Part 1: Deimos Rising
Silver Millennium – Planet Mars
The dancing flame before her writhed with grace and power. Its radiant heat flushed her cheeks and the brightness almost hurt to look at.
Almost.
Rei, princess of Mars, guardian of the gift of prophesy and High Priestess of Fire, closed her eyes and continued her prayer.
"Sacred flames, bestow upon me your knowledge of what will come…"
Her hands moved, following the ancient rites of her office as she slipped deeper and deeper into her prophetic trance. Then she felt it. It wasn't much but it was there: a force moving beneath the surface rising to the top. Something powerful was coming.
Something evil.
Present Day – Japan
"Mamo-chan make her stop!" whined Usagi tugging on Mamoru's sleeve. Mamoru sighed and tried to ignore both his girlfriend and her antagonist.
"All I'm saying Usagi is in the best interests of your health you really should watch how much food you force down all the time. Don't cry to me when you swell up." Rei Hino crossed her arms in smug superiority; her chin raised just enough to convey the proper level of condescension. Usagi reached across the table and grabbed yet another rice cake, popping it into her mouth.
"Ifs mot by mault, I," she swallowed, "I can't help myself. Mako-chan is such a good cook I'm not responsible for how I react to her amazing meals." Usagi flashed Makoto a huge grin and the tall tomboy reciprocated. Makoto had taken an instant like to her from the beginning and knew that even though Usagi could sometimes be a pain she had a good heart and that was what really mattered in the long run.
"I'll agree you're not responsible," chimed in Luna as she leapt onto the table.
"Thank you Luna, at least you're on my side…hey!"
Finally realizing the intent of Luna's jab, Usagi turned on the full power of her legendary pout while her feline companion attempted to redirect the Senshi meeting back to the topic at hand.
"Ladies," said Luna.
Mamoru coughed slightly.
"And Mamoru, I think we have a very serious problem on our hands," Luna nodded to Ami who had been sitting patiently waiting for all the ruckus to stop. The blue haired and timid girl tapped a few keys on her computer and a series of photographs began to scrawl across the screen. She passed the computer around the group handing it first to Minako who studied the images carefully.
"I snapped those last night on my way home from cram school. I saw a youma attacking this woman and before I even had a chance to transform and try to help her, this happened…"
Ami tapped another key on the computer, advancing to the next series of photo. Minako's jaw dropped open.
The other senshi quickly maneuvered themselves into a position to look over Minako's shoulders to see what had astonished her so. Just when it looked as if the youma was going to succeed in its attempt to harm the woman a bright flash appeared. From within the flash came a girl with dark red hair and eyes like fire. In her hand was some sort of small knife which she plunged into the youma with a voracity which scared even Makoto. She began to slice into the monster, continuing to attack with a blind rage long after it was dead. The final photo Ami had managed to get before the mysterious girl disappeared was of her standing over the diced body of the youma, its blood covering her sailor senshi uniform.
Usagi gasped.
To Be Continued…