"Don’t you just love the mall?" Sara asked her friends excitedly.  She, Dani, Lilia, Michelle, Daphne, and Chrysta were taking a break from being Sailors to go shopping.
     "Not really," Dani replied.  "Too crowded.  I do like the sporting goods store, though."
     "Of course, who would have guessed," Lilia muttered, sarcastically.
     "You guys?" Michelle spoke up.  "Let’s go into this store, okay?"  She gestured towards the expensive clothing store they were standing in front of.
     "Um…Michelle, isn’t that a little expensive?" Daphne asked.
     "Not really," Michelle replied breezily.  "It’s okay, I brought my credit card."
     Daphne was amazed.  "Your…credit card?" she repeated.  "Lucky you."
    They went into the store.  Dani was looking at the clothes in disgust, wondering how anyone could even wear that stuff.  Chrysta was poking through a rack of jewelry, examining the beads on a necklace.  Sara was staring at the expensive outfits, her eyes glazing over.  Lilia was looking around, somewhat bored.  Michelle was selecting numerous dresses, skirts, and blouses from the racks, not even bothering to check the price tags, and buying them.
    At first Daphne was browsing around with the others, until she noticed a certain store clerk who looked awfully familiar to her.  He had short dark hair, dark eyes, and was fairly tall.  "Where do I know him from?" Daphne wondered aloud.  Then it dawned on her.  "Oh my gosh…it’s Ryan!"
    Lilia, who was standing around next to her, looked at Daphne perplexedly.  "Daph?  What is it?  And who’s Ryan?"
    But Daphne was already trotting across the store toward the counter where he was working.  When he saw her, he looked up from his work for a moment, not recognizing her.  "Ryan?" she said to him.  Ryan did a double-take, staring at her in amazement.  "Ryan, it’s me, Daphne!"
    "Daphne?" he asked, confused.  "Is it really…but I thought you had moved to San Francisco…?"
    "Nope," Daphne replied happily.  "We stayed here, I’m just going to Avalon High School now.  So…what have you been doing and what are you doing here?"
    "I had to get a job to pay the rent," Ryan replied.  "The landlord was gonna evict me unless I did, so here I am."
    Just then, Lilia walked up.  "Hey, Daphne, what was all the…oh, hello," she said, noticing Ryan.  "Daphne, who’s your boyfriend?  I don’t believe we’ve been introduced…"
    Daphne blushed beet red.  "He’s not a ‘boyfriend,’" Daphne replied, placing the emphasis on "boyfriend."  "Lilia, this is my friend Ryan McAlistair, from Stewart High School.  You know, where I used to go before I transferred to Avalon?  Ryan, this is—"
    "I’m Lilia de Larke," Lilia cut in, shaking Ryan’s hand.  "I’m Daphne’s friend from Avalon High."
    "So, Ryan," Daphne said, gently shoving Lilia aside.  "Do you want to shop around with us, or something?"
    "Well, I have break in ten minutes," he replied.  "If you guys can wait that long…"
    "Sure!" Daphne replied.  "How about we meet you at the food court, okay?"
    "Fine with me," he said.  "See you then!"
    "Daph, he was so cute!" Lilia said, once the girls had left the store.  "Are you sure he isn’t your boyfriend?"
    Daphne laughed.  "No, he’s not.  We’re just friends, thank you very much!"
    "Really…" Sara said teasingly.  The others, including Daphne, all laughed along with her.
    Then suddenly, a cloud of smoke exploded in front of them.  When the smoke lifted, a knife flew from nowhere and stuck into the ground.
    "Cuchillo…" Chrysta whispered, scared.
    Sure enough, Cuchillo jumped down from above.  "Hey, Mall Rats… you’re wasting a lot of energy…"
    The girls reacted immediately.  They grabbed out their transformation wands and raised them up.
    "Zephyr Astral Star Power, transform!"
    "Vega Astral Star Power, transform!"
    "Io Astral Star Power, transform!"
    "Andromeda Astral Star Power, transform!"
    "Inferno Astral Star Power, transform!"
    "Arcturus Astral Star Power, transform!"
    Cuchillo glared at them.  "It’s the Sailor Soldiers, isn’t it, well… You brats will be surprised to learn that I’ve found you a new Sailor.  And he’s on my side!"
    "A new Sailor?" Zephyr asked.
    "He?" Inferno looked nervous.
    "Sailor Orion, come forth!" Cuchillo called.  Lightning flashed around them, and a male sailor materialized.  He wore a white sailor suit with red trim, and had dark eyes and hair.
    "It’s Ryan…" Inferno whispered, horrified.  "How could he do this to me?"
    "Arcturus Cloud Capture!" Sailor Arcturus yelled instantly.  The area clouded over and Cuchillo and Sailor Orion were trapped by a chain of ice.
    But Orion did something unexpected.  He grabbed the chain and pulled it apart, freeing himself and Cuchillo.  He then grabbed Arcturus and slammed her into the wall.
    "Hey, child abuser, that was my sister!" Io yelled at him.  "You’re gonna pay for that, even if she is an irritating little—"
    "Io!" Inferno said, interrupting her.  "We can’t hurt him.  He’s one of us."
    "But he’s with the enemy, Inferno," Vega said.  "We gotta do something about him."
    "Orion Speed Arrow!" Sailor Orion shouted.  A white arrow of electrical energy flew toward them, directly striking Inferno.
    "Ow…" Inferno fell to the ground in pain, stifling a cry.
    "Inferno!" Sailor Vega said.  "Okay, Lightning Freak, you’ll pay for that one!  Pollen Rain!"  Vega raised both arms and directed the cloud toward Orion.  But before the rain could fall, Orion attacked Vega.
    "Speed of Light!"  A ball of light energy flew swiftly toward Vega.  It hit her and she fell over, electrocuted by the strong attack.  Cuchillo laughed triumphantly.
    "Three Sailors down, only a few more to go!" he hooted.
    "Cuchillo, when are ya gonna learn not to mess with the wrong people?" the familiar voice of Sailor Spica asked.  All the Sailors and Cuchillo turned toward the source of the voice.  It was coming from the fountain in the mall’s courtyard.  Spica was standing atop the fountain, watching.
    "You again!" Cuchillo cried, angered.  "What the heck are you—"
    Spica jumped off of the fountain, did a backflip, and landed in front of Cuchillo, holding her sword at him, threateningly.  "If you don’t just shut up, you’ll suffer the same consequence Oscurio did, understand?"  Cuchillo nodded slowly.  Spica turned to the other Sailors, her sword still hovering inches from Cuchillo.  She looked to Io, who was conscious again.  "Io, can you do something really quick?  Or are you too weak?"
    "I’m…I’m fine, Spica," Io replied.  "What do you want me to do?"
    "Can you trap this loser in one of your Cyclones?" Spica suggested.
    Io nodded.  "Cyclone Trap!" she shouted.  Cuchillo was whisked up into the swirling wind and rendered helpless.  Spica held her sword out to Orion, who stepped back.
    "What are you going to do?" he asked cautiously.
    "Nothing," Spica replied.  Waving her sword over him, she said, "Purity Healing."  Orion blinked, then looked around.
    "What…?  What was I…oh yeah, I remember now."  He grinned, looking up at Cuchillo still trapped in Io’s cyclone.  "What do you think, should we leave him there?" he asked the others.
    "Yeah, he deserves it," Zephyr replied.
    "No!" Cuchillo cried.  "You can’t do this to me!"
    "Of course we can!" the now conscious Arcturus replied.  "Easy."
    "Okay, Orion," Vega said; she had regained consciousness as well.  "Who are you?  Detransform."
    "Oh, fine…" Orion detransformed and, as Inferno had realized, he was Ryan.
    "Omigod!" Inferno cried out.  "It is you, Ryan!  I knew it all along!"
    "Um, and you all are?" Ryan asked, seeming abashed.
    "Oh yeah…"  The other Sailors detransformed.
    "Daphne?" Ryan asked, looking at who Inferno had detransformed into.  "You’re Sailor Inferno?"
    "Yeah," Daphne admitted.  "It’s a long story, Ryan…"

     "What a fool," Lady Muerta muttered as she stared into her crystal ball at Cuchillo.  "He fell for Spica’s stupid threats."
     "And now he ended up trapped in some cyclone," Diabla sighed.  "Will these warrior idiots ever learn, or will we have to go ourselves to complete this mission?"
     "Cuchillo!" Espirita shrieked at him through the crystal ball.
     Cuchillo looked upwards from his imprisonment in Io’s cyclone.  "Lady…Espirita?"
     "Yes, fool!" she cried.  "What do you think you’re doing in there?"
     "I seem to be trapped, m’lady."
     "Well get out of there!" Diabla spat out in disgust.
     "I can’t."
     "Ohh!" Muerta groaned.  "Must we rescue that witless jester from the trap the Sailors got him into?"
     "I suppose so…" Espirita muttered.  She snapped her fingers, and Cuchillo was teleported into their room.
     "So what’s your excuse this time, as the sailors call you, Knife Freak?" Diabla smirked.
     "Sailor Spica threatened to cut off my hand like she did with Oscurio, madam," Cuchillo answered.
     "And you believed her?" Muerta demanded.  Cuchillo nodded.  "Fool."
     "I will do better next time, Madam," Cuchillo said.  "Next time, the Sailors won’t be able to escape me…"