Ryoku stood in the center of the shrine courtyard, concentrating. He was dressed in his gray martial arts uniform and holding a staff in one hand. “You sure you want to learn?” he asked the shaggy-haired guy standing next to him.
“Yes, I do!” he replied enthusiastically, grasping his own staff.
“I’m not sure about this, Yuuichirou-kun,” Ryoku said skeptically. “I know you asked me to teach you this, but I think you should start small first. Just because you learned how to swing around from tree to tree and rope to rope from Grandpa, that doesn’t mean you can do this so easily.” He gave him a wry look. Despite the rigorous ‘training’ Grandpa put him through, he still wanted to be his apprentice. Well, at least Grandpa wasn’t acting strange anymore. Then again, the swinging from tree to tree thing had been funny, despite the situation. When he thought back upon it, it did seem quite hilarious. “You might just hit yourself in the head with it.”
“Please, Ryoku-san! Teach me!” Yuuichirou insisted.
Ryoku shrugged and went into a defensive stance, while Yuuichirou mimicked him as best he could. He thought he heard Rei mention aside to Grandpa that she expected him to knock himself out with the staff within fifteen minutes.
He idly glanced over to where she and Grandpa were standing. They were wearing their usual robes, as was Yuuichirou – hers red and white, and theirs blue and white. Rei looked bored and Grandpa looked expectant. Of what, he didn’t know and didn’t care. He was here just to give Yuuichirou a lesson in staff fighting. After what I heard about Grandpa being the carrier of the Indigo Rainbow Crystal and turning into a Shadow Warrior from Rei-chan, I don’t blame him for wanting to learn. But still, he doesn’t have the skill for wielding a staff – or any other weapon, if I’m any judge of skill. I shouldn’t be teaching him this, but he won’t listen. Oh, well.… If he knocks himself out, he can’t say I didn’t warn him. He sighed and went into a very slow routine, slow enough for his assiduous student.
Rei was wrong, though. Yuuichirou knocked himself out after sixteen minutes.
“I told you so,” Ryoku muttered dryly to Yuuichirou’s prone form. “Dummy. If you wanna learn martial arts, start simple.” He turned to the others and tossed Grandpa both staffs. “Would you mind if I practice here for awhile?”
“Sure, go ahead,” Grandpa replied as Rei began to revive Yuuichirou, all the while calling him nine kinds of idiot for wanting to do something so stupid. “You don’t mind if I watch, do you?” He told him that he didn’t.
Ryoku waited until Rei assisted a dazed Yuuichirou out of the way, then began a slow unarmed routine. As he progressed further into it, he accelerated more and more. When he could speed up no more, he leaped into the air and brought out his swords in midair, adding to the intensity and complexity of his routine. The others watched as he worked, highly impressed with his fighting skills and swordsmanship.
“How was that?” Ryoku asked when he stopped, breathing labored and sweating heavily.
“Wow!” Yuuichirou exclaimed in awe. “That was amazing!” The others expressed similar sentiments. Half-grinning, Ryoku made his swords disappear again behind his back. “You can do magic tricks, too?” Yuuichirou asked, surprised.
Ryoku was about to answer when he noticed a small streak of black race across the entrance to the shrine. Wait.… That looked like… Luna? A stampede of stray cats dashed past the shrine entrance, going in the same direction as the black streak went. Are they chasing Luna? Why? He ran over to the entrance and looked around. No sign of either Luna or the tidal wave of stray cats.
Rei walked up next to him. “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking over in the direction that he was staring in.
“I thought I saw Luna being chased by a bunch of stray cats,” he replied as he scratched the back of his head in confusion.
“There’s nothing there,” she told him. “Perhaps you were just seeing things. After all, why would a bunch of cats chase Luna?”
“I suppose you’re right,” he admitted. “Luna wouldn’t get herself in that kind of predicament anyway.”
“Right. By the way, Yuuichirou-kun now wants to learn how to use swords like you do.”
“Did Grandpa put those staffs away yet?”
“No. Why?”
“Want to help me beat some sense into Yuuichirou-kun?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Not too hard, though.”
“Of course.”
Luna ran down the street, wondering how she had gotten herself into this mess. Being chased by an overabundance of stray cats wasn’t exactly her idea of a fun day; in fact, it was quite a blow to her dignity. She only hoped that none of the Scouts could see her like this. It would be too humiliating.
The mob of cats chased Luna into a parking lot, where they managed to trap her between them and a wall. The wall was too high for her to jump and there were cars to her sides. Nowhere to go and the gang of cats were closing in. The orange-colored cat that was leading them began to approach her….
Suddenly, something struck the ground directly in front of the cat. Luna blinked in surprise as she noticed that it was a fishbone that stuck neatly into the ground before her. That somewhat reminded me of how Tuxedo Kamen throws his roses into the ground. She glanced up in the direction from where the fishbone was thrown and saw a huge cat sitting on the top of a truck, gazing down at the scene below him, especially at the cat horde.
The mob of cats backed nervously away from the giant cat as he leaped down between them and Luna. They continued to back away until they were no longer in sight.
The next thing she knew, the huge blue-colored cat was staring at her… and purring. Luna nervously scooted back a bit as he slowly walked up to her. I’m grateful, but not that grateful! Luna thought to herself. She was saved when a little girl began calling for the cat. He immediately left Luna and padded over to the girl, who was out of site behind a row of cars.
“Rhett Butler, where were you?” the little girl demanded, picking up the immense cat. Luna walked around the row of cars and glanced at the girl and her cat.
“Rhett Butler?” she repeated to herself. “The name doesn’t seem to fit him at all.”
The exact same scene was displayed in front of Zoisite, upon which the image appeared upon a swirling black funnel.
“My goodness,” Zoisite mused to herself. “A little girl has the Rainbow Crystal? The seventh Rainbow Crystal will be ours quite easily.”
After going home to change clothes, Ryoku headed out to the park. He was going to meet the others there – except Rei, who had other plans. Makoto said that she would join him shortly, since she was a little busy. He dressed himself in a midnight blue shirt with a light gray undershirt and black trousers, and headed out for the park.
Ami was already there when he arrived, sitting on the edge of the fountain they were meeting at. She was dressed in a red long-sleeve turtleneck shirt with a light blue sweater hanging around her neck and pale yellow shorts. She waved a greeting as he walked up.
“Where’s Mako-chan?” she asked.
“She’ll be here in a bit,” he replied taking a seat next to her on her left. “She had a little something to take care of.”
“Oh. You want to go through the program again?”
He turned to look at her with a questioning expression. “Why? I thought we were going to wait for the others.”
“We are,” she told him. “I just want to make sure that there aren’t any mistakes in the program.” She smiled humorously. “It wouldn’t help if my computer were to send us to the wrong place, would it?”
He gave her a small half-grin in return. “I suppose not. Very well, let’s go over it again.”
As they quickly went over the calculations and functions and other whatnot, Luna padded over to them. “Hello, Ami-chan. Ryo-kun.”
“Hello, Luna,” the two replied simultaneously, looking up from Ami’s minicomputer.
“What’re you two doing?”
“We’re just giving the Rainbow Crystal program a final look over,” Ryoku answered as Ami finished the final check and put the minicomputer away.
“Everything’s fine,” she reported.
“Great, now all we have to do is wait for the others,” Luna said and wearily sat down next to Ami on her right.
Ryoku glanced at Luna from around Ami. “You all right, Luna?”
The guardian cat sighed as she turned to regard him. “No, I’m not all right,” she replied. “I’ve just been chased over almost half the city by a bunch of mangy stray cats a while ago.”
“I thought that was you speeding across the shrine entrance earlier today,” Ryoku mentioned. “How did that ever happen?”
Luna grimaced. “I’m not sure, but I think it had something to do with my being on their turf or something.”
“It must’ve been awful,” Ami replied.
“I’ll say!” Luna retorted. “It was definitely something I wouldn’t want to repeat. They can have their silly turf wars; just leave me out of it!”
“Hi, everyone!” Usagi called out as she and Makoto jogged over to them. Usagi had on an orange jacket over a lavender shirt and blue shorts while Makoto was wearing a yellow sweater over a sleeveless red undershirt and green trousers. Usagi was carrying her backpack with her.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Makoto added, glancing around. “Where’s Rei-chan?”
Ryoku gave the group a half-smirk. “Since it’s Saturday, she wants go to out with Mamoru.”
“What?” Usagi exclaimed, seething.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, unruffled. “We can do without her for right now.” He turned to Ami. “Well, shall we get started?”
She nodded, pulling out her minicomputer. “All right. This will only take a moment.”
Luna proceeded to take a seat in Ami’s lap as she worked, while Usagi sat down in Luna’s place. Makoto was going to stand, but Ryoku stood up, allowing his sister to sit in his place as he stood in front of Ami and stared down at the screen as she pressed button after button. Of course, to him, the screen was upside-down, but he didn’t mind. It flashed repeatedly, displaying various alphanumerics and images as it did its job.
“What’re you doing?” Makoto asked.
“Looking for the seventh Rainbow Crystal,” Ami answered, not looking up from the computer.
Usagi glanced over her shoulder at the Crescent Moon Wand sticking out of the backpack on her shoulders. “But, the Crescent Moon Wand isn’t reading anything,” she pointed out.
“That’s why we’re using the computer to find where the Rainbow Crystal might be, before the Dark Kingdom does,” Luna told her.
“We finally have enough information to do that,” Ryoku added. “Especially since we have two Rainbow Crystals to help us pinpoint a location by triangulation.”
“By… what?”
“There,” Ami said suddenly. “All data input is complete.”
“Now, all that’s left to do is to wait for the computer to give us a location,” Ryoku stated.
The computer screen displayed a map of the city, then went on to zoom in on a certain area, one step at a time. After a few steps, the computer locked onto a location and highlighted the spot.
“That’s where we’ll find the seventh Rainbow Crystal,” Ami told them.
“All right,” Makoto said, standing up. “Let’s get going.”
A short time later, the group arrived at their destination – an ordinary-looking, two-story house.
“So, the Rainbow Crystal is somewhere around that house?” Usagi asked, glancing back at her friends.
“It should be,” Ami confirmed.
Luna, who was sitting in Ami’s arms, glanced over at the house. Something up in the second floor caught her attention. A large mound that had moved slightly…. Then, she recognized who it was. The overweight cat who had earlier rescued her from a gang of stray cats.
Rhett Butler.
That cat lives here? she thought nervously to herself.
“Let’s go,” Makoto suggested.
“You go on ahead,” Luna replied, slightly flustered. “I’ll wait here.”
The others gave her a puzzled look. “What’s wrong, Luna?” Ami asked, concerned.
“Oh, this and that….”
“Luna, this’s very serious business!” Usagi chided, while pulling on the corner of her eyes, making her face into a parody of Luna’s. “Have more self-awareness!”
“I’m not that ugly,” Luna remarked.
“She sounds rather self-aware to me,” Ryoku commented.
“Well, I guess there are times when even Luna doesn’t feel like working,” Ami said with a small grin and put Luna down.
“Wait for us there, all right?” Ryoku requested.
“Sit still, all right?” Usagi teased as the group started for the house.
“I bet Usagi-chan’s trying to get back at me,” Luna muttered irritably to herself. A familiar sounding meow from above caught her attention. Oh-no, she thought, mentally cringing in apprehension. She glanced up to the wall above her, seeing the cats from before leap, one by one, up onto the wall and glare balefully at her. One glance at the wall one the other side of the street showed her that there were cats lining the wall there, too.
Oh, dear.…
Usagi and Makoto waited at the end of the house’s walkway, while Ami and Ryoku climbed the steps to the front door. Ami pressed the doorbell as Ryoku stood beside her.
“Just a minute!” came the reply from inside. The door opened, showing a little brunette girl, holding an obese light blue-colored cat. She glanced at Ryoku, then at Ami. “Yes?”
“Hello,” Ryoku greeted with a half-smile.
“Are your parents home?” Ami asked.
The girl frowned slightly. “No, they won’t be back till night.”
Down at the bottom of the stairs, Usagi heard the Crescent Moon Wand’s beeping from within her backpack. “The Crescent Moon Wand’s reacting!” she whispered. Makoto turned her gaze from Usagi’s backpack over to the door, where the little girl stood holding her cat.
“That little girl must hold the last Rainbow Crystal!” she concluded.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason – at least to the humans – the immense feline began to struggle in the girl’s arms. “What’s wrong?” she asked the cat wiggling in the arms. The cat eventually broke free of the girl’s hold and started to run off. Despite the size of the cat, he was pretty fast, and the cat managed to knock Ryoku’s legs out from under him as he sped off, causing Ryoku to fall backwards down the stairs. “Don’t! Rhett Butler, come back!” the little girl shouted, running after the cat.
“Ryo-kun!” Ami exclaimed, running down the stairs. She and the others knelt down beside his moaning form.
“Did you have to knock me over like that?” he muttered as he slowly sat up.
“Are you all right?” Makoto asked as her brother carefully got to his feet.
He gingerly rubbed the back of his head while feeling for any lumps or bruises. “I’m a little banged up, but fine,” he told them.
“Good thing you have such a hard head,” she replied teasingly.
“I guess…. HEY!” he responded indignantly.
“Just kidding. Now, we’d better go follow that girl,” she suggested, just as they heard the girl scream in fright. The four Scouts shared a worried look, brought out their transformation items and quickly ran after the girl.
Meanwhile, Luna had just gotten herself cornered once again by that mob of cats. She was surrounded on all sides within the narrow confines of an alley.
Twice in one day. This’s just too much.…
The orange-colored cat leader suddenly leaped into the air and started to come down on Luna with one paw extended and all claws out. Luna covered her head with both her front paws and ducked, waiting for the attack.
It never came.
A blur of light blue landed beside Luna first and carried her off before the other cat could strike, leaving it to land face-first into the concrete. The light blue cat soared through the air and landed on the wall, above the other cats, holding Luna by the scruff of her neck.
The gang of cats watched as the huge cat fought to maintain his balance on the wall, since the additional weight of Luna was throwing him off-balance. For a moment, it seemed as if he was going to keep his balance. A few seconds later, he began to fall forward off the wall.
He landed on a garbage can, then leaped off that, over the horde of cats, and landed on a manhole cover behind them. Unfortunately, he landed on a side of the manhole cover, instead of in the center, so the cover began to tilt downwards where he was standing. The cover flipped completely over, dumping the two cats into the sewer system, leaving the cat horde to stare at the manhole cover and sweatdrop.
Zoisite looked down upon the collapsed form of the little girl. It was just as well that she fainted, since then she wouldn’t have to listen to any annoying whining and crying.
“Now I will have the Rainbow Crystal,” she said, holding up the Dark Crystal in front of the little girl. The Dark Crystal began to glow, emitting pulses of energy at her. The pulses of energy began to envelope her and penetrate through her.
But, nothing happened.
“Why isn’t the Rainbow Crystal coming out?” Zoisite wondered. She thought back to that image the Dark Crystal projected to her. The picture of that girl holding her cat…. Her cat! I see. The ugly cat of hers holds the last Rainbow Crystal. How careless of me. The Dark Crystal ceased glowing and returned to Zoisite as she snatched it out of the air in front of her. “So, the last Shadow wasn’t reborn as a human,” she muttered irritably.
“Hold it right there!” shouted a familiar, unwelcome voice. Zoisite glanced in the direction of the voice’s origin and saw four of the Sailor Scouts standing in the entrance to the alley. Well, actually Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Jupiter were standing in the alley. Sailor Moon was standing on the left side of the entrance beside Mercury, who was on the right side. Jupiter stood between them both and a little behind, towering over the slightly smaller Scouts. Sailor Knight was standing behind all three of them, and wondering how exactly were they planning to fight in such a confined area. There was only room for a one-on-one battle.
“Now that we’re here, we shall not allow you to do any more evil!” Mercury continued vehemently.
“We won’t let you turn that little girl into a youma!” Jupiter added just as fiercely.
“Um… excuse me,” Knight began, trying to get their attention.
“On behalf of the Moon,” Sailor Moon began, moving her hands in her usual poses and inadvertently shoving them into the other girls’ faces, “I’ll punish you!”
Knight bowed his head and sweatdropped while rubbing the back of his head. “Excuse me,” he tried again.
“Silence, you annoying pests!” Zoisite shouted and raised her arm, preparing to fire an energy burst.
The female Scouts shouted as they tried to scatter… and failed. “Shabon…!” Mercury tried to initiate her power, but ended up tripping over the tangle of legs and ended up almost upside-down in front of the others. Both Jupiter and Knight, who were behind Mercury, blushed somewhat at what they were seeing and quickly averted their eyes.
“Sailor Moon, you’re standing on my foot!”
“Excuse me…,” Knight tried once again to get their attention, but they seemed to be a little… occupied at the moment.
“Sorry, Jupiter, but Mercury’s foot is in my face!”
“Excuse me….”
“Sailor Moon, would you please move your leg out of my way?”
“Hey!!! Will you listen to me, already?!?”
Zoisite grinned at the jumbled confusion the Scouts had gotten themselves into. “Never mind,” she said, lowering her arm. “I have no time to fool around with you.”
“You won’t get away!” Jupiter shouted, as Mercury finally righted herself. “Supreme…!” She crossed her arms and prepared her attack. The lightning rod emerged from her tiara and started to crackle with electricity.
“Hold it!” Sailor Moon shouted as she and Mercury crossed their arms protectively over their heads.
“You’ll zap all of us!” Mercury added quickly, trying to avoid the electrical arcs that crept out of the lightning rod.
Amid the confusion of the three female Scouts, Zoisite quietly teleported away. When they finally noticed that she had left, they all fell sheepishly quiet, as they realized how foolish they must’ve looked to both Zoisite – and to Knight, who was standing behind them.
“I suppose now you’re ready to listen?” he asked tersely. “As I was about to say, I don’t think that there’s room enough for more than one to fight in at a time.” He sighed tiredly. “Too late now, of course. At least we stopped her from harming the girl.” He paused for a moment, looking askance at the girls, since they haven’t moved since Zoisite left. “Well, are you all just going to stand there? Is something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Sailor Moon asked. “Well, you could say that. We’re stuck.”
Knight sweatdropped. “It’s going to be another one of those days…,” he muttered flatly to himself and went to go help his friends free from the tangle they made of themselves.
Zoisite reappeared within the dank, fetid bowels of the city’s sewer system. The complete lack of lighting gave the noisome locale a dismal air. This was not a place that she would ever willingly go, but the Dark Crystal had said that the rotund feline was here.
“What a foul smell,” she muttered, holding her nose against the revolting effluvium that had suddenly wafted in her direction. “Is that ugly cat really here?” she demanded of the crystal in her hand. The Dark Crystal glowed in response, indicating an affirmative. “Wonderful,” she muttered sarcastically and started searching for that corpulent furball. “That's why I can’t stand non-human youma.”
As soon as she took her first step, she slipped on the slimy floor, causing her right leg to plunge into the sludge below, all the way to her knee. “Thousands upon millions of people here on Earth, and the seventh Rainbow Crystal has to appear inside a cat!” she growled angrily as she pulled her leg out of the foul sewage.
She savagely shook off the slime from her leg and continued down the tunnel, this time hugging the wall to avoid falling into the muck again.
“This must be the greatest challenge that I have ever faced.”
Ryoku had carried the little girl the short distance back to the house. The girl had accidentally left the door open slightly, so there was no problem getting in. Makoto held the door open for him as he went in first, followed closely by Usagi and Ami.
It didn’t take him long to find the girl’s room, since it was the smallest one on the second floor. He gently placed her in her bed and tucked her in, while the other three girls watched him.
“She’ll be okay,” he told the others. “I’m sure it was just a fainting spell. She’ll be asleep for a bit, though.”
Everyone took up different positions within the room as they waited for either Zoisite to show up for the girl again, or for Luna to reappear, since she seemed to be absent for some reason. Makoto leaned against the wall by the window, arms folded, looking outside. Ryoku knelt at the little girl’s bedside, keeping watch over her. Ami sat on the floor in the middle of the room and watched him look after the girl. Usagi began to look around the room, apparently bored, then sat next to Ami.
“Where could Luna be?” Makoto wondered as she continued to watch outside for any sign of the black cat.
“Really! What a useless cat!” Usagi complained. “Why is she playing around when we need her?”
“Luna wouldn’t do that,” Ami replied, turning to Usagi. “Something must’ve happened to her.”
“Whatever it was, I’m sure she’s all right,” Ryoku added, not turning away from his vigil over the girl. “No sense worrying about something you can do nothing about.”
Usagi shrugged and began to look around the room again, this time noticing something that she must’ve overlooked before. “Wow! Look!” she exclaimed excitedly. All eyes turned to her as she began to crawl toward a video game console lying on the floor next to the girl’s TV. “It’s the Sailor V video game!”
Ryoku rolled his eyes and sighed in vexation, while Ami and Makoto laughed a little at Usagi’s fatuous behavior. “Usagi-chan…,” Ami muttered, chagrined at her childishness.
“How can you think of video games at a time like this?” Makoto added. “Besides, Zoisite may come back for her.” She turned her gaze to the little sleeping girl in the bed.
“It’s hard to believe that a girl like her is a carrier of a Rainbow Crystal,” Ami said in mild disbelief.
“I know,” Ryoku replied, gazing down at the girl with concern. “We can’t allow Zoisite to get her hands on the Rainbow Crystal, or turn this little girl into a youma.”
Ami and Makoto turned their apprehensive gazes down to the sleeping girl. Usagi, on the other hand, was busy playing the Sailor V game. Neither Usagi, who was too engrossed in playing the video game – shooting everything in sight, dodging attacks and wondering where in the world did that come from while denying the ‘Game Over’ plastered on the screen – to notice anything, nor the others noticed that the Crescent Moon Wand was strangely silent.
Zoisite paused in her searching and knelt down to consult her Dark Crystal. She held it close to her face as she stared intently at the crystal’s soft glow through the darkness.
“It’s close,” she whispered. “Very close. That fat, ugly cat has got to around here somewhere.”
She placed a hand against the wall next to her in order to stand up. As she pushed against the wall, she could feel it give a little. Something didn’t feel right about that wall….
It’s warm? she wondered, slightly puzzled. The glow of the Dark Crystal faintly lit the ‘wall’, showing it to be a huge pack of….
“Rats!” she shrieked loudly. “It’s a wall of rats!!!” She instantly bolted out of there, screaming, as the rat horde quickly pursued.
Luna and Rhett Butler walked down one of the many dark sewer tunnels, looking for a way out.
“I don’t see any exit,” Luna stated as she glanced back and forth, looking for any sign of an exit. Thankfully, having a cat’s eyes enabled her to see well in this darkness. “This has got to be my unlucky day,” she muttered tiredly to herself. “First, cat gangs; now, sewers. What else can…?”
She glanced down at Rhett Butler’s front right paw. There was a blood stain there. “What happened?” she asked. “Did you injure yourself trying to save me?”
He stared silently at Luna.
“You did it just for me? Don’t tell me you fell for me….”
He blushed slightly and meowed a shy affirmative.
“Oh…. Well, we still have to get out of here.” Luna sighed to herself. “The only thing that could make this worse is if Zoisite appeared,” she muttered dryly to herself.
A faint squeaking noise behind Rhett Butler caught Luna’s attention. She poked her head around his wide frame and peered into the darkness behind them. Someone was running towards them, and a whole lot of somethings were following that someone. They came closer and closer until Luna could finally make out the form of the blonde General.
“Zoisite!” Luna exclaimed in complete surprise. Well, now it’s worse.…
Zoisite caught sight of the large cat in front of her and grinned while still running from the pursuing tidal wave of rats. “At last! The seventh Shadow!”
Shadow? Luna wondered. Realization hit quickly. “What? You’re the one with the last Rainbow Crystal?” she exclaimed in even bigger surprise as Zoisite continued to close in on them. “We’ve got to get out of here!” She noticed a small opening nearby, large enough for them to go through. “Get in! She won’t be able to follow us in here!” She quickly herded Rhett Butler into the opening.
“You won’t escape me!” Zoisite shouted, dashing for the fleeing cats with the rat brigade close on her heels.
Luna was getting anxious, and doubly so, with Rhett Butler suddenly getting stuck in the entrance of the smaller tunnel. She then proceeded to try and shove his massive bulk through the opening. Since that didn’t work, she backed up a bit and rammed him from behind, which enabled him to get all the way through. Moments later, Zoisite dove into the opening, followed closely by the swarm of rats.
Though the huge cat was going as fast as he could in the confined space of the small tunnel, it was too excruciatingly slow for Luna. A quick glance behind her showed that Zoisite was crawling behind them, and was slowly catching up.
“I’ve almost caught up,” she said smugly to herself. “The Rainbow Crystal will be mine!” A slight brushing of something against her legs caused her to widen her eyes in alarm. “What? Oh no! Not those rats!!!” The ocean of rats overtook and completely enveloped her, then fell back a bit, giving the cats a moment of relief. The relief was short-lived, as the rats surged forward again.
“Hurry up!!!” Luna shouted and started to shove Rhett Butler from behind, speeding him up slightly. A short distance ahead, a light could be seen. “That’s the exit!”
Meanwhile, Rei leaned against one side of a channel, where the water from the sewer system would collect in case of an overflow, staring out at the slowly retreating sun. There were a few hours left before full dark. The channel was empty now, she idly noticed.
“Maybe I should’ve went with Yuuichirou-kun after all,” she sighed. He, too, had the day off from his shrine duties. He happened to run into her earlier and asked her if she wanted to go get something to eat with him. Before she could say anything, the dummy convinced himself that she was already busy and left before she could tell him otherwise. She sighed again.
She was about to get up and leave, when she noticed two cats running along the opposite side of the empty channel.
“Hey, there’s Luna,” she said to herself. “Who’s that enormous cat she’s with? Don’t tell me that’s her date!” Here I am, my day wasted trying to get a date with Mamoru-san, and here’s Luna with a date of her own! Life can be so unfair sometimes....
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an explosion of rats emerge from one of the drainage slots behind the fleeing cats.
“What was that?!?” she exclaimed, reeling back in shock.
Back in the little girl’s room, Usagi was thoroughly enjoying herself. Shooting up monsters in a video game was a great way to pass the time.
Ami went over to Usagi’s backpack and took out the Crescent Moon Wand. “I don’t understand,” she mused aloud, staring at the inert wand. “If this girl is carrying the last Rainbow Crystal, then why isn’t the wand reading anything?”
“Hmm, I guess we were so preoccupied over the girl and the possibility that Zoisite would return, that we never noticed,” Ryoku replied, turning to look at Ami. “But, if the wand’s not reacting now, then this girl isn’t carrying the crystal, after all.”
“Then, why was it reading something back then?” Makoto asked. A short pause followed, only to be broken when they all gasped simultaneously, each reaching the same conclusion.
“Could it be…?” Makoto began.
“It has to be…,” Ami replied.
“It’s the cat!” Ryoku confirmed. “We have to go find him!”
The others prepared to leave as Usagi was still playing the video game, or rather shouting at the screen for her player to dodge this, leap over that and shoot that, while screaming that that stupid boulder came outta nowhere and what do you mean, ‘Game Over’? After hearing her declaring that she would have vengeance against that snake creature that killed her last player, the others realized that this would take a while.
“Run faster!” Luna shouted to her companion as the rat swarm began to close in on them. It surged past them, knocking them head over heels and off their feet. As the two cats looked on, the rats began to converge onto one spot until they reached several feet into the air.
“Well, isn’t this ironic?” asked a familiar voice. “Cats being chased by rats.” A space within the mound of rats cleared, showing a pair of emerald green eyes staring balefully at the cats. “My misfortune turns to luck.”
Luna’s shaking was interrupted by a cry of “Fire soul!” and a fireball from above. The attack struck the ground in front of Zoisite, causing the rats to flee. The blonde General glanced up at the edge of the channel and spotted Sailor Mars kneeling at the edge with her back facing her.
“I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice!” Mars stated, turning to face the General below her. “Sailor Mars, at your presence! I won’t let you interfere with their relationship! Even for cats, love is love!”
Luna, who had been knocked over the side of the channel tier they had been standing on by the fireball, was now climbing back up. “No!!!” she exclaimed in mortification when she heard what Mars was saying. How could she get it so wrong? I’m not even interested in him!
“The flame of love is raging on!” Mars continued, much to Luna’s dismay. “The flame of justice is raging on! On behalf of Mars, I’ll lynch anyone who stands in the way of the love of others!”
Zoisite just smirked mockingly at Mars. “Fool,” she remarked, and thrust the Dark Crystal spinning into the air in front of her.
“Next time, think about the situation before you speak,” Luna muttered flatly to herself.
“Now, to get the Rainbow Crystal for real,” Zoisite declared as Mars descended to the tier where the others were.
The Dark Crystal began to glow, emitting pulses of energy at Rhett Butler. The pulses of energy began to envelope him and penetrate through him. Suddenly, he felt a surge of power as the energy from the Dark Crystal found the Rainbow Crystal within him. He began to howl as the power of the Violet Rainbow Crystal began to overload his senses. Suddenly, a screen of smoke rose around him. From out of the smoke, the Violet Rainbow Crystal flew straight towards Zoisite’s hand. She smiled darkly as she caught the crystal. The smoke cleared, revealing a large version of the old Rhett Butler. He was at least one and a half times the height of Mars, with dangerously massive paws and lethal looking claws. The shaggy, monstrous feline had large black stripe down his back all the way to his long, bushy tail. He turned to Mars and Luna and hissed, showing his huge fangs.
“Get rid of them!” Zoisite ordered. “There’s only one of them today. It’s going to be an easy victory.”
A rose thrown at Zoisite’s hand cut her off in mid-sentence. The crystal was knocked out of her hands and landed on the ground a short distance away. She painfully cradled her injured hand in the other, totally oblivious to the Rainbow Crystal at the moment.
Tuxedo Kamen leaped down next to the crystal and deftly scooped it up in one hand. “I will have the last Rainbow Crystal,” he said to Zoisite. “Farewell.” He quickly departed, leaving the General to angrily pursue him.
“Tuxedo Kamen! Hold it!” she hollered as she chased him.
While Zoisite chased down Tuxedo Kamen, the feline Shadow Warrior turned and started walking up to the top of the channel.
“He’s heading for the city!” Mars exclaimed.
“Stop! Please!” Luna cried out as she leaped ahead, trying to catch up to the huge feline.
“Luna!” Mars called out, but Luna wasn’t listening.
“Wait!” Luna shouted as she stopped in front of the feline Shadow Warrior. “Please, stay still. We can return you to your original self.” He stopped walking and stared blankly at Luna, who was standing in his way. He then roared at her, startling her so that she lost her grip on the slanting concrete and began to tumble downwards.
“Luna!”
On the heels of that exclamation from Mars, the giant feline reached behind him and caught Luna with his enormous paw. She stared blankly back at him, surprised at being saved by him. “Rhett Butler…,” she murmured quietly. Her gaze fell down to the wrist in front of her. The patch of dried blood was still there, just as it was before he changed. “You’ll be okay,” she reassured him. “Usagi-chan will return you to your original self.”
“So, they’re in love after all,” Mars observed quietly.
“Shabon spray!” Mercury shouted, raising a thick fog.
Mars glanced around at the sudden fog. “Don’t throw cold water on them!” she yelled crossly.
Jupiter leaped off from the side of the channel nearest to the two cats, aiming her descent between the Shadow Warrior’s legs. As she slid under the monstrous feline, she grabbed Luna out from within his huge paw.
“Sailor Jupiter!” Mars exclaimed as she landed right in front of her with Luna in her arms. Mars then turned to look in the direction Jupiter had leaped from. As the mists cleared, she could see Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Knight were all standing there at the top of the channel.
“Thanks for waiting,” Sailor Moon said.
“About time!” Mars berated scornfully. “So, what took you so long?”
“I’m sorry,” Mercury replied. “We weren’t being careful.”
“Yeah,” Jupiter agreed. “It wasn’t because Usagi-chan was playing a video game.”
“Really. It’s not Usagi-chan’s fault at all.”
“You two aren’t defending me at all,” Sailor Moon muttered flatly.
Mars glanced at Sailor Moon with disapproval and was about to restart her diatribe, when Knight cut her off.
“Before you start arguing, Mars, perhaps we should take care of more important business?” he said sternly. “You can argue with her later.”
“I thought you said you’d try to get her to not argue with me,” Sailor Moon said aside to Knight. “Even though you could’ve said something a little sooner.”
“Is she arguing with you now?”
“No, but….”
“I said I’d try to keep her from arguing with you so we could take care of the Shadow Warrior. After that, it’s up to you.”
“I think I’d be better off with just their help,” Sailor Moon muttered dryly, giving him a flat look.
“Hey, you four have no time for stand-up comedy!” Luna rebuked.
Knight sweatdropped. “That was comedy?”
“Oh, yeah,” Sailor Moon replied, glancing at the feline Shadow Warrior and quickly bringing out the Crescent Moon Wand. “Moon healing escalation!” she shouted, rotating the wand in a large circle in front of her, ending above her head. As she held the wand above her head, a white glow emanated from the wand and covered the Shadow Warrior, returning him to his normal form. He then collapsed onto the ground.
“You had me really worried,” Luna said to the heavyset cat as she leaped out of Jupiter’s arms.
“Let’s go take him back to his owner,” Knight said as he picked him up.
The little girl had awakened while the Scouts left so when Ryoku handed the immense feline back to her, she was relieved to find that he had come to no harm after he had run away. She was now gently scolding her cat for running away, while giving him a ton of affection.
“She looks so happy,” Usagi commented with a smile.
“Don’t you wanna say goodbye to your boyfriend?” Rei asked as she gave Luna a sly grin.
“So, you had something going on with that cat?” Makoto asked just as slyly.
“What are you two talking about?” Luna inquired irritably. All of the girls were grinning now, while Ryoku just raised one eyebrow questioningly.
“Way to go, Luna!” Usagi commented, causing Luna to groan in vexation.
“You too, Usagi?” Luna grumbled indignantly. “Don’t go making up stories, will you?”
She glanced over at Rhett Butler, who was being swung around vigorously by his overzealous owner, and smiled slightly. He wasn’t a bad cat, but she just wasn’t interested in him. But then, he was interested in her….
Oh, dear.…
To Chapter 30: Sailor V Makes the Scene