((OOC Note: Occured prior to meeting Princess Ares
1,038 words))

Dear Diary,

It's been a while since I've thought about writing. I probably should have, but I didn't. A lot has happened since I last wrote, so I guess I should fill in the gaps before I get into what actually prompted me to write today.

Around Christmas time, there was this snow-alien that appeared, wanting to rule Earth. She was powerful, and apparently she didn't amuse the Negas any more then she did us Senshi. As very rarely happens, Senshi and Nega fought together against this threat. Of course, that didn't mean the Negas played nice the whole time. Some of them - Wolframite, Tanzanite, Linarite - got Castor alone and tried to corrupt him. I don't know if I was the first to notice, but I was one of the first to try and help him.

After several Senshi had appeared along with myself, Tanzanite seemed to realize that they weren't going to achieve their goal. She looked at me before threatening all of us with corruption instead of death.

This encounter... it wasn't easy. I didn't actually fight Tanzanite; goodness knows what a wreck I would have been afterwards, assuming I survived. Still, I'm not what I'd call a brave person. I didn't even think before I ran to Castor's aide - it was instinct more then anything - but when the whole situation caught up with me later, I nearly had a breakdown. I, some low-level Senshi with peppers for magic, had run towards a potential encounter with two negaverse Generals and a Captain. I should have died. If so many other Senshi hadn't been there, I would have, or worse, I might have been corrupted.

Thinking about it still gives me shivers, but at least I'm thinking about it. For months I buried my head in the sand, avoiding Negas altogether whenever possible. I stuck to helping old ladies cross the street, getting cats out of trees, and dusting weak youma. In short, I was being a coward.

During this time, I discovered that it was possible for me to visit Planet Pomona, so I did. I think mother might have been a Pomonian in her past life, what with her obsession with Tolkien. Planet Pomona looks suspiciously like The Shire, or at least the houses in the hills - and I literally mean in the hills - do. The planet seems abandoned, but from what I've gathered from other Senshi, all the planets are. As a matter of fact, my planet is better off then most.

Planet Pomona looks like all the people and their belongings vanished; just vanished. The buildings I've seen seem to be in good shape, though empty. The main thing though is the plant life; oh, the plants! Obviously Pomona was an agricultural planet, and without people to keep them trimmed and tamed, they've grown wild. There are weeds the size of small trees, and the fields are so overgrown that you can't see over the tops of them. Many of the plants are still fruitful, especially the pepper plants. I've learned the hard way that I need to be exceedingly cautious of the peppers on my planet; I suppose I should have known that.

One day I got this text message on my Senshi phone advertising a youma hunting contest. I could handle youma, plus I was feeling bad about being less active in my duties then I should be, so I signed up to participate. The first youma I killed was a licorice youma; go figure. Shortly after that I tracked down Iris, and thus *********, hoping to apologize to the Guardian Cat for accidentally hitting her with my attack during the Snow Witch battle. I made her some jalapeno corn bread, which sadly she found too hot, but Iris seemed to like. After talking a bit, ********* gave me a level boost, said it would help me be braver.

So I'm a Super Senshi now. My uniform is more detailed now, but I've yet to use my new upgraded attack. I certainly hope that it is more useful then my old attack. I still can't help but wonder why there's a Senshi of Peppers to begin with; seems pretty silly. I mean, I guess people in space had to eat too, but to have warriors with food-based attacks? Come on.

Anyway, I ended up killing four or five youma for the contest. I didn't win, but it felt good to be useful again and to see other Senshi that I hadn't seen in a while. I realized that I missed a lot though. While I was out, apparently these soldiers called "knights" began to appear. I've only met two, Lina and Nifhel, but supposedly they're good and help Senshi.

Sailors Polaris, Europa, and Maia are now Eternal Senshi, Maia being the most recent upgrade. More importantly though, apparently Castor is a prince. Prince Castor. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. When he was rescued around Christmas, he wasn't exactly grateful. In fact, he was rather rude. Granted, I can understand that having one's starseed played with might make one unsettled, but I thought his reaction was uncalled for, especially in light of how my unthanked rescue attempt ended up affecting me. On the other hand, he is a prince, so I guess I should protect him when I can, seeing as how there's far less royalty then Senshi.

Now for what's bugging me. Just the other day, I rescued a civilian from a chicken-lizard youma. After dusting the youma, I realized that the civilian was in fact my cousin Odette. This was the first time I've ever rescued a family member. I mean, I always knew there was a chance it would happen, but it just never did. Now that it has happened, I've started freaking out because it's made me really think about the situation. What about my family? I've got a large family, so how am I supposed to protect them all if they're threatened? If one of them turns out to be a Nega, what would I do? I hope none of these worries turn into reality, but I guess I can't stick my head in the sand again.