Daniella Wood opened the front door to her house and walked outside.  Cypress, her pet dove, flew out of Daniella’s bedroom window and landed on her shoulder.  "Hello, Cypress," Daniella said, although she knew that he couldn’t hear her.  "Nice day out today, isn’t it?"  Daniella asked the bird.  Cypress flew off of her shoulder and flew back through the open window.
    Daniella continued walking, shouldering her heavy bookbag, on the way to Avalon High school.  Suddenly, someone running the opposite direction plowed into her forcefully.
    "Ow!" Daniella cried out as she fell to the ground.  "Why don’t you watch where you’re…oh, hi, Sara," she greeted her friend Sara Riker, the one who had knocked her over.
    "Oh,  gosh!  I’m so sorry Dani!" Sara exclaimed, calling Daniella by her nickname.  "Here, let me help you with your books…" the purple-haired girl picked up the books that Dani had dropped.
    "Sara…really, it’s okay," Dani replied.  "You don’t have to…"
     "Oh, shoot!" Sara dropped the books again.  "I’m so, so sorry, Dani.  Are you okay?"
     Dani rolled her eyes.  Sara could be a little clumsy sometimes.  "I’m fine, Sara.  It’s okay.  Hey, there’s Lilia," she said, noticing their friend Lilia de Larke walking down the street toward them.
     "Oh!  Hiiiii, Lilia!" Sara called to their friend.
     "Hi, guys," Lilia greeted them.  "Looks like Sara had a klutz attack again.  Need help with those books, Dani?"
     "No, that’s okay, Lilia.  So, what’s up?" Dani asked.
     "I am not a klutz!" Sara whined.  "Why are you so mean sometimes, Lilia?"
     "I’m sorry, Sara," Lilia apologized.  "I was just joking.  You know I always do, right?"
     Sara didn’t say anything in response, she just pouted.  Dani rolled her eyes; Lilia sighed.  Another typical day for the three.
     "Hey, have any of you met that new girl in school?" Lilia asked them.
     "Which one?  There have been lots of new kids lately," Dani replied.
     "That Hispanic girl, Daphne Colinas," Lilia answered.  "You know, the one with black hair, who’s in 10th grade because she got held back?"
     "Oh, yeah.  I’ve seen her around," Dani confirmed.  "You say she got held back?"
     Lilia nodded solemnly.  "Yeah.  For failing all her classes."  Upon hearing this, Sara made a face.
     "She must have been real stupid, then," Sara concluded.
     "Maybe she wasn’t.  Don’t be so shallow, Sara!" Dani exclaimed, somewhat disgusted with her friend’s behavior.
     "Why are you all being so mean to meee?" Sara asked, beginning to cry.
     "Uh…hey look, Dani, there’s your bird!" Lilia said, trying to ease the tension.  Sure enough, Cypress had flown down and landed in a tree beside them.
     "Oh, hi Cypress," Dani went over to pet the bird.  "Out flying, huh?"  The other girls went over to join her, petting the dove and talking to it.
     Out of the blue, a demonic-looking lady jumped out of the bushes at them.  She had long black hair and red eyes.  She was wearing a long dress with a high collar that looked like a dress that a vampire would have worn.
    "Hello, girls!" the demon woman said as the girls screamed in fright.  "I was just wondering if you had what I was looking for."
    "We…we don’t have anything, miss," Lilia explained.  "We don’t know who you are…and—" she was cut off by the demon jumping over the tree and landing right beside her.
    "Well, we’ll see about that!" Long claws shot out of the demon’s hands and grasped Lilia around her neck.  Lilia screamed, fighting to get away.
    "Hey!" Daniella cried.  "What do you think you’re doing?"  The demon ignored Dani and continued to struggle with Lilia.  Cypress flew over to land on Dani’s shoulder.
    "Daniella!" a voice said.  Dani looked around, but saw no one that could be speaking to her.  It wasn’t Lilia; she was being strangled by the demon.  It wasn’t the demon; she was too busy with Lilia.  And it wasn’t Sara; she was crouched on the sidewalk crying.
    "Daniella!  It’s me, Cypress!" the voice said again.  Dani jumped with surprise and looked at Cypress, who was perched on her shoulder.
    "Cypress?!" Dani asked in surprise.  "Since when can you talk?"
    "No time to explain.  Just run to somewhere safe, and grab Sara and Lilia if you can.  We must act quickly!"  Dani followed the talking bird’s orders and grabbed Sara by the wrist, pulling her up.
    "Come on, Sara!  We have to go," Dani explained to the frightened and still crying Sara.
    "Where?  And without Lilia?" Sara asked, wiping her eyes.
    "No.  We’re going to try to take Lilia too," Dani said.  She ran over to Lilia.  The demon had gone and Lilia was lying on the grass, unconscious.
    "Oh no!  Lilia…" Sara gasped, and she began to sob some more.
    "I hope she’ll be okay.  Now let’s take her back to my house," Dani said.  She and Sara stood the unconscious Lilia up, put her arms around their shoulders, and took her back to Dani’s house.

     Lilia heard a voice calling her name.  "Lilia?" the voice asked.  She felt freezing cold water being splashed on her face.  She sat up with a weak moan.
     "Uh…where am I?" she asked, sitting all the way up.  Dani and Sara were crouched over her.
     "This…monster thing attacked you," Dani explained.  She decided not to tell her friends about Cypress speaking to her, not yet anyway.  "We—Sara and I—brought you back to my house.  Are you okay?"
     "I…think so," Lilia said weakly.  "I still feel a little faint.  But don’t worry, I’m fine."  Ironically, just at that moment, a face peeked through the window.  An evil-looking face, one with red eyes and dark hair.
     "Girls…I’m back for your energy…" the face said.  It was the demon lady.  She leaped through the window, leering over them threateningly.  The girls all screamed.  They ran into Dani’s bathroom, with Cypress flying behind them, and locked the door.
     "What…what the heck was that?" Lilia gasped.
     Cypress sighed, an unnatural thing for a bird to do.  "I guess now would be the best time to tell you girls about your pasts."
     "Who said that?" Sara cried, instinctively looking around.  She was apparently still shaken up after the ambush from the demon.
     "It was me, Cypress, the bird," Cypress confessed.
     "Oh, good lord…Dani, your bird talks!" Lilia shrieked.
     "Duh," Dani replied, a little irritated.
     "Anyway, girls," Cypress began, "you had better learn who you are.  You three are a few of the Sailor Astros, who are the defenders of the Sapphire Star."
     "We’re WHAT?" Sara interrupted.
     "You’re the Sailor Astros," Cypress repeated, annoyed that he had been interrupted.  He flew around in a circle, and three transformation wands appeared in midair.  One was purple and green, one was green and blue, and the other was yellow and purple.  "These are your transformation wands.  Whenever you get in trouble with any of these monsters, transform into the Sailor Soldiers.  Just pick up your wand and you’ll know what to do."
     "How will we know?" Dani asked.
     "Instinct, of course.  You were defenders of the planet Astro in your past lives.  You protected the Royal Family there.  And Dani…" Cypress smiled at his owner, "…you were the princess."
     "I was?" Dani asked, amazed.
     "Yes.  You were Princess Zephyr, and your sister was Princess Nebula.  I was your advisor, and I had a human form.  You," he looked at Lilia, "were Sailor Vega, and you," he nodded in Sara’s direction, "were Sailor Io."
     "Cool!" the girls said in unison, exchanging high fives.
     "There were other Sailors, I believe.  Yes, several others besides you.  And as for that demon out there…she’s a Death Lady."
     "A WHAT?" Sara asked.
     "She’s a Death Lady, Sara.  She was from planet Darkdeath and she has two other sisters.  This lady out there is Lady Diabla, and her sisters are Ladies Espirita and Muerta.  And in order to fight these ladies and keep them from enslaving the human species with their Death Demons, you must transform," Cypress concluded.  Just then, there was a loud banging noise and the door flew open.  It was Lady Diabla.
     "Why, hello, ladies!"  Diabla exclaimed.  "Fancy meeting you here…"
     "What do we do?  What do we do?" Sara asked Cypress frantically.
     "Out the window!" Cypress replied.  "You’ll have to go out the window or go past her!"
     The girls chose to do the latter.  The shoved past Lady Diabla and ran outside.  Daniella was the first one to grab her transformation wand.  She raised it into the air and shouted, "Zephyr Astral Star Power, TRANSFORM!"  Immediately, shooting stars flew around her.  They wrapped themselves around her, and formed into a green-and-blue sailor uniform, white gloves with green trim, green boots, and a gold tiara with a green star on it.
     "Cool!" Sara exclaimed, seeing Daniella as Sailor Zephyr.  "I wanna try!"  She raised her transformation wand, crying "Io Astral Star Power, transform!"  A dark stormcloud surrounded her.  Lightning flashed around the cloud, and after a few minutes the cloud went away and there stood Sailor Io in her sailor suit.  The suit was yellow and purple, with gloves, boots, and a tiara like Sailor Astra’s only in the places where Astra’s suit was green and blue, Io’s was yellow and purple.
     Then Lilia held her transformation wand to the sky, yelling "Vega Astral Star Power… Transform!"  After chanting the words, she was encased in a glowing purple rosebud.  The rose spun in midair, then blossomed, revealing Sailor Vega.  Her sailor suit was purple, with a green bow.  Her gloves were white with purple trim and she had on purple boots.  She also had a tiara of gold with a purple stone set into it.
     "Good job, Sailors!" Cypress called to them.  He was flying above them and landed on the fence surrounding the Woods’ backyard.
     Sailor Zephyr looked at her sailor uniform and made a face.  "This dumb uniform is ugly.  I mean, it’s a skirt!  Do we have to wear these, Cypress?"
     "I personally like this uniform," Sailor Vega said.  "It’s kind of cool, you know?"
    Sailor Io agreed with Vega.  "It seems so…familiar to me."
    "That’s because we wore these in our past lives, remember?" Sailor Zephyr said.  "We were the Sailor Astros in our former lives.  This is…our destiny…"
    "Not for long!" a voice said…Lady Diabla.  "You’re those little Sailor brats, aren’t you?  Surely one of you has the Sapphire Star…" She lunged at Zephyr, trying to grab her with her clawed hands.
    "Zephyr Comet Fireworks!" Sailor Zephyr shouted, just in time.  Bright fireworks flew toward Lady Diabla, exploding when they hit her.
    Diabla shrieked, outraged.  How dare they do this to me, she thought.  She shot a stream of energy at Sailor Io, who cried out to Cypress.
    "Cypress!  What am I supposed to do?" she asked anxiously, as the stream came nearer.
    "Say, ‘Cyclone Trap!’" Cypress directed her.
    "Okay…Cyclone Trap!" Sailor Io said.  A swirling wind rose up around her, shielding her from Diabla’s attack.
    "Little BRAT!" Diabla cried in frustration.
    "Pollen Rain!" Vega yelled, raising her arms above her.  A cloud formed above her outstretched fingertips, which she directed toward Lady Diabla.  The cloud rained acid rain on Diabla…but she disappeared.
    "Did we get her?" Io asked in wonderment.
    "No you didn’t, little fool," Diabla said; she had materialized a few feet away.  "But I’ll be back, I promise you that."  And with that, Lady Diabla disappeared.
    "Cypress?" Sailor Zephyr asked shakily.  "What’s the Sapphire Star, and do I have it?"
    Cypress flew over from his perch on the edge of the rooftop.  "The Sapphire Star is the crystal that you are supposed to defend.  And you have half of it.  Your sister, Sailor Nebula, has the other half.  I’m assuming that that’s what the Death Ladies are looking for, so don’t ever let them know you have it.  And that’s what they’re on Earth for…the Sapphire Star.  They’re also here to enslave humans and make them hosts to their Death Demons.  The Demons in their normal forms are like ghosts.  They need a living being to survive, so the Death Ladies need humans to infest with the Demons.  But while they’re on Earth, the Ladies need human energy to survive.  That’s why they wanted your energy at first: so they could use it for their own purposes and use your bodies as homes for their Demons.  And from Lady Diabla’s actions, I can tell that she will keep her promise."
    "That’s for sure," Sailor Vega said.  "She most certainly will be back."