Chapter 6:
Trick or Treat

by Angie, dL, Lori, Sky, and Toya

Rian stumbled lazily out of bed, luxuriating in the feeling of not having to go anywhere or do anything. A day off, a whole day off, and her homework from Sociology could wait until the next day. Bliss!

She got into the shower and stayed in there for at least twenty minutes, fogging everything up and using all the hot water. When she finally bothered to get out, she put on fresh goof-off clothes and
wrapped her hair up into a ponytail, not caring what it looked like as it dried. Breakfast, then maybe she'd call a friend or six and go hell-raising...or maybe back to the secluded junkyard to practice her new powers. The whole weekend stretched in front of her, and who cared if it was slightly blustery and rain was pelting the windows? Free time, free time, free...

"Are you almost ready?"

Rian paused in her half-aware meandering down the stairs. Her younger brother, Shawn, stood at the bottom, hands on hips and dark brows gathered together in consternation. "For breakfast?" she said. "Damn right, squirt."

"No swearing in the house," he said automatically, something that had been drilled into both of them since early childhood. 'Damn' was worth a measly 25 cents to the swearing jar, so Rian wasn't too scared. "I meant the pumpkin carving contest. Duh! It starts in less than an hour."

Rian decided not to scream. Her parents didn't like screaming in the house any more than they liked swearing. She'd forgotten all about it. She'd promised to take Shawn, and get him a damn pumpkin, and enter that stupid contest a local craft store was putting on. "Oh that," she said. "Riiiight...like they're gonna hold it in this weather."

"It's inside," Shawn retorted. "If you back out, I'll -"

"Chill," Rian said, descending the stairs the rest of the way. "Let me eat something, and we'll go. Maybe...*maybe*...I'll change my clothes."

Shawn stuck his tongue out at her retreating back, then followed.

After breakfast, Rian twisted her hair up in a clip and decided a sweatshirt and jeans would do. Then they drove to Michael’s...

...and picked out pumpkins from an outdoor bin, which was included in the fee to enter the contest. Shawn took his time choosing a pumpkin, babbling something about which had the 'best face potential'. He had his carving tools in his backpack, a bizarre amalgam of little saws
and pokers and shaped things that made Rian suspect he had seen more than one episode of 'Martha Stewart Living'. Rian picked a random pumpkin with a yawn, and turned to tell Shawn to hurry up when she felt something odd. As if...someone was watching her.

She turned quickly and watched a small, silver-furred face vanish behind one of the pumpkin bins. A dog? No...that nose had been far too pointed...like a fox. She shrugged and told Shawn to get a move on, it was getting chilly out there. He deliberated a moment more, then selected a pumpkin. Rian paid the fee, and they went inside.

"Hurry up! I can't breathe in here!" Naiya nearly dropped the pumpkin she had picked up.

"Vapo! Shaddup!" She hissed at the frog on her shoulder. It was enough of a problem he had climbed up there in the first place. Having people hearing him speak would just ruin her whole day, let alone everything else.

Vaporum squirmed and got closer to Naiya's hair. The wind was getting a little too chilly for his liking. "You should be looking for other Astronomia, not carving pumpkins." He sighed as he was promptly ignored.

After a moment of debate between two pumpkins, Naiya chose one and paid for it. She picked Vaporum off her shoulder and brought the frog up to her eye level. "You *will* be quiet in here. After this, I promise to go and look, ok?" She smiled when the frog gave a meek nod and put him in her purse and stepped inside.

The inside of the store was heavily adorned with orange and black cardboard cut-outs and tissue paper decorations. One of the aisles held racks and racks of wicker baskets, and old fashioned twig brooms. This is where another teenager, Rhiannon Austen, was to be found. As she walked down the aisle, Rhiannon passed an electronic talking skull. The girl practically fell down in fright.

"Where the hell is a larger broom? They have many short ones, but not any normal size... 'All-purpose craft store' my ass," she abruptly stated. Rhiannon was planning on dressing as a traditional witch for Halloween. Unfamiliar with what she was actually sent after, Rhiannon referred to her list.

-Get pumpkin.
-Get pumpkin carving utensils
-Get candle
-Get lighter.. Scratch that, Jack has one
-Get a life... *snicker*

All of the note had been written by a friend of hers, Wilma Verbana, who had a ridiculously sour sense of humor towards Rhiannon; but they got along quite well save their occasional bitterness. It was a lovable sight to witness.

Upon finishing the note, Rhiannon approached the counter to pay for her pumpkin and miniature broom. She spotted the furry little face of her fox friend Medea outside the shop window. Medea was crouched up on several stacked pumpkins. The fox pawed at the glass as a symbol to hurry up. After paying for the items, and checking everything off on the list, even the last one, Rhiannon departed the store, passing a girl with a strange air surrounding her. "Hmph," Rhiannon pouted aloud. The fox and girl walked a bit upward on the curb and awaited the others.

"Rhia? Zat you?" A low, easy voice caused the young woman to glance up to find its source. She was greeted with Jack's customary half-smile of bemusement.  His green eyes spoke of many sleepless nights, though.  "Hey, there. Getting pumpkins?" he asked as he approached her. He patted the knapsack slung over his shoulder. "Tools," he explained shortly. "Are there any good pumpkins left?"

-It's Jack!- she thought. "Sure, but they're rather small. I still have no idea what I'm doing. We never had pumpkin-carving contests back home. Well, at least not this way." She took in a breath. "It'll be a treat." Rhiannon stood up slowly, grinning. 

A dark eyebrow raised good-humoredly at her response, reminding her slightly of -the other one-, and he gestured in the general direction of the stacked pumpkins. "It's not the size, man," he replied lightly. "It's what you do with the things. You can borrow my tools if you want."

Rhiannon smiled, not wanting to ask openly which "tools" he meant. "Well, I bought a bunch of things at the hardware store, but they're back at my dorm," she said.

Winking slyly at him, she rested her arm on the pumpkin beside her. "Need any help?"

Before Rhiannon could think of any other lewd jokes to make, a loud yell was heard over the pumpkins. "JACK! RHIANNON!" In a flash, the purple haired senshi of life bounced next to the two. Wasn't she great at ruining moments? Smirking at her fellow female Graikos, she planted herself (no pun intended) next to the two, "Hey Giggles, Mistah Butlah...what're you two up to?" 

"Well, had you let him answer my question, it might have been a progressive conversation," Rhiannon rolled her eyes accordingly.

"Progressing into what?" Medea questioned, nudging against Jack with narrow, almost goofy, brow.

Choosing to ignore his new nickname, Jack shrugged, glancing from his teammates to the fox. "You got me," he murmured. "I got lost somewhere myself. I was talking about pumpkin-carvin'."

"I think your and Jack's idea of a nice conversation are different," Wilma stuck her tongue out at Rhiannon, "But, oh well. Help me find a good pumpkin..."

"Oh funny," Rhiannon sneered. "There were only two good ones left when I got here. This one," she holds up her pumpkin, "and another one that a girl inside took." She peers in the window to see if she can see the other girl. "I suppose you could get one of the smaller ones, but they're so tiny."

Before any other subtly perverse comments could be made, Medea butted in, "They could be little baby pumpkin children and we could make them a home and they would live there all peaceful and sound and--"

Rhiannon cut her furry friend short when stating, "'We' could make them a home? You kinda need opposable thumbs to help us. You're just here because I mumbled where I was going to be in my sleep last night."

"However true that may be, I don't see any reason to get technical about my misuse of language. It's YOUR language we all should be worried about..." the fox said with vigor.

"You hellbent fu--" Rhiannon paused, looking at the confused faces around her as she militantly taunted the furry little woodland creature. "You were saying?" she asked Wilma.

Jack sighed and turned to the pile of pumpkins. While the girls exchanged further double-entendre'd witticisms, he dug for the ultimate pumpkin. Preferably two, actually. He still needed one.  

After a few more minutes, he emerged with what he deemed the best of the bunch. Handing one to Wilma just as she inhaled for another string of words, he gently interrupted, "Here ya go, Wilma. Have a pumpkin."

"Thanks, Jack," Wilma took the pumpkin with an innocent smile...o' course, innocent smiles tended to be misleading, especially if they were coming from Wilma.

Half-smiling, he nodded. "No worries." Then he motioned towards the store's entrance. "Time to go in? You all can share my knives."

The girls walked in behind him. Wilma shoved to be first, even though Rhiannon had already been in there once today. Medea stealthily snuck through behind them. The fox gazed about and once fully passing through the entrance doorway, Medea noticed another surge of energy. "I sense something again. It may be the same auras as before. Be alert, but try not to cause any trouble. This is still a place of business."

Rhiannon approached the spot where her guardian sensed the auras. "I wanna be able to do that," she whined.

"Get over it," replied the ever-vigilant Medea.

"Senshi," Jack murmured, his eyes closing slightly as he concentrated. Finally, he shrugged in the direction of his friends. "Guess I only know they're around if they're costumed up. Good thing you brought Foxy."

Rhiannon tilted her head toward him, shaking back a stray strip of hair, "Perhaps," she rolled her eyes.

Medea grinned, stepping over to Jack in a 'protect me' manner.

"So what do we do about them?" Rhiannon inquired to the others.

Jack shrugged. "Leave 'em alone?" he suggest softly. "But be on guard? So long as they don't go for us, I say leave 'em alone. This is a pretty crowded store."

If Vaporum had heard him, he would have readily agreed that it was just as crowded in Nia's purse. Vaporum tried to shift his weight to get at the tissue near him to get a bit of comfort. No success. "Nia! Nia! Can I come out yet?!"

Naiya glanced down at her purse and at her hands. If she didn't have all the pumpkin goo on them she might have let Vaporum out but... "Not yet Vapo! Shhh! People!" She hissed at the bag as a few people started to come around the corner.

"Pumpkin table." Jack pointed at the long row of tables arranged for the contestants. Spotting empty room beside an attractive blue-haired girl, he led his teammates to it. "This okay, ladies?" he asked as he lifted his backpack up to drop it on the table.

"Guess so." Wilma sauntered over, accidentally on purpose plunking down beside Jack, and pondering her pumpkin carefully. "Alrightie then, time to perform surgery on the pumpkin. Nurse, I need a scalpel." She grinned, turning to Jack, "That means, gimme a knife so I can attempt some art here...but it'll turn into a maimed mess."

Naiya glanced down at the new contestants briefly. Something about them stirred something up at the back of her mind, but Nia shrugged it off as being the affect of the pumpkin insides all over the tables. The girl's comment caused a grin to cross her face and she picked up the little marker she had brought and her own knife.

Jack shot a look at the strange girl out the corner of his eye and then shrugged minutely. He'd thought he recognized her for a second, just as he sat down, but he must've been mistaken. Working his jaw a bit, he shrugged again. But there was that tinfoil taste. He shrugged again and refocused on Wilma and Rhiannon. "Don't worry. I've got plenty of pens and knives." Opening his bag, he pulled out a neatly wrapped parcel which he then opened to prove these words. "And, Wilma, you won't maim it," he reassured her softly. "I'll help if you want."

It took Wilma a bit to respond to him. A faint buzzing in the back of her head distracted her, causing a dazed, glazed look to go over her eyes. The last time she'd felt that...  Shaking her head, she came back down to earth. If there were other senshi about, she'd have to wake up. Picking up a marker, she grinned at Jack, "Don't sugar coat it, bub. My art is stinky. I'm proud of the stinky art."

Rhiannon grinned at the markings; even though the lines were poorly etched, she saw them as cute, in some distorted manner. "Nifty."

"Like it? I call it 'Squishy Bob and his friend Raphael." Wilma grinned, pointing at the drawings of a rather squiggly looking man, and what appeared to be a ring-tailed lemur with a mullet.

"Interesting," Rhiannon remarked with a raised brow. The title -was- a tad obscure for her comprehension.

Jack grinned gently, obviously amused at his friend. "Cute, Wil, very," he offered. "But how are you going to cut him out?"

Wilma's face fell, peering at her pumpkin, "Um...I'm not sure. How am I?"

"We can fix it," he replied. "With yours and Rhia's brains, anyway." Absently, he added a few more lines to the growing picture on his own pumpkin. A thought-frown appeared between his eyebrows and he turned the pumpkin to face them. A lightly sketched silhouette of an arched cat on a fence was revealed with the motion. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Aww, that's cute," Rhiannon suggested, "How about making the fence a little smaller? That way it's a BIG kitty!" She immediately covered her mouth, realizing the childish manner in which the statement was delivered. "Sorry." 

"Beautimus. Fantabulous. Stuff like that." Wilma grinned, staring at the cat, "Better keep my dog away from it, though. He'll probably run into it."

Rhiannon suddenly rediscovered her pumpkin at Wilma’s words and started to draw a few things lightly. It was a witch. Who the Hell would have guessed? -Stick to your own- some say. "I think mine's pretty," she stuttered. It was a piece of shit; but that usually happens with self portraits. "Hey Jack, draw me a.. draw me me, okay?"

Smiling gently, Jack reached across Wilma to retrieve Rhiannon's pumpkin. "Sure thing." Quickly, he spun it to the clean side and started sketching, a thought-frown appearing between his eyebrows as he translated 3D into 2D silhouette.

After a few minutes Nia glanced over from her own pumpkin. It had three trick-or-treaters chasing each other on it. Catching a glance at Jack's pumpkin, Rhiannon's pumpkin actually, Nia waited until Jack had paused in drawing his line. "That's really good," Naiya said quietly after a moment.

Jack looked up and blinked, slightly disoriented by the sudden comment. "Oh," he answered softly. Then he half-smiled. "Thanks." He leaned over slightly and studied her pumpkin. "Yours is great," he commented with a nod.

"Thank you," Nia said with a smile. She looked down at her pumpkin again.  After a second she looked back at him and extended her hand. "I'm Naiya."

Taking her hand in his, Jack shook it lightly. "I'm Jack and this is Rhiannon and Wilma," he responded as he then indicated his two friends.

Wilma looked up from the backside of her pumpkin that she was now drawing a grouchy partridge on, "Huh? Oh." She waved at Naiya, pulling her sucker from her mouth, "Hi there, Naiya. What's up?"

Rhiannon, still attempting to carve what Jack had doodled for her, noticed the girl, as well. "Hello," she abruptly said, obviously struggling with the knife.

Nia smiled a bit.  "It's nice to meet all of you."  She studied Wilma for a moment and a light bulb went off in her head.  "I know you!  Well, kind of," she said cocking her head to the side.  "I think I saw you at a volleyball game or something.."

Wilma giggled, "I was probably on the bench, then." She peered at her, nibbling on her lip for a few minutes, then smiled, "Oh, yeah, I remember you now. The William Fleming game, right? Your team had the hitter that kept smacking our back row girl in the head 'cause she wasn't paying attention." She smirked happily, "I always wanted to do that."

"Eh.. yeah, that was the game." Nia caught a glimpse of a one of the judges circulating around the other tables. She picked up her knife looked down at her pumpkin. "Time to carve, I guess."

A couple of tables away, Rian caught sight of the same judge, cycling toward her and Shawn. Since they'd done little more than get the guts out of their pumpkins, she jostled him to move.

"Why?" Shawn griped. "The whole thing's barely starting. He's warming up, that's all. You're so paranoid."

"Move anyway," Rian said, giving him little choice by picking up her own pumpkin and moving away. There was a six year old at their table wielding his knife a little too enthusiastically for her taste. Shawn sighed loudly, grabbed his pumpkin, and followed.

The first thing Rian did after she moved two tables down was to slip on a few slimy seeds and slam Jack face-first onto the table with her pumpkin, to the horror of her brother.

Time seemed to stop for a moment as the dark-haired young man hit the table with a thump and remained there. Then time abruptly jerked back into motion and Jack straightened up, blinking owlishly. "Wha' happen'd?" he asked as he rubbed at his now-tender nose.

"You got bashed by a pumpkin head." Wilma turned to glare at the girl. Looking as if she was going to harm someone, she stalked the two steps over to her and stared evily into her eyes...then burst out into hysterical giggles. "Who are you and what is your name? I need to know the name of the person that is klutzier than I am."

Rian stood, mouth open, her face as red as Jack's nose. Shawn had turned around and gone back the way they'd come, pretending he didn't know her. "I...uh...oh my GOD, I'm so sorry!" she said, her voice rising to a squeak of embarrassment. She looked at Wilma and said, "I'm Rian, and I swear, I've never assaulted someone with a pumpkin before."

A sudden chuckle erupted from Jack, muffled by his thin hand which was still busily rubbing his nose. "'S okay," he replied. "No harm done. Couldn't make it any bigger." Taking his hand away, he half-smiled at her. "Your victim," he announced as he pointed to himself. "Jack."

Grinning, Wilma grabbed Rian's free hand. "I demand that you stay with us. Anyone who assaults people with pumpkins is cool." Dragging her to their table, she cleared a spot right beside herself, and then glanced at Jack, chuckling, "Since Jace isn't here, I have to say it...The Jackalope got smashed by the Jack o’lantern."

Nia had no idea who Jace was, an she didn't think Rian did either. She smiled in Rian's direction and held out one of her markers. "Need a marker?"

Vaporum shifted in Nia's purse. There was somebody nearby that felt... funny. But a nice kind of funny. Like when he had first passed Nia up before she knew who she was. Vaporum scowled. It was just his luck that they _might_ find a senshi in a public place.

Rian giggled. "Yeah, thanks." She accepted the proffered item and eyed her pumpkin with a skeptical eye. "I think you guys have a leg up on me, already. Sorry again about the pumpkin, Jack. I'll make up for it by making this vegetable pay."

”Honored,” came his soft, easy answer, his green eyes already back on his work.

Rian smiled again and had a look at the other's pumpkins. "I'm jealous! Hell, if I manage to get a couple of triangles out of this sucker, I'll be lucky...thanks for letting me hang out with you guys. My brother took off, like usual. As if *I'm* embarrassing!"

Offering up a pencil to the new arrival, Jack shook his head. "You'll do fine and you'll find him later." He quirked an eyebrow. "'Less he's old enough to drive and you're missing your keys."

Rian's eyes widened for just a moment as she patted for her keys; then she sighed in relief as she found them. "Not being old enough to drive won't stop him," she mumbled. Then she took the pencil with a grateful smile. "Thanks. You obviously hold no grudges. I'm gonna dedicate this pumpkin to you, since I nearly brained you with it." She tapped her pumpkin with the pencil, then said, "You guys from around here?"

Rhiannon emerged from her desolate "happy place" and stated sarcastically, "No. We're all foreign!" After contemplating that last thought, she corrected, "Oh yeah. I -am-" and winced. Rhiannon sunk back and decided it best not to speak for a bit.

Rian raised an eyebrow and looked for an instant as if she might snap back a retort. But the look on Rhiannon's face stopped her. Before anyone else could speak, she said, "Well, it was kind of dumb, as icebreakers go." She turned her pumpkin around and looked at the image she'd penciled out - a cat on a tree branch, with a large circle behind that would be cut out to serve as the moon.

She pulled out a knife much too large for the job and proceeded to attack the top of her pumpkin, prying the top off and hauling out a massive handful of dripping pumpkin guts. "Hey, who likes roasted pumpkin seeds? You guys wanna save yours, too? They can be done about a thousand ways."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they're good and they keep forever." He winced as he watched her wield the over-large knife. After a near miss of her fingers, he reached out and tapped her hand. "Uh, wanna try one of mine? Might work better." With a simple gesture, he indicated the small assortment of knives that he had brought.

Rian glanced over the assortment, then beamed at Jack. "Sure, thanks. Right after I get the larger parts out. Those'll be great for the eyes and stuff. Unless of course...well, don't worry. I promise not to fall on you again. Unless you want me to."

As soon as the words were out, she regretted them. These people hadn't known her long enough to realize she said dumb things at will.  Her eyes widened and she blushed scarlet, and suddenly all she wanted was to disappear, like she could if...

Without thinking, without even meaning to, she mumbled words to herself that she had already promised not to utter in public, or in full view of others. It happened so quickly that no one at the other tables made any sense of it; but for those standing at her own table, it was all too visible and familiar. Rian transformed, and realized she couldn't take it back. She'd taken an embarrassing situation and made it ten times worse. Before anything could be said, she was gone in a flash of orange into the nearest wall.

Seeing as how Wilma had been concentrating a bit too hard upon her pumpkin, she had not noticed the things said around her. Otherwise, she would've gnawed Rian's hand off for her comment towards Jack. The orange flash, however caught her eye, causing her to glance up quickly, in time to notice that Rian had disappeared without warning. Jumping back, knife upraised, she exclaimed the first thing that came to mind. "What the hell?"

Naiya was thinking very much along the same lines, especially since there was a buzzing in her head.  She had been shamelessly listening to what had been being said, and now she was staring at where the orange was just as shamelessly.  Something cold touched her ankle and she felt it vaguely.  It touched her again and its cold slimy feel completely registered in her head that time around.  She looked down, eyes wide and almost ready to scream.

Luckily, all she saw was Vaporum’s foot and his head.  He was giving her a nasty look and it dawned on her what the event had been.  Mouth dropping open, Nia grabbed her purse, muttering something about the restrooms, and ran over to the store's aisles.  "Astronomia!!!"  Vaporum squeaked as soon as they were in a people-less section of the store.  "Astronomia!  You!  Her!  Senshi!"

Naiya frowned and pinched his mouth shut.  "Yeah, I figured she was that after she was glowing and stuff."

After a moment of the frog calming down she managed to give him a grin.  "Looks like we'll be looking before I can finish my pumpkin, Vapo."  That in mind she took off her necklace and mumbled those few choice words.  Brief seconds later a taller and tanner Pisces was running through the store looking for the orange senshi.

Aldebaran stood with her back to the wall she had passed through, breathing hard, the Sentinel Key held loosely in her hands.

"Well," she sighed, "that happened."

There were several people staring at her, and after a moment, she realized they were all male. Then she noticed the urinals. She was in the men's bathroom.

She shrieked with embarrassment, which startled everyone else, and then she fell backwards through the wall, back the way she had come. A moment later she was sprawled on the floor and the Key clattered against the floor. She scrambled up and faced a growing number of exclamations as people noticed her 'costume' - and the fact that she'd just appeared through the wall. One of her table-mates was missing, and the others...

Pisces skidded around the corner of a shelf in the direction of the increasing exclamations. Sure enough, the orange clad girl was there, along with a number of other people. On impulse she pushed her way through the tiny ring and came out next to Aldebaran. Pisces took her by the elbow and leaned near Aldebaran's ear. "Come on, Astronomia. Time to go," She let go of her elbow and vaguely pointed over to a fire exit.

"You...you're a -?" Aldebaran stammered, still trying to gain her bearings and figure out how much damage she had caused. "I can't just go, my brother, he's -"

Pisces nodded vaguely remembering the boy that had left after pumpkin had flown. "Right.. um... " She looked around trying to see if the crowd was starting to thin out a bit, and luckily, it was. "He'll be OK for a few minutes by himself, right? We'll just get out for a few minutes and come
back in when it's a little more normal... OK?" Pisces smiled at Aldebaran encouragingly, starting to make her way towards the exit with her. She paused briefly to look over her shoulder their table, wondering for a moment if anyone had noticed that they hadn't come back yet.

Rhiannon, hunched over her pumpkin, was tediously carving.  She had barely noticed the conversations around her, nevertheless that people were missing.

"Rhia!" Medea shouted, startling Rhiannon.  The fox noticed a splash of blood touch the orange ball.  Amidst the shocking outburst, the girl had slid the carving knife into her forefinger, puncturing the skin a bit.

"What!" shouted back Rhiannon, now aware that no one other than the Graikos were near her.

"Sorry," sighed the fox, as Rhia wiped her finger, "I did not mean to scare you, but have you felt anything peculiar in the air?"  Rhiannon looked a tad confused.  Medea now directed the statement to both Jack and Wilma, as well, "Be glad those others have gone away; for I feel an enemy among us."

A frown pulled down the corner of Jack's mouth and he laid down his knife with a calmness he didn't feel. "That was what I thought it was, right?" he muttered to the others. Absently, he pulled a Band-Aid from his open knapsack and handed it to Rhiannon. "Here ya go. For the cut." Then he leaned down towards the fox. "Guess you want us outside now, huh?"

"You bet your ascot, frilly boy!" commanded Medea.  She winced, concentrating on some unseen target.  "Be prudent, there may be more than one."  Medea began to motion her paw toward the sliding doors.

The freshly bandaged Rhiannon carefully stepped between the doors and waited on her companions.  "Do we transform now, or what?"

As they spoke, the redheaded Astronomia suddenly ran back in their direction, darted to the side, shouted something about 'not without my brother' and grabbed a young boy from one of the tables.

The boy shrieked and proceeded to yell about being kidnapped and smeared a double handful of pumpkin guts on the Astronomia's outfit. The Astronomia also began to scream, causing several others at nearby tables to follow suit. She then began struggling away with the boy under one arm and a giant key under the other.

Wilma jumped at the sight of an unknown senshi streaking through a bunch of dilapidated pumpkins. I need to get the chemical contents of my water checked she thought before clearing her throat and motioning for the untransformed Graikos senshi to follow her.

Somehow managing to find a secluded, cut off area, she grinned. "Time to have a bit of fun with the Latch Key Girl." With that, she touched her choker and murmured, "Persephone Deus Power, Make Up." After much twirling and sparkles, Sailor Persephone stood before the rest of the group. "Y'alls turn."

Rhiannon nodded as a faintly unhappy expression slid over Jack's face. A sigh managed to escape his compressed lips. He -loathed- Tyche. "Right." Reaching up dutifully, he gripped the penny strung on a thong around his neck, yanked, and threw it up in the air. "Tyche Deus Power, Make-up!" A sound rather like a casino on speed erupted and, moments later, Tyche grinned at his comrades; meanwhile Rhiannon had transformed into Hecate close by. "Hello, there, lovely ladies," he drawled. "Ready for a dance?"

"Hell ya," winked Hecate, "always ready--" Her sentence was cut short by Medea's stern gaze forward. "And I suppose we should be."

"Of course." Tyche bowed low, one long arm motioning outside. "Let's go." Smoothly, he stood again and led the way out, walking stick held at ready.

They could hear more screams before they made it outside; the first sight that greeted them was the Astronomia, a hollowed-out pumpkin on her head, hanging on to the boy by one arm. He was kicking her and shouting in two languages, threatening something along the lines of a 'can of whoopass'. She was flailing the key and keeping any well-meaning bystanders at bay, knocking over a stack of pumpkins in the meantime. She was obviously trying to drag the boy away.

At the same time Pisces came running around the corner after Aldebaran, knocking over a few pumpkins herself and frowning. She took one moment to look at the red head with the pumpkin over her head and bent down next to her brother, clasping his arms at his sides and staring at him right in the face. "Calm down! We're not kidnapping you! We're... taking you to a friendlier place." She tried to smile a little.. but failed. Standing back up, she glanced over her shoulder to where Tyche's walking stick was visible.. along with a ruffled sleeve. "We have to go... Like, now. I'm pretty sure those guys aren't Astronomia," She waited for her to pull the pumpkin off her head and shifted her thumb towards where the Graikos were.

Aldebaran gasped for air, dropping the Sentinel Key and the pumpkin that had been on her head and gagging over the strings of veggie-guts in her hair. "SHIT!" she yelled. "That's it, that's the big enemy?" She tugged on Shawn's arm and said, "Hold still, you *qarib*!"

"I'm NOT a freak!" Shawn shouted, then froze, looking closely at Aldebaran. "Oh, my GOD!"

"Shut up," Aldebaran growled, jerking him around to face the oddly-dressed people who were coming closer. She'd see for herself if they were so almighty-dangerous.

Vaporum watched all of the events quietly from Pisces' shoulder, thinking all of it over. "Right, they're *not* Astronomia... They might be Romanus or Angelus.. but from the looks of it they're Graikos. You're not possibly ready to-"

"Shush!" she hissed at him. "You're not helping any!"

Hopping, he squeaked resentfully. "What do you want me to do?"

"Advice would be nice."

Vaporum paused in his hops. "You know, it probably would..." Vaporum caught Pisces' look and squeaked again. "Well... finding out who they are might be a good start. Then you might know a bit about what you're going up against."

Chewing her bottom lip the blue clad senshi nodded and looked over towards Aldebaran. "I hope you know a little more about this kind of thing than I do." Raising her hand, Pisces pointed at the guy with the walking stick. "You're obviously a senshi in that get up, but I certainly hope you're not going to try anything in the store!" After she said it she regretted it, reflecting on how tacky it sounded right then.

"Not if you don't," the stranger drawled. Touching the brim of his hat with two fingers of his free hand, he nodded. "Tyche," he added as if that explained everything. A bright, devil-may-care grin broke over his lean face then but his eyes remained cold. "Now, darlin', how about you let that poor boy go and we'll see to our own business elsewhere?"

"You should already be seeing to your own business elsewhere!" Aldebaran groused. "You have no idea what's really going on, here, and I'm not *about* to explain. Poor boy! I could tell you seven things about this 'poor boy' that would have you whaling on him, too."

Shawn kicked her in the shin, and she shrieked with outrage and involuntarily released him. The boy took off running like a shot, headed for another store.

Aldebaran planted the Sentinel Key solidly in front of herself, gripping it with both hands and trying to look tougher than she felt. "Okay, Tyche," she said evenly, "you've got what you wanted. Now I'm gonna go chase him, and get home, and try not to bust your ass in the meantime for calling me 'darlin'."

The walking stick snapped out as if to bar her way and Tyche stepped farther forward. "It's not nice to involve the civilians, -darlin'-," he replied smoothly, emphasizing the objectionable word. "But you and your friend are fair game." He grinned winsomely. "In every way. Now, then... Care to meet my friends?"

"If not, too bad." Stepping forward, Persephone gripped her fists. "It's bad enough that you wreck our support of local squash and such, but involving a little boy? That's low. My name's Sailor Persephone, and I believe my friends and I will have to teach you some manners."

Hecate gave a pernicious glance toward Aldebaran and raised her gauntlet to eye level.  "Hecate," she simply stated, plucking the smallest of its blades.  She placed her arm back down and walked in closer to Tyche and Persephone.

Aldebaran glanced at her briefly, unable to take her attention away from Tyche's walking stick. There was no way she could explain Shawn was her brother - it wouldn't make any difference. And what was to stop them from chasing him, if they found out? Had she been alone, she would simply have phased through a few walls and lost them in seconds. But what about Pieces?

She wanted to say 'this isn't what it looks like' but knew better. So she went with the moment, which meant allowing herself to be pissed at Tyche's tone and the insinuation that any of them had any control over what she could or couldn't do.

"Aldebaran," she said shortly, leveling the Key parallel to the ground in both hands as if she meant to make a battering ram of it. "Nobody deputized you as store security, so back off and we'll be on our way."

"So sorry to have ruined your day," Pisces said it in a low tone, quite un-like herself now that she was actually confronted with the possibility of fighting. "But you three are ruining the support just as much as we are right now." Her eyes flicked down to Tyche's walking stick and back up to
his face, watching him intently. Her hands wrapped the powder blue cloth that was around her arms around themselves. "I'm Pisces, and if you would kindly move that," she eyed his walking stick again, "we'll be on our way and you can go back to carving your merry little pumpkin. And I can assure you, this fiesty fellow won't have a single mark on him."

Neatly, Tyche twirled the stick up and back, laying it across his shoulders casually and grinned ingenuously. "Ladies, I'd love that myself but rules are rules,” he answered, sounding not the slightest bit sincere.  “It's not fair pulling the civvies into this little dance of ours." The walking stick swung again, coming to a rest tucked under his arm, and he ducked his head slightly. "Let's just leave the store area proper, hmm? I think I hear a police siren."

"There's no dance," Aldebaran said, keeping the same hold on her Key. "We'll go one way, and you go another, and everybody leaves the store area." She glanced at the gathering crowd at the front of the store, then glanced sideways at Pieces to see if she agreed.

"Proper, right." Pisces met Aldebaran's glance and nodded slightly. "There is an exit behind you three, and an exit behind us. We'll go through this one, you can go through that one, and everything'll be just peachy.. Unless you like a more sour reference." She gave a small smile, trying to stay slightly friendly. Fighting them was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was nothing Persephone would rather do than just walk out that exit. Her back ached enough without getting pounded. But still...she shook her head. "'Fraid it doesn't work like that, dear. We're going to have to tangle with each other sooner or later...lets take this outside."

"I agree, if we're walking out any doors, it's going to be to fight," Hecate stated plainly, "Now let's not screw around any longer." She slowly advanced to Aldebaran and Pisces.

Aldebaran was startled at their willingness to fight. "Hey, your call," she said, trying to keep her voice steady despite the hammering in her chest. "If you'd rather get this shoved sideways up your ass rather than run on home, that's fine." She spun the Key in her hands and balanced it over one shoulder, draping her arm over it and heading for the door. She had no idea what the hell she was going to do.

A bright devil-may-care grin was her only answer as Tyche swept his hat off, bowing low. Then he straightened, replaced the hat, and indicated the door behind her and Pisces with his stick. The meaning was undeniable.

Taking a deep breath Pisces nodded, turning towards the door. She paused and gave Aldebaran a meaningful look. "Best let the kid go, probably won't be anything he'd want to see out there." She gave the older girl a reassuring smile. With a flick of a glance back over her shoulder at the Graikos, she dropped her blue cloth on the ground beside her so it wouldn't be in her way.  "Nothing until we're outside." Looking back at Aldebaran she said, "Shall we?"

Aldebaran nodded and followed. This was reminding her of the time several older girls had decided she'd done something wrong in fourth grade and had told her she was getting it at recess. It pissed her off so badly that she didn't care what the Graikos did; she wanted to get a lick in at someone.

The Astronomia led the Graikos around the back of the building to an empty field by the loading dock. Whatever they did would have to be quick, unless they wanted to walk a good distance to get away from the police and any civilian onlookers.

Aldebaran turned, planted her feet and said, "What now? You gonna teach us a 'lesson'?"

"Can do, darlin'." Tyche smiled dazzlingly and then his hand shot up, pulling down on an imaginary lever roughly. "Jackpot!" A sudden clatter of falling coins erupted in the surrounding air and a shimmer of gold appeared above Aldebaran's head, falling swiftly towards
their target.

Startled by the noise, Aldebaran didn't react in time, and a shower of coins rained down on her. She shrieked in surprise and raised the Sentinel Key, ducking beneath it, shielding herself from only a few. The remainder bit into her arms or bounced into her hair. A couple went down the front of her fuku as if she was the prize at some state fair coin-toss.

It was over a moment later, and she squinted one eye open before swinging the head of the Key back to the ground, holding it like a golf club. "Where the hell are you when I'm out shopping?" she said, then jumped forward and swung the Key in a low, wide arc, headed right for Tyche's knees.

"Hey, now," he yelped as he jumped back quickly. It was less than dignified but he somehow managed to remain upright. Then he frowned. "If that's the way you thank generous men, darlin', I'm sure glad I've never been around when you're shopping."

After stopping for a moment to make sure that Tyche was alright, Persephone spied the unoccupied Pisces. Nudging Hecate with her shoulder, she murmured, "Watch mine and Tyche's backs."

She stepped forward, bowing low to Pisces, "I think it's time you and I danced." Thrusting her right fist into the air, she growled, "Persephone." Opening her fist up, the ground beneath Pisces began to tremble, along the same rhythm that her fingers were trembling. Tossing her left arm out to the side somewhat haphazardly, she shouted "Life Drain!" at the top of her lungs. Vines whipped out of the ground a few feet away from Pisces and began to shoot towards her legs and mid-section.

Much to her own dismay, Pisces had nearly forgotten about the purple-haired girl.  Her shouts whipped her back into focus, and her eyes darted towards the vines in just enough time to get one leg out of the way.  "Eeeyp!"  The vines caught her right leg and torso with a yelp and just about nearly toppled her over on her side.  For a moment she just stood and blinked at Persephone.  Pisces' eyes widened as she felt the vines start to squeeze, and panic flickered in her mind.

"Aaagh!  Don't just stand there!  Do something!"  Vaporum screeched.  He was in more panic than she was then.

Biting her lip, Pisces held her hand out in front of her.  "Sorry, miss."  She watched her hand as swirls of water formed above it and formed into a ball.  "Pisces Constel..." Flicking her arm up she tossed the ball in the air.  "..Water Strike!"  In a matter of seconds she took as small a step as she could manage with her free leg and smacked the ball down towards Persephone.

"Sh--" The sentence wasn't even finished when the ball hit Persephone squarely in the chest, sending her sprawling several feet backwards. Spluttering and coughing up water, she groaned and clenched her fist. This chick was not even cool.

Aching as she sat up, she growled as she watched the vines begin to recede in the ground. "Hecate! Don't just stand there, attack her!" With a huff, she stumbled up and had to quickly re-balance herself as a wave of dizziness washed over her. "Hurry it up!"

"Right!"  Hecate shook herself out of the brief stupor and seized the opportunity to break in her act as savior.  "Pisces!" she shouted, to regain attention, "You have yet to involve me.  This makes me very unhappy."  Hecate raised her right arm as she called for her beloved athame.  "Twilight Eclipse!"  A mass of dark clouds thundered around Pisces, as Hecate grabbed the blade and released its energy upon the Astronomia.  Hecate ran over to check on Persephone, smirking as Pisces shuffled. 

Landing on her bottom in surprise of the attack, Pisces knew that she no longer had vines cutting off her breathing. 'Ow' was the only thing she could get out, and she willed herself to open her eyes.  But my eyes are already open!  I can't see!!  There wasn't much she could do blinded, but she managed to get back up on her feet and look in the direction that Persephone was a moment ago.  "Okay!  You're ok!  Now, attack them again, just like you just did."  Pisces could hear Vaporum talking just fine, so she assumed it was just her sight that was blank.

"Vapo...  I can't see!" 

"What!"  Quieting down for a moment, Vaporum took a breath.  If Pisces couldn't see, there wasn't much she could do to help out.  Hopping in the other direction, he looked over at Aldebaran.  "Aldebaran!  Bad!  Blind!  Trouble!"  His momentary calmness had taken the opportunity to ebb away in his panic.

Aldebaran heard the cry over her skirmish with Tyche. She took another swing at him with the Sentinel Key to back him away, then turned to glance at Pisces.

Seeing the Senshi of Water groping around blindly after Hecate's attack, Aldebaran shouted with rage. "BASTARDS!" she shrieked, raising the Key over her head. She ran to stand in front of Pisces, backing her toward the wall of the store. "Let's get out of here!" she hissed. "Aldebaran Safe Haven!"

Both she and Pisces fell through the wall of the store, materializing through a set of shelves and crashing to the floor. Even with the noise, they were still shielded from the sight of anyone still inside by an aisle display. Aldebaran patted Pisces on the shoulder and said, "De-transform and take care of your eyes! I'll cover you!" Then she bolted back through the wall, grateful that her power had worked on more than herself.

With a maniacal war-whoop, she threw herself at the Graikos, intending to barrel straight into them. No one hurt a teammate of hers and got away unscathed!

Ah, here we go, Tyche thought. Quickly, his eyes scanned the area they were fighting and, finding an oil slick near the loading dock, he maneuvered neatly to put it between him and the onrushing Aldebaran. Then he grinned and brought his walking stick up to point at her. "Chances are you're gonna hit that slick and slide," he muttered, stepping back and pulling the stick back, ready to swing at the girl's abdomen should the attack not work. Damn luck could be picky like that.

Aldebaran came on, making a fearsome banshee-type noise, which was summarily cut off the moment she hit the oil and her feet went out from under her. She slammed to the pavement and slid, getting a nice mixture of oil and asphalt detritus all over her fuku, scraping her arms and legs, and sending the Sentinel Key clattering away.

Having the breath knocked out of her didn't keep her from stringing bizarre combinations of obscenities together. She scrambled back to her feet, realizing Tyche was now between her and the Key.

She surveyed the Graikos with narrowed eyes, breathing hard. She didn't want to be blinded, or thumped, or who knew what else. But she didn't have much pride left after that fall, and had to make it up somewhere. "Well?" she said, wiping a bloodied hand on her fuku. "Which one of you wants a piece of this? One at a time, or all three at once?"

"Oh, ENOUGH." Persephone pushed herself up and glared at the girl, her wet hair clinging to her face. "ENOUGH already. We don't care about your pathetic chest thumping." Aggravation had obviously taken over, as she brought her wrists together and grumbled "Persephone." Opening her hands, a bright green ball had formed, burning harshly as every bit of irritation flooded into it. Closing her right hand on the ball again, she wound up and threw the ball at Aldebaran, shouting "Living Torch!"

Aldebaran watched the green ball whip toward her and began to duck in surprise, unsure of what the thing would do. The word 'torch' gave her a pretty good idea, though, so she doubled over and tried to skitter away. The ball grazed across her exposed back, singing her fuku and hair. The fabric crisped, and the skin beneath took an ugly first degree burn.

Aldebaran shouted in pain and leaped for the Sentinel Key, fingers outstretched...

Only to find a strong hand clamped around her wrist and a booted foot pinning the key to the ground. Tyche grinned down at her cooly. "Now then. Just -what- are we going to do with you, hmmm?" His hand tightened around her wrist and bent her arm forcefully, twisting it behind her unnaturally to keep her kneeling on the ground.

"OW!" Aldebaran shouted, kicking out at Tyche's legs, missing the first time but connecting with a shin the second, trying to twist away without getting her shoulder dislocated.

Wincing, Tyche's hand tightened on the girl's wrist, pulling her entire arm further back. "Stop it," he hissed. "Little vixen." Painfully, he crouched slightly and pushed down on her arm, one knee
dropping down to pin her legs lightly. "Astronomia," he growled.

Aldebaran swung her free hand around and smacked Tyche right in the nose, never realizing it was the second time that day that she'd done so.

At her sudden attack, Tyche lost his balance and fell backwards, quickly turning it into a roll and ending on his knees, glaring at her. All trace of humor and Southern charm had evaporated and the look was cool and calculating. Slowly, he drew himself to his feet again. "Better run, darlin'," he drawled. "Or there won't be any of you left to talk to the frog." Then he took a small step back towards his teammates, remaining slightly ahead of them nonetheless.

Making a gruff movement past Hecate, Persephone stopped slightly behind Tyche, "We'll let you go for now, Astronomia." She glared at her angrily, fists clenched, "But don't let me catch you on your own."

 "'Cause we won't be," guaranteed Hecate, supporting her teammate.

Aldebaran yanked the Sentinel Key off the ground and backed away from the Graikos, keeping the head of the Key pointed at them as if it would actually ward them off. "C'mon, Vapo," she said to the guardian, who'd tried to stay out from underfoot. "Let's get the hell out of here before I have to...um, really do something we'll all regret!" She held a hand out for Vapo, still backing away.

Vaporum squeaked and leaped for her hand. "Agreed, entirely!" Clinging to her hand, he managed to scramble up to her shoulder and hide under masses of ribbons.

"Letting you jerks off easy this time!" Aldebaran yelled, then invoked Safe Haven again and tumbled through the back wall of the store with Vaporum. The sirens had long since stopped, and voices shouted, growing closer to the rear loading area.

Tyche shook his head, one hand coming up to check his nose now that the target had disappeared. Then he turned to his teammates. "Ladies? Care to join me for a scenario of run like hell so the cops don't see us?" He grinned, once again devil-may-care. "Post-battle pizza at my place."

"That scenario again?" Persephone grinned. "It gets so old." Her joking manner left momentarily as she frowned, "That girl really popped you, Tyche. Lemme take a look at your nose and shin when we get home."

Hecate flinched at the mention of Jack's apartment. "Let's hope she didn't bust a hole in your wallet," she winked, "we'll still need cab fare." Hecate walked closer to Tyche and Persephone, then gazed briefly back at where Aldebaran had been.

She was jarred from her thoughts, though, as a warm hand wrapped around her wrist and she looked up to see Tyche grinning. "Come on, moonshine. We'll find her later." With those words, delivered so lightly but so dark in content, Tyche grabbed for Persephone's hand and dragged them off into the nearest alleyway.

Rian picked herself up, glad to be out of her crispy fuku, and winced at the scrapes and burns she'd acquired from her first 'real' fight. She looked down at Vaporum, then around to see if she could pick out who Pisces might have been. She hadn't seen the girl before she'd transformed. "Well, that sucked," she said aloud to Vaporum. "We've gotta get out of here and hope my brother's on his way home."

Vaporum nodded and glanced around with her. "Yes, I suppose you'll both be needing help if that sort of thing happens again."

"Oh, lay off, Vapo." Nia came up in front of Rian, shorter and paler than she had been as Pisces. Fidgeting with her purse straps she took Vaporum down from the older girl's shoulder and held him in her hand. After a moment she tapped the corner of her right eye. "Can see again now... nifty little trick she pulled." Nia sighed and looked at her. "I'm sorry about that. Leaving you out there pretty much by yourself, I mean....Oh, I do think I saw your brother heading along the sidewalk."

"It's...it's no problem," Rian said, still amazed at the difference in the girl before her and wondering what she herself looked like to other people when transformed. "I mean...I'm just glad you're not hurt, or that it wasn't permanent. I guess I better catch up with my brother before...someone else does."

Vaporum squirmed uneasily and squinted up at Nia. "Come on, come on. I think they might still be near here...Which reminds me. You, Rian was it?" Vaporum turned back towards her. "Would you happen to know....oh, judging by how you were in the fight you would have already used it if you knew it!"

"Knew...." Rian paused. "You mean, I have something else?"

"Oh! Right right! Now what was it again...." The little teal frog paused a moment. Croaked. Rubbed his head in thought. Nia glanced down at him as he croaked again, nearly dropping him when he shouted "aha!" in his squeaky voice. "Yes, yes that's it! Ahem, now, pay attention. The power is called 'Aldebaran pinpoint pursuit.'"

He took a moment to sort out his thoughts. "How did that go about again.. oh yes. All you have to do is touch your key, you don't have to say it. Then your key will go all radar-like and indicate the direction in which an enemy has run off to. I can't recall how it lets you know, but it does."
Vaporum blinked and looked up at Rian. "Simple, eh? Did you get that alright?"

Rian blinked back. "Yeah," she said. "Um...thank you. I think I'll save the radar stuff for when there's only one of 'em, though. They're kind of...feisty." She smiled at Vapo, then at Nia. "Thanks for showing up. I was hoping I'd get to see another teammate. Now's not a good time, but would you mind meeting up to talk? Or patrol, or whatever it is we Astronomia do these days?"

Nia brightened and nodded. "Sure thing. Hopefully the talk won't end up in the middle of another craft store activity." She grinned a bit at that.

Rian grinned and gave Nia her phone number, then said, "I've gotta grab my stuff and panic out of here like I don't know what's going on. I don't want my brother to try hitchhiking home. He gets ideas. And I think he knows...about the senshi thing. I'll have to talk to him."

"Well, if the child does know you better give him a thorough threat to keep him quiet, especially if he does get... 'ideas.' Now, I sure hope you do give him a thorough talk including these threats and-"

"Vapo! Shh!" Nia scowled at him and tapped her finger on his mouth to get him quiet. She smiled apologetically at Rian. "Never mind him. I'm sure if you explain things he'll understand and know to keep quiet." Slipping the paper with the number on it in her purse, she snapped it shut. "Then I guess I'Il be seeing you around, and somewhat often." Nia smiled at the girl again, sincerely glad that things were going somewhat well.

Rian hugged her impulsively, trying not to smush the little frog. "Thanks again...be safe."

She took off across the store, gathering up her purse and leaving her crafting mess behind without a glance. She wondered where the others at her table had gone - straight home, probably, after all that. She could only hope that no one had seen her transform.  That would have just been the icing on the cake of all cakes that this day had become. 

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