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Special.

She knew she was special and tonight absolutely-positively proved it.

It had begun like every other dull night this week. She'd gone to work, she'd slaved over at least a dozen dumb customers' orders for cupcakes, cookies (or whatever fattening pastry those cows certainly didn't need) and she'd survived long enough to clock out.

What she hadn't expected was running into the Mysterious Yet Kind of Cool Figure who had seemed intent on mugging her. Well, grabbing her chest, anyways. Perv.

She'd assumed they were trying to grope her, but hadn't really been paying attention to what they'd been saying. Something about being noticed, something about someone realizing she had some potential, yada yada yada. What had developed from this unusual groping and sharp stabby chest pain had been amazing, however.

Clinoptilolite. She was Clinoptilolite, magical special girl with special potential and special powers of some kind. Mysterious Figure said she was important for some sort of cause and that General so-and-so would be there shortly to help explain things, then poofed to who knows where.

She'd waited an entire five minutes and whoever General so-and-so was hadn't shown up, but she figured if the first Mysterious Figure was able to find her outside of the mall as quickly as they had, then this General person should be able to do the same.

Logical conclusion, naturally.

So instead, she'd begun her stroll down the sidewalk, breaking in her beautiful new heels as rose colored eyes preened over the beautiful silk gloves that now wrapped around her dainty, perfect fingers. Gorgeous.

She'd have to come up with a nickname of sorts, though. Clinoptilolite. How horrid. Clinny? Lite? Tilly?

Frowning, she paused in her strut as her eyebrows furrowed.

This could be harder than she thought.

Her head turned as she heard the greeting - but no one was there.

Eyes roamed the deserted streets, searching for the voice's owner. The sun was setting, but its final rays cast enough light across the streets and sidewalks to reveal the outlines of the street drains, sidewalk cracks and lamp posts, but no silhouette illuminated nearby.

Well, except some mangy rat.

And then it spoke. She saw the tiny lips move, heard that same masculine voice as the bluish looking underfed rat took a seat directly in the middle of the sidewalk. The animal....the animal could talk?

Her eyes widened even larger as the realization dawned on her.

She was so incredibly powerful that she could talk to animals. She was the new Cinderella! Snow White! It was becoming the new Disney Princess without the copyright infringement!

"New..." One gloved hand moved up to flip her hair back behind her shoulder, her head tossing it back in assistance. "If you mean I've just discovered my inner princess, then yes. Yes I have."

He didn't seem terribly impressed that she was able to understand and communicate back with him, which was decidedly disappointing to the newest Negaverse recruit.

"The Negaverse.... yes." The Mysterious Figure had mentioned the faction, the great and mysterious power that umbrella'd them all. More details were supposed to come with the arrival of General No Show, but she hadn't figured the details would be that important, right? She was magical and no one wanted to mess with a magical girl. But dangerous? Dangerous surely wasn't good.

Shaking her head, she stepped forward to inspect the furball a little closer. Surely he was exaggerating. "Dangerous? But I'm Clinoptilolite. I think I could handle a couple robbers or gang members. They said I was powerful."

She had enough sense to look sheepish, realizing she couldn't recall her new leader's name. "Y'know. The boss lady."

Metallia - now that was a name with power behind it. Better than Cleenowhateverite, which she was already growing tired of saying. How in the world was she going to sound intimidating if her name was too difficult to pronounce? Who even came up with these sort of names?

The notion that she was already better than the silly army ranking system the Negaverse upheld pleased her. It pleased her greatly in fact, feeding in to her already over-inflated ego. She was so pleased that she even graced the rat --- er, clearly now an underfed cat -- with her closer presence, bending down to close the gap between herself and the feline.

He was a scrawny thing, hair unkempt, the back of his neck and head matted. If it weren't for his sensible talking skills, she'd have assumed he was another starving feral, wandering the streets. His ribs were noticeable, jutting out from the tangled fur on his sides.

But his unhealthy appearance didn't deter her from reaching out to pat his head. She was wearing gloves, after all.

"If I'm so special," she said slowly, curiosity getting the better of her, "What exactly am I, pussycat?"

She watched the feline stretch, then suddenly display an acrobatic trick that would put half of the cats on YouTube to shame. But there wasn't time for cooing over cat tricks - not when there were shiny objects to be picked up.

A crimson glove gingerly retrieved the pen, her eyes leaving the talking cat to stare at the pretty new trinket. Her mind was still registering what he was telling her... she wasn't silly Lieutenant Clinny at all, but Sailor...Dia?

Dia. She liked that.

The name seemed to resonate within her. It fit, almost as though it were distantly familiar in some way.

"A sailor scout?" The pen rolled in her hand, her thumb rubbing the smooth surface. "So I'm like...one of those gang members I keep seeing on the news? But with candy?"

Her gaze flitted back up to him, the curiosity growing. "Wait...how do you even know this?"

"Guardian?"

She had so many questions - this was entirely too overwhelming!

Hand still clenched around her pen, she began to rub her temples with the tips of her fingers. Sailor Scouts, Guardians, Negaverse - danger. Her world was spinning and there seemed to be no one to stop it. Daddy had spoken about needing to take responsibility in life, but no one warned her that one day a strange person and a cat would shove it at her like this.

But she was special. Special. Dia clung to the word as though it would save her from this headache. Sailor Dia, Senshi of Candy.

The cat's instructions replayed in her brain. Go. Safety. They needed to get out of the open.

"My car's just down the street - we can go to my ho---what was that."

The brand new senshi froze, trying to sort out the feeling that had just pulsed through her. It had been a surge - a strange feeling of an energy's presence in their midst. Eyes darted around as she tucked her pen into her sleeve, for safekeeping.

"Did you feel that, Pussycat?"

Her heels managed to get off a curt click-clack before the blue haired girl made her grand, elaborate entrance, stopping them in their tracks. The surge of power she'd felt was ever-present now, clearing generating from this highly energetic shrimp of a girl.

One hand moved to shove back long waves of pink, eyes only briefly dropping to the fluffed up, hissing cat standing in front of her. Guardian, huh? Adorable in theory, but Dia had a feeling that this little furball would have a few issues combating against a fellow sailor scout. Cat versus senshi: outcome poor for Mr. Puss.

Hmph.

The idea of someone already coming in to steal her thunder made her furious. This was her time to shine, her time to figure out what was going on, to learn about how she would be saving the world from scum like this little twerp.

As the girl cried out her attack, the taller senshi flinched. She'd fully expected some sort of magical attack...which promptly never arrived. Instead, Speedy McSpeedy began zooming around, looking fairly intimidating as Dia attempted to keep up with her darting.

"Enough!"

One hand rose in the air and suddenly a gumdrop appeared, gently falling into the center of her palm.

It felt like an out of body experience, summoning the candy piece as her eyes narrowed towards the girl. Almost second nature, without a thought. Probably should have been alarming, but instead it felt natural. Appropriate.

Pinching the candy between her thumb and index finger, she pulled her heels together, her free hand moving to rest on her hip as she smirked.

"Oh, sweetie..."

One step forward and she was moving in front of Mr. Puss. It was her turn to protect the little Guardian, to flex this new-found power he'd spoken of. Her hips swayed with her second step, almost a strut. The candy remained poised between her fingers. "What exactly do you think you're going to do? Outrace me?"

"I'm trying!" came the huffed response, her free hand now rubbing the stinging spot on her forehead where the brat had thwapped her. Conjuring up the candy piece had been effortless enough, but even if her throwing skills had improved with her upgrade, she doubted her aim would be any good against a girl who never stopped moving.

Turning, she took a deep breath. Her zig-zagging had a crude pattern to it, left, left, right, right, right. Three steps one way, two the other - and throw!

The gumdrop sailed through the air, small and seemingly harmless until it made contact with the senshi's leg. As the soft candy hit, the surface exploded into thick, concentrated goo and as it spread across her skin, so did the grin on the candy senshi's face.

Having never picked up a cat before, Dia didn't think twice about grabbing the small feline by his arm and yanking him up, grabbing hold of his middle and pressing him against her side as she dashed off - Sailor Dia wasn't sure how effective the candy coating would be, but she wasn't going to wait around to find out!