Sailor Moon and all related characters are owned by Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha, Toei Animation, and DIC. No copyright infringement is intended.
TIME PREDATOR
by Sailor Chronos
Chapter One
The cratered landscape of the asteroid was barren and unforgiving.
To the scientists that observed it through their telescopes and probes, it was merely another piece of rock that circled in a lonely orbit along with thousands of others like it. Little had they known that more than a millenium before, a planet had once orbited where there was now a nondescript asteroid belt. Nor had they known that the only survivor of that planet was about to awaken.
Her eyes opened. It was so cold... but she had expected that. She lay on the ground and gradually coaxed long-unused limbs to function. As she did so, all the horrible memories of the last day of her planet's existence came into focus. The sudden attack, the destruction. A soft voice telling her that she would be protected, and would revive when her powers were needed. Then blackness.
She stood, her gaze unerringly locating the distant blue speck that was Earth. She knew that on that speck would be what she was looking for.
"Usagi!" called her mother from downstairs. "USAGI! Ami and Makoto are here! You're going to be late!"
"AAAAGHHHHH! Why didn't you call me sooner?" In her haste she knocked her alarm clock on the floor, and it bounced on the carpet and started to ring.
Startled, Luna yowled and leaped up onto the window ledge. "She did call you, several times." she said. "Get with the program!"
"Usagi!" Makoto's voice came. "If you make us late again I swear I'll- !"
That threat was enough to make her put on her school uniform in record time and bounce down the stairs. Grabbing a piece of toast from the kitchen table and stuffing it in her mouth, she managed to say, "See you later, Mom!" before picking up her schoolbag and heading out the door.
The three friends ran at top speed toward Juuban Junior High.
"Usagi, you really should try to be on time more often," Ami said. "Tardiness will reflect badly on your record."
"I was at the temple until late last night."
"Doing what? Reading the fire or reading Rei's comics?" Makoto demanded.
"Actually I was - YEEIII!" There was a crash and a scattering of books on the road, and Usagi landed on her rear end. "OWW! What happened?"
"I'd say we met in a rather unusual way," said a mellow voice with an odd accent. Sitting on the sidewalk nearby was a tall ash-blonde girl holding the remnants of a manila folder. Papers were flying about in the breeze. "Would you be kind enough to help me to pick up my assignment before we're all late?" Her expression wasn't angry, just patiently annoyed.
"Hey, you go to the high school down the street from Juuban!" Makoto said, recognizing the stranger's uniform.
"Yes I do." The girl finished gathering up her papers and books, with Usagi's help. Then she grinned, spoiling her solemn aristocratic expression. "Let's book it!"
The abbey clock was closing on eight when the four reached the junior high, and the strange girl waved as Usagi, Makoto and Ami careened into the building.
Unnoticed by the people below, two women stood on the roof of a skyscraper. "Such an awful place, so shiny and cluttered!" one said with some scorn. Her waist-length silver hair fluttered in the breeze as she gazed down. "Just wait until we get some negative energy flowing around here!"
"You said it, Argenta," said the other. She was a bit shorter and had flame-coloured shoulder length hair. "I only hope that this plan works. Those rotten Sailor brats managed to ruin all the plans that the Wiseman had."
"Wiseman was a fool to let Prince Dimando come here in the first place, especially since he was infatuated with Sailor Moon. Both of them paid dearly for that mistake. If Auburn is right, pretty soon we won't have to worry about the Sailor Senshi. Not even the mistress of time herself will be able to stop us. Let's go, Topaze. I'm getting bored."
The two grinned at each other, and the wind blew their hair about, revealing black upside-down crescent moons tattooed on their foreheads.
Rei and Minako waited at the cinema. It was getting late and they were impatient.
"Hi guys!" Usagi shouted. "Sorry we're late!"
"And you'd better have a good reason! We were about to go without you!" Rei snarled.
"Chill out, Rei," Minako said, smiling. "Usagi-chan probably just had a detention again."
"Actually there was an extra study session this afternoon and I persuaded them to attend," Ami said sheepishly.
"Usagi and Makoto studying? Now I've heard everything!" Minako laughed.
Makoto attempted to explain that she only went to admire a cute guy, and Usagi spent the whole time drawing pictures, but Usagi looked more concerned about Rei's sullen expression.
"What's with you today, Rei-chan?" she asked.
"Oh nothing, just a guy whom I thought liked me started going starry-eyed over that new girl that enrolled in the high school at the beginning of the term."
"You must be referring to me." The tall girl approached from out of the crowd. She was now dressed in a casual pantsuit and had her long hair tied in a ponytail. "I'm not here to steal anyone's boyfriend, believe me!" She winked at Rei who stared at her in surprise. "My name is Alyssa Jikanno." She made a face. "My mother was from England and she insisted on an English name, but my friends call me Lia."
Usagi's jaw dropped. "You're the new girl? You look so cool! How do you get your hair so pale?" Then she caught herself. "Sorry I ran into you this morning."
Lia laughed. "That's all right. And everyone at school thinks that I spend hours at the hair salon each week getting it colored, but it just grows that way."
"Speaking of growing," Ami cut in, "The line at the theatre is getting very long, and unless you all want to wait for ever to see the movie, we'd better get in!"
Unnoticed by the six girls, a black cat was sitting on the curb, accompanied by a little girl with light pink odango hair. "What's wrong, Luna?" the girl asked.
"I don't know, Chibi-usa. That new girl seems familiar but I can't put a claw on it."
Argenta and Topaze paced back and forth across a dark room punctuated with grey columns. At the far end of the room was a large door, which opened to admit a handsome man. He wore a gold jumpsuit in a similar style to those that the women wore, and his bright yellow hair was a stark contrast to the black crescent moon on his brow.
"Here's what we have to do, ladies. The pod will be landing in this general vicinity; if not in the city then in the outskirts. We must act quickly and retrieve it before the Sailor Senshi can interfere."
"You still haven't told us the importance of this 'pod', Auburn," Argenta protested. "For all we know it may be just another meteorite."
"It isn't. All I can say right now is that it contains a force that will allow us to take over Crystal Tokyo once and for all." He chuckled. "Rubeus, Dimando and their accomplices were trying to go about it the wrong way. Taking crystal points would have been a very slow and energy-wasting task even if the Senshi hadn't been around. With my plan, we can take it all in one blow."
"I like that!" Topaze said, laughing evilly.
The following afternoon, Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako were having tea at the Hikawa temple. Usagi was laughing at yet another comic book while the others were talking about their plans for the summer break. Luna interrupted their conversation by turning on the radio. "...reports that the meteorite could land in the Sea of Japan if it doesn't burn up in the atmosphere first. It shouldn't have any effect on the environment..."
"That sounds bad!" Ami said. "If it's big enough it could cause a tidal wave." She pulled out her miniature computer.
"Or if it lands on the city it could cause a lot of damage," Artemis added.
Makoto smacked a fist into her other hand. "Could we have here another Doom Tree or ice princess? I want to have some action!"
Ami looked up from her calculations. "That's unlikely. According to this it seems to be a meteor about the size of a basketball. A meteor that size wouldn't have much left to hit the ground after coming through the atmosphere."
"I still don't like it," Rei said. "When I was reading the fire earlier it showed something approaching Earth. Something cold and dark. I think we should investigate this. Can your computer pinpoint where and when this thing is going to land?"
"No problem."
"Let's go!" Minako said and they all got up and left.
To most of the people that saw it, the falling meteor was just another flash of fire in the sky, nothing really remarkable. Two of those people were hovering a short distance above the waves as the meteor splashed into the water not far from the city's seaport.
"Let's get this over with. Auburn may have said this thing was powerful, but it doesn't look like much to me." Argenta lifted her arms and the meteor emerged from the water. It didn't look much like a meteor, though - more like a dull crystal ball that had been scorched by a blazing fire.
"Don't look now, but I think we have some unwanted snoops!" Topaze said, and pointed toward a group of girls that were on the docks.
"Well, do something! I'm busy right now, you know."
Topaze pulled an egg-shaped object from thin air and threw it toward the docks. "Droid Nautica, give those pesky girls a good scare so they won't come snooping around here again!"
The egg burst in a shower of sparkles and formed into a translucent female form with blue wavy hair. "My pleasure!" it hissed and flew towards the girls, laughing. Confident that the Droid would handle things, the two women disappeared with the crystal.
Usagi screamed, and Makoto pulled her out of the monster's way as it hurtled down at them. "It's a Droid!"
"I thought we had destroyed them all!" Rei yelled, pulling out an ofuda. "Akuryou taisan!" She threw it at the Droid but it dodged. "Damn! It's too fast!"
They all ran helter-skelter as the Droid started to throw jets of water around.
"MERCURY STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"
"MARS STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"
"JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"
"VENUS STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"
"MOON COSMIC POWER, MAKE UP!"
The Droid paused in an alleyway, grinning to itself. "Looks like those kids won't be back for a long time," it said.
"Don't count on it, slush-face!" Sailor Moon shouted. "How dare you terrorize innocent girls! We won't forgive you for that!" Her friends lined up behind her. "For love and justice, I am the pretty Sailor Soldier Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
In response the Droid fired a huge blast of water at Sailor Moon, who screamed and dove aside.
"SHABON SPRAY!" The Droid became encased in bubbles, but it broke out of them easily. Sailor Mercury gasped.
"I'll take care of this! SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter let fly with an impressive bolt of lightning but the Droid simply absorbed the electricity into its body.
"Fool! Don't you know that water and lightning don't mix?" It laughed and shot a jet of electrified water at Jupiter who was unable to dodge in time and was thrown to the ground.
"FIRE SOUL!" A fireball erupted around the Droid, causing part of it to evaporate. It cried out and tried to retreat, but Sailor Venus stood in its way.
"CRESCENT BEAM!" The beam sliced through the Droid's midsection, cutting it in two.
Then something strange happened. The two sections melted and reformed into two Droids, each identical to the first only somewhat smaller. "Uh-oh," Venus commented.
Both Droids pointed a finger at Venus, who was overcome by two sprays of water. She flew backwards off the dock and splashed into the sea. "Venus!" the others chorused.
"Hahaha! And now for the rest of you!" The two Droids strode toward the Sailors, a massive water bomb growing between them.
A flash of red halted the Droids in their tracks. At their feet was a rose sticking into the ground.
Sailor Moon looked up. "Tuxedo Kamen!" Her favourite guy was standing on the roof of the warehouse.
"Even the most powerful creature has its weakness," he said. "Water is as nothing when the heat is on! Sailor Mars, I think this is your department!"
"You got it! BURNING MANDALA!" Rings of fire cascaded around the two Droids, who screamed as they began to puff into steam. "Sailor Moon, now!"
Sailor Moon didn't hesitate. "MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!" The Droids crumbled to dust, leaving only a burnt crystal with an upside-down crescent moon on it. Within seconds, even that faded away.
Tuxedo Kamen jumped down to the ground. Jupiter was recovering and had managed to sit up with Mars's help. Sailor Moon ran to the edge of the dock where Venus had been, and saw her floating on the water. "No!" she cried and was about to jump in when Tuxedo Kamen stopped her.
"She's all right, Usako. Look." At that moment, Venus rolled out of the floating position and swam up to the dock.
"I thought the best thing to do was to play dead," she said, heaving herself out of the water with difficulty. "What was that thing? It was much more powerful than any Droid we've encountered before."
"That's what worries me," said Luna, appearing from around a corner, Artemis behind her. "Droids are the servants of the Black Moon people. If there are Droids around you can be sure that Black Moon people aren't far away and they're up to no good!"
"What were they doing with that meteor, anyway?" Jupiter asked.
"I managed to get some scans before the Droid jumped us," Mercury said. "That was no ordinary meteor, but my computer couldn't scan what it was made of. It was radiating some powerful energy."
"If those were Black Moon people that we saw, they must have wanted it for a reason!" said Artemis. "We'd better get back and try to determine what they're up to."
Sailor Moon looked worried. "The last time that Black Moon people were here, they were after Chibi-usa. Do you think she could be in danger?"
The others looked at her with horrified expressions, and Luna exclaimed, "That's a good possibility! We'd better find her!"