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That night was oddly calm in Kallichore's book. Usually this part of town, with its tennis court and upper-middle-class houses lining parts of the neighborhood, was ripe with summertime vandalism. Teenagers with little else to do with themselves, fearing the end of their summer and freedom, would frequently rob houses or break into cars to steal petty things like stereos and pocket change. The eternal senshi wanted a change of pace, so she sat in a tree near the tennis courts and waited.

Yet, oddly, no one came. Not even a youma.

Kallichore frowned.

She wasn't exactly camouflaged to anyone with a powered starseed - she could do nothing to hide her eternal power signature from anyone looking for her. Even up in the greenery, attempting to hide in the full branches of an oak tree, she stood out like a sore thumb with entirely too much white and red. Propped up in the branches in an odd crouch, Kallichore nearly gave up the position to patrol on the rooftops - she didn't like a whole night wasted.

Definitely need to visit the moon again...

...maybe take impressions of those strange carvings all over the walls...

...and that pool deep in the castle, what was that all about?

Deep in her own thoughts, Kallichore had nearly fallen asleep and had chastised herself for it. With a great stretch that she didn't bother to hide, the eternal sighed and shifted the branches around here. Nearly a wasted night, but not entirely. Down below, the senshi caught sight of a familiar head of white hair - Mei. She was the one Kallichore had met several nights before. When Mei had sat down on the bench, the eternal realized the girl couldn't see her and dropped down near the bench.

"Mei, how have you been?" she asked, attempting to make regular conversation. She hadn't seen the girl in a while. "Has anyone been bothering you?"

The eternal was a little taken aback by Mei's surprise. She tilted her head. "I... thought we agreed to meet here...?" Really, she was just pleased Mei was still in one piece and didn't look too worse for the wear.

Kallichore gratefully sat down and plucked out a piece of fruit for starters. "Thank you. It's not often I grab a snack during patrol. I think I should do that more often." Chewing thoughtfully, the senshi went over the events of the past week or so. "The black-outfitted people are everywhere, I'm afraid. But when you get to my level, they usually give you a wide berth. Not that this stops them from causing trouble somewhere else. I usually have to hunt them down and stop them from draining civilians... or worse."

Summoning youma comes to mind.

She shook her head. Enough negativity. "I'm glad to hear people have been leaving you alone. They should know better, what with all the magic and police officers in the city. One would think crime would go down, you know?" Not that Kallichore would know anything about Destiny City's crime rates, but it was a comforting thought. "Speaking of magic, I was thinking of visiting my moon again. Maybe sometime you could go with me? If you'd like, of course."

It would be the first time Kallichore took a civilian to her moon, but there was always a first time for everything. "It's perfectly safe -- and breathable."

A strange look crossed Kallichore's features when she was handed a black velvet bag. Something long, slender and cylindrical rested inside.

This isn't a pregnancy test, is it?? was the first thought that crossed her mind.

How ridiculous.

Shaking her head, the eternal opened the satchel and pulled out its contents. She immediately recognized it as a henshin pen, the beginnings of senshidom. It was similar to the one she'd received from a cat years ago. "Mei... I'm sure you know what this is..." she stated, turned to face the white haired girl full on. "Who was the cat? When did this happen?" Kallichore had about a billion other questions but to start blurting them out in sequence would probably be a bad idea. Her thoughts now turned to keeping the pen a secret from prying eyes - one could never know who was an agent in plain clothes, so back in the bag went the henshin pen.

"Why are you embarrassed? Being a senshi is nothing to be ashamed of..."

She suddenly stood up and performed a mental scan. No powered signatures within the vicinity, but that didn't mean Mei wasn't in danger from plainclothes civilians who bore Negaverse or Dark Mirror identities lurking somewhere in the darkness. It wasn't safe here for a newly-minted senshi to be discussing things while still in her civilian guise and if she were to power up here, out in the open, she risked being seen by someone unsavory.

Kallichore turned to Mei. "We'll talk more about this on the moon. Would you stand up for me? It's quick and painless, I assure you. I just want to make sure you're safe."

The eternal senshi, with a flick of her wrist, summoned her cellphone from the dimension in which it rested. "I don't know if Julienne explained this to you... I've never met a cat named Julienne but they're usually pretty good about explaining things if their eyes face one direction at a time." She shook her head. No time for that now. "Please, stand close to me. This won't be too bumpy of a ride but it's not something you can really write home about..."

When she thought Mei was prepared enough, Kallichore pushed the center button on her cellphone and a golden column of light descended upon the pair, rocketing them up through Earth's atmosphere with blinding speed all the way to one of Jupiter's smallest moons. The fields that greeted them when they finally landed were fresh, unpolluted and serene. Eerily quite, Mei and Kallichore landed near the stone steps leading up to the expansive Oracle Castle, which stood in white marble on the plateau ahead of them. Several staircases wound their way around the smoothed rock face up to the castle's gate.

The moon of Kallichore was a quiet place with gentle winds and a calm temperature. Its greenery was blinding, like the highlands of Scotland. Hardly any trees greeted them. Instead, gentle rolling grasslands inside the cradle of a mountain range were the sights to see. The senshi looked back to Mei to make sure she was alright. "Mei? You still with me?"

The eternal senshi had to chuckle. "Now I have to ask - what did you expect it to look like?" Truth be told, Kallichore herself never even had a clue what to expect until she arrived. She didn't even stop to think that perhaps the moon would be modeled after her sphere. Now she came to understand that it was likely different places were modeled after different things, like Tsui's expansive jungle full of spectral tigers. Rolling grasslands of Kallichore were odd but probably not all that unusual in the grand scheme of things.

Taking a few steps up on the carved stone staircase, the eternal senshi turned around to face Mei. "You're safe here, so no Negaverse agents will see you power up and be able to track you down later. That's what I was worried about. A sudden flare of energy can be felt by anyone with powers so someone could easily show up and ambush you..." It was one thing Kallichore was thankfully aware of but never experienced. She had no doubt some had been killed due to being unlucky.

She turned to look back up at the castle and her eyes narrowed. "If we go inside, we'll be out of the breeze. You can power up here or inside but either way, I'd like to see what kind of power you've been given. If... you don't mind." Kallichore made an odd face, as if she just realized she'd all but demanded to see Mei's powered form even if she didn't mean to. The senshi sighed inwardly and pinched her nose between thumb and finger.

Kallichore watched with a sense of pride as Mei, no - Sidouer - powered up in the harbored safety of her moon. When the lights and sparkles finished in the blink of an eye, the eternal couldn't help but look the newly-minted senshi over. Walking a few short circles around Sidouer, Kallichore nodded approval. "The cosmic tailor doesn't always give us what we want, but I like your style. It looks Asian-inspired, very sleek. And think of it this way - if you don't look intimidating, it's easier to surprise your enemy."

Returning to Sidouer's front, Kallichore nodded. "What do you think? Did Julienne give you any other info than your cell and henshin pen? I know my awakening was pretty rocky - I hope nobody else's is. There's so much information that would make the process easier. I don't understand why most cats don't stick around and explain it, even if it takes a few days..." So many lives could be saved, maybe corrupted senshi would never have to go down that road...

But that discussion was for another time. "If you're up for it, I'll train you in everything I know. Now that you have powers, you're a warrior. But a warrior is nothing but a target without knowledge and skills..."

The eternal shifted her weight and nodded in agreement. Turning around, she started up the stone steps that lead to the castle and motioned for Sidouer to follow. "I can't imagine it's easy to give Senshi 101 while you're on the run from somebody. I'll keep Mariposite's name in mind when I'm out patrolling. I'll give him a piece of my mind if I see him..."

When the pair reached the apex of the staircase, two large wooden doors greeted them. Kallichore pushed one open and gestured for Sidouer to come inside. "I think it's a little easier to understand the war if you understand what started it... and we'll go from there."

Sidouer was greeted by a grand foyer with a deep staircase disappearing into the floor some 10 yards ahead of them. The foyer itself was an oval room made of the same pale material as the stairs outside, covered in elaborate carvings of alien origin. "All senshi came from a place they're named after. Your star, I think it's a star, is Sidouer, just like you are. You had a life there, however long ago it was, and the solar system, near as I can tell, was at peace." The eternal senshi walked about the room slowly, hands behind her back like a college professor giving a lecture. "Then, Chaos came and destroyed everything."

Kallichore reached up to touch the wall, as if hoping she would suddenly understand what the script was trying to say. "That is why life doesn't exist on these moons and stars anymore - Chaos wiped them out. A lie that is told to the Negaverse agents is that we destroyed our own civilizations. I've had a couple agents tell me this. I'm sure there are other lies the higher-ups tell their recruits to keep them under the thumb of Chaos, but that's for another time."

"I've been to the moon - the one that orbits the Earth. I can take you there someday if you'd like, but an apparition of the ancient Moon Queen told us that her daughter, the Princess, fell in love with a prince from the Earth, and Chaos used this as a way to incite a war and our moons and stars were casualties. Sounds like Romeo and Juliet on a much, much wider scale. The Moon Queen somehow sealed Chaos away at the expense of her own life. I don't know many details beyond that but I do know that it's likely the Prince and Princess no longer exist, or they weren't reincarnated like we were. I would hazard to guess they would have shown up by now, maybe put an end to things. But that's ancient history."

Heels clicked as she turned around. "More recently, Chaos broke the seal, came back, set up an army using recruits from our own city, and told they we're extraterrestrial invades hellbent on enslaving the Earth for the Moon Queen or some such nonsense." Pinching the bridge of her nose, the eternal senshi sighed. "In any case, the factions of Chaos want to wipe us out for one reason or another. The White Moon Senshi, as we're called, are pretty disorganized in the grand scheme of things, but Chaos hasn't succeeded yet. And I don't want it to get to you, either. But that's the basic history lesson of where we are now. Chaos wants the Earth, or at least, I assume that's the goal. And it will do anything it can, and kill or corrupt anyone it can, in order to achieve that goal."