"Do you know of how much trouble I'm going to get into if they catch you?" Kanene asked through gritted teeth. She had no one walking beside her whom the question could have been directed to. One would have thought that the girl was crazy but they were not aware of the stowaway in her backpack. "No one is supposed to bring animals into these types of places!"

"I'm perfectly fine where I am!" a voice retorted, penetrating through the canvas. The heated voice was audible but just barely. "Just get a booth in the back where no one else is. If all else fails we'll hold the meeting outside by a park bench or something."

Kanene rolled her eyes upwards, surveying the sky that stretched above her. "Whatever hot-head," she mumbled under her breath before pushing open one of the doors that entered into the joint. She gazed around the interior, hoping to spot a familiar face. The smell of fried grease bombarded her senses. "I don't suppose a little something to eat would be bad."

"Get me some fries," Tycho's voice hissed from behind.

"Quiet!" Kanene snapped. The person standing in front of her in the line up turned around to stare at her with an icy glare, suspecting that she directed the comment to her. Kanene returned a feeble smile. "My apologies, I wasn't talking to you." She dug her hands through her jacket pockets to reveal several coins. She then twisted her arms behind her to unzip the small outer-most section of her backpack, pulling out her wallet. In a few minutes she had paid for an order of a combo, with the fries for Tycho and the sandwich and drink for herself. She had learned enough direction from Tycho that she could use her power base to determine the auras of her fellow teammates and by using that as a guideline she began to search the restaurant for the others she was supposed to meet.

Carrick 'Rick' Luxington stood outside the Wendy's debating whether or not he should go in and attempt to meet the rest of his team, or whatever. "Maybe all the things that took place back during the Mardi Gras parade were just convient pyrotechnics," he reasoned, "perhaps those people in the funny costumes were just actors, or something. I mean, I did down some of that bottled water on the float. God knows what would've been in there."

The Left side of Rick's brain was very good at arguing out those points, but a rebuttal from the Right came just as quickly. "That ghetto-fab miner's outfit you had on was real, you know. I doubt that they custom tailor special effects. Besides, you remember how much those magic spells or whatever hurt, right?"

The Right had a very valid point. "What the hell? I'll just go in and see if anyone in there can detect my aura and what not. All of this inner monologue stuff has made me hungry, anyway."

And in he went.

"What do you mean I'm not what you're looking for," the auburn- haired girl raised her voice, glaring at the shorter, Hispanic man.

"We just don't ... don't need workers right now, Miss Tiernay," he answered calmly.

Veta boiled. "Then why the HELL do you have a sign outside that reads "Help Wanted" in very bold, black letters?!" she screamed furiously.

"Young lady, if you are going to be nasty..." Veta spat a stinging curse at him, and turned and walked out of the small office, back into the main area. She did not know WHAT possessed her to apply at a Wendy's for a job. She had long ago promised herself that she would never fufill her teachers' prophesies of her ending up at a job saying "You want fries with that?" She stormed toward the exit, the smell of food making her dizzy with hunger. Suddenly, she felt it. No, more than one. Coming at her from behind and in front.

Veta immediately tensed, watching the boy that was just walking in. Nothing concrete or bad; just vibes carrying the promise of power. She casually turned away, and quietly tried to spot the second source.

"Gawain! You stupid hawk! You can't come in with me!" Briony hissed at her guardian who tried to follow her into Wendy's.

"You need my protection!" Gawain pleaded. "And besides... I want a burger!"

"Look, I'll bring you out a whole Big Bacon Classic Meal if you stay out here okay?" Briony compromised. "Just stay here!"

Slamming the door in Gawain's face, she walked up to the counter, getting the Bacon Classic Meal as well as a couple of Frosties, a pop and a spicy chicken sandwich for herself. Then she went and sat down... she knew she was here for a reason; but how to go about everything, she had no clue. So she sat and waited for whoever to come to her. She got lucky.

"Stop squirming," Kanene continued to mutter under her breath. Her backpack was starting to contort slightly as the mass of books were shoved to the bottom, making it visibly evident by anyone who looked in her direction. She passed by the auburn-haired female who just blew a gasket at the manager of the restaurant.

Kanene stopped in her tracks as the sensation of an aura familiar to hers was sensed close by. She turned back to the woman to notice that she was looking about the restaurant as if she were lost and searching for someone. Kanene lowered her arms as she tried to tune in more to what was happening around her. She hesitated for a moment; she was about to put her backpack on a nearby empty booth table but she was also ready to risk a gamble with approaching the girl. Kanene finally came to a decision and placed her backback on the bench and her drink and sandwich on the table before walking back to the other woman.

"Excuse me," Kanene asked, clearing her voice before she spoke. She reached out for her and Kanene's hand just brushed up against her elbow. "Who are you looking for?"

Veta jumped, instinctively jerking away her arm. "What?! What's it to you?!" she said, her voice raised in a nasty tone. Her face softened when she realized that this girl, whoever she was, was literally dripping with power.

She eyed her carefully before speaking. "Are you of one of them?"

The negative response that Kanene recieved threw her off guard slightly. Of course once she took into consideration the fact that the older girl didn't react favourably to being turned away for a job, it wasn't completely unexpected. However the other girl asked her a question in return before Kanene said anything further.

"You don't have to announce it loudly," Kanene said, looking about warily to ensure that no one heard the question. Fortunately no one was standing nearby. Kanene lowered her voice to introduce myself. "I'm Sailor Draco, one of your team mates - a fellow Astronomia. There's two other people in here, the second just arrived. I've already saved a table back there." Her finger motioned in the direction of the booth that she was at only a minute ago. Her face paled slightly as her backpack inched it's way out from the bench.

Veta looked at the dark-skinned girl suspiciously, but pushed aside her pride, and the two made their way over to the table.

"Have you met anyone else? I've haven't met everyone and apparently we've got a fairly large team. Do you recognise anyone in here at all?" Kanene inquired. Her powers were rusty and she could feel the auras that surrounded her but it was hard to fully determine who was who when the place was as busy as it was.

Veta looked around the restaurant, and then shook her head. "I've only met one other ... and he wasn't one of us," she answered flatly. She then offered a slight smile to her new teammate. "I'm Veta, by the way."

Rick walked in to the restaurant, if you could call it that, and went up to the counter to order something to eat. "What does one normally eat at these places, anyway?" he thought out loud. That remark was met with an icy glare from the cashier. Upon realizing that he was talking out loud and wasn't being very well received, Rick attempted to save faith with the establishment. He did this by putting on his extra-ditzy charms. "I'm like, so sorry, but I don't like, eat at these places very often. Could you recommend something to me?" he asked the irked cashier.

"It's all the same stuff," the cashier said matter-of-factly. She went on to explain, "A burger's a patty of meat, grilled. Fries are potato substitute that's boiled in oil." Rick didn't listen to a word she said and eyed the Frosty machine longingly. "Uhh... sir? Are you listening?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll take one of those." he asked, motioning over to the Frosty machine. The cashier gave him a Frosty and he paid. While taking a sip from the straw, he noticed something of a light struggle between two young ladies on the other side of the restaurant. Deciding not to get in the middle of a cat fight, he sat next to a table with a bag and an unfinished meal. "Maybe it was all a dream, after all," he said to no one in particular. He continued sipping his Frosty in peace.

Carrick sitting at booth by himself in the back sipping his Frosty. If someone were to come up to him, they'd think that he was in deep thought, or something of the like. But no, not our dear Carrick Luxington. His current thought patterns were fixated on a particularly cute guy in his line of sight.

"If I'm going to be here, I might as well be productive," he mused with an interior giggle. That abandoned table with the meal and the bag was also in his line of sight. The eye-candy finished his burger and proceeded to leave the building.

"Aww damn. Another one gone and not able to experience the awe that is Carrick Luxington," he boasted to no one in particular. His eyes scanned the room looking for his next subject. He looked at that icy cashier, he saw a bird outside the window, and he saw those two girls from earlier. No cat fight yet, eh? It's a pity, but what can you do? Rick noticed that his Frosty was getting dangerously low, which would mean his departure was imminent. He surveyed the restaurant one last time and noticed something rather odd.

The bag on the table next to him moved.

He looked at it again; there seemed to be something inside. Rick simply wanted to know what was inside, it was almost eating at his soul. "To go and investigate, or not?" he asked the air, "That is the question." He remembered his mother telling him once that curiosity killed the cat, but since he wasn't a cat, he figured it was okay to go and look in the bag.

So, he did. Carrick got out of his seat and opened the bag, and to his surprise found some sort of lizard. He stood there dumbfounded and closed the bag. He peeked inside again just in case he was hallucinating---he wasn't. He decided to stay with the bag, just in case the lizard should decide to escape and cause trouble.

Tycho's eyes lit up happily as the zipper began to draw open. Dear girl, it's about time you let me out. There's not enough air in here! he thought excitedly to himself. The zipper was partially open, letting a small passage of air to get in. The air carried the smell of fries inside to tantalise him beyond sanity.

With an eager pounce Tycho leaped onto the table, excitedly singing about the fries before wrapping his mouth around a few. He remained ignorant for a few seconds of the shocked boy who stood beside him, holding the backpack in his grasp. Something clicked in the back of his mind though, the rush of power standing behind him. The fry that hung in Tycho's mouth snapped in two as Tycho tightened his mouth. He turned around and upon registering the powers there was a vague recognition of him. "Gemma, is that you?"

"Uh, why yes, I do believe that I'm Gemma something-or-other," the bemused Rick said to the talking lizard. "You wouldn't happen to be uh... Sailor Lizard, would you? Or are you one of those... uh... what did that British kid call his mouse?" Rick was a smart kid, mind you, however hard it is to tell. He'd just got that idiot-savante thing going on at the moment. Continuing, "It was a G-word; gaiden? Garuda? Glenda the good witch? Guar--den! That's it! You're a garden, aren't you?! You must be my garden! Now, where are all the other...uh... people?"

"Sailor lizard?" Tycho muttered, looking again at the kid in front of him. He was about to laugh but then the kid began catching on to the real purpose of his existence. Tycho nodded his head as best as he could, encouraging him to catch on. His head fell slightly in shock as he came to his final decision. "A garden? Do I look like I have flowers growing out of my back? Eh?" Tycho had riled himself up but was in no way angry, just greatly amused.

Still in conversation with Veta, Kanene began leading her aside to the table where she left her books and her order of food. "Nice to meet you, Veta. My name is Kanene. I can't recall how many of us had agreed to meet but we are supposed to meet here..."

"You really shouldn't talk about things like that in public." The voice intruded upon the conversation, speaking low to the two girls. "But since we're on the topic... I'm Phoenix."

Kanene spun around on her heel, her eyes flashing angrily. "Excuse me, I don't recall inviting you to spy on us!" she declared in a quiet but heated voice. It took her a few seconds to realise the second statement that the girl uttered. Her eyes twitched slightly in confusion; her stance began to relax slightly even though her eyes still watched the girl accusingly. It took her a while to acknowledge the fact that she was able to sense two powers instead of just one and coincidentally the blue-and-red-head before her was the source of the new one. Kanene muttered an abashed apology for her outburst. "Sorry about that. Do you want me to call you Phoenix or do you have another name you go by?" Her expression changed to one of comical satire, with a sideways glance to her and slight smile. Kanene motioned for her to join them.

"Actually, m'name's Briony," Briony told Kanene, her Irish accent thickening while saying her name. "As for invite into conversation... there's a bird outside the window who kept motioning towards you. I kinda figured he wanted me to come over here, so I figured before he called attention to himself I'd do what he was trying to ask," Briony added as she smirked slightly.

Veta's face scrunched up. "Okay, I understood that there's a bird outside, and then you lost me ... that's some accent," she said slowly, before turning to the kid who had just said 'garden' instead of guardian. She then buried her face in her hands. THESE were her teammates? A little girl, a bird-watcher from Scotland, and an idiot. This was going to be F-U-N.

Briony glared at Veta when she commented on the accent. "Do you have a problem with m'accent?" she questioned, "Being as I'm from Ireland it's only natural that I'd have one, wouldn't you say?" She lightened up a little more. Briony really hated it when people pointed out her accent. "The bird is Gawain; he's my guar-dian," Briony said, over-enunciating the word guardian for Rick's benefit.

Rick turned around when he heard the younger girl say guardian. He then proceeded to turn red, like most of the girl's hair and stuttered a sheepish, "Oh, uh.. my bad." He regained his composure and then went to introduce himself to the trio of girls. "I'm Carrick Luxington, of the Luxington family. Perhaps you've heard of my mother, the nationally renowned therapist, Myria Luxington? She's on morning talk shows and stuff. Anyway, I'm Gemma Knight, the uh, what-was-the-term of gems. And you people are?"

The Irish girl looked at the boy and cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow at him. She then resumed a more normal posture and smirked. "I'm Briony Gryphon, or Sailor Phoenix, Senshi of Rebirth if ya must know," she said, somewhat matter-of-factly.

Kanene blinked as the conversation grew to include another teenager who appeared to be manhandling Tycho but her guaridan was taking it quite calmly. She silently made a deduction that he must be related to them in some way if Tycho was having a conversation with him. Her hunches were confirmed as he and Briony exchanged introductions.

"Great, at least we're moving in the right direction," Kanene commented. She looked between Briony and Veta to ensure that their little dispute was finished. "Do take a seat, I'm not sure how long we have to wait for everyone else."

Kanene settled herself down onto the bench of the booth, moving in towards the spot closest to the window on her side. "As you may realise a meeting has been arranged here for the Astronomia team," Kanene explained. She kept her voice hushed so none of the other patrons could hear but still she was loud enough for her teammates to hear. "I'm sure that you may have met some of the members but the pets decided that we needed a full blown reunion." She smirked as Tycho padded over to the window to partially hide his small form behind her arm while dragging his package of fries as best as he could. A few fries fell out as he made his way over.

"There should be a few more people to come but I don't recall if everyone would be able to make it," Tycho explained. "And sorry to disappoint you Rick but I'm Draco's guardian."

"Oh yes, I didn't introduce myself to you yet," Kanene agreed, smiling faintly. "I'm Kanene Reese though I do also go by Sailor Draco."

"I'm Veta, and I wasn't informed about any meeting," the auburn- haired girl said with a scoff. She motioned to an empty chair for Briony to sit. "I was here applying for a job." The four of them looked at her oddly, but Veta didn't notice.

"So why are we here?"

Briony shuffled back. "I was dragged here by the bird," she said, pointing to the hawk who was peeking in the window. "That thing must look real odd sitting there for all to see... maybe I should give him his burger while we're waiting for others to come," she said as she started to pull out his food. She saw the over-eager look on Gawain's face and decidedly put the burger back into the bag. "Maybe I'll wait," she smirked at her guardian, who looked as shocked as a hawk could look, moving around frantically and impatiently.

"So what's this meeting about? Can we discuss plans of attack against the Romanus?" she asked, half-excitedly.

"Plans of attack?" Rick said uneasily, "I'm still not sure why we're at war or whatever, exactly. Granted that I was attacked by a, um, hold on, a Graikos person." He pulled up his sleeve to reveal an inch long gash that was just about done with its healing process. He continued, "Has anyone else gotten hurt by the enemy? Sailor Hecate did this to me."

Veta leaned over to look at the cut. "Oooh, that's a nice one. Yeah, those Graikos are pretty nasty," she said, her eyes flashing with a hint of ... sadness?

"Gawain says the Graikos aren't QUITE enemies," Briony put in. "Romanus and Angelus however..." An evil smirk spread over her face. Then the Irish girl realized that she did a lot of smirking and switched to an evil half-smile.

Veta shot Briony her famous "are you retarded" glance, and impulsively hoisted her leg onto the table, rolling up her pantleg. A nasty, slightly blackened and bloody wound, wrapped in a cheap bandana, came into view, and suddenly no one was very hungry anymore.

"Not quite enemies, huh?" she said sarcastically. "This lovely gift was donated by a darling young boy by the name of ..." she thought for a moment. "...come to think of it, I never let him finish his introduction speech. He was wearing red though. And he was blonde," Veta remembered aloud, her leg still on the table, much to everyone's dismay.

Veta had quite the number done one her leg; that with Rick's soon-to-be-scar made something that was truly inexcusable. One thought went through his mind and one thought only - revenge.

"If they act in aggression, then there's nothing we can do but to retaliate. It would seem that the other groups of sailors lack organization. We need some sort of strategy here. I understand that we all have some sort of special powers, right? I have the ability to take in other people's powers and return them in some form or another. I have a pick-axe, too. What can you guys do?"

"I do fire and healing... hence why my name is Sailor Phoenix." The aforementioned senshi brought her legs up on the chair into an Indian sitting position. "I still say we concentrate on the Romanus... I don't like them."

Kanene gave a half-hearted smile that quickly faded. They sounded like crabby old veterans reciting off days of battle with a mixture of pride and bitterness. Next they're going to say something about how they should be hailed as the nation's champions, she thought to herself. She had her head propped up with her hand on her chin and was drifting out of concentration. A little swat at her elbow from where Tycho was hiding prompted her to participate once again.

"Shouldn't you be taking lead of this conversation? I really don't have any idea about what's going on. You know much more then myself and you're not even sharing," Kanene reminded, keeping her voice in a quiet hiss.

"Somehow I would think that they'd be more keen - *gulp* - on taking advice and information from a human rather then a simple salamander such as myself," Tycho pointed out. A small piece of fry dangled from the lower half of his mouth.

Kanene closed her eyes as they fluttered slightly, showing her exasperation. "Lazy," she snapped quietly to him before turning to look at the others again. "Clearly the lines of allies and enemies are blurred. No one is safe from the other teams as made evident by your injuries. I suffered from near breakage of my toes from some iron-footed Graikos' senshi but that is besides the point," Kanene said. "We need to make an advantage for ourselves rather then continue complaining. I don't have an actual plan to guarantee success other then us working as a team. We'd be able to watch each other's backs while focussing our attentions on the real enemies."

Whoever the real enemy is, Kanene continued in her mind. She didn't want to say it out loud as she didn't want to put any doubt in her new friends' minds. But her expression had become grim and could tell Tycho what she was thinking. Guilt fell over Tycho even though it wasn't Kanene's intention to make him feel that way. It wasn't easy on him either.

"Well, I would have thought that Sailor Draco would have possessed fierce abilities but I can command spirits and elements of the astral plane. According to some research I did dragons symbolise supreme spiritual power in the Middle East," Kanene added. She steepled her index fingers together, staring at the tip of them. "That's how I managed to identify you Veta. I was able to get a bit of a reading on your aura. I'm a beginner though so I can't determine those type of things as quickly as I would like to."

Veta finally put her leg down, and wrinkled her face in thought. "That makes sense, then," she mused. "I have power over the physical world, so I guess it makes me sensitive to ..." The woman silently searched for the right words. "...reality farts. Like senshi, I guess," she said confidently.

"Well, it would seem," Rick stated, "that our individual powers don't seem to gel together into one uniform force. This means that we'll have to figure out how to put our talents - gems, rebirth via flame, astral and physical plane manipulation - into something that will work together well." Rick had now officially lowered his shield of ditziness towards the group. "This brings me to my next point; what do we know about the enemy? Tycho, do you know anything?"

Briony looked towards Tycho as well. "Yeah... what do you know about the enemy? Gawain seems to know a lot... but what do you know? Maybe it differs a little; maybe with his knowledge and yours put together we can fill in some bla - " She paused, interrupting the flow in the conversation, making a face at the hawk outside. "'Scuse me a sec, eh? Gawain's going mental. There's probably someone outside. I'll give him his food and go tell him to shut up." Brushing down her thighs, she squeezed out the booth and walked away.

So many Astronomia in one place. It wasn't a wonder that the hawk's senses were going off; the fray was just about to be joined by one more...

Rian Saied pulled into an open spot near the Wendy's irritably. What a day. She'd lost a paper for General Accounting 201, given the wrong answer in Calculus, fell down the stairs on the way to get an espresso in the student commons, and the bastards were out of blueberry muffins.

Again.

Couldn't get worse.

So to top it off, she'd stupidly agreed that morning to drop her annoying little brother and his annoying little friends off at the annoying little mall after classes, on her way to work at Starbucks. Now that they were gone, all she needed to do was grab something to eat, and go on to what was certain to be a long, lovely evening of spilling things on herself and getting yelled at by coffee-swilling snobs.

She sighed and got out of the car, uttering a long string of curses that weren't really meant to go with one another. As she headed for the entrance, she paused.

That nightmare.

She'd had it twice in the last two weeks, the one where she walked into a fast food place and was immediately assaulted by an array of small animals. Birds, and lizards, or something. No turtles, though, and that was the only good thing about it.

She had to laugh it off. Animals weren't allowed in Wendy's. It was just some sort of loose wire, some sort of subconscious thing. She opened the door and went in, never seeing the hawk that was perched on the window. It was busy inside, too many voices murmuring at once. She went and stood in line, squinting up at the reader board, wondering why her head was suddenly buzzing like it was.

She glanced around a little, noticing a small group at the back. They were having some sort of intense conversation, she could tell by their faces. It was none of her business, but... the buzzing...

"May I take your order?" the young woman behind the counter said with a touch of impatience, making Rian realize that she'd been standing there like an idiot, gazing into space, for some time. There were people waiting behind her.

"Um... sure." She ordered a combo and paid, then headed for the door as she'd originally intended. Then she paused, focusing on the people in the back without knowing why. She didn't have time to sit down, and she didn't recognize any of them. She had to get to work. But...

She sighed and headed toward the back of the restaurant, finding an empty seat at a small table at the windows, just behind the group. She sat down and tried not to eavesdrop, wondering what the hell had come over her, spreading her food out and digging for napkins, never realizing that two of the small group were already staring at her. She got her fries out and picked a few up, hearing a tap-tap at the window as she did so. She looked up, the fries halfway to her mouth, in time to see a hawk inches from her face on the other side of the glass. At the same moment, a terra-cotta colored salamander jumped onto the back of the booth in front of her, waving a french fry in one amphibious little hand.

Animals at Wendy's. Ganging up on her.

She screamed.

And screamed.

The people in the booth - and basically everyone else in the place - turned to stare.

Kanene had to act fast to grab her guardian before the rest of the restaurant took notice of him. Her line of action wasn't necessarily the best but she quickly jumped out of her seat and clamoured across the table on her feet with her backpack in one hand. She grabbed Tycho by his tail and he only got out a small yell before it was muffled by the murky depths of her backpack as he was thrown in.

"What is going on over here!" Kanene looked up as her backpack began going into spasms again to see the Wendy's manager standing before their table. She hugged her backpack tightly with a pincer like motion of her arms. For a moment Tycho froze within his confines.

"Well... this is our friend and she obviously didn't see where we were sitting. We were just about to grab her attention but she began screaming as though a nightmare attacked her," Kanene explained. She bit her lip, trying to keep any signs of nervousness to a minimum. Her face however was creased with worry and her fingers soon found some loose strands of her hair that she decided to play with.

"Try and keep it down, or take it outside," the manager said curtly. "I got other people in here tryin' to eat."

"Yeah, whatever," Veta said, her anger from her earlier encounter with the manager rising again.

Then they were alone again. The rest of the patrons went back to their food and conversations, ignoring their booth. In a shaky voice, Rian said, "My name's Rian. I'm sorry to get all blunt on you guys, but did I fall into the Twilight Zone? Did someone spike the goddamn fries?"

Veta looked to the group, then to Rian. "Just sit down," she said sharply. Once everyone was calm again, Veta explained the situation. "Bottom line is: You're a senshi, we're senshi, and you belong with us."

Kanene held back from commenting until the manager truly was out of sight. With a great sigh of relief she sat back in her seat; her backpack began wiggling again and for a second Kanene was worried her canvas backpack would break apart with Tycho breaking out.

"Simply put, that is the easiest way for us to explain it. All of us are senshi and so are you. However the most articulate explanation would come from the moron who tried to jump you," Kanene explained after Veta gave her reasoning. At the insult Tycho began moving about in the backpack with renewed vigor. "However he needs a few minutes to cool off. So... my name is Kanene - and you would be?"

"Um... simply put?" Rian squeaked, keeping an eye on the bird outside. "What the hell's a 'senshi'? I'm just a regular... I'm just a... plain old... you know, I gotta be going. I'm gonna be late to... my mom is calling me."

She tried to slide out of the booth.

"Hey!" Veta snapped, grabbing the younger girl by the shoulder. "You might wanna let ME finish!" she said passively to Kanene, and turned back to Rian.

"Alright, from the top..." Veta began to explain. "A senshi a person who has like... superpowers. And there are different kinds of senshi... like the... uh..." she trailed off. "Goddamn it. Sorry...I'm having just as hard a time handling this shit as you are."

Kanene sat back as Veta took over. Understandably neither herself or Veta were doing any good in explaining to Rian the importance and significance of being a senshi. Kanene glanced down to her backpack before unzipping it, mumbling words of warning to Tycho so he wouldn't cause a scene again.

"Move over amateur," Tycho announced as he made his way onto a spot of the table where everyone would see him. "Superpowers - check. You my dear are an Astronomia senshi like the rest of us, otherwise I would have had these kids kill you. So in a sense, this is your lucky day." The grin on Tycho's face was anything but comforting.

"Don't scare our teammates off. With you around it's no wonder almost no one showed up," Kanene reminded, shaking her head in disapproval. "First you tried to eat Tibby's mouse..."

"No time for chit-chat, Kan-kan," Tycho commented. He swung his tail slightly as if he were reprimending her but without a waving finger. It was a good thing that he and Kanene weren't along otherwise she would have wrung his neck.

Rian nodded a little, staring at Tycho like she was thinking about screaming again. She just had to accept that the critter talked, that was all. No big deal. She still thought they were all insane, but it was hard to deny that there was a talking animal on the table.

"Superpowers," she said, making a statement out of it and hoping it would get clarified.

"Yeah," Veta chimed in, looked around her, and snatched a napkin from an adjacent table. "See this napkin? I could change it into a Chinese midget with one leg..." She was met with assorted stares.

"...if I were so inclined. That's my power. I can remake the physical world around me. And Kanene here ... well ..." Veta glanced over at the girl for a moment, slightly puzzled, then turned back to Rian.

"Well ... she does something nifty, too...I just can't recall what..." the auburn-haired woman shrugged.

Before Kanene could speak, Rick decided to cut in with a description of his literally lustreful ability, "I've got these gems all over my outfit and I can like, absorb other people's powers with them and throw them right back! I've also got an, uh, what do you call it? One of those miner's hammer-things... a portable fax? No, that's not right; anyway, it's really cool. And I have a miner's hat."

Rick furrowed his brow as he attempted to recall the proper wording for his weapon.

"It doesn't matter; what do you do, anyway?"

"A miner's hammer-thing?" Kanene inquired, repeating Rick's statement. "I believe that would be a pick-axe." She then smiled sincerely to assure him that she had no intention of insulting him by correcting him.

Kanene scratched the back of her neck as she realised she was the last to explain her powers. "Well... I haven't had the chance to grasp my full powers but mine involve the astral plane. If you don't care for the fancy term basically I control spirits."

Tycho nodded in approval as each individual recited their powers. If anything it was allowing Rian to understand the reality of the situation... or at least that was what he hoped. "And you Rian, you're probably most interested in knowing what your powers are as Sailor Aldebaran," Tycho continued. His gaze remained on Rian to determine if he should press on.

Rian's eyes grew even larger. She'd been listening intently, nodding, trying to take in as much as she could while everyone spoke. She had a feeling she'd need it for later. Things were suddenly worse, much worse, because not only was everyone crazy, but they were starting to make sense and convince her that all was as it should be.

And of course she couldn't quite squash a bit of excitement at the possibility of being part of it, somehow.

She looked at Tycho and said, "Aldebaran. As in, the star, as in 'Watcher of The East' and 'the follower' and all that?"

"Yes, yes, and yes. And you say you don't know what we're talking about," Tycho answered mockingly. His beady eyes appeared to tilt upwards slightly as if he were trying to roll them.

"I suppose I'd better know, then," Rian said. "So I can... prepare, or practice, or whatever it is we're supposed to do. Plus, if I give it a shot and it works, then I know you guys aren't nuts. Um..." she colored visibly once she realized she was digging a hole. "No offense of course...but I don't know you, and... it's not like talking animals are common, but..." She trailed off before she could make it worse, then shrugged in apology.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't heard of Doctor Doolittle!" Tycho retorted. His voice rasied from his low speaking voice and caught the auditory senses of the people sitting in the booth in front of them. Kanene swatted him in the head for his slip-up and leaned in, placing her hands arms about the amphibian. By the time that someone looked over the planters dividing the booths apart the critter was mostly hidden by her arms and a bit of shadow.

Tycho poked his head up and glared up at Kanene who only returned the emotion. "What was that for? I'm trying to give a lesson here!" Tycho explained angrily.

"Just keep your voice down. How many times will I have to remind you?" Kanene inquired. She sighed in aggravation before nudging a piece of loose hair behind her ear. "Besides; Dr. Doolittle is not real, it's a movie."

"Oh ye of little faith, that's what you think," Tycho replied matter-of-factly. At this point in time Tycho was the one who looked like he was nuts. It was most likely a far cry of comfort for Rian.

"Okay," Rian said. "Fine. How do I find out what I do? Can I just do it right now, by accident, or not even know it? What if I'm doing it right now? It doesn't make any sense that there'd be a power associated with a star." She paused. "Well, maybe it does, if you ask the Psychic Friends Network. But how do you guys know you do this stuff?"

Veta snapped back into the present, as the smell of fries temporarily enticed her.

"It's pretty simple," she said, holding out her hand in a fist. Suddenly, a silver wand crowned with a brown rock materialized. "I use this stick, spit some magic words, and POOF!" Veta slammed the stick on the table. "...senshi time." She gestured Tycho. "...Geico over there should be able to give you a stick. Right?"

Tycho eye's darted straight away to Veta. He snorted loudly in distaste before taking over in his over-bearing way. "Of course, Velma, but Rian's item is varied ever so slightly," he replied, making sure that he kept his eyes on Veta to see her reaction.

Kanene let her head lull forward in anguish but caught it by positioning her hand over her forehead. She mumbled something under her breath about ego induced power-trips.

Tycho didn't bother acknowledging Kanene and merely flicked his short lizard-like tail in the air. In a poof of smoke an antique key formed and fell from where it was suspended. With the natural air of a professional baseball player Tycho whacked the ball with his tail so it sailed across to land in Rian's hands.

"This is your henshin device to transform into Sailoraldebaran. Just don't forget to say 'Aldebaran Astra Power, Make Up!' or it will all be pointless," Tycho instructed.

Rian caught the key in both hands, her mouth open in amazement for several seconds before she realized how dumb she must look. She snapped her jaw shut and examined the key, eyes darting up at the strangers around her to make certain this wasn't some sorority joke she was falling for. Talking animals and magically appearing items and super-powers...

"Aldebaran Astra Po - ?"

Rick tried to cut her off, but it came out as loud, unintelligible babble. He took a breath and said, "Look toots, they're like, totally legit about this super-power transforming business." He then went back to sipping his delectable Frosty-treat.

Veta shot him a dark look at the word "toots". What an asshole, she thought bitterly.

Rian gulped. "Okaaaaaay..." She righted herself in the booth again, holding the key almost jealously, suddenly feeling like she needed to carry it everywhere. And not on a keychain, either. "When it's *okay* to say it, what would I say it for, anyway? What's the point?"

The auburn-haired girl sighed in frustration. Wasn't there a pamphelt or something that explained these things? She took a mental note to write one up in case of more senshi. The smell of fries once again shocked her senses.

"Hey," she said sharply. "Why don't we go outside for awhile? We're ... attacting attention ... I think ..." She gestured toward the door, getting up from her seat. She had meant to come up with a better excuse, but the fry smell was shutting down all rational thought.

Kanene chose to ignore Rick's choice term for addressing Rian. She was more concerned with the fact that they kept toeing the line of getting noticed by everyone. First it was Tycho almost getting caught by the manager while Rian would have henshined infront of all the customers. Kanene rubbed her temple tiredly when Veta spoke up. Nodding her head in agreement to her suggestion, Kanene stood up.

"That would be the best thing, before we make another scene," Kanene agreed. She squeezed a protesting Tycho into her backpack so they could leave. A low hiss was heard from her backpack as she pulled the zipper up. "Rian, we'll find someplace private so we can give you a lesson on henshining."

Rick wondered for a brief moment as to why everyone seemed moderately annoyed by his last remark, but brushed it aside. He also wondered if that person they were supposed to meet up with was still out there or not, as they'd been in the restaurant for quite some time. Rick nodded in agreement to Kanene's suggestion and got up to go outside. As he got up, he said nonchalantly, "My folks are gone for the next couple of days, so I guess we can use the forest or the grounds if you'd really want to go somewhere private. I live about 15 minutes away by car in the quasi-country, though." At that very same moment a voice of reason through his head - why am I inviting people I barely know to my house, anyway?

Veta's faced contorted in mild confusion, and she whipped around just before getting to the door.

"Hey... where's the Irish chick?" she asked as she looked around the restaurant. With all the commotion of dealing with Rian, no one had noticed her and Gawain vanish from the outside window.

"Maybe she suffered a premature heart attack from all the greased up food," Kanene suggested with a grin. She lifted her backup and shrugged it onto her shoulders. "Either that or she got bored quickly. So Rick, if you don't mind I think it would be best to head over to your parents place. I wouldn't think that anyone would stumble onto us as we give a run through on wielding formidable cosmic powers!" Kanene punched her hand up above her as if she was going on a huge power trip.

Rick nodded to Kanene, "That's fine; I suppose we're going to be driving, which means I need to give you directions." He proceeded to do so, as clearly as he could. Rick took the keys to his BMW Roadster out of his pocket and said, "Does anyone need a ride, perchance?"

Rian looked between those assembled and said, "I'll, um...follow you guys, I think. And if I get lost, I've got... directions. Right?" She looked at Veta and wasn't quite sure why. Mostly she was still trying to figure out what they were really up to. Some strange guy was inviting them to his private place in the woods. This was obviously some sort of cult she'd stumbled on. They'd spiked the food at Wendy's so that everyone shared the same hallucination of the talking lizard. It all made perfect sense, now. She still had the urge to just say the words she wasn't supposed to, because then she'd prove it didn't work...

She would wait until they all got into their cars or whatever and started following the cult leader to his secret compound. Then she'd take off in another direction, back to her sane world, and they would never have the chance to make her drink Kool-Aid or pledge allegiance to a comet or whatever these crazy folks were up to.

She'd keep the key, though. That seemed important.

She smiled at them brightly, now that she had a plan for escape.

Veta glanced over at the girl. Her eyes were dulled with confusion and even a touch of fear. And then a rare emotion tugged at the older girl's heart.

"Y' know ... maybe this is a little TOO fast ..." Veta muttered. "Actually, the junkyard I fought that red-armored kid is only about half a mile that way. It's deserted as hell, and we could save some gas if we walked." Veta nodded to nothing in particular, and started toward the exit.

Kanene paused as her hand pressed against the glass pane of the door. She turned around in time with cocking her head slightly to the side. "Any kind of a destination would be find, just as long as we don't get anyone spying on us," she affirmed. "So if the junkyard is more convenient then lead the way." Kanene made a mental note in her head to have a shower when she got home; the situation might stink in more then one way.

Rick nodded in agreement and begrudgingly put the roadster keys back in his pocket. "Whatever's good for you guys is good for me. Let's go." He went for the door.

Veta lead the group towards the dump, staying pretty quiet most of the time. This all was so ridiculous. So why couldn't she wait to see what happened next? As they reached the metal fence surrounding the dump, she pulled it back slowly at the corner, until an opening was made available. She gestured with her hand.

"Everyone in," she said quickly.

Kanene waited to go after Rian who had managed to take a spot at the front of the line. During the walk over Kanene had made sure that Rian didn't walk off on them. She had made small talk with the other teenager and tried to assure her that the situation was legitimate and that she would be safe.

After much hesitation Rian had squeezed through the small opening of the fence. Kanene was a few steps behind her but she threw her backpack through first since it would have gotten caught on the iron fence if she kept it on her back. As the bag struck the ground a groan of pain sounded from within; most likely Tycho had been slammed under one of her textbooks. With a cheeky grin Kanene pulled her long frame through. She gave a quick look around at the various mounds of junk and old appliances. There wasn't much of a path through the dump and already the smell was bothering her nose.

"One good thing about coming here is that we don't have to worry about destroying anything expensive or important," Kanene commented. She let her fingers slip onto the cool metal of her arm cuff and gently she pulled it off of her arm in preparation for henshining.

Rian gripped her key and tried not to be nervous.

She tried not to admit to herself that she was dying to try it. She wasn't quite certain if she believed it just yet, and she wanted to watch the others prove the reality of it to her before she did anything else.

If Kanene tried to change and nothing happened, she would run out of there at top speed with proof that they were some sort of bizarre cult.

But first she had to be fair and give this a shot.

Watching Kanene closely, she said, "So that's all there is to this changing thing, just an object and a phrase?"

Kanene's backpack began rocking on the ground but the young girl chose to ignore it as it began inching its way towards a mound of garbage. "As far as what I'm aware of that is the case. With those two items the magic will start flying... literally." With a flourish that she usually didn't use she tossed her arm cuff into the air above her. "Draco Galaxia Power, Make Up!"

The snake spiraled down to land loosely about her arm before slithering up to her upperarm. A flash of green energy glowed from Kanene's eyes before she was covered entirely by serpentine scales and being draped by translucent bat like wings. A second surge of light followed but this time it was a purple colour and it seemed to propell the wings back and into non- existence.

Sailor Draco cocked her head slightly as she grinned at Rian. "We've already met but at least now you have the real story instead of just hearsay," she said.

Rian stared in amazement - not the screaming, God-help-me-I'm-being- attacked-by-animals-at-Wendy's amazement. This was Christmas morning, Iranian New Year, and a fresh-out-of-the-package world atlas all in one. Magic actually existed.

The hand with the key in it shook. She looked around at the others in turn, but was unable to keep her eyes from heading straight back to Draco. In a voice she hoped was relatively steady, she said to them all, "Anyone else able to do this trick? Please?"

Veta glanced from the newly transformed Draco, to Rian. With a roll of her eyes, her hand snatched the open air, a silver wand slapping into existance.

"Sculptor Galaxia Power...Make-UP!" she said half-heartedly. Thousands of white-golden energy threads exploded outwards from the wand held above her head, wrapping the young woman's tiny frame in luminescence. When the light faded, the senshi of all physical reality stood poised, her copper skirt blowing slightly in the breeze. Her strong, cold eyes met Rian's once again, and she cleared her throat in impatience.

"You gonna do this, or do you need to see me turn a car door into a Backstreet Boy?" she asked.

Rian stared for a moment, trying to keep a solid memory of what she'd just seen without letting the impatience intrude. Then she wondered if Veta really could turn a car door into -

She barely managed to keep herself from asking.

She glanced at both the transformed senshi and at the knowing half- smiles of the others. Then she pointed the key at the nearest object, which coincidentally happened to be a mangled car door, and shouted "Aldebaran Astra Power, MAKE UP!!"

The key immediately elongated to weapon length, and with an obscuring flash of orange, it settled across her back with the head visible behind one shoulder. There was a fluttering of ribbons, a spiral of ribbon-light, and then the senshi of pursuit stood with feet slightly apart, one hand held behind and one across her brow.

She laughed, looking down at her suddenly orange-clad frame. "It's that easy," she stated. "This is...hell, I have no idea what this is all about, but it's great. Now all I need is a good chase. You guys are running one hell of a cult!" Then she laughed again. "What now? Do I have any more magical words?"

Draco was grinning at Rian's change of moods. It was amusing to say the least but she knew enough not to be laughing aloud, in case that Sailor Aldebaran would take offense. "In addition to our henshin phrases we also have our own individual attacks. I personally don't know what your attack phrases are but they would follow your element as senshi of pursuit."

Kanene's rapidly contorting backpack came to a halt as it shifted and eventually collided with a fridge that was partly imbedded in a hole. Tycho groaned from within and he fortunately caught Draco's attention. "Oh shoot, I forgot all about him," Sailor Draco admitted, drawing her hand to her mouth in embarrassment. She ducked out of the way towards her backpack to release her guardian.

Tycho was dazed to say the least so when his freedom was granted he didn't take notice of it right away. Draco picked him up in her arms and lightly rubbed the spot on his back right below his head. It took a few seconds but he eventually regained his bearings. "It took you long enough," he grumbled although the vibrating noise in his throat was also influenced by the small massage.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to forget," Sailor Draco explained as she began walking back to rejoin the others.

Tycho's eyes flinched irritably but he didn't bother to further ridicule his senshi. "Since I did happen to overhear your conversation I can offer additional guidance. So you want some more magic, do you?" He let his beady eyes take in his surroundings and they drifted back to Kanene's backpack and the fridge it lay against. "Alright, I want you to call out "Aldebaran Safe Haven!" while running towards that pile of rubbish where the fridge is. Don't stay inside too long, a few seconds will be good enough."

Aldebaran grinned at Tycho and spun the Sentinel Key between her hands. It was a grin that would have made her friends and family nervous, because it meant she'd locked onto something. Fear - or even caution - had no place behind that grin. "Really," she said. "Inside. Sure."

The teeth of the key met the ground with a light thud beside her feet, and she spoke the phrase Tycho had given her. "Aldebaran Safe Haven!" Then, without knowing or caring why, she leveled the key over her shoulder, pointing it at the fridge like a mad orange Don Quixote. She ran full tilt at it, never considering there might be unpleasant consequences. It didn't matter; she'd affect something here, now, and never be the same.

The key entered the fridge first, matter converting to energy on contact, and the young orange-haired woman followed it. Both disappeared without a trace.

There was a moment of heavy silence. Then, weighted by momentum and its contents, the fridge tipped over in its hole with a BOOM and a cloud of dust.

After a moment, there was muffled laughter and knocking from inside the unfortunate appliance. A distant-sounding voice hollered, "It's kinda small in here...and I can't get the door open."

Seeing everyone else in uniform made Rick decide to finally get his ass in gear and transform as well. He yelled over to to Aldebaran, "Hold on a second! Let me get my clothes on." He looked around for a few awkward seconds trying to remember his magic words. Then, almost like a lightbulb, his face lit up and he yelled, "Gemma Astra Power! Make-up!"

He then spun up into the air as a silver crystal formed around him. A few moments more and his base outfit was put on. Then, in what seemed like a long, over-complicated sequence but was really a handful of half-seconds, the rest of his outfit, miner's hat, pickaxe, and quartzes were adorned on his person.

"All right! Ready!" he said as he ran over and tried to pry the refrigerator open.

Tycho's eyes widened in shock at the scene that played before him. He mumbled something under his breath as Gemma ran over to the fridge to help the new senshi out. "Amateur... I didn't tell you to take out the fridge! It didn't do anything to you - unlike me." He snapped his head sideways in annoyance and his mouth opened with his tongue striking out on Draco's bare upper arm. "Help them out, will ya!"

"Don't take your anger out on me. Besides, the teacher is also partly to blame for this," Sailor Draco pointed out. Tycho snapped his head back to glare at his protege, his beady eyes sparking with an inner light that made his eyes appear like fiery coals. "It's true!"

"Just move it otherwise you'll be getting a burning from me," he mumbled from his spot on her shoulder. Draco rolled her eyes upwards but advanced forwards to the fridge where she began pulling on the door also.

Sculptor sighed, shaking her head.

"Goddamn kids," she said, golden energy crackling faintly around her. Pointing her right index and middle fingers toward the offending fridge, she mumbled an inaudible mantra. Her auburn hair flared about her shoulders suddenly, and the confines that held the fledgling senshi rippled, then promptly liquefied, leaving the girl unharmed and free.

With that, Sculptor smiled. "Life is only as difficult as you make it."

Gemma stared in awe at what the woman did to the refrigerator and remembered what it was like when he used his power. He looked over to the girl with the lizard and asked, "What do you do, anyway?"

Aldebaran sat up, disentangling her key from both her ribbons and the surrounding trash. Despite the embarassment of the situation, she had a grin on her face. "Thanks," she said to Sculptor, standing and brushing herself off. She decided not to jump up and down and point at the display of power, even though she wanted to. Damn, this was a riot!

She balanced the key over her shoulder and looked at Draco, having heard Gemma's question to her. She was definitely interested in seeing more.

Tycho smiled as broadly as a salamander could. "Just look at what a professional can do. I mean, not just anyone can teach a brain-dead teen to learn how to use powers as strong - "

"I am not brain-dead you stupid lizard!" Sailor Draco snapped. Her eyes had narrowed dangerously at Tycho and with one hand snapping up to grasp him by his neck she flicked back her left hand with an audible snap. It was not her wrist though that made the sound; rather it was the long sharp claw-like fingers that replaced her usual digits. "First I'll show you how to make skewered salamander. You'll be amazed how much it tastes like chicken," Sailor Draco continued to speak to the rest of the crowd even though her concentration didn't falter off of Tycho's wiggling and paled form.

"Uh, I don't think that's, like, a good idea," Gemma interrupted, "besides, I think that he might be kind of important to this whole evil fighting business."

"Fine," Sailor Draco muttered as she rolled her eyes up heavenwards while allowing her fingers to return their normal state. Her grip on Tycho loosened slightly and he managed to squirm free and jump off from her shoulder to take a position as close to the group but not too close to be threatened again by bodily harm.

"Do your first attack; it's always been one of my favourites," he instructed.

Draco raised her shoulders up in a non-committing shrug. "Draco... Phantasm..." She bowed her head in towards her chest and her body began fading into a transparent state of being. Slowly she returned her head upright with her hands crossed upon her chest. A silhouette seemed to push outwards from her body. "Strike!" The spirit emerged fully and vanished into thin air leaving SailorDraco standing there like a statue.

Gemma walked up to the unmoving Draco and tapped her on the shoulder. He then put his hands in front of her eyes and moved them up and down in an attempt to solicit a response.

The senshi remained standing perfectly still, not flinching or showing any sign of reaction to the probing. However as Gemma continued to inspect her something pinched into the flesh of the small of his back and something began tugging on his pickaxe.

Gemma jumped in suprise and exclaimed, "Getting a little personal there!?" as he turned around to see who the pincher was.

Aldebaran gaped in amazement, and did everything but whoop with laughter. "Perfect," she muttered, glancing at Sculptor.

The copper-clad senshi regarded the girl with a blank stare. "Yeah...perfect," she muttered, her eyes flashing with a pain that only a soldier can feel. Aldebaran was young and foolish; the battlefield would be a wake-up call, just as it was for her.

"Alright, Draco ... enough with the shadow shit. We get the idea," Sculptor said more sharply than she had meant to.

"You're no fun..." The voice, which was distinctly Draco's, seemed to come in every direction before quieting. Within a few seconds a deep reddish-purple aura radiated from around Sailor Draco's body. Her eyes slowly opened and her arms fell lax into position at her sides.

"I think you've seen everyone's powers now. Is there anything else you might have any questions about?" Draco inquired.

Aldebaran looked at all of them in turn, wanting to ask a thousand questions and unable to articulate anything in particular. Of all the things she had the opportunity to voice, the one thing that finally surfaced was the most obvious and mundane.

"Um...how do we get back out of this getup?" she said, gesturing at her own outfit with a sweep of the Sentinel Key. "So that the neighbors don't talk and your families don't have you committed."

Sculptor smiled slightly. "I can help you out on that end," she murmured. In a shimmer of light, her costume melted away, leaving her back in her familiar, tattered clothes. "You gotta kinda get a focused, mental picture of yourself, and your powers take care of the rest."

At first, Aldebaran didn't want to believe it was that easy. A thought? But she'd seen proof of it before her eyes only a moment before. She shrugged, closing her eyes for good measure, and thought about how she'd looked in the bathroom mirror that morning. She stilled the urge to click her heels together. Just a regular girl, just a regular girl, just a ...

She felt something, nothing like her transformation had been, but a change nonetheless. Rian opened her eyes and found herself back in her regular clothes, the key held in one palm.

"Yowza," she said, staring at it.

Veta ran her hands through her thin auburn hair, and looked around. "I think we're just about done here, right?" she asked, turning to Draco and Tyche.

While Aldebaran had been listening to Sculptor's instructions while watching her, Sailor Draco had de-henshined. Tycho felt that the threat to his well being had been lowered now that Kanene didn't have her powers at her disposal. He scurried back over the short distance to rest his front feet on her shoes. Kanene picked him up and was about to hoist him onto her shoulder but he was already making his way up her shoulder.

"That ought to be it," Tycho agreed as he looked around to the other three senshi.

There was a moment of silence while they glanced at each other.

"Um... this is kind of awkward," Rian said. "I guess I want to say it would be great to run into you guys again, but... I almost hope I don't, since that would probably mean we'd be in a fight. I gotta take some time to digest this whole idea." She glanced at Veta. "How do I stay in touch, though, in case something... happens?"

Veta let out a small, bitter chuckle. "Good question," she said. The others glanced at her with seriousness in their eyes. She sighed. "Alright ... I guess it's phone number time. Just pass 'em around ... I obviously don't have a phone, but if need be, there's always a booth around. Anyone got paper and a pen?" With that, the exchange of information began.

"I have the paper," Kanene piped in. She moved over to where she had put her backpack and shouldered it. She pulled out a small notebook out of a side pocket and proceeded to write her number down on three separate sheets which she then handed out to everyone else. "Hmm, pens would also be a good idea, wouldn't it?" The question was murmured quietly as she began to search her bag for anything to write with.

Rick started searching his pockets and eventually found a pen. Pulling it out of his pocket, he said "I think a dog might've had it's way with this pen, but I think it still writes." He thrust the pen into Kanene's hand with a smirk.

"That helps," Kanene remarked, shaking the one pen she had from her backpack that ran out of ink halfway through. She finished writing down her phone number before passing the pen to Rian.

Rian smiled a little, taking the pen and writing her own phone number down while taking note of the other's. She was still so surprised over the afternoon's events that she barely paid attention to her scribblings.

"I guess this is it, then," she said, glancing around at the entrance to the yard. "I suppose I'll be...seeing you guys around. I've gotta pick up my brother." She paused. "Is there some kind of... um... restriction about transforming, or some mystical rules that go with this whole thing that I should know about? Like if I wanted to practice. Where no one could see me, of course," she added hurriedly.

A brief moment of silence passed over the group as they eyed each other, each coming up with nothing particularly good in mind. An exasperated sigh finally was heard from Kanene's direction, exasperation directed at herself for not having an idea. "Well, I personally know that henshining to do practise is fine. Tycho has dragged me out of bed early a couple times a week for his so-called training sessions," Kanene explained. She rolled her shoulders up before glancing to her guardian on her shoulder.

"The only real important thing to remember is to ensure that you don't henshin out in the open, lest someone should spot you and spill the news to the National Enquirer. Other then that I can't think of anything off the top of my head," Tycho added.

"Training sessions," Rian echoed. "Okay." She folded her arms across her chest, some of the bravado gone. "I guess I better be going, then," she said. "I've gotta... pick my brother up, run some errands. Thanks, you guys. I hope I don't have to run into you again just to fight."

"You better be wishing harder then that," Tycho added. His voice was cynical, not believing the new senshi's words at all. But still he chuckled lightly, perhaps wishing himself that not fighting would be possible.

Kanene smiled lightly, feeling the doubt that Tycho was harbouring to himself. "Well, at the least it was nice meeting you. But I do hope we'll see you again," she added.

"We will... I won't be far. Just look for the beat-up Chevy and the stench of failure," Veta said with a tone that reeked of sarcasm. She nodded solemnly to her dark-skinned teammate and her guardian, and winked at the flamboyant young man. She turned toward the beat-up fence, and just before walking off, whispered to the newest senshi.

"Welcome to the Astronomia, Rian... hope you survive."

"Uh, yeah, like, bye and take care and stuff," Rick said in his normal shallow tone of voice as he waved and walked off, "See you later, I guess."

"See you later then Rian," Kanene with a final smile. Tycho made a small grunt on her shoulder but she disregarded the noise and simply nudged his head with her hand. "Be careful not to loose your henshin item, they're one of a kind - literally." Kanene turned away with a little giggle and took the same route that they entered the dump from and in very much the same manner; backpack through first then herself.

Rian smiled and said goodbye to each in turn, watching them file out. Of all the words spoken to her that afternoon, only Veta's final phrase echoed. Hope you survive.

She looked down at the key in her hand, testing the weight of it. It had grown much heavier, somehow. Or maybe she only imagined it.

She was grateful that her new... what, teammates?... had been as helpful as they had. She'd try not to harass them with unnecessary questions. But she'd definitely keep in touch.

She turned in a full circle, looking around at the dump, the sky, the fence. The conquered refrigerator. Nothing would ever look the same again, but she didn't mind.

She climbed out through the fence and ran back to Wendy's to get her car, laughing most of the way and not caring if she got strange loos.