Obligations {2/3}


A Sailor Moon story by Tim Nolan in three parts. 
e-mail: nomad@cyberverse.com



Part 2





	The one who called himself Matthew had finally 
left the cathedral, and it was now dark and quiet. The 
only lights were from the projection system that gave 
him a view of the stars. Now, he could rest and try to 
figure out what to do. This was another dilemma for him 
to face, just like the one that had led him to renounce 
Beryl. He hoped that this one wouldn't lead to his death.
	Not now, not when he now had something to live 
for. Matthew had been correct in one thing, at least. 
The spells that Beryl had used to control him and the 
others had greatly reduced their abilities and memories. 
Things were beginning to come back to him. Now, he could 
remember a few bits and pieces of how it had happened. 
	They had been in Kunzite's tower late one evening, 
just after returning from the Moon Kingdom. The prince 
had gone there on a diplomatic matter, or at least that's 
what they had told the old generals. They all knew of his 
love for the princess of the Moon and were doing everything 
in their considerable power to aide him in his courtship.
	The planned topic was supposed to be about magic. 
Kunzite was a mage, and the most formally trained of the 
four, having spent several years under the tutelage of an 
aged scholar who had emigrated from the moon. Jadeite was 
gifted in the use of the gates that led to many of their 
daring successes in battles. A few months ago, he had been 
instrumental in their defeating a student of their old 
enemies when he gated a phalanx of Atlantean troops into 
the sorcerer's stronghold.
	Zoicite, who was reclining on a couch with his head 
in Kunzite's lap, was a specialist in crystals. He was 
always a dangerous adversary with a host of tricks up his 
sleeves. He himself was a channeler who could call upon 
the power of the stars. Together, they had a good 
understanding of the magics that were their edge in 
dealing with the rest of the world. Atlantis was a 
wealthy land, thanks to the trade with the Moon Kingdom, 
and had attracted many who coveted that wealth. 
	Somehow, they had been sidetracked into a 
discussion of the Princesses' court, and Zoicite's 
infatuation with one of it's members. For the first 
time, he had spent several hours together with one 
outside of the carefully orchestrated formal gatherings 
where they had usually encountered each other before. The 
Senshi wore a simple white robe, in marked contrast to her 
colorful battle costume or an ornate gown. He said they 
had been a bit nervous at first while they stayed near 
the two royals, who were sitting together in a secluded 
section of the gardens, but in plain sight of their 
respective chaperones. 
	In order to pass the time, Zoicite had struck up a 
game of chess with Mercury when she said she knew of the 
game. He hadn't expected much of a challenge out of the 
shy girl, but was soon in the match of his life. One game 
quickly became six epic duels, with an even split on the 
results and eager promises of a rematch. It had broken 
the ice between them, and soon they were regretting the 
other duties that would require his return to the planet 
that loomed impossibly large in the sky above.
	As they relaxed together with a jug of wine, they 
had discussed these first steps they had made towards 
friendship. The four had seen the Senshi on a few occasions, 
but had not interacted with them on anything like a personal 
basis before this. Kunzite had been enjoying teasing his 
close friend about his sudden feelings for the blue-haired 
girl. He had even joked of a double wedding when the prince 
had won the hand of the princess, much to the dismay of 
Zoicite.
	That was when she entered the room, a tall lady with 
red hair who had somehow made it past the wards Kunzite had 
set against the spies of the generals. After that, he knew 
of nothing but the unending nightmare that life became as he 
was slowly forced to turn against his friends and country for 
the sake of her mad lust for power. Beryl had even taken 
advantage of the contact between the four of them and the 
Senshi. It gave her four very skilled spies who learned much 
about the Moon Kingdom.
	 If it wasn't for meeting Naru, he would have never 
been able to break the compulsion. This body was tired and 
worn out from the struggle to break free, and it's needs 
had been denied too long in the time it took him to return. 
The demands of his body finally overwhelmed him as he 
succumbed and fell into a deep slumber.

****************************************************

	In the cold reaches of their system, they 
conferred.
	" I am happy for you, brothers and sisters. I 
am glad that they are all back," spoke the one who 
was third out, and the place where the other life had 
originated. They were alive, the nine brothers and 
sisters, but not like the life on the third. 
	" I must warn you," she continued. " This could 
pose a danger to all of us."
	" She is correct," replied the one who was closest 
in, and the cleverest of all the siblings. " It could be 
a threat to us if this one learns of the connections 
between ourselves and the avatars."
	" My daughter's spirit, which he trapped inside 
the stone, would become the weapon that would defeat us. 
She would not like that, and would tell us so if she were 
alive today."
	" She is not dead," the largest spoke in his deep 
voice. " She still lives, inside the stone."
	" My daughter was trapped when that aspect of her 
was. Would you give up your freedom for perpetual 
imprisonment, brother?" she inquired of him, and posed 
the same questions to the others. There was no response.
	" What would you have us do, sister?" asked the 
second out, her voice warm with her concern for her 
sibling.
	" I could destroy the threat," said the ringed 
one. "  My avatar could take care of the problem, and 
she who is third has said that the life on her would 
survive even that. Then, it would only be a matter of 
waiting for it to rise again."
	" That would not be fair to them," said the fourth, 
cutting off the start of his sister's protests. " My 
avatar has taught me much of morality. We would be as 
unethical as the one we speak of."
	" Siblings, may I speak?" the one who was furthest 
out ventured. When they had quieted, he continued. " Our 
avatars are there, in that place. Let them try and figure 
out what to do in this situation. Their judgments have 
been sound."
	There was agreement all throughout, as they recognized 
the wisdom in his words and agreed to give their avatars a 
chance. The sounds of space were the only things they heard 
for a while as they thought upon the recent events. The 
faint moaning of the solar wind was punctuated by the 
staccato impacts of particles against particles, and the 
louder crash of a sizable chunk of rock slamming otherwise 
unnoticed into one side of the largest one. Finally, it 
was he who broke the silence to speak. 
	" What of the one who is not an avatar?"
	" Yes, what is to be done about her?" said the 
fourth out. " Her welfare is important to all of our 
avatars."
	She is important to ones besides the avatars, the 
one who is third thought to herself with what the humans 
would call a smile, but she did not let it show.
	" We stand ready to protect her, as always," said 
the seventh and eighth, who had been silent until now. 
As usual, they spoke in their perfect harmony, and turned 
together towards the one furthest out. " We are ready, 
brother."
	" Our avatars may be able to help her," the patient 
one responded to the chorus of questions from the ones 
closer in. " They cannot restore what is lost, but they 
may be able to show her what she still has."

*****************************************************

	They stood in shock as Usagi quietly sobbed on 
Rei's shoulder. The dust that was the remains of the 
statue was slowly fading away, and Mercury was so moved 
by the despair written in Mamoru's eyes that she almost 
forgot to scan it before it was gone. With a snarl of 
frustration he turned and slammed his fist into a wall. 
The sound of breaking bone was clearly audible.
	" I failed her again," he said bitterly as he 
slumped to the floor, ignoring the pain from his hand. 
Saturn moved over to help him, but he waved her off. 
She was about to protest when Haruka spoke.
	" Mars, is she hurt?" she said. At the small shake 
of the priestesses' head, the tall girl began issuing 
orders as she took off her jacket. " Pluto, Neptune, 
take position outside the door. Saturn, if anyone besides 
one of us comes through the door, cut them down. Don't 
wait for an explanation, just kill them. I'm going to 
get the limo and get us out of here."
	" Haruka," Ami said in surprise as the woman pulled 
out her scepter and changed into Sailor Uranus. " What if 
it's an innocent person who-"
	" Ami!" Minako snapped at the blue-clad Senshi in a 
tone of voice that surprised even herself. " She's right. 
Usagi's safety is our first concern."
	" I'll call on the cellular when I'm outside the 
side entrance. Bring her out, but change back to your 
regular clothes. Saturn, stay in costume but wear my 
overcoat. We can't rely on firepower here. It'll be better 
to get away without being noticed," she said as she pulled 
her jacket back on over her uniform and left the room at a 
fast walk after tossing a cellular phone to Neptune. She 
looked enough like a girl who had borrowed her date's jacket 
to escape anything more than a second glance, unlike the 
commotion her Senshi outfit would cause.
	" C'mon," the dark-green haired woman said to Neptune 
as they changed back to their dresses. " We'll be right 
outside the door if we're needed. Michiru, if I see that 
statue again I'm going to go back in time and-" the door 
clicked shut behind them.
	" Mako-chan?" Rei called out. " Give me a hand here. 
I want to get her up on the sofa." Together, they lifted 
Usagi up and into a sitting position. Ami moved in with her 
computer at the ready, but Chibi-usa beat her to Usagi's 
side and threw her arms around her mother. 
	This brought Usagi out of the daze she had been in 
as she realized the girl was crying, and she pulled her 
into a tight embrace.
	" I'm all right, Chibi-usa-chan," she said with 
a game attempt at a smile.
	" I can't feel the crystal either, Usagi. I can't 
change. Moon Crisis Make-up!" she cried out, but nothing 
happened. Rei sat down next to her friend, put her arm 
around her to comfort her, and looked over at Mamoru to 
see why he wasn't here consoling her, like he should 
have been, but Makoto was standing in the way as she 
picked up the vase that had broken the statue's hand.
	" What in the world?" she exclaimed. " This thing 
is heavy. No wonder it shattered it's hand." She tossed 
it over to Minako, who had taken Ami over to a corner to 
apologize for using such a tone of voice on her earlier. 
The blonde dropped it, surprised at the weight, and it 
landed with a loud clunk on the floor, right next to Ami's 
foot. Makoto grinned in embarrassment at her yelp of 
surprise.
	" It's tooled steel," Saturn said as she went over 
to the silent figure of Mamoru, who was still sitting on 
the floor. " Haruka was tired of knocking over this one 
vase she made, so she had a machinist make that one up to 
look just like it and had it coated with a ceramic 
composite." She kneeled next to him and looked at the 
blood coming from his knuckles.
	"  I've never done this with broken bones, Mamoru, 
but I'm going to try and heal up your hand. Next time, 
aim for in between the studs, O.K.?" she said with a 
little smile, trying to cheer him up. The man blinked 
a few times, as if suddenly becoming aware of his 
surroundings. He put his hand on top of hers to stop 
her.
	" I can do it, Hotaru. You have a tough time 
with healing people, if I recall. You'll need your 
energy to protect her if something happens," he said 
as his good hand began to glow with a golden light. He 
put it over the injured one, and when he took it away, 
the only sign that something had happened was a slight, 
pink cast to his skin.
	" You're not the only healer among us, Hotaru. Do 
you remember when you came and gave back Chibi-usa's 
heart crystal?  I was using this to keep her alive. Now, 
if you'll excuse me," he said as he shifted back to his 
normal suit. " I have to go to her." 

****************************************************

	She looked about the parking lot as they moved 
towards the limo. Makoto was pushing her way through 
the few clusters of people there, and Michiru was bringing 
up the rear. The others were formed up around Usagi and 
Mamoru, who had his cape over her shoulders. Setsuna was 
carrying Chibi-usa, and Hotaru was scanning the crowd 
from her spot right behind the princess looking like a 
thunder storm ready to break. Minako even had the presence 
of mind to twist her hair up into an approximation of 
odango-atama's hair style in order to give any assailants 
two blonde targets.
	They may have some disputes with each other and 
their methods, but they had come around in the crisis 
tonight, she said to herself as they got into the limo 
and she hit the gas. Tires screeching, she cut between 
a group of people and sped past three limousines that 
were the same model as what she drove. She had used all
her cash that she had on hand to hire the vehicles away 
from the people who had reserved them for the night and 
gave thanks she had gotten in the habit of keeping a 
spare couple hundred-thousand yen on her at all times.
	The other cars sped after her in pursuit, and 
would break off every few minutes to try and confuse 
anyone following them. She took advantage of the big 
engine to run several lights at high speed, trusting to 
the experience of hundreds of hours in races at high 
speeds. The slow pace of normal traffic was like a crawl 
to her usual self, but it was even more so now. The 
Formula One rookie driver sensation of a few years ago 
wasn't at the wheel. It was Sailor Uranus.

****************************************************

	The new modifications and the tune-up Miyuki 
had done on his motorcycle had done wonders. This time, 
he was sure he'd catch his nemesis. The machine now 
boasted a racing engine that she had set to be unmatched 
at the low end. He'd finally have the acceleration he would 
need, since the traffic didn't allow him to ever use the 
top speed it was capable of.
	He was just finishing up his test drive and was on 
his way to see his intended when he heard a screech of 
tires and horns. Glancing to the right, he just saw a black 
limo sail through the intersection in front of him at what 
had to be 200 kmh. What galled him even more is that he 
caught a glimpse of the driver. That had to be her! He goosed 
the throttle as he turned to follow and slapped the switch 
for his helmet mounted radio. 
	" Dispatch? Yoriko, this is Officer Nakajima. I'm 
going on duty. A limo just passed me doing over two-hundred 
on a surface street. I'm in pursuit!"
	He put on the lights and siren and took off in 
earnest, his new machine eating up the distance in no 
time. There was room on the left for him to pull up 
next to her, and he gambled that this was an import 
that didn't have the wheel on the right. It was her all 
right, but the murderous look she gave him made him slow 
down slightly and drop behind the vehicle. 
	This wasn't the light-hearted trickster who had 
plagued him for the past two and a half years. Gone were 
the smiles, the winks and the waves. It had always been a 
challenge between the two, but it was in a sense of fun 
as he strove to bring her in. Now, she looked like she 
would run him off the road.

****************************************************

	Haruka snarled a curse as the motorcycle officer 
came up out of nowhere on her left. Sure enough, it was 
him, and it would happen to be the one time she couldn't 
afford to deal with him gently.
	" Michiru," she called out into the back compartment 
as she hit the lever for the sunroof in the passenger's 
compartment. " Take him down. He'll follow us to hell 
and back on that thing." Her partner moved to comply, 
but Ami lunged forward to knock Michiru back into her 
seat.
	" No! We don't have to kill him" she cried out 
over the wind from the opening above them. " At this 
speed, he'll be hurt if he falls off. Mercury Crystal 
Power, Make-up!" 
	Sailor Mercury stood up through the sunroof and 
grabbed onto the side with one hand to steady herself 
as she turned to look at the police officer tailing 
them. The wind was whipping her hair around her , but 
she was lucky it was short enough to still see behind 
them. Rei or Minako would practically be blind. They had 
just finished a turn and were on a long, straight section 
of road that had few cars on it. It was a good a point as 
any for this.
	" Shabon Spray!"
	A stream of bluish-white mist erupted from her 
fingers, the wind turning the bubbles into a fog. She 
kept it up for several seconds, and aimed it high enough 
to hopefully keep from making the pavement too slick for 
the motorcycle officer. It took a few moments, but he 
apparently decided on discretion and started to slow down 
to a stop.
	" Good work!" Neptune said as she squeezed up next 
to her in the opening. The other girl must have changed 
while she was busy. 
	" Deep Submerge!" she cried, and a ringed ball of 
blue energy slammed into the pavement behind them to leave 
most of the roadway around his motorcycle covered in 
water. " Ami-chan,..." she started to say, but she 
already had an idea what Neptune wanted.
	" Shining Aqua Illusion!" Mercury called out, and 
landed it squarely among the remains of Neptune's attack. 
The water turned to a patch of ice that should keep him 
from following. Neptune clapped her on the shoulder as 
they sat down and Haruka closed the sunroof.
	" Thanks, Ami," she called out from the driver's 
seat as she put it in a turn and slowed as she merged 
into the traffic on the onramp to an expressway. " Michiru, 
are your parents still going to be out of town for a few 
days?"
	" Yes, Haruka. It's a safer place than your homes 
right now," she explained to the others.  "If anyone has 
been tracking you, they won't know where we're going. If 
they do, we can still get you off to a safe house while 
we figure out what's happening."
	" I'm sorry, Michiru," Usagi replied angrily. " I'm 
not letting you shut me away from the world in order 
to protect me."
	" Please listen to them, Usako," Mamoru said as 
he put his hand on her arm and tried to calm her 
down. " They're doing this because they care about 
you, not because they want to hurt you. Whoever is 
behind all this is the real enemy here."

*************************************************

	They got out of the limo at a small mansion 
on a hill in one the best areas of Tokyo. The view 
from the gardens and the house was a breathtaking 
panorama of the city below and the stars above. Haruka 
pulled Michiru aside as the others began moving towards 
the house as Hotaru showed them the way in.
	" I'll be back in fifteen minutes, at most. I need 
to ditch the car, and I've got a bike hidden near here 
the place I have in mind. If I'm not back in twenty minutes, 
get out and up to one of the safe houses out of the city. 
Get out of the country if you can."
	" Be careful, Haruka. No heroics. I don't want to 
lose you."
	The taller girl responded with a crooked grin 
and pulled her in for a quick hug.
	" I'm the wind, remember?" she whispered back. " They 
won't catch me. I called the airport and the helicopter 
is being pre-flighted if you need it. I'll find you if 
you have to leave, no matter where you go, Michiru. I 
don't want to lose you, either." 
	She watched her drive off and stood there with 
her fears for a few moments before putting them aside 
and joining the others. As she expected, Hotaru had 
taken them into the conservatory. She walked up behind 
the brown haired girl.
	" Makoto, would you please do me a favor? We aren't 
going to get to that restaurant tonight, and I think we 
could all use a bite to eat and some tea. Why don't you 
go in the kitchen there and put together some sandwiches?"
	Makoto nodded and went off after corralling Rei and 
making her lend a helping hand. She told Hotaru and Setsuna 
to keep everyone occupied and went upstairs to activate the 
perimeter security, and then to the garage to make sure the 
car was ready to go. She wasn't as good a driver as Haruka, 
but she could manage. The van would be cramped, but that 
wasn't a concern right now. She was turning on the laptop 
in the van to log into the airport files to check the 
departing flights when she heard an engine die and the sound 
of wheels rolling up the driveway a few minutes later. The 
alarm hadn't sounded, and the engine sounded like an 
off-road motorcycle. 
	As she suspected, it was Haruka. They embraced 
and went up to join the others in the conservatory. Makoto 
had just brought in a tray of sandwiches and put it next 
to a pair of thermal carafes that held tea and coffee. Usagi 
must be getting over it, because she was at least nibbling 
on a sandwich.
	" We should be safe now," Haruka said around a sip 
of coffee. She made a face at the taste of it and decided 
to switch to the tea. " I got rid of the limo and I haven't 
seen any sign of pursuit. I don't think they're on to us."
	" Who is 'they'?" Ami questioned. " Does anyone have 
an idea of what that thing was, or who it might have 
been?" Her only response was silence.
	" How are you feeling, Usagi-chan?" Setsuna asked. She 
took another bite and washed it down before replying. 
	" I'm all right, everybody. I was a little woozy at 
first, but I feel fine right now, except that I don't have 
that feel I usually do from the crystal." 
	" I can't feel it either," Chibi-usa said from where 
she sat next to her parents. 
	" You can feel her crystal, Chibi-usa-chan?" Makoto 
said in surprise. The young girl took out her broach, and 
showed them the crystal in it. It was dull and glossy, not 
the translucent brightness they usually saw. 
	" It's like a person singing a long way away," the 
girl continued. " I can usually just hear it over the 
sound of mine." 
	" Usagi, do you normally hear the same thing with 
your crystal?" Setsuna asked of the blonde girl. " Do you 
hear hers as well?" Usagi nodded and absent-mindedly 
reached for another sandwich.
	" Setsuna, could it be a resonance between 
the crystals?" Ami asked, her eyes lighting up as 
she came up with a theory. " To the best of our 
knowledge, she has the same crystal that Usagi does, 
except that it's the one from the future." 
	" That's an interesting idea, Ami-chan, but how 
does it connect with what happened?" Minako asked, 
slightly puzzled. " What happened to Usagi? Why couldn't 
she change?"
	" I don't know, Minako-chan," the blue-haired 
girl responded as she pulled out her computer and began 
to tap on the keys as she spoke. " It might help us in 
figuring out how to fix it, however. Maybe if we fix 
Usagi's problem, Chibi-usa will be all right as well. 
Did you feel anything unusual or different, Usagi?" 
	" I felt something funny during the concert. I 
felt real cold for a moment and shivered, but it wasn't 
from being cold, like from the air conditioning." 
	" I felt it too," Chibi-usa chimed in her 
high-pitched voice. " It was just as Michiru began 
playing." 
	" What about when you tried to change, Usagi-chan?" Rei 
asked, her heart still breaking whenever she remembered 
the look of pain on her friend's face in that horrible 
moment.
	" No, there wasn't anything different, except that 
when I tried, I realized that I couldn't feel it like I 
usually do." Ami nodded and got up to pace nervously 
back and forth a few times as she thought before going 
over and asking Michiru for a loan of a real computer 
keyboard. 
	" You're being very brave, Usagi-chan," Hotaru 
said while she poured another cup for the girl as they 
took a brief break. Mamoru smiled at Usagi and put his 
arm around her shoulders. 
	" I'm proud of her for standing up so well. You 
too, little one," he said as he put his other arm around 
Chibi-usa.
	" You should be proud of them all right," Rei said 
without a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she stood up. " Their 
appetites aren't affected by this. They ate all the food. I'm 
going to go make a few more plates, Usagi," she said with a 
warm smile at her friend.
	Ami came back in with Michiru and began to tell her 
computer how to adapt to what she was now using. In a few 
moments, she began to type at a furious rate. Michiru went 
over and sat next to Haruka, who was so deep in thought 
that she didn't even respond until Michiru waved her hand 
in front of her eyes.
	" Earth to Haruka?" she teased her friend.
	" Sorry, Michiru," she blinked and blushed 
slightly. " I was just thinking about this problem 
and how to fix it."
	" I'm sure we'll come up with something."
	Ami got up and took a seat near Usagi, set the 
keyboard on her lap and put her computer on the table 
next to her.
	" Usagi, would you please take out your crystal?"
	" Certainly, Ami-chan," she replied as she 
pulled out the crystal in it's double-winged broach. It, 
too, was dull and glossy like Chibi-usa's. 
	" Chibi-usa, would you bring yours over here as 
well?" As the girl came over and held hers out as well, 
Ami looked at the two and the read-outs on her 
terminal. " Chibi-usa, can you tell me anything about 
the crystal that your mother gave you?"
	Chibi-usa giggled as Setsuna heard the question 
and turned pale.
	" I knew you wouldn't let me say anything, Pu. You 
and my mama already told me not to talk to her about it, 
no matter what happens. I'm sorry, Ami-chan."
	" It was worth a try," Ami said with a sigh. " Usagi, 
I've got my initial scans done. Would you try to transform 
again?"
	" I'll try, Ami-chan, but I don't think it will 
work." 
	" Don't think like that, Usagi-chan, or it never 
will," Makoto warned her.	
	" Moon Eternal Make-Up!" she called out, closing 
her eyes in concentration.
	The crystal remained dull.

*****************************************************

	He straightened his tie as he closed the door 
behind him, a smile plastered on his face. He'd worn 
the three girls out, and he still felt full of energy 
after all that. The elevator to the floor came quickly 
at this time of the morning, and he admired the faint 
glow to the east that signaled the coming sunrise. This 
period of tranquillity just before dawn was truly his 
favorite time of the day. 
	There was a cab outside, and he had the driver 
take him to a hotel that catered to traveling businessmen. 
For some reason, a heavy, Western style breakfast appealed 
to him this fine morning. He even gave the driver a tip 
even though the man wouldn't shut up. The man must have 
been here from New York.
	Four eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, fresh orange 
juice and a stack of buckwheat pancakes later, he walked 
to Gabriel's new location while he enjoyed the feeling of 
energy that filled him. This power didn't have the taint 
of blood magic, nor the fuzziness it sometimes left in 
the user's mind. This was absolutely a joy to possess, 
and soon he would have it all.
	The young man's new residence was clearly not one 
he had spent much time in, unlike the suite he had seen 
the day before. This still had the feel of being new, and 
lacked the lived-in touch. Gabriel was still red-eyed from 
a lack of sleep after moving all his gear during the night.
	" Hello, Gabriel. It's a beautiful morning, isn't 
it?" 
	The younger man summoned up a smile in spite of his 
headache. " I take it things went well last night, Boss? 
You look the cat who got the cream."
	" Better than I could have hoped for. That girl has 
the power of a god at her disposal, and she treats it like 
a trinket. You could have done it a week after I started 
teaching you. Now, there's no way she can stop us. 
	" I'm going to have Matthew set up the trap. I'm still 
wary of the others, the second group, but their big gun is 
out of the picture. If all goes well, the problem will come 
to us to be taken care of."
	" That's a shrewd idea, all right. When do you want 
me to start the operation?"
	" Today, Gabriel. Later on today, let loose the first 
one and have it go on a rampage. The decoy is in place, and 
you can finish the rest over the next few days. Today, 
however, today is the beginning of the end for them."

*****************************************************

	Ami set down the cup of cold coffee as she realized 
the sun was starting to rise up over the horizon. It 
tasted bad, but it would keep her going. Most of the 
others had drifted off to sleep at some point while she 
worked and were scattered around the room. There was one 
thing this large room didn't lack, and that was plenty 
of comfortable furniture. She looked around to make sure 
everyone in the room was still asleep before venting her 
frustrations.
	" Damn," she said softly.
	" Such language, Ami-chan," Haruka drawled, 
causing Ami to start in surprise and blush red in 
embarrassment. The girl had been watching through 
partially closed eyes. 
	 " I'm sorry, Haruka-san. Haven't you slept?
	" Don't be sorry. You're trying, and that's all 
that counts. No, I haven't slept. I took the first 
shift, and Michiru will take over for me in a little 
while. We're going to keep a guard on her until we 
figure out what is going on."
	" She won't like that," she warned the other girl. 
	" Tough. She's the Princess, Mercury," Haruka flatly 
stated, using titles instead of names to emphasize her 
point. " We protect her, and that's final."
	" I know that, Haruka-san, but it won't be easy. 
I just wish I had some good news to tell everyone. I've 
drawn a blank."
	" I'm not the scientific type, Ami-chan, but what 
if we're going about this the wrong way? Is technology 
the answer to magic?"  
	" I'm not sure, but it's the only thing I have. 
The scientific method should still work, unless magic 
doesn't follow the laws of physics. I wish I knew more 
about what happens to us and why it does, but I don't 
know where to begin in regards to working with, or 
understanding, magic." 
	" Maybe I said it wrong, Ami. I'm still a little 
fuzzy from a lack of sleep right now," the tall girl 
admitted with a rueful grin. " Is technology the answer 
in this case? What if magic is the answer to solving 
this, even if we don't know much about it?" She stood 
up and stretched, the wrinkles in her shirt and slacks 
clearly visible. 
	" C'mon, I've got an idea or two I need to think 
over, but I need a real cup of coffee. How do you like 
your mud?"

****************************************************

	" Just five more minutes, Mom..."
	" Usako!"
	" I'll be to school on time, Mom. Just let me 
sleep a few more minutes."
	It was only when a stubbled cheek brushed against 
hers and someone kissed her that she realized that she 
wasn't at home. She sat up, blinking at the clear 
morning light.
	" Mamo-chan? It's morning! My parents are going 
to kill me!"
	" I'm here, Usako," he said to her as he sat down 
on the bed. " It's time to get you up and moving. Rei 
called your parents last night and told them that 
everybody was having a sleep-over at the temple since 
her grandfather was gone. She and I brought you two up 
here to one of the guest rooms after you fell asleep. Setsuna 
just took Chibi-usa down for a bath, and now it's your turn. 
You'd better hurry up, or there won't be any breakfast left."
	" I'm not really that hungry, Mamo-chan," she said, 
sitting up while holding the sheets to her chest. All she 
was wearing was an over-sized T-shirt, and while she 
didn't really feel the need to be modest in front of 
him, one of the others might walk by the partially 
open door. " I'm starting to feel scared about this. 
What if we can't figure out what happened? What if I'm 
like this forever?" 
	" Usako," he said in a thick voice from what he 
was feeling. " Don't think like that. Nothing will 
change between us, no matter what. I don't love you 
because you're Sailor Moon." He reached out and drew 
her into an embrace and nestled her head down on his 
shoulder.
	" I love you because you're Usagi Tsukino. I'll love 
you no matter what happens today, or tomorrow, or the next."
	" Mamo-chan," she sighed, sniffled a few times, and 
began to cry. He let her get some of the pain and fear out, 
since this wasn't the wailing she usually indulged in. 
	" C'mon, Usako," he said after a few minutes. " Mako-chan 
is making a feast down there, and you could use a good 
breakfast." He stood, scooped her up and carried her 
into the bath. Just inside the door, he set her down 
on her feet.
	" Take a quick bath, Usako"
	" Will you wash my back, Mamo-chan?" she asked 
with an impish grin.
	" Usako!" he exclaimed and blushed.
	" Mamo-chan," she protested. " It's not like-"
	" Usako," he cut her off quickly. " Now is not 
the right time for that. Go get cleaned up and meet us 
downstairs." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and 
gently pushed her into the bathroom and closed the door. 
He sighed, and then ran a hand through his hair. A tap 
on the door made him look up. 
	" Mamoru?" Michiru called out. " May I come in?"
	" Yes. She just got in the bath."
	The girl tossed him a set of sweats and nodded 
her head towards the end of the hallway. 
	" Here's something you can wear, unless you mind 
that it's Haruka's. It should fit well enough, and I've 
got some things Usagi can wear. The other shower is free. 
I'll keep an eye on her, O.K.?" she said with a smile. 
	" Thanks. I need it, and a shave. Would you do me 
a favor, Michiru?"
	" Certainly, Mamoru," she replied politely.
	" Please try not to let her know that you're 
watching over her. She's starting to feel a little 
scared. I think she was still in a bit of shock last 
night, and it's finally sinking in."

*************************************************

	" It's so nice cooking for her, Hotaru," Makoto 
said as they cleaned up in the kitchen after they 
had finished eating. " I always feel good when she 
cleans her plate like that. It makes me feel like 
I've done a good job."
	" It was very good, Mako-chan," the shorter 
girl agreed as she finished stacking the last of 
the plates that she had dried. " But doesn't Usagi 
eat everything no matter where she goes?" They both 
giggled for a moment, since they knew it to be true.
	" She does, but I still like it."
	" I've got the cups, Mako-chan. Would you please 
bring in the carafes?"
	They went into the conservatory, where everyone 
was sitting together in one corner and recovering from 
the meal. Makoto had seen the contents of the kitchen 
and pantry and went overboard with delight at what she 
had to work with.
	" Here's coffee and tea, everybody," the brown 
haired girl said as she sat down.
	" Thanks, Mako-chan," Chibi-usa said as she patted 
her stomach. " I didn't know I was so hungry."
	" Ami-chan," Usagi asked her friend. " Did you 
figure anything out?"
	The blue haired girl sighed before answering. 
	" I'm sorry, Usagi-chan."
	The blonde girl sat back in the couch with a dejected 
look on her face that made Ami want to cry. She'd failed 
her friend this time, after coming through so many times 
before.
	" Usagi-chan..." Minako said in a wavering voice, 
and tears began to roll down her face. " I'm so sorry... we 
should have done better last night."
	Haruka sighed in exasperation. She didn't think she 
could sit through another crying session like the Inner 
Senshi had been in last night. She caught Setsuna's eyes 
and motioned for her to come over from where she sat 
with Chibi-usa. 
	" Should I?" she questioned her in a whisper. 
	" No, I think I better do this," was the reply. 
Setsuna took a deep breath and straightened to her 
considerable full height. 
	" Crying isn't going to help us here, everybody," she 
said with a hint of disappointment in her voice. " We don't 
think that the statue is what affected her. It never 
touched her, and none of us saw it attack her in any 
way. It tried, but we kept it from her.
	" There's one thing that Mercury didn't try last 
night, Princess. Where's the Grail?"
	" The Grail?" Usagi gasped in surprise. Ami 
slapped her forehead with a look of self-incrimination 
and whispered a curse under her breath that made Michiru 
turn pale in her seat next to Ami.
	" I haven't had to use it ever since Chibi-usa 
and I got our new broaches when the Dead Moon Circus 
showed up," Usagi said, deep in thought. " I thought 
it was gone."
	" Things like that don't go away, Usagi-chan," Hotaru 
said with a little smile. " I remember that it dissolved 
when Mistress Nine put it into the machine that would 
have brought Pharaoh Ninety to this world, but Michiru 
told me that you used it almost right after that to become 
Super Sailor Moon."   
	" Could I make a suggestion before we try 
anything?" Mamoru asked when he saw Michiru and 
Haruka start to curl up their hands in preparation 
for summoning their talismans. " I think we should 
all be in costume for this, and we should all go out 
in the garden. There could be some funny side effects, 
and this is too nice a place to demolish."
	They agreed and went outside, pausing only to 
change forms after Michiru assured them that there 
was complete privacy on the grounds. A small clearing 
was deemed the best spot by Mercury, who set up her 
computer to scan the proceedings. Usagi stood in the 
center with Mamoru by her side in his tuxedo. 
	She took out her broach as the Outer Senshi took 
out the talismans. Neptune had the Aqua Mirror, Uranus 
the Space Sword, and Pluto the Garnet Orb. While Saturn 
didn't have a talisman, she still summoned her glaive 
and held it for psychological support. The three 
talismans began to faintly glow in the presence of 
each other, and Usagi seemed to as well. 
	" Do you feel anything, Usagi-chan?" Mars 
asked. When she frowned and shook her head, Mars 
gathered the rest of the Inner Senshi around her.
	" C'mon, let's try to help her out here."
	All four girls partially closed their eyes 
in order to concentrate as the sigils of their 
respective planets burst into light on their 
foreheads. A glow surrounded each of them that 
corresponded to their tiara stones as they directed 
their energy towards Usagi.
	Saturn looked at and caught the eyes of the 
other Outer Senshi. Pluto nodded slightly, and their 
auras began to glow as well, along with their sigils.
	" I think I can feel something!" Usagi whispered 
excitedly as she tried to feel for her crystal. Mamoru 
looked at her and the strain she was under from the 
energy and emotions she was feeling due to the link 
with the others. Then, he saw what he had dreaded. 
	The pupils of her eyes seemed to have vanished, 
and all he could see was the blue iris. This only 
happened when she was trying to call upon everything 
she had, or she was badly hurt. His heart started 
beating faster as he stepped forward to her. As he 
reached her and took her hands, his tuxedo changed 
into his armor without his even willing it to do so.
	Usako, he cried out in his mind as he gathered 
his energy together and reached out to somehow help 
her. Dear God, don't let her be hurt, he fervently 
prayed. Usako! 
	He blinked in surprise as another set of hands 
wrapped around his, or at least as far as they could, 
as his daughter put hers over her parents'. Her eyes 
had also lost their pupils, but Chibi-usa's face was 
calm and composed compared to the strain on Usagi's. The 
thought of the danger to both of them was the catalyst 
he needed as the power rushed into him from somewhere, 
and their joined hands began to glow.
	Light flashed, a jolt of whiteness that sent the 
other Senshi to the ground in exhaustion. When it faded, 
Usagi was standing there holding the Grail with a 
bewildered look on her face.
	" Mamo-chan, you did it!" she cried out happily.
	" Mamoru did what?" Mercury asked her, confused 
about Usagi's statement.
	" I was losing it, Ami-chan," the blonde said 
excitedly, " but Mamo-chan helped, and  I think he 
did almost everything. What should I do now, try to 
transform?"
	Usagi held the Grail up over her head and took 
a deep breath to call out her transformation phrase 
when Venus darted over and clapped a hand over her 
mouth to stop her.
	" Wait, Usagi-chan!" she said in between gulps 
of air. " I don't know if we'll have another chance 
at this, so we can't afford to make any mistakes. The 
healing power of the Grail is based on someone drinking 
from it."
	" Minako-chan, that wasn't a question," Neptune 
stated. " How do you know about that, or if it's even 
the truth?"
	" Someone said they gave me a drink of the water 
that was in the Grail at one time, and I'm very inclined 
to believe that they were correct."
	" When did this happen, Minako-chan?" Mercury asked.
	" It was when I was when I was in England before I 
met all of you. I had been badly hurt in a fight, and 
someone used it to heal me. I don't remember much, but I 
distinctly recall that it's effectiveness is based on 
drinking out of it."
	Usagi frowned and reached out to the top of the 
Grail. The lid faded away and she looked in it.
	" It's empty."
	" I guess it's as good a time as any," Haruka 
grinned, got up and handed a bottle to Mamoru that she 
took out of her space. It was the one that she had shown 
them the previous night at the concert.
	" That's from a winery in France that I'm holding 
in trust for you, Usagi-chan," Pluto explained. " I've 
kept that place running for a long time and was just 
able to buy out the owners a few years ago. Their grapes 
are descendants of the fruit of the vines from the Moon 
Kingdom."
	Mamoru took the green glass bottle and uncorked it 
with the opener on the Swiss army knife that Haruka handed 
to him from the same space. A heady aroma filled the air 
around him, and he reached over to pour a small amount into 
the Grail. Usagi smiled at him and lifted it to her mouth 
with both hands, winked at him over the rim, and drank.
	Her winged broach began to glow with a bright light 
from the crystal within that made them look away until it 
faded, leaving a familiar red and gold, heart shaped broach 
in it's place. The song from her crystal burst into a 
crescendo that filled the silence within her. It was 
somewhat of a letdown to her, but now, now she knew what 
to do. 
	" Moon Cosmic Power, Make-Up!" 
	Her outline blurred in a white glow that faded to 
reveal Sailor Moon. Next to her, Chibi-usa had undergone 
the same transformation to become Sailor Chibi-moon. Her 
friends clustered around them to congratulate her, their 
fatigue forgotten in their relief and happiness. Even the 
Outer Senshi had come closer in to the Inner, their 
expressions ranging from small, satisfied smiles on 
the faces of Pluto and Uranus to happy tears from 
Saturn and Neptune.
	The wash of emotions from them filled her up, and 
she felt something inside of her shift in response to 
the caring and compassion, the friendship and the love 
she felt from them, and the emotions that were awakened 
in her in response.
	" Thank you, my dear friends," she said in a voice 
that was impossibly warm and calm for her that made Chibi-usa 
look up in surprise from her place in her father's arms.    	
	" Thank you so very much for caring about us." Her 
hands glowed as she lifted the Grail above her head.
	" Crisis Make-Up!" 
	A swarm of glowing butterflies swirled out of the 
Grail and surrounded them, making all their hearts lighter 
at the sheer, unexpected beauty of the scene. The sunlight 
was fractured into countless motes of color that flowed over 
Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-moon, changing their costumes 
into their Super forms. Just as her change to the more recent 
form finished, her figure blurred again so that she wore a 
long, diaphanous white gown and she seemed to glow in the 
sunlight.
	The sight of this made the Outer Senshi step back and 
fall to one knee in salute, a move that the Inner Senshi 
emulated a few moments later. Endymion sank to his knees 
in shock at the vision of his love before him, and Chibi-moon 
burst out of his arms to run to her.
	" Mama!" she cried, and the regal woman swept her up 
into an embrace and swung her around once with a joyous 
smile on her face before Usagi and Chibi-usa collapsed 
together onto the grass in their school uniforms, laughing 
together with happy tears rolling down their faces.

*************************************************** 

	The register chimed as she opened the drawer to 
put the cash in that the young man had given her before 
he rushed out with the vase in his arms that was a 
present for his girlfriend. He'd been in a hurry, but 
he was polite, and the way his face had lit up when he 
saw the vase she had made had warmed her heart. He was 
plainly in love.
	She sighed, wishing love would find her, and went 
back to the romance novel she was reading. The woman sat 
down in the nook that gave her a view of the entrance 
to the store and resumed reading. Her position didn't 
let her see the back of the store, or how one of the 
consignment pieces there seemed to shiver for a moment.
	All was still for a moment, and then the squat 
man-thing came alive and looked about the room. It had 
to find something, and that something was mercifully 
near, it's limited intellect told it, remembering the 
instructions of it's creator, the one who it must obey. 
The small shape began to grow, absorbing the other 
clay pots, statues and vases, while sending out 
several tendrils towards a shelf of stylized animal 
forms.

***************************************************

	" Are you happy now, Haruka," she said as she 
changed back and forth a few times to show them that 
it wasn't a fluke. They were sitting together in one 
corner of the conservatory, at least the ones who 
were left. Setsuna had left right after she had returned 
to being Usagi in order to try and find out what was 
happening. Mamo-chan had borrowed one of Michiru's 
cars to take Chibi-usa and Hotaru over to her parent's 
house.
	" I'll be all right now. I don't need to stay in 
hiding with one of you at all times anymore."
	" Usagi... " 
	" I mean it, Haruka. Don't make me order 
you... " she let her voice trail off in her best 
attempt to stand up to the tall woman. 
	" Order?" she said softly, wondering at the 
change that was going on in front of her. The princess 
was at last starting to show some backbone, it seemed. 
She'd let Usagi get away with it this time, as it 
should be safe enough now that she had some of her 
powers back. She'd let her get strong, but not 
headstrong.
	 " All right, odango-chan, but we'll still 
make sure you're not alone until we get some more 
information." 
	" Haruka-"
	" She's right, Usagi-chan," Rei interrupted 
her. " She's right. We can't leave you alone until 
we know what is going in. It won't be forever," she 
added at the crestfallen look on her friend's 
face. " Just let us do this for a few days until 
we're sure."
	" Usagi-chan, let's get you home first," Ami 
added. " It'll be good for you to relax and unwind, 
and I'm sure your parents and Luna will be getting 
worried."
	" All right, Ami-chan," she sighed, knowing 
that it was just a ploy to get her and Chibi-usa in 
the same place so it would be easier to watch over 
them. She loved them for being so concerned, but 
when they were scared like this, their safeguards 
would smother her. " Thanks for lunch, Michiru-san. 
You're as good a cook as Mako-chan," she said, 
standing and smiling.
	" I'm glad you liked it, Usagi-chan. Makoto 
had already cooked breakfast, and I couldn't ask 
her to do lunch as well," the other replied.
	Usagi looked briefly at her friends, who 
gathered up their bags with the finery that they 
had worn last night. Michiru's closets had easily 
supplied them with something to wear that wouldn't 
attract any unwanted attention, and they left to 
begin the short walk to a bus stop that would take 
them to a train that ran by Juban, and would be the 
easiest way home.

***************************************************

	" How does she look?" Makoto asked as Minako 
came out in a duplicate of Usagi's uniform that 
Michiru had given her, and did a quick pirouette 
that made her skirt and hair fly out to the sides 
before she stopped in a fashion model pose.
	" Good, except for the hair," Haruka responded 
dryly. Makoto grinned in response and went over to 
the blonde and began to fuss with her hair and a pair 
of ribbons. Michiru came in and handed her a pair of 
small, soft rubber balls.
	" My cousin's kid didn't really need that toy," 
she sighed as she sat down next to Haruka. A few moments 
later, Makoto turned back to them. Minako now looked 
like Usagi's sister, complete down to the slightly 
shorter, but unique hair.
	" The bangs are off, but it's the best we could 
do on such short notice. How long ago did they leave?"
	" A few minutes ago," Haruka said as she got up 
to give them their bags with a mischievous smile. " Here 
you go, odango atama," handing Minako hers. Minako sighed 
as the others laughed, and then she and Makoto took off 
to tail the others. If only Rei and Ami hadn't been so 
quick to insist that they went with Usagi, she could 
have removed any chance of anyone thinking that she 
wasn't Usagi. This must be the price, she thought to 
herself as they ran down the street, for not being 
more open with them before. 
	
**************************************************

	The bus had been slightly delayed, and it had 
caused them to miss the train by a few seconds. They 
had ran in only to see it pulling away from the 
station. Usagi sighed, and went over to sit on a 
bench and catch her breath. She purposefully chose 
a seat that was at the end of the bench, and Ami and 
Rei seemed to take the hint and gave her a little 
space as they sat down several feet away from her.
	Usagi flashed them a quick smile of gratitude, 
and then closed her eyes to try and shut out the noise 
of the station in order to concentrate. The others 
hadn't seemed to be too concerned due to their 
happiness and relief, but one part of the morning's 
events had been nagging at her and she wanted to try 
and think about it.
	In the past, she had been a princess. On a few 
occasions since their rebirth in this time, she had 
taken on that form again. The fight with Queen Beryl 
and Metallia, she and Chibi-usa defeating the Wiseman, 
and when they stopped Fiore's asteroid from hitting the 
Earth were a few of those times. Somehow, without even 
knowing why or how she had done it, she had changed 
back into that princess.
	This time, however, was very different. She hadn't 
become the princess she was a long time ago. For a brief 
moment, she had become who she was going to be, and that 
scared her. How could she have known what to do?
	It hinted at even more depths to her, and she 
was already starting to feel like she was drowning in 
them. The memories that would surface out of her past, 
and the changes that had been happening had slowly made 
her feel less in control, and this was even worse. Was 
she even in control of her own destiny? Was this all 
something that some deeply hidden part of her was doing, 
and was she just along for the ride?
	After several more minutes, she resorted to her 
usual tactic when this started to happen. It was just 
too big, and too complex for her to understand right now. 
She knew she wasn't the smartest one in the group. She was 
fairly bright, but motivation was her problem. The 
brilliance of Ami eluded her, and she lacked Rei's drive 
to excel at her studies. 
	Still, she doubted either of them could even figure 
this one out. As usual, she would try not to let it get 
to her, and hopefully the answer would come, or at least 
a hint would reveal itself. Some days, it was all she 
could do. The days of her just being plain, simple Usagi 
Tsukino beckoned at her from her the past. It had been 
so easy then, and it would be nice to go back, even for 
a little while.
	The cost of that, she decided a few moments later, 
would be far more than she would be able to pay. She 
wouldn't have her friends, the man who loved her, or 
had the chance to meet her daughter. It was a steep 
price, but it was more than worth it in the end. 

***************************************************

	" Rei-chan," Ami whispered. " I'm worried about 
her. She didn't even notice that train go by."
	" I think it's all right, Ami-chan. She went 
through a lot this morning, and she just needs a 
little time to sort it all out." 
	The two girls sat together in silence for 
several more minutes, during which the only sign of 
life out of Usagi was her breathing. I think she's in 
a trance, the raven-haired beauty said to herself. She 
carefully got up and went over to the blonde girl and 
waved her hand in front of her eyes, hoping to get a 
response. Nothing.
	" Ami," she said softly, but not whispered," it's 
all right to talk normally. She won't hear anything. She's 
in a low level meditative state, I think."
	" We're supposed to sort things out while we 
sleep," the girl with the blue hair replied. " Maybe 
that's what she's doing right now. How do you think 
she feels about it, Rei-chan?"
	" About being powered down? I don't know, but I 
don't think that's what is getting to her." She sighed, 
looked over at Usagi for a moment, and continued. " Did 
you see her face, just after she got up and realized 
what she was wearing?"
	" I caught the change of clothing," she replied, 
shaking her head. "I missed her face, though."
	" It was only for a moment, but when Mamoru 
was hugging her, I saw the fear in her eyes. She's 
been the princess before, Ami-chan, but this is the 
first time that she turned into Neo-Queen Serenity."
	" The poor thing," Ami whispered. " That must 
be it. We'd better let her rest, Rei-chan. It's still 
fifteen minutes to the next train that we can take."
	" Speaking of rest, Ami-chan," she said as she 
put an arm around the other girl and gave her a quick 
squeeze. " You haven't had much. You were up all night, 
weren't you?"
	" I'll be all right," she said defensively.
	" Thank you for trying, Ami-chan," she replied, 
purple eyes catching blue and holding them. " I know 
sometimes we take you for granted, and it's wrong, and 
I'm sorry we do. You're always there for us, Ami-chan, 
so don't let missing the solution this morning get to 
you, all right? I saw the look on your face when 
Setsuna mentioned the Grail." 
	She glanced at Usagi again, got up and stretched 
her arms above her head for a moment. " I slept, 
Ami-chan, and I'm still tired. There's a soda machine 
over there. Do you want a drink?" she asked warmly, 
fishing in her purse for some hundred yen coins. 

************************************************

	They had seen Usagi wake with a start when 
the train pulled in, and they had gotten her aboard 
and handed her a soda. Ami darted through the crowd 
and had grabbed them a bench to themselves, with Rei 
taking the aisle seat and Usagi between them. She had 
kept her distance back at the somewhat deserted 
station, but now the blonde seemed grateful for the 
company in the middle of the crowd. Paranoia, Ami 
sadly thought to herself. They'll pay for this, making 
her scared of even living her life.
	The beeping from their communicators brought her 
out of the grim direction her mind had taken, and she 
looked along with Usagi as the blonde took hers out and 
opened it, revealing an anxious looking black cat.
	" Usagi-chan!" Luna called out. " There's trouble."
	" Mamo-chan," she whispered, and her face went pale.
	" He's all right, Usagi. It's not him or Chibi-usa. 
There's a monster loose at a shopping center. It just 
came in on the news."

	" Artemis," Minako's voice cut over Luna's and the 
picture on the communicator cut to her. " Where is it at?"
	" Minako-chan!" Usagi nearly shrieked at the 
sight of Minako's hair, sending her can of soda the 
length of the car and drowning out the white cat's 
reply. The picture changed for a moment as Luna over-rode 
the normal video feed and flashed a picture of a small 
stretch of stores before Usagi over-rode that to get 
back to the one who was impersonating her. 
	" What do you think you're doing!" she hissed at 
the other blonde as Ami pulled her communicator out to 
whisper on a private line to Luna that she knew the 
location of the mall and that they were nearby. " Why, 
Minako-chan? Why are you trying to get yourself hurt? 
I don't want that to happen to any of you."
	Rei was startled to see tears in Usagi's eyes, 
and reached into her bag for her handkerchief. 
	" Usagi-chan," Minako said to the now silently 
crying girl. " I've been pretending to be you even 
before we met, remember? I'm an old hand at this," 
she said in a cheerful tone of voice and flashed a 
quick 'V' sign with her hand. " I'll be all right, 
Usagi-chan. A few more times won't hurt."
	" V-chan..." Usagi started to say, but Minako 
must have closed her communicator, because it switched 
to Luna, but the cat was now in a small, gray cubicle 
that revealed itself to be the interior of a car. Chibi-usa 
fell into view for a moment with a gasp of surprise as the 
picture tilted to the squeal of tires as it went into a 
turn.
	" Hold it still, Artemis," Luna said as she reached 
forward and swung her paw just over their view, and a 
faint thwack was heard, along with a muffled complaint 
from the other cat. " We're on our way, Usagi-chan. 
Mamoru decided to take the girls out for ice cream and 
a movie, if your parents ask. They like his new car, by 
the way," she said with all the smile that a cat could 
muster. 
	" Luna," Ami interrupted. " Our stop is coming 
up. We'll see you there."
	" Be careful, everyone. Hotaru has already 
contacted the others, and they're on their way as 
well."
	" We'll see you there, Luna," Usagi said as they 
stood up and made their way towards the door.

***************************************************

	" I knew she wouldn't be happy about it, Mako-chan," 
the blonde said as they leaped out of the bus window 
as it slowed so they wouldn't have to deal with all 
the others getting on and off. 
	" Stop for a second, Minako-chan," the taller 
girl with the ponytail protested as she was dragged 
into a flat out sprint. " We need to change. We'll 
never make it in time like this."
	" No time," was the response as she pulled them 
into an alley and pulled out her wand. " Do it on the 
run, Mako-chan!"
	Sailor Venus burst out the other end of the 
alley, with a wailing girl practically being carried 
along behind her, and turned the corner to dash off 
down the street before any of the on-lookers could 
even react. One, watching her and the speed she was at, 
was sure she'd never make the next corner. Another, a 
large man swathed in a battered, dusty trenchcoat and 
a layer of bandages, dove for cover with a scream of 
fear at the all-too-familiar sight of  two girls 
bearing down on him like this.
	 At the last moment she leapt to the top of the 
second story of the building, carrying the other girl.
	" Minako!" Makoto screamed at her.
	" C'mon, Jupiter," she laughed as she sped 
towards the edge of the building. " You can make 
even better time up here than on the street. It's 
our own private highway!"
	Makoto's stomach dropped out from beneath her 
as the mad blonde pulled her along to the ledge at a 
dead run and leaped out with an wild laugh. It was 
even worse as she realized this building was on the 
side of a small hill, and that it was a couple stories 
down to the next roof, and she desperately reached 
for her wand.

***************************************************

	He gathered his thoughts as he wove through 
the traffic that was moving away from the mall and 
broke into the clear. Up ahead, a small crowd was 
forming at one end of the mall as onlookers gathered, 
and the firemen were having a difficult time getting 
through. So far, there wasn't any sign of smoke, so 
they weren't in that much of a hurry.
	For some reason, his mind kept jumping back to 
that conversation he had with Makoto at the gym. Accept 
it, she had said. It seemed to be good advice, but he 
hadn't followed it very well last night or this morning. 
He still was thinking of himself as separate individuals, 
and that had to change if he was to have a chance.
	Last night, his first thought had been to become 
Tuxedo Kamen, and it was Endymion who had saved the day. 
He could just go out there as that, but walking around 
in armor and sword would cause problems with the 
authorities that he may not be able to afford. If not 
that, then what about who he was to become?
	The vision of his Usako this morning as she 
became the Neo-Queen gave him an idea. He didn't feel 
up to taking the mantle of his kingship yet, but it 
could be a start for him. Those clothes had several medals 
on them, and although he didn't know of any significance 
to them, it would do. 
	He closed his eyes after coming to a complete stop 
and shifted forms, removing the hat from it and adding a 
small, star-shaped medallion hanging from the white bow 
tie as he got out of the car. It was a small difference, 
but it would help him remember.

*************************************************** 

	Pandemonium reigned at the mall as the three 
meter tall monster began to methodically destroy 
another building, working it's way down the row of 
shops on one side of the mall, ignoring the other. 
Several police officers had tried to stop it, but 
their clubs had no effect, and they pulled back. 
They had withdrawn until some real fire support 
could make it to the scene, and were trying to get 
the bystanders out of harm's way. Unbeknownst to 
them, it had arrived. 
	" Stop! For love and justice, I am the pretty, 
Sailor-suited... Warrior... " Sailor Moon began in 
her usual speech, but it dwindled off as the monster 
totally disregarded her and continued to pound at the 
corner of the shop as if they weren't even there.
	" It's ignoring us," Mercury said as she brought 
up her visor and began studying it from their perch on 
the buildings across the mall. It was humanoid, stout, 
and looked like it was made of fired clay. Her scans 
even confirmed the composition. Other than that, it 
was totally unremarkable, except that it seemed to 
have some semblance of life.
	" It's clay. There's no match to any energies or 
effects that any of our other enemies have used," she 
said to the other two. " It's not putting out anything 
that I can detect."
	" I don't feel any evil directly from it, but 
there's a residual feel around it," Mars replied as 
she leapt down to the ground. " If it's clay, I'm going 
to impersonate a kiln," she smiled, landing lightly and 
half turned so that her right shoulder faced it. Sailor 
Moon landed beside her, followed by Mercury.
	" Mars, look out! There are more of them," Moon 
cried out as a dozen smaller ones swarmed out of the 
wreckage to interpose themselves between the Senshi and 
the monster. These new ones looked like life sized 
animals, but were stylized into more abstract forms. 
They could still make out what they were in some cases, 
and Mercury was especially concerned about the three 
antelope and the cheetah. Both animals were known for 
blinding speed, and it was possible that they would 
have problems with them.
	" Mars Flame Sniper!" the red-clad one intoned, 
and an arrow of flame appeared in her hands, the left 
drawn back and the right forward, as if she was holding 
a bow. The bolt of energy crackled as she glanced over 
at Sailor Moon.
	" Give the word," she said quietly, focusing in 
on the large one with all her being in that strange 
way that still unnerved Usagi after all this time. Mercury 
gasped as lights flashed on her visor and her computer 
began to rapidly beep. 
	" There's someone in there!" she cried as a wail of 
terror rang out when the corner of the building gave way 
under the assault. " Mars-"
	" Got it!" she cried, letting the arrow fly to 
crash directly into the middle of the forehead of the 
large one and causing a small cloud of smoke to billow 
out from her target for a moment. That ought to do it, 
she said to herself. It wasn't even a hard shot.  
	" It's still there," Mercury cried out, shoving 
the other two to the side as the antelope burst 
forward in formation to dash through the space where 
they had been standing. 
	" What?" Mars cried in disbelief. " I hit it 
dead on!"
	" I think you made it mad," Sailor Moon commented 
in an ever so slightly sarcastic tone of voice, as it 
paced forward with the same dead expression, a charred, 
blackened spot on it's forehead, and an unmistakable 
air of hostility.

*************************************************
	
	Chibi-usa had surprised them when they reached 
the outdoor mall by changing in the car while Hotaru 
and Mamoru were getting out. The girl slipped out, 
closing the door and accidentally locking in the cats. 
She dashed past them, ignoring their cries and disappeared 
into the crowd. Hotaru stepped back and crouched behind 
the car, reaching for seemingly empty air.
	" Saturn Planet Power, Make-Up!" she cried, 
sketching an ellipse in the air around her with her 
scepter, and was engulfed in a column of violet light 
that fell as if from the heavens. Mamoru had already 
changed as he got out, and she could see Tuxedo Kamen 
leaping to the roof tops in order to avoid the crowd, 
although he seemed to have lost his hat in the process.
	He was too considerate of them at some times, 
she thought to herself as she sprinted towards the 
cluster of people, flung herself just over their heads, 
and snapped her head down as she cleared the front row 
with an inch to spare. It surprised them, judging from 
the shouts and gasps behind her as she rolled out of 
her landing and resumed running without missing a beat. 
	Sailor Chibi-moon was several steps ahead of her, 
having been delayed going through the spectators and 
making a slight detour around a lamp post in front her. 
Tuxedo Kamen had just landed behind her in a leap from 
the second story roof, and would just be in position for 
what she intended.
	" Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" she cried as she took 
Chibi-moon's arm in her right hand and the post in 
the left, using it as a pivot to swing the girl 
around and into his waiting arms. She'd be safer 
there than rushing into a combat zone, she said to 
herself as she finished the turn and resumed forward, 
where she saw Sailor Moon, along with Mars and Mercury, 
being hemmed in between one large assailant and a number 
of smaller ones.
	Fingers crooked, she grabbed the Silence Glaive as 
it appeared and twisted around into a rapid spin as she 
burst into the pack of smaller ones from the side.

**************************************************

	" They're moving too close and too quick," 
she cried out, letting her new attack dissipate 
and preparing her stand-by. She wasn't nearly as 
certain of it's accuracy as she was of the hours 
of practice in the old one. 
	" Got it," Jupiter replied as she planted her 
feet firmly on the roof top in preparation. " Pinpoint 
it is. Sparkling Vital Pressure!" she cried, a 
crackling, spitting ball of incandescence forming 
in her hand that she whipped forward in a wicked 
side-arm to shatter against the cat-thing that was 
about to jump on Mercury and send it sprawling.
	" Crescent B-" the blonde responded, but Jupiter 
grabbed her hands to stop her before she could 
finish. " It's Saturn," she gasped as the newest 
Senshi entered into the fray, whirling into the 
midst of the pack.
	They watched in shock and admiration as she 
spun into the pack, moving as surely as if it was 
a choreographed routine instead of a fight. The 
expression on her face was one of utter calm as 
parts of the animals went flying in all directions 
from the effects of the slashing blade, the hammer-like 
blows from the base of the haft finishing off the rest. 
She came to a stop between the monster and Sailor Moon, 
the glaive leveled and her hair drifting down to settle 
perfectly into place. 
	Undaunted or unconcerned, it stepped forward. 
Saturn made a little 'tsk' sound and whipped herself 
around, quick as snake, letting her arms out to full 
extension at the end of the spin for getting the most 
power out of the move. An emotion, shock, finally 
registered on her face as the blade bounced off of it 
with a dull, ringing sound and her weapon flew from her 
numbed fingers to land rattling on the ground.
	" Sailor Saturn," Sailor Moon cried out in dismay 
as she pulled her back, narrowly avoiding a massive fist 
that left a sizable gouge in the cement. They jumped back, 
as did the other two, but Mars and Mercury leapt up to 
get a clear shot at the thing.
	" Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
	" Mars Flame Sniper!"
	" Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
	" Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
	The cries rang out as a tumultuous wave of power 
crashed into their foe, who was forced back a step but 
otherwise unaffected. 
	" Mercury, we can't hurt it! What's going on?" Mars 
asked her as Jupiter and Venus leapt down to take up a 
defensive position in front of the others.
	" I don't know," she replied, bringing up her visor 
again. " It's clay. That's the only thing I can detect. 
This shouldn't be happening."
	" Sailor Moon," Jupiter called out over her 
shoulder. 
	" Gotcha!" she called out, pulling her wand out 
of her dimensional pocket, Saturn having darted 
forward to grab her glaive and was now safely to one 
side. She brought it out with a spin and a flourish 
before staring at her target for a moment. Her hair 
lifted up as she did a rapid series of spins, ending 
up on her knees, brandishing the wand.
	" Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"
	A heart shaped, pink explosion surrounded the 
creature, causing the others to look away for a moment, 
and then draw back in surprise. Sailor Moon gasped in 
dismay at the sight of it bearing down on her again.
	" It didn't work! It's not fair!"
	The Senshi pulled back several feet into a more 
defensive formation as a blizzard of roses flew through 
the air and broke over it's chest like a wave against a 
rock. Tuxedo Kamen took advantage of it's momentary 
hesitation at his attack to grab Sailor Moon and pull 
her back behind the others.
	" Mamo-chan," she whispered. " This isn't going 
well."
	" Don't worry, Usako," he murmured back. " We'll 
stop it."
	" How did you do that without changing?" she asked 
him curiously as Saturn leapt in to take the point 
position in the formation as the creature advanced again.
	" I am, Usako," he smiled back at her. " I only 
wore the hat to help me with the disguise, and I don't 
need to hide from you like I did at first." Or hide from 
himself, he added silently.
	
***********************************************

	A huge fist slammed down, passing through 
her Silence Wall as she had expected, and had 
positioned herself accordingly. It seemed like 
nothing they had could affect it. She did have another 
option to try, but shuddered at the consequence of 
using that here. Pluto had told her that she may not 
be able to destroy the world anymore, but she wasn't 
certain about it. The situation still wasn't bad enough 
to try her theory.
	" We can't hurt it directly," Mercury cried out 
as she turned off her visor and put away her computer. 
She darted to one side and then sprang into a long, 
shallow dive in front of it, crossing her arms in 
front of her and sweeping them out to full extension. 
	" Shabon Spray!" she yelled and directed the 
full force of it at the ground at the creature's feet 
and rolled out of the dive. " Try to knock it over. 
Maybe we can immobilize it until we can figure out 
what to do."
	Venus smiled in relief from her position at 
the back of the line and put her sword back into 
her dimensional pocket, unseen by the others. She 
had been about to bring it into play, but she didn't 
want to upset Usagi by doing it. She was already mad 
enough at her for one day.
	" Venus Love Me Chain!" she cried out, swinging 
the heart-shaped links around one of it's legs and 
tried to pull it's feet out from underneath it. It 
didn't even budge.
	" Allow me," Jupiter said politely, taking hold 
as well and both bracing for the effort. This time, 
together, they got the ensnared leg up off the ground 
but were still unable to bring it down. Mars came over 
to help, but the three of them couldn't force it any 
further.
	" Neptune Aqua Rhapsody!" a low, feminine voice 
called out while someone else giggled and a torrent of 
water slammed into it from behind and to one side, sweeping 
it off it's feet and into the ground with an impact that 
they all felt.
	" That's my... " Mercury stammered in surprise, and 
then blushed as she saw Neptune and Uranus manning a water 
hose that was hooked to a fire truck, both grinning at the 
joke. Uranus turned off the hose and dragged another over, 
tying it quickly about the arm opposite of Venus' chain, 
and Neptune knotted the other end of that hose around a 
concrete lamp post. Taking the hint, Venus hooked the 
other end of her chain around another post and shortened 
it to tightly bind it down.
	" What is that thing, Mercury?" Neptune asked 
as they combined on a blast of the Deep Submerge and 
Shining Aqua Illusion to try and freeze it in place.
	" Probably a bigger version of what we fought 
last night," Uranus said, pulling out her Space Sword 
and testing the theory. It, too, bounced off the 
creature, taking out only a small nick that was 
comparable to what Saturn's Glaive had. Mars warily 
walked over, pulled out an ofuda and began her chant.
	" It isn't inherently evil," she announced as 
the paper strip dropped onto the creature, and then 
slid off onto the ground. " It may have been made by 
someone who was, or been around something evil, but 
it isn't."
	" How do we kill it, then?" Uranus asked, 
watching it test the ice bonds that held it on the 
ground. " We can't keep it here forever."
	" I think the question is 'Do we kill it'," 
Neptune added.
	" Is it alive?" Chibi-moon asked from where she 
stood with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. " We could 
take it to the zoo," she ventured to everyone's 
amusement until a loud, cracking sound caused them 
all to jump back as the ice on it shattered and it 
heaved itself to it's feet, the firehose ripping in 
half. Venus cried out in pain and crumpled to the 
ground as it took a hold on her chain and ripped it 
apart.
	" Minako-chan!" Sailor Moon cried out, using the 
girl's real name at the rush of fear that gripped her 
heart. She slipped from Tuxedo Kamen's arms and ran 
towards her friend as Jupiter threw herself onto the 
creature in a vain attempt to stop it. It shrugged, 
and Jupiter went flying off to land in an unmoving 
heap.

**************************************************

	Damn, he thought to himself as he waited for 
Usagi to get clear of it as she and Neptune dragged 
Venus out of it's way. He had to do something here. 
It didn't seem that the Senshi could affect this 
monster. He had stopped the one last night, but he 
wouldn't have the time to shift forms and draw his 
sword. It was almost on Mercury, who had interposed 
herself between it and Jupiter. Uranus was sprinting 
towards the blue-haired girl, but she wouldn't get 
there in time. Her first move had been to protect 
Sailor Moon as she ran to help Venus, and that had 
cost her the time she needed.
	There was only one thing he could try, and it 
was an untested gamble. He had heard the girls speak 
of, and occasionally joined them, in a discussion of 
their powers, and how they worked. The energy he had 
used to enable his sword to cleave through the statue 
last night had been the same he had used to heal 
himself, or keep Chibi-usa alive that one horrible 
night when her heart crystal was taken. Maybe he 
could do something more like what they did.
	That energy was inside of him, and he channeled 
it up into his hands, willing it to accumulate and build 
until he could hold it no more. 
	" Tuxedo Smoking Bomb!" he yelled, to everyone's 
amazement, and a bolt of yellow energy smashed through 
the thing's chest. It staggered on for a few more steps 
and fell to the ground, slid, and came to a stop just 
before hitting Mercury. He just had a glimpse of another 
foully twisted, warped stone that fell out of the hole 
he had made.
	" Don't touch... it..." he gasped as fatigue rushed 
in to replace the adrenaline rush he had been on, and 
the darkness claimed him.

***************************************************
	
	" Mamo-chan!" Sailor Moon cried out, racing 
over to him as he sank to the ground. Sweat had 
broken out on his forehead, matting down the black 
hair. His eyes were half-closed. Chibi-moon was 
there a moment later, and threw her arms around 
him, tears running down her face.
	" Let's get out of here," Mars yelled out, 
grabbing an abandoned shopping bag and using an 
empty coffee can to push try and push the stone 
into the bag. At the touch of the steel can, the 
stone dissolved into a fine dust that blew away in 
the slight breeze.
	" It's gone," she called out and dropped 
the two items. Uranus ran over to grab Tuxedo Kamen 
while Neptune picked up Venus. Jupiter was just 
getting to her feet, shaking her head a few times 
to clear it. Saturn led the charge through the crowd, 
most of which had scattered when the monster got back 
up, and she used some of the anger she was feeling to 
get that look on her face that made the rest quickly 
move out of the way.
	" Neptune, the condos are closest." Uranus called 
out as she took a key from her pocket and put the man 
in the back seat of the car she had driven and jumped 
behind the wheel. Both the Moons had jumped in next to 
him, along with Mercury in the front, who had her visor 
up and was already scanning.
	" Got it," she called back and took the wheel of 
the other car there, the one he and Saturn had arrived 
in, using a key from her pocket as well. The others got 
in with her and the two cars sped off down the road 
towards the waterfront, taking advantage of the break 
in traffic caused by an ambulance to race along behind 
it and then onto an expressway.

************************************************** 

	The feel of a slight shaking sensation brought 
him to, and it was shortly followed by a slight bump 
and a chime. His eyes fluttered open to try and figure 
out why someone was carrying him through the door of an 
elevator. In particular, why a woman was doing it. It 
was supposed to happen the other way around, last he 
had heard.
	" Mamo-chan!" Usagi yelled out excitedly upon 
seeing his eyes open.
	" Let me get him to the couch, you two," Haruka 
scolded the two girls who were hanging on him. She was 
trying to sound gruff, but it wasn't working today.
	" Hi, odango atamas," he said weakly to Usagi and 
Chibi-usa, whose images were slowly coalescing into one 
from the several he saw. Right now, seeing those two 
hairstyles was a big relief to him. " I'm all right, 
you two. I just got really light-headed for a moment, 
and now I'm awfully tired, but I'm all right."
	The elevator opened again, and Jupiter walked in 
carrying Venus, who was making a crack about saying " I 
do " that had the others laughing but he just missed. 
Also on the elevator was a pair of cats. The black one 
made a beeline to Usagi and leapt up onto her shoulder, 
perching there and looking at her.
	" Usagi Tsukino, there had better be an awfully 
good reason for your wearing that old uniform," Luna 
said ever so sweetly, with a hint of steel in her 
voice. " Why aren't you Sailor Moon Eternal?"
	" I... uh... can't, Luna," Usagi stammered, 
trying to not meet the cat's eyes. Luna sighed, and 
then turned to Mercury.
	" Ami, are they going to be all right?"
	" Yes, Luna," she replied, changing back to 
Ami Mizuno in a shimmer of blue light. " Tuxedo 
Kamen is just very tired, and Sailor Venus fainted 
at the shock. They'll be all right with a little 
rest."
	" That's good. Now, will you all please 
change back and explain to me just what's been 
going on here?"

************************************************

	" They grow up so quickly, Artemis."
	" Yes, they do. I'm proud of how they came 
together during all this."
	" They're also thinking more clearly about 
things," the black cat said to the white one, leaping 
up onto the roof of the Tsukino residence from a well-worn 
route on one of the trees. Both silently proceeded to one 
of their favorite spots, a flat area right by the kitchen 
vent that would be pleasantly warm this evening and 
wasn't illuminated by the annoying new streetlight 
that was put in a few months back. 
	" It smells good, Luna," the white cat said, the 
crescent in his forehead glowing golden in the 
moonlight. " Are you sure Usagi's cooking?"
	" Mako-chan is helping her with the curry, and 
they emphatically told Minako-chan that they wouldn't 
need her help with it." she replied, leaning over to 
briefly rub the side of her face against his for a 
moment.
	" I can see why. Remember the time she thought 
she had cut her finger off?"
	They both laughed for a moment at the memory 
of the girls frantically looking through a pile of 
cut carrots for what they thought was Minako's 
finger. The two were quiet for a few minutes, 
during which Artemis gently groomed the black cat. 
Luna had been through a lot today, and he wanted to 
help her relax a little bit.
	" She's worried, Artemis. She only decides 
to try cooking for her family when she thinks she 
might not get to do it again. A last meal, if you 
will."
	" I'm not surprised that she's worried, Luna. 
That's normal for someone to be worried. She's taking 
it pretty well. What do you think of their conclusions 
about what happened today?"
	" I agree that it's not like one of our earlier 
enemies. Ami's right in that we don't have enough 
information yet, but Rei's theory is probably sound. 
It really wasn't after any people until they attacked 
it. It started in that one shop and worked it's way 
down the mall. All our other enemies have been after 
people. This one had pretty much ignored them."
	" What was it after, then?" Artemis asked her, 
settling down next to her and stretching out. " Sorry, 
rhetorical question. I hope Haruka is right about her 
idea that they can dig that stone out with concentrated 
attacks on it's chest."
	" Mamoru said that the stone that was in each of 
them is the key to stopping it," she said after a few 
moments. " Although I'd like to know just how he knows 
that."
	" The rulers of Atlantis have always been skilled 
at the arts,  Luna. It's reasonable that he is too, 
since he's of that bloodline."
	" I know," she said with a sigh, and then turned 
to look at him. " We both saw King Endymion when we 
were in the future. There was a power in him."
	" Of course, silly kitty," he responded, and got 
bopped by her for using the phrase in the tone of voice 
he did. " Did you think he would just be some pretty 
decoration for the Queen's court?"
	" He's handsome, Artemis," a voice said from 
behind them, causing both to jump in surprise, and 
Artemis to stop his slide several inches from the edge 
of the roof. " Not pretty, and definitely not an ornament."
	" Minako!" he said sharply, dragging himself up 
and sitting down carefully in an attempt to regain some 
of his dignity.
	" He trained you better than that, Minako-chan," 
Luna said crossly, but amused at his plight. " It's not 
allowed for you to sneak up on cats."
	" Makoto's just finishing up down there. It's not 
pretty, but it's good. Chibi-usa had named it ' Usagi's 
Ugly Curry'," she smiled at them. " Luna, why don't you 
get some while it's hot?"
	" Me, too," Artemis said, licking his whiskers in 
a sign of his hunger. " I like curry."
	" Not you, oh wise feline mentor," she giggled, 
picking him up. " I need to have a talk with you. We 
can come back later, there's more than enough." Artemis 
looked crestfallen as Luna ran over and jumped down onto 
the balcony of Usagi's room and went in through the 
window on her way to the kitchen and the smell of the 
food that was starting to drive him nuts. 
	" I hope this is important," he petulantly asked 
of his ward as she lightly jumped down to the same 
balcony that Luna had used and then down to a soft 
landing on the lawn. She nodded at him and walked off 
down the street to a nearby park. Minako seemed to have 
something on her mind as she carried him and wanted some 
privacy in order to discuss it with him. Finally, she 
came to a stop in the middle of the soccer field and set 
him down. 
	The lights weren't on, and although there was a 
waning gibbous moon overhead, the light from it was soft 
enough to keep them as a pair of shadows to any onlookers.
	" Artemis," she said softly. " Look over there for 
a moment."
	" Hmm... " he replied, turning his head in the 
indicated direction. " What am I..."
	His voice trailed off as a sword was carefully 
stuck point first into the ground in front of him.

**************************************************

	She took advantage of the fact that it wasn't 
an urgent message to walk up the long flight of stairs 
inside the royal tower in the dim, morning light as 
the sun just began to peek up over the horizon. Several 
straight weeks of time in a laboratory with Mercury had 
taken their toll, and she'd have to start working out 
more to make up for the missed exercise. It was worth 
it, though. They had, for all intensive purposes, created 
a whole new field of science with the help of the king.
	At the top of the stairs, she paused for a few 
moments to catch her breath before entering the royal 
suite, nodding at the two guards in their dark blue 
tunics and silver armor, who stood aside to let her 
pass. Inside, it was dark in the reception area where 
their majesties held most of their private conferences 
that they deemed too sensitive or private for the 
throne room downstairs. Trusting to her memory, she 
carefully wove through the several chairs and tables 
to the stairway that led to the private quarters 
upstairs. 
	The door at the top of the stairs that led to the 
bedchambers on the next floor up was closed, so she 
first detoured towards the small kitchen and two tell-tale 
signs that indicated someone was up. One was a light 
shining through the partially open door, and the other 
was a wonderful aroma that must have came from the same 
place. Chicken soup, she decided after a few more sniffs.
	She slowly pushed open the door and poked her head 
around the corner. Inside, a kettle was emitting a few 
wisps of steam through it's spigot, right next to a large 
pot on the stove. Over on the other side of the room, a 
woman sat in the sill by the recessed window, the clear 
light of morning making her pale blonde hair and fair 
skin match the white robe she wore. Serenity had put that 
spot in just for what she was now doing, looking out over 
the expanse of Crystal Tokyo below her. A small gray cat, 
not a kitten, but not yet an adult, was curled up sleeping 
in her lap, and her left hand held a chipped, cracked, and 
often repaired mug.
	" Your Majesty?" she said softly, catching the 
contemplative look on the woman's face. It took her a 
few moments to respond as she pulled herself up out of 
the depths of memory.
	" I'm sorry, Pluto. I was years away, thinking of 
Usagi Tsukino."
	" It's been a long time for all of us since we used 
those names, Your Majesty."
	" Pluto," the blonde said with a sigh. " You know 
that you, above almost anyone else here, don't have to 
call me that. Sit down, have a cup, and tell me what 
brings you here this early."
	The green haired woman sat with a smile and 
poured herself a cup of tea from the service that 
was on the table next to her.
	" I saw the lights on, Serenity. I've been up 
all night keeping an eye on the flow of the time stream 
ever since yesterday. There hasn't been anything unusual 
happening, so it's safe to say that Small Lady made it 
back."
	The Queen warmly smiled back at the other woman, 
and took a sip from the mug of tea. 
	" Thank you, Pluto. I was up all night myself. 
This is the first time we've had her here for any 
period of time, since she started going back. I miss 
her already."
	" I can tell," she replied, grinning and pointing 
at the Queen's hand. The mug had a cute rabbit's face on 
it and 'Chibi-usa' written on the side in pink. Serenity 
blushed, and then giggled, a distinct throwback to an 
earlier time when compared to her usual, warm 
laughter. " I miss her, too. She needs to be there, 
though, no matter how tough it will be. 
	" She needs to learn how to make friends, and 
she can't do that here. There were few survivors of 
the attack by the Black Moon, and they all know who 
she is, and treat her accordingly."
	The Queen considered it for a few minutes, idly 
stroking the fur of the cat a few times. Pluto was 
right, but it didn't make her like it any better. She 
wouldn't be able to wake up any more of the survivors 
for some time, due to the damage that Black Lady had 
inflicted in her attack. Crystal Tokyo was slowly 
beginning to recover, but it would take her husband 
years to supervise the rebuilding. Small Lady needed 
to be around people now so that she could learn the 
social skills she would need in the future.
	" I know, Pluto. I'm still worried, though, 
just like this one here is," she said, indicating 
the cat. " Diana had thrown a fit when she was privately 
told by her and Pluto that she could not accompany Small 
Lady this time, and it took all the skill of the other 
two cats and a joint royal decree to ensure her 
co-operation in the subterfuge of a minor illness 
that would cause her to be unable to make the journey. 
The little girl had been sad, but took her Luna-P with 
her to the past.
	" She was wailing her heart out all last night," 
the blonde said. " I let her stay with us, and just 
finished hand-feeding her a bunch of the chicken. She's 
very lonely right now, the poor thing."
	" Mercury and I finished the modifications to it 
the night before last and installed the new device," 
she said, and then blushed in embarrassment. " We built 
that for her, and I missed it the first time. I'm sorry, 
Serenity. She was almost in danger because of my 
thoughtlessness."
	" Pluto, stop it," she said with a warm 
smile. " You caught it in time. This won't be 
easy for any of us, let alone her, but she'll 
be all right."

*************************************************

	" Minako," he exclaimed in surprise. " How... 
Where?" he asked, turning to face her as she sat down 
cross-legged, ignoring the grass stains she was sure 
to get on her skirt. She gave him an absent-minded 
scratch behind an ear, reached out, took hold of the 
sword and placed it 
across her lap.
	" Why didn't you tell me, Artemis?"
	" Minako-chan," he began, but his voice trailed 
off and he shrugged. " I don't know. I don't think I 
remembered the sword until after we started."
	" I'm not talking about the sword," she said 
somewhat sharply. " It's what it represents." It gave 
a small click as she removed the lower of the two 
crescents and popped it open. 
	" Moon Power Transform," she whispered, and 
Sailor V sat before him, the crescent on her forehead 
practically glowing, and the mask hiding her eyes. " It's 
the crescent compact you gave me just after we got to 
England.
	" I became Sailor V with this to protect her, 
Artemis. I pretended to be her in order to protect her," 
she paused a moment, closing her eyes in concentration.
	" Mikazuki Power, Transform," she murmured, and 
for a moment it was Usagi he was looking at, resplendent 
in her gown, before she shifted back to just being herself.
	" When I finally met them, Usagi was the one they 
thought was the leader, and I accepted that because I 
didn't know any better. I made Michiru tell me what you 
three had talked about that night, Artemis," she said, 
and his blood grew cold. Here it comes, he sighed to 
himself. This is going to hurt. 
	" She knew that we had to take care of this as soon 
as possible, and she's right. I never liked the fighting. 
I hated it, but I kept going on because it was my duty, 
and I was good at it. I had to sit there, and watch them 
make those mistakes, all because you never told me what 
this meant," she whispered as she tapped the hilt of the 
sword.
	" Mina-" he began, but she cut him off.
	" Why didn't you tell me I was the leader of 
the group, Artemis? I was their leader, the one 
responsible for them, and I had to watch them all 
get hurt.  It would have been different if I had known. 
We could have stopped them without all the pain and the 
suffering we went through."
	" Minako, I-"
	' I had to feel them die, Artemis," she screamed 
at him, springing to her feet to tower over him. " Mako-chan 
died, then Ami, and then me. What came next was worse. I felt 
what Rei went through, and then Usagi. And it was all because 
you didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth!"
	She grabbed the sword from where it had fallen to the 
ground and sprang away into the darkness far more quickly 
than he could follow.

******************************************************

	A few hours asleep had revived him to an amazing 
degree. He must have put too much into his efforts 
earlier today when he had used a new application of 
his power to fell the monster that had rampaged through 
the mall he now walked through. His over-exertion must 
have led to the fatigue, much like he had just ran a 
great distance.
	It was late, around eleven, and the clean-up crews 
had already done a thorough job in order to let the mall 
open in the morning. Like so many other things when he 
and the girls were involved, it was being categorized as 
a natural disaster by the police. They hadn't even set up 
barriers for an investigation, and were only keeping 
people away from the destroyed or damaged buildings. The 
mall had been open hours after they had left.
	On the left were the shops that had been damaged. 
The first one, apparently the one it had started at, was 
thoroughly demolished. The only clue as to it being a 
pottery shop was a broken sign that had part of the name 
of the shop, and the word 'consignment' on it. Next door, 
in front of him, had been a gift shop, and then a bakery 
after that.
	He had no idea who are what these things were, but 
perhaps he could try and figure out what they were after, 
or where they might be. Both of the attackers had seemed to 
be statues, one marble and the other clay, according to Ami. 
The only common denominator was the fact that each of them 
had a stone of some sort inside of them, right around where 
the heart would be on a person.
	That was what he was hoping to find some trace of. 
Both of the stones had a strange feeling of wrongness to 
them. It made him feel a bit queasy remembering them, just 
like the same feeling he had when he covered a small toxic 
waste spill for his high school paper. It had been close 
enough to the campus for concern, but it turned out to 
be very small, and not an extremely dangerous combination 
of chemicals. A few people had gotten mildly ill at the 
shop were the accident occurred, but that was the extent 
of it.
	Still, the sight of the oily-looking sludge had 
nauseated him at the time, even if he could only see it 
through his camera lens. These stones had the same feel 
of wrongness to them, like something that was warped and 
twisted away from what it should have been. Partially 
closing his eyes to concentrate, he reached out and 
tried to feel anything that resembled that feeling. He 
turned around in a slow circle, hoping for some reaction.
	There! he cried in his mind as he felt something. 
It wasn't another warped thing, but it did feel out of 
place. He rapidly walked to the jewelry store at the end 
of the mall on his left. If the monster had been allowed 
to continue, it would have made it's way through here at 
some point. Now, what in the shop was it after?
	He looked again for that same feel, and soon located 
it. There were several items of jewelry in the display case, 
and one item in particular had caught his attention. It 
wasn't one of the precious stones, however, nor anything 
that felt inherently wrong. It was a piece of clear crystal, 
cut in the shape of a pyramid that lay among the merchandise 
on display. There wasn't a price tag on it, either. It must 
have been put there as part of the decorations in the case.
	A quick look around showed him that no other people 
were around. It was tempting to break in to the shop, but 
that wouldn't be very nice of him, or smart. There were 
several security cameras in places like this, let alone 
the ones that covered the mall itself. The shop opened at 
ten in the morning, and he'd be there to try and purchase 
the pyramid. Until then, it was another long night staking 
it out in case someone or something came by to try and 
retrieve it. He walked away to his motorcycle, drove off 
and pulled into the parking lot for a new night club that 
had just opened. He dismounted, locked it up, and walked 
out the back entrance of the lot, leaping over the security 
fence after shifting forms. It only took a few moments to 
run back to the mall, and take up a position on the roof 
opposite the jewelry shop.

**************************************************** 

	What was all the noise about this time, he 
wondered as he brought himself out of his sleep. Until 
recently, they had been relatively quiet, with the 
exception of when they learned to talk and kept him 
awake for an eon or two with their attempts to reach 
him while they conversed among themselves. 
	All seemed well in his domain. They circled around 
him as they must, due to his size, but their thoughts were 
no longer as centered on him. It must be that new plaything 
that had kept them distracted for so long. That thing they 
called life.
	He was actually grateful for it, at first. It had 
occupied their thought for an extremely long time, and 
afforded him a long respite from their ceaseless attempts 
at conversation. One of them had chosen a poor location, 
and was eventually destroyed by her proximity to her brother. 
She had, however, shown them that they could communicate 
among themselves before she died. 
	That was the start of his problems. They reasoned 
that if they were aware, then so was he. All he wanted 
was quiet, so he ignored them. They still tried to reach 
him on occasion, but very rarely now. Life gave him peace 
for a long time. His curiosity piqued, he listened in on 
them as he studied the surface of the one who was third 
closest. This life had grown rapidly in all this time, and 
even he could see signs of it from here. 
	What he saw and heard galled him. No, infuriated 
was the proper term for what he was feeling. They were 
created from him, the one they should always respect. Now, 
all their thoughts were directed towards one type of life 
and it's actions.
	Man was what they called themselves, he recalled, 
becoming aware of the myriad bursts of energy that the 
predominant form of life constantly flung away from their 
home on the third closest. This energy had patterns to it, 
he recalled from what he had heard as he began to awake. It 
wasn't the random discharge that his creations or he, himself 
made. 
	No, this was done with meaning. He looked into his 
memory of what they had emitted and deciphered the pattern. 
Information. That's what they were sending out to annoy him. 
Most of it wasn't intentionally hurled out into space, but 
that's where it went anyway, even if it seemed like they 
knew, but didn't care.
	Man was short lived, apparently, but reproduced itself 
before passing on to let this cycle continue. Most of their 
lives were spent finding sustenance, at least at first, but 
their recent enlightenment had enabled them to have more 
time free for other things, like poking into everything 
around them in an attempt to see what it was. He was 
flattered by their investigation of him at first, as it 
showed they knew and respected the one who had created them.  
	Finally, he came to fully realize the temerity of 
these upstarts, and his anger grew and grew. They had 
the gall to try and reproduce his power. Man must 
think he could supplant him, their ultimate creator. 
It wasn't even close to the sustained power that he 
had, and used the tremendously inefficient and 
inelegant method of breaking things apart as opposed 
to combining them, but they were looking into that 
as well.
	What was almost as bad was that the ones who 
were created of him. While he had slept, Man had 
crept out to briefly exist on or near all of them, 
and had seduced them away from their proper respect. 
Man would have to pay, as well as the others. They 
were actively helping Man to grow, without any regards 
to the consequences. 
	He examined this link between them, and a plan 
grew in his mind. There was an ideal way to punish 
both for their transgressions against him.

**************************************************

	" Hi, Luna," the blonde girl said from her 
perch on the roof just before dawn. 
	" Minako-chan, what are you doing here?" the 
cat said in surprise, padding over sit next to the 
girl. Minako looked like she hadn't slept all night, 
and had been crying. 
	" I took over for Mako-chan a couple of hours 
ago."
	" Usagi won't like this. You all told her that 
you wouldn't do this."
	" She'll only find out if you say anything, 
Luna," the girl ventured, obviously hoping to recruit 
her to a conspiracy. Minako listened to the snoring 
that came out the window below them, and smiled a 
moment. " I need your help, Luna."
	" I'm not really your guardian, Minako-chan, but 
I'll be glad to try," the cat responded. " Why didn't 
you two come back last night? The curry was surprisingly 
good."
	" We had a fight last night," the girl responded 
with a sigh. " Then I went out and got into some trouble."
	At the worried look in the cat's eyes, the girl 
reached over and put the morning newspaper down in 
front of her so the cat could see it.
	" Oh, my!" the cat exclaimed. One of the pictures 
on the cover was a grainy, slightly blurred image of a 
woman in white, blue and red hurling a cloud of golden 
hearts into a group of several gunmen. The banner 
headline announced Sailor V's return. Silently, the 
girl put another paper down on top of it. This one 
proclaimed her starting a war on crime.
	" Minako," the cat said sharply. " What were 
you doing?"
	" Two muggings, a robbery, stopped a suicide, 
and bagged a drug dealer along with his cronies. I 
didn't see the photographer, or I would have gotten 
his camera." She stopped a few moments to sniffle 
again, and wiped her nose with a handkerchief. " I'll 
deal with Usagi and the others on this, but will you 
please try and find Artemis for me, and let him know 
that I'm not really angry at him? I was hurt and 
confused last night, but I was never angry at him, 
Luna, and I want him to know that."

**************************************************

	The girl looked up and quickly gave thanks to 
whatever spirit was watching over her today. An angel 
had just walked in, right after she opened the doors, 
and Hiroe, her boy-magnet co-worker, was running late. 
She walked over to the dark haired young man.
	" Hi," she said with a warm smile. " Can I help 
you... with anything?" she asked, blushing faintly at 
how she had drawn out the separation between the words 
and the emphasis on the last one.
	" Yes," he replied with a friendly smile, 
carefully looking her in the eyes. " I wanted to 
purchase one of the pieces of crystal in the display 
case." She glanced over, puzzled.
	" I'm sorry, we don't sell any crystal in there."
	" It's one of the decorations, I believe," he 
replied, leading her over to the case and indicating 
the pyramid.
	" Oh, those," she said. " We've got some over 
here in this case by the register."
	" I know," he smiled at her again. " I just had 
a certain feel off of that particular one."
	" You must be into crystals," she said as placed 
it into a bag and went to ring up the purchase on the 
register. 
	" You could say that," he said at her, grinning 
for a moment and giving her the money. " You've been a 
big help to me this morning. Thank you very much." he 
said as he left, and she watched him walk away with a 
sigh. She'd put her name and number on a card and 
slipped it into the bag. Maybe he'd give her a call.

**************************************************

	He was startled to find out it was already 
Monday morning when he finally awoke from the deep 
slumber he had gone into after Matthew left him. A 
sniff of the air told him he was in dire need of a 
shower, and also a shave, judging from the rasp from 
the stubble on his chin when he ran his hands over 
his face to try and get the feel of having a body 
again. His feet were a bit unsteady, but he made it 
to the shower without incident. 
	An hour of standing under the hot spray loosened 
up most of the kinks in his muscles, and left him 
almost human, he thought with a bit of a smile. Wrapped 
in a white robe, he ventured into the kitchen to see 
what of the foodstuffs had survived these two years. 
	Little had, it turned out, but some water slaked 
his thirst for the time being. What was left just didn't 
appeal to him. A quick survey revealed that most his 
clothes were in the same shape as the kitchen. The 
weather was warm, and it was probably summer, so that 
called for lighter clothes, and brighter colors. 
Fortunately, between the remains of his wardrobe 
and a well-stocked travel bag, he was able to put 
together an adequate ensemble with the help of a minor 
cantrip that Kunzite had taught him to clean it. 
	The travel bag held a wallet with identification, 
and his stockpile of currency in the library was 
untouched. Gold was one thing the Dark Kingdom had 
aplenty, and he had brought much with him in order to 
aid him the first time he had been here. He carefully 
counted out a million yen and stuffed it in a pocket.
	A check outside showed that the mechanic had been 
following his instructions about the care of the red 
sportscar in the small garage he had built next to the 
building as part of his renovation. The tires were still 
full of air, and although it took him a few minutes to 
lower it off of the hydraulic jacks, the engine turned right 
over and he sped away to a nearby mall. Clothing first, and 
perhaps a little present for Naru.

************************************************* 

	" I told you I had the right place," she smirked 
at the woman standing next to her on the roof above a 
supermarket that was the anchor store for the small shopping 
center near a public park as the screaming started. A 
white-gloved hand was extended, and the taller woman 
placed a 500 yen coin into it.
	" I guess this means it's time to go to work," a 
shorter, black haired girl said to the other four on the 
roof. " Chibi-usa-"
	" I know, Hotaru-chan," the little girl with pink 
hair replied a bit sadly. " Stay up here where it's safe. 
I want to help you, everyone. I'm supposed to be learning 
how to be a Sailor Senshi."
	One of the taller women knelt down next to her, 
brushing a stray lock of dark green hair aside. 
	" That's the right attitude, Small Lady, but the 
first thing you have to learn is when to fight at all," 
she said, putting a comforting arm around the child. " You 
may not always get to choose when you fight, and when you 
do you have to take advantage of it." She paused for a 
moment to look at the determined expression on the girl's 
face and smiled before speaking again. " Of course, this 
isn't going to be much of a fight if everything works out 
right."
	" It's an experiment, and we're going to dissect 
that thing," the tallest said, putting her hand on the 
girl's head and affectionately playing at messing up the 
pink hair. She sat down, motioning for the others to do 
the same. " Everybody's running around now, so sit down 
and keep out of sight."
	" What?" the girl squawked in protest. " Aren't 
you going to help them?"
	" Don't worry, Chibi-usa-chan," said the woman 
with the turquoise hair as she put away her mirror. " It's 
just like the last time. It hasn't hurt anybody so far and 
it's concentrating on breaking the building. The people 
have already ran away."
	" We wouldn't let them get hurt," Saturn said as she 
smoothed out a wrinkle in her skirt. " It's just that we 
need to find out if we can stop these monsters on our 
own."
	" We also need to find out what it's after," Neptune 
said as she watched it make it's way out of the florist's 
and into the square on it's way to the park as the first 
sirens were beginning to be heard. 
	" Otherwise, we'll be fighting them for a long 
time," Uranus finished, catching Pluto's eye.

***************************************************

	" I'm glad you treated me to this lunch today," 
Makoto said as she set her fork down. " Those shrimp 
were divine. I'll have to see if I can duplicate the 
recipe at home." The blonde smiled back at her, sitting 
back in her chair and enjoying the sunlight that fell 
through the glass roof of the mall to illuminate the 
patio area of the restaurant. 
	" It's the least I could do, Mako-chan. You stood 
up for me yesterday and helped calm her down."
	" Minako-chan, some days you just have to let off 
some steam. I usually do it at the gym instead of dodging 
bullets, however." They both giggled at that and sat for 
a few minutes in silence, broken only by the waiter 
bringing a small dish of a decadently rich coconut ice 
cream for the brunette.
	" This is the one you should try and figure out," 
Minako said as Makoto savored her first taste of it and 
moaned in delight.
	" If I did, I'd gain too much weight. That's 
awfully good."
	" Now, isn't this a much better way to spend a 
Monday than being stuck at school?" The brunette nodded 
in reply as she kept on eating the ice cream while they 
discreetly kept an eye out for any cute guys.

*************************************************

	It was amazing what money did to people in 
this day and age. It only took a few hundred thousand 
yen notes to get the undivided attention of a few 
salesmen and a tailor at a menswear shop, despite 
the crowds. He walked out an hour later in a much 
better sports coat, shirt and slacks, all in the 
latest style, and well-fitted to his frame. His 
body seemed to have lost a few pounds over the 
years.
	Hunger began to gnaw at him, but he shoved 
the thought aside, glad he hadn't eaten earlier 
in the morning. His first meal should be a chocolate 
parfait. He had given his word, after all. 
	On his right were several shops where he decided 
he'd look for something for her, and he strolled over, 
taking his time and window shopping before deciding on 
which one to start with. His eye was briefly caught by 
two pretty girls on the level below him who were being 
seated in a restaurant. At first, he had thought the 
blonde might be her, but a closer examination had proved 
him wrong. It wasn't Sailor Moon, or Usagi, the other 
name she had used. 
	The brunette caught his attention, however. For 
some reason, she looked very familiar to him, and he 
spent several minutes looking at her in a vain attempt 
to place her before he shrugged his shoulders and went 
into a jewelry shop that seemed to have a good selection.
	A half hour later, the two girls were still there 
as he came out, a tasteful gold and emerald necklace in 
a case in his pocket. They were good colors for her, 
although the image of it around the neck of the brunette 
below him flashed into his mind before being quickly 
banished with a flush of shame. Still, he decided to 
go down and at least talk to her for a moment. He knew 
her from somewhere, if he could just figure out where.

****************************************************

	" Three-hundred and fifteen degrees," Pluto said 
as she consulted the compass.
	" Northwest," Uranus and Neptune said in unison, 
looking in that direction for anything that could be 
capturing it's attention. Aside from swatting aside a 
police officer who foolishly tried to tackle it, the 
monster had stayed exactly on that same course.
	" Got it!" the little girl cried, making a mark 
on a map and drawing a large, pink marker along that 
bearing. Both she and the next youngest girl were puzzled 
at the result, however. 
	" Nothing," Saturn said in surprise. " It's all 
residential for over twenty kilometers."
	They mulled it over for a few moments, each trying 
in vain to come up with some reason for it to be acting 
in such a matter. Finally, the tallest one broke the 
silence. 
	" We'll figure it out later. It's in the park, and 
we won't get a better spot to try and stop it."
	" I guess that makes me the look-out," Chibi-moon 
said, indicating the roof nearest the park and the 
monster. " I'll be up there watching over everything 
and I'll have my communicator ready."
	" Why that one in particular?" Pluto questioned 
her. 
	" Uh... it's closest to the battle so I can see 
things the best, I'm out of the way up there, and... " the 
girl said as her voice trailed off for a moment. " And 
the roof's low enough for me to jump down from if I 
have to," she finished quickly, impressed at her quick 
thinking.
	" Well done, Small Lady," Pluto said warmly, 
smiling at the girl, who blushed and then carefully 
ran off to her vantage point, Luna-P in tow. The 
others looked at each other for a moment, and then 
sprinted towards the end of the roof and their foe.

**************************************************

	This wasn't good, he decided. Not at all. 
	The view from his hiding place was very 
disturbing, to say the least. The general was 
supposed to be dead, along with everything else 
from that horrible place he had called home for 
just over a thousand years. Why was he here, and 
why now? Furthermore, why was he walking over to 
her with a smile on his face?
	He was just about to move in and try to 
attack him when a young man with unruly, brown hair 
and thick glasses stopped in front of him, looking 
at the trio in the patio area.
	" Sanjouin Masato?" he whispered in 
shock. " Naru will be-"
	" Fortunate that I'm here," the man in the 
denim jacket and jeans said, laying a faintly 
glowing hand on the young man's shoulder for a 
moment. " Children shouldn't play with wolves. 
What's your name, lad?"
	" Umino," was the mumbled reply as a vacant 
look took hold of his face.
	" Now, Umino," the older man continued, 
steering the other towards the doors at the end 
of the mall. " you're going to forget about seeing 
him today. Go see this Naru you mentioned, but 
remember, I wasn't here, nor was Sanjouin Masato."	
	He got the boy walking away from them, and 
looked back over his shoulder a few times. Nephrite 
had stopped once, briefly, on his way to them, and 
still hadn't attacked. Nudging the lad over towards 
the doors, he quickly walked over to an information 
desk and smiled at the young lady there.
	" Good afternoon. I'm supposed to meeting 
someone here today, and I can't seem to locate him. 
Would you please page him and ask him to come over 
to this desk?"

************************************************* 

	" Don't look now, Mako-chan," the blonde said 
under her breath as she sipped her soda through a 
straw. " You're being checked out. I think he likes 
you."
	" Where?!" she said in surprise, resisting the 
impulse to look around. 
	" Next level up, on your right," was the reply 
as the blonde sighed inside. He'd looked at her first, 
but looked at Makoto far longer. " Brown hair, good 
dresser, by the jewelry shop."
	" Oh, he is cute," the brunette said, smiling 
as she stole a glance upward. " He's walking towards 
the stairs. I hope he's coming this way."
	" He is," she squealed as he started down the 
steps to their level. " How do I look?"
	" 'You look?' " she challenged the blonde. " I 
was the one he was looking at the most. You said so 
yourself. How do I look?" she asked, glancing down at 
her jeans, white T-shirt, and green sweatshirt tied 
around her waist. They had decided to be casual, and 
she hoped it wouldn't hurt her chances now.
	" You look fine, Mako-chan," the blonde said with 
her mischievous smile. " I was just teasing you. If he 
doesn't like you, he's...  you know." They giggled at 
that, and then quickly pretended to ignore his approach. 

*************************************************

	" Dead Scream," a voice whispered.
	" World Shaking," another cried out.
	" Deep Submerge," a third answered as three 
ringed spheres flew towards each other, swerving 
at the last moment before colliding to rush off 
towards their true target as they rapidly orbited 
a central point.
	The crackling, seething mass of energy slammed 
into it's chest, sending the humanoid creature to 
the ground hard enough to leave a depression in the 
soft ground of the park. There was at least some 
sign of effect this time, a smoking, blistered area 
where all three attacks had been concentrated. Before 
it could even try to come to it's feet, Neptune 
rolled to one side, coming up on one knee with her 
mirror in one hand and the other held up in the air. 
	" Submarine Reflection," she cried, a torrent 
of energy surging past and around the creature. There 
was no change to her perceptive gaze; a good artist 
misses little. Whatever it was using to resist their 
attacks, it wasn't an illusion. Her hand swept down 
in a signal to the others. 
	Uranus charged in from one side of it, her sword 
raising a shower of sparks from it's impact against 
the damaged area, and she quickly moved away out of 
reach, going back the way she came. It had tried to 
turn towards this new threat, raising an arm towards 
it's most recent assailant.
	Reading the maneuver, Pluto swept gracefully in 
past it's guard on the other side and rammed the butt 
end of her staff into it's chest, causing a fist-sized 
section to break off and fall to the ground. She, too, 
quickly pulled back, although the temptation to stay 
in close was great. They had managed to start to hurt 
it.
	Undaunted, it heaved itself into an upright 
position and turned slightly towards the two with 
weapons, ignoring the one with the mirror. She probably 
didn't rate being as much of a threat as the other two. 
Good, she smiled to herself. It was reacting to them 
this time. Her hand came up again in another pre-arranged 
signal.
	Pluto and Uranus feinted attacks to occupy it. She 
launched another 'Deep Submerge' against it's back, and 
it began to turn around. Uranus and Pluto slammed their 
respective attacks into it's front and back, 
concentrating on the upper body and staggered it, 
but it finished the turn to advance on her.
	She put away her mirror and prepared herself 
as the other two circled around behind her. It came 
closer, but she waited as two deep breaths were taken 
behind her and energy accumulated, so much it made the 
hair on the back of her neck rise. Almost instinctively, 
she knew when to move. All the hours of training with 
the others paid off. 	Neptune darted forward, keeping 
herself low until springing up and backwards into the 
air at the last minute. Pluto's whisper was drowned out 
by Uranus' shout, but both attacks passed just under 
her feet, striking it in the chest as it reached up for 
her. 
	The monster was flung back several meters but 
somehow had managed to stay upright. It's feet had 
gouged a set of parallel lines in the turf. Their 
efforts were rewarded as another hunk of rock fell 
from the fissure in it's chest, which was now the 
size of a volleyball. Neptune, who had lightly landed 
just behind the other two, frowned as she judged their 
progress.
	" This is going to take all day at this rate," 
she gasped.
	" It's time to play our ace," Uranus smiled, but 
without much humor as they ran around and past it to 
set up for what seemed to be another, similar attack, 
standing in front of a large tree and facing the slowly 
advancing monster. The hole in it's chest didn't even 
seem to faze it.

*************************************************

	Why am I feeling like this, she thought to 
herself. I've never seen him before in my life, and 
it's like I know him from somewhere. Once again, she 
spat a silent curse at the gaps in her memories. It 
wasn't enough that she had few good memories as is, 
what with losing her parents and all, but she had a 
good feeling when she saw the man who was coming 
towards them. She just wished she knew why she felt 
that way.
	" Hi-" they both said as he walked up, and then 
blushed and smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. He 
finally broke the silence after they looked into each 
other's eyes for a few moments, both searching for 
something.
	" Please, don't think this is a cheap pick-up 
line," he said, still somewhat ill-at-ease from what 
he was feeling. " This is the first time I've ever 
seen you, but I feel that I know you from somewhere."
	" Don't feel bad about it," she said, smiling 
warmly up at him and wondering why she felt so 
comfortable with him. " I feel the same way about 
you. My name's Makoto."
	He smiled and took the hand she offered as 
she stood. 
	" Would a Mr. Sanjouin Masato please come to 
the information booth on the first level?" the public 
address system cut him off as he was about to 
speak. " Mr. Sanjouin Masato, please come to the 
information booth on the first level."
	" Um, that's for me," he said, looking a bit 
sheepish. " Would you mind...?"
	" Not at all. I'll wait here for you."
	Makoto watched him leave, and it only took her 
several seconds to realize that Minako was waving her 
hand in front her eyes.
	" Earth to Mako-chan?"
	" Isn't he dreamy, Minako-chan?" She stood up 
suddenly, smiled at her friend and set off in pursuit, 
following him at a safe distance. The blonde sighed, 
reached into her purse to take out some yen, and went 
up to the cashier. I think lunch is over now, she said 
to herself, feeling happy for her friend.

*************************************************

	As soon as she made the announcement, he 
slipped away when her back was turned and into one 
of the service corridors, racing the length of the 
mall in a mad dash that would put him right by her, 
if everything worked out right. He cracked open the 
door and sighed in relief as he saw her leaving the 
restaurant. The other girl wasn't with her, but neither 
was the general. His position in an alcove let him hide 
from her sight, and he quickly glanced down to the other 
end of the mall to see the general walking up to the 
information desk, with the other girl shadowing him.
	The clicking of her shoes brought him back to the 
matter at hand. He mentally prepared himself for this. 
She was much stronger and faster than he in her true 
form, but he should be able to manage here when she was 
in her disguise. A deep breath later, he stepped out in 
front of her, snatched her by the arm and dragged her 
into the alcove and through the doors.

**************************************************
	
	The two women in the rear of the formation 
summoned their attacks, concentrating on making 
them as big and showy as possible, just to play it 
safe. It didn't seem to be too smart, but there was 
no point in taking chances. 
	" Now!" the one in front cried as she stepped 
forward like she would break in to a run and stopped. 
The two behind her let their attacks dissipate as they 
swept around her, weapons at the ready before bounding 
lightly away in a long, low leap to either side of it. 
The creature seemed confused for a moment, and that's 
all it took as a dark shape burst out of the tree.
	" Silence Glaive Surprise!" the young woman cried 
out, bringing the now glowing weapon down in an arc, trying 
to swing through it's shoulder and chest, just like she 
had been taught by the others, using her momentum to it's 
best effect and now prepared for the possible recoil.
	This time it didn't bounce as it dug into the 
shoulder just above the hole the others had made and 
sheared through most of it's chest. There was a flash of 
yellow light that made her turn her head for a moment, 
and when she looked back it was slowly toppling to the 
ground.
	She stared at it in shock, amazed at how little 
it was affected as the others walked up to examine the 
remains. What were these things made of that they 
could take so much damage? She had been with Setsuna 
up in Hokkaido looking for a place for her father a 
few months ago when the other had decided to try and 
test the limits of this attack of hers after they had 
hiked up into a deserted area of the local mountains. 
The local geologists were still trying to figure out 
why there had been such a localized earthquake along an 
isolated, previously undiscovered fault line that would 
have caused the entire side of a hillside to collapse.
	" I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.
	" Well," Neptune commented, looking at a thirty 
meter gouge in the ground and a tree that was missing 
all the branches on one side along the line from Saturn 
through the decaying remains of the monster. " At least 
we know that we can stop them."
	" Pluto," Uranus added dryly. " Weren't you saying 
something about needing some landscaping done at one 
of your properties?"

*************************************************** 
	
	" Give me one good reason why I shouldn't 
kill you," she hissed at him, an all too-familiar 
knife pressed up against his throat. She had dropped 
her purse, shoved him against the wall and produced 
the blade out of nowhere. Just like the time on the 
tor, he thought with a bemused grin. Plan on her 
doing one thing and she'd do another. That's why 
he had lost.
	" You know what had happened to me, Venus. Do 
you think I could have escaped from him so easily?" She 
sighed and stepped back, still holding onto the knife. 
	" What do you want?" she demanded, distrust still 
in her eyes.
	" The Merlin sent me to deliver a warning, Minako 
Aino," he said, using her other name to corroborate his 
story. " Your princess is in danger from a very old 
enemy."
	" Who? Where?" she whispered in shock.
	" Oracles are never clear," the man replied, 
shrugging his shoulders. " He said the prince was 
the key, whoever he is.."
	" Nice try, Azarite, but I'm not giving you 
anything you can use against her. What else did he 
say?" she said, eyes flashing.
	" He mentioned sanctuary, but that's not really 
important right now-"
	" I'll decide that," she snapped, interrupting 
him. " You're not in any-" 
	" Listen," he cut in, waving an arm towards the 
door. " You've got a problem out there. Your friend 
has a crush on Nephrite."
	" Nephrite?"
	" Yes, Nephrite, as in general, as in the third 
or fourth most powerful person in the Dark Kingdom!"
	Mako-chan," she whispered in shock, her eyes 
wide, and then she dashed through the doors and out 
into the mall. He, too, turned to leave, but not to 
follow her. He'd done his part, and there was no way 
he'd risk a tangle with the general if he could avoid 
it. If they chose to fight Nephrite later on, that 
was their concern.

**************************************************

	" 'Morning, Mom!" she said brightly as she 
stepped into the kitchen and turned on the overhead 
lights. Her mother winced, and then tried a smile.
	" I'm sorry, Ami-chan. I'd try to be more 
enthusiastic, but I was just in surgery for over 
twelve hours and I'm really tired right now."
	The girl went over and gave her mother a quick 
hug. 
	" I know what happened, Mom. The head of 
surgery called to let me know that you were in 
pretty bad shape because of this one. He said there 
was nothing you could have done."
	The woman nodded and set down her drink.
	" I know, but it still hurts. That poor little 
boy was just hurt far too badly in the collision, and 
then it took them an hour to cut him out of the wreckage."
	" I'm sorry, Mom. Why don't you just go to 
sleep and get some rest? They've got another doctor 
covering your next shift, and I'll clean up here 
after I get back from school. I have to talk with 
one of my teachers about something," the blue haired 
girl said as she got her mother up from the stool 
and into her bed to get some much needed rest. 

**************************************************

	He was looking around for what seemed to be one 
last time for whomever had paged him from this desk. 
She was just about to walk up to him when Minako 
skidded to a stop next to her. The blonde was panting 
and looked afraid.
	" Minako-chan-" she started to say.
	" Makoto, we have to go. Now!" she gasped.
	" Not now, Minako-chan," the brunette 
protested. " I have to talk to him."
	" Please, Mako-chan, this is more important," 
she implored the taller girl.
	" But..."
	" Mako-chan, I would never think of doing 
this to you if it wasn't important. I'd tease you 
about doing it, maybe, but I would never really do 
this if it wasn't vital," she said, taking a few 
deep breaths to try and calm her racing heart. " It's 
Senshi business, Mako-chan. It's about Usagi, and we 
need to go. Now. Please?"
	The taller girl hung her head for a moment, 
the wistful daydream she had been weaving around 
the man blowing away in the harsh wind of responsibility. 
She straightened up, nodded at the blonde, and the 
two turned and ran down the mall and out the side 
exit.

************************************************

	The attendant couldn't remember much about 
the man who had paged him. He had been very non-descript, 
apparently. All she could recall was the denim jacket 
and jeans, and that he was a foreigner. With a sigh of 
exasperation, he decided that this could wait until a 
later time, as a young lady was still waiting for him.
	He walked back past a few stores, looking ahead 
of him to see if she was still there at her seat, but 
his only reward was the sight of the two girls running 
out one of the exits. This wasn't his day, it seemed, 
but he smiled as he took the black velvet case out of 
his pocket. There was at least one thing that wouldn't 
go wrong. The case was put back as he walked to the 
bakery at the end of the mall near where he had parked 
earlier. Two of the parfaits were boxed up, and then he 
stopped at a florist before walking out to his car.

***************************************************

	The walk gave her a chance to think a little 
bit. So many things had been happening lately that 
she hadn't the time to stop and try to put them 
into perspective, and then seeing her mother go 
through two drinks so quickly this early in the 
morning worried her. Her mother was a doctor and 
knew enough to be careful, but it still concerned 
the girl. For all her life, she could never recall 
any time her mother had taken losing a patient 
lightly.
	She tried her best to dismiss it from her mind 
and concentrated on the math problem that was 
confusing her. She wasn't taking any summer classes, 
but that hadn't kept her from staying up on what 
would be covered next year, and some of the exercises 
were deceptively easy. Fortunately, her math teacher 
considered her his star pupil and would be glad to 
help her out.
	The classes were just letting out as she turned 
the corner by school. She was about to quicken her 
pace when a red sportscar flashed past her. Her heart 
suddenly jumped into her throat at the sight of the 
driver. No, she said to herself, it couldn't be...
	The car turned into the school parking lot as 
her blood turned to ice. None of the students or the 
teachers drove anything like that. She didn't really 
pay attention to the gossip, but she would have heard 
about anyone having a car like that.
	The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place 
as she sprang forward into an all out sprint for the 
school. She wasn't in any summer classes herself, 
but she knew who was, and what he was after.  

*************************************************

	He had tried what turned out to be her old 
school at first, trusting to his memory to find her. 
After discovering it was closed for the summer, he 
sat in his car several minutes, establishing just 
enough of a link to her to enable him to locate her 
before closing it down entirely. He didn't want her 
getting the attention of this Matthew character, not 
if he could help it.
	There was a danger that she could be traced by 
this, so he carefully worked in such a way that his 
target could not be readily identified unless they 
knew her as well as he. It only took about a quarter 
of an hour to make his way through traffic to her 
new school, and he pulled into the teacher's parking 
lot and stopped in one of the many vacant spaces 
before getting out and stretching. His body still 
wasn't fully over the effects of it's long sleep. 
	Now that he was this close, he didn't need a 
spell or the power of the stars to find her. He could 
feel her, she was so close. He decided to hold off 
on the parfaits and just took the flowers with him 
as he walked onto the school grounds.
	There! he said to himself, his sharp eyes 
catching sight of her on the far side of the school 
yard. She was sitting underneath a tree, reading a 
book and balancing a can of soda on one of her knees. 
He wanted to run to her right then, but there was a 
fence in the way and he would have to walk around 
one of the buildings to reach her.
	He had just turned the corner and lengthened his 
stride when a blue and white clad figure jumped down 
from the roof to bar his progress, arms outstretched.
	" This is getting to be an annoying habit, Sailor 
Mercury," he said in a threatening tone, frustrated at 
the delay. " Get out of my way." 
	" No, Nephrite," she said firmly, her visor 
sparkling into existence over her eyes as she drew 
her right foot back behind her into an approximation 
of a fighting stance. " I haven't attacked you 
because you saved her once before, but I won't 
let you see Naru-chan."
	" 'Won't let me' , Mercury?" he sneered, 
stepping forward. " What can you do to stop me? 
Blow some bubbles, perhaps?" 
	She sighed once, and then flashed into a 
spin far faster than he had ever seen the hesitant, 
least combative Senshi ever move before.
	" Shining Aqua Illusion!" she called out as 
a blast of ice slammed into him, making his vision 
blur for a few moments. When it finally cleared, 
he discovered he was sitting on the ground with 
his back against the building. He felt some pain, 
but mostly he was shocked at her power, as well 
as his own stupidity. People can change over the 
course of a few years.
	" I took it easy on you with that one, 
Nephrite," she said as she tapped her fingers 
against a small, light blue case of some sorts. It 
must be one of those computers that Jadeite had 
mentioned. " Don't you understand? She finally got 
over you and has moved on. She's happy with someone 
now, someone who loves her.
	" If you show up now, think of the pain you'll 
cause Naru-chan. I would think that if you really 
cared for her, you wouldn't want to hurt her."
	He crossed his legs, put his elbows on his 
knees and buried his face in his hands.
	" She's all that kept me going, Mercury. The 
thought of her kept me from going mad. I know she 
still loves me. Please, don't take that away from 
me. Not now."
	" I can't take the past away from you, 
Nephrite, but I won't let you ruin what she has 
now."
	He stood up, looking once in her direction 
and then sighed before turning and walking away, 
letting the flowers lay on the ground where they 
had fallen.
	" This doesn't give me much to live for, 
Mercury," he said as he departed and she watched 
him go to his car and get in. It started with a deep 
roar, but he was very restrained in his driving as 
he pulled out of the parking lot and out onto the 
streets, the only sign of his distress being the 
pink box with the parfaits that was flung out the 
window.

****************************************************

	The two girls were out of breath after running 
up the stairs to the temple, where Rei and Usagi had 
just finished sweeping up some of the leaves and 
were carefully arranging the pile for burning. It 
was as much a desire to get rid of them as it was 
an excuse to roast some of the sweet potatoes that 
sat on the porch in a bag by Usagi's purse.
	Mamoru sat next to the purse, but had apparently 
fallen asleep. He looked tired to the two who had just 
gotten there.
	" You're just in time," Usagi said. " We've got 
some sweet potatoes and Ami's on her way over. She 
just called."
	" We've got a problem," Minako announced, trying 
to catch her breath.
	" I wish you'd just tell me," Makoto 
complained. " She had us running every step of 
the way but wouldn't tell me what it was about. I'd 
just met this cute guy who reminded me of my sempai."
	Usagi and Rei had begun to smile at this until 
Minako cut them off.
	" Since when does your sempai look like 
Nephrite?" she said quietly.
	" Nephrite!" the other three exclaimed, 
waking Mamoru.
	" That was Nephrite?" Makoto gasped in 
dismay.
	" Minako-chan, you never saw him," Usagi 
said. " How do you know it was him?"  
	The blonde was about to answer when a shout 
interrupted her and Mercury came bounding up the 
stairs.
	" We've got trouble," she announced, reverting 
back and sitting down. " I just stopped Nephrite 
from seeing Naru-chan at school."
	" He's supposed to be dead," Rei ventured.
	" He's not dead," Ami said, " but he's going 
to be desperate. I had to tell him that she's gotten 
over him."
	" Ouch," Mamoru added. " He must be hurting."
	" That, and one other thing," Ami paused to 
look at each of them carefully. " I scanned him. 
He's dying."
	" What!" Makoto nearly shrieked, her eyes 
going wide.
	" I don't know how he's back, but his energy 
levels are slowly but steadily dropping," Ami said 
as she pulled out her computer and brought up a 
display. " Think of a person being like the battery 
of a car. It's energy is used, but it gets re-charged 
as the engine runs. We do the same thing with food and 
rest."
	" So his alternator is broken, Ami-chan?" Usagi 
asked, to the girl's surprise.
	" Don't be fooled," Rei informed the others, 
seizing the opportunity. " If that hadn't happened 
to her father's car last month she wouldn't have a 
clue as to what Ami said."
	Usagi responded by sticking her tongue out at 
Rei, who reciprocated for a few moments before giving 
up and flashing a quick smile at her friend.
	" We have to find him," Usagi decided a few 
moments later.
	" I agree with her," Minako said. " he's too 
dangerous to let wander around until we can find 
out his real motives."
	" He's from the Dark Kingdom," a voice 
added unexpectedly, causing them to jump in 
surprise. " I would think his motives are 
perfectly clear."
	" Michiru." Ami said in surprise, looking 
at the woman who leaned against a tree several 
feet away from them. None had noticed her 
approach. 
	" He's not like that!" Usagi exclaimed in 
protest. " He saved Naru-chan because he loved 
her."
	Rei and Ami nodded in agreement, but the 
older girl was unmoved. She insisted on joining 
them, along with Haruka, who came up the stairs 
at a run a few minutes later, when they went to 
look in on the former general.

***********************************************

	" So what brought you over this afternoon, 
Michiru-san?" Ami asked as she brought up a 
display on her computer to start trying to find 
the energy pattern she had scanned earlier in the 
day. Usagi had started roasting a few of the 
potatoes, just in case it took a little while for 
the search. Rei was looking on over her shoulder 
while Makoto was sitting by Usagi, quietly berating 
herself for falling in love again so easily while 
Minako tried to console her. Mamoru was inside in 
the kitchen, making himself some coffee.
	" I was a little worried seeing you go up the 
steps in costume, Ami-chan," she replied, seeming to 
avoid the question for a few moments before continuing, 
and she carefully glanced back at the group by the 
fire before speaking again. " We came over to tell 
you that these things aren't unstoppable. We beat 
one this morning."
	" That's great, Michiru!" Rei said. " How did 
you do it?"
	" We ganged up on it, and just kept hitting it 
in the chest. Haruka and I have fought together for 
a long time, so we're used to working together, and 
Setsuna is smart enough to follow her lead."
	" So we can hurt them. What was I doing wrong, 
then?"
	" You need to hit it in the chest, Rei-chan, 
not in the head." Ami replied absent-mindedly as 
she worked, continuing to narrow the parameters. At 
Rei's urging, Michiru gave her some more details 
about the fight and how Hotaru had finished it. None 
of the three noticed the figure who had walked up 
behind them as they spoke.
	" Will you two do me a favor?" the older girl 
asked suddenly. At their nods, she resumed 
speaking. " Let us tell them about it. Chibi-usa 
was there, serving as our look-out, and we don't 
want them to get the idea that she was in danger."
	" Don't worry, Michiru," Mamoru said as he 
handed her a cup and paused to take a sip from 
his. " Save from when you three tried killing 
Hotaru at the planetarium, I don't think Setsuna 
is capable of putting her Small Lady in danger. I 
think we must have asked her to baby-sit a few too 
many times in the future," he finished with a warm 
smile designed to put her mind at ease.
	" Thank you, Mamoru," she replied gratefully, 
nodding her head. " She did very well, except for 
wanting to get into the fight itself. I just wish 
Hotaru had left something behind for us to look at. 
She got a little... exuberant at the end.
	" She, Setsuna and Chibi-usa are trying to 
look for what it was after, but I don't think 
they'll find anything." 
	Mamoru smiled again and reached into a pocket.
	" I'm sorry, but I had a long night staking 
out that mall where we fought, and forgot to 
mention it earlier," he said, bringing out a small, 
sealed, plastic bag with a crystal pyramid 
inside. " I found this later that same night."
	Michiru gasped when she touched it, and then 
spent a long minute examining it and looking at it's 
reflection in her mirror.
	" If it was allowed to continue," Mamoru said 
quietly as she looked at it. " It would have eventually 
gone right through the shop I bought this at. I'll go 
over later on to that park and look for another." 
	Ami's computer began to beep and Usagi groaned, 
knowing she wouldn't be able to have her snack now.
	" I've got it," Ami announced, matching the scan 
results to a map of the city.
	" I know that place," Rei said in surprise. " It's 
an old cathedral my school used to run a long time ago. 
They sold it off a few years ago to some guy who showed 
up out of nowhere with a lot of cash and... " her voice 
trailed off as she realized just who it had been sold 
to. 

**************************************************

	" Is this it?" 
	Ami nodded in reply to Haruka's question, and 
the tall girl pulled the family van over to the side 
of the road and parked it, muttering a curse under 
her breath regarding it's lack of power and style. 
All eight of them got out, looking at the driveway a 
hundred yards ahead that presumable led to the cathedral, 
the top of which was just visible over the trees that 
lined the gently curving, hillside road.
	" Costumes, everyone," Minako said softly as she 
reached for her wand.
	" He knows who we are," Usagi protested. " Won't 
it just provoke him?"
	" He knows who some of us are, Usagi-chan," Michiru 
replied as she and the others changed. " Let's not give 
him any clues as to who the rest of us are."
	" Let's go," Uranus said, beginning to walk 
towards that same driveway. " Which one of you two 
is supposed to have killed him, anyway?" she asked 
looking first at Mercury and then Sailor Moon, who 
had just finished transforming. " You certainly didn't 
do a very thorough job of it."
	" Zoicite," Mercury replied, still scanning with 
her visor over her eyes. " Or, at least some youma 
under his command."
	" That explains it, then. I knew at least Mars 
wasn't that sloppy."
	Mars briefly stuck her tongue out at Moon, who 
returned the insult until Jupiter pantomimed slapping 
her in the back of the head as they turned to start 
making their way up the driveway. The only sounds 
they heard were the singing of the birds, the low hum 
of Mercury's computer and the sounds of their feet 
on the pavement.

*************************************************

	The warning from one of his wards being broken 
brought him out of the sleep he had fallen into 
upon returning from her school and crying like he 
hadn't since he was a very small child. Eight 
people, and not just some locals. These had power, 
and since he had met Sailor Mercury earlier in the 
day, he had a good idea of who it would be.
	He ran into the center of the cathedral 
and looked at the stars projected there, calling 
upon their energy to see what was happening as 
well as changing his clothes to his usual gray 
uniform. Four of them were familiar, Moon, Mercury, 
Mars and Tuxedo Kamen. Two of the others were on 
the photos Matthew had given him, another blonde 
and the brunette who made something stir deep in 
his mind. He had no idea as to the identity of the 
other two, but he did recall there being more than 
just five Senshi in the past. Beryl had counted on 
only four being present, to her detriment.
	The two he didn't know seemed to be taking 
positions up outside the building to keep watch 
for any attacks or to rescue the others if this 
was a trap. They must be the other Senshi, the 
ones who spent little time at the Moon Kingdom. 
That left the other six to enter through the front 
door of the building, and he had no idea of what 
they wanted.
	It was only a few paces to the projector 
controls, and the room dimmed dramatically in 
response to the switches he hit, and the stars 
came out overhead.
	" Castor. Pollux." he intoned, and a 
constellation above him shone for a moment before 
falling to the ground in a shimmer of sparkling 
dust that coalesced into two identical, man-shaped 
forms. " Occupy the two outside until I give you 
further orders."
	They bowed briefly, and then vanished as he 
drew a handful of the shadow around him and stepped 
back against the wall to await his visitors.

**************************************************

	The six people slowly walked into the main 
entranceway of the building, carefully looking at 
the interior for some sign of the occupant. While it 
wasn't full of spider webs, it was dusty, a clear 
sign that it had not been in use for a while. There 
were only a few tracks on the floor to indicate any 
sign of life.
	" Anything, Mercury?" Sailor Moon whispered, 
the darkness and fear of facing an old and capable 
enemy beginning to grip her. The man noticed the 
change in her voice and moved over to put a 
comforting arm around her shoulders. 
	" Nothing," she quietly replied. " I lost 
the signal as soon as we came inside."
	The tallest of the girls put her hands 
together and cracked her knuckles, the sound 
making the others jump.
	" It's brighter in there," she said, 
pointing towards a narrow door set in what 
seemed to be a curved portion of wall. " That's 
probably where he is, if he's here."
	" She's right," the girl with black hair 
said, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. 
	" Come into my parlor..." Venus commented, 
smiling just a little bit, fighting the tension in 
her own way. " I'll take the point."
	Venus moved forward, followed by Jupiter, with 
Mars and Mercury trailing the couple. Inside, they 
spread out slightly.
	" It's a planetarium projector," Mercury said, 
looking at the familiar sight of the heavens above. " It's 
still accurate, too."
	" Of course it is, Mercury," Nephrite said as the 
lights came up slightly and he stepped out of the 
shadows. " This new technology is a great aid to me."
	The girls jumped, startled, as the door slammed 
shut with loud crack that had an air of finality to it.
	" As she said, welcome to my parlor, said the 
spider to the fly. Venus, I presume, and that would 
make you Jupiter," he said, bowing briefly. " I'm 
honored."
	" Why are you back?" Moon asked, managing to 
keep her voice from cracking. 
	" Well," he drawled, carefully watching all of 
them. " I had returned for my Naru-chan, but that 
opportunity seems to have been taken from me, according 
to Mercury. Since that option is no longer valid, I 
guess I'll just have to fulfill the directives of 
those who brought me back.
	" Give me the crystal, Sailor Moon. If you do, 
you can all leave here. I get to live, you don't get 
hurt, and I'll spare the lives of the two outside."

**************************************************

	They certainly had been resourceful, he 
thought to himself as he sipped his tea and reviewed 
what he had seen earlier while sitting in his study. 
It only took them two engagements to come up with a 
working strategy for dealing with the golems, and 
they had successfully executed it on the third. At 
least he wouldn't be too bored, he said to himself 
as he put his feet up on the mahogany desk and 
leaned back in his chair.
	Still, for all their power and tactics, they 
relied on their powers far too much. His trap would 
work perfectly, and Matthew had just called him to 
let him know that it was complete. Smiling, he drew 
upon some of the power he had stolen and spun a few 
spells, just for the pleasure of it. 
	A tiny, breathtakingly beautiful sprite formed 
out of a ball of fire to flutter around the room, 
her gossamer wings leaving a faint trail of light, 
and she cried out in delight as he created a gown of 
fire around her for the construct to wear. Another 
joined the first, and they began to cavort around 
his study, wheeling through the air in an intricate, 
joyful dance.
	Soon, the power will be all mine.

**************************************************

	" You couldn't even take one of my weaker 
attacks earlier," Mercury began in a ploy to distract 
him or throw him off balance. " What makes you think 
you can face all of us together?"
	" Yeah," Jupiter echoed. Nephrite just smiled.
	" This is my game, Mercury. My game and my rules, 
since you were all so kind as to step into the heart of 
my power. Give me the crystal, Sailor Moon!" he challenged, 
taking a step forward. Mars and Mercury stepped forward, 
just as he planned, to shield her from him.	
	" Jupiter Oak Evolution!" the green-clad one yelled, 
spinning as a wreath of green leaves formed around her 
hands.
	" Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" the other blonde 
called out, a glowing string of hearts appearing around 
her and coalescing into one that was brought up to her 
lips to be kissed and then flung forward. New attacks, 
but a predictable response. 
	" Orion's Spear!" he cried, diving and rolling 
under the twin gouts of energy from his first two targets. 
He sprang to his feet in their midst of the four to catch 
the wooden shaft that fell from the ceiling, the metal 
point glowing blue in the dim light. A quick twist of his 
hips swung his whole upper body and slammed the butt of 
the spear into Venus' midsection, crumpling her over it. 
The continuation of the swing brought the blade on the 
other end up and around to the back of Jupiter's neck, 
although he twisted the haft at the last moment to hit 
her with the flat. The blow still sent her to the ground 
as he finished the spin to face the other two, who were 
just beginning to react. The two unknowns were out of 
the way, at least. They were the ones who concerned him, 
he commented to himself as he sprang at Mars.
	" Mar's Flame Sniper!" the red-clad one yelled, 
a blaze of light forming in her hands to launch a fiery 
arrow at him. You could always trust the fire-users to 
have the temper to match the source of their power.
	" Sagittarius' Recurve!" he cried, and the arrow 
swerved around him to slam into Mercury as he jabbed a 
clearly surprised Mars in the stomach, dropping her 
unconscious to the ground. Mercury wasn't hurt, but the 
arrow had made the attack she had been readying literally 
blow up in her face and joined her partners on the floor.
	" As I said, Sailor Moon," he asked again, almost 
conversationally. " Give me the crystal. You don't have 
a chance against me here."
	" No," the man in black said, stepping forward 
with a cane extended like a sword.
	" You forgot your hat," he sneered as the blade 
slashed the cane in two and his shoulder slammed into 
Tuxedo Kamen's chest to sprawl him out on the floor. A 
wand had just appeared in Sailor Moon's hands and he 
sent this to join the parts of her protector's cane in 
the shadows against the wall with a negligent flick of 
the wrist.
	" This is your last chance," he said to the girl, 
his brown eyes flashing.

**************************************************
	
	Neptune could feel the ground seem to shake as 
their two opponents had slipped past their attacks with 
ease and slammed Uranus down, using their own weight to 
help her along. She counterattacked with a snap kick at 
one's back, but quick as a cat, it moved out of harm's 
way, along with it's partner. Uranus was slow to get 
up, and she knew this wasn't going to be an easy fight 
as they closed in on her this time.
	She was able to avoid the first, only to find out 
it was a feint to cover the other's attack. A kick from 
the black, human shaped silhouette took her feet out 
from under her and the first one dropped it's full weight 
onto her chest just as she hit the ground, and everything 
went dark.

**************************************************

	" No," she said defiantly.
	The blow had hurt him, but more in his pride 
than his flesh. He was just able to shift his weight 
to one side as he fell back and rolled out to his feet, 
moving as his tuxedo melted away, leaving his armor as 
he whipped out his sword and sprang forward, knowing in 
the bottom of his heart he would be a moment too late.
	" So be it," the brown haired man said, jabbing 
forward with the point of the spear at the girl's 
unprotected throat.
	 " Sparkling Vital Pressure," a voice moaned, 
but the seething, crackling ball of energy in Jupiter's 
hand was no less dangerous as she began to fling it 
forward from where she lay on the ground. 
	" Jupiter, no!" Sailor Moon called out, a tiny 
droplet of blood rolling down the side of her throat 
from where just the tip of the spear had nicked her as 
she looked up at the conflicting emotions on Nephrite's 
face for a moment, and then a sword ran him through from 
the side and he and her love collided and fell to the 
ground in a heap.
	" Endymion?" Nephrite gasped, spitting up 
some blood while he realized who it was. "Well 
struck, lad. You've finally learned to put your 
heart into it. I... couldn't go through with it, 
in the end. Naru would have been... most upset if I 
skewered her friend."
	Understanding finally dawned in the young 
man's eyes upon hearing the easy, familiar banter 
from the now friendly voice of the other man.
	" Nephrite? Oh, gods... "
	" Mamo-chan?" Sailor Moon asked as she stood 
up and came to his side as he knelt near the other 
man, partially holding him up.
	" My liege," he gasped, coughing once and 
bringing up more blood. " We never wanted to hurt 
you. She made us... made us do it."
	" Nephrite... " Endymion cried out, tears 
running down his face.
	" Our old foes are back, my prince. Ask 
Kunzite... about the magii," he finished, breathing 
quickly, clearly in his last moments. He struggled 
a moment, raising his head and turning it to the 
brunette who had just stood up and walked over. The 
man smiled.
	" Jupiter, love... I... I'm glad... ," he 
said, raising his hand towards her before it fell 
to the ground and he lay unmoving, the same, small 
smile on his lips and a single tear working it's 
way down one side of his face.
	" Mamo-chan?" she asked again, softly, as he 
began to cry, something she had never seen before, 
forcing the words out among the sobs.
	" I just killed one of my friends, Usako."

************************************************

	" Setsuna!" a voice called out, finally 
breaking her reverie as she stood outside a book 
store near a table with several volumes and a number 
of magazines that were on sale.
	" I'm sorry, Hotaru-chan. What was that?" she 
asked, blushing slightly. They were already back 
from getting sodas since Small Lady had gotten thirsty.
	" It must be her boyfriend," the older girl 
stage-whispered to the younger one with the pink hair, 
causing the woman to blush even deeper.
	" I think you're right, Hotaru-chan," the little 
girl commented upon looking at her face. " It must be 
a boyfriend. Look at her face"
	" He's not my boyfriend," the woman said firmly, 
trying to win back some of her respect from the 
two. " I've never seen him before."
	" He certainly is cute," Hotaru said, watching 
the man walk away and turn a corner. " 'Dreamy' would 
be the word, with hair like that and those looks. Was 
he trying to pick you up?"
	" Hotaru!" the woman gasped, visibly startled 
for a moment before relaxing with an easy laugh. " His 
looks are too classical to be cute, Hotaru-chan. 
Beautiful is much more appropriate.
	" Anyway, let's get back to looking. It was 
headed this way," she said, leading the other two 
towards an apartment complex on the other side of 
a drainage canal from the small grocery store they 
had stopped at.

***************************************************

	She had changed back to her regular clothes 
and started trying to revive the others and get 
them outside with Makoto's help. The tall girl had 
a nasty bruise on the back of her neck, but was 
suffering no other ill effects that she could see. 
Minako was beginning to come to, as was Rei. Ami 
seemed to be the worst for wear, but it turned out 
to just be a case of washing off the soot. Mamoru 
had wanted to stay with the body, which was beginning 
to turn into the dust they had come to expect from 
the Dark Kingdom denizens.
	What waited outside was the evidence of an even 
tougher fight. Michiru was sitting with her back against 
a tree, and was too tired to even try and help Haruka 
out of the bushes the tall girl was stuck in. Haruka 
seemed to be content to wait it out and was ignoring 
the pain from the various branches that were broken and 
stabbing into her. That hurt far less than what she had 
been receiving.
	It took Makoto a few minutes to extricate her, but 
soon all seven girls were gathered in a loose circle, 
nursing various bumps and bruises, with Ami fussing over 
the slight cut on Usagi's throat while putting a small 
bandage on it.
	" I haven't felt this bad since Kaolinite and 
those two tire daemons knocked me into a river," Michiru 
moaned, swallowing a couple of aspirin from Ami's first 
aid kit.
	" You can say that again," Rei said, wincing as 
she touched the bruise that was beginning to form on 
her stomach. " What happened to you two?"
	" We got beat up," Haruka said with a self-conscious 
smile, obviously reluctant to admit it. " They didn't get 
past us though," she added.
	" How did Nephrite ever get so powerful?" Usagi 
asked now that Ami had finished her work. " He cleaned 
the floor with us in there."
	" It's back to regular practicing again, everyone," 
Minako smiled, and was hit with several handfuls of 
leaves. She only continued after brushing herself 
off. " He didn't follow through, but he had us."
	" He said we had walked into the heart of his 
power," Ami said. " His attacks had to do with the 
stars, and we were standing in a planetarium."
	" That must be it," Rei replied.
	" Why did he call me his love?" Makoto asked 
aloud, clearly caught up in her own train of thought.
	" Mako-chan!" the other Inner Senshi chorused 
as the brunette realized what she had said and 
blushed, joining them in a few moments of laughter. 
The look on the faces of the older girls was one of 
anything but amusement.
	" Mako-chan," Michiru said, cutting off the 
giggling, " I thought you knew."
	" Knew? Knew what?"
	" You and he were quite an item," Haruka said 
softly in a compassionate tone of voice. " All of you 
and the Generals were... friendly, what with all the 
time you were together helping the prince and princess 
see each other."
	" Nephrite?" Makoto asked, still clearly startled, 
as were the others.
	" Yes, Mako-chan. Rei-chan was with Jadeite, 
Ami-chan with Zoicite, and Minako-chan with 
Kunzite," Michiru replied. " You had all seen 
each other several times that weren't related to... "
	" She used them, I'm afraid," Haruka added. " Through 
them, she used all of you."
	" You mean," Ami said, her voice beginning to 
quiver. " You mean that we were-"
	" No!" Michiru interrupted her in a sharp tone 
of voice. " Beryl fooled all of us, Ami-chan, not just 
you. Nobody saw it coming until it was too late."
	Usagi suddenly stood and walked over to Mamoru, 
who had just come out the doors and walked towards the 
group. He looked haggard, which was a big surprise to 
all present. Normally, he was always in the best of 
health.
	" Haruka," he asked quietly. " Would you please 
give me a ride home? I need to do some things there as 
soon as possible. Usako, would you please come with me?"

**************************************************
	
	A massive sigh of relief escaped him as he 
turned the corner and broke into an easy jog towards 
a train station. He would just make the next train 
to a larger station, and from there he would take a 
high speed train south until he was at least a few 
hundred kilometers away from Tokyo. After that, he 
could travel at his leisure, using the spell that 
Jason had set up for him.
	It was the least the Archmage could do after 
this assignment. First the golems, and now this. He 
found out this morning that he had the dubious honor 
of attacking a target that even Jason was secretly 
afraid of. It was the only rational explanation for 
all these precautions.
	Guided by a light mind-link spell and the 
tracking crystal Jason was using at his stronghold, 
he had spent the afternoon following his directions 
in order to catch up with her. The woman was with 
two others, both young girls, and he had followed 
them for nearly an hour before the two girls left 
to enter a store. He turned off all his personal 
enchantments. The only thing he could do now would 
be to escape via a transport spell that the Archmage 
was sustaining. One word, and he would be gone.
	It's time to use my own, special brand of 
magic, he nervously smiled to himself. He knew he 
was good looking and had never suffered a lack of 
attention from the women he had known over the years. 
It's time to see if she would feel the same way as 
all the others.
	She didn't seem to notice him as he walked up 
behind her as she looked over some books on sale. A 
bibliophile, he sighed. She's certainly beautiful, 
and he could clearly see the power in her without 
using a spell. For a moment, he wished she wasn't an 
enemy.
	" Good afternoon," he said, taking her hand and 
giving her his best smile. " Seeing you, fair one, 
will certainly make the rest of the day brighter. I 
hope we meet again."
	He held her eyes for just another moment before 
walking away and down the street to safety. She either 
missed the silver ring, which he took off and wrapped 
in a silk scarf as he ran, or didn't understand the 
significance it would play later on in the spell he 
would use to defeat her.
	The train station was reached without incident, 
as was the switch to a faster one going south. The 
other commuters were quite startled when just about 
two hours after leaving one of them vanished into thin 
air with an audible crack as the air rushed in to fill 
the emptiness where he had sat.

***************************************************

	The young man clearly looked out of place on 
the slightly crowded beach. He wore an older school 
uniform, black trousers and a matching, high-collared 
shirt. The outfit, modeled on old military uniforms, 
was a distinct contrast to the swim suits the other 
people at the beach wore in the summer heat. A few 
of the girls started giggling at how foolish he was, 
but most thought he just looked good, with short, 
black hair and a single, thin braid that reached to 
his waist.
	" Why don't you come and join us?" one called, 
attracted by his looks and eager to get him into the 
swim suit she had brought for her now ex-boyfriend, 
who had failed to show up like he had promised last 
night and left her here alone while the other girls 
were having fun with their dates. " It must be hot 
in that. I've got a suit that you can borrow."
	She glanced over at their chaperone, Sister 
Shannon, who was still stretched out on her blanket 
on the other side of the banner that read ' Thomas 
Aquinas School.' The statuesque redhead, wearing a 
modest, black one-piece, a gold cross and sunglasses, 
was certainly much more fun to be with on a retreat 
like this than the old prunes who taught them during 
the year. They were fortunate she had volunteered to go 
with them today, since she would allow them to have some 
degree of fun.
	The young man turned towards them and walked over, 
looking carefully around with his tawny, almost golden 
colored eyes. It was only when he was close to her that 
she realized that, in spite of the considerable heat 
and dark outfit, he wasn't sweating. His fair skin wasn't 
burnt either, even though he had been out in the sun for 
some time.
	" What are you doing?" he asked.
	" Having fun," she replied, tossing her waist 
length, wavy auburn hair in a flirtatious manner that 
she hoped he would like. " It's a retreat for our class 
so we could come down here and party, catch some sun and 
relax."
	" Catch some sun?"
	" You know," she said, slightly puzzled. Was he 
dense or something? " Work on our tans, worship the sun 
and all that."
	" That's right." he responded, seeming to be 
satisfied with her answer. " Some of you put a great 
value on appearances. Why do you wear that little bit 
of clothing if you want to get a tan?" 
	She blushed as he indicated the string bikini 
she wore.
	" We can't take everything off, you know."
	" You should," he said a moment later, his eyes 
glowing for a few seconds. To her utter embarrassment, 
her suit vanished along with every other one on the 
beach for a distance of five kilometers in each direction. 
The shouts and the screams started as she dove for her 
towel and wrapped herself up in it while the young man 
turned, still wearing the same clothes. He called out 
over his shoulder as he walked away.
	" If you're going to worship me like that, you 
should do it right."

**************************************************  

	The brunette leaned back on the couch after 
putting the empty carton with the others precariously 
piled on the coffee table. None of them had been too 
keen on doing much of anything after the fight 
earlier in the day and had gone to the condo to relax 
and recuperate, as well as to enjoy a spectacular 
sunset from one of the best vantage points in the 
city. 
	" That's it." Makoto said. " I'm stuffed."
	" It was pretty good for takeout," Ami commented 
as she absent-mindedly stacked several of the empty 
white cartons on top of each other from her seat on a 
cushion by one end of the table. Rei groaned from where 
she sat next to her, her head pillowed on her arms and 
raven hair pulled back in a ribbon.
	" I ate so much I feel like I'll die," she said, 
not even raising her head.
	" You'll get over it, Rei-chan," Michiru 
replied. " We heal up quickly, and our bodies need the 
extra energy to do that." She sat on the couch next to 
Makoto with her head resting on Haruka's shoulder, not 
as concerned about appearances at the moment.
	" I always wondered about that," Ami said, reaching 
over across the table to take a cup of tea from Minako's 
hands as the blonde had apparently drifted off to sleep,
being in the much the same position Rei was in.
	" It's pretty normal, Ami-chan," Haruka said with 
eyes closed as she reclined on the couch. " We've been 
in a few more scraps than you have, so we've had more 
opportunities to figure it out."
	" Maybe that explains Usagi keeping her figure," 
Makoto snickered, setting the rest of them to laughing 
as the door opened and a woman with dark green hair 
walked in.
	" Hi, Setsuna," Michiru said. " Did you get 
everything settled with Chibi-usa?"
 	The woman nodded as she took a seat on a cushion 
at the empty end of the table and opened up a carton of 
steamed rice to serve as a plate after pouring a small 
glass of red wine from a partially finished bottle.
	" Yes, but the Tsukino's are going to start 
considering Hotaru their daughter before too long. 
She's staying over there a while tonight, and I'll 
take the night watch so you can rest. You didn't 
leave me too much," she commented ruefully, looking 
at the remaining selection while cracking apart a set 
of bamboo chopsticks and picking up a piece of barbecued 
pork from a nearly empty container.
	" It's not out fault you were late," Haruka 
said. " We got the food right after dropping Mamoru 
and Usagi off at his apartment and called you as 
soon as we got in."
	" I hope he's all right," Makoto added. " He 
looked pretty down."
	" He called Nephrite his friend," Rei 
replied. " I'd be down, too."
	" I got the basics of what happened this 
afternoon from Usagi when she called her parents 
to explain why she'd be out late," Setsuna said, 
taking a bite of a spicy-sweet, Szechwan beef dish 
she liked and putting a few more pieces on top of 
her rice. " Would someone fill in the details?"
	Ami started describing the events of the 
morning and afternoon, with the others occasionally 
adding or editorializing as she went. Rei was just 
about to tease Makoto about the upcoming part regarding 
where Nephrite confessed his love for her when a sharp 
snapping sound filled a brief silence.
	" Setsuna! Your hand," Ami gasped as the woman set 
down the remains of the glass, the stem broken about 
two-thirds of the way up, and began to shake.

*****************************************************



to be continued in part 3.





end. Obligations {2/3}