Luna sat in front of the Sailor V arcade machine, waiting for Central Control to begin transmission. She didn’t have to wait long as the screen lit up and asked her for her new password.
“The rabbit will play while the cat’s away,” Luna said, wondering why she was always required to utter such ridiculous nonsense. It seemed like just the thing a certain someone would pull… but that was a totally different matter. Whatever reason was behind the inane phrases, she hoped it was a good one.
“Voice analysis complete,” came the monotone reply. “Welcome, Luna. How are the Sailor Scouts faring?”
“Great…. Well, all but one,” Luna replied reticently.
“I have news for you,” the voice stated. “The sixth Scout will soon be joining you.”
“Really? Do you know when?” Luna asked eagerly.
“That, I’m afraid, I cannot tell you. She will contact you, instead.”
“I see. Well, I have some bad news to report. The Dark Kingdom has managed to steal the two Rainbow Crystals that we had. They now have five, while Tuxedo Kamen has two.”
“The situation is indeed becoming quite grave. Also, the activities of the Dark Kingdom seem to be growing more desperate. There is a need to elevate the morale of the Sailor Scouts. The news of a sixth Scout may help. Also, do try to get Usagi to take her responsibilities more seriously.”
“Understood,” Luna responded as the screen went dark. She leaped off the stool and headed straight for home. This calls for an emergency meeting.…
From atop the roof, two figures watched Luna depart for home. One figure was small; a feline, similar in appearance to Luna, but white. The other figure was dressed in clothes similar to the Sailor Scouts, but orange. Her long, blonde hair was tied back with a red bow. She watched the black cat through her large, red eyemask.
“That’s her?” she asked the white cat next to her.
“Yes, that’s Luna,” he replied.
“So, it’s almost time?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll be glad when the time comes. All this fighting by myself has been getting lonely.”
“Hey! What about me?!?”
“Oh, don’t take it like that! I just meant that it would be great to be part of a team made up of other Sailor Scouts, like myself.” The female figure paused. “So, when do we join up with them? You did tell Luna that we were going to contact her.”
The white cat glanced down at Luna, who was now turning the corner. When she was out of sight, he turned back to the other figure. “We’ll just have to stick close to them. We’ll know when the time is right to announce ourselves.”
A short time later, the five Scouts had arranged themselves around the temple grounds and were now waiting for Luna. Rei and Usagi sat on the steps in front of the main building. Ami sat on the porch of the left side of the building, while Ryoku and Makoto both leaned against one of the support poles on the right side, Makoto facing outward and Ryoku facing inward, toward the building.
Usagi yawned and stretched a little. “What could Luna want at this time of night?” she muttered tiredly.
Luna leaped off the roof and landed in front of the group. “I see that everyone’s here. Good. I have some news for all of you. It has been confirmed that there is a sixth Sailor Scout and she’ll be joining us soon.”
Everyone was stunned quiet at that news. “A sixth Scout?” Ryoku asked. “Well, we can certainly use the help. Especially since Zoisite managed to steal our two Rainbow Crystals from Usagi-chan. I know it’s not your fault,” he added quickly, forestalling a complaint from the blonde Sailor Scout leader, “but still, the fact remains that the Dark Kingdom has five crystals. It’s a good thing that Tuxedo Kamen still has two crystals, or else we’d be in an even worse situation than we’re in now.”
Usagi remembered that day when she lost those two crystals. She had followed Naru and Umino to an amusement park where they went to see the Redman show. She wanted to see if her matchmaking schemes would work with them. Granted, her schemes usually blew up in her face, but she had a good feeling about this one. Zoisite had also shown up there, trying, she assumed, to turn Naru into a monster so she would have to give up her crystals in return for Naru. The plan went awry when the blast from Zoisite’s Dark Crystal missed Naru and hit the stuntman in the Redman suit instead. She was surprised when Umino tried to protect Naru, in his guise as Tuxedo Umino Kamen – she still wondered what possessed him to go that far with the suggestion she gave him. She only said to take Tuxedo Kamen as an example, not to become exactly like him….
Usagi blinked and realized that she had missed a lot of what was being said. She tried to recall what everyone had said earlier. Something about the sixth Scout….
“How come she just doesn’t join us now?” Rei asked.
“Perhaps there’s a good reason for her not to join us right away?” Ami reasoned.
“Maybe,” Ryoku replied. “But this is just the silver lining among the dark clouds. We still have to worry about the Dark Kingdom gaining all the Rainbow Crystals.”
“That’s right,” Luna agreed. “We must regain not only our two crystals, but the other five as well; the three Zoisite had and the two Tuxedo Kamen has.” She paused for a moment, then nodded to herself. “There is something else I should tell you all. Listen carefully to what I have to say.
“I’ve been sent down here from the Moon,” she told them and paused to see their reactions.
“From the Moon?!?” all five exclaimed at once.
“No way!” Usagi exclaimed.
“How come?” Rei asked.
“And why are you here on Earth?” Ami asked.
“To awaken you girls,” she replied.
“Us girls?” Ryoku asked, giving Luna a pointed look.
“And you, too, Ryo-kun,” she amended apologetically.
“That’s pretty hard to swallow,” Makoto commented.
“But, I believe her,” Ami stated.
“After everything we’ve been through, it doesn’t seem very farfetched,” Ryoku added with a shrug. “I believe her, too.”
“Thank you, Ami-chan. Ryo-kun,” Luna said appreciatively. “At any rate, the Princess we have been searching for is the descendant of the Moon Kingdom.”
“Descendant of…,” Rei began.
“…the Moon Kingdom?” Usagi finished in disbelief.
“There’s a kingdom on the Moon?” Makoto asked. “Sounds like a fairy tale.”
“You will eventually meet the Princess,” Luna told them. “And you have to protect her… as soon as possible.”
“Hey, Luna,” Usagi began, breaking the silence that followed Luna’s statement. “Is it true that a bunny lives on the Moon?”
Everyone except for Usagi performed one collective facefault.
Beryl sat on her throne, brooding over her crystal ball. The visions she was viewing inside were not exactly what she would call her Generals’ finest moments. In fact, these were mostly scenes where her previous two Generals, Jadeite and Nephrite, had continuously failed time and again to exterminate those wretched Sailor Scouts. Well, Jadeite, she had dealt with accordingly, sending him into an eternal sleep. Nephrite, though… she wished she could’ve done the same for him, but she did not regret his death in the least.
“Zoisite!” Beryl shouted at her General, who was watching the same images that Beryl had projected in front of her. “You realize that your performance is beginning to mirror that of those who you see before you. I hope that you have something to say for yourself or else you may suffer the same fate as they did.”
“Queen Beryl,” Zoisite said, turning around to face her, “you realize that these are images when we almost had Sailor Moon, yet somebody rescued her, correct?”
“You mean Tuxedo Kamen? Who is this man?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t know. However, Tuxedo Kamen never fails to appear when Sailor Moon is in danger. Knowing that, we can lure him out.”
“In order to retrieve the last two Rainbow Crystals he has, I assume? Zoisite, remember that this is your very last chance.”
“Yes, I am aware of that,” Zoisite replied, bowing.
“Wait, Zoisite,” Kunzite interrupted quickly.
“Yes, Kunzite?”
“In order to lure out Tuxedo Kamen, you must also keep the other Sailor Scouts away from him.” Kunzite turned to Beryl and bowed. “Please allow me to carry out that plan, my Queen.”
“Very well. Bring all seven Rainbow Crystals to me.”
“Yes, my Queen,” the two Generals replied in unison.
Kunzite-sama, I will do this even at the cost of my life, just for your sake, Zoisite thought with a pleased grin.
At Usagi’s house, Luna was asleep on the couch in the living room. The TV was still on, since Usagi’s mother had just left the room for a moment and would be back anytime soon.
“Here’s a news update: The Sailor Scout known as Sailor Moon – one of the heroines whose activities have been making headlines recently – has just caught the bank robber suspect.
“Today at approximately two in the afternoon, the suspect had walked into the Tozai Bank – Juuban Branch, fired a shot and demanded that the clerks hand over the money.…”
By this time, Luna had roused herself enough to realize what was going on. She took one look at the TV screen….
“Usagi-chan?!? No way!!!”
“This’s great!” Usagi said between mouthfuls of ice cream. She continually devoured her two ice cream cones, both vanilla, while Makoto and Ryoku both wondered when the massive ice cream headache would hit. “By the way, thanks for the cones, Ryo-kun.”
Ryoku just nodded while slowly eating his ice cream cone, still trying to figure out exactly how she had gotten him to agree to pay for hers. Makoto thought his bewilderment was very amusing.
“If you eat too much, you’ll gain weight,” Makoto commented, grinning impishly.
“But, how can I stop?” she replied humorously, setting both girls to laughter.
“I’m just surprised that you haven’t gotten a splitting headache from eating those so fast,” Ryoku remarked wryly.
Meanwhile, Mamoru was reading a book on the tenth floor of the city library. Absently, he noticed the window washers outside the building. They had already taken care of the window on his floor and they were now moving down to the next one.
Suddenly, four razor sharp ice crystals struck each of the suspension cables holding up the platform for the window washers. Mamoru looked up from his book just as the four crystals quickly melted and evaporated, leaving no trace. Three of the four cables snapped, leaving the platform dangling high above the crowd below. The two window washers clung to the platform, trying not to fall off, or cause the last cable to snap.
Below, Usagi, Makoto, and Ryoku were all watching the scene a short distance away. None of them had seen the crystals cut the cables.
Back in the library, Mamoru pushed through the crowd now gathered by the window and glanced down at the dangling platform. He saw the glint of sunlight sparkle off a crystal that was slow to disappear. This was no accident.…
The support cable one worker was hanging by, slowly began to stretch and tear until it finally snapped. The crowd below gasped in fear as the worker plummeted to the ground. Some movement from out of the corner of his eye caught Ryoku’s attention. He turned to see someone leap off the roof of a nearby building and swing toward the failing worker.
“What…? Impossible…,” he muttered when he noticed who was about to rescue that worker.
“What’s imposs…?” Makoto asked, turning to see what he was looking at. “No way!”
“What?” Usagi asked, turning to see what had caught the others’ attention. “What?!?”
It was Sailor Moon… or rather, a Sailor Moon impostor. The impostor caught the worker and deposited him and herself on top of an awning. She then stood, saluted and leapt away, leaving an applauding crowd and three confused Sailor Scouts.
Mamoru ran out of the building in time to see the impostor leap away. “Did she cut those cables?” he wondered aloud.
As Mamoru ran after the impostor, Makoto and Ryoku were trying to console a whining Usagi. “Why? She can’t be Sailor Moon! I’m Sailor Moon! What about me?!?” she cried, wailing loudly.
“Usagi-chan, calm down,” Ryoku said calmly. “She’s obviously an impostor.”
“Let’s contact the others and follow her,” Makoto added.
Usagi stopped crying, nodded her assent and joined the others as they followed the pseudo-Sailor Moon.
A blonde-haired girl watched them leave, her blue eyes intent on the small group. She, too, had seen Sailor Moon and thought she was an impostor. She was just about to tail her, when she saw that she wasn’t the only one interested in that impostor. Suspicions aside, she needed to follow that Sailor Moon.
A short distance away, a white cat began to follow the blonde-haired girl.
Kunzite watched as his impostor Sailor Moon headed toward their designated meeting place. He grinned at the strenuous pace she was setting. “Very good. Only the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Kamen can follow that pace. Soon, I’ll have those them where I want them.” He turned his gaze over to the quickly setting sun. It would be dark very soon; he usually worked his best at dark.
“Now, come, Tuxedo Kamen. I’m waiting.”
Mamoru followed the impostor to the harbor, where he lost sight of her.
“I’m sure she came this way,” Mamoru muttered, glancing around, trying to find her. “Did I lose her?”
Growling to himself, he headed off to try to find her again.
“I’m amazed that there’s a Sailor Moon impostor,” Ami commented as she and the others were also on their way to the harbor.
“Yes. Usagi-chan, Mako-chan and I all saw her,” Ryoku replied, stepping over a large metal pipe. “I still find it hard to believe, though.”
“Really,” Rei added over her shoulder to the others. “I saw the bank robbery case on the news. I never believed that was really Usagi-chan, though.”
“If only the real Sailor Moon was as hard working as her…,” Makoto said wistfully.
“Hey! Quit being mean!” Usagi snapped indignantly.
“There are more important things to consider about this impostor,” Ryoku stated gravely. “We must find out what her purpose is.”
“And, is she on our side,” Ami added just as seriously, “or an enemy?”
The others looked at Ami and Ryoku as if that notion had never occurred to them. “On our side?” Rei repeated in a quizzical tone. “Could she be our sixth Sailor Scout, Luna?” she asked, turning to Luna.
All the Scouts were now regarding the guardian cat, who was presently seated upon a triangular pile of large metal pipes. “Well…,” Luna replied, giving the Scouts a sheepish look. “Actually, I’m not too sure about this one.”
“I think she’s too suspicious,” Usagi commented. “Besides, if she is our sixth Sailor Scout, for using the name Sailor Moon, I’m gonna make her pay royalties!”
A collective groan of exasperation issued from everyone present. “That’s not the point!” Makoto exclaimed irritably.
A scream coming from somewhere further down the harbor caught their attention. “Sounds like she’s in danger,” Ryoku pointed out.
“Let’s go!” Makoto said and headed off in the direction of the scream with the others following suit.
They didn’t have far to go before they found the impostor Sailor Moon. She was hanging from the top of a loading crane, motionless as if unconscious. Standing on top of one of the nearby warehouses, was a silver-haired man in an outfit similar to the ones they’ve seen on other Dark Kingdom Generals.
“I suppose he’s the one who’s captured that Sailor Moon impostor,” Ryoku told the others.
“Is he from the Dark Kingdom?” Makoto wondered.
“We’ve gotta save her,” Usagi said and started for the crane.
“Wait!” Makoto shouted as Ryoku quickly grabbed her arm to prevent her from continuing.
“It’s too dangerous,” Luna warned. “This could be a trap.”
“Trap or not, we can’t just leave her there!” Usagi countered. “I don’t wanna see Sailor Moon like that.”
Ryoku nodded. “Even if she is an imposter.”
“She’s right,” Rei agreed. The others nodded their agreement.
“Good. Now, let’s transform. Moon prism power, make up!”
“Mercury power, make up!”
“Mars power, make up!”
“Jupiter power, make up!”
“Knight swords power!”
Full night had finally descended. Kunzite stood, glaring haughtily at the unblinking, brilliant lights of downtown Tokyo. How annoying those lights are, he thought scornfully. The true beauty is the darkness. I dream of seeing the entire world being illuminated by the shadow of the Dark Kingdom.
“How dare you tie up and hang a girl like that!” Sailor Moon shouted from the other end of the roof he was standing on. “I’m the Sailor Warrior fighting for love and justice, Sailor Moon!”
“Likewise, Sailor Mercury!”
“Likewise, Sailor Mars!”
“Likewise, Sailor Jupiter!”
“And, Sailor Knight!”
“On behalf of the Moon, we shall punish you!”
Kunzite folded his arms and smiled derisively at the Sailor Scouts. “I have been expecting you. I am Kunzite, one of the Dark Kingdom’s four Generals. Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts, say your prayers.”
He unfolded his arms and raised them, palms outward, in front of him. From out of the ground, a dark shadow lifted up into the air and started to rapidly encircle them.
“What?” Sailor Moon exclaimed in surprise.
It continued upward, converging onto one point so that the result was that a large dark shadowy dome had completely enclosed around them, cutting them off from the outside.
“So, what do you think of this beautiful darkness?” Kunzite asked tauntingly.
“I’ll tell you where you can stuff your darkness,” Knight growled furiously.
“He’s not getting away with this!” Mars said determinedly. “Fire soul!” The fireball struck the shadow dome and dissipated without any effect.
“It… it didn’t work?” Sailor Moon said in surprise.
A large, white outline of Kunzite appeared on the inside of the dark dome. “You’re useless Sailor Mars,” he sneered contemptuously. The outline raised his arms outward, causing several red objects to fall from the dome’s ceiling, while the Scouts scrambled to avoid getting hit by them. When the objects struck the ground, they exploded with the same force as a small explosive.
“He’s pretty tough,” Jupiter remarked as the chaos started to wane.
The outline of Kunzite appeared in front of her, smaller and upside-down. “Well?” he asked challengingly.
“Since you’ve asked…,” Knight replied from behind her. “Earth….”
“Supreme…,” she added a second behind him.
“…thrust!”
“…thunder!”
The two attacks combined and struck the dome’s wall where the outline previously was with a tremendous force. Unfortunately, to Jupiter and Knight’s surprise, nothing happened.
“The power was absorbed into the darkness!” Mercury observed with great dismay.
Kunzite laughed wickedly as he jumped down from the warehouse roof he had been observing the Scouts from. “Is that the power of the Sailor Scouts?” he scoffed derisively. He raised his arms a second time, causing the dome to slowly collapse around them. With a short span of time, the dome had already halved its size.
If only Tuxedo Kamen-sama were here, Sailor Moon thought nervously as she backed away from the closing wall of the dome, just as the others were doing, so now they were all clustered in the center of the dome. He might be our only hope.…
Tuxedo Kamen hurriedly ran toward the source of the danger he had been sensing for the past few minutes. He knew that whenever he felt this sensation, that usually meant that Sailor Moon, or perhaps one of her fellow Scouts, were in danger.
As he ran past a break in the row of warehouses, he spotted the impostor Sailor Moon hanging limply from the loading crane. That was about the general direction of where he knew Sailor Moon would be.
“Is this a trap?” he wondered aloud and headed for the captive Sailor Moon. He leaped into the air and slashed at the rope that held her dangling above the ground. He carried her in his arms as they landed. Just as he landed, a lightning bolt struck the crane and traveled the length down to the ground, bursting in a brilliant light.
Tuxedo Kamen was blown forward a short distance. He covered the impostor Sailor Moon protectively with his cape as debris from the destroyed loading crane flew everywhere. He glanced back at the ruined crane, surprised by the lightning bolt and relieved that they had escaped unharmed.
The impostor, who had been acting as though she had been unconscious, opened her eyes and grinned maliciously. She raised a hand, formed an ice crystal spike and plunged the spike into Tuxedo Kamen’s right shoulder.
He gasped in pain and grabbed at the crystal, only to have it disappear before he could touch it. The impostor got up and stood at a distance from him, hands on hips and smirking cruelly at him.
“What are you doing, Sailor Moon?” he demanded painfully as he held his hand over his shoulder.
The impostor jumped back onto a crate and shed her disguise. “I pity you. But you are in good hands now, Tuxedo Kamen-sama,” Zoisite said tauntingly. She raised her hand and fired a shower of cherry blossom petals at Tuxedo Kamen, which he quickly dodged by ducking between stacks of crates. “There’s no use running away,” she called out to the fleeing Tuxedo Kamen, while forming a blade of ice crystal in her hand. “Now, I will have your Rainbow Crystals!”
Tuxedo Kamen leaned against a stack of cement sacks out of Zoisite’s view. He was favoring his injured shoulder while mentally railing at himself for falling for that fake Sailor Moon trap so easily.
“We’re trapped!” Sailor Moon exclaimed, panicking now that the dome was just a couple of feet above them.
“I’ll try it again!” Jupiter told her. “Supreme thunder!” Once again, the thunderbolts failed to do anything to the dome.
“Well, since our powers don’t seem to work,” Knight said, bringing out his Knight swords, “I’ll try a more physical approach.” With that, he leaped at the edge of the dome and swung both swords at it. No sooner did his swords connect than he received a huge shock and was blasted back into the others.
“Sailor Knight, are you okay?” Mars asked worriedly.
“That hurt,” Knight commented a little painfully.
“It’s useless,” Mercury said despairingly. “This barrier is absorbing everything.”
“Give up,” Kunzite suggested. “You cannot break out of this barrier.”
“Come out, come out, wherever you are, cape-boy!” Zoisite called out gleefully as she ran through the inside of the warehouse, randomly slashing at crates and sacks, causing them to tumble in hopes of flushing out her prey. The pile of sacks that Tuxedo Kamen had been leaning against almost fell on top of him. Rather than be trapped under a pile of cement sacks, he dashed out from under the falling rubble.
Zoisite had already leaped to the top of another stack of crates, and watched as he emerged from the protective cover of the crates and sacks. Seeing her quarry out in the open, she leaped at him. “There you are!” she declared, swinging her crystalline sword directly for his head. He barely had time to turn and block the attack with his cane before she pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. “Die!” she shouted, firing a shower of cherry blossom petals at his face, knocking away the eyemask and leaving his identity exposed to his adversary.
Queen Beryl gasped in shock as she recognized the face of Tuxedo Kamen that appeared on her crystal ball. “That face…. This man is…,” she said quietly to herself, as she smiled wickedly.
“My goodness, you are handsome,” Zoisite commented with a smirk. “But, I won’t forgive you. Surrender your crystals, Tuxedo Kamen!” Zoisite ordered, forcing her sword closer to him.
“Never!” he retorted in a strained voice, wincing as the pressure made his wounded shoulder hurt even worse.
“Say your prayers,” she sneered. A malicious grin crossed her face as the crystalline sword began to glow in her hand….
“Crescent beam!”
A beam of yellow light struck her hand, causing her to drop the sword and grab her hand in pain. She glanced up to the source of the attack and saw a female figure standing in the window of the warehouse, staring at her. “Who’s that?” she wondered aloud. “She can’t be one of the Scouts. They’re all trapped inside the barrier.” She turned back to face Tuxedo Kamen again, only to find that he had escaped. Another look back at the window showed that the female was gone, too. “How dare you make a fool out of me!” she raged. “Whoever that was, I will tear her apart!!!”
The dark dome-shaped barrier was now just barely over the Scouts heads. As the Scouts had noticed to their great dismay, not only did the barrier prevent them and their attacks from getting out, but it kept air from passing through as well.
“I can’t breathe…,” Sailor Moon said weakly.
“We don’t have much air left,” Mercury added faintly.
“How do you like my darkness?” Kunzite asked with a vicious smile.
“Kunzite-sama, please beware,” Zoisite said warningly as she walked up to him. “Tuxedo Kamen and another enemy are nearby.”
“Zoisite, you let Tuxedo Kamen get away?” Kunzite asked sternly.
“Please, don’t be so cold to me,” Zoisite said in a hurt tone. “I have just begun the hunt!” she vowed fervently.
“Tuxedo Kamen-sama…,” Sailor Moon called out faintly.
From behind one of the warehouses and out of sight of everyone, Tuxedo Kamen replaced the eyemask on his face. Still favoring his right shoulder, he glanced around the structure at the trapped Sailor Scouts.
“Observe, Tuxedo Kamen!” Zoisite shouted into the open. “This is how Sailor Moon will die. If you want to save her and the other Sailor Scouts, come out with the Rainbow Crystals! Surrender yourself, Tuxedo Kamen!”
“Tuxedo Kamen-sama!” Sailor Moon managed to shout after Zoisite’s ultimatum. “Don’t come out!” The Sailor Scouts were now falling to their knees since the lack of air was causing them to become weaker by the moment.
“Oh, no!” Luna gasped from her vantage point near the stack of metal pipes to one side.
“Stop!” Tuxedo Kamen demanded, coming out from his hiding spot. His expression was livid as he strode frustratingly toward the two Generals.
“We are successful, Kunzite-sama,” Zoisite said smugly as she laughed at his expense. “That is very good. You had no chance of winning from the very beginning. It’s no use struggling. It is very important to know when to give up.”
“No!” a voice interrupted suddenly. “Don’t ever give up, no matter how hard the fight is!”
“That voice!” Zoisite exclaimed, scanning the area for any sign of the speaker. “It’s that same voice again!”
Everyone began to look around for the person who spoke. It was Sailor Moon who saw her first. “Look… up there…,” she murmured in a wavering voice. The other Scouts followed the line of her gaze and also sighted the new arrival, standing on the roof of one of the buildings. It was a blonde-haired girl in an orange-colored uniform similar to theirs. She wore a large eyemask, as red as the bow in her hair.
“They might be saved, yet,” Luna hoped, also spotting the figure as she leaped down to the ground in front of everybody.
“Who is that?” Kunzite exclaimed irritably.
“Sailor Scouts, I am Sailor Venus!” the blonde-haired girl announced, removing her eyemask. “Here I am, at last!
“Crescent beam!”
The attack struck both of Kunzite’s hands at once, breaking his hold on the barrier and wounding his hands at the same time. Instantly, the barrier shattered, freeing the Sailor Scouts and allowing them to breathe again.
“The barrier’s gone!” Zoisite exclaimed, slightly alarmed.
“Sailor V?” Sailor Moon asked in shock. “Aren’t you Sailor V-chan?” The other four Sailor Scouts turned to regard the newest Scout with some surprise.
“Yes, she is also known as Sailor V,” a white cat explained from atop the stack of pipes Luna was standing by, “but her true identity is Sailor Venus.” He then hopped down from the stack of pipes and landed facing Luna. “Long time, no see, Luna.”
“Artemis,” Luna greeted in return.
“How dare you!” Zoisite growled angrily. “Kunzite-sama, please leave them to me. I will handle them!”
“Zoisite, Kunzite, stop!” a voice bellowed imperiously.
“Queen Beryl?” Kunzite asked.
“That is enough. The situation has changed. Return at once!” Beryl ordered, as an image of her face projected above all those present.
“Why is that?” Zoisite asked.
“I said come back and that’s an order!!!”
“We have no choice,” Kunzite said reluctantly.
“But, Kunzite-sama…,” Zoisite complained petulantly.
“Sailor Scouts, we will meet again,” Kunzite declared as he and Zoisite teleported away. Beryl’s face vanished half a second later.
Tuxedo Kamen quietly slipped away, seeing that the danger had passed. “Tuxedo Kamen?” Sailor Moon called out, looking around for any sign of him. “He’s gone….”
“Anyway, we made it,” Jupiter replied, folding her arms and grinning.
“The main thing is that the Dark Kingdom has failed to get Tuxedo Kamen’s Rainbow Crystals,” Knight added, folding his arms in a similar manner.
The five Sailor Scouts turned to regard the newest member of their team. “The six Sailor Scouts and the two guardian cats have come together,” Artemis said as he and Luna walked over to sit between the six Scouts. “That means everyone’s here now.”
“Sailor V… or rather, Sailor Venus,” Jupiter said excitedly. The others were excited, too.
Well, Knight thought to himself, Sailor V’s had quite a lot of publicity. She was a Sailor Scout before all of us. Sailor Moon, as well, I believe. No wonder the girls are all excited to meet her.
“Sailor Venus, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say how glad we are to have you join us,” he announced formally, with a small half-grin.
“I’m happy to be here,” Venus replied, smiling as well.
To Chapter 31: A Crystal Clear Destiny