A/N: I'm baaaaaaack! Your favorite infrequent author has returned after over two years without writing anything- and with an action fic, no less! In honor of the new anime, I've decided to take another crack at writing a Sailor Moon action fic. Now, before moving on to the story, there are a few things I want to clear up, some in reference to this story and others in reference to my other works. In regards to my other Sailor Moon action fic, it is on a permanent hiatus. It may have been my first story, but I must say I am very displeased with where it was going (it was sloppy, quite frankly) and there is a LOT I'd change about what is there already. As for my Inuyasha romance… that's a doozy. I would LOVE to complete it and I know a lot of you who are fans of my work love that story, but… I want it to be perfect. Until I can make the last chapter (not including the epilogue) as close to perfect as possible, I won't be posting it. Don't give up hope, though, please! I'm positive that despite all the broken promises and setbacks, it WILL be completed one day. Finally, just a few things about this story:

Thunder and lightning will be used interchangeably when it comes to attacks, as is done within the anime/manga.

The Arcanas featured in this fic are taken from the fighting game series, Arcana Heart. The abilities they have are both in game ones and ones I came up with on my own. Since that is the only element taken from something else, I did not feel the need to mark this as a crossover fic.

The setting for this is about two years after the final story arc of the anime/manga and Usagi's group is in Grade III (i.e. the last year of high school, equivalent to 12th grade in the States).

The characters and their powers (not counting any given to them in the fic) are based off the anime, not the manga.

Yes, I am omitting honorifics for the sake of making things easier on myself :P

Now, FINALLY, on with the fic (Did anyone actually read all that in its entirety?)!

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Sailor Moon nor do I own the rights to the Arcanas taken from Arcana Heart.

Chapter 1: Bhanri, the Arcana of Thunder

"…. And that is how one achieves enlightenment, theoretically speaking," finished Ami.

Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako were busy reviewing the class discussion for the week at the Hikawa Shrine, as usual. Well, Ami, Rei, and Makoto were at least. Minako, on the other hand, was inconspicuously reading manga tucked inside her philosophy book and Usagi was dozing off. Of course, this did not go unnoticed by Rei.

"USAGI! MINAKO!" the Shinto priestess shouted.

"ACK!" the blondes screamed, startled.

Makoto sighed. "Really, you two? You're struggling the most in philosophy class and you're just dozing off and reading manga instead of listening to Ami's review of the week's materials."

"This is our final year of high school. It is important to get good grades so we can be accepted into the best universities," Ami chimed in.

"But the rain makes me so sleepy…." Usagi grumbled.

Suddenly, a boom of thunder along with a flash of lightning that illuminated the outside struck. The future queen screeched in fear as she jumped out of her seat and proceeded to cling to Rei.

"At least that woke you up," the raven-haired girl sneered. Usagi glared in response.

"Hm… there's something about the storms we've had lately that makes me nervous…" Luna said.

"Nervous? Why?" Minako asked.

"Like a bad omen, right, Luna?" The black cat nodded in response.

"Have you had any visions lately, Rei?" Makoto questioned.

Rei bit her lip in worry. "A couple, but they haven't been clear. They're even more confusing than the ones I had for the Death Busters. All I can make out is what looks like a puppeteer pulling on the strings of various marionettes and the Earth getting attacked by gigantic beings with immense power."

"We should keep an eye on this storm then. It may be the sign of a new enemy. Let's be on the lookout for any suspicious activity," Artemis said.

The room nodded in agreement.

- The Following Day-

The walk to school was turning out to be a tedious one. Not only was there a wicked storm going on, Usagi in her fearful state kept having mini break downs every time thunder boomed or lightning flashed. The fact that the occurrences were becoming more frequent by the second wasn't helping matters either. As Ami and Makoto were trying to calm the pigtailed blonde down from her most recent panic attack, Rei felt an evil energy nearby. She looked to her left, surveying the area she felt the presence coming from.

"What's wrong, Rei?" Minako asked.

"Something-" she started to respod, before being cut off by a gigantic bolt of lightning striking the ground in the center of the plaza she had just been staring at, effectively blinding her temporarily.

When she and the others regained their vision, their eyes were met with a large, powerful looking female figure. The creature was completely electric blue in color, with a long, layered matching blue dress and sword-like appendages also in the same color. On her head, she had on what looked like an extravagant helmet and in her right hand she had a heavy-looking giant shield With electricity in her eyes, she looked directly at the untransformed sailor soldiers.

"I… think now might be a good idea to transform," Minako said. "VENUS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"MERCURY CRYTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"MOON ETERNAL, MAKE-UP!"

Pillars of lightning were destroying the plaza, when….

"Stop right there!"

The monster looked towards the direction of the voice.

"Lightning is scary enough without you making it worse by hurting innocents and wrecking the city! For love, justice, and my own nerves, a pretty soldier in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"

The monster eyed them before smirking and conjuring a sword made completely out of lightning. She pointed it towards the senshi and fired a large bolt of lightning at them. Although the attack was extremely fast, they somehow managed to dodge it.

"Mars- Flame Sniper!"

The monster quickly moved her shield to block the attack. She then proceeded to charge at the Senshi of Fire at blistering speed.

"Jupiter- Oak Evolution!"

Unfortunately, Sailor Jupiter's attack was blocked as well. With nothing to halt her approach, the creature continued charging and swiped at Sailor Mars. Sailor Mars managed to dodge, but when she was swiped at again, she got hit with what felt like a lightning bolt trying to cut her in half. She fell to ground in pain.

"Sailor Mars!" the group gasped.

The war-themed monster took to the skies and proceeded to strike lightning bolts down at her enemies one after another in quick succession. The remaining senshi moved frantically to dodge all of them, but to no avail. Each of them fell prey to the sting of the highly concentrated electricity.

"Gah, what are we supposed to do?" Makoto grunted in frustration.

Before anyone could even respond, they were dodging another round of lightning bolts. Luckily, this time they managed to dodge all of them. Sailor Mercury took the opportunity to turn her visor on and pull her mini super computer out. However, she didn't get to do much analyzing as a bolt of lightning suddenly came from the sky to strike her, knocking her back and making her drop her device.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus rushed over to her to see if she was ok. She was, but only barely. Sailor Jupiter tossed her computer back to her.

"You keep analyzing to see if you can find any weak points, " the green and pink clad senshi said. "If it's a fight of electricity she wants, it's a fight of electricity she'll get. Jupiter- Oak Evolution!"

Instead of merely blocking the attack, this time the monster launched a counter attack very similar to Sailor Jupiter's own attack. The attacks clashed and the evil attack started to push back the good attack. The Senshi of Lightning mustered up her inner strength and gave all its energy to her attack, focusing on making it win out over her opponent's. The pushback stopped and now the two projectiles were back to clashing with each other in a battle for dominance.

"Got anything, Mercury?" Sailor Moon asked as her friend fervently typed away.

"Almost… got it! My… this is strange…?"

"Strange?" Sailor Venus questioned.

"Yes… this… being that we're facing… she seems to be some sort of higher being. From what I can tell, she's not naturally an evil one either, or at least that's what I'm guessing. There appears to be an extra part inside her that isn't normally there."

"Well we'd better do something fast," Sailor Venus said, concerned. "Jupiter is putting up a good fight, but the enemy looks too strong for her. If we wait too long, she'll get zapped by ALL of that electricity! Sailor Moon, do you think you'd be able to heal her without hurting her too bad?"

"Well, it worked for the last monsters, so I don't see why not…" the future queen responded. Here goes nothing… please, let this work… she thought, closing her eyes and concentrating.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

Despite her fighting prowess, the monster was so focused on her rivalry that she didn't notice the attack until the very last second. Breaking her concentration to quickly defend herself, her attack ended up losing to Sailor Jupiter's and she was subsequently hit, thus leaving her open to Sailor Moon's attack.

When the light from it subsided, she was floating there. A black comedy/tragedy mask was expelled from her body and floated up into the air before exploding into dust. Meanwhile, Sailor Jupiter collapsed on the ground. Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury went to tend to her, while Sailor Venus helped the now conscious again Sailor Mars to her feet. The group looked towards the creature that had been their enemy.

The being floated herself into and upright position and looked at the senshi.

"Sailor Guardians… thank you for saving me."

"What?! It can speak?!" Sailor Moon shouted.

"I am known as Bhanri, the Arcana of Thunder," the being continued.

"Arcana…?" Sailor Mercury inquired.

"Yes, an Arcana- a higher existence under Gods."

"How could you have possibly gotten under the control of an evil influence?" Sailor Mars asked.

"The most I can say is that this evil must be very powerful; otherwise, I do not know how I became its minion. However, that is not what matters right now. It is likely that this evil has plans for my twenty-two fellow Arcana. In order to combat them, you will need great strength. To help you in your quest and as thanks for freeing me from the clutches of evil, I shall bestow upon one of you a great power. She who controls thunder, step forward."

A bit surprised, the senshi in question stepped forward.

"Your determination and keen control in battle shows the mark of a true warrior," Bhanri continued. "For that, I bestow upon you the power to wield a sword of thunder like mine. So long as you remain proud and determined, you shall be able to call upon it whenever you wish. "

"But… I don't really have any formal sword training...," Sailor Jupiter muttered, slightly embarrassed.

"Do not worry about that. The sword shall guide you. You will have the capabilities of the best -trained warriors on this planet. Now, I must go. Good luck to all of you." With that, Bhanri disappeared.

"Woo! Yay Jupiter! You were always the toughest out of all of us, it's so fitting that you got an awesome sword to slice and dice the bad guys with!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

"Yea, I guess," the tomboy chuckled.

"I don't mean to rain on the celebration, but it looks like it's definitive that we have a new enemy," Sailor Mercury cut in. "Bhanri told us that there are twenty-two others like her, which means we're in for a very long and difficult battle."

The group sighed.

"Looks like it…" Sailor Venus announced, pointing out what everyone was feeling- that break time was officially over…

A/N: Woo, all done! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my (hopefully) much better Sailor Moon action fanfic. Please, please, PLEASE, remember to review! Reviews let me know what can be done better and encourage me to continue! ^_^