Hockey Players, Pretty Soldiers, and Nearly Innocent Bystanders

Geri was walking down the street one evening with a bag of things she'd picked up at her favorite market, when she saw some familiar girls waiting outside a popular disco. "Sailor Senshi!" she said to herself, setting her bag down on a low windowsill. "Sailor Senshi going to a disco! What fun!" She pulled a small flask, labeled "Uulolia," out of her bag and followed the girls into the club.

"All right, then," Chikako said, watching as most of her friends were selected as dance partners as soon as they neared the dance floor. She sat down at a table with Ippin and Priire, who seemed to get a bigger kick out of scaring men away than they did dancing with them.

"What can I get for you ladies?" a blonde waitress asked, barely glancing at them.

"Outer Rim Maroika," Priire ordered. "With a guava slice."

"I'll have your best blue wine," Chikako said.

"Straight Brikken on the rocks," Ippin said. The waitress nodded and started walking away. "And bring us some chips!"

"Here you go, Chek," the waitress said, laying the order on the bar. "Oh, you're not Chek!"

"He's on a break," the redhead behind the bar said. She picked up the order. "I'll get these."

Geri sent the waitress back to the Senshi with their drinks just as Chek returned from the wild bantha chase she'd sent him on. "There were no important holomessages for me," he said, confused.

"Perhaps someone deleted it," Geri said, shrugging. She stepped away from the bar. "All yours!"

"Here's to being wallflowers!" Priire cried, lifting her Maroika. The other girls clinked their glasses and took a good long drink together.

"Great blue wine," Chikako said, setting down her half-empty glass.

A tall man stood over their table. "Care to dance?"

"What are you doing here?" Priire exclaimed, breaking into a big smile. "I thought you promised Numako a chess game?"

"I did," Kousotsu said, raising an eyebrow and glancing at a circle forming on the dance floor. The girls followed his gaze to the center of that circle, where Numako was letting loose. "But she had some sort of Saturday night fever, I guess."

"I see," Priire said, watching the lizard-like girl captivate the crowd.

"Well?" Kousotsu said, offering his hand.

"Oh, all right," she rolled her eyes, and looked at Ippin and Chikako. "Sorry, girls."

Chikako turned to look at her redheaded companion. She opened her mouth to speak, but her head crashed onto the table before any words could come out. Ippin just blinked.

"Time for somebody to go on a diet!" Geri groaned as she dropped two motionless bodies into the empty alley. Chikako was out cold; Ippin was just heavily sedated, and highly agreeable. "Now, what kind of fun are we going to have tonight?" Geri giggled. "Okay, I know - uh oh, I'm a Sith! Better transform!" She laughed hysterically as Ippin became a very sleepy Sailor Yavin. "Okay, now where's your time stick? Great! So where do you want to go today? The throne room of a Hutt palace? I'm sure they'd love to have you."

Sailor Yavin went to open a porthole.

"No, wait, I've got a better idea. How about some nameless asteroid in uncharted territory? Those are loads of fun!" She snickered. "Trust me!"

Yavin opened her porthole, with some help from Geri in lifting her staff.

"Okay, first we'll throw your friend in. Oof! Great! And now you!" Geri pushed Sailor Yavin into the porthole and it closed, leaving the crazy Sith alone in the alley. "Oh darn!" she exclaimed. "She took her big stick! Oh well, we'll have to think of something else for that sassy blonde." She wandered back into the disco. "Speaking of the blonde..." she muttered. "She should be entirely unconscious any minute!"

Ippin woke up in a public bathroom. "Last time I drink straight Brikken," she muttered, getting to her feet and realizing she had a pounding headache. She gazed into the dirty mirror. "Huh... I still look good."

She jumped at the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat. A man stood in the doorway, looking embarrassed but fairly sure he was in the right place.

This must be the men's bathroom, Ippin thought, turning the shade of her hair. She looked curiously at the man as she left. Why hadn't she sensed him come in? Maybe it was the headache. She closed her eyes and concentrated, tuning into the Force. "Aha," she said, vaguely sensing a life form in the next room. "Hopefully it's something sentient. And hopefully they can tell me where I am and how I got here!"

Ippin walked through the first door she came to. "What, in the name of the Force...??!" she sputtered. The room turned out to be a huge stadium with a stretch of ice in the middle; the life form she'd sensed turned out to be several thousand humans, screaming wildly at a dozen men chasing each other with sticks.

She walked down a few steps and slipped into an empty seat. How had she gotten here? She frowned, trying to remember something. Numako, dancing like a wild woman... Priire taking Kousotsu's hand... Chikako passing out on the table... "Ohh," she muttered. "Chikako wouldn't have passed out after half a glass of blue wine. Maybe we were drugged! Maybe she's here somewhere, too!" She started looking frantically around. "If she's blocking the Force, that would explain why I barely sensed all these people." She saw children cheering frantically, a thirty-year-old woman with bleached hair trying to start the wave, a drunk man hugging an equally drunk man he didn't seem to know, and an old woman knitting serenely between two teenage boys wearing large foam hands. But no Chikako.

Suddenly, the entire crowd leapt to its feet in one roaring cheer, startling Ippin, and getting her wet when the man next to her forgot to put down his Molson before throwing his hands in the air.

"Oops," he said, realizing what he did, "sorry about that!" He reached down under his seat and started handing her napkins, but recoiled upon seeing the disconcerted statement on her face. "Aha!" he laughed after a second. "You must be a Wings fan! That would explain the sour look on your face, now that WE SCORED! Ha!"

Ippin's mouth dropped open. This man was speaking English to her! "What?" she said.

"You heard me!" he said, joining in a chant of "Let's Go Dallas - Red Wings Suck!" "By the way," he added, "GREAT cup run last season!"

She had a feeling he was being rude, even if nothing he was saying made any sense to her. She knew English, but phrases like "cup run" weren't a part of her vocabulary. And even if they had been, she probably would've ignored him the same, as it suddenly occurred to her that everyone was speaking English.

Could she really be on Earth?

Why somebody would drug her and send her to Earth, she didn't know. She knew she still had her staff, and as long as that worked, she could get back easily. But if Chikako was there too, she couldn't leave yet.

Ippin got up and squeezed out of her row. "That's right, go home, Red!" the rude man yelled after her. "Go back to Detroit and cry 'cause your poor babies don't know how to put the [beep]in' puck in the [beep]in' net!"

Ippin responded to the meaningless taunts with a simple gesture as she left the arena. Peetie hadn't taught her what a "puck" was, but he had taught her which finger was appropriate in such situations.

Chikako felt very well rested when she finally opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was blue canvas. She pushed herself up and blinked, realizing she'd been sleeping on a cobblestone street. She was in some kind of tent. Small round tables and plastic chairs were set up inside, like a cafe; she'd been laying underneath the one in the corner. The Force felt very dull, and for a split second, she thought she was on Myrkr.

As she stood, a counter came into view at the other end of the tent, and near that, an opening in the blue canvas. Morning sunlight flooded in from a busy street. Chikako crossed the empty café and stepped outside, squinting at the bright yellow light. A blue sign sat right outside the entrance. She stared at it, trying to make something of the blocky, foreign figures. Nope. This definitely wasn't Myrkr. She couldn't read a word of this language, except... Chikako stepped back into the café, looking intently at a drink display behind the counter. She thought she'd seen... "Pepsi," she read aloud from one of the bottles.

The man working behind the counter jumped; he hadn't noticed her leave or come back in. He pulled a Pepsi out of the cooler and set it on the counter. Chikako picked it up. Because many of the Earthborn Senshi still spoke English to one another, she thought it would be a worthwhile language to learn, since she had little patience for people pointing at her and talking in languages she didn't know. So, linguistically proficient, she made a little effort and picked up a fair amount of words. "Pepsi" was one of them; Yoshiko asked for it every time Ippin traveled to Earth.

Earth?! Chikako gasped. She was sure they didn't sell Pepsi anywhere in her galaxy, but how - and why - would she be on Earth? And was she alone?

"Pyatnadtsyat rublei," the man behind the counter said, staring at Chikako as if he wasn't sure of her sanity.

"What?" Chikako jumped. She looked at the man, and back at her Pepsi. "Oh, you want money? Will this work?"

He squinted at the Republic Credits she handed him. He gave her a long, skeptical glare, and then looked back at the alien currency. Finally, he shrugged and pocketed the money. Chikako took her Pepsi and left.

A girl wearing a purple dress and a long, blonde ponytail walked slowly up the busy Nemetskaya Prospect. It was crowded on Saturday mornings, without a lot of room for people going nowhere in particular as she was. She didn't care, though, and there was nothing else to do; she was an American exchange student who felt lonely and dreamy, but not quite social, and not quite homesick.

She smiled as she walked past the Torpeda Strip Club. She and a fellow exchange student often giggled about it when they walked past its bright blue tent: the Prospect was packed with street cafes; this was by far the most interesting.

She turned her gaze to the music kiosk she'd made her temporary destination. It was blasting a song called "Pei Pivo." She'd spent some of her free time decoding the lyrics, and was not surprised to find them as profound as "drink beer, eat meat, drink beer." She thought maybe she'd attempt to buy the CD in her broken, second-year Russian.

As she cut across to the music kiosk, a girl sitting on the edge of a planter full of marigolds near Torpeda caught her attention. Something about her didn't seem Russian - or American, or anything else the young college student could identify. She did, however, look rather lost, and she was clutching a full bottle of Pepsi as if there were nothing more dear to her.

Chikako looked up to meet the curious stare of a blonde girl about her age. She looked as if she were about to turn away and continue her walk, when she suddenly smiled and said, "Dobriy dyen!"

Chikako returned the smiled, accompanied by a particularly blank stare.

The blonde tried again. "Do you speak English?"

"Yes!" Chikako cried, jumping to her feet. "You speak English?" She winced at her accent, realizing that, while she'd put a lot of effort into understanding some English, she hadn't worked much at actually speaking it.

"Yes. I'm American. My name is Melissa."

"Uh... Good."

Melissa smiled. "Do you need help or anything?"

"Maybe yes. I do not know where am I."

"You're in Saratov."

Chikako thought about that. "Where?"

"Saratov, Russia."

"Russia?" she repeated, then whispered, "Earth, yes?"

Melissa's eyes went wide. "Yes," she finally said, nodding. "So... where are you from?"

Chikako looked at the blue tent. "I woke up there," she said, pointing.

"You woke up in the strip club?"

"Strip club? It does not look as a strip club."

Melissa shrugged. "That's what the sign says."

"I was not to read the sign. I learn no... Russia... language." Chikako bit her lip and looked eagerly at Melissa, hoping that made sense. I obviously didn't learn English as well as I thought, either!

"You don't know how you got here?"

"No."

"How weird!"

"Yes."

Melissa smiled and stepped out of the way of a man pulling a cart. "Well, how can I help you?"

Chikako thought for a moment. The last thing she remembered was blue wine. She was at a table with Ippin, drinking blue wine. That didn't answer any questions. She knew Ippin could take her back to Coruscant, but she had no clue how to find Ippin. She sighed and looked at her new friend. "I am hungry," she said.

"Come on, then," Melissa said, leading her to a café. Chikako hesitated at the entrance.

"Melissa, I have no Russia credits."

"What?"

"Credits. To pay the food with."

"Oh." Understanding dawned on Melissa's face. "Don't worry about that. I've got more rubles than I know what to do with."

"You are wealthy."

"Hardly," she smiled. "I just get a good exchange rate."

Ippin walked around the perimeter of the sports arena, not knowing where she should begin her search. "Authorized Personnel Only," she read from a door as she pushed it open. "Here's a start."

The guard on the other side of the door jumped when the confident redhead flung it open. "I'm sorry, you can't come in here," he said, flipping off the cell phone he'd be chatting into.

"Sure I can," Ippin said, waving her hand. It was worth a try.

The guard smiled condescendingly. "No, I'm afraid you can't."

Ippin smiled back, equally smug, and ignited her bright red lightsaber. She swung it just close enough to slice off his security tag. "Yes I can!"

The guard, having gone pale, backed away slowly, then turned around and ran. Ippin walked on, into an empty locker room. "Wonder if this is worth having all the nice security personnel after me?" she muttered. "Chikako?" she shouted into an empty locker room. She walked on a little further, encountering more empty rooms. "Chikako?"

The door she'd come through swung open again, admitting six large security guards. Ippin rolled her eyes and slipped out a door marked EXIT.

Outside, she found a large bus and a few official-looking men standing around looking bored. A kindly-looking man smoking a pipe was leaning against the bus; he was the first to notice her. "Hello, there," he said, smiling curiously.

"Hello there," Ippin repeated. She walked over to where he was standing. The other official men glanced at her as she walked, and then went back to their idle conversations.

"Are you looking for something?" asked the man with the pipe.

"Actually, yes," Ippin said. "Though I doubt you can help me. I'm looking for Chikako."

"Then what are you doing in Texas?" the man chuckled.

"I don't know where to go!" Ippin said defensively.

"All right, dear," the man said, turning away so he wouldn't blow smoke in Ippin's face. "I'll tell you. Drive north-east for fifteen hours. If you end up in Lake Michigan, you've gone too far."

"Really?" Ippin said, disbelieving. She looked at the bus. "Can you take me there?"

He laughed. "Wish I could, dearie. But we're not scheduled to play the Blackhawks till after the All Star break."

Ippin's face fell. If this man was telling the truth, Chikako was thousands of miles away and she had no idea how to get there.

"Look," the man sighed, eyeing her with pity. "We play in Nashville tomorrow. That's about half way to Chicago, if you want to fly up with us tonight."

"That'd be great!" Ippin said, grinning.

"All right," the man said gruffly. "We leave right after this game. If anyone asks, you're my daughter."

Melissa took a drink from a brown bottle marked Baltika 3, trying to keep from puckering her face after every sip. She countered the bitter drink with bites from a thick block of vanilla ice cream. Chikako smiled at her in the sunlight that filtered through the bright red café umbrella they were sitting under, wondering why she seemed so determined to finish a drink she didn't like.

"Did you tell me your name?" Melissa asked, checking her progress on the brown bottle.

"No. My name is Chikako."

"What?"

"Chikako."

"Chikako?" she looked surprised. "Are you Japanese?"

"No."

"Chikako," Melissa repeated, suddenly noticing how flippy the girl's short hair was, and how big her bright blue eyes were.

"These are so pretty," Chikako said, touching the small flower arrangement sitting on the table. She pulled a daisy right out of the vase and slipped it behind her ear.

Melissa pushed away her nearly-full bottle of Baltika 3. "I think I've had enough of that," she said, staring incredulously as the girl across the table pulled another flower from the vase, then reached over and worked it into her new friend's streaky blonde locks.

"Okay, time for a break!" Priire shouted breathlessly over the heavy bass line that had the walls trembling. Kousotsu assented with a nod and followed her to the table. "Wow, Ippin and Chikako must be dancing," she said, observing the empty chairs. She sank into one and picked up Chikako's half-full wineglass, clicking her tongue in mock-disapproval. "This is probably the weakest drink in the Galaxy, and she can't even swallow one glass." Priire downed the wine in one gulp. "Might as well be milk," she said. Kousotsu smiled and reached for the chip bowl.

"Want some?" he asked Priire before scooping the last crumbs into his mouth.

"No," Priire said, her gaze suddenly locked to some point beyond him. He turned to try and see what had her captivated. "I'll be right back," she said, and left.

Priire cautiously approached the owner of a familiar pair of dark, glowing eyes. They flashed rapidly from evil, amusement, and distraction, but they never left Priire.

"What are you doing here, Geri?" Priire asked.

"None of your business." Geri stepped back slightly, wanting to keep her distance until the Uulolia kicked in. Which should be really soon, she thought, since she just drank more.

"Are you alone?" Priire asked.

"None of your business."

"What are you doing?"

"Dancing," Geri said, wobbling her hips a little as she said the word. Priire frowned warningly. "I'm just waiting," Geri snapped, heeding the warning, "as if it was your business."

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for you to pass out!" Geri laughed, her unpredictable demeanor suddenly changing again.

"I am not going to pass out."

"Yes you are! You drank Uulolia. You drank loads of it!"

"Uulolia! Geri, people like me build immunities to things like that. I'd have to drink a bucket full before I even get drowsy."

"You're no fun," Geri pouted. "Good thing your friends weren't so well-prepared!"

Priire blinked. "Where's my sister?" she snarled, wasting no time in pulling a blaster.

"Oops, gotta go!" Geri sang, darting into the crowd the moment the gun was unholstered.

"Geri!" Priire yelled, following her. She had no problem fighting her way through the mob of dancers, who parted immediately when they saw her blaster, but as soon as Geri made it outside, she was gone. Priire cursed and shot a trash can several times.

"Thank you for the lunch," Chikako said.

"You're welcome," Melissa said. "What do you want to do now?"

"I must find Ippin."

"Uh... Of course," Melissa sighed, wondering if she'd forgotten to stop dreaming when her alarm clock, went off. "Any idea where she might be?"

"No."

"Great. Then let's walk this way."

"Okay." The two started down the prospect, Melissa unconsciously leading them towards the internet café, imagining her StarMoon friends would be the best people to go to with this problem.

As they turned on to a less crowded street, she noticed Chikako suddenly clutching her Pepsi bottle tighter, and then one hand went to her necklace. "Are you okay?" Melissa asked.

Chikako nodded timidly, when suddenly two men in masks jumped out from between buildings and grabbed the two girls, pushing them into the backseat of a tiny, square car.

Later that night, Ippin, claiming to be the pilot's daughter, enjoyed a flight to Nashville on a plane full of professional athletes.

"What's your name?" she asked the man who'd sat down next to her.

"Sergei," he said.

"Hi! So do you play this hockey thing too?"

"Yeah."

"So do you guys just travel around playing hockey for people?"

"Yes."

"Is it fun? It sounds a little boring to me."

"It is fun."

"Oh." Ippin listened as Sergei shouted something in another language to another man on the plane. The man laughed and shouted back in the same other language. "What language is that?" she asked.

"Russian."

"You're Russian?"

"Yes."

"That's nice. Do you miss Russia?"

"No. I am going there on Tuesday after the game."

"What for?"

"To visit a friend. Excuse me." Sergei got up and switched seats with the other Russian, where he quickly went to sleep. The other Russian assured Ippin several times that he did not speak English, but he didn't seem to have a problem understanding anyone else.

When they arrived in Nashville, Ippin thanked the pilot and made her way off the plane. "Good-bye," Sergei said, now in a much better mood after napping.

Ippin planned on ignoring him for his rude behavior, but decided on a whim to let it go. "Good-bye Sergei. Have fun in Russia."

"Thanks, uh...?"

"Ippin."

"Thanks Ippin." He pulled out a card and started writing down an address. "We're having a party after the game tonight if you want to come." He gave the card to Ippin. "This will get you in."

"Thanks, but I'll be busy," she said, returning the card.

He smiled and handed it back to her. "If you change your mind."

"Thanks." Ippin pocketed the card and went on her way, rolling her eyes. "One minute he's ignoring me," she muttered, "the next he's hitting on me... okay, now to get to Chikako." She found her way to a busy city street. "Maybe somebody here will know how I can get to where that man told me to go." She looked around for a moment and spotted a young girl staring dazedly into a store window. She approached her without hesitating.

As Ippin neared the girl, she could hear her mumbling, "I want that, and that, and that, and that..." She didn't seem to notice Ippin next to her at all.

"Good thing I'm not trying to steal her purse," Ippin thought. She followed the girl's gaze into the window, wondering what had her so entranced. "Anime?"

The girl jumped and glanced at Ippin with some annoyance, doing a slight double take at her long red hair. She turned away disinterestedly and entered the store. Ippin followed. "I have a question," she said. "Do you know anyone going north?"

"No." The girl picked up a plush Sailor Pluto and set it back down.

Ippin grinned at the doll and continued her quest for information. "If you wanted to go north, how would you get there?"

"Car, plane, train, bus, taxi, hitchhike? Why are you asking me this stuff?"

"I'm not from around here. I don't know how you Earthlings transport yourselves."

The girl laughed, smiling for the first time.

"So which you would recommend? Plane, train..."

"Depends where you're going."

"I'm looking for my friend Chikako, and this guy in Texas told me I had to go North-east for fifteen hours. If I went into Lake Michigan, I've gone too far."

The girl thought for a moment. "You're looking for... Chikako?"

"Yes."

"Not Chicago."

"What's that?"

"Uh - where'd you say you were from?"

"Uh..."

"What's your name?"

"Ippin. Yours?"

"You're Ippin. Yeah. Of course." She laughed at the absurdness of the situation. "I'm Lori. And your looking for Chikako... let's see, short brown hair, blue eyes, likes flowers?"

"You know her?!"

"I don't believe this!" Lori groaned, leaving the anime store for some fresh air.

Melissa and Chikako woke up tied together in a tiny upstairs apartment. A short man with a goatee sat in a chair watching them.

"Oh no, we are kidnapped!" Chikako said quietly. "Ask why."

"Uhm..." Melissa looked at the man. "Pochemu... uh... pochemu?"

"Your government will give us ransom," the man answered in heavily accented English.

"What government?"

"You are American, yes?"

"She's not."

"What is she?" the man looked at Chikako.

"She's, uh, French Canadian."

"Slava!" the man shouted to someone in another room. "Odna devushka kanadka." Slava shouted back his reply. "In that case," the first man translated, "we will probably just kill her."

Chikako gasped and blurted out what she thought of that in vulgar Basic, receiving a due reaction from neither Melissa nor the Russian. With no intention of staying in that situation, she quickly weighed her options. Had they taken... Nope, she thought as she felt her lightsaber tucked inside her dress, strapped to her left thigh. How to get to it, though... her hands were cuffed to Melissa's, but her foot might be in the right place. She tried to wiggle around subtly so the guard wouldn't notice. Finally, she stretched her right foot to where she could push the lightsaber handle up in its holster so her hands could reach, and grasped it between two fingers. "Do not move, Melissa," she whispered.

In one shaky motion, she ignited the saber and sliced the cuffs in half, separating herself from Melissa, who had gone rather pale. She gave her the weapon, hoping she'd have some clue what to do with it, and pulled out her locket. "Super Myrkr Heart Power!" she yelled, barely giving the guard a chance to reach for the gun he'd doubted he'd need with two young girls handcuffed to each other.

"A Thousand Flower Spiral!" She aimed the attack at the guard. It floored him, and she shot another one into the next room for whoever might be there. "Let's go," she said to Melissa, who was now waving the lightsaber around as if she knew how to use it.

"Just call me Skywalker," she said. "Luke Skywalker."

"What?" Sailor Myrkr said, racing out the door and down the stairs.

"Nevermind." Melissa switched the lightsaber off as they burst out of the buliding onto the city streets. They ran left, toward a busy avenue and a McDonalds. "Hey, we're in Moscow!" she realized as she noticed their surroundings. A passing woman looked Sailor Myrkr up and down with an amused frown.

"Where do we go?" she asked.

"I don't know! How about the airport, so we can get out of here! Oh my!" she jumped back after rounding a corner and running right into someone. "Izvenitye!"

"Nichevo."

"Oh my gosh!" Melissa cried, realizing who she'd run into. "You're Sergei! You play hockey! In Detroit!"

"Yeah."

Sailor Myrkr frowned, not even noticing Melissa's state of shock. "But if we get out of here, how will I find Ippin?"

"Ippin?" Sergei asked.

"Have you met her?!"

"I met one Ippin. Pretty, long red hair, doesn't like hockey much."

"Where is she?" Sailor Myrkr demanded.

Sergei shrugged. "I last saw her in Nashville."

"We must go there!"

"Wait a minute," Melissa said, snapping out of the shock of running right into one of her favorite hockey players right after using a real lightsaber right after getting kidnapped in Russia right after meeting her Chika-chan outside of the Torpeda Strip Club, "you don't have a passport! How are we going to get to Tennessee?"

Sailor Myrkr looked at Sergei. "You will help us!"

"Get a fake passport?" Melissa sighed. "Yeah right."

"Okay," Sergei said, shrugging.

"What?"

Sailor Myrkr shook her head. "Do not question, Melissa."

Within forty-eight hours, Melissa and Chikako stepped off an airplane into the bright Tennessee sunlight. "How will we find her?" Melissa asked as they took a cab into Nashville.

"I have an idea," Chikako said. "But first I want to buy Pepsi."

"Why?"

"For Yoshiko."

"Oh. Right."

As soon as that had been done, Chikako transformed into Sailor Myrkr and aimed for the sun. "A Thousand Flower Spiral!" she yelled, and then powered down. A minute later, the blue sky began raining pink flower petals, their own light breeze carrying them gently away from Chikako and Melissa. Ippin and Lori sat quietly on a park bench. They'd emailed StarMoon, wondering if anyone had met any girls named Chikako in real life. So far, no one had. Ippin was getting anxious, and Lori hadn't quite gotten over the shock of... Ippin. "Look," she said as pink petals began floating down. "It's just like in the Sailor Moon R movie when they're at that greenhouse..."

Ippin glanced up at the flower shower. She caught a pink petal and looked closely at it. "Where are these coming from?"

Lori looked around. "I don't know."

"Come on!" Ippin jumped off the bench and began running towards the source of the petal storm.

"Oh, do you think it's Chikako?" Lori said.

Ippin didn't answer, but her jog turned into a sprint when she saw the familiar brunette standing idly on the street while everyone else marveled at the flower petals. "Chikako!" she cried.

"Ippin!" Chikako ran to meet her. "How did we get here?"

"I don't know, but let's leave!"

"Okay! Wait a second, though." She turned to Melissa. "Thank you very much for helping me."

"This is so weird," Melissa said, looking from Ippin to Chikako, and then realizing what Chikako was saying. "What, are you leaving now?"

"Yes. We must."

Ippin looked at Lori. "Thanks." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Here, this will get you into a party that happened a few days ago."

"Gee, thanks. Too bad I can't skip around through time like some people."

Melissa looked at her curiously. "Coru?"

"What?" both girls answered.

"I'm Menucca!"

Chikako blinked. "I thought you were Melissa?"

"I am, but... it's ... nevermind."

"Wait," Ippin said. "I'm Coru."