"Where is she?" Diabla demanded.  She was pacing the room, while her sisters watched.
 "Sister, don’t worry," Espirita said.  "We’ll find her."
 "Who, Nova?" Soldara asked.
 "Yes, Nova!" Diabla shouted.  "She left for Earth two days ago and hasn’t been back since then!"
 "I think I know where she is…" Soldara began.
 "WHERE?!" all three of the Death Ladies asked, anxiously.
 "I believe she returned to her normal form…as a Sailor Astro," Soldara explained.
 "What?  But why?" Muerta asked.
 Soldara shrugged.  "I’m not really sure.  But anyway, she’s a traitor now, isn’t she?"
 "Of course!" Espirita said.  "If she turned into Sailor Nova—one of our enemies—then of course she’s a traitor!"
 "Would you like me to find her and finish her off for you, Ladies?" Soldara offered.
 "Yes, that would help," Diabla said.  "How do you plan to do this?"
 "I’m not really sure, but I’ll find a way," Soldara answered.
 "And whatever you do, it had better work," Muerta said, as Soldara teleported to Earth.
 
 

 "Hey you guys!  Look at this!" Shiloe sat down at a table in the cafeteria where the others were, waving a flier in Daniella’s face.
 "What is it now, Shiloe?" Dani asked, taking the flier from Shiloe and reading it.  "Gymnastics?  You like that stuff?"
 "Well," Shiloe explained, "I thought that gymnastics skills would help us as Sailor Astros.  I took gymnastics for three years, and I thought it might be fun if all of us could go to the gymnasium for a group lesson."
 "Count me out," Dani said, making a disgusted face.  "Gymnastics is a girl thing."
 "Dani?" Lilia cut in.  "I’d like to remind you that you _are_ a girl."
 "That’s debatable," Ryan added.  "But maybe you’d like me to check, Dani?"
 "You’re weird, Ryan," Shiloe reprimanded him, elbowing him in the side.
 "I’d like to go to the gymnastics thing," Michelle spoke up.  "It might be fun."
 "So would I," Lilia said.  "Even though I probably couldn’t do a cartwheel for the life of me."
 "Neither could I, but I’d still like to go," Sara said.  "Chrysta would probably like it too, so maybe I should ask her?"
 "Sure!" Shiloe agreed.  She turned to Ryan, Moira, and Daphne.  "You guys coming too?"
 "Not me," Ryan replied.  "I wouldn’t be caught dead doing gymnastics.  They’d probably make me wear a leotard, too."
 "Moira?" Shiloe asked.
 "I’ll come, if you are, Shiloe," Moira replied.
 "I’ll come too," Daphne said.  "Anything to get out of the house for the afternoon, right?"
 "Right," Shiloe laughed.  "And who knows, this lesson might actually be useful to us.  It may help us learn skills that we could use as Astros.  Ryan and Dani, you sure you’re not coming?"
 "I’m not, that’s for sure," Dani said, shuddering.
 "Neither am I," Ryan said.
 "Okay…" Shiloe said.  "You guys don’t know what you’ll be missing, though."
 "I know what I’m missing: I’m missing out on making a fool of myself," Ryan said.
 "No, you’re missing out on a great experience, that’s what!" Daphne replied.
 "You sound like an advertisement, or something, Daphne," Ryan teased.
 "At least I don’t sound like a vacuum cleaner," Daphne shot back.
 Lilia rolled her eyes.  "I’m glad that Ryan’s not coming with us today," she said.  "He and Daphne would just argue the whole time."

 Soldara, in her human form, walked into the gymnasium.  "People waste so much energy here, doing what they call gymnastics," she thought.  "This would be a good place to attack."  She went into the area where the gymnasts were practicing and took out her energy absorber.
 "Excuse me, miss," one of the gymnasts said.  "This area is for the gymnasts only."
 "Not anymore!" Soldara snapped.  She raised her energy absorber and stole the gymnasts’ energy.  Then she turned the energy into negative energy and gave it back to the gymnasts, making them slaves of the Dark Force.
 "Now you will all do what I say," Soldara informed them, with a smirk on her face.  "You are under my command…"

 "Here we are!" Shiloe announced, stepping off of the city bus.  Behind her were Michelle, Lilia, Sara, Chrysta, Daphne, and Moira.  "The gymnasium."
 The group walked in, where they were greeted by an instructor with reddish-blonde hair.  "Hello!" the instructor said.  "I’m Dara, and I’ll be your instructor today.  You guys ready to do some gymnastics?"
 The girls followed Dara into the gymnasium, and they lined up in front of the mats.  "First we will learn to do cartwheels," Dara explained.  She stood in front of the mat and did a flawless cartwheel, flipping over and landing on her feet.
 "Cool," Sara murmured, impressed.
 "Now you try," Dara said.
 "I’ll go first!" Shiloe offered excitedly.  She leaped forward across the mat, energetically performing a series of cartwheels.  Unfortunately, she didn’t look where she was going and cartwheeled into the wall.
 "Shiloe!" Moira cried.  "Are you okay?"
 Shiloe stood up (with effort) and walked dejectedly back to where the others were standing.  "Yeah, I’m fine," she answered.
 "It’s just your ego that’s bruised, right?" Lilia joked.
 "Why don’t you try doing cartwheels without getting hurt, Lil?" Shiloe countered.
 "_Lil_?" Lilia repeated.  "Excuse me, but if you know what’s good for you then _don’t_call_me_Lil!" she threatened.  "And yes, I will try.  At least _I_ won’t run into the wall."  She stepped on to the mat and stood for a while, then attempted to do a cartwheel.  But when she did, she accidentally bent her arms and fell sprawling across the mat.
 "Hey, Lilia, what was that?" Shiloe teased.  "What were you trying to do anyway?"  Lilia didn’t answer, she just trudged back to the end of the line and sulked.
 "I’ll go next!" Sara cried eagerly.  She stepped up to the mat, then did the best cartwheel she could.  However, hers turned out exactly like Lilia’s, and she ended up falling on the mat.  "Owwww!"
 "Looks like you might not be the worst one here, Lilia," Shiloe whispered, giggling.
 "Shut up," Lilia snapped, still embarrassed from her fall.
 "Nice try, Sara," Dara offered.  "Who’s next?"
 "I will," Michelle offered shyly.  She took her place in front of the mat and jumped forward, turning a perfect cartwheel.
 "Very good!" Dara praised her.  "Anyone want to go next?"
 "Me!  I will!" Chrysta said, waving her hand in the air frantically.
 Dara smiled.  "Okay."
 Chrysta hopped up to the mat, smiling proudly.  She cartwheeled, but while she was on her hands her legs were bent.  She ended up on her knees.  "Oops," was all she said.
 "It’s all right," Dara assured her.  Chrysta smiled and went to the back of the line.
 "I’ll go next," Daphne volunteered.  She jumped up onto the mat and sprang forward, but in midair she collapsed, landing flat on her back.  She got up, embarrassed, and went back to the back of the line.
 "Anyone who hasn’t gone yet?" Dara asked.
 "I haven’t," Moira said, going to the front of the line.  Upon seeing Dara, she thought, "Hey, she looks familiar."  But she brushed that thought aside and proceeded to do her cartwheel.  Much to her surprise, she did a very good cartwheel, and she managed not to land on her back.
 "Good job, you guys!" Dara said.  "You’re all good gymnasts, and for those of you who fell, that’s okay.  I’m sure you can do better.  Now let’s try the trampoline!"
 "Trampoline?" Lilia repeated.  "I’m not gonna like this…"
 
 

 "I wonder if the Sailor Astros are here?" Soldara wondered, watching the group of girls jumping on the trampoline.  She was posing as Dara, a gymnastics instructor at the gymnasium.  "Surely the girls that I’m teaching now can’t be the Astros.  Some of them might be, like those two girls Shiloe and Michelle.  But the rest are all too clumsy to be sailor soldiers.  The Astros aren’t a bunch of klutzy, giggling girls.  So I guess these girls aren’t the ones, but the only way to find out is to attack them, right?"

 "This…is…fun!" Sara laughed as she was bouncing on the trampoline.  "Maybe…I can…do a flip!"  She jumped up high, then turned a somersault in the air.  But as she was coming back down, she mistimed her flip and landed on her face.
 Lilia, who was watching her, started to laugh.  "What _was_ that anyway, Sara?" she asked, hopping up on the trampoline next to her.  "Step aside, and let me show you."  Sara jumped off of the trampoline, and Lilia got back on.  Lilia jumped up and down for a while to gain height, then took a flying leap into the air and backflipped, somehow managing to land on her feet.
 "Hey, Lil, that was good for once!" Shiloe exclaimed in surprise.  She had been watching Lilia from atop the parallel bars and jumped off to see what she was doing.  "May I try?"
 "Wow, Shiloe’s actually being polite," Lilia thought.  "I thought I told you not to call me Lil," she said to Shiloe.  "But yes, you can try."
 Shiloe jumped onto the trampoline and bounced a few times, then jumped up high and somersaulted over…once…twice…three times.  Sara and Lilia watched below, their mouths hanging open with shock.  Shiloe hopped off, giggling.
 "Where’d you learn to do that, Shiloe?" Sara asked, once she had recovered.
 "I took gymnastics for a while," Shiloe said.  "But even I didn’t know I could do that!"
 "Hey everyone!" a voice called across the gym.  Sara whirled around to see Chrysta on the parallel bars.  "Watch me!"  Chrysta jumped onto the bars and spun around them rapidly, then she jumped onto the high bar, swung there for a few seconds, then jumped off.
 "Chrysta?!" Sara gasped in amazement.  "Where’d you learn to do that?"
 "I’m not sure…" Chrysta replied.  "I just…I just did it."
 "Ouch!" another voice yelled.  Sara and Chrysta looked and saw Daphne sitting next to the balance beam.  "That huuurt!"
 "Daphne?" Sara asked, running over.  "What happened?"
 "I fell, duh!" Daphne replied.  "I was on the balance beam and I fell off!"
 "Balance beam?" Sara repeated.  "I want to try that!"
 "Be careful," Daphne warned her.  "I swear that thing can throw you off."
 But Sara didn’t listen.  She was already up on the beam, and walking along it.  But after a few steps, she fell off, coincidentially right on top of Daphne.
 "Hey!" they both yelled out.  Chrysta, who was standing nearby, giggled.  Sara glared at her, but soon she and Daphne were laughing too.
 "I’d hate to interrupt you here," a voice rang out through the gymnasium, "but the lesson’s over!"  All seven girls turned toward the origin of the voice.  Standing in the doorway was Dara.  She transformed into her normal form, and upon seeing her, Moira gasped.
 "Soldara," she whispered.
 "Okay, girls," Soldara yelled.  "I want to know who of you are Sailor Astros, and who’s got the Sapphire Star!"
 "We’ve got to get out of here!" Shiloe whispered to the others, and they agreed.  They ran past Soldara out the door and into the locker room.
 "She won’t find us in here, will she?" Chrysta asked.
 "She won’t," Shiloe said.  "Now transform, everyone!"
 "Spica Astral Star Power!"
 "Arcturus Astral Star Power!"
 "Io Astral Star Power!"
 "Inferno Astral Star Power!"
 "Nova Astral Star Power!"
 "Vega Astral Star Power!"
 "Andromeda Astral Star Power!"
 Once they had all transformed, they ran back into the gym, where Soldara was standing on the balance beam.  "Nice of you all to come back," she greeted them.  "Oh, Sailor Nova!  Funny seeing you here!"
 "Shut up, Soldara!" Nova yelled back at her.  "Nova Snow—"
 Soldara cut her off before Nova could finish her attack.  "Fire Dragon!" she yelled.  A dragon made of fire appeared from nowhere and flew towards Nova.  Nova jumped backwards onto a balance beam, but the dragon flew beneath her, burning down the beam.
 "Hey, that isn’t fair!" Nova protested, hopping off of the beam before she got scorched.  But the dragon swooped back around and began chasing Nova around the gymnasium.
 "Need help, Nova?" Arcturus offered.
 "How could you help?" Nova yelled back at her, as she tried to dodge the dragon.
 "Watch this!" Arcturus called back.  "Cloud Rain Freeze!"  A mist of clouds swirled around the gymnasium, and the dragon disappeared.
 "Hey, thanks, Arcturus," Nova said.  She turned to Soldara.  "Okay, Sol, now it’s your turn."
 "Oh really, Sailor Nova," Soldara replied, amused.  "I’m terrified."
 "You should be!" a voice cried out from behind her.  Soldara turned around to see Sailor Vega jumping on the trampoline.  Vega jumped off, turned a flip in the air, then kicked at Soldara.
 But she jumped out of the way just in time.  "I’m out of here," she said to the sailors.  "I’ll just get my daimon gymnasts in here to take care of everything."  She turned towards the locker room door.  "Hey, daimons, get in here and do what I told you to do!" Soldara called.  A group of gymnasts stepped out of the locker room door.  They looked like normal gymnasts, but the Astros knew what they really were.  "See you around, Astro freaks!" Soldara turned around and disappeared through a black portal that had opened behind her.
 "Now what’re we gonna do?" Io whined.
 "We fight them, duh," Spica stepped forward.
 "We don’t fight them, Spica," Andromeda corrected.
 "Of course we do!" Vega, who was still on the trampoline, said.  "Hey, daimon people, check this out!"  She leaped off of the trampoline, yelling "Vega Rose Blossom!"
The flowers distracted the daimons momentarily, but not long enough.  One of them leaped up onto the balance beam next to where Inferno was standing and pushed her off.
 "Hey, what was that for!" Inferno demanded, standing back up again.  "Haven’t I fallen off of that thing enough today?  Inferno Lava River!" she shouted, the streams of lava nearly burning the sleeve of the gymnast’s leotard.
 Another gymnast was trying to attack Arcturus.  The gymnast kept trying to hit Arcturus, but Arcturus blocked her punches and kicked the gymnast.  The daimon gymnast landed in a pile of tumbling mats, but she quickly jumped back up again and lifted Arcturus above her head.
 "Help!" Arcturus shrieked.  "Sailor Io!  Someone help!"
 "Hey, gymnast daimon, stop that!" Io shouted at the daimon.  The daimon turned in surprise to see Io standing on top of the vault.  She immediately lost interest in Arcturus, dropped her onto the mats, and went for Io.  Io jumped off of the vault and took off running across the floor.
 While this was going on, the other daimon had trapped Nova and Spica in a corner.  Nova was desparately trying to fend it off, while Spica was just swinging her sword around and not actually hitting anything.
 "Don’t these daimons ever give up?" Spica complained, as her sword narrowly missing the daimon’s foot.
 "No, they don’t," Nova said.  "I should know, I’ve had to deal with these guys before."
 "Maybe I should just put this guy out of his misery," Spica considered, glancing at the daimon gymnast.  She raised her sword and was about to bring it down when someone jumped her from behind.
 "Stop, Spica!" a voice from behind her cried out.  Spica turned around to see that it was Sailor Andromeda who had knocked her over.
 "What’re you doing?" Spica asked, bewildered.  "I was about to get that guy!"
 "Don’t," Andromeda instructed.  "They’re humans, remember?"
 "No, they’re daimons," Nova said, rolling her eyes.
 "They aren’t!" Andromeda protested.  "They’re humans, but Soldara just turned them into daimons.  You have to heal them, Spica.  It wouldn’t be right to kill a human who hadn’t done anything wrong."
 Spica thought about that for a moment before saying, "Yes, that’s right Andromeda.  Thanks!"  She went over to the daimon gymnast who had been attacking her before.  "Purity Healing," she said, and the gymnast returned to normal.  She did the same to the rest of the gymnasts, and they were all healed.
 "Hey, what are you doing in here?" one of the gymnasts asked, upon waking up.  "And didn’t you know that you’re not supposed to wear skirts or jewelry when doing gymnastics?" she added, noticing the Astros’ sailor suits.
 "Sorry," Vega said.  "We’d better go now, okay guys?"  She left with the other Astros, leaving three confused gymnasts behind her.
 "Kids these days," one of the gymnasts said, shaking his head.