Chapter One: Usagi, Weremole

Muriel moaned.

Courage stood in front of the couch she and Eustace laid on, his pink fur dirty from not washing it during the week his elderly owners had been sick. The farmer and the Scottish woman were paler than Courage had ever seen.

Dr. Vindaloo had said there was "nothing to worry about" while Muriel's and Eustace's pasty skin, hoarse voices, and continuous shivers said otherwise. Told them that they needed more rest when Muriel and Eustace had already rested for a week, taken aspirin, soaked in hot baths; their conditions hadn't improved.

So Courage sat in front of the computer and typed in all the symptoms, asked the computer what was going on.

"It's an extremely rare illness," the computer replied. "Only one in a million chance of contracting it."

Courage pulled his ears. Of course the people who were closest to him would contract such an illness.

"As for a cure…" A picture of Earth popped onto the screen and spun. "Searching… Searching…" Zoomed in on an island. "Here's where the cure is. The Azabu-Juuban district of Tokyo, Japan."

"What is the cure?" Courage typed.

"You have to find that out for yourself. Which I'm plenty sure a twit like you could do."

The situation was too serious for Courage to become angry at the computer's sarcasm. He needed to go to Japan, but he didn't know a lick of Japanese. Heck, he could barely speak English.

He spent the next few days studying Japanese with the computer as his teacher. Although, half the time, the computer made jokes about Courage in Japanese and then translated them into English, Courage managed to learn how to write his name and ask about the illness and the cure.

While Courage learned Japanese, Muriel and Eustace coughed more often and became paler, like if they lost any more color, they'd become transparent. They could still move and take care of themselves while he was gone. Dr. Vindaloo would come by every day to check on them.

Finally, he was ready.

Courage packed a duffel bag and boarded a plane to Tokyo, Japan. He sat beside a sleeping elephant that drooled on him the whole twenty-hour flight.

After the plane touched down, he rode a crowded train, getting squished between two elephants, one that drooled on him even though she wasn't sleeping.

He arrived in Azabu-Juuban and began the search for the cure.

"Look at this!" Usagi pressed her face to the shop window. Bracelets, necklaces, diamonds… So pretty.

She let out a gasp and drew away. Being childish wasn't princess-like.

Makoto put a hand on her shoulder. Usagi looked up into her bright green eyes and returned her smile.

Ever since Mamoru had been captured, Usagi hadn't been able to concentrate on video games, manga, or her schoolwork—not that she'd ever concentrated on her schoolwork before. She hadn't slept in days, either. To get her to relax, her friends and fellow Sailor Guardians, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako, had brought her to the mall outside Azabu-Juuban. After all, they could only wait until the full moon came in about a month to travel there and learn about their past lives as Sailor Guardians.

Then, they'd go after the Dark Kingdom.

They hadn't heard from or about the Dark Kingdom since Mamoru was captured. No attacks, no monsters, no nothing.

Makoto turned her attention to the jewelry store, her ponytail gently whipping. "Those look beautiful. How about we head inside?"

Once inside, Usagi did her best to stay focused on the ruby bracelets and emerald necklaces, but all the jewelry reminded her of was the Silver Crystal and, by extension, Mamoru.

Usagi's black cat and partner, Luna, peeked out of her handbag. "Usagi-chan, if you're not feeling well…"

Usagi forced a smile. "I'm feeling well. I know it doesn't look like it, but I am. The only reason I don't is because I, um, want ice cream. Yes. That's it." She'd feel better after eating ice cream.

Usagi and her friends bought ice cream. Usagi struggled to keep it from dripping onto Luna's crescent spot. Minako, too, struggled to keep her ice cream from dripping onto Artemis's head, the white cat inside her handbag.

"This makes me feel so much better," Usagi said.

"I think it's a fitting end to the day." Minako caught a drip of ice cream onto her tongue before it landed on her blonde hair.

"Right." Ami glanced at a wall clock. "It's getting late. We should be getting back home."

"I have a few things to take care of tonight, anyhow." Rei stepped onto the down escalator in front of them. Ami, Makoto, and Minako followed, leaving Usagi deep in her thoughts about Mamoru, her ice cream making a puddle on the floor. No matter what Usagi did, her thoughts always returned to him.

"Usagi-chan." Luna tugged Usagi's sleeve. "Usagi-chan."

"Ah." Snapping out of her thoughts, Usagi saw her friends step onto the ground floor. "Wait up!" She slipped on the ice cream. Luna was tossed out of her bag as Usagi tumbled down the escalator.

Courage couldn't find it.

He'd searched every medicine shop he found, asked the clerks in garbled Japanese. No one knew what he was talking about, so he wrote the symptoms down as best he could, asked for a cure. The few who understood his written Japanese couldn't name the illness and didn't have any treatments, much less a cure.

Now Courage was at the mall near Azabu-Juuban. Maybe he'd find more pharmacies there.

He stopped in front of an escalator, scratching his head, turning the mall map all sorts of ways to try to get a bearing of where he was.

"Usagi-chan!"

Courage looked toward the voice. Four teenage girls stood near him, gaping at the escalator, calling, "Usagi-chan!" He whipped his head to the escalator. Another teenage girl fell head over heels, slamming her face on one of the steps, her blonde pigtails twirling like a baton. An ice cream cone tumbled after her, and a black cat chased.

Courage was in front of the escalator.

She was coming right toward him.

Courage let out an ear-destroying scream.

She fell on him, and everything blackened.

Usagi opened her eyes. She was in her bedroom, her friends hovering over her. She only remembered falling down the escalator and hitting her head.

"How're you feeling?" Makoto said.

Usagi sat up. "Fine." She'd seen a flash of pink before falling on the floor. "Me being clumsy, as usual." A clumsy crybaby. She smiled and then blinked. "But that pink thing from earlier, was it my imagination?"

"Actually, you fell on a dog," Rei said. "He's beside you."

"A doggy?" Usagi looked. A small, pink dog lay beside her. The dog opened his eyes and then looked around the bedroom as though he were afraid. His eyes darted to her, and he screamed right in her ear.

Courage gulped back the rest of his scream. The pigtailed girl had recoiled.

"I…I think he broke my ears." She wiggled her finger inside both ears.

Courage hadn't known where he was, though, and then he had seen the pigtailed girl who had almost ended his life, so he'd screamed.

Another blonde teenager, this one wearing a red bow, wiggled her fingers like she was performing some sort of voodoo. "Ooh, you're scary, Usagi-chan."

But the pigtailed girl—Usagi—didn't show any signs of hearing her friend. Kept rubbing the inside of her ears.

Courage took the moment to look at all the teenagers. There was a brunette taller than the rest. Another teenager had sharp violet eyes and dark purple hair, and the other had short, blue hair with almost sad blue eyes. Hiding behind the blue-haired teenager's legs were a black cat and a white cat. Must be scared of him because he was a dog, but after being ensnared in Katz's webs so many times, he'd never chase a cat again.

Usagi hugged Courage to her cheek. "I'm sorry, doggy. I hurt you, didn't I?"

Even though Courage had annihilated her eardrums, she was still being nice to him. She didn't seem angry, but that was probably to be expected, what with her falling on him.

Courage hugged back, a crystal around her neck pressing into Courage's chest. He had a feeling that he could trust these girls. Most of the enemies he came across were out to get him from the beginning.

"What should we do?" the blue-haired girl said. "He doesn't have a collar, and the security officers at the mall didn't know anyone who had lost a dog."

"Maybe we should make some wanted posters," the violet-eyed girl said.

Red Bow smacked a fist into her palm. "I'm on it."

Courage shook his head rapidly, explained that Muriel and Eustace were sick and needed a cure and Courage had traveled all the way here from Nowhere, Kansas, and had looked almost everywhere in Azabu-Juuban because the computer had said the cure was there and he'd gone to all the pharmacists and doctors he could find but they didn't know anything about the cure.

The teenagers didn't understand.

Red Bow furrowed her brow. "Uh, was he talking? Like another Luna and Artemis?"

"Babbling is more accurate." The black cat had a female voice, and Artemis was a female goddess, so Courage assumed she was named Artemis. "What do you think, Artemis?"

Oh. The white cat was named Artemis, and the black cat was named Luna. These teenagers gave their cats weird names.

"Probably not one of us," Artemis said.

"Right," the blue-haired girl said. "No marking on his forehead or anywhere on his body. I checked while I was washing him."

Courage gave himself a once-over. His fur was shining.

"Looks like he doesn't want his owners to find him," the brunette said.

Courage jumped off the bed, dashed between the girls, to the desk piled with manga and CDs. He took paper and a pen from his pocket, sat on the chair, and wrote everything about the illness, his traveling to Japan, his name. The girls and cats gathered around.

"A dog that knows how to write. Geez."

"Illness."

"Can't find cure."

"Yuuki." Courage's name in Japanese. "What a strong name."

"The cure's here? Right in Azabu-Juuban?"

"Why here and not anywhere else in the world?"

"His owners are all the way in the United States," Luna said. "He must really love them."

"Love" was a bit too strong a word for Courage's feelings toward Eustace.

"I can see why they named you Courage," Usagi said. "It takes a lot of courage to come all the way here by yourself."

Red Bow straightened. "It's proper for us to introduce ourselves, too. I'm Minako. Don't worry. I'm all in helping you find your cure."

"So am I," the brunette said. "I'm Makoto, by the way."

"And I'm Rei," the raven-haired girl said.

"I'm Ami," the blue-haired girl said. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Usagi. We'll help you find your cure. I'm really sorry for falling on you earlier." She drew her to him, and he hugged back, tighter this time. "To help make up for the pain I caused you, how about you stay here? Mama shouldn't mind."

Courage nodded. He was ready to find this cure, for Muriel and Eustace.

Queen Beryl pored over Prince Endymion, handsome even while unconscious. She eyed Kunzite, who bowed before her. The only one left of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Beryl looked into the crystal ball at her side, her red hair cascading over the table it sat on. In it, the Sailor Guardians were doting over a small, pink dog. Beryl scowled. They'd met a new friend. A feral grin spread on her face. Another opportunity to torment and destroy the Guardians before they reached the moon.

"Kunzite."

Kunzite was at her side in an instant. "Yes, Queen Beryl?"

She gestured toward her crystal ball. "Look inside."

Kunzite stepped to the crystal ball, saw what Queen Beryl had seen. "It seems they care deeply about that dog, even though they just met it. Listen to them." His silver eyes sharpened. "The Sailor Guardians can't resist helping that poor little dog. Typical. But the dog's owners are weak. Maybe I can use them." He parted his silver bangs from his eyes. "Queen Beryl, I'm going to Nowhere. I want to find out more about this dog."

"It seems like you have a plan."

"I'm thinking of one."

"Then again, Jadeite, Nephrite, and Zoisite had plans, too, and they all failed."

Kunzite didn't twitch. He was the calmest and most mature of the Kings, traits that Beryl appreciated. "They tried using brute force against the Guardians, only to be quickly destroyed. I need to use a different strategy."

"I see. I'm glad you're using your wits."

Kunzite closed his eyes and concentrated. A farmhouse in Nowhere, Kansas, where the dog's owners lived, appeared in his mind's eye. Two old, fragile humans lay on two separate couches. They couldn't be used.

He needed to see the history behind this house, find some clues as to how the humans had gotten this disease.

In the middle of one night, while the dog's owners had been sleeping, the dog at the foot of the bed, Nephrite visited the house for energy. Flushed with anger when he saw two humans with hardly any energy left. In his impulsiveness, Nephrite put his hands on both the humans' heads and pulsed black energy into them, infecting them with a fatal illness. Kunzite knew that it was probably Nephrite's intent to make their deaths slow and painful, to anguish the dog from watching its owners slowly die.

Kunzite went slightly back in time again. Monsters had attacked the dog and its owners multiple times. He could use them.

He told Queen Beryl of his plans.

"As long as it works," she replied.

"It will."

Kunzite found the monsters he was going to use, sent them to the Dark Kingdom, and explained his deal: He'd give them all the power they needed to destroy the dog but only if they also destroyed the Guardians.

They all agreed.

Usagi jolted awake from another countless nightmare about Mamoru's capture. Courage, who slept at the end of her bed, looked up at her, and Luna looked from her place on the windowsill.

Luna jumped over to Usagi and licked her cheek. "We'll save him soon, Usagi-chan."

"Thanks, Luna."

Courage padded over to Usagi and hugged her like a human, even though he knew nothing about Usagi's personal life. She was thankful that her mama and papa agreed to let Courage stay for a while. Her little brother, Shingo, didn't give Usagi that hard of a time about it. Maybe her family was catching on to her depressed mood and thought that a dog would cheer her up.

"Go back to sleep," Usagi said. "I'll be fine. Besides, if you don't get your sleep, Luna, who'll wake me up in time for school, before Mama rages in here?"

Luna pulled back. "Usagi-chan…"

"I'll be fine. Really." Usagi fell back on the bed, taking Courage with her. Courage made his way back to the foot of the bed and lay, Luna beside him.

Once Luna and Courage were asleep, Usagi got up and walked to the window. She pulled back the curtain and gazed at the crescent moon. She thought she saw a brown animal on the sidewalk, but when she looked, nothing was there.

She returned her attention to the moon. Where she and her friends were going to go soon, to help them find Mamoru. Usagi set her jaw. She'd never forgive anyone who hurt him.

Something creaked behind her. She whipped her head around. Nothing again. Must've been the house creaking.

Time for the twentieth try at falling asleep, anyhow. She turned toward her bed, and on it stood a huge brown mole.

Courage started. He gasped and then screamed and then dove toward the mole, but the mole leaped to Usagi, clamped its fangs down on her arm, its red eyes alight like fire. Pain shot through Usagi. She suppressed a scream, didn't want to wake her family, although Courage surely had already.

The mole unlatched itself from her arm and then crashed through the window, plunged under the sidewalk, and burrowed away.

Usagi jumped back in her bed, grabbing Courage and Luna and hugging them to her, shoving her reddening arm under the covers, hoping that her tears looked like sweat, make her story more believable.

Her family burst into her room.

"Was that you screaming, Usagi?" her mama asked, her blue hair swept into a messy bun. Beside her mama, her papa held a baseball bat. Behind them, Shingo crossed his arms.

"Uh, y-yes. Yes." She pressed Courage and Luna closer to her, and Courage whimpered. "I was having a nightmare, is all. About failing a test at school."

Shingo scoffed. "Is that what you screamed about? You fail tests all the time."

"Quiet, you. This was a much scarier dream than you think."

Her papa squinted, pushed his glasses closer to his eyes. "Were you crying?"

"No, just sweating." She wiped the tears away. Her eyes glistened with more tears, and she flopped down before her family could see. "I'm gonna try to go back to sleep. Good night."

Taking a last look at Usagi, her family left. She released a breath and let go of Courage and Luna.

"I think you know what I'm going to ask," Luna said. "And I bet you're wondering it, too."

Courage started babbling again, his eyes frantic, and he shapeshifted into that giant mole. While he was a mole, he kept shapeshifting—Usagi had never seen anything like it—shapeshifted one of his arms into a human arm, bit it, transformed into a human-like creature that resembled the mole.

Was Courage trying to tell her that whoever was bitten by the mole turned into one?

Oh, no. It wasn't like she enjoyed transforming into Sailor Moon.

Usagi waved her hand dismissively. "D-don't be ridiculous, Courage." Sweat rolled down her forehead. "I won't turn into a mole." But it looked like Courage recognized that mole and tried to save Usagi before it bit her.

Maybe Courage was just an anthropomorphic, paranoid dog that watched too many horror movies.

She pulled out her watermelon-sized arm and gawked. How on Earth was she going to hide her arm from her friends and teachers at school? Not to mention her family.

"We should take you to a doctor," Luna said.

"Good idea. I'll figure out a way to go tomorrow before school."

With that, Usagi went back to sleep, Courage and Luna close to her, Courage shaking.

Courage didn't sleep.

The doctor wouldn't do any good because a weremole bite was curable only with a weremole's hair.

How had the weremole gotten all the way to Japan? Unless weremoles lived in Japan, too. Weremoles had to live in Japan. It wouldn't make sense for the weremole to swim across the ocean to torment him.

But that weremole looked like the same one that had bitten Muriel. He shook his head of the thought. How would it have known that Courage was in Japan? Lots of weremoles probably looked the same.

It was a good thing that the next full moon wouldn't come until later that month. Courage had time to find the weremole, pluck its hair, and feed the hair to Usagi before she transformed.

With that reassurance, he fell asleep.

Usagi's eyes snapped open. She was coated in sweat. Another nightmare about Mamoru.

She had to use the bathroom anyway. She swung out of her bed and, as she padded to the door, saw the crescent moon out of the corner of her eye. She broke out into more of a sweat, wiped her forehead. Her room spun, and Luna, Courage, her bed became distorted, hazy. She staggered to her dresser and put both hands on it to steady herself. She faintly heard Luna call her name, faintly saw Courage's eyes grow into three times its normal size.

"Feel…strange…" Usagi gripped her forehead. Her surroundings darkened into crimson, and her teeth grew into fangs. Her hands elongated, her nails sharpening into claws. Fur exploded over her, and her hair reddened. She tried to say "Help," but it came out as a roar.

That black cat was saying something, but Usagi wanted something to eat. The cat could do.

A slam from behind her. She snapped her head around. Standing in front of the door was a short human with spiky brown fur on his head, yapping something like, "Would you shut up?" since he was trying to sleep and, "You already woke me up before about some nonsense."

He looked tasty.

She roared. His face whitened, and he screamed alongside the dog, their screams' combined volume cracking the window. His hair rose, eyes bulging, like he was just then realizing that something was off about her, and she used his stunned state to her advantage. She leaped, opening her mouth, and engulfed half his body, his scream muffled inside her mouth. So many flavors, she'd chew on him for a while before she swallowed him.

She dove under the floorboards, taking the human boy with her.

Courage and Luna stood on the bed, gaping.

"I think I'd better call the girls," Luna said.

Luna took out a wristwatch and spoke into it. Courage didn't have time to wait. He jumped down the hole Usagi had left.

He screamed as he fell through the two story home. In the living room, he collided with Usagi's back. Usagi let out a cry, letting go of the boy, her brother. She bucked Courage into the wall, the saliva-covered boy crawling away. Courage slid down the wall and shook his head of the pain, only to see Usagi open her mouth so that it was as wide as the sofa.

Her brother let out another holler and scurried away like a rat.

"What is going on down here?"

Usagi's parents had come down. One of them turned the light on, and Usagi's mom gasped. Usagi froze, drooling over the Persian rug, and her brother hurried behind both parents.

Usagi's father blinked. "I knew you weren't getting enough sleep lately, Usagi."

Courage pulled his ears. Did all humans have to be so oblivious?

He hurried over to Usagi's family and explained that a weremole had bitten Usagi and she'd turned into a weremole even though the moon wasn't full and that her brother could turn into a weremole too since he had been eaten and if Usagi got her teeth on her parents they could turn into weremoles too and they needed to get far away from here now.

They stared at Courage, slack-jawed.

"Did that dog just shapeshift?" her dad asked. Courage howled in frustration.

Usagi seemed to remember that she was a weremole then, because she leaped toward all of them. Courage had to do something.

A girl who looked like Makoto leaped in front of them. Usagi headbutted Makoto's hands and burrowed, trying to get past her.

"What's going on?" It was Makoto but wearing a sailor suit and a tiara for some reason.

Usagi's brother slumped, pale and shaking. "She, she ate me." His voice had risen, like he was a three-year-old boy. "Mama…!" He collapsed into his mom's arms and wailed.

"Who are you?" Usagi's father said to Makoto. "What is going on tonight?"

Courage explained the same thing he had said before. When he finished, Makoto stared at him, slack-jawed. Why couldn't humans ever understand what he was saying?

More importantly, Usagi had started snapping her fangs at Makoto's arm, and if Makoto was bitten… Usagi's brother had already been bitten, and three weremoles in the same house would not be good.

Makoto pushed Usagi onto the floor. She hiccupped, and tears flowed from her eyes, a wail, like her brother's, joining the tears. Weremoles cried?

Ami, Rei, and Minako slid in front of the group, blocking Usagi from her family, Makoto, and Courage. They all wore similar outfits as Makoto's but in different colors, some with different accessories. Why'd they change clothes?

Usagi's mother patted her brother on the back. "This is one strange night."

"She's crying," Rei said. "That proves that Usagi's in there somewhere."

Usagi roared, tears still flowing, spittle flying from her mouth. She charged, hands and feet pounding the floor. She opened her mouth, prepared to engulf someone else.

Courage darted around Makoto, only for her to grab him, taking the breath out of him.

"No, Courage," she said. "We'll handle this."

Courage explained that he had to find the weremole and pluck a hair and feed it to Usagi so she would change back into a human, but Makoto gave him that slack-jawed stare.

Minako unhooked a chain that hung from her orange skirt. "Venus Love-Me Chain!" The chain wrapped around Usagi, and she snapped her fangs on it repeatedly, trying to break it.

"Why didn't she change back into a human?" Minako growled.

Courage had to find that weremole. He screamed into Makoto's ear, and she dropped him. As Makoto rubbed her ear, Courage rushed out the door.

Usagi struggled to break free from the chain. All she wanted to do was eat. She'd been stopped from eating the boy, and that mean human girl had pushed her. Now she wanted to eat them even more. She'd been going after that mean girl to eat her, but this chain had gotten in her away. All these girls were mean, so she'd have to eat all of them.

A black cat and white cat padded down the stairs, peering at her between the railing's poles. Didn't look tasty compared to the humans.

"That's the second time that dog's done that," the brunette said. She'd be first.

Usagi clamped down on the chain as hard as she could. The blonde pulled, strain evident on her face, to keep Usagi bound. Usagi grinded her teeth against the chain, and it snapped.

"What?" the blonde said. Usagi vomited the chain's pieces onto the blonde, some into the blonde's eyes. The blonde covered her eyes and staggered backward, the brunette catching her.

Usagi opened her mouth again and leaped toward the blonde and the brunette. This time, a raven-haired girl got in her way, and Usagi engulfed her instead. She would do.

Usagi scuttled out the door, into the chilly night, the raven-haired girl's screams muffled inside her mouth. Usagi relished all the girl's tastes, one of them, strangely, of smoke, which, for some reason, also tasted good.

The girl inside Usagi's mouth said something like, "Usagi, it's me, Rei. I knew you could eat a lot, but I didn't think you had this big of an appetite."

Her name did ring a bell, but all Usagi cared about was eating. She kept padding into the night so she could get far away from the rest of the girls and enjoy her meal in peace.

"Mercury Aqua Mist!"

A fog descended on Usagi. She kept charging forward, even though she could no longer see the cobblestone path, the fences, the houses. One of the girls was right behind her, and Usagi couldn't have that.

"She's still going."

"We have to catch her somehow. Damn, if only I had my chain."

"How the hell did she break it?"

"I don't understand, either." A different voice, but still familiar, like the others' voices.

"If even Luna doesn't know… It doesn't matter. We have to keep going. Hopefully, we can figure this all out later."

Usagi slid to a stop. She'd eat all the girls, right here, right now. She shook Rei back and forth and then threw Rei upward. Rei flipped toward the moon.

"It's Rei. Get her."

Not yet. Usagi jumped and caught Rei in her mouth, Rei's head sticking into the air. Usagi landed back in the fog, shook Rei back and forth.

"We're still in this fog," Rei yelled. "Hurry and—" Usagi slammed Rei's head into the ground four times, cracking the cobblestone and leaving imprints of her face in the exposed dirt.

Rei's eyes swirled. "Yes, Yuuichirou, your fire tastes wonderful." She laughed and then went quiet. Finally, one of them shut up.

A shadow appeared in the fog. Usagi threw Rei, and Rei collided with the shadow, sending them both backward. The fog cleared, revealing Rei on top of the brunette. Rei's eyes fluttered, and she rolled off the brunette.

"Rei!"

"Makoto!"

The cats, some blue-haired girl, and the blonde hurried to Rei and Makoto.

Saliva-covered Rei, whose face lay in the dirt near a fence, said, "Don't touch me."

Makoto jumped onto her feet. Usagi surveyed each of the girls. Which one should she eat next?

The blue-haired girl touched her earring. A visor appeared over her eyes, data scrolling across it, as Rei crawled to the girls, putting her hands in front and then dragging the rest of herself forward. The blue-haired girl looked right at Usagi.

"I'm going to figure out what's going on with her. Please, keep her busy."

"Right, Ami." Makoto and the blonde stepped closer to Ami while keeping Ami's line of sight clear.

Usagi growled. She licked her slobber from her lips and then charged again.

Courage rushed into the night, searching for any signs of the weremole. It was strange that the weremole's powers had transformed Usagi even though there wasn't a full moon. Maybe the weremoles in Japan were different than the ones in the United States.

The weremole had left behind a trail of upended cobblestones. Courage followed the trail until he reached the weremole. It sniffed the air, probably trying to smell rabbit blood.

Come to think of it, Usagi kind of looked like a rabbit. Maybe that was why the weremole had attacked her.

The weremole glanced at Courage and then returned underground, burrowing right under Courage and then headbutting him upward. Courage crashed onto the ground, chuckled like the whiplike pain was funny, and watched the weremole burrow in the opposite direction. He raced after it.

They soon reached Weremole Usagi and the rest of the teenagers.

Ami, focusing on Usagi, wore goggles with words scrolling across it. Meanwhile, Makoto and Minako held off Usagi with their bare hands.

Ami's eyes lit up. "I got it. It's a weremole. There've only been cases in the United States. The weremole bit Usagi and changed her into one. Usagi can be cured with—" She looked sharply to her left, where the weremole was burrowing toward her. Courage predicted where the weremole would go next and tackled it. Courage nodded at Ami, and she continued, "Usagi can be changed back with a hair from the weremole." She pointed at the struggling Courage and weremole. "The weremole's right here."

Ami lifted her goggles just as the weremole headbutted Courage into the air. She stepped forward and fumbled to catch Courage. He knocked her head back with his own head. Stars played across Courage's vision.

The weremole dove toward Ami, exposing its fangs. Courage jumped and reached for the weremole. He slammed a hand onto its head, plucked a hair and accidentally flipped onto it. They fell in front of Ami's blue boots. The weremole slobbered all over the cobblestones, thrashing about. Courage held down the weremole while clutching its hair.

A gloved hand grabbed Courage and whisked him into the air. Makoto kicked the weremole into the night sky, its red eyes giving a final twinkle before it disappeared. Ami held Courage while Minako shot multiple mini-hearts from her hand, into Usagi's face, keeping Usagi back.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep these Rolling Heart Vibrations up." A light sheen of sweat had settled into Minako's forehead.

Courage jumped from Ami's arms. He had no idea how Minako was shooting hearts from her hand, but she wouldn't have to keep shooting them for much longer.

Those hearts were getting annoying. All Usagi wanted to do was eat. Was that too much to ask?

That pink dog was running toward her. She snarled and leaped sideways, but that blonde kept shooting those pink hearts. Usagi dove toward the blonde, swatting the hearts and extending her claws. The dog tackled her again, and they rolled onto the cobblestones. The dog reached toward Usagi's mouth, holding a hair. Her eyes widened, and she turned her head away, toward Makoto and Rei.

Makoto glanced from Courage struggling to reach Usagi's mouth, to Usagi thrashing, and back. She stepped on Usagi's foot. Usagi stopped, pain exploding, turned her head to the moon, and howled, a bit of her human cry coming through. Courage dropped the hair into her mouth.

Usagi cupped her hands around her neck. She was choking, she was going to die. A bright light blinded her and then faded, leaving darkness.

The light from the crystal around Usagi's neck merged with the hair as it fell into Usagi's mouth. Usagi hacked, gripping her neck, and collapsed onto the cobblestones. The light enveloped her and soon faded, revealing a sleeping Usagi's hair as blonde once again, her skin no longer fur-covered, her nails no longer claws, and her teeth no longer fangs. Human again.

Once they returned to Usagi's home, the girls convinced Usagi's family that it was all a bad dream, although Shingo had said, "You expect us to believe that we all had the same dream." A statement, not a question.

"Yes," Minako replied.

"We mean," Rei said, nudging Minako, "that this has all been a nightmare that you probably won't remember in the morning. It's best for you all to go to bed."

Shingo snorted and muttered, "Not remember, my ass."

They did go to bed. Humans often missed the obvious strangeness of the world, like zombies and weremoles, so Courage wasn't too surprised that the humans went back to bed without protesting.

As long as Shingo didn't turn into a weremole, they wouldn't have a problem.

Makoto lay Usagi on her bed, and Usagi opened her eyes. She sat up, glancing at each of her friends.

"Usagi-chan?" Ami cocked her head. "How are you?"

"I feel woozy, but fine. I remember transforming into some kind of mole."

"Yeah. What was that all about, Usagi-chan, huh?" Makoto knocked Usagi's head, and Usagi flinched.

Usagi chuckled. "I don't really understand what you're are talking about. I mean, I remember bits and pieces of what happened, but it was like I was watching myself from above."

Rei crossed her arms. "You ate me."

"I remember that part." Usagi let a small grin grow on her face. "You tasted like candy, Rei-chan, which is strange, since you're usually so sour."

Rei scowled. Groans from the rest of the girls, Luna, and Artemis.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. For eating you, Rei, and that bad joke. I'd better apologize to Shingo too" —Usagi balled her hand into a fist— "though that little snot had it coming. I'm sure he'll think twice about messing with me now."

"Courage?" Luna said. Usagi and everyone else looked. While the girls had been teasing one another, Courage had been writing, as best he could, all about weremoles and the weremole incident in Nowhere, because if he told them, they wouldn't understand. He hopped from the chair at Usagi's desk and gave the paper to Luna. She read it aloud. Luna stumbled over a few words but filled in the blanks to make Courage's Japanese coherent.

"What Courage wrote confirms everything that came up on my goggles tonight," Ami said. "And it's consistent with what happened. Weremole usually target rabbits, though."

Usagi tugged her pigtails. "I do look like a rabbit. Maybe that's why it targeted me."

"There has to be something more to this, though. Weremoles' bites only affect humans when they see a full moon. The moon isn't full. Why did Usagi-chan still change into a weremole?"

"Unless it had something to do with the Dark Kingdom," Minako said.

"Makes sense," Makoto said.

Luna narrowed her eyes. "But if the Dark Kingdom helped, then why didn't Minako's chain turn her back?"

"Maybe the magic the Dark Kingdom was using was too strong," Artemis said, "and she could be changed back with only the Silver Crystal."

Courage examined the crystal around Usagi's neck as Luna explained to Usagi that it'd emitted a light that merged with the weremole's hair.

"That's my Silver Crystal, Courage," Usagi said. "It helps me defeat villains."

"The hair would've helped by itself," Ami said. "In fact, it should've. But one of the Silver Crystal's properties is to heal others."

"In that case, then," Rei said, "it should've turned Usagi back into a human right away."

"It probably needed a weremole's hair to help it. It might not have been powerful enough to turn Usagi back by itself, and neither was your chain, Mina-chan. I mean, if the Dark Kingdom had made the weremole more powerful, then only the Silver Crystal combined with weremole's hair could turn Usagi back."

What was going on? Why could these teenagers use powers, and what was the Dark Kingdom? Courage had seen stranger things, but it'd help to know what exactly was up with these girls and the talking cats.

Usagi said that they should explain everything to Courage, since it seemed like he'd be with them for a while and he'd helped them with the weremole incident.

The teenagers said that they were Sailor Guardians and could transform to fight evil, mainly the Dark Kingdom that was made up of four kings, three killed, and a queen. The cats could talk because they were from the moon, like all of the Sailor Guardians. Something about having past lives.

"Don't worry about all that, Courage," Usagi said. "You need help finding a cure, so we'll help you, no matter how long it takes."

Courage smiled. The teenagers and cats smiled at him, too. The Silver Crystal glinted in the moonlight.

He knew they would find the cure.