There is a place on the moon that lies in the moon's shadow, a place whose existence is unbeknownst to humans. This place once flourished in an era of peace, an era that was called the Silver Millennium. But as this era drew to a close, a terrible war was waged between a dark entity and Queen Serenity, who ruled the Moon Kingdom at the time.
The Moon Kingdom now lies in ruins, all the bodies of the victims long since gone, and it was here that a flash of bright purple rent the air, in its wake leaving a tall, thin shadow of a woman with long, rippling hair that floated around her face in a non-existent wind.
The woman gazed about at the marble ruins about her, charred from the flames that had long ago savaged the buildings. Her gaze alighted upon the ruins of a magnificent marble palace, with a massive pond of perfectly still, mirror-like water stretching towards her feet.
"So," sneered the woman, a snarl curving her painted red lips. "The remains of the Moon Kingdom. The sight of my downfall."
This woman had travelled through time and space for thousands of years to get to where she was today, and though it had been a millennium since she last stood upon the moon, the memory of her defeat tore through her mind like an acidic virus, turning the edges of her vision red with madness. The woman glared about, her gaze falling upon the large blue planet in the distance, covered with swirling white clouds and green land masses. Her snarl deepened, flaming red eyes flashing ominously.
"Earth," she whispered, her voice as cold as ice. "The last sanctuary for this galaxy's nine princesses, the ones who brought about my downfall," she paused, surrendering herself to hate, and when she could no longer contain it, the rage exploded out of her in a shout of, "I will ensure that that will be your only triumphs! I will pick you off one by one, Sailor Soldiers, and then, I will destroy your silly little planet!"
There was a crack of violent purple light, and then the woman was gone.
"Oh, Mina," laughed Rei, her eyes dancing in the street light. "You had about five boys on the go back there and you were barely managing. How do you think you'll be able to keep that up, with exams coming?"
"Don't worry about me," Mina replied, a grin stretching across her face as she punched her friend playfully on the shoulder. "I'm the Soldier of Love, remember?"
"How could she forget, when she sees you transform every other night?" Ami offered sarcastically, and the three of them surrendered themselves into loud laughter.
The deserted street was suddenly ablaze with artificial lighting, angry shouts emanating from windows, all cursing the three of them. "Keep it down out there!" roared a man, appearing on his balcony and shaking his fist down at them with rage, while hurling a shoe at them with his free hand.
"Uh oh," Rei giggled, ducking under the skilfully-aimed shoe. "We better get out of here."
Mina and Ami roared with laughter, and Mina clutched at the latter's arm as they sprinted down the street, lost in thought of the night's events. It took her several seconds to realize that Rei was not with them.
"Huh?" she said, digging her heels into the ground and spinning around. "What's up, Rei?"
For Rei had frozen some ten yards back, one foot suspended in mid air, a look of intense concentration etched upon her face, her eyes clenched shut, one hand turned sideways and pressing against the bridge of her nose. "I sense...evil," she whispered, her dark eyes opening slowly. "I don't know, it came outta nowhere-"
As if to emphasize her point, a high, terrified cry sounded from a back alley up ahead, cutting off with unnatural abruptness. Mina, Rei and Ami all exchanged nods, and then turned and sprinted towards the place where someone was now positively shrieking with fear. Mina reached the alley first, and she skidded to a halt at the mouth of the dark side street, her hands curled into fists as she prepared to face whoever was behind this terror.
A woman was backing up against a dumpster, her purse held above her visibly shaking head, as if it would shield her from three approaching men, all of who were dressed in black as they prowled, cat-like, towards their prey, too intent upon what they were doing to notice her arrival.
"Don't worry, sugar," one of the men called, in a rough, mocking voice. "I'm not gonna hurt ya."
"But I'm gonna hurt you!" Mina shouted, sprinting forwards, adrenaline racing through her veins. The closest of the men only had time to whip around, snarling, "What the - ?" before she had seized one of his arms, and with a burst of strength whirled him around and slammed him into the brick wall behind him.
His accomplices yelled with fright and attempted to scramble past her, but they were apprehended by Rei and Ami, who had just arrived; Rei body slammed one man into the dumpster, whose lid clanged shut on top of him, while Ami knocked out the knees of the remaining man with a spinning kick before throwing him over her shoulder and into the brick wall behind her.
Breathing deeply, Mina rushed forwards towards the woman, whose knees gave way as she slumped forwards, possibly in a faint. She caught her deftly against her chest, muttering, "Are you okay?"
The woman merely whimpered in response, her heart fluttering like a hummingbird's. One of her clammy hands was travelling slowly down her arm, searching for a firmer grip. As the woman's hand reached her wrist, Mina felt as though an electric shot was travelling up her arm, causing her breath to catch in her throat.
Something's wrong, she realized, but it was too late. The woman's grip was suddenly vice-like upon her wrist, and the woman's head snapped up, her eyes glowing a poisonous yellow from beneath her forelocks, which had suddenly turned neon pink, while her skin blanched to a barren grey. From behind her, Rei and Ami yelled in alarm and Mina her head half way around to see that her friends had been pinned against the wall by the men they had incapacitated, both thugs similarly altered like the woman, one with bright emerald hair, the other with a shock of glistening white. Rei was gasping for breath and prying at the emerald-haired man's grip around her throat, while Ami attempted to kick the shins of her captor, her arms pinned against the wall on either side of her head.
"Mina, run!" her friends shouted, but it was too late; with a feral snarl, the woman kicked Mina hard in the chest, sending her flying backwards and she collided with the wall painfully hard, the back of her head exploding with pain, spots of light bursting into existence before her eyes. Gasping for breath and incapacitated as she was, Mina was powerless to move, unable to fight off the woman when her clammy hand pinned her against the wall by the throat, long nails cutting into her soft skin. She pried at the woman's iron grip, but she may as well have been clawing at a statue's fingers for all the good it did. Gasping and choking for air, Mina spluttered, "Lemme go!"
"She'll do no such thing," came a low, masculine hiss from the shadows, and Mina stared through the spots of light that were still twirling before her eyes to see that the man she had slammed into the wall had stepped out of the shadows, his long, raven hair rippling out behind him, his face, which was an ashen grey, contorted into a malicious snarl of triumph.
"What do you want?" Ami demanded, her voice shrill out of panic, and all four of their enemies laughed, an evil chorus of delight that no one but themselves could hear.
"What do we want, human?" snarled the raven haired man, his onyx eyes flashing nastily as they flickered towards Ami, and Mina saw that there were three interlocked, black crescent moons upon his forehead. "It should be fairly obvious, even to someone such as dim as yourself."
Mina had had enough to do with these strangers from the Negaverse; to be honest, she had had enough the moment the man opened his mouth. She removed her hands from the iron grip of the woman holding her prisoner, and inched her left hand towards her pocket, where her transformation pen was concealed. The woman did not notice the absence of her prying fingers, nor did any of her companions, for their attention was focused intently upon the black haired man, who seemed to be their leader.
"What we want, humans," he snarled, his rough voice lowering to a poisonous hiss as he took a slow step towards Ami, his strange, embroidered black robes fluttering around is silver boot. "Are your lives. You three will be the first to fall to the cause of Dark Genesis, to strengthen the Dark Queen, and will set an example for all of your kind. "
"Yeah right, pal!" Mina snarled, her hand clenching around her pen's handle. "Venus Star Power!"
Her captor was blasted backwards with a scream of surprise as she forced her pen above her head, causing a mass of orangish-yellow light to explode out of her power crystal. The planetary sign for Venus glowed brightly upon the crystal for a moment, and then a trail of orange light inscribed with stars poured out of her power source, wrapping around her form, causing a cocoon of bright white light to envelope her form. Mina felt her civilian clothes vanish into nothingness, whisked away by an invisible force and replaced instantly with her Sailor Soldier outfit; a white silken bodice and short orange skirt with matching high heeled shoes and silken white gloves. She felt her tiara materialize upon her forehead, and with a graceful twirl, she banished the light and emerged into the alley as Sailor Venus, buzzing with adrenaline and power as she glared at her enemies, fixing them with an expression of cold indifference.
She saw Rei and Amy step out of cocoons of ruby and sapphire light respectively, taking on the forms of Sailors Mars and Mercury, and she ran over to join them, slipping into an offensive crouch, hands raised in front of her face as she prepared to fight.
"I thought you freaks would have learned by now that taking over the world is impossible!" she called, pointing at the group of Negaversal foes that had formed a tight semi circle before them. Mercury nodded in agreement at her statement, tossing her short blue hair out of her face as she shouted, "And even if it wasn't, you should know that we would be there to stop you."
"We are the Sailor Soldiers," Mars declared, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder, and Venus and Mercury joined her in shouting, "And we shall punish you!"
The leader of the ones from the Negaverse snorted, clearly unimpressed. "Big words for a bunch of pom-pom wielding teenagers," he snarled, his voice lowering to a dangerous, snake-like hiss. "And as much as we'd love to stick around and listen to your little speeches, we've got a mission to complete!" With that, the four jumped abnormally high, landing heavily on top of the buildings looming over them and sprinting out of sight. Nodding to each other, Venus, Mars and Mercury followed, scaling the brick wall as an expert mountaineer would a mountain, and they tore after their opponents, Venus in the lead.
Their queries were incredibly fast, having already crossed to the edge of the building they were on and throwing themselves into open air, rolling on their sides to absorb the impact of landing on the next building. With a grunt of effort, Mina flung herself off the very edge of the building, her arms working madly in mid air as she flew, as if in slow motion, after the ones from the Negaverse. She landed lightly on her feet, and her eyes narrowed in concentration as she targeted the man at the back of their tight group. She raised on hand to her lips, blowing a kiss as she skidded to a halt, and, clenching her fist, she spun around and threw what could have been an invisible ball at the retreating shadows, shouting, "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
On the last word, a fleet of golden hearts materialized in a circle around her, and sped after her enemies at a speed that put them to shame. They slammed into the green-haired man's back, and with a roar of pain, he exploded in a mass of white light.
Too easy! Venus thought, slightly unnerved, and she launched herself back into the chase, which Mars was now leading.
"Nice shot!" called Mercury, looking over her shoulder to wink appreciatively at Venus, an act she returned. But every ion of her cockiness vanished as the man with a mohawk of white hair turned to glare at the over his shoulder, his onyx eyes burning with pure hatred. Jabbing one finger at them, he shouted, "Shadow blast!" and with an explosion of sound, a massive beam of jet black energy was unleashed from his fingertip, roaring like a sentient being as it rocketed towards them. With a cry of alarm, Venus threw herself sideways, somersaulting out of harm's way, while Mars leaped high into the air to avoid getting hit and Mercury flung herself unceremoniously onto the ground, her hands clamped over her ears. As the beam sprinted harmlessly away from them, Venus popped to her feet, an act that was mirrored by Mercury, who took the lead, crossing her arms in front of her face as she shouted, "Mercury Bubbles...BLAST!" Her hands slashed through the air, causing a maelstrom of bubbles to explode out of her hands, rocketing forwards like a particularly deadly tidal wave. They slammed into the white haired man with enough force to down an elephant, but he, incredibly, did not explode in a burst of light, as his companion had. He did, however, fall to his knees, roaring with pain, and so he did not see Mars, who had reclaimed the lead, drawing a circle of fire around her form, holding her hands in the air as if holding an invisible bow and arrow, and she cried, "Mars Flame Sniper!"
A bow constructed solely of fire materialized in her hands, and with deadly accuracy, she unleashed of flaming arrow of pure rage upon the fallen man, a blazing mass of orange raging around the arrow, which impaled the man through the chest.
He didn't have a chance; with an agonized shout identical to his predecessor's, he exploded in a mass of white light. "Nice work, Mars!" Venus shouted, punching her friend lightly on the shoulder as she passed her, her narrowed eyes fixed upon the retreating forms of the woman and her remaining male partner.
"They're too strong, Equinox!" she distinctly heard the woman shout, casting a panicked glance back at them. The man called Equinox nodded, glaring angrily back at them.
"I agree," he responded, his rough voice an unimpressed growl. "We'll have to set it off later."
"Oh no you don't!" Venus shouted, and with a burst of speed, she closed the distance between them to seven yards. Pulling one hand back, she shouted, "Venus Love Chain Encircle!" and swung her hand forwards, clenching it around a chain of interlocked golden hearts. The chain wrapped itself around Equinox and his companion, who let out yells of mingled shock and pain as they were slammed forcefully together. Yanking hard on the chain, Venus wrapped it around her wrist, and, her face inches from the woman's, she shouted, "Who is the Dark Queen?"
"Yeah, and we wouldn't mind it if you told us what Dark Genesis is, either," Mars added, as she and Mercury hurtled to a stop on either side of them, both gasping for breath.
The woman's glowing yellow eyes narrowed, and, staring maliciously between the three Soldiers, she hissed, "You sound like broken records, you know that?" she put on a high, falsetto voice, squealing, "'What is Dark Genesis? Who's the Dark Queen?'"
Mars let out a feral snarl, her clenched fist glowing with flames as she took a step towards the bound aliens. Venus threw her free arm out to stop her, opening her mouth furiously to berate the pair, but the man named Equinox beat her to it.
"You'll know soon enough, Sailor Soldiers," he hissed cryptically, onyx eyes flashing evilly. "Everyone will." And with that, the pair vanished in cracks of white light. Venus' love chain fell limply to the ground and immediately disintegrated, leaving its owner staring at the place where their foes had vanished, shock consuming her.
Mars punched a gloved fist into her other hand, her lips curled into an angry snarl. "Dammit I can't believe we let those freaks get away!" she cursed, and Venus was sure that that was not all she wanted to say, but she was spared hearing whatever it was by Mercury, who had turned back around to face them, taping the side of her head to get a translucent blue visor to vanish from around her head.
"Let's not stay here and try to figure it out," she offered, and she cast a nervous glance towards somewhere in the distance, where the loud, wailing screams of police sirens was growing louder. "The police will be here in no time at all."
Venus and Mars exchanged grudging nods, and then followed Mercury's lead as she slipped into the shadows, jumping down into the nearest alleyway. By the time the police arrived, slamming their doors and staring about in confusion, responding to several calls made by panicked civilians claiming to have heard shouts and explosions, the Sailor Soldiers were long gone.
After weeks of relative quiet on the enemy front, new foes had revealed themselves, and by the look of things, they were just getting started.