episode 7: an uncharmed life

Beryl says to Jedite, "I'm extremely unhappy, Jedite.  Our energy reserves are not growing fast enough.  If I'm to release the Negaforce on schedule, I must have the Silver Imperium Crystal in my possession!  Now tell me, is our new plan ready to be executed yet?"
Jedute says, "Yes, Queen Beryl.  The plan is set."
"Excellent.  That is just what I wanted to hear.  There's only one more thing to take care of then: that pest Sailor Moon.  I want you to get rid of her and her Sailor friend.  Understand?"
Jedite agrees.

In the city, police cars are all heading in one general direction.  Serena and Luna, downtown, notice a heapload of police cars heading down the street. She sees Amy up ahead. "Amy!"
"Hi, Serena.  Oh Luna, how are you?  Ha ha."
Serena asks, "Wanna go to the arcade?"
Amy answers, "Thanks, but I can't.  I've got too much homework."
Luna says to Serena, "Don't you have some of that, too?"
Serena laughs, "Ha ha ha.  Nothing that can't wait."
Molly and another girl, Lonna, come up to them. "You guys won't believe what happened," Molly says, "All those cops are heading to the sacred temple on Cherry Hill. Supposedly a bus disappeared near there.  It picked up a bunch of passengers, and then . . . POOF!  Vanished into thin air!""
Lonna says, "And you know what I heard?  The news said that this wasn't the first time that this has happened.  The police are trying to keep it quiet.  They're scared people will freak out."
Amy says, "The Cherry Hill Temple is really nice!"
Serena whines, "Well, I'm not about to start going there now, not with people disappearing and stuff.  I'll stick to the video arcade, thank you."
Molly says, "Guys, I heard you can buy these good luck charms really cheap there, and they can bring you good luck and everything.  You name it."
Amy tells Serena to get one for her, that she needs good luck on a test...

At the temple, a man with blonde hair sweeps the floor - Jedite in disguise! He laughs, "It'll work, all right.  Zap the energy right out of those fapid, giggly girls."

Inside, Raye, the caretaker's granddaughter, is conducting a ritual to figure out a premonition she has had.  She kneels in front of the temple's sacred fire. "Cleansing flame, provide me with your guidance.  I feel a strange force approaching, and I'm worried about Grandpa," she prays.

Outside, a really short man confronts three young girls in school uniforms. "Ladies!  Welcome to the sacred temple of Cherry Hill. Would you like the guided tour?  Huh? Oh, ha ha ha ha ha.  I bet you'd rather go with Jed, wouldn't you?  Ha ha ha ha. Hmm, that's okay.  I'll just send you on your way with a few extra good wishes to go with your new charms."  He performs an odd ritual, as if he's wildly fighting.  "That was my Super Duper Whammy Blessing, for peace and happiness and for good grades.  But of course, you'll still have to study hard. Would you like anything else?"
"No, thanks.  That's plenty.  Thank you."  The students run away quickly and comment to each other, "What a weird guy."

Grandpa sees three more girls coming.  They're really Serena, Molly, and Lonna, but he thinks it's the three students who just left a minute ago  "Back again? You'll miss your bus!" The girls are confused. Then Raye shows up behind her grandfather. She is wearing a traditional Shinto fuku. "Why don't you ever wear your glasses, Grandpa?" she says.
"Raye, I don't need them!" says the man.
"Yes you do, Grandpa! These aren't the same girls!" The girls watch the fight in awe of this girl Raye...

In a corner, the disguised Jedite says, "Time to activate those charm bracelets!" Jedite activates the spell on the charms.  As the spell takes effect, Raye and her crows receive a psychic warning.  Meanwhile, the students fall into a trance.

Raye notices, "Something's happening to those girls.  I feel a strange force here.  An evil force." Raye suddenly shouts. "HA!  I won't have evil forces near our temple." She takes out a sacred scroll (reading "Akuryo Taisan", or "Evil Spirits, Be Gone"), jumps up, and smacks it on Serena's head! "You must be banished!"  Molly and Lonna scream as the impact knocks Serena to the ground. Raye is shocked. "Sorry.  I guess I made a mistake.  Help me get her inside."

Inside the temple, Raye places ice on Serena's head. A man, the disgiused Jedite, comes in and says, "Miss Raye, here are the bandages you wanted."
"Thanks.  Just leave 'em at the door," Raye responds.
Luna thinks to herself, "His voice sounds familiar."
Molly shouts, "He's so cute!"
Serena, hearing this, wakes up and shouts, "Cute! WHERE?"
Raye says, "Are you Ok? Is anything broken?"
Serena says, "I don't think so."
Raye explains, "I made a mistake.  Sorry.  I get these visions in my head.  Usually I'm right on, but this time I was way off."
Luna notices Raye, "I'm getting a strong feeling about this girl."

A woman suddenly barges in. "Where's my daughter!? "She said she was coming up here to buy some good luck charms, and she hasn't come home.  She was supposed to take the bus, and now I hear the bus disappeared.  I want to know where my daughter is."
Raye stands up. "I'm sorry, but I don't know.  We get tons of people up here every day.  We can't be responsible for making sure they catch the bus home!  Why don't you go and talk to the police?!  They've been all over our temple looking for these missing buses.  I'm asking you nicely.  Please leave."  The woman,  a little angered, leaves.

As they all walk out, Luna says, "Serena, I'm getting really strange vibrations around here.  I think you'd better go get Amy to help us."
Serena whines, "But I wanna get a charm."
Luna responds, "This is no time to think about charms when the Negaverse might be involved!"

So later, her and Amy walk towards the bus stop to get to the temple. They see a lot of girls there, all with charm bracelets! The bus comes, and the girls all get on, like drones! "Come on Serena, don't you want to see what's going on?"
But Serena won't get on.  She's just too scared of the driver  "I DON'T WANNA!" She hugs a phone pole, scared that she will vanish. The bus leaves without them! Amy and Luna are mad. But they all look up to see an amazing sight - the bus lifts off the ground! A black hole appears, and the bus goes into it!
"Did you see that? It just VANISHED!" shouts Amy. Yes, indeed, the hole closes, and the bus is gone...

Inside the bus, plenty of girls lay lifeless, out of energy. The driver says, "A full load. Jedite's plan is great! The Queen will be pleased..."

After seeing this, Serena rushes up to the temple. "RAYE!" "Yeah, Serena?" "You know the Temple Bus? It really DID disappear!" Raye is mad. "Why does everyone call it that? We don't own it. And the bracelets are JEd's idea, not ours!" Serena thinks of something and says, "Sorry Raye, I guess we'll go now. Come on, Luna!" Raye shouts back, "And don't bother coming bacK!" but she sees something on the ground. it is a pen, red, with the sign of Mars...

Raye is doing another fire reading when 'Jed' comes in. "I am making tea. Do you want any?" "No, I'm busy." He leaves. "Everything has been strange since Jed was here!" Raye thinks...

Teh next day, a bunch of girls are again in a daze as they line up for the "Temple Bus". Serena, Luna, and Amy stand, ready to go on. The door opens..."I CAN'T, LUNA!" Serena again holds on to the pole and wails her eyes out...at the temple, Raye senses that another bus has vanished. She calls out to the fire, "Show me whose behind this!" It crackles, and a picture is shown - "JED!" She runs up to him. "JED! You're behind the disappearing buses! Confess!" He turns around...

and holds out his hand, creating another black hole! Raye is swept up into it, like a vacuum, and is gone...

"Serena, you are getting on that bus," shouts Luna. The "Temple Bus" is making its latest run. Serena starts wailing again, finally saying, "At least give me a disguise!" But then she realizes - she has the Luna pen! "Disguise POWER! Turn me into a flight attendant...or something!" She turns into a stewardess, with a blue skirt suit outfit. "Come on, Luna!" she shouts. "Too bad its not an airplane!" Luna whines. They leap on to the bus only to see all the girls out cold! She shouts to the driver, "You stop right now! This bus in under arrest. I said STOP!" The driver just drives on. The bus rises into the air, and to the dismay of Luna and Serena, vanishes into another black hole! Amy reaches the spot and sees the horror. "Oh no! They're GONE!"...

They are in some kind of limbo. Serena and Luna are thrown off, seemingly becuase they still have energy. Suddenly, a figure falls into the driver (now out of the bus)'s arms - "That's Raye!" The driver turns around - and turns into a monster! "Oh no Luna!" Luna tells her to shape up. "Right! Moon Prism POWER!"...

And in the flurry of ribbon, Serena again becomes our hero, Sailor Moon! She goes into her speech. Raye is in the clutches of the monster. Suddenly a symbol appears on her forehead - the symbol of MARS! Moon stands and shouts, taking off her tiara, "Moon Tiara Magic!" The tiara misses. But Raye's crows, who came in with her, peck at the monster, allowing Raye to break free. The tiara recoils, and the monster grabs it. "Tiara, trap her!" It surrounds the monster, giving Raye time to talk to the others...

"Raye, do you have that stick from before?" asks Luna. "HEy, you can TALK!" she shouts. (It is a cat after all!) Luna says, "Just hold it up and says 'MArs Power'." "Ok..." "Mars POWER!" She holds up the stick, and from it, rings of fire surround her. She comes out of it with a white leotard, a red skirt and bows..."WOW!" she shouts. Moon says, "I don't believe it! Raye's a Scout!" Mars confronts the monster. "I've had enough of you..."

"Mars..." she holds her hands in a praying position. "Fire...." she spins around. "IGNITE!" fire comes from her! Th monster is engulfed into a huge fireball and is destroyed! but the black hole they had come through begins to close. "How can we get bacK! AHH!" they scream in terror...

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Amy also sees that the hole is closing. She holds u her stick and prays. "please, on behalf of Merucry, keep my friends alive!" Inside, a blue beam of light suddenly appears, keeping the hole open. 'It's Merucry!" shouts Luna. Then they see someone driving the buses back - Tuxedo Mask! "Let's hitch a ride!"...

Mars, Moon and the buses appear outside, downtown. "You guys are alright!" shouts Amy. They all run and hug. Tuxedo Mask thinks, "I should go home." Moon looks back at the seat that Mask was in, and he's gone! "Raye, I saw that look you gave him!" shouts Moon. "You like him or something? I didn't give him any look Serena!..."