They were arguing again. They never argued before last night. But they did last night and they were doing it again tonight. Hirane was asleep. Thank the heavens for small favors. They were yelling. He had never seen either of his parents yelling, nor had he ever heard them yell until last night. As an eight-year-old, he had been completely sheltered from anything that would cause him to be afraid. His parents were always such calm, peaceful people. They delighted in sharing knowledge with him, watching him grow into a young man. It was then he realized that the fighting had stopped. Footsteps approached his door. He dived into the bed and burrowed under his covers. They knocked on the door and opened it slightly.
“Sakana,” his mother said, her voice wafting into the room, “Are you awake?” He pretended to be waking up, yawning and blinking. His parents came in.
“If you’re gonna pretend to wake up, you oughta do it right. You need to blink like this and squint your eyes and rub them, but don’t overdo it,” his dad said, demonstrating. “Let’s try it again,” he got up and though his mom shot him a look, she got up too and left the room. The knocked again and came in. Sakana blinked, squinted, and rubbed his eyes.
“Good! Good!” said his father, and despite the serious look on her face, his mother began to laugh. His mother and father knelt next to his bed.
“Remember, a serious moment is best presented light hearted,” his father said, ruffling his hair.
“Your at an age when you need to know certain things . . .” said his mother, and from her pocket she produced a pen . . .
“SAKANA!!!!” The ear splitting shout jarred him from what was rapidly becoming a troubling recurring dream. He flipped out of his hammock onto the floor, where he found himself eyeing the familiar shoes of a now 12yr old Hirane.
“Early to bed, early to rise, and you were early to bed so GET UP!” He got up.
“Why do you have to be so loud?” he sail, picking at one pigtail. “And so perky.” She picked up her bag and a key off a hook next to the door, and for a moment, her faced seemed a bit older. 
“I’m going to open the shop,” then she added, “and don’t make me wait longer than an hour!” she said, laughing down the driveway, across the street, and trudging around the corner.

“La la la la la la la la la la la la la,” Tsukiko bounced as she brought tea to two of her friends, Kaze and Momoko.
“What time is it?” asked Kaze. Momoko checked her watch. 
“Two minutes since the last time you asked, probably,” Tsukiko guessed.
“Hey kids, that’s today’s secret phrase! When you hear it, scream real loud,” Momoko said, smiling mischievously. 
“Can you just tell me what time it is?”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!” Tsukiko and Momoko screamed. All three girls began to laugh. Tsukiko’s two younger sisters ran into the room.
“She’s here. She’s here. She’s here . . .” they began jumping up and down and screaming. The doorbell rang. In a group of five, they ran to the door, threw it open, and tackled the person standing behind it, a one tall and lanky girl with shaggy black hair and green eyes.
“MEEP!” se cried as she fell to the ground. Hugs and greetings commenced, stopping only when Kaze pointed at the cab driver. 
“What’s he still doing here?” she said.
“He wants a 20 and all I have’s a fiver,” Elokin whispered. Tsukiko stepped up to the cab driver.
“Hello my good man,” she said, pulling a twenty at her purse. She waved.
“Goodbye my good man,” she waved again. He looked at it incredulously.
“What, no tip?”
“Bleeeh!” she shouted at him, and he sped off. The others clapped. 
“Good show, old chap!” said Kaze. 
“Righty Oh!” said Elokin.
“Move it you brigands, the tea’s cooling,” said Momoko, herding everyone inside. Everyone sat down except Tsukiko, who got Elokin some tea. 
“Freedom. Oh, blessed freedom from parental enslavement,” said Elokin grandiosely. 
“Yeah, man,” said Tsukiko. 
“Meep!” agreed Kaze.
“Sweet,” said Momoko. Tsukiko’s sisters both began pulling on her, one on either arm.
“Ah! Wa! What is it?” she said, as she was pulled left, then right.
“Walk us to our Karate lessons,” they said in unison. She rolled her eyes.
“But Elokin’s here!” she whined, but they didn’t let go. “OK! OK! We’ll walk!” They ran out of the room, and by the time the other four girls got to the door they were there, dressed out and waiting.
“Whoa!” Elokin said as they left the house. It was two blocks to the Bogei Institute, a multi-martial arts school in the heart of midtown Tokyo. A visually shabby but respectable establishment that was just 3 blocks from the Hateshinai house. It was a generic, square, two-story, whitewashed building.
The first thing they saw when they walked in were two girls, one with long strawberry blonde hair in a ponytail, and the other with shorter fuzzy red hair, forced into a tight bun. They were dueling each other. Yume and Heiwa began whispering to each other. 
“There are the Hinoyona sisters!”
“They’re so cool!”
“One day, we’ll be able to fight like them,”
“And we’ll beat their butwas!"
“Yeah!”
“Gimme some!”
“You got some!” And the two sisters slapped palms. They continued to watch the two fiery teenagers as the others watched on. A similar scene was being played out in the next room, except these siblings were brothers. The shorter of the two, if you could call him that, for he was 6’ 1”, had red hair and orange eyes while the taller one, who was 6’ 5”, had orange hair and red eyes. They were circling each other, waiting. 
Yagi was so focused on the fight that he almost missed it. He even had to get his eyes to adjust so they would focus on something farther away than his brother. And there it was. A girl. Tall, almost as tall as he was, which is probably one of the things that surprised him, lanky, with hair that was a soothing black and deep green eyes. She had her cheeks puffed out, her hands behind her ears, her fingers wiggling. Then she put her hands on her hips and did a little jig. She was singing something, something that he desperately wanted to hear, but couldn’t. It was then that he blacked out.

Everyone turned when the tall, muscular martial arts expert fell. The two Hinoyona sisters stopped fighting and ran over to him.
“Neko! How could you do that to him!” screamed Shishiko as a prelude to slapping him across the face. Fushika knelt by the fallen Yagi.
“I think he has a concussion. Whoa! Look at the imprint your foot made on his head . . .” Neko ignored Shishiko’s violence.
“He didn’t move. He didn’t even move . . .” Just then, the nurse employed by the institute arrived, and moments after that an ambulance. The two Kano brothers left on it, one injured in the body, and one in the mind.
“Alright! Alright! Nothing to see here! Everyone get back to class,” shouted one of the instructors, a tall, muscular man with light brown curly hair and dark brown eyes. The crowd disappeared, leaving a very confused Tsukiko, Kaze, Momoko, and Elokin.
“What happened?” Tsukiko said, whirling around.
“I think they just carried that guy off in an ambulance,” said Kaze.
“Poor guy . . .” said Elokin.
“Hey, um . . . guys,” began Momoko, “Where are the munchkins?”
“Oh! They probably went to class,” said Tsukiko.
“Let’s go watch!” said Kaze and they were off. The girls were sparring with other kids their age in a large gymnasium. The gymnasium also had other age groups, including one seventeen year old who had dark black hair and brown eyes. He was standing in front of a body length sandbag hanging in midair, putting on marking shoes.
“Hey, that guy’s wearing booties!” Elokin shouted, pointing. Katana looked up sharply, narrowing his eyes at the goofy girl whose finger was pointing at him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of light reflected on beautiful, white blond colored hair. Standing in a crowd of gawky teenage girls was a true lady.
“Umino- San,” he looked up at his instructor, who looked a bit annoyed. He pointed to the sandbag. Katana stepped back, shrieked, and in a whirl of black and red kicked the sandbag in three placed, each represented by one red mark. The marks on the sandbag directly corresponded to 3 parts of the body: neck, head, and knee bend. The instructor nodded in approval.
“Again.” This process was repeated several times, making the existing marks a darker shade of red but no new marks.
“Amazing.” Kaze jumped. Beside her stood a tall, seventeen year old girl with short cropped black hair, small dark glasses that were slid down her nose, a black spaghetti strap shirt, and equally tight black leather pants. Around her neck she wore a pendant that was a watch. She stood next to Kaze, towering over her.
“Oh, shut up, “ Katana said, getting his things.
“How can you be as intelligent as you are and still practice this . . . this mindless drone?” said Kakumei. They continued what was clearly recognized as friendly banter as they walked out. Momoko shrugged.
“I guess he’s taken. Too bad. He won’t get to see any of my mad skills,” she said, laughing. The others were laughing too, except Kaze who was just staring at the door. That’s when the screaming began.
Several young men and women, ages ranging from about sixteen to twenty-one, were screaming. Their bodies were encased in a thin blue light, and they were writhing in pain. Slowly they began to fade away, and in about a minute they had disappeared. A glowing ball appeared and in a moment it had expanded to encase a man, one with shoulder length blue hair in a ponytail and gray eyes.
“Greetings, humans. I am Ganymede, first courtier under the great queen Chrysobera. Your race has been chosen as the premier of this octal; that is the most physically fit and prone to violence. We will periodically be taking specimens for our gladiatorial games. Any sort of resistance you may try to offer would be useless and only serve to prolong our presence on this planet. So please, do not fight us. Save us you precious energy."
“Cataclysmic shock!” and a shining gold beam of energy flashed out a Ganymede. It was absorbed by the blue bubble that encased him.
“Who? . . .” He began.
“We are the soldiers of justice, Sailor Aries,”
“And Sailor Leo. If I were you I’d back my ass out of here before it received a good kicking.”
There stood two women in white fukus. Leo’s fuku had an orange skirt and ribbon to match her hair, while Aries’ skirt and ribbon were red, as was her hair. Ganymede’s eyes widened as if he had just seen a ghost.
“The ancient warriors of the Silver Millenium . . .” his fingers began to move involuntarily.
“That bubble can’t last forever. Fire Phantasm!” Aries screamed, a red fire ram searing out of her fingers. It too was absorbed by the blue encasing. Ganymede laughed.
“Well, perhaps with a little time and training. I have what I came for. Farewell,” and he too disappeared.
“Dammit!” Leo cursed. Aries put a hand on her shoulder. Then there was an explosion and smoke filled the room. When it disappeared, the two senshi were gone as well.
“Whoa. I don’t think we’re in Memphis anymore, Toto,” Elokin said.

His shoes clicked on the blue marble floor as he approached the throne room of the ship. The whole ship had dark blue glass walls and ark blue marble floors. Ganymede’s chambers were decorated in almost the exact same style, as those of the queen herself. The servant bowed to Ganymede.
“My Lord, the Queen wishes to speak with you immediately,” Ganymede nodded and the boy quickly left the chambers. He reached up and down and activated a viewing screen engaged in the wall. Chrysobera’s image appeared. She was tall and slender, her blue skin matching her imperial robes. Surrounding her were attendants.
“Ganymede,” she intoned. He knelt in her presence.
“My Queen,” he said. She ignored his pleasantries.
“I am pleased with the specimens from the planet Earth. I expect that they will continue,” he nodded vigorously.
“That will be no problem at all. Also, I will soon have acquired a gift you will undoubtedly be pleased with.” At that her eyes widened.
“Explain yourself,” she commanded.
"On my first visit to planet Earth I found that it was being protected by a reincarnated version of the legendary Sailor Senshi. I, of course, had no trouble accomplishing my mission in the face of their adversity, but with that potential . . .”
“Get them,” she growled, her eyes wide with greed.
“Yes my queen. Of course.” She disappeared.

Fushika and Shishiko sat on their bed, Fushika petting a black and white swirled cat.
“We lost them. Twenty-six people and we lost them,” Shishiko said, throwing a stuffed animal across the room. The cat watched the stuffed animal hit the wall and moved away from her.
“On a more positive note, we did come across an interesting source of energy,” Fushika said. The cat looked up, suddenly interested.
“Do you think it could have been the other Zodiac Senshi?” he asked.
“Or villains posing as spies,” Shishiko added.
“And we found a girl that resembled the picture you gave us,” Fushika held up a picture.
“She does resemble Sailor Genesis,” the cat murmured. “Find out more about her.” Both girls nodded.