Episode 1: His Name is Zangetsu

The Silver Millennium... at its death. Almost all life had ended, though Metallia and Beryl had been sealed away by the might of the Silver Crystal. The cost was too high for Queen Serenity, whose only daughter, the young girl who had borne her very name, ended her own life upon the death of her lover, Prince Endymion of Earth. Placing one last wish upon the Crystal, Queen Serenity sacrificed the last of her life-force to allow the souls of those that lost their bodies to reincarnate in new bodies in the future. It was inevitable that all of the princesses would regain their power and resume their mission of guarding the Princess of the Moon, who would search for her lover once more. Thus did Queen Serenity depart from the cycle of life and death as the price for invoking the Crystal's power. This also shattered the crystal into several gem shards, which floated back down to Earth with the souls of the dead.

This story has been told since time immemorial. However, this time was different. What Serenity could not possibly know would be that, this time, the story from here on out would take an interesting twist...

It was a school day, and most teenagers at the age of fourteen would normally have been on their way to school; this was the Minato ward of Tokyo after all. One particular student, however, was still sound asleep. One Ikuko Tsukino knocked on said student's door in her latest attempt to wake them up.

This is where our story takes a turn for the intriguing.

"Shingo! It's past 8:00!"

"Yep, yep..." the boy mumbled as he turned in his bed. This time, however, sudden understanding forced his eyes open as he looked at his special-edition Samurai Troopers alarm clock. With a cry of shock, the boy leapt out of bed and hurriedly began to get ready for school, so close was he to being late. Running down the stairs in his school uniform, with toothbrush in mouth, he dashed past the kitchen where his mother was looking over the morning newspaper.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier, kaa-san!" he shouted out as he brushed his teeth.

"I tried to, Shingo, and you said each time that you were getting up," Mrs. Tsukino responded.

"I don't remember anything of the sort!" the schoolboy shouted as he raced to the front door.

"Wait! Shingo!" Ikuko shouted as her eldest child ran by.

"What is it? I'm in a hurry!" he exclaimed from out of sight.

"Don't you want your lunch?" the boy's mother asked as she held up a blue-clothed bento box.

The boy had a deadpan expression on his face as he slid back in the kitchen's doorway.

"Yes, thank you, okaa-san," he said in a dull voice.

Moments later, with bento in hand, he approached the front door and put his lunch down, all the better to tie up his outdoor shoes. Nabbing both schoolbag and bento in one fell swoop, he headed out with a cry of "Ikimasu~!" and ran down the street as though his life depended on it.

Yes, fellow reader, this is the beginning of another day in the life of 14-year-old Shingo Tsukino. What he could not possibly know, however, was that this seemingly innocent morning was merely the prologue to a chain of events that would change his life forever.

…

"Oh, man!" Shingo yelled out, "Why does class start so early in the morning? I mean, I'm still kind of groggy..."

This went on for quite some time until Shingo heard a little kid yell out, "Yeah! Get that cat!" Shingo had stopped right around the entrance to a parking lot. Glancing forward, he saw a group of primary school students, three at most, in a scuffle with something, and from the sound of it, they were terrorizing an animal.

"Hey!" he yelled out, "What do you think you're doing! Get away from there!" Shingo then ran forward as the brats scattered, probably not willing to stand up to someone bigger than them. As he approached the poor little creature, the straw-blonde boy noticed that it was indeed a little cat, and brilliantly white too, with a band-aid affixed to its forehead. "It's okay," he said as he picked up the cat, "I'm not gonna hurt you, neko-chan." As he spoke, Shingo's hand floated closer to the band-aid. "I'm just gonna take this off, OK?" Then, slowly, so as to avoid causing the white cat pain, he peeled it off. As soon as he did so, however, he could see why the kids had put it on in the first place: there was a golden crescent moon-like mark. Had the cat's previous owner abused it by giving it a tattoo?

In a flash, the white cat leapt out of Shingo's arms and climbed up a nearby tree. As far as the schoolboy knew, he hadn't caused the cat any sort of harm.

"Well, that was strange," he mumbled to himself. Suddenly, a large bell sounded, and Shingo started to freak out in response. "Gah! Now I'm definitely gonna be late!" he cried as he rushed out to get to school as early as possible now.

All the while, however, the white cat watched the boy leave...

"Shingo Tsukino!" a woman yelled out in a classroom at Juban Municipal Junior High School, "You're late!"

So continued this seemingly normal day as Shingo was forced to stand outside the classroom with a bucket of water atop his head as penance for his tardiness. Even though his stomach grumbled, the boy didn't even try to skip out. After all, any man worth his salt took punishment without complaint, and this case was no exception.

"Shingo," a brown-haired woman plainly said as she opened the classroom door, "you got a thirty on your test... again."

Crud, Shingo thought to himself, Kaa-san's gonna be really pissed at me this time...

"Shingo, I know that you're good at sports," one of his classmates, Naru Osaka, said during the break between homeroom and their first subject, "but if you really want to make it in the world, you need to study more." Miss Naru Osaka was the daughter of a jewelry store owner in town, and it didn't hurt that she was relatively easy on the eyes as well.

"Thanks for the support, Naru-chan," Shingo deadpanned. He knew that it was very difficult to make it as a professional athlete in Japan, but there was really nothing else he was good at.

"Hey there," said a certain bespectacled boy, who, as it happened, often sat next to Naru during class.

"Umino..." Shingo once more deadpanned. For as long as the blonde could remember, Gurio Umino had been his polar opposite in terms of abilities; he didn't have any natural physical skills, but he was the smartest student in the class.

"How'd you do on the test, Shingo? I didn't get a perfect score since I wasn't trying that hard, but I think I did well enough," the stringy boy plainly said as he held out his own paper; it had a 95.

Just one more reason I hate this guy, Shingo reflected on the inside. He has to tell everyone around he's a genius.

"Getting off the topic of the grades," Naru tactfully said, "did you hear what Victory Rider did last night?"

"Victory Rider?" an interested Shingo inquired.

"Yeah, he stopped a couple of jewelry thieves that were at large," the girl plainly stated.

"Wow, really?" Shingo asked in amazement.

"Yeah!" Naru cried out in excitement, "He's really something!"

"Cool!" Shingo responded. "Uhh... who's Victory Rider?"

"Huh?" Naru asked, almost facefaulting, "You haven't heard of Victory Rider?"

"From what I heard," Umino explained from behind glowing glasses, "Victory Rider is a vigilante hero that appeared in town a couple of weeks ago. Nobody knows who he looks like since he wears a motorcycle helmet that covers his face, like those motocross guys usually do."

"Wow..." Shingo mumbled. "Guess this guy is a real hotshot in town."

"This is my own theory," Umino continued in a whisper, leaning in closer to his two classmates in a manner that befitted a conspiracy, "but I think that he's actually a government agent..."

The pair merely regarded the crackpot theorist in silence.

"Anyways," Naru said, breaking the silence, "I just can't stand jewel thieves!"

"Why?" Shingo asked, "Is it because of your mom?"

"No! I actually like jewelry! I mean, they're all sparkly, and when they do, I just..." she exclaimed, and as his friend ranted on, Shingo just could not wrap his head around the concept of a girl's fascination with shiny stones one could get by digging deep enough into the ground. Then again, Shingo wasn't a girl. "...and our jewelry store has been having a sale since yesterday! Do you guys want to look?" Naru finished, but neither she nor Shingo had noticed that Umino had scampered off already.

"Well..." Shingo started. The fact was that Shingo didn't want to see these sorts of things, but Naru just looked at him with those patented puppy-dog eyes of hers; ever since their first days as Junior High students, he just couldn't say no to them. "...I guess it wouldn't hurt. I mean, I don't really have anything to do after school this evening."

"Yay!" his friend shouted out in glee, hopping up and down.

However, neither of the two classmates could possibly know that at this very moment, the Dark Kingdom was busy re-awakening after their sealing by the accursed Queen Serenity. Of course, Queen Beryl was busy leading her subjects in a frantic search for something special.

"Have you not found the Silver Crystal yet?" she asked her assembled army.

"No, milady," they answered in a resounding chorus.

"Listen well," she called out to her loyal subjects, "our great ruler requires a large amount of energy to break her own seal and return to this realm. If we cannot obtain the Silver Crystal, then we must resort to gathering the energy of humans first." At this point, a blue flame appeared in the middle of the floor, as if expecting these words to be spoken.

"Queen Beryl," it said as a fair blonde human appeared from said blue flames. "I humbly request that you leave this task to me. I, Jadeite, shall not fail."

"And why is that?" Beryl inquired.

"Because," the man explained, "as we speak, one of my youma, Morga, is already gathering human energy for you."

"Very well," the apparent Queen of the Dark Kingdom commanded, "then I shall leave this matter to you, Jadeite."

"As you wish," Jadeite smugly smirked.

As Shingo and Naru approached the OSAP store, it was hard not to notice the huge crowd that had congregated outside. Naru simply looked as though she had never seen so many people in her family's store before, while Shingo merely had a quizzical look on his face. Upon entering said store, the first thing that caught Shingo's eye was the severe price cut on one of the more ornate necklaces. He knew that jewelry tended to be expensive, but such a drastic cut could not have been good for business. However, it looked as though the crowd, predominantly female by the sounds of it, had not noticed this basic fact; so enamored were they by the collection of fine jewelry at such a low price that they were practically glowing.

"Wow," Naru said quietly, "we've never had so much business in one day."

Thank you for stating the obvious, Naru... Shingo thought to himself.

"Thank you for always choosing us!" a somewhat amplified voice shouted; Shingo managed to pinpoint the speaker's location right in the thick of the crowd. To his utter lack of shock, it was Naru's mother, Mayumi Osaka, yelling into a makeshift megaphone. "I implore you! Try before you buy!"

"Jeez," Naru softly commented, "Mama's really getting into this."

"Maybe she's just really inspired today," Shingo replied, as the owner continued to announce that the massive sale was still on.

As the woman was yelling, however, no one could possibly know that this was no human at all. Indeed, the shape-shifter was somewhat in awe that her master's plan had worked so well. Foolish humans, she thought to herself, your energy will be graciously used to help the grand master return to this world. Yes, no one here would know until their last moments that their lives were being drained by the very stones they so idiotically decided to wear.

Unnoticed by anyone in the shadows of the world, the mass of energy had begun to collect in Jadeite's hands. The drain is finally starting to show some results, he thought to himself as it began to swirl with conviction, and to think this is all thanks to the vanity and greed of the clueless humans of this era. Queen Beryl will be most pleased indeed. Even as he mused, the orb of energy grew ever larger and brighter in intensity. "Morga," he spoke to his minion in the light, "gather more energy. Even this amount is not enough."

"As you wish," Morga quietly affirmed. Yes, things were moving along quite smoothly indeed.

"Hi, Mama!" a voice behind the seductress announced, "I'm home!"

With a large smile plastered on her face, "Mayumi" turned around to face her "daughter" and a friend of hers. "Welcome home, Naru."

"I brought a friend with me today," she stated.

"Hello," the boy said in a dull voice.

"Welcome," the "woman" responded, "Even though you're a boy, I thank you for coming. I'm sure we can find something for you, even if you may not be all that fond at first."

"Well..." Shingo nervously began.

"Still a little hesitant?" the saleswoman asked. "I know! Since you're a friend of Naru's, I'll go ahead and give you a discount!" And with that, she dragged the poor boy off before he could offer a word of protest. With Naru closely behind them, they soon found themselves looking at some fancy rings. "Now then," the elder woman pitched, "this nice little diamond ring usually sells for around 500,000 yen."

"500,000?" Shingo commented. "That sounds steep."

"Perhaps," she answered, "but for today only, this beauty is only 30,000, just for you, good sir!"

Shingo thought it over for some time, though he had come to his answer quickly enough. "No deal," he said. "Not only is that still way too expensive to buy, I'm not at all interested." At that moment, Shingo could suddenly feel the death glares of the many customers within the store. Perhaps he had struck a nerve? "Thanks for trying, but I have to get going," he added somewhat nervously as said eyes followed his journey back out the door, with flustered Naru following close behind.

"I'm sorry about that, Shingo," an apologetic Naru said to her classmate. "Maybe I should have known better. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow in school, alright?"

"Sure," he replied. Naru then proceeded to re-enter the store, which, Shingo had reason to suspect, also served as her house. At the very least, her life was somewhat secure. His on the other hand, was in imminent danger. "Stupid test," he muttered as he pulled out the hated paper, crumpled it up, and tossed it over his shoulder.

Unfortunately for him, it turned out that the wad of paper had bounced off of someone's head.

"Littering is a crime, you know," a female voice behind him called out. Shingo froze in his tracks and turned around; the sunglasses-wearing woman had her long, black hair done up in a ponytail, and was wearing a green blazer and black shirt with white slacks... and she was looking at his discarded test. "And what's this?" she wondered. "A thirty? Someone needs to study more often, I see..."

"Hey!" the boy cried out, "I'll be taking that back now, if you don't mind, and I'll thank you to keep your nose out of other people's business!" Having already yanked the offending test out of the woman's hands, he started to walk off, but turned back around, just in case. He saw the woman just staring at the store's entrance. Huh, he thought to himself, maybe she's thinking of buying herself some jewelry,and resumed his walk.

Unseen by the spikey blonde, however, was the fact that the woman continued to stand there. Elegantly taking her sunglasses off, her blue eyes stared intently at the entrance...

On his way back home, Shingo strolled past the Crown Arcade and almost passed completely by, but doubled back upon realizing he had seen something out of place. It was a poster advertising a new game. Normally, this would not be cause for interest, but this particular game starred a hero he had only heard of this morning: Victory Rider.

Wow, he thought to himself, they've already made a game based on this guy? That was certainly fast... Continuing to stare, Shingo found himself envying the helmeted hero; after all, men like him didn't have to worry about school or tests, or even their own parents giving them hell for failing a school test.

Stealthily hiding behind another sign not too far away, the mysterious white cat continued to look at Shingo with an intense look in its eyes. Intense... and curious as well... The cat continued to watch as the boy sighed, put his hands into his pockets (as if he were preparing for the worst) and walked off.

This shouldn't be happening, the cat thought to himself. Luna was supposed to be here with the child, not me. Well, I guess it can't be helped, since I can't get in contact with her. I'll have to fill in. Which means...

"I'll be visiting you soon, Shingo Tsukino..."

EYECATCH

It turned out to be the fiasco Shingo had expected. As it transpired, Umino had already shown his own test paper to Mrs. Tsukino. As a result, Shingo had no choice but to show his paper when asked, and his mother boiled over with shock and rage upon seeing such a poor mark. Which is why the blonde boy was staring at his own (closed) front door. Making matters even worse, his little sister, Usagi, was let in without any fuss. Well, he ruefully thought to himself, at least things can't get any worse.

How wrong he could have been. At this very moment, back at OSAP, all of the female customers were collapsing to the floor, physically drained as they were. Needless to say, Naru was starting to get worried.

"What's happening?" Naru asked herself. "Why are they all going faint? Mama?" No answer. "Mama?" The specter that had assumed the guise of the store's owner visibly shook with silent laughter.

"Such a grand amount of energy..." she said. "Not a bad haul, indeed..."

At this point, poor little Naru got even more scared. "Mama..." she fretfully muttered.

Upon hearing that word, the woman turned her head... all the way around to the back, like an owl perchance would, chuckling all the while.

Shingo turned on his bed. After standing silently outside the front door for a couple of hours, Mrs. Tsukino had pity on the poor boy and finally let him back in. Unfortunately for him, his little sister had also seen his abysmal test paper and her punishment was effectively ten times more cruel than anything his parents could come up with. Thus, after that horrifying experience, he decided to rest his exhausted body before working on his latest ream of homework.

As he started, however, his bedroom window opened, then closed with a clutter. Curious, Shingo turned... and found himself eye to eye with the cat he had assisted earlier that day. With a yelp of shock, Shingo fell off his bed, but quickly got back up on his knees to look at the cat again, from a distance this time. "Aren't you–" he began, but what happened next was something he never expected to happen.

"Greetings, Shingo Tsukino," it said. "My name is–"

"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-" Shingo stuttered, waving his hand in front of the cat, "Begone, evil spirit!" The invocation, obviously, did not work; the mysterious talking cat was still sitting there, but it had an annoyed look on its face.

"I'm not an evil spirit," it – he sternly stated. "My name is Artemis, and I want you to listen to me very carefully."

"It talked," Shingo fearfully muttered, "it really talked. Tell me, how can a cat talk?"

"Well," the cat that called himself Artemis conceded, "I couldn't really access my full abilities with that bandage covering my crescent mark, so I have to thank you for getting that thing off." The cat then got up and started prowling the bed. "But that's beside the point now, because you have a mission to fulfill."

"Mission?" Shingo asked in response. "What mission?"

"A mission that no one else can do. Strange things have been happening recently, and it's your job to stop them."

"Look," Shingo stated, "even if you're not a figment of my imagination, which is probably the case, how am I gonna stop these things?"

"That," Artemis conceded, "is a very good question." The cat then closed his eyes in thought. Shingo looked away.

"Listen well, young warrior," a distorted voice said, forcing Shingo to look back at Artemis. The cat's eyes were open, but they glowed an intense, pupil-less white this time. Shingo had no idea what was going on this time, forced to watch in stunned silence. "The time has come to prepare for the fight ahead. Yell out 'Kuchirikatabira' to take the first steps down the path of destiny."

"What destiny?" Shingo asked. "What are you talking about?"

The cat said nothing else, except, "Yell out 'Kuchirikatabira' to take the first steps down the path of destiny."

Shingo realized that nothing would come about by continuing to ask questions. "Fine, I'll do it if that'll shut you up." He then clenched his hands into balls and took a deep breath. "KUCHIRIKATABIRA!"

The effect was instantaneous; in a flash of light, Shingo's school uniform disappeared and was replaced by a sort of white armor plating.

"Wow..." he muttered, "all that buildup and not one kick-ass transformation sequence."

"Do not be deceived, young warrior," the cat with glowing eyes spoke, "Your strength and agility have now been increased by a factor of five, and you are now able to detect when innocents are in danger."

"Oh, come on," laughed the armored boy. "That sounds too ridiculous to–"

"Help! Someone! Help me!" a voice in his head suddenly cried out.

"What was–" Shingo began, turning his back on the mysterious cat, but the voice interrupted again.

"Help! It's my mom!" it cried out again, but this time, Shingo recognized who it was calling for help.

"Naru?" he muttered. As he did so, however, Artemis yawned.

"Sorry," the cat stated, "I don't know what came over me, but I think that perhaps I nodded off and–"

"No time to explain!" Shingo cried out, so he grabbed Artemis and hopped out the window (after opening it, of course). He still didn't know what was going on here, but he knew one thing for certain: Naru was in danger, and he'd be damned if he didn't do a thing about it.

"Help me!" Naru once again cried out in the darkened store as the impersonator had begun to choke the girl. "Please, mama, stop!"

The fiend couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I'm not your mother, brat," she cruelly stated as her form twisted into that of her real identity: the youma Morga. "That woman is currently having a nice little rest in the basement. One that you'll be sharing with her very soon!" Her grip tightened.

…

Listening to the scene going on inside, Shingo had heard enough.

"I'm going in," he said, as he started to make for the door.

"Stay yourself, warrior," the distorted voice said. Sure enough, one look at Artemis was enough to tell Shingo that the cat had entered the same trance as before. "As you are now, the youma would, no doubt, certainly kill you." This statement shocked the bold boy into silence. "You must summon your armor if you are to stand a chance of being victorious in this fight."

"Armor?" Shingo repeated.

"Correct," the possessed Artemis confirmed. "If you wish to save your friend's life, you need only to yell out 'Busou! Tsuki!' to the heavens."

"Well," Shingo conceded, "you were right about this chain mail, maybe you'll be right about this, too." He then took a deep breath to prepare himself for what undoubtedly would come ahead. He then cried out, "BUSOU! TSUKI!"

As he said those words, he gathered a ball of energy, which crackled in ferocity. In his mind's eye, he saw a golden suit of armor in a sitting position. If he had any longer to see it, he would have noticed that it looked extremely similar to the Armor of Rekka from his favorite anime. With a grunt of effort, he held the ball of energy out in front of him as scrolls unfurled around his body. As they soared ever higher, Shingo continued to concentrate, and at their apex, they turned into petals of light and elegantly fell to the ground.

As they did so, some of the petals swirled around Shingo's legs, soon solidifying into armored greaves. The same thing happened to Shingo's arms, forming gauntlets. The body armor soon followed, and, with a mass of light petals in hand, Shingo lifted his right arm, and in a flash of light, they turned into a helmet, which he then placed onto his own head. As soon as he did so, a metal faceplate closed over the lower half of his face, obscuring his mouth and part of his nose from view.

…

The youma continued to choke poor Naru, who was on the verge of death. "Now," the demon crowed, "say hello to the other poor fools when they walk the path to Hell trailing you!"

"HOLD UP!" a confident masculine voice cried out.

"What?" the monster said, turning her head around to face... something obscured by the moon's light, and who or whatever it was had its back to this beast.

"There are many stories of stones that shine with brilliance," he monologued, "and of the people's happiness when presented with these, treating them as part of one's affection. Yet these stones can only shine when held up to the light of love. We call such items... jewels."

"Huh?" the creature asked in confusion. "What was that? Who are you! What's your name!"

"My name?" the figure nonchalantly asked. "Very well..." The figure then turned around, armor glistening in the light, so that he was staring the monster down face-to-face. "The light of the moon is also the light of the heart!" he cried out. "The power of the moon is also the power of the heart! I am the Samurai of Righteousness... Tsuki no... Zangetsu! And for the sake of the moon," he continued, pointing at the abomination, "I... will defeat you!"

"Heh," Morga snorted, letting go of Naru at last, "I've never heard of such a person! Awaken, my minions! Protect this humble servant of our grand master!"

With that, the people on the floor menacingly rose, zombie-like in their movements.

Crap, Zangetsu thought to himself, I can't just kill these people! Gotta knock 'em out, first... The first zombified victim – an old lady he had seen roaming around earlier by the looks of it – came lunging at him. A hand chop to the base of her neck quickly took her out. A gut punch to another pig-tailed student knocked her out as well, while a kick to the back incapacitated another long-haired girl. Unfortunately, there were too many of them to fight at once, quickly grabbing and holding him down.

"Hey!" he cried out. "Lemme go!" No response from the zombified masses, as expected. "I said... LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Suddenly, the two crescent markings on his armor's shoulder plates began to glow, emitting a sort of supersonic wave. At that moment, Morga and her victims were forced to cover their ears. The youma stayed conscious, but her minions didn't fare as well, for they slumped to the ground, unconscious once more.

"I don't know how you managed to do that," she said, shaking her head, "but if you think I'm going to give you a second chance," she then held out her arm, directed at the samurai that had so ruined her ploy, "then you've got another thing COMING!" The arm stretched, its sharp nails aimed at Zangetsu's neck.

Damn, he thought to himself, drained of energy, why can't I move! His entire body just wouldn't move the way he ordered it to. The nails came ever closer...

Then, a red flash, but not that of trailing blood from the samurai's jugular. Rather, a red rose was stuck in the floor, having been thrown by an unknown source. It seemed as though it was meant to prevent Morga from killing her target. Sickly, she turned her entire head around to the window. "Another interloper?" she inquired. "Who are you?"

"I am..." the shadowed figure in the window spoke, "...Tuxedo Mask!"

"Tuxedo Mask?" Zangetsu repeated in wonder. Upon closer inspection, the samurai noticed that the figure was indeed wearing a tuxedo and an obscuring eyemask under a black top-hat. What was strange about the figure was that it appeared to be a female.

"Tsuki no Zangetsu..." the female figure continued, "...it is my sworn duty to protect you at all costs."

"Protect... me?" he asked.

"Yes," the woman in the tuxedo responded. "Now, hurry! Deliver the final blow!"

"Final blow?" he posed. "What final blow?"

A strange sensation then filled his head, as though it could sense his very thoughts. "Now is the time," the voice said. "Hissatsu! Gekkou Daisharin!"

"Hissatsu?" he wondered. Upon the uttering of that one word, the crescent-like horns that decorated the front top of his helmet detached, spinning up into the air. With a loud, woosh-like sound, it came back down, though it had grown to become a large crescent blade. On reflex, Zangetsu caught it. The blade glowed with light, and Zangetsu then did what came naturally and flexed his arm back, ready to launch it against his adversary. "GEKKOU... DAI! SHA! RIIIIIN!" He then flung the instrument of death at the floating creature, who could only gape at her coming demise. Morga's body bifurcated at the waist, and both halves hung eerily in the air before they crumbled to dust. The sand collected on the floor before the samurai's feet for but a moment before they disappeared into nothingness.

In the shadows, the energy Jadeite had been so eagerly collecting disappeared before he could properly send it to his mistress.

"Morga..." he muttered in disbelief, "...must have failed. But how...?" Needless to say, the man was not looking forward to reporting his own failure in turn.

Zangetsu continued to stare at the spot where the sand had vanished. A million questions swirled around in his mind. How was he able to do what he did this night? What was the voice that had whispered into his mind?

"Excellent work... Zangetsu," the woman in black called out. Zangetsu looked up at her. "Needless to say, both of us shall remember this night in the time to follow. Until we meet again!" With a swirl of her red-lined cape, she was gone. Who was she? Who was the woman that called herself Tuxedo Mask? That was yet another matter on the samurai's mind.

Meanwhile, back outside the store, Artemis came to again, with no recollection of what happened after he blacked out.

During the break between homeroom and first class in school the next day, Naru told her classmates about a dream she had concerning a monster, and of a samurai clad in golden armor that had come to save her. "It was amazing!" she cooed as she finished up.

"Wow," one of the girls listening remarked, "I had that same dream too!"

"So did I!" said another.

"How strange..." the brunette commented. "What do you think, Shingo?" No response. She made to shake his shoulder. "Shingo?"

Groggily, Shingo turned his head to look at Naru. He looked tired... more-so than usual. "Would you guys keep it down?" he requested. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Sorry, Shingo," Naru apologized. "Did you not sleep last night?"

"Something like that. Good-night," he yawned, then put his head back down and proceeded to sleep once more.

Shingo: I've only been a samurai for a short time, but these strange things just keep happening! Now it's a radio talk show that everyone's heard about. Personally, I couldn't care less about mushy stuff like this!

Artemis: But this program isn't listed in any radio schedules I've come across.

Shingo: Artemis, didn't I just say that I don't care about this program?

Artemis: Would you care if your friend Naru got a strange flower from this phantom program and it sent her into a coma?

Shingo: What'd you say? All right, now it's personal, Mr. Phantom DJ! Next time, on Tsuki no Zangetsu: "Lure of the Radio Siren!" For the sake of the moon, I'll defeat you!

A/N:

So that's my first fanfiction here on ! Where do I begin with this? Well, maybe we'll start with premise...

Premise: Well, I did watch the original DiC dub of Sailor Moon back in the day. Yes, I admit that I liked it, but it was that time when those of us that grew up back then didn't know about the show's Japanese roots. But that's besides the point. The point is that I often found myself wondering what would happen if the Sailor Scouts (or, as I prefer to call them nowadays, Sailor Senshi) were actually male for a change. I've since learned that this will probably never officially happen due to Takeuchi-sensei's rule that only women can be Sailor Senshi, but that can't stop a fanboy's childhood dream! Originally, I thought that a potential male senshi team would be like Power Rangers/Super Sentai. It wasn't until recently that I believed armored samurai, like those found in Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, would fit the potential male senshi better. So, we have male armored samurai protecting the streets of the Minato ward in this alternate universe instead of female Sailor Senshi.

Characters: Well, seeing as how Usagi had a normal modern family with younger brother Shingo, what better fit would there be for my main protagonist than that very brother? Yes, in this AU, Shingo was born first instead of Usagi (she did become his younger sister for those wondering). Also, did any of you notice that woman Shingo ran into during the story? Those of you that are familiar with Sailor Moon will probably figure out her significance right from the start. Needless to say, she will become very important later down the road. Another important thing to note is that not every character has had their genders swapped; only the Sailor Senshi and/or those characters that need to be to make the plot flow will have made the switch. So... that's why Beryl and most of her minions remain as they were in official fiction.

Story: I admit, I watched the first subbed episode of Sailor Moon while I wrote this. I wanted to make this fic as close to a real anime as I could possibly get, and there's a reason for that. Unlike some other good writers out there, like Greg Farshtey, I mainly think in pictures, not words. That may be a problem, since many fanfics do not come with pictures. That being said, I find it easier to read fanfiction as though the pictures were coming from a television screen.

Oh, and one last thing. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! One does not grow to be a better writer if one does not have constructive criticism to work from! Therefore, I welcome any and all criticism, as long as it helps me become a better writer. And flames will be shot down, but that should be apparent.

And remember... don't be a maniac... like me!

T/N:

"Kuchiriatabira" means "chain mail" when translated from Japanese into English.

"Kaa-san" is an informal form of the more formal "okaa-san", which means "mom" or "mother".

"Busso" means "equip"

"Tsuki" is the most common word for the moon itself

"Gekkou" means "moonlight"