Chapter 3: Neo Sailor Saturn

Natasha sat on her bed in the room she shared with Rasha, looking at a book that was full of beautiful flowers. Rasha was out, exploring the palace and meeting the other girls who had come to be Sailor Senshi, and so she wasn’t too surprised to see the door open. Instead of her roommate, it was the cute little dog, Infinity.

“Hotaru says it’s time for you to get your powers. She’s in her room; do you want me to show you where it is?” Infinity asked. Natasha agreed and followed the Pomeranian to Hotaru’s bedroom. Hotaru wasn’t the only one in there; Lolita Gomez, a girl who had come from Mexico, was with the former Senshi of Destruction. Lolita was plump, like Rasha, and she wore her pale green hair up in a bun.

“Hi! Hotaru was just telling me about the time she was possessed by Mistress 9!” Lolita said, waving to Natasha eagerly. Natasha looked at Hotaru in surprise, wondering who Mistress 9 was. She then remembered, Hotaru’s father had been a member of the Death Busters before she was Sailor Saturn. Was Mistress 9 part of that group?

“Don’t worry. I was able to defeat her and regain my own mind when I became Sailor Saturn,” Hotaru reassured her.

“I think it’s time for Natasha to get her powers,” Infinity announced. Hotaru nodded and touched the puppy’s forehead with her finger. The sign of Saturn glowed and a beam of purple light flew out and hit the floor. In its wake was left the Sailor Saturn brooch.

“Are you sure you want to take that?” Lolita asked, barely disguising a grin.

“Why not? If the girl who killed Chibi-Usa or the one who attacked earlier comes back, it would be good for me to be able to fight to defend myself,” Natasha said.

“Sailor Saturn is cursed. You might get possessed too,” Lolita snickered.

“She won’t. I wasn’t possessed because I was Saturn, it was because of a deal my father made with Pharaoh 90. He didn’t even know what it would do to me, he just wanted to save my life. It was when I became Saturn that I was able to break out of that possession, and it was also because I was able to fight back and think about my loved ones and friends. And since the Death Busters have been defeated, they’re not going to come back for any of us. Also, you may not know this, Lolita, but the other Senshi and I transferred our powers into Infinity so that she could help us awaken all of you. There won’t be a Sailor Saturn unless Natasha takes the brooch,” Hotaru explained seriously.

“I was just kidding,” Lolita sighed, rolling her eyes, but then she perked up again. “If she’s Saturn, which Senshi will I be?”

“I don’t know. You might have to ask the Queen or one of the others,” Hotaru replied. Natasha had already placed the purple brooch in her pocket, and she started to leave.

“Where are you going? I was just trying to be silly, I don’t really think you’re going to get possessed,” Lolita pleaded.

“I was just going back to my room,” Natasha answered simply, a little unsure as to what Lolita wanted.

“Oh. I thought you would stay with me and Hotaru. She was teaching me about the battles she and the other Senshi had in the past, and I thought you might like to hear since you’re a Senshi now,” Lolita said, “And I want to be friends with all the new people who are at the Crystal Palace with me.”

“If you wanted to be friends you should’ve just said so, instead of telling me I would be possessed because of my new powers,” Natasha retorted, rolling her eyes.

“I was just trying to make a joke,” Lolita pouted, but then she grinned again, “Do Sailor Saturn’s powers have to do with rings? Because the planet Saturn is famous for its rings.”

“My powers never involved rings, not that I remember,” Hotaru answered, “I don’t think any of us have powers that directly relate to our planets, except for Tuxedo Mask. He had the ability to throw these roses, and Earth is the only place in the solar system with plants, so far as we know.”

“Yeah, not many of the Senshi’s powers relate to the actual planets. There’s no water or ice on Mercury, but there’s a lot of iron, so you’d think Sailor Mercury would have metal powers. And Sailor Venus’s powers don’t use sulfuric acid or any of the poisons in Venus’s clouds. Sailor Neptune should more have gas or ice powers, and Sailor Pluto’s powers don’t involve ice either. Sailor Mars kind of fits, though, because she wears red, and the planet Jupiter does have storms on it, which fits Sailor Jupiter’s lightning powers. And if Sailor Uranus is the Senshi of the sky, then that fits her planet since Uranus is mostly made of clouds,” Lolita recited, remembering what she had heard about the Sailor Senshi and their various magical abilities.

“You’re very correct, we don’t get our powers from the planets themselves, not in that way. Our powers are more similar to the gods and goddesses the planets were named after, and also the Japanese names for the planets. Suisei, or Mercury, has the kanji for ‘water’ in it, which fits Sailor Mercury’s powers. And for Sailor Mars, the word ‘Kasei,’ for Mars, has ‘fire’ in it,” Hotaru agreed.

“Does it really matter that much to you, where our powers come from?” Natasha asked, more addressing Lolita than Hotaru, “Whether they come from the actual planets, or Roman gods, or the Japanese names for the planets, does that really affect our powers?”

“No, I don’t think it would change anything, even if we knew our powers were injected into us by weird scientists, like in some superhero stories. It’s just interesting to compare the powers the original Sailor Senshi had with the planets they were named after,” Lolita shrugged, “Or maybe I was just trying to think of a logical reason for the Senshi powers to exist, since they seem different from the science I learned about in school. But maybe when I’m a Senshi, I can experiment on the Senshi’s powers and learn even more new things! Don’t worry, I won’t put you in a lab and cut you up!” Natasha hoped that was a joke. If Lolita was going to eventually be one of her Senshi teammates, she didn’t want to work with someone who might potentially perform weird experiments on her. There was then a flash of yellow light in the room, and water swirled in the air as a girl with purple pigtails appeared.

“Who are you? Are you another Sailor Senshi?” Lolita asked, curious. Natasha and Hotaru were more worried, since this girl might be involved with Spring or the one who had killed Chibi-Usa.

“My name is Summer, and it is my job to defeat the Sailor Senshi,” the purple-haired girl stated calmly. She then shot a blast of water out of her hand that knocked Hotaru into the wall.

“Try out your new powers! I want to see a Sailor Senshi in action!” Lolita exclaimed. Natasha rolled her eyes, Lolita was really starting to annoy her.

“Saturn Crisis Power, Make Up!” she called, and a purple and maroon Senshi outfit appeared on her body, similar in style to the one Neo Sailor Uranus had worn. Summer then decided to hit Lolita with another water blast, knocking her into thw wall closer to the door.

“Go find Rasha. She’s Neo Sailor Uranus,” Hotaru said. She had been strong as Saturn, but she still didn’t want to leave Natasha to fight alone if there was someone else who could help. Lolita grinned at the possibility of finding a new Senshi friend and hurried out of the room, a water blast barely missing her green-haired head.

“Saturn Deadly Shockwave!” Neo Sailor Saturn raised the Silence Glaive and slammed the point into the floor. Glowing purple energy streaked down the floor and hit Summer’s feet, causing her to trip in surprise. She then shot another water blast, this time aiming at Neo Saturn. It knocked the Glaive out of her hands, the large bladed weapon crashing into the bed behind her, the point barely missing Hotaru’s face. Neo Saturn hurried to grab the Glaive back, and she fell against the bed as another water blast hit her in the back.

“Uranus Whirlwind Destruction!” As Neo Saturn finally grabbed hold of the Glaive, she looked back to see Summer spinning around dizzily and another Senshi--presumably Neo Sailor Uranus, was in the room.

“Come on! Cut her head off with that thing!” Neo Uranus cheered.

“I won’t let myself be killed that easily,” Summer stated, a tone of smugness in her voice as she disappeared again in a swirl of water.

“Why are those girls attacking us?! I mean, I assume the one I just attacked is with Spring, the one I fought before. They never told us yet why they hate the Sailor Senshi,” Rasha whined, reverting to her regular form.

“Maybe you should’ve just asked her rather than attacking,” Lolita smirked.

“You told me to come and fight! So that’s what I did! And if they were going to just talk to us they wouldn’t have killed Chibi-Usa in the first place!” Rasha shot back. Natasha sighed, hearing the other two girls argue. It was good to have teammates, especially when she had needed help, but she hoped they wouldn’t all be as argumentative as Rasha and Lolita.