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It was your typical Wednesday afternoon. It was sunny, and the park had many patches of kids and adults alike scattered across the grass. The playground was a magnet for the really young children, with many of them enjoying the metal merry-go-round and the swings.

The sounds of laughter, cheering, and the occasional crying of a toddler decorated the park. Ellie usually didn't enjoy such vast amounts of activity in the park. However, it was a welcome change today. She hadn't even made it back to her house after school, so she was kicking it under a tree. Things had been so bland lately that all of the energy in the park was welcome to an energetic girl like the Meadowview girl.

It was a bit surprising, but there was a strange lack of dogs this afternoon. People usually walked their dogs in the park, or even let them off leash and played fetch with them. Blowing a puff of air at her bangs, causing them to rise and fall gently over her face, she gave the area a look around. Ellie was a dog person and was some what disappointed in this endeavor. Oh well, she'd probably have to go soon enough so her homework could be finished up.

One moment, no dog.

Next moment, dog! At first, Ellie seemed to eagerly bounce up and look around for the first sights of the canine. She could tell just from the barking that it had to be a medium to large sized one. She was a bit surprised to find that the subject was in fact maybe 5 feet away. With a person on a harness. However, the Meadowview student wasn't stupid. Where as an elementary school kid might have run up without any sense of responsibility to "play" with the dog, this girl saw the tell tale signs. The harness and the obvious white stick meant the girl walking the dog was blind.

The main question Ellie had as she casually observed is why the dog stopped where it did. For a moment, she stayed quite and just looked. However, with nothing happening except for an excited chain of dog barks, Ellie had to ask "So, is it okay if I pet the dog, or should I just let y'pass?"

She hoisted her body up so she was leaning forward a bit and waited.

"Awesome!" Bouncing up from her spot, the girl immediately went to doting over the dog. Scratches behind the ear, offering a hand for sniffing and smooching, and an overall hug were not good enough for Ellie, but they'd have to suffice for now. She managed to catch the name, and couldn't help but ask "Raja, eh? Like that tiger from that Disney movie?"

The blonde had a pretty silly looking grin on her face right now, but who cared! Dog! She had to have the luck of the draw that guaranteed she couldn't have a pet dog ever! Her parents were never around, and as they always argued as she grew up, there wasn't enough space for it to be healthy. At least the excuses never accused Ellie of being lazy.

Speaking of lazy. "Oh, no worries, I was just slacking off fer once. Figgered I could just hang out until I got bored, then go home t'work on homework. The usual crap." Ellie was still grinning and leaning in, like she was hoping to get a doggy kiss.

This is why you had to love dogs. They were just plain awesome!

On the mention of names, a little piece of Ellie's mind went "INTRODUCTIONS!!!" She bounced back up to her feet and casually took up the girl's hand in her own (as best as she could, the girl's hands were kinda full). Giving her best attempt at a handshake in this fashion, she replied "Nice t'meet'cha, Lilith. Name's Ellie!" Out of polite habit, the girl looked this Lilith in the face. And somewhere in Ellie's mind, she couldn't help but feel the girl's eyes were a bit creepy with their lack of attentiveness.

She figured it was human nature to still feel a bit weirded out by such a thing. Mentally shrugging it off, she took her hand back. Hoping to continue the conversation a bit (just because she was decently polite like that, nobody could accuse her of not having manners), she mentioned "Never seen ya at Meadowview before. Would have noticed a dog on campus everyday. Are ya homeschooled, or are ya at Crystal?"

Giving her honest two cents, Ellie blurted out "All schools are crap!" There was always something wrong with a school, no matter how awesome it might have seemed. She was certain there was something wrong with Crystal, and she already knew there was definitely something wrong with Hillworth (since that was the particular school's reputation).

"Sucks that yer parents couldn't come out 'ere though. Bet'cha miss them a..."

Ellie's voice cut off short. Something seemed off. Instead of playful laughter and general excitement in the background, she now heard panicked screaming. Glancing up, she saw people running away from one particular direction. And behind them, some sort of crazy creature that looked like a combination of a rusty seesaw and an ugly as sin minotaur.

Youma! her mind screamed.

"Sh*t!" her mouth uttered. Taking a look at her blind acquaintance and the dog, the blonde couldn't help but feel a bit of mental panic as well. "Lilith! There's a monster heading this way! You and Raja, GET OUT OF HERE!!"

Completely invading the girl's personal space bubble, she spun the girl to face an appropriate direction to start running in and somewhat smacked Raja on the butt in hopes of getting her running. Without a word, Ellie ran towards the monster instead. Maybe she could get its attention and divert it away from the general park populous that was stampeding away from the Youma.

Maybe if she had thought everything out clearly, maybe Ellie wouldn't have nearly been swept away with a crowd of people. She had run in the correct direction, then a herd of scared civilians redirected her to their flow. As a result, the blonde girl was redirected towards the playground. Instead of continuing to run, she ducked down and took refuge under the playground structure. The rest of the people ran, leaving the whole playground area empty.

"Sh*t! This ain't good!" she grumbled as she then began to fuss with the backpack she had been wearing. As she did this, inhumanly heavy steps thudded on the metal and plastic structure above her. If this had been a horror movie, maybe she would have stopped what she was doing. Instead, she dug out her henshin pen from her backpack as hastily as possible. She didn't hesitate to shout out "IRIS POWER MAKE-UP!!!" The transformation was a bit cramped (since the space she chose was a bit small), but she rushed out from under the playground as quickly as possible, her backpack in tow.

The Youma (which had literally been just above her) pawed a hoof against the ground, the hoof scraping against the metal floor. "Senshi... star seed..." it seemed to snort out, its sickly yellow eyes focusing in on the girl's bright yellow outfit.

Sailor Iris didn't get time to react, as the Youma lowered its head down, aiming it's strange seesaw-like horns at the sailor scout, and began to charge. All she managed to get out was a "Oh crap!" before the blunt horns collided with her, pushing her powerfully forward, flying onto the grass. The senshi of Rainbows was grateful that her landing was soft, but she literally felt like she had just been hit by a motorcycle. She rolled slightly so her back was against the soft grass and let out a groan.

There was always a first for everything, even getting your *ss handed to you in battle.

Sailor Iris had thought for a brief while that she was done with. Her parents would find her in the hospital with a broken back at best.

However, a foreign and welcome sound rang in her ears.

"Mind's Eye Flare!"

With such, the seesaw beast which had been slowly creeping up to claim his prize seemed to lose interest and began to flail about helplessly. His seesaw horns began to rattle up and down from all his spinning around.

The blonde scout began to try and push herself up off the ground, but found someone else's arm there to assist her. When she finally looked, Sailor Iris was a bit surprised to see another Sailor Scout there. There was no introduction, but a quick explanation as to what happened. Smart girl, whoever she was.

"That's all I needed!" she said with a grin. Putting her hand out on her right side, she clenched her hand into a fist. Light began to glow from her hand, but soon enough formed a definite form. Fluttering out as it grew, Sailor Iris shouted "Iris Rainbow Ribbon!" As best as she could with a sore back, she began to charge towards the Youma. It was not going to get the best of her. She began to twirl her arm about in the fashion you'd see a rodeo cowboy do with a lasso. When she was close enough, she flung her rainbow ribbon at the beast.

Her aim was good, but it wasn't good enough. She had been aiming for the creature's neck. Instead, all she managed to do was get the bull by the horns to speak. In turn, the seesaw horns slid off, then fell to the ground heavily in front of the beast.

The now hornless minotaur blew out a puff of hot air from his nostrils. It might have had one less way of attacking, but it was far from defenseless.

"Sailor Senshi... I'll claim your star seeds!!" it almost howled out as it now picked up what used to be its horns. It was a very resourceful Youma to say the least, as it now used the seesaw as some sort of club.

"Oh... sh*t!!!" Sailor Iris ran out of the way, hoping to not be the first target again. Where Sailor Metis was standing, she shouted "Sailor WHATEVERYOUARE!!! USE YOUR EYE FLARE THING AGAIN!!!"

Crap crap crap crap crap crap!!!

Sailor Iris continued to run until the overly angry beasty stopped and began to claw at his face. Last thing she needed were back problems for life. Or worse. She stopped just short of this Sailor Metis. Sounding a bit hurried, she muttered out "Yeah, yeah, Sailor Metis, got it, whatever!" Definitely wasn't the right time for introductions.

Once again, her right hand tightened up into a fist and soon enough another rainbowy ribbon was fluttering from her hand.

"Won't miss this time, ya *sshole!" she shouted out as she ran in once again while the Youma was distracted. In fact, the hornless minotaur had toppled over because of a lack of balance. Maybe Sailor Iris was feeling a bit cocky, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was trying to make this too easy for her and her temporary partner.

"IRIS RAINBOW RIBBON!!!" she shouted once more as her arm twirled the ribbon, then flung it at the beast as it tried to prop itself up. Now that the horns were no longer in the way, the scout's aim was much better. She aimed for the neck, and she got the neck!

Now, any previous Youma she had fought didn't really have much form, so when she used the attack, it actually sliced right through the beastie without a problem. This time, though the Minotaur-beast began to screech in pain, it wasn't a quick slice. The light from the rainbow burned through the fur, the skin, and began to cut through the flesh. The creature's neck began to gush with a nearly black liquid as its pained cries grew fainter. It was truly suffering in its last moments.

Maybe if she had been a kinder soul who hadn't learned to ignore blood and such in videogames, she might have stopped out of pity. Ah the things you learned thanks to your friends. Thank you Jared! Holding onto the ribbon as tight as she could, she continued to pull tightly. She could feel the ribbon cutting through, the minotaur's flesh giving way.

"...just a little more..."