“Moon tiara action!” Sailor Moon shouted, flinging her tiara at Ranfil. The tiara struck the Cardian, destroying it and leaving behind a strange card-like object. It fell to the ground, sticking into the ground by one sharp edge, and began to smoke as the picture on the face of the card turned pitch black.
“Artemis, are you all right?” Luna asked worriedly.
“I’ll live,” he replied as he slowly got to his feet, weak from being drained by Ranfil.
“I’m so tired,” Sailor Moon said a little wearily.
“Sailor Moon!” Artemis shouted as he and Luna stared at something behind her.
“What?” she asked as she turned to look. She lurched back in surprise as she saw the faint images of two figures staring down at her.
“We didn’t know there was someone like you on this planet,” the blue-haired male said arrogantly.
“Who are you?” Sailor Moon demanded, pointing directly at them.
“We are but noble drifters in the universe,” the male told her. “Ail….”
“And Ann,” the female figure added.
“I know you were the ones controlling that youma,” Sailor Moon declared.
“Just a little entertainment for you,” Ann remarked.
“A very small one,” Ail added as they faded from sight.
“Sailor Moon, they’re…,” Luna began but stopped as she noticed that she was now staring up toward the Moon with a small melancholy expression. “Sailor Moon?”
“I’m all right, Luna,” Sailor Moon replied quietly as she continued to stare skyward. “I was just saying goodbye to my old ordinary life….”
The next day, Usagi went out looking for a certain someone…. There he is, she thought happily as she spotted Mamoru standing at a nearby corner, apparently waiting to cross the street. She quietly walked up to him, unnoticed until she was standing right beside him.
“Miss me, Mamoru-san?” she asked, suddenly hugging his right arm and staring lovingly up at him.
“What?” he yelped in surprise. “Oh, hi there, Meatball-head,” he said nervously.
“You don’t have to act so nervous, Mamoru-san,” she cooed softly, blushing slightly.
“How do you know my name, Meatball-head?” he asked, still slightly nervous.
“Stop calling me ‘Meatball-head’,” she replied. “You know my name is Tsukino Usagi.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
“Oh no!” she gasped in shock. “You’ve even forgotten my name?” I see…, she mused, staring despondently toward the ground while still clinging to Mamoru’s arm. He hasn’t gotten his memories back yet. So, he’s completely forgotten about us.…
“Don’t cling to me so much!” he told her. He then noticed her expression. “Are you ill?” he asked, slightly concerned.
Across the street, Natsumi paused in her walk as she saw Mamoru. “It’s him!” she exclaimed excitedly to herself, then started to cross the street. Unfortunately, she forgot that cars were still passing by and ended up having to stop in the center of the street to avoid being hit.
“Tsukino-san! Don’t let that guy get away!” she shouted as she waited for an opportunity to cross the rest of the street.
“Natsumi-san?” Usagi said, surprised at seeing her cross the street in such a bizarre fashion.
“Another strange girl!” Mamoru exclaimed incredulously. “Let me go!” he shouted as he yanked his arm out of Usagi’s grasp and started to run. “I’m gonna be late for work!”
“Where are you working?” Usagi shouted after him.
“None of your business!” Mamoru shouted back as he turned the corner. Usagi was about to run after him, when Natsumi grabbed Usagi’s arm.
“You fool!” she shouted. “Why did you let him go?”
“Let go of me as well! Can’t you see he’s going? Wait, Mamoru-san!” Usagi yelled as she yanked her arm out of Natsumi’s hold.
“Mamoru-sama?” Natsumi asked when Usagi retrieved her arm. “So, that’s his name?” She stepped around Usagi and started calling after Mamoru, although he was already out of sight. “Mamoru-sama, my name is Ginga Natsumi! Don’t forget!”
Usagi growled furiously as Natsumi called after Mamoru. “Hey!” she snapped. “Do you know who he is? He’s….”
Natsumi wasn’t falling for it. “Not your boyfriend, is he?” she cut in smoothly.
Of course, he is! Usagi’s mind shouted, but what she said was, “No, he’s not, but….”
“We’re in the same boat, then,” Natsumi said as she grinned pointedly. Usagi just growled angrily again.
“We don’t know for sure if they’re our enemies, but I do know we’re facing danger,” Luna told Artemis. The two cats were sitting in Usagi’s room, waiting for the girl to come home.
“Even so,” Artemis replied, “we can’t involve the other five. They’re living happily as ordinary people.”
“I know,” she said, “but have you got any better ideas? It’s not good to rely on Usagi-chan alone.”
“I just can’t believe that Mamoru-san’s forgotten all about me,” Usagi sighed as she walked through her door and shut it behind her. “He doesn’t love me anymore.”
“Usagi-chan, we don’t have time to think about that now,” Artemis said as he and Luna turned from the window.
“I think it would be best if we got the others back,” Luna added.
“What?” Usagi asked, perking up slightly. “You mean it’s possible to make him remember everything?”
“We’re talking about your friends, not him,” Luna said as she leaped from the window to Usagi’s bed. “We could make them remember the past so they can fight with you again.”
“Are you joking?” Usagi asked in disbelief as she picked up her volleyball, which was sitting on her pillow. “I can save the world without their help. We don’t need to involve the others.”
“You’ve learned a lot through the battle with the Dark Kingdom,” Artemis said as he leaped onto Usagi’s bed beside Luna. “You have the attitude of a warrior now.”
“Of course,” Usagi agreed as she lifted her volleyball up in one hand as if she were preparing to serve it. “I bet I can beat the enemies by myself now.” She tossed the ball up and hit it, sending it crashing against the wall. The ball bounced off the wall and returned, smacking her square in the face and knocking her flat on her back.
The two cats glanced down at the dazed Usagi. “I don’t trust her,” Luna remarked dryly.
“Neither do I,” Artemis replied just as dryly as he and Luna sighed.
Ail stood before the huge tree that rested in the gigantic chamber made especially for it, contemplating on the tree’s slow decline. Its withering was beginning to worry him greatly.
“The Doom Tree, our source of life, Makaiju,” he murmured quietly to himself. “Your energy reserves are running low….”
“What boring exercise!” Natsumi exclaimed as she suddenly appeared behind Ail. She disappeared again and reappeared beside Ail, as Ann. “Ail, give me some energy.”
“Listen, Ann,” he began seriously, “Makaiju doesn’t have much energy to spare.”
“Are you sure?” she gasped, turning to look at the tree for herself.
“Yes. We need to take some from the people of this planet.”
“We need a lot,” Ann added as she and Ail grinned devilishly.
“Choose a Cardian for the next project, Ann,” Ail said as he displayed a hand of cards.
“Okay,” she replied as she took a card from the middle and glanced at it, then tossed it up into the air. The card stopped in midair and began to expand, displaying a picture of a half-man/half-bull with huge horns on its head.
“Ah, Cardian Minotauros,” Ail said with a large grin. “An excellent choice.”
In a darkened viewing room in one of the television stations in Tokyo, a small group of people sat, going over several possibilities for certain roles for a new TV drama that was currently under production.
“We’ve shortlisted a group of five girls for the part of the sister of the lead actress, Shiratori Mika,” one man explained.
“Very good,” another man replied approvingly. “Let’s see them.”
The first picture appeared on the screen in the front of the room. It showed Usagi and Naru during a volleyball game. Naru was standing beside Usagi, oblivious of the fact that Usagi had just been smacked in the face by the volleyball.
“Not that girl,” the first man said, pointing to Usagi. “This one,” he said, pointing to Naru.
There was a picture of Makoto in her karate uniform, standing in a defensive stance with a serious expression on her face. Another picture showed Minako as she was sitting under a tree, admiring a flower she had just picked. Another showed Ami kneeling down beside her desk to pick up a book she had dropped onto the floor. The last picture showed Rei smiling as she swept the shrine floor.
“Not bad,” the second man said. “They look so normal. That’s what I want for that part in this drama.”
“It was really hard to find girls like them,” the first man told him.
“Okay, let’s choose one of them from an audition,” the second man replied. “Gather them for it.”
“Before we do that, I have something else to show you,” the first man interjected. “I’ve found a new candidate for the role of Mika’s love interest.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” the first man said as a picture of Ryoku leaning against a wall with his arms folded and a pensive expression on his face as he stared out of a window. “This boy seems to me like he can pull off the shy, introspective type we’re looking for.”
“Gray eyes,” the second man said thoughtfully. “There aren’t many people with gray eyes in Tokyo.”
“Not only that,” the first man continued, “he’s the brother of one of our candidates. This girl,” he said, displaying the picture of Makoto again.
“Why don’t you bring him in as well?” the second man suggested.
“Certainly, sir,” the first man replied.
As the others began to exchange their opinions on the five girls and the one guy, Ail and Ann appeared in the back of the room, staring at the picture that was still being displayed on the screen.
“What do you think of those girls?” Ann asked quietly.
“Excellent. We’ll be able to take as much energy as we like from them,” Ail replied.
The screen flickered off as the room’s lights turned back on. One of the occupants of the room stood up and turned to leave, spotting the two unexpected guests standing behind them.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, causing everyone else to look in the direction that he was shouting at. “Don’t you know there’s no admittance except on business?”
Ail just stared at the man impassively as Ann stepped forward. “Sorry, we didn’t know that,” she said in mock contrition as her eyes began to glow. Everyone in the room screamed as their energy was drained, and collapsed in their seats.
“We could steal their energy,” Ail said as he stepped beside Ann, “but the energy of those young girls would be much tastier.”
“That one guy’s energy looks delicious, too,” Ann agreed with a grin, then glanced over at the comatose people. “We’ll just use their bodies.” Ail and Ann shared a devilish grin as they prepared their trap.
“You’re gonna be on TV?” Usagi exclaimed excitedly.
Naru quickly glanced around the classroom to see if anyone overheard. Luckily, no one seemed to be paying any attention. “Calm down, Usagi-chan,” she said, hushing her friend. “I’m not sure about it yet. A man from a TV station called me for an audition.”
“This’s a great opportunity,” Usagi told her with barely suppressed enthusiasm.
“Yeah, but I’m a bit worried,” Naru said as she sat down at her desk.
“What?” Usagi asked concernedly. “Why?”
“Lately, I’ve been getting into these strange accidents….”
Usagi frowned slightly, as she knew exactly what kind of accidents had been happening to her lately. “Don’t worry,” she reassured her. “I don’t think such strange things can happen that often.”
“But….”
“I can come with you if you’re that worried.”
“Oh, Usagi-chan, can you?” Naru asked, her expression instantly brightening as she got out of her chair and grasped her best friend’s hands. “Thanks! You’re my best friend.”
Usagi nodded and grinned. And if I come, they might just ask me to join the audition, too…, she thought as her grin turned devilish, …which I might pass and become a superstar!
Makoto and her brother walked up to the gates of the TV station that had called them yesterday. “I think this is the place,” Ryoku said as he folded his arms and glanced upward, gazing at the transmission tower sticking up from the top of the building.
“So, are we supposed to wait out here or are they gonna let us in?” Makoto asked. Ryoku just shrugged as his gaze slipped back to his sister.
“Ryoku-san! Makoto-san! Hello!” Ami called out as she walked up to them.
“Hi, Ami-san,” Ryoku and Makoto replied in unison. “I heard you were coming for the audition, too,” Makoto continued. “I’m a bit surprised, though. Such a clever girl like you….”
“No, no,” Ami replied, shaking her head. “I’m not going to accept it. I just came to refuse the offer.”
“Are you sure?” Ryoku asked. “It’d be a shame. If I got the part I’m trying out for, it would’ve been nice working with you.”
Ami blushed slightly and Makoto gave her brother a considering look.
“Excuse me,” someone interrupted before Makoto could say something to her brother.
“Yes?” Makoto responded, turning to see who had spoken. It was a blonde girl with very long hair and a big red ribbon tied in it, accompanied by a dark-haired girl with equally long hair.
“Are you here for the audition?” the blonde girl asked.
“No, I’m here for a different one,” Ryoku replied. The two girls blinked in confusion as Makoto backhanded her brother’s shoulder. Ami laughed silently at the exchange.
“Moron,” she murmured to her brother, who half-grinned in return. “Don’t mind my idiot brother. Yes, we’re here for the audition.”
“Good,” the dark-haired girl replied with a smile. “Can we come with you? We’re worried about getting lost. This TV station seems so big.”
“Doesn’t it, though?” Ryoku told her. “I understand completely. We don’t mind at all if you accompany us. By the way, my name is Kino Ryoku.”
“I’m Hino Rei,” the dark-haired girl added.
“I’m Kino Makoto,” Makoto added.
“I’m Mizuno Ami,” Ami added.
“I’m Aino Minako,” the blonde girl added. “Pleased to meet you.”
One by one, all five suddenly experienced a feeling of déjà vu. Each girl glanced from one to the other in perplexity while Ryoku fingered the pendant with the strange symbol that he always wore around his neck. He could never remember why he always wore it, nor what the symbol stood for; just that it had his name engraved on it and that he had to wear it.
Each of the four girls noticed Ryoku fingering his pendant and became aware of the similar pendants they each wore around their necks. They couldn’t remember when they got them, but the pendants had their names on them and they felt that they always had to wear them.
“Have we… met before?” Rei asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between them.
“No… but you all seem familiar… somehow,” Ami replied, slightly bewildered.
“I thought so, too,” Minako added with a thoughtful expression crossing her face.
“How strange,” Makoto said. “This doesn’t feel like it’s the first time we’ve met for me, either.”
“Same for me. Maybe… we all knew each other in a previous life?” Ryoku suggested with a shrug. All five exchanged a final confused look before they all entered the studio together.
“Are you sure I can’t come in?” Usagi asked the security officer stopping her. Luna glanced up at Usagi from within her arms and sighed inwardly, wondering, not for the first time, why Usagi could be so persistent in some things, but so lazy in others.
“For the last time,” he said patiently, “only those who were called for the audition may enter.”
“Aw, come on!” she begged. “Can’t you just bend the rules once for me? Be a little more flexible! Please?”
“No,” he replied in a final tone of voice. “Just go home.”
“Sorry, Usagi-chan,” Naru told her friend as she walked into the room the guard had indicated earlier.
As the security officer turned his back on Usagi, he noticed the group of four girls and one guy heading toward him. “Please wait in this room,” he told them, pointing to the room to his right, which was the room Naru had just entered.
Hey, it’s them! Usagi thought as she watched her friends walk into the room one at a time. Mako-chan, Rei-chan, Minako-chan, Ami-chan, Ryo-kun.… They all look fine. She wanted to wave to her friends, but none of them had their old memories, so they wouldn’t remember her. Still, seeing her old friends made her smile. As the last of her friends walked into the room, she left to go find the exit.
The room was dark, since none of the curtains were opened. The big curtain in front was most likely meant for separating the room from another one beyond the curtain. There were six chairs seated in a row in the back of the room, with one slightly apart from the others at the left end.
“I suppose that one is mine,” Ryoku said to himself as he took the chair to the far left and the girls took the five chairs grouped to the right.
They had been sitting there for ten minutes when someone finally came out from behind the curtain, holding a sheet of paper in his hand. “I’m sorry for making you wait,” the man said in a dull, flat, monotone voice. “We’ll start the audition now.”
As the man turned around to open the curtain, Ami stood up from her chair. “Excuse me,” she began in an apologetic voice. “I just want to tell you that I’m not going to do this audition.”
Ami’s words were ignored as the man opened the curtain, displaying the set behind it. It was a ravaged world – worn boulders and rocks littered the landscape; a few eroded and broken columns made a path to nowhere; the ground was a dull brown, denuded and devoid of any life. However, the sky was a clear black showing the stars and the moons of the dead planet.
The girls were awestruck by the lifelike set as everyone got to their feet and took a closer look at the set. “That looks like something out of a science-fiction anime,” Ryoku commented, amazed by the set.
“What a gorgeous set!” Naru added.
“What do you think of my world?” a voice asked from above. Everyone turned to see two people, a male and a female both apparently in costume and green skin makeup, standing on top of one of the columns.
Ryoku blinked in surprise. “I could’ve sworn they weren’t there before,” he murmured to himself.
“I’m sorry,” Ami said again. “I have to go now. I just don’t have the time to act in a drama.” With that, she gave a small courteous bow and turned to leave.
“You stay here!” Ail commanded imperiously, then brought his flute up to his mouth and started playing.
“Come forth, Cardian Minotauros!” Ann ordered as she flung the card into the air. The card enlarged, then warped into the form of Minotauros in midair.
“It’s a demon?” Minako said, slightly perplexed as she watched the creature land on part of the set in front of her.
“I thought we were here for a simple drama audition,” Makoto said.
“Doesn’t seem so simple anymore,” Ryoku remarked, then blinked as a thought occurred to him. “That demon looks very realistic.”
Minotauros leaped over the heads of everyone and landed directly in front of Ami, who was now leaving the room.
“I think it is real!” Ami yelped as she backed away from it. Instantly, Ryoku grabbed Ami and pushed her behind him, keeping himself between Minotauros and the other girls.
“Take their energy, Minotauros!” Ail shouted. The Cardian growled and began to stomp the floor like a bull preparing to charge.
“Run! Run, now!” Ryoku shouted as he gestured for everyone to hurry. The moment he shouted ‘run’, everyone had already taken to their heels. Ryoku quickly followed suit seconds before Minotauros began its charge.
“The scream of a young girl is a finer tune than any other instrument can make,” Ail commented as he listened to the girls’ screams.
“Ail, when are you gonna finish this game?” Ann asked impatiently with her arms folded across her chest. “Let’s take their energy now!”
“You don’t understand anything, Ann,” he replied patiently. “We should relish this beautiful art.”
“Enjoy it alone,” she snapped in annoyance. “I’ll get some energy somewhere else!” She faded from sight and reappeared down below as Natsumi. She indignantly tossed her hair with her right hand and marched out of the room, pointedly ignoring the hectic scene going on behind her.
After a long time walking, Usagi stopped again and turned to Luna. “So, where are we now?” Usagi asked.
“Right back where we started,” Luna replied flatly.
“Well, don’t blame me!” Usagi countered defensively. “This TV station is huge and complicated.”
“So, in other words, we’re lost.”
Usagi was about to give a scathing reply when the door next to her opened and Natsumi walked out.
“Tsukino-san?” she said in mild surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“How about you?” Usagi shot back heatedly.
“I don’t have to tell you,” Natsumi countered condescendingly.
“Then, neither do I!” Usagi retorted as each girl began to glare hatefully at each other, then disdainfully turning their backs to each other and folding their arms across their chests.
“Excuse me, ladies,” Mamoru said hurriedly as he quickly ran past the two girls with a mess of paper rolls, boxes and assorted sheets of paper in his arms, while trying hard to keep them from falling onto the floor.
“Was that Mamoru-sama?” Natsumi said, glancing over her shoulder as she was facing in the opposite direction from where he was going.
“I see!” Usagi exclaimed. “He said he was working….”
“At the TV station!” Natsumi finished.
“I think we’d better…,” Usagi began again.
“Run after him!” Natsumi finished again.
Luna sighed as she watched Usagi run off after Mamoru. Why me? She paused in the contemplations of her martyrdom as she began to sense a dark energy emanating from the room Natsumi had previously exited from.
“Where’s this mysterious power coming from?” she whispered to herself as she walked inside and cautiously glanced around.
“I don’t think we can keep on running around like this!” Ami shouted as she and the others continued to run from Minotauros.
“Where’s the exit?” Makoto shouted, her eyes rapidly searching the room.
“I can’t see it with all this dark fog!” Ryoku shouted back.
“I can’t run any more!” Naru gasped as she stumbled and collapsed. Ami and Minako quickly rushed to her side as Rei, Makoto and Ryoku each stood between her and Minotauros.
“That’s it!” Ryoku growled fiercely, taking up a defensive fighting stance. “I’m not gonna let this thing chase me around any more!”
“I don’t know if we can beat this demon,” Rei said, readying her purse to use as a weapon, “but it can’t be any worse than just running around screaming.”
“There’s no other way,” Makoto agreed, taking up a defensive fighting stance similar to her brother’s.
Rei swung her purse like a sling, then threw it, making a direct hit with Minotauros’s head, while all of the contents of her purse spilled out. She then reached into one of her pockets and pulled out one of her ofuda. She held the anti-evil ward in front of her and began to chant. “Rin…. Pyou…. Tou…. Sha…. Kai…. Jin…. Retsu…. Sai…. Zen…. Evil spirit, begone!” She then flung the ofuda at the Cardian, freezing it in its tracks.
Makoto nudged her brother with her elbow. “Shoukouken?” she asked, nodding toward the paralyzed creature.
Ryoku paused for a moment, then nodded and half-grinned as he figured out what she was talking about. The move, Shoukouken, or ‘Ascending and Descending Fist’, was one of Makoto’s own design and was one of the few that could only be pulled off when they were together. “Shoukouken,” he agreed, then leaped into the air after a running start.
Makoto lifted the paralyzed Cardian over her shoulder and flung it up into the air over her brother. Ryoku intercepted Minotauros in midair with a flying punch to its stomach area, then grabbed its head and flung it down toward the set, sending it crashing into one of the columns below which promptly crumbled onto the fallen creature. He then landed and watched for any movement around the debris. Nothing moved.
“That should take care of it for a while,” he said smugly as he leaned on his knee from his kneeling position.
“Amazing!” Luna gasped from her vantage point away from the fighting. “Even though they’ve lost their memories as Sailor Scouts, they can still fight!”
Natsumi staggered forward through the studio hallway, one slow, unsteady step at a time, until she finally sagged listlessly against the wall. The hallway began to lurch and blur all around her.
“Ugh… I made a stupid mistake,” she muttered wearily to herself. “I missed Mamoru-sama because of a lack of energy. I need to get some immediately.”
She glanced at the door nearest to her. The name on the door said ‘Shiratori Mika’. She quickly opened the door and slipped inside, closing the door behind her. A startled and frightened yelp came from within, followed by silence.
“Don’t worry,” a rejuvenated Natsumi told the still form lying on the floor. “You won’t die. Have a little lie down and you’ll be fine.” She laughed to herself before she left the room.
A small shifting of the rubble was the only sign that they had. Without warning, a long pair of horns burst through the debris, flinging pieces of the broken columns everywhere randomly. Minotauros growled fiercely as it stood up again.
Ryoku quickly got to his feet and stood between it and the other girls. “That took less time than I thought,” he murmured to himself worriedly. “That’s no ordinary demon….” He blinked and paused for a moment. “Then again, this is the first time I’ve ever fought a demon, so how should I know?”
Minotauros suddenly leaped over the heads of Ryoku and the other girls and landed between them and Naru, who was still sitting weakly against one of the columns where Ami and Minako put her moments ago.
“Look out!” Rei shouted, but it was too late.
“Help me!” Naru screamed fearfully, just before Minotauros thrust its horns at her. The horns stabbed the column to the sides of her, each one just under her armpits, and started to drain her of her energy.
Luna, having watched everything up until now, decided to take a more active part. She leaped at the Cardian and lashed out at it with one paw, her claws raking three huge gashes along its face. Minotauros covered its face with its hands and roared in pain, releasing Naru from its hold.
“What’s that?” Ail snapped in surprise as he noticed his Cardian roaring in pain.
Having failed to find Mamoru, Usagi wandered back toward the place where she left Luna and where her friends were having their audition. Upon arrival, she saw that there was no sign of either Luna, or the guard that was keeping her from entering the room with Naru. Well, as long as I’m here.…
Usagi pushed the already open door a little further open and glanced inside. The room was dark and filled with a strange dark fog.
“Uh, hello?” she called out into the darkness. “Has the audition finished already?” Hearing no answer, she ventured a little further into the room.
“Hurry up!” Makoto urged. “We have to escape before that thing starts chasing us again!”
“I know!” Ryoku retorted hurriedly as he scooped Naru’s lifeless body into his arms and stood up. “Okay, let’s get going.”
“What’s Ann doing?” Ail demanded as if the air was going to answer him. He turned his attention back toward his Cardian. “Minotauros, finish your work while I’m gone!”
Luna watched worriedly as everyone started running again. She knew it would only be a matter of time before they would no longer be able to run and Minotauros would catch them.
“They’ll have their energy taken away from them unless I can turn them back into the Sailor Scouts,” she murmured reluctantly.
She gasped slightly as she saw Ryoku stumble from stepping on a broken piece of one of the ruined columns. Normally, such a thing wouldn’t have caused him to lose balance, but with carrying Naru’s lifeless body, the change of his center of gravity was enough to almost make him fall. Even worse, since he was in front, if he fell, everyone would fall on top of him. Luckily, he managed to keep upright until he could regain his balance.
“That was a close call,” Luna breathed. “I mustn’t waste any more time. I need to reawaken the Scouts right away.”
“What’s going on here?”
Luna paused, one paw forward, and turned toward the one who spoke. Behind her, glancing at the confusion, was Usagi, one hand resting on a nearby column and a puzzled expression on her face. “Usagi-chan! Thank goodness you’re here! Quickly, become Sailor Moon!”
Usagi frowned in bewilderment as she bent down toward Luna. “But… I don’t understand what’s going on!” she countered.
“There’s no time for explanations!” Luna said impatiently. “Just transform now!”
“Okay,” Usagi acquiesced and stood, then raised her hand into the air. “Moon prism power, make up!”
Minotauros roared again and lashed out at everyone with its horns. “Look out!” Minako shouted as she dodged to the left, followed by Rei. Makoto grabbed her brother by the shoulder and pulled him out of the way just before the horns stabbed him in the back.
“Thanks, Mako-chan,” Ryoku said as he glanced back at the horns stuck into the wall. “That won’t hold him for long. Let’s move it!” Everyone dashed forward again, just as the Cardian broke free and rejoined the chase.
It wasn’t long before everyone realized that they were being herded into a corner. One of the ruined columns had toppled over, cutting off one path of retreat, and the walls of the rest of the set kept them from escape.
“Dead end,” Makoto muttered as everyone came to a stop, then turned to face their pursuer.
“Damn it!” Ryoku growled fiercely. He glanced down at Naru, then set her carefully down behind him. When he straightened, he strode determinedly out in front until he stood between the creature and the girls.
“Nowhere to run,” he murmured to the girls behind him.
“What do you think you’re doing, Ryo-chan?” Makoto demanded. He merely half-grinned in return and turned to face Minotauros.
“Leave them alone!” someone shouted from above. As everyone turned toward the source of the order, a shadow of a figure could be seen standing in the mouth of some giant stone carving of a fierce-looking animal.
The figure stepped into the light; her arms crossed over her chest and a stern expression on her face. “I don’t really understand what’s going on here…,” she began.
“You don’t need to say that,” Luna grumbled.
“…but I won’t have you attacking them anyway,” she continued. “On behalf of the Moon, I’ll punish you!”
Minotauros roared as it thrust its horns at Sailor Moon. She leaped over the horns as they crashed into the animal head, destroying it.
All five of the others watched in wonder as Sailor Moon fought the creature. “What…?” Makoto breathed.
“Something feels familiar about all this,” Minako said, almost to herself, “but I can’t seem to remember what.”
“This almost seems like some weird dream, or something,” Ryoku added. “It’s completely impossible… but there’s something about that girl that reminds me of somebody. I wish I could remember who.”
“All right, time to take care of you,” Sailor Moon said as she reached above her head and grabbed… nothing. “What?” she exclaimed as she brought down her hand and stared at it in bewilderment. “Ah! The Crescent Moon Wand! It’s gone!”
Minotauros wasted no time taking advantage of Sailor Moon’s confusion and attacked. Sailor Moon quickly began to run from the creature, dodging its horns with an awkward, clumsy grace that seemed to be just pure luck rather than skill.
“That blockhead’s just running away!” Rei shouted angrily. “I have to help fight that thing!”
“That girl will get killed by herself if we don’t help her!” Ryoku agreed.
Rei and Ryoku both paused as they realized what they had just said.
“What am I saying?” Rei murmured in surprise and confusion.
“Help her? How can I help her when I can’t even scratch that thing?” Ryoku murmured, equally confused.
“Rei-chan! Ryo-kun!” Luna said to herself. “They’re all getting their memories back as they watch Sailor Moon.”
Sailor Moon dodged one of the Cardian’s horns as it punctured the wall next to her, stopping just in time to avoid getting skewered herself, but the other horn stabbed the wall on her other side, pinning her to the wall just like it did with Naru earlier. “Help me, somebody!” she called out weakly as she was quickly drained of her energy, then lifted over Minotauros’s head by its horns.
“Sailor Moon!” Luna shouted worriedly as she came out of hiding and called up to her, standing right in front of the others. “You said that you would be able to beat this youma alone!”
“This cat spoke!” Minako exclaimed as they all stared at Luna in shock. Luna’s eyes widened in dismay as she realized that she had just given herself away.
“Unbelievable!” Ami said in astonishment.
“A demon, a girl drained of her energy, another girl fighting the demon in a sailor outfit, a talking cat…. It’s just one thing after another here!” Ryoku commented as he sweatdropped and sighed in exasperation. “What’s next? Aliens?”
“I can’t handle this anymore,” Luna said to herself as she stared down at the floor in frustration. She then brought her head up and stared directly at them. “All of you! Please, help Sailor Moon!”
“How?” Ami asked.
“We don’t have the power to beat it,” Ryoku added.
Luna responded by focusing a beam of light from the crescent moon on her forehead onto the foreheads of the four girls and one boy in front of her. One after another, each of their respective Sailor Scout symbols appeared on their foreheads: Mercury on Ami’s, Venus on Minako’s, Mars on Rei’s, Jupiter on Makoto’s, and Knight on Ryoku’s. Immediately, memories started flooding back to each of them.
“Usagi-chan…?” Rei murmured. “No, it’s Sailor Moon!”
“Now we can remember everything!” Minako added.
“We’re warriors – the Sailor Scouts!” Makoto added.
“Yes,” Ami added. “How could we have forgotten?!?”
“Now that we remember,” Ryoku added, “let’s go help Sailor Moon!”
Out of nowhere, each of the Scouts’ transformation items appeared as if summoned.
“Mercury power….”
“Mars power….”
“Jupiter power….”
“Venus power….”
“…make up!” all four girls shouted at once.
“Knight swords power!”
Within moments, the five Sailor Scouts transformed, ready once again to help their leader fight evil.
“Shabon spray!” Mercury shouted, raising a thick mist with her bubbles to obscure vision. Knight and Venus then rushed at Minotauros. Knight first leaped at the Cardian with both swords out and slashed through both horns, causing Sailor Moon to fall from its grasp. Venus quickly caught her in midair as she followed Knight.
“Supreme thunder!” Jupiter shouted after Venus was far enough away from the creature. The lightning bolts struck the nubs of Minotauros’s horns, electrocuting it.
“Fire….”
“Crescent….”
“Earth….”
“…soul!”
“…beam!”
“…thrust!”
The three attacks combined into one and smashed into Minotauros, destroying it. The Cardian then condensed back into the card it had come from and landed edge-first into the ground, where it began to smolder until the picture on the front of the card turned completely pitch black.
Each of the six Scouts watched as the smoke from the card disappeared and smiled in relief.
“We never guessed there were six Sailor Warriors,” Ail said as he and Ann appeared. Though their images were almost transparent, the scowl on Ail’s face was unmistakable.
“See you next time!” Ann added condescendingly as she and Ail disappeared from sight.
“Everyone, it’s so great to see you again!” Sailor Moon said cheerily as she got to her feet and faced her friends. Each girl wore a wide grin on her face, while Knight’s half-grin was almost as big.
“You can’t seem to do anything right without us!” Mars chided in a friendly tone.
“So, I guess this means we’re back to stay,” Jupiter added.
Knight nodded then turned toward the spot where Ail and Ann vanished. “So… that’s them,” he began quietly. “Our new enemies.” He turned back toward the others, who were also looking toward the spot he was staring at.
“It begins again.”
The next day, everyone gathered at the shrine, just like they used to. Rei was busy sweeping around the main building while everyone else was talking. Ami and Minako, with Artemis in Minako’s arms, were in front of the building, talking about the T.V. studio, while Usagi, sitting in the middle of the steps up to the building, was talking with Makoto and Ryoku, who were both leaning against opposite sides of one of the poles that held up the overhang. Usagi was now laughing her head off at some offhand comment Ryoku had made earlier.
“So, the drama was canceled because the lead actress had a breakdown,” Minako explained.
“It’s a pity, but it really doesn’t matter to me,” Ami replied. “I have to concentrate on my studies.”
Rei paused in her sweeping and sighed in vexation. “That Usagi…,” she grumbled, half to herself. “If she were a better Sailor Scout, then we would’ve still had our peaceful lives.”
Usagi’s laughing stopped abruptly. “I’m sorry, everyone.”
“Don’t be,” Makoto said, waving a hand in dismissal. “It’s not your fault; it’s the new enemies. It’s the job of the Sailor Scouts to protect our planet.” The others nodded in agreement.
“Besides,” Ryoku added pointedly, “even if you were proficient at being a Sailor Scout, handing that responsibility would eventually become too difficult for just one person. Sooner or later, we would’ve had to have our memories and our powers returned to us. Better now, than later when it might become too late.”
“You understand?” Usagi asked, relieved.
“You already forgot about the mistake you made with the wand!” Luna grumbled.
Usagi ignored Luna and got to her feet. “All right!” she stated, nodding. “Now all I have to do is get Mamoru-san’s memories back!” She pumped her right fist into the air, laughing as she felt certain that soon everything would go back to the way it used to be.
To Chapter 45: The Moonlight Knight Appears