"Cassie, come ON!" Mina urged, dragging her protesting friend into yet another store. "They're having a sale on halter tops -- it'd look fantastic on you, girl!"

Rolling her eyes, Lita stood and made her way over to extract Mina and poor Cassie from the clothing store.

Spirit seethed.

"Fool. I never should have entrusted him with such an important mission. Now I'm short one Elemental and still not back at my full power."

The remaining three Elementals cowered in a corner of the blackened throne room. The loss of Blaze had been exceedingly demoralizing, and Spirit's reaction of cold fury disturbed them still more.

"Terra!"

The Earth Elemental jumped at Spirit's bark. "Y-yes, Lord Spirit?"

"You will go to Earth and see what the senshi are doing. I will not let this insult go unanswered. They have murdered your brother -- you must make them pay dearly for this."

"Yes, Master," Terra agreed, suppressing a shudder.

Without further arguement, Terra closed her eyes and vanished.

Two hours later, the group made their way to the mall's main atrium. Cassie collapsed into a chair by the fountain, exhausted.

"Please, Mina-chan, let's just take a break," she pleaded. "I'm sure the stores won't sell out of everything if we just sit down for a few minutes."

Mina looked doubtful. "I don't know. You know the old saying -- the early bird gets the best deal..."

"Worm," Cassie corrected. Was it all in her mind, or did Mina seem to have a problem remembering any cliché with a references to worms in it?

"Whatever." Mina waved her hand dismissively. "Hey, who wants a milkshake? My treat!"

The blonde bounced off to retrieve the milkshakes, and Cassie chuckled to herself.

"She's almost as bad as Serena," she giggled. "I don't think anything could ever phase her. If she were confronted with an youma in full fury, she'd probably just grin cheerfully and offer it an ice cream cone."

"Nah, Mina's been a senshi longer than any of us," Lita explained. "She was Sailor V back in England; she's had lots of practice whipping bad guys."

"Not to mention the cupid tendancies," Peter observed dryly. "I can't believe she tried to set us up in both lives."

"Do tell," Lita prodded, sensing a bit of Silver Millenium gossip.

Cassie grinned. "Oh, I remember that. Poor Minako, she had no idea..."

"TELL me!" Lita wailed, beginning to lose her patience.

With a laugh, Peter attempted to placate the tall brunette. "Okay, okay, calm down, Lita. You were actually the one that first introduced me and Cassiopeia, but the pretty little Venusian princess had her own plans..."

"Oh Cassi-oh-pei-ah...!"

Cassiopeia flinched at the sound of the high-pitched, singsong voice. Oh, stars, not Minako... I didn't have anything to do with that yellow silk dress... She schooled her features into a friendly smile and turned to greet the princess.

"Hello, Minako," Cassiopeia said, nodding at the blond girl.

"I'm so glad I found you, my dear, I really need to talk to you about something--"

"I don't know who ruined your dress, Minako-chan, I promise. Honest." Cassiopeia cut in.

"Oh, that? That was ages ago, in the past." Minako waved a hand dismissively. "I've already found another dress for the ball, a fabulous pale orange satin gown, you have to come see it -- but that's not what I needed to talk to you about."

Cassiopeia looked puzzled. "Really? You've been lamenting the loss of that dress since you found it in the trash bin a few hours ago." She shook her head, determined not to ignite Minako's wrath over the lost garment again. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Xander," Minako replied mysteriously, her blue eyes sparkling. "Don't you just think he's adorable? You two are training partners now, and I thought, 'wouldn't it be nice if they got to know each other a little better?' "

Cassiopeia groaned inwardly. She should have known. Princess Minako, the solar system's most notorious matchmaker, had found a new target. Unfortunately, the poor princess had no idea that her two targets were already together. Cassiopeia thought back to the scene in the gardens a few days earlier and blushed furiously.

Minako spotted Cassiopeia's reddening cheeks and looked delighted. "I knew you would agree! Listen, the ball honoring Prince Endymion and his generals is a perfect chance for the two of you to get cozy. All you have to do is find a way to convince Xander to escort you --"

"Uh, Minako...?"

"And since Endymion's such good friends with Xander --"

"Minako-chan...?"

"And Serenity is just wild about Endymion--"

"Princess Minako?"

"I'm sure the four of you could--"

"VENUS!"

Minako blinked in surprise. "Um... what is it?"

"Xander's already taking me to the ball tonight. He asked me two days ago." Cassiopeia's cheeks burned, and she bit her lip in embarrassment.

It took a moment for Cassiopeia's revelation to sink in. Slowly, understanding dawned in Minako's eyes.

"Ohhh... so you two are an item! Fantastic! I can't wait to tell Serenity, she'll just die of happiness!" Her wits recovered, Minako grinned cheerfully. She quickly said goodbye to the blushing Cassiopeia and scampered off to her own chambers.

"Well done, Sailor Venus," Minako congratulated herself as she hurried off to change for the ball. "Another satisfied couple, another match made in heaven, if I do say so myself."

Cassiopeia watched her go, and burst into gales of laughter.

Just wait until Xander hears about this...

Lita clutched her sides, giggling furiously. "You mean she tried to play cupid back then, too? Amazing... the Venus love sense never passes up a chance to meddle with fate."

"I prefer to call it speeding up the inevitable," Mina spoke up from behind them. She winked at Lita as the brunette whirled around, startled. With a laugh, Mina set the milkshakes down on the table and pulled over a chair. "But I was right, wasn't I? You two did belong together. Soul mates, then and now."

Cassie turned pink, and Peter smiled fondly at her. "Heart Bonded," he whispered, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

Mina and Lita sighed ecstatically, and Peter laughed. "We gotta find you two boyfriends, so you'll stop going all starry eyed over us."

"Not a chance," Lita scoffed good naturedly. "We'll be old and grey and married with children, and we'll still think you two are adorable together." She winked at Peter and Cassie, and turned her full attention to the strawberry milkshake in front of her.

With a laugh, Cassie and Peter did the same.

A shriek from the other end of the atrium drew their attention immediately. Cassie looked up in surprise to see a young mother desperately trying to draw her curious son away from a figure who stood poised on the edge of the ornamental fountain.

"Terra..." Peter breathed. "The Earth Elemental has come to avenge the loss of her brother."

"Not if I can help it." Cassie and Peter turned to look at Mina in shock. The girl tossed her blond tresses behind her shoulder, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. Falling back on second nature and years of experience, Mina assumed the leadership role.

"Lita, Peter, you two go contact the others. Cassie and I will hold Terra here until help arrives."

Peter and Lita nodded and darted off, and Cassie followed Mina into a secluded corner.

"Venus Star Power, Make Up!"

"Star Sapphire Power, Make Up!"

Transformations completed, Venus and Andromeda rushed to confront the enraged Elemental.

"'Scuse me, miss? You're disrupting the peace and scaring small children. Do ya think you could take it to another dimension or something?" Venus spoke up smugly.

Terra turned to focus on the two senshi, and released the boy she had been tormenting, much to his mother's relief. "So you showed up, hmmm? That's nice. I so wanted to have a little chat with you about my brother Blaze."

"He's kinda indisposed at the moment," Andromeda answered politely, a steely edge to her voice. "Perhaps you'd like me to show you were I sent him?"

"No, thank you," Terra growled. "I'm not planning on being the fool that Blaze was. I am planning on killing you, though."

The tiled floor erupted beneath the two senshi's feet, and innocent bystanders began stampeding for the mall exits. Stunned, Venus and Andromeda fell back a few feet.

"Did you honestly think we'd let the disappearance of one of our siblings go unanswered? You will pay for what you have done, and when Lord Spirit regains his strength, your cries of pain will echo throughout the world for years to come." Another explosion punctuated Terra's little speech, and the two senshi ducked behind the fountain.

"She's on her guard," Venus whispered. "I don't think either of us would be able to catch her by surprise unless we separate."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Andromeda whispered. "Remember how we defeated Blaze? Mars' fire and my power boost? That's what we have to do here, too -- we just have to find out what powers can be used against her most effectively."

"How do we do that? Mars was the obvious choice with Blaze, but how to we know who can defeat the Earth Elemental?" Venus sounded puzzled.

"Think, Venus: what is your Love Me Chain made of?"

"Pure energy. And metal ore."

"Where does metal come from?"

"Uh... the ground?"

"Within the earth. If my logic is solid, you're the one who can defeat Terra. We just have to figure out how to coordinate attacks." Andromeda peered out from behind the fountain, and ducked quickly as another blast of floor tiles soared overhead.

"Um, okay." Venus agreed, still a little confused. "So how do we manage to take her off guard when she's got us pinned here?"

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

Terra screamed in pain as Jupiter's attack slammed into her left shoulder. She whirled around to see the other senshi assembled behind her.

"I'd say that's a pretty effective distraction," chuckled Andromeda.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" demanded Sailor Moon. "Why do you guys seem to like targeting the mall and the park? Isn't there anywhere else you could go?"

Moon struck a dramatic pose and launched into her introductory speech. "I am Sailor Moon, and on behalf of the moon--"

"Venus Love Me Chain!"

"Super Nova Implosion..."

The chain of golden energy encircled Terra tightly, pinning her arms to her sides. She yelled first in outrage, then in pain as the chains tightened.

"Hey, I wasn't finished!" wailed Sailor Moon.

"Can it, Meatball Head, they're kinda busy right now," Mars muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

Andromeda's eyes were tightly closed in concentration, as she struggled to increase the power of the chain.

"You can't -- It's not possible -- Master!" With a last howl of anguish, the golden leash constricted, and Terra vanished.

Mina sighed as she threw away the remnants of her melted milkshake. "They always know when to attack, don't they? Right when we're in the middle of a nice, relaxing day."

"Aw, just be glad they haven't caught you at school yet, Mina," Artemis quipped from her feet. "You'd surely be asleep."

Luna stifled a giggle and shot Serena a knowing look. "Well, at least that's finished. Two down, two to go. I don't think Spirit will show his face until he absolutely has to -- not when you girls managed to thrash him so badly last time."

Peter cleared his throat and arched an eyebrow at the black cat. Luna had the grace to blush. "Oh, and you too, of course, Peter. Couldn't have done it without you."

"Thank you, Luna," Peter answered pleasantly. "Nice to know someone appreciates me around here."

Cassie swatted at him playfully, and he caught her arm with a laugh. Mina giggled and exchanged a wink with Lita.

"What d'you say, you three?" Mina said cheerfully. "Shall we finish shopping?"

With a collective groan, Cassie, Peter, and Lita sweatdropped and followed the bouncing blond as she raced off through the mall.

It's gonna be a loooooong afternoon...