-Chapter 1-
"Luna?" Serena asked, "Isn't there a way to stop all the Negaverse bad guys from entering Earth?"
Luna looked at her, debating whether she was serious or not. She started pacing back and forth. After a few minutes, she reached her conclusion. "Quit stalling, Serena. You've got tons of homework, you know."
"Luna!" she whined, "I'm dead serious! A lot of innocent people keep getting themselves into dangerous situations because of the Negaverse. Especially those TV reporters. They're always trailing the Sailor Scouts, wanting to interview us for trivial matters. So sometimes they get caught up in the fights. When that happens, it just gives the Scouts one unnecessary extra thing to deal with."
"Hm… You make a good point. However, the only way to stop the Negaverse is to fight them and win. They aren't going to just give up and surrender." the talking black cat told her.
Serena finished a math problem and started on the next one. As soon as her pencil came down upon the paper, a slight tremor underground smudged her writing. But her writing was the very least she was worried about. "Luna, what was that?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. But I have a strong feeling that the Negaverse is at hand again." the feline replied.
"Again? But I just fought one this morning!" she complained.
"Serena! Get a grip! We need Sailor Moon for this."
Serena nodded and went through her unnecessarily long transformation sequence. In around ten minutes she was the famous superheroine, Sailor Moon.
Sailor Mercury was the first to see her. "Sailor Moon! I'm so glad you came!" she greeted.
"Why, what's the matter?" she asked.
"Our attacks aren't working!" Sailor Mars shouted.
"I'll try mine. Stand back, guys." she announced.
Everyone took several steps back, not that eager to get hit with their leader's attack. They all knew her attacks were powerful and could destroy them in one single blast. Most of her attacks were derived from the energy the Imperium Silver Crystal radiated. And that kind of energy wasn't at all something to be taken lightly.
Sailor Moon said the phrase of her attack that would complete the true effects of its power. But right before she could finish her attack, the monster did something. Some kind of hand movement. It dropped into the ground as though it were made of water, dodging the attack.
A hand grabbed her foot, and Sailor Moon went under as well.
"SAILOR MOON!" everyone screeched.
Serena found herself already transformed back and submerged in a strange, neon-yellowish liquid. Surprisingly enough, she could breathe in the liquid as though it were oxygen! Then she noticed the monster she'd been fighting. So... Serena had fallen into a trap. It was waiting for her to get here, wasn't it? That's why none of the attack the other scouts tried worked. Because the real target wasn't there yet. It wanted Serena, and just used the other Sailors as bait.
"Kyo na ru mentu shimate nana oinoku renki!" the monster chanted. It's hands were forming a triangular sign.
"Hey! What are you doing? I can't understand anything you're saying!" she yelled at the monster.
"I, Makushi of the Negaverse, call upon the great and powerful Mushingan! Put the mighty and unbreakable Killing Curse on this ignoble female human, who is known as Sailor Moon. I offer to you this sacrifice! I shall burn myself in your all-consuming flames, and you shall do as I have said! Take two lives, one at a time! Mine first, then the mortal's!" Makushi exclaimed.
Flames sprung up out of nowhere. Mushingan was accepting the offer.
"W-Wait! I'm not ignoble!" Serena cried.
The flames intensified, as though telling her to be quiet while the ceremony took place. Makushi walked into the flames. He didn't come back out. Then, the flames shrunk down to a single ember. It jumped and landed on Serena's head. An eerie symbol was branded on her forehead, showing to all that she now had a Killing Curse. The ember disappeared and Serena was instantly returned to the surface.
"Serena! Serena, c'mon, wake up!" Rei yelled.
Serena groggily awoke to find worried faces surrounding her. She was at the temple. "Hi, guys. How'd I get here?" she questioned.
"You went underground and when you came back up, the monster was gone. But you were passed out and you had this symbol on your forehead. You still have it, actually." Rei explained.
Serena was speechless. She didn't remember much of it, so she just assumed it was a dream. Guess not... "I remember the monster's underground cavern. There were flames, and the flames burned my head. The monster was named Makushi. He said something about some kind of curse. Then he walked into the flames and never came back out. Oh! He also said something about taking my life in exchange for his own life." she told them.
Rei's eyes bugged out of her head. She knew exactly what this curse was! It was aweful! Almost unspeakable evil! "Serena, I have an important question to ask you. You have to answer it truthfully." she stated calmly. "Do you know the being Makushi called upon?"
Serena thought harder. "Um... Yeah. Yeah, I do. He called out to someone named Mushingan. Right after that, the flames shot up."
Oh, man! That wasn't good at all! "Okay, did the flames speak to you?"
"Hm... No, I don't think they did."
"Can I see your forehead, Serena?" Rei didn't even wait for an answer. She brushed Serena's bangs out of the way and examined the symbol engraved in her friend's flesh. It was red and slightly swollen. That determined it.
"What's the matter, Rei? Something wrong?" Serena asked in a worried tone.
"Have you ever heard of something called a curse?" Again, Rei did not wait for Serena to answer. There was hardly any time! "There are many types of curses, some good and some bad. Serena, the moment that fire burned this symbol into your head, you sustained a curse. Unfortunately, this curse isn't a good one. It's an evil curse that few know about, let alone can use. It's called the Killing Curse." A tear slipped down Rei's cheek and dropped off her chin. "And what it does, Serena, is just as the name suggests. It kills the bearer of the curse. It takes time, though. It needs some time before it can drain all the life force from your body. It does this slowly and steadily. And some more bad news is: there's no known way to break the curse. But one person is rumored to have survived. They say she felt a very strong emotion, and it was powerful enough to break the curse. But that was just a rumor. I don't think it's real." she explained.
Serena saw everyone else crying, but had no idea what Rei was talking about. "In English, Rei!" a frustrated blonde yelled.
"You're going to die!" Rei yelled back.
Serena's eyes widened. She'd understood something about her having a curse put on her, but that was just about it. Now, that one simple sentence summed everything up. She was dying. Several tears leaked out. "That can't be right..." she denied. However, everyone else's expressions told her differently. "G-Guys..." she continued. "I-If this is some kind of joke-"
"It's no joke. This is for real." Rei sobbed.
Serena shook her head. "No! We're the Sailor Scouts. If I have to go, I'm not taking you down with me. We'll all be strong, and we'll continue fighting the Negaverse, Sailor Moon or not." she announced.
Everyone wiped away their tears of sorrow, and nodded. Serena was right; they were the city's saviors. Therefore, they needed to pull their acts together and be strong, even if it was without Sailor Moon.
"How are we ever going to tell Luna and your parents? And what about Sammy? There's also Artemis." Amy reminded them all.
Mina broke down again and Serena had to slap her to get her to shut up. "Get a hold of yourself!" she demanded. Mina reluctantly nodded and held her emotions down. Then Serena turned to the rest of them. "I guess it might be time to tell them who I am, and how I got this mark on my head. I don't know if they'll believe me or not, but I think it's worth a shot. And besides, if they don't believe me in a day or two, I'll just transform to show them the evidence."
"I think they'll believe you. I mean, I'm stunned they didn't recognize your hairstyle. I've never seen anyone but you wear that hairstyle. It's pretty obvious you're Sailor Moon." Lita stated the obvious.
That night Serena tried telling her family that she was the famous superheroine and that she'd been hiding her identity all this time. Sammy was the first to break into a crying laughter.
"Y-You? Hahaha! You as Sailor Moon? Ha! You gotta be kidding! Hahaha!" the little sandy-haired boy cracked. "Ya can't even walk and chew gum at the same time! How do you expect me to believe you're a superheroine? Haha!"
"I'm telling the truth, guys! I really am Sailor Moon!" she protested.
"And you expect us to believe you're dying, dear?" Mrs. Tsukino chuckled, thinking her daughter was being dramatic.
"Serena, I thought you were over playing superhero a long time ago." Mr. Tsukino commented.
"Wha-? No, no! I'm serious! You're my family, you're supposed to believe me!" she whined.
Sammy rolled back into the conversation. "So, lemme get this straight. You're Sailor Moon and you're dying from a curse put on you by a Negaverse monster?"
"Yeah, that about sums it up." she answered.
He laughed so hard he could've sworn he'd busted a lung. "You dweeb! You're such a ditz and you're so clumsy! Haha! It'd be way too hard for you to even pretend to be Sailor Moon!"
"Yes, dear. Your brother does have a point. You're very clumsy, and you could never make it as a superheroine. But that doesn't mean you can't still pretend." her mother tried to console.
"But I'm telling the truth! Why won't you guys believe me? I'm your family..." Serena implied.
Mrs. Tsukino walked up to her daughter and put a hand on her forehead. "Hm... No fever... Strange."
"Mom! I'm not sick!" she yelled angrily. "I can prove it!"
Sammy laughed again. "Go ahead then, prove yourself, oh mighty Sailor Moon!"
"Fine!" she yelled. She'd originally planned on proving her heroism in a day or two, just to let it sink in so the shock wouldn't hit them hard. But now that her little brother and her parents thought she was going crazy, she had to do it now. "Moon Prism Power!" she said. She let the power of the silver crystal flow through her body, allowing her transformation to take place.
"Hey wait!" Sammy said after everyone had had a good look at the transformed family member. "That was probably all smoke and mirrors. You faked it."
"What? No I did not! ARGH! If only the Negaverse would send a warrior now... But noooooooo... They never come at the right times!" she ranted.
"Uh... Sis? You okay?" a weirded-out boy asked.
She turned her head to see everyone staring her down with the strangest expressions. Now they really thought she was bonkers. Right when she was about to re-explain herself for the thousandth time, her communicator beeped. Someone was calling in. She held it up and pressed a button on it. A face appeared at the tiny screen. It was Sailor Mars. "Oh! Sailor Mars! You don't realize what a horrible time I'm having-"
"Cut it out. Listen, I know I shouldn't be asking this right now, considering your condition, but the Scouts need you, Sailor Moon. There's trouble in-... Uh, why are you already transformed?" Rei said via communicator.
"Because my family is right in front of me and they don't believe I'm Sailor Moon. They think I'm lying! And they also think the transformation is, quote, 'smoke and mirrors'." she answered.
"Well, it's a good thing you're already prepared. We need you over here right now. And again, I'm sorry to ask you with your new condition..." she told her.
"Will you quit that? I'm not going anytime soon and I think I'll stay around for a little while longer, so why don't we all just forget this mess, okay?" she screamed. "Treat me like you usually do!"
"Whatever you say... Anyways, there's trouble in Central Control. Apparently, the only way to get there is though the Sailor Teleport. And that requires all five of us." she explained.
"I see... But don't we need to know the exact location of our destination if we need to use the Sailor Teleport?" she asked.
"Nope. Luna told me we only need to think of the destination, and we can get there." she replied.
"Oh... Well, isn't there any other way to get there? I'm not really feeling up to a Sailor Teleport. Takes up too much time and energy, and I'm already feeling kinda beat." she said.
Rei turned to ask Luna about it. Then her face returned to the little screen. "Luna says there is a way, but it's more dangerous than a Teleport. You up to it?"
"I suppose. Is it the Negaverse?" she asked.
"Right on the dot, Serena. The other way is through a Negaverse portal. It's in Fairview Park, hidden deep underground. We'll try to find it, with Luna's help, and you get over here." Rei informed.
"Gotcha. Thanks, Sailor Mars. I'll get over there as fast as I can." she said. She closed the communicator, then turned to her family.
"I wanna come with you on this 'mission'." Sammy said, determined to prove his sister was wrong.
"Works for me. All of you can come, but once we find that portal, you all have to either go or stay put. You can't come inside." she told them.
"Why not?" Mr. Tsukino asked.
"Because, Dad, it's too dangerous! You all could really get hurt in a place like that." she explained.
"Hey, guys! I'm here. Can we take a break before we go in the portal? I'm totally run down..." Sailor Moon said breathlessly.
"No time for that, Sailor Moon, we've gotta-" Sailor Jupiter glanced at her family. "What is your family doing in a place like this?" she asked.
"It's the perfect proof they need to believe me. They asked if they could come, so I said yes. But they can't go into the portal." she said.
"Serena! This is Sailor business!" Sailor Venus raged, "How could you be so ignorant? I mean, they don't have any way to defend themselves if something happens!"
Sailor Amy and Sailor Mars both nodded in agreement with Sailor Venus.
"It's okay! They aren't actually coming in the portal! This way they'll stay out of our way and won't cause any trouble." she explained.
"Fine, but if anything happens to them, it'll be your fault for bringing them in the first place." Sailor Mercury warned.
"Nothing will happen, so don't be so quick to worry." she assured.
The Sailor Scouts led Sailor Moon and her family into the forest. After awhile, they started feeling bad vibrations and uneasy feelings. The fog around the forest's trees didn't help much to lighten the mood. It, amazingly enough, actually made it worse. And the trees began to get very close together, until the leaves were blocking out almost all sunlight. Spiderwebs hung on almost every tree branch. The whole scene itself was eerily suspenseful.
"Are we almost there yet?" Sammy asked, feeling nervous about continuing deeper into the park's forest.
"Yeah, Sammy. If I remember correctly, the portal was over this way." Sailor Jupiter pointed just up ahead.
"But the fog is so dense, and the atmosphere is so murky..." he complained.
"I know, you little brat! We Scouts go through this almost every day! Except it's usually alot worse..." Sailor Moon said.
Soon, a giant tunnel was found in a very narrow forest clearing.
"This is it?" Sammy said. "This is your awe-inspiring 'dangerous portal'? It's just a big hole in the ground!"
"So the portal is inside this hole?" Sailor Moon asked Sailor Mercury.
"Yes." Sailor Mercury confirmed. "Once you jump into this hole, you'll find yourself soaring through a black, dark portal. This portal may be in possession of the Negaverse, but they have long forgotten it. Therefore, we can use it at any time without their ever knowing. The best part is, this portal connects straight to Central Control."
"But be careful when you're in the portal!" Sailor Venus warned. "Luna suspects that the portal will have some kind of trap. If you start getting nervous while traveling through it, it may sound an alarm throughout the Negaverse. Make sure you relax, or else our entire operation could be ruined."
"Got it, Venus. Relax, and don't get nervous." she repeated.
"Oh, and another thing before we go in! Only one of us can go in at a time. If two of us went in together, we might push the other straight into another dimension!" Sailor Mercury explained.
"So we go in alone. We have to relax. And we can't get nervous." she repeated, holding three of her five fingers up. She turned to her family as the others began jumping through the hole. "Guys, this is as far as you go. Do not jump in this hole, okay? Stay here and wait for me and the others to come back. And even if I've been gone for two years straight, do not come looking for me."
"Sailor Moon, you're up next!" Sailor Mars called to her. "See ya in Central Control!" And with those words, she went into the huge hole.
"See you soon!" Sailor Moon said, waving her hand goodbye. 'All right...' she thought, 'I'm gonna do this gracefully and-' All thoughts of grace disappeared as she tripped and fell headfirst into the hole.