A House Across the Street From Serena's

Alara looked out the window and watched as Serena ran out of her house towards her school at high speed.

"I can't believe that THAT is Princess Serenity," said Alara.  "Do the others know yet?"

A young girl with brown hair answered.  "Yes.  They have known since their own Last Battle.  As have we."

The other girl in the room, a blond, turned and glared at her.  "Rhea!  We weren't going to tell her about that!"

"Vesta," Rhea said patiently.  "We can't keep that sort of thing from our leader!"

"But..." started Vesta.

"SPILL IT!!" shouted Alara, effectively cutting Vesta off.

"Well..." began Rhea.  "It all stared a year ago..."
 

At Crossroads Jr. High, around Noon

"Students, and fellow teachers, may I have your attention please?" asked Ms. H to the assembly.  "We have five new students to settle down into their classes.  First, we have Alara Night." Alara stepped forward and bowed to the assembled.  "Next, we have Vesta Tree."  Vesta stepped forward and bowed to the assembled also, then stood by Alara.  "Next, Rhea Vine." Rhea followed Vesta and Alara.  "Next, Juno June."  A tall girl with red hair bowed to the assembly.  "Finally, Demetria Chill."  Another tall girl, this one with greenish colored hair, bowed to the assembly.  "All five girls," Ms. H was interrupted by snickers and snorts of disbelief.  "As I was saying!"  She waited a moment and continued, "All five girls are from the United States and have advanced far enough to be brought into the seventh grade class.  All of the new arrivals are to report to my class."  With this, Ms. H turned on her heel and stalked towards her classroom, mumbling under her breath about not having enough room.

Just then, the lunch bell rang, dismissing all the students to disperse around the grounds and enjoy the next hour and a half.

Serena and her group moved off to a corner to continue their discussion about the new Scouts.

Alara, Vesta, and Rhea moved off to a tree to talk quietly.  Juno and Demetria introduced themselves to each other and began to tell stories about why they were here.  Apparently, Juno had blown up a science lab in Michigan and Demetria had moved because her parents had died in Virginia and her only other relatives lived here in Tokyo.

Later, at Ray's Temple on Cherry Hill

The original Scouts sat silently about a low table in Ray's room doing their homework.  Well... not all of them.  Serena was snoring, loudly.

In the almost quiet room, a spark flew in through the window and floated above the table.  All the girls looked up and saw a tiny version of Queen Serenity from the Moon Kingdom.  Serena slept on.

"Girls, a powerful new menace from the Dark Kingdom has come.  You cannot fight them with the weak weapons you have.  I must give you new powers and strengths," Serenity said softly.

All the girls looked in awe as they began to glow with the color of their planets.  Serena slept on, snoring loudly, but glowing just the same.

There former transformation pens appeared and crumbled to dust.  The Moon Scepter also appeared and crumbled to dust.  Serenity stated, "There are new transformation pens in your Space Pocket's.  Serena has the Cutie Moon Rod in her own Space Pocket.

The glow faded along with the image of Queen Serenity and all the girls held small, crystal balls in the color of their planets with symbols deep inside.  The girls glanced over at the sleeping Serena and noticed her new locket.  It was a gold heart with a gold moon near the bottom.

Luna and Artemis choose that moment to pad into the room.  The silence was broken only by Serena's snores as the cats spotted the crystals in the girl's hands.

"She came," said Mina in awe.

"She gave us these," said Lita.

"I wonder if we should transform and see…" Amy started.

"What we look like," finished Ray.

Luna padded over to the snoring Serena.  She unsheathed her claws and swiped at her, lightly though.

"YYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"  Serena didn't like the scratch on her face one little bit.  " LUNA!!!  WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!?"

"Lower the decimals SERENA!  She woke you up for a reason!  And you probably just woke up Grandpa!" Ray yelled.

Serena sniffled, then whined, "Why are you always so mean to me Ray?!"

"Because this time you slept through a visit by Queen Serenity!!!!  You can even look at your broach and see the truth."

Serena looked down and gasped.  She opened the locket and saw that the Silver Crystal had turned into a pink crystal and it was in a heart shape.

Serena gasped, as did the rest of the Scouts.  "Uhm... Was that supposed to happen?"

Luna just shook her head, trying not to laugh.  "OK, girls.  What you have now, is your next power-up.  We don't know your new powers, or even your activation words.  Those will come to you when you need them."

All the girls nodded, including Serena.  Luna then brought up the question that had been plaguing all of the Scouts.

"Amy, have you got any more information on those new Scouts?"

Amy just sadly shook her head.  "No Luna.  I’m sorry.  I wasn’t paying enough attention when we saw them."  Amy looked down at the floor.

All the Scouts shrugged and murmured helpful comments then returned to their homework or, in Serena’s case, interrupted nap.