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"They're not an official couple!" Zyta exclaimed.
"They are too!"
"They are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are TOO!"
"Detoo?"
The arguing girls jumped. In the heat of the battle, neither had noticed Yukiko join them. Zyta giggled a little. "That was silly, Yuki-chan."
The blue haired girl smiled and shrugged. "So what are you arguing about?"
Zyta put her hands on her hips. "Are Kousotsu and Priire official?"
"Yep."
"Aw!" Zyta cried, stomping back inside.
"Why was she so upset about Priire and Kousotsu?" Yukiko asked, a little worried.
"She's not," Audra gloated. "She's upset that I was right."
They laughed and went inside. All of the Senshi were gathered in the Inn's huge living room, laying on cushions and blankets. Ippin poked at a burning red log in the fireplace, and it burst into a hot, shimmering fire. The girls nearby said "Ahhh" as the flame warmed their faces. Though difficult, the week had been just what the Senshi needed. And now, on their last evening in the beautiful Naboo mountains, conversation turned to a classic, well-discussed but never exhausted topic: Boys.
Chikako looked around at her friends as they took turns beaming and describing who it was they thought about in lonely moments. For a few minutes, Yukiko, Chakra, and Kumoko put aside the inevitable feuding that normally occurred when Obi-Wan was mentioned, and compiled (another) list of his virtues.
Priire wouldn't talk much about Kousotsu, though she was clearly very happy about it. Koumi said nothing either, but smiled and blushed slightly when someone asked her if there was "anyone special" in her life. Zyta gushed about a certain Jedi, and Audra was teased about a certain Jedi's padawan. Yoshiko talked constantly about several different guys, including Peetie, though she insisted they were only friends. Xarae was silent, but sat with closed eyes and everyone knew just who she was thinking about. They managed to fill up several hours with this talk, and before they knew it, it was after midnight.
When most of the girls started to go to bed, Chikako slipped out to the balcony. In the mountain wilderness they were in, the stars shone bright and clear.
"Pretty, aren't they?" Kairiku said. The younger girl had already put her pajamas on and had come out for one more look of Naboo's night sky.
"Yeah," Chikako said quietly. "Oh! A shooting star! Boshi!" she exclaimed, though she knew Nagareboshi was sound asleep inside.
Kairiku laughed. "On Earth, we say you're supposed to make a wish when you see a shooting star."
"Really?" Chikako asked, looking back to the sky. "What do you usually wish for, Kairi-chan?"
"I can't tell you! The wish won't come true if you tell someone."
"Ohh.." Chikako thought that concept over. She looked back at Kairiku. "Did you have a boyfriend on Earth?" she asked suddenly.
"No!" Kairiku giggled.
"Do you have a crush on anyone now?"
"Not really. Do you?"
Chikako shook her head. "I have an engagement ring," she said, motioning to her necklace where it hung. "I think I was engaged to an ancient prince."
"An ancient prince?"
"Yeah," Chikako smiled. "Probably time to move on, eh?"
Kairiku grinned and they talked a little more before the younger girl decided to go to bed. Chikako stayed up a bit longer.
"Oooh! Another shooting star!" she exclaimed quietly. "A wish," she whispered. "I wish for..."
She couldn't bring herself to say "I wish for a boyfriend" out loud. What exactly did she envy about the girls who had significant others? "I wish," she finally whispered, making sure no one was nearby, "for someone to comfort me in lonely moments. How's that sound?" she asked the sky. Then she felt extremely silly and went right to bed.
The Senshi left early the next day. Priire and the girls in the Black Fire
Dreamer were heading to the Hapes cluster at the request of the Jedi Council;
Nom and those on the Mind's Eye were going to the Hoth system to do some
research on the recent appearances of the Sith on that planet; and Ippin and
the Crystal Prism girls were going straight to Coruscant, the rendezvous
point.
Chikako pulled out her coloring book - an odd habit she'd picked up since becoming a regular space traveler with the Senshi - just after the Prism went into hyperspace. Numako teased her good-naturedly before distracting herself with a too-hot bowl of tomato soup. Suta and Kairi-chan, who had stayed up far too late talking, wasted no time falling asleep on Mika's shoulders. Yoshiko and Audra, who were sitting on the floor playing a card game, were soon napping at her feet. Seiyun was keeping Ippin company, and Cammy had discovered some sort of video game in one of the Prism's storage compartments. And except for the beeping of the game and Cammy's occasional comment, the ship was pretty peaceful. That is, before they came out of hyperspace a few minutes later.
"What the - ?" Cammy set down her video game. "We're not at Coruscant yet." Just then, the ship lurched. Numako yelped as she was covered in tomato soup, and Chikako, Cammy, and she raced to the front of the ship. Mika was close behind, as soon as she wiggled her way out from the two sleepers, who then collapsed into each other without waking up.
"Space pirates?!" Numako exclaimed.
"Why did we come out of hyperspace in the middle of a space pirate battle?" Cammy cried.
"It's not like you can predict these things," Ippin muttered, scrambling over the controls, trying to dodge shots from the two surprised pirate ships, who had previously been shooting at each other.
"Why are they shooting at us?" Chikako asked.
"Probably because we're in their way," Seiyun said, doing her best to help Ippin. "They don't tend to be friendly to unexpected visitors."
Just then, Mika flew into Chikako, right in time to see Ippin barely maneuver under an orange trail of fire. "What's happening?!" she screamed.
"We could probably destroy them," Ippin considered.
"Not unless we have to," Seiyun said sternly.
"Right," Ippin agreed. "Numako, get to a gun well, just in case."
Numako disappeared back into the ship. A moment later, a blast ripped through the narrow space right between the two pirate ships, completely pulverizing a small piece of debris.
"What was that?" Mika cried.
"That was us," Ippin grunted.
"Numako, what are you DOING??" Seiyun yelled into the communicator.
"Uh-" the guilty gunner began.
"Look!" Chikako interrupted. The pirates, who hadn't realized what they were dealing with, each sped off in a different direction.
"It worked!" Seiyun gasped, not even trying to hide her surprise.
"Ta-da!" Numako sang, twirling back into the control room, still covered in tomato soup.
Cammy, Chikako, and Mika clapped politely. Numako bowed. Ippin smiled and shook her head. "Okay," she said. "Let's get out of here before we get more company."
A few minutes later, the Crystal Prism was preparing to land on Tatooine.
Chikako was sitting between Ippin and Seiyun. "We could get on without it,"
Ippin was saying. "But I would feel more comfortable fixing it right away."
"You're the pilot," Seiyun said.
"What exactly's broken?" Chikako asked. Apparently, Ippin hadn't been quite successful in dodging the fire earlier.
"The reflector thingy," Ippin answered, pulling her shoulder-length red hair into a short ponytail. "It's for the shield. It, you know, reflects the space, and... you know..."
"Sure," Chikako answered. "Do you think we'll find one on Tatooine?"
"Yep," Ippin said. "We should. I have some stuff we can trade for it, too."
"Good. Hey, what city is that?" Chikako said, pointing at the civilization they were nearing.
"Anchorhead," Seiyun answered. "It's small, but I think we'll find the part we need, and it won't take as long as it would if we had to find our way in a bigger town." The Prism landed right outside the city. The Senshi weren't worried about being discovered by anyone in Anchorhead - after all, at the moment they were just normal space travelers.
Ippin went right to work on the Prism. Cammy offered to help her, and so did Mika, which worried Ippin slightly. The landing had woken the younger girls up, and now they were trying to decide how to occupy themselves. Chikako, Numako, and Seiyun set out for town immediately. "Don't bet the Prism on any podraces!" Kairiku called after them. Ippin gasped, horrified, and Yoshiko cracked up.
Suta gave her earth-born friend a confused look. "Why in the world would they do that?"
"Looks like about three junk dealers on this street," Seiyun said when they
got in town. "Why don't we split up? One of them is bound to have Ippin's
part."
"Sure," Numako agreed. "Meet back here we will."
Seiyun went into the largest store, the one which seemed to have the biggest variety and the newest products. Numako disappeared into a hovel crowded with all sorts of mechanical things, where the owner's voice could be heard from the street. Chikako entered the smallest shop, the last door on the left.
"Good morning!" a young man said when she came in. He had been in a corner working on a droid, and Chikako had to wait for her eyes to adjust before she could find him. When she found him, she was - to say the least - surprised.
"Good morning," she answered softly. What was a guy this cute doing working in a junk shop on Tatooine?!
"Is there... something I can help you with?" he asked a moment later.
"Um, yeah, I need a reflector thingy," she mumbled. Why didn't I ask for the real name of that thing?! she thought, blushing.
"What's it for?" he asked, setting his wrench down on the cluttered counter.
He has the prettiest brown eyes - "Uh - a ship."
"Well, I have mostly droid parts, but there might be a few other things out back. I'll go see if I have anything that reflects," he said, smiling.
He is SO nice! "Okay." Chikako looked around the shop while the boy was gone. There was hardly anything she could name, except for a few items on the counter. She picked up the tool he had just set down. "This is a wrench," she said to herself. "Oh! What is this?" she set down the wrench and picked up a small poster that had been part way under a blue toolbox. "Wha- That's me!" she gasped. Sailor Myrkr was standing in the middle of the picture, holding a tiny pink flower and some purple alyssum. Sailors Bakura, Tatooine, Dathomir, and Vjun were also in the picture. The five Senshi seemed to be in a garden of some kind.
It's a drawing! she realized. Chikako looked closely at the corner of the picture. C.M. again! Who IS that?
"I'm sorry, I don't have anything," the young droid mechanic said as he came back inside.
"What is this?" Chikako asked, pointing at the poster.
"Those are the Sailor Jedi!" he said. "Haven't you ever heard of them?"
"Well, yeah, I've heard of them. But where did you get this?"
"A pilot in Mos Eisley was selling them outside a cantina. That was a few weeks ago, though. I'm sure he's gone now. You know, you kinda look like that middle girl," he said, comparing her with his poster.
"Oh. Um Really?" she took the picture. "So do you know anything about the artist?"
He shook his head. "By the way, my name's Ajani."
"I'm Chikako," she said, shaking his hand.
"That's an interesting name."
"My friend told me it was Japanese," she said. He was still shaking her hand.
"Where's Japan at?" he asked.
"Uh the outer rim," she finally said.
"Oh." Ajani finally let go of her hand. "You probably have to go find that part for your ship, don't you?"
"Probably not."
Meanwhile, Audra, Yoshiko, Kairi-chan and Suta were bored; they had just
finished their fourth round of Go Fish. "Why don't we go outside?" Audra
suggested.
"Maybe we'll see some cute boys," Yoshiko added.
"We can at least build a sand castle," Suta joked, looking out at the desert.
"Okay, let's go!" Kairi-chan said and ran out of the ship.
"What do you do here?" Chikako asked her newfound friend.
"I rebuild junky old droids," Ajani laughed. A low siren went off in the corner. "I wasn't talking about you, Ari!" he yelled.
"Who are you talking to?"
"Ari-Forbee. Come here," the young mechanic called in the direction of the siren. A small cylinder shaped droid rolled out from behind a large pile of springs. "RE-4b," he announced to Chikako, pointing at its serial plate.
"It's an astromech droid, right?"
"Yup," Ajani smiled. "But a pretty old one - smaller and not nearly as fancy as those R2 units they use now." He knocked on the old droid's casing affectionately. "But she's still got some use. Don'tcha, Ari?" The droid beeped an affirmative.
"What kind of use?" Chikako asked.
Ajani blushed under his perpetual sunburn. "Keeping me company, mostly," he admitted.
Chikako smiled. How cute is THAT? she thought to herself.
"What is this?" Suta asked.
"It's one of those big truck things that Jawas transport droids in," Kairi-chan answered.
Yoshiko looked around. "I don't see any Jawas. I don't see anybody at all, actually."
"So?" Audra asked, slightly concerned at what was going through the newer girl's mind.
Yoshiko smiled mischievously. A moment later, she and Suta were sitting in the control seat of the huge desert transport. Audra looked around, expecting Jawas to crawl out of holes in the sand. "Okay, help me up!" she finally said.
"We can't do this!" Kairi-chan said, standing below them. "This has got to be illegal! Do you know what could happen to us if they find us? What if this belongs to sandpeople? Or to the Hutt? Do you realize what the consequences could be??"
"There's nobody here!" Yoshiko said. "It probably doesn't belong to anybody. It probably doesn't even work!"
"Besides, if anyone came, we could kick their butt!"
Kairiku sighed. "Oh, all right," she finally said. "Help me up."
Audra leaned over to help her up. Yoshiko held onto Audra, and Suta held onto her to keep them all from falling out. Somewhere in this process, one of them accidentally bumped a switch, and another accidentally kicked a gas pedal.
"I thought you said it didn't work!!" Kairiku shrieked as they pulled her in, just in time.
"It was an accident! I swear!" Suta said as she searched for something that would turn it off. "How did we manage this?!"
Yoshiko shrugged and looked for a seatbelt. "Maybe it was the will of the Force," she suggested.
"Right," Audra scoffed, shaking her head. "Oh goody! I found the steering wheel!"
"I'm telling you, she's one of them!" Sailor Sith Vortex said to Eimin. They
were concealed within Ajani's store and had heard the entire exchange between
Chikako and him.
"The Queen will be pleased if we find out where the Senshi are going," Eimen said thoughtfully. "And we'll definitely show up Geri and Areil."
"Yes!" Vortex agreed. "As soon as we get a chance, I'll change places with that boy. You keep him quiet and I'll get the information we need in a second. And then we'll destroy her."
"I better go see if my friends are done," Chikako said, reluctantly walking
towards the door.
"Okay," Ajani said. "It was nice talking to you, Chikako. Come back if you have time."
Chikako grinned. "I will," she promised. She walked out into the hot street and looked for Numako and Seiyun. Seiyun was nowhere to be seen, but from where she stood, she could hear Numako bargaining with the merchant inside his store. She laughed and went back into Ajani's store. "They're not done yet," she said.
"Good," he said. "So where are you heading?"
"Alderaan," Chikako answered automatically.
"Cool," he said. "Hey, is this one of your friends?" he asked, looking towards the door.
Chikako turned around. Before she could make out the shape of Sailor Sith Eimin in the doorway, she was blasted from both directions. "Black Death Lightning!" Eimin screamed.
"Asteroid Shower Power!" Ajani yelled, melting into the form of Sailor Asteroid and blasting Chikako with rocks. Chikako screamed and fell to the floor. She was unconscious before she knew what had happened.
"What was that?!" Seiyun cried as she ran from the store. Numako was already in the street.
"Sailor Asteroid I thought I heard," she said. "How can that be?"
"I heard someone scream," Seiyun said. "Come on!"
"Dagobah Force Power Make-Up!"
"Coruscant Force Power Make-Up!"
"That was too easy," Eimin said. "Maybe we should blast her again just to make sure."
"Stop!" Sailor Dagobah yelled, knocking Eimin to the ground as she skidded into the store. "Let you do this I will not!"
"Company!" Sailor Sith Votex cried and was suddenly another Sailor Dagobah. "Swamp Slime Encircle!"
"Vortex!" Sailor Coruscant gasped, dodging the false Sailor Dagobah's attack. "You Sith scum! I am Sailor Coruscant, Senshi of Space and Darkness!"
"And I'm the real Sailor Dagobah! And in that planet's name..."
"And in the name of freedom..."
"We challenge you!" they shouted together.
"Light Darkness Resolve!" Sailor Coruscant cried, blasting Sailor Sith Vortex.
"Black Death" Eimin rebutted, powering up her attack a second time.
"It's not worth it, we got what we want," Vortex said to her accomplice.
"Fine," Eimin said, but lightning-blasted the Senshi anyway. When they had recovered their footing, the Sith were gone.
"Chikako!" Sailor Dagobah cried, rushing to the unconscious girl. She was barely breathing.
"Chikako, wake up," Sailor Coruscant commanded, touching her hand. Chikako's blue eyes fluttered open a little.
"Sailor Coruscant, Sailor Dagobah. What happened?" she breathed.
"The Sith." Dagobah scowled. "But they're gone now."
"Where's Ajani??" Chikako tried to sit up.
"Who?"
Ari-Forbee started beeping loudly behind the counter.
"What is that?" Sailor Coruscant asked.
"A droid it is." Dagobah stood up and went over to the little astromech droid. "Why are you beeping?" Ari-Forbee started rolling itself to the backdoor. Sailor Dagobah followed. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Is this Ajani?"
Chikako tried to get up again. "Stay there," Sailor Coruscant told her. She ran over to Sailor Dagobah and a quite unconscious Ajani. "He's alive! Let's wake him up," she said to her friend. The two Senshi each took one of Ajani's hands and healed him using the Force. The young man opened his eyes.
"Sailor Jedi!" he cried. The Senshi helped him inside. "Are you okay?" he asked Chikako.
"I'll be fine," she assured him, but then gasped and motioned her Senshi friends to come close. "I accidentally told the Sith we were going to Alderaan!" she whispered, starting to feel even sicker.
"But going to Alderaan we are not," Sailor Dagobah whispered back. "Going to Coruscant we are."
"That's right!" Chikako said, realizing her fortunate error. "I must have been distracted."
"Distracted? By what?" Sailor Dagobah said innocently, casting a less than subtle glance at Ajani. Sailor Coruscant laughed.
"No!" Chikako insisted, also laughing. She was a terrible liar.
Seiyun had managed to negotiate the best price for the cheapest part. Ippin
and Cammy were happily preparing the Prism for take off, and Mika was happily
confined to a card game with Numako. Seiyun had accompanied Chikako, who
still wasn't feeling one hundred percent better, to say goodbye to Ajani.
As Ippin walked through the ship, she realized there were four girls unaccounted for. "Where's Audra?" she asked Mika and Numako. "And Kairi-chan, and Suta, and Yoshiko?"
"I don't know!" Mika said, worry on her face. "Maybe we should call them on the communicator?"
"Audraa-aaa-aaaaa!" Kairiku screamed. "Can't you steer?!"
"I'm doing the best I can!" Audra shouted, trying to maneuver the big steering wheel.
"Oh my goodness!" Yoshiko cried as they approached a really big rock. "We're going to crash!!"
"Where is the off switch??" Suta squealed for the nineteenth time. "It was easy enough to turn on!"
"That's practically a mountain!" Audra said. "And there's no way I can get around it! We're too close!"
"Oh no, we have to jump??!" Kairiku gasped.
"Either that or get smooshed!" Suta said. "Let's go!"
Kairiku looked down at the desert ground moving away below her. "Oh my this was a terrible - "
"GO!" Yoshiko cried, and pushed Kairiku out of the transport. She landed relatively comfortably in a pile of dusty sand, but Audra landed slightly less comfortably on top of her.
"Your turn!" Suta said to Yoshiko, glancing at the approaching Rock. Yoshiko held her breath and jumped. Suta was close behind her. "Is everyone okay?" she asked, spitting out some sand after she got up to her hands and knees.
"Yeah," Yoshiko sighed.
Kairiku sneezed. "I'm fine."
Audra groaned. "Nothing's broken, I don't think hey, that's my communicator! Hello?"
"Where ARE you guys?!" Ippin demanded.
"Umm.. we'll be right back!" Audra said, and shut it off. She looked at her friends. "I think we're in trouble!"
Just then, the huge vehicle crashed into the Rock with a considerable explosion, and smoke rose high into the Tatooine sky.
Kairiku got to her feet. "We better get out of here!" she said. "I, personally, would rather face Ippin than the Hutt!"
Ajani looked at Chikako. Neither of them knew what to say. "Can I give you
a gift?" he finally blurted.
"What kind of gift?" Chikako asked, obvious surprise in her voice.
"I'd like you to take Ari-Forbee with you," he said softly.
"But - !" Chikako started to protest, but Ajani shushed her.
"Now Ari can keep you company," he said. "I've got all kinds of droids. And this way.. I know you won't forget me."
"Why would I forget you?"
"I think," he hesitated, "you're probably a really busy girl." Chikako looked down, realizing he might suspect that she was a Senshi, too. "But not too busy for a droid," he added, smiling.
"Okay," Chikako eventually said. "Ari can come with me."
When the two finished saying their goodbyes, Chikako, Seiyun, and Ari-Forbee went back to the Prism. Ippin was ready to take off, Cammy had gone back to her video game, and Numako and Mika were still playing cards. Audra, Kairiku, Yoshiko, and Suta had finally come back and were sitting silently in a row.
"They won't say anything or answer any questions about where they've been!" Ippin said to Chikako. "How weird is that?"
"That is weird," Chikako agreed.
"Hey, I heard there was a big explosion south of town; you didn't have anything to do with that, did you?" Seiyun joked. The four girls went strangely pale.
"Hmmm," Ippin said, raising her eyebrows. "Something to confess, have we?"
"Let's deal with that later," Seiyun said, much to the four girls' relief. "We should get back to Coruscant and talk to the Council about what happened here."
"Right!" Ippin said. "Let's go!"
When they were safely in space again - with no space pirates in the vicinity
- Chikako sat down by a window to watch Tatooine as it shrunk away behind
them. "Bye, Ajani," she whispered. She looked around at the field of stars
they were slowly making their way across. She remembered watching them from
Naboo, and the wish she'd made that night - for someone to comfort her in
lonely moments. She sighed. So much for wishes.
A series of low beeps sounded behind her as Ari-Forbee rolled into the room. "Hey, Ari," Chikako said. The little droid trilled happily, like a bird, and then it made a funny, low grumbling sound. Chikako giggled. The droid trilled again. "Well, you've made me feel better already," she told him, smiling at the little metal cylinder.
She looked back out at the stars, realizing what had happened, and laughed. "When I wished for someone to comfort me in lonely moments, this wasn't what I meant!" she said to them. She laughed a little more, and the Prism shuddered and took off into hyperspace. "Come on, Ari," she said to her little droid. "Let's go see what the others are doing."
About the Senshi in this story:
Audra/Sailor Alderaan
Zyta/Sailor Tatooine
Priire/Sailor Asteroid
Yukiko/Sailor Hoth
Chikako/Sailor Myrkr
Chakra/Sailor Chibi Dathomir
Kumoko/Sailor Bespin
Koumi/Sailor Kessel
Yoshiko/Sailor Chibi Tatooine
Xarae/Sailor Iridonia
Kairiku/Sailor Chibi Naboo
Nagareboshi/Sailor Shooing Star
Nom/Sailor Dathomir
Numako/Sailor Dagobah
ChibiSuta/Sailor Corellia
Mika/Sailor Yavin IV
Seiyun/Sailor Coruscant
Cammy/Sailor X
Ippin/Sailor Yavin
Mistique/Sailor Sith Vortex
Emi/Sailor Sith Eimin
Kendra/Kougo Ada
Geri/Sailor Sith Iyagaru
Areil/Sailor Sith Ayameru
