightstand. "WHAT IN BLAZES ARE YOU DOING, MOJO?!" a petite female lupe screamed, loudly as if she were witnessing a bloody murder. "AAAUUUUUUGHHH!!" That was the first sound Maxima made that morning. Her green Mynci, Mojojojo5991, was jumping on her stomach. "GET UP, GET UP, IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL!" cried Mojo, oblivious to Fyreprincess' protests in the background. "Fine, fine." Maxima swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. CRUNCH. Lifting one slippered foot, she found an old pair of granny-style glasses shattered on the sole. "Ohh . . . lordy . . ." And thus the havoc-filled day began. As she put on her school uniform, Maxima blurrily saw the aforementioned bottle on her nightstand, and noticed the wings. She pulled out her henshin pen and compared the two. Pen . . . Bottle . . . Wings . . . "KAEN." Resolving to ask the earth faerie about it later, Maxima went to see her twin brother. "Maaaaaattt . . . I broke my glasses . . ." Her brother dragged himself out of his own bed. "Here we go again . . ." "Can I borrow your extra pair for today?" "Nope. You were clumsy. Now you have to suffer." He threw back his head and laughed and evil laugh. Maxima sighed and left to let him get dressed. Guided by her brother's hand, Maxima stumbled along the path to the house next door. He moved her hand to push in the button for the doorbell. Moments later a berry-red Gelert opened it; behind her was a young purple-haired girl, ready for school. "What in Balthazar's name is wrong with your eyes, Maxie? They're so . . ." The girl held back giggles. ". . . SMALL! HAHAHAHA!" Maxima made the equivalent of the >.< face, and told Starlee flatly, "I broke my glasses." "Ah. ....HAHAHAHAHAHA!" "Shut up." "'Kay." And, with some effort, she did. As they walked, Maxima remembered the bottle. "Mat, walk ahead for a minute. I have to talk to Star about something." "No problem. Starlee, grab her hand. We don't want her running into things." "Sure." Maxima rummaged in the interdimensional pocket that normally housed her henshin pen, and pulled out the bottle. "I found this on my night table. See the wings? They're just like on our henshin pens." Starlee pulled out her Sailor Gelert henshin pen for comparison, and nodded. "Ask Kaen. She's bound to know something." "My thoughts exactly." Maxima frantically flipped through the textbook, squinting at the miniature numbers in the page margins. "Miss Mono, please read the next chapter of Eye-Sha for us." "Erm . . . Ms. Filmore . . . I can't see the words." "All right. Seek out the book Edna and write me 500 words on Edna the Witch for homework! Mr. Lancer, please step in for Miss Mono." "Zoe! Zoe!" Maxima ran through the lunchroom unguided. Grabbing Mat's hand, she pulled him into the adjacent girls' bathroom unnoticed. "Maxima . . ." "Zoe, I've found this weird bottle! Doesn't Zelda have one of these? What is it? I'm going to ask Kaen, but . . ." "Uh . . . Maxie . . . who's Kaen?" "Zoe! You know who Kaen is!" "Maxima, I'm not . . ." "I think it has something to do with me being Sailor Mynci, but--" Mat's jaw dropped. "YOU'RE SAILOR M--" "Not so loud! You'd think, as Sailor Peophin, you'd have some respect for a girl's secret identity." "Maxima--" Mat gave up on trying to get a word in edgewise. He took his glasses off and put them on her face so she could see who she was really blabbing these secrets to. A scream echoed through the lunchroom. The group of students from Powell Elementary had come to visit as a field trip of sorts - plus, in the case of the users, to check out one of their options after they'd graduated from Powell. Pets didn't attend Neopia Central Junior High. After today, they wouldn't want to anyway. The group had never made it to the door, as two large Grunkas had blocked their way and started scooping up pets. In bathrooms, deserted hallways, and supply closets across the school, half a dozen students pulled out brightly colored pens. Maxima had just left the girls' room, checking to make sure nobody was around before an embarrassed Mat followed her out. They the twins heard the screams. "Hang on, Mat. Gotta fight bad guys," Maxima announced, ducking back through a door. "Wait, Maxie--!" "It's okay, I'm just transforming!" And the door to the boys' bathroom closed behind her. Without her glasses, she couldn't have told the boys' room from the nurse's office. "Mynci Neo Power, Make Up!" Sailor Mynci, now transformed, charged out of the dimly lit room. Unnoticed by her, a boy stood at one of the sinks, watching her with wide, round blue eyes. ". . . Maxima?" Before following her, though, he pulled out his own blue and grey henshin pen. Sailors Peophin, Gelert, and Kacheek were already on the attack when Sailor Mynci showed up. Or at least, they were trying to be. Both Grunkas were holding sacks of squirming elementary-school pets, and the sailors had to be very careful with their aim. "I thought you brats had all graduated from this stupid school," remarked Sailor Chia as she supervised. "Wow, there are some real kids in the Sailor Neopets, aren't there? And here's another," she added as Mynci made her way carefully across the grounds. "How long has it been since you guys got out of diapers?" "Hey, Sailor Peophin!" called Mynci, ignoring Chia's taunts. "I know it's not the best time to ask, but I found this bottle!" She held it up. "Doesn't Sailor Zafara have one like this?" Peophin's eyes widened. "Yeah! That's a Mist of Evian." "A what? What does it do?" "Just drink it!" Obligingly, Mynci pulled out the winged cap and quaffed the multicolored mist. Sailor Mynci felt herself floating in a ball position in a sphere of shimmering white light. Her shoulder blades rose and then, a bit painfully, seemed to extend outside her back. They grew and split into a transluscent green film that hung gracefully . . . wings. A green-white light grew from her bow button and hung similarly around her as one foot touched down on solid ground. Light show aside, though, she still couldn't see . . .  "Hey, Faerie Mynci!" She felt a pair of glasses being pressed into her hand. Putting them on, she saw a glasses-less Mat grinning in her general direction.
"Thanks," said Maxima to her twin. Out loud, she wondered, "What just happened?" "Your attack will come to you," Sailor Peophin assured her. "Sailor Blumaroo's got one too." And then it did: "Mynci . . . Pixie Dust!" Moving her shoulders a bit, she jumped up and started gliding over the scene. A shower of sparkling red particles drifted down over Sailor Chia. Whoa, just like in the dream . . . "Hah! Fat lot of good that's gonna do you, hon. Chia Chaos . . ." Sailor Chia cut off in mid-attack as she noticed smoke drifting up from her skin where the particles had landed. "Oh yeah, no good at all," Mynci smirked. "Gelert, take it away!" "Gelert Crescent Kick!" Sailor Gelert's plum boot struck Chia in the side of the head, knocking her over. Cursing under her breath, she got back up. Wait . . . it's different. In the dream, she froze . . . Mynci thought long and hard, and prayed for snow. "Mynci Pixie Dust!" This time, the particles that she spread over the Grunkas as well as Chia were blue. Moments later, Chia was a Chia Pop. Once the other sailors had freed the pets and were leading them away, Sailor Peophin took aim. "Peophin Splash!" One down. "Kiko Stare!" added a voice from behind the Grunkas. Two down. The battle over, Mynci shifted back into her normal sailor form - the one without wings. Unfortunately, she did so in midair. Gravity being what it is, she fell - right into Sailor Kiko's arms. Trying to look natural, Mynci grinned. "Hi there." Under his breath, Kiko said flatly, "Hi, Maxima." Watching from a spacecraft high above the action, Dr. F. Sloth sighed. Sailor Chia couldn't cue the teleporter in her frozen state, so he did it for her. "Does that always happen to her?" asked Sailor Jetsam from the conveniently placed shadows behind him. "And on a simple pet-collecting mission, too." "It could have been simpler," Sloth pointed out. "She didn't have to attack at the school." "I could've handled it far better, you know. What's her problem?" "She's arrogant," said Sloth, eyeing his ally pointedly. Jetsam shut up. Kevin detransformed in the boys' bathroom, where Mat was cleaning his glasses. Unlike Maxima's old ones, they were rectangular and wire-rimmed. "Dude . . . I can't believe your sister's . . ." stuttered the blue-haired boy after a moment. "Yeah, I know! It was so weird! I always just thought she was a loony," Mat replied, putting his glasses back on. "I knew there was something familiar about that Sailor Mynci . . . now I'm going to have to put up with Fangirl Maxie while I'm a sailor too! Donna, this sucks," Kevin muttered. Well . . . maybe not . . . she was really, really cool when she first help me out, he admitted to himself. And she always seemed so calm as a sail--NO! You're just friends with her! If that! Snap out of it, Kevin! Girls are gross, remember? Especially that annoying Maxima! "Yeah, I'm just glad I don't have to wear one of those geeky uniforms," Mat said, chuckling. "Hey, shut up, man. I didn't choose to be one," Kevin said as they left the bathroom and turned the conversation to less secret topics. After school Zoe took Maxie, Mat, and Starlee to Leslie's house. Zoe rapped on the door. "LESLIE! WE HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!" "Coming!" The Lupe-tail-haired girl opened the door and let them in, looking puzzled as Maxima's brother passed over the threshold. "What's up?" This can't be sailor business . . . "Hi, Leslie," said Mat sheepishly. "I've kind of figured out a few secret identities here." Leslie suppressed first surprise, then annoyance. "You must promise not to tell anyone," she informed him. "Or what?" "Or I'll kick your butt, Lupe style." "Promised." "And in the middle of it all, Kevin found out too," Maxima finished. The five, along with Kaen, had gathered in Leslie's living room and ended up snacking on Wintermelon Sweets; FirePrinse was in the garden helping Unirus, Luname, and Silvacheek build snow sculptures. "Your identity, you mean?" asked Leslie. "You didn't want him knowing, I remember . . ." "I don't know how it happened," Maxima confessed, picking up a faerie eraser from next to the bowl of Wintermelon Sweets and trying to eat it. Mat decided not to explain. Leslie sat back and sighed thoughtfully. "Is there anything else?" "Maxie found a Mist of Evian," Zoe put in matter-of-factly. "NOT AGAIN. Lemme see," Kaen ordered. Maxima presented the bottle. "Oh, gosh, I remember this one. I was looking these up just a few days ago. This was the last one to go disappearing. Let's see . . . swirling colors . . . periwinkle, green, orange, teal, yellow, purple . . . those are the faerie aura colors! Of course, the wings on the stopper are a dead giveaway. Maxima, this is the Fata (Italian for Fairy) Mist. Have you used it to attack?" Maxima explained how "Mynci Pixie Dust" had worked, and the brunette faerie nodded. "You've seen two of its powers. It should switch between six different faerie abilities; as for which one comes up, it's chosen at random, like in Scorchy Slots." "Sounds like fun," said Maxima, popping a handful of house key into her mouth. Before going home, Maxima, Mat, and Starlee took a detour to the Neopian Marketplace. When they came to a small shop next to Uni's Clothing, Maxima walked in with about 200 NP and came out wearing a pair of decidedly weird - square-rimmed and black-framed - glasses. "WHAT are those?" Mat and Starlee demanded. "My new glasses, of course!" replied the freckled girl cheerfully. "It's a new style sweeping Neopia. I think it's called 'emo' . . ." |