Hello all!

Well, It's been a week and as promised I am posting the next chapter.

A big "Thank You!" to God'schild777 and Spirit of the Dead for reviewing. And yes Spirit, you have read the last version of this. I remember you sent me some reviews. There isn't that many noticeable changes, just a little tightening of the plot and smoothing out some of the inconsistencies.

Oh well, on with the show!

Ice.

A/N After some advice from Spirit of the Dead, there has been some slight changes to this chapter. Mostly just some fleshing out in a couple of places, giving it a bit more depth. All advice is welcome as it helps me to be a better Author.


Chapter One.

Oh, man! Of all the fights to be late to! Why did I have to be late for this one? Hotaru thought as she ran, gasping for breath.

The Sailor Senshi was in a fight for their lives. It had all started with the Inner Senshi.

- Flashback -

The inner senshi were all walking home after an afternoon relaxing at the park. Usagi had woken up that morning and decided that it was the perfect day to have a picnic and together with Minako managed to convince Rei, Ami and Makoto to come with them. After a day of fun and laughter, they decided to pack up and go to the Crown Arcade before heading home. Which wasn't as easy as it seemed.

"I still can't believe you got that guy's phone number Mina." Rei groaned, tugging on her hair in embarrassment.

"I'm telling you Rei, all you need to do is smile, flip your hair, and sweetly ask for it." Mina grinned, her hair bouncing cheerfully behind her. "All men fall for the hair flip."

"And what about girls like Ami?" Mokoto protested as she shifted the picnic basket to her other hand. "They can't flip their hair; it's too short."

"Or you Mako. You always have your hair tied up in that ponytail." Ami said as she trailed behind.

Just as Makoto was about to reply, a scream cut through the air.

"Let's go girls." Said Usagi as she started to run towards the trouble. It didn't take long to locate. At the edge of the park, standing in the middle of the road and in front of some stores was a Youma. It was breathing fire and tossing cars around as it absorbed energy from anyone who wasn't fast enough to get away. In the confusion, the girls managed to transform into their senshi forms without being noticed.

Very quickly they realized that the Youma they were fighting was not their ordinary Youma.

"Mercury! What's with this Youma? Why can't we hit it?" A frustrated Mars yelled at the blue haired genius that was furiously typing away at her computer.

"I don't know! I can't get any data on it!" replied a frantic Mercury as she dodged a piece of flying lamppost. "It's like it's blocking my scans somehow! I can't even get enough data to analyse its movements, or anticipate an attack"!"

"We need help!" cried Sailor Moon. "I'm calling the Outers!"

- End Flashback -

And now we're getting creamed! Mercury is down, Venus isn't far behind and Mars looks like she has a tree stuck in her arm! Of all the times to be late!

Hotaru transformed into Super Sailor Saturn as she rushed onto the battlefield that was taking place at the edge of the park.

"Your late!" growled Uranus.

"I know, I know!" replied a breathless Saturn.

"You better have a damn good reason for it!" Uranus snapped as she dodged another attack from the strange Youma.

I do. If only I could tell you. But you wouldn't understand.

- Flashback -

Hotaru stood in the middle of her strangely empty room, looking around her. There wasn't much left in it. It had an empty chest of drawers, a bed and a desk. On top of the desk was a letter addressed to the senshi and a photo. Hotaru picked up the photo and stared at it. It was of her and the Outers, at the beach. It was taken last week.

It was on that day that she knew what she had to do.

I'm sorry. I know you won't understand. But I have to do this. I don't see any other way. I know that I'm going to hurt you, but if I stay, I'll hurt you more. I refuse to let you watch me go insane. I won't put you through that pain, that torment.

As Hotaru replaced the photo, a solitary tear trickled down her cheek.

Now, do I have everything? Hotaru looked around her room one last time, making sure everything was put away. Seeing that she had everything, she zipped up her bag, and put it in her sub-space pocket. As she turned to leave, she noticed that her communicator was flashing, and then realized that it had been flashing for a while.

That's the distress signal! They're in trouble!

- End Flashback -

No time to dwell on that Hotaru. Focus on the Youma.

Saturn stared at the Youma. It was a strange looking Youma, with its eye-smarting bright orange skin and bright blue hair.

You could almost mistake it for a human. If you were in the dark. Or colour blind. And ignored the fangs-for-teeth, the Kitty-slit eyes, the super-human agility and strength and occasional fire breathing. Yup. Almost.

Now, how do we stop this thing? Saturn looked around her, taking note of the damage to her friends.

Uranus was the closest to her right, and didn't look to bad. She had a graze down her right side like she had bounced or slid across concrete. Just past Uranus was Neptune. Neptune had a gash in her hair, turning her normally wavy aqua coloured hair into a dark brown mess.

Off to the left of Saturn stood Jupiter, who looked exhausted. Her arms and legs were covered in scratches and her back bow looked like it was about to fall off. Jupiter stood in front of an injured Mars whose arm had been pierced by some wood. Mars held the unconscious Mercury in her lap. Mercury looked like she had taken a pretty heavy hit on her head.

Just beyond them were Venus and Sailor Moon. Venus was in terrible shape. Her hair was singed, her skirt was torn and she had a gash the length of a football field on her thigh. She could barely stand, let alone fight. Helping her was Sailor Moon. Like all of the others, she too bore wounds from the fight. One of her sleeves had fallen off and by the look of her arm it was probably due to being thrown across the ground, her gloves and skirt were torn, and she had blood running down her face from a cut on her forehead.

Hang on a minute. "Where are Pluto and Tuxedo Kamen?" a bewildered Saturn asked of nobody.

"We don't know," replied the injured Mars. "They haven't responded to our calls, and by the looks of it, that masked idiot probably won't show." Hurt flickered across the face of Sailor Moon.

Things-To-Do-Today:
Kill this Youma.
Kill or at least very-badly-maim Mamoru.
Disappear.

Saturn turned her attention back to the Youma. Well, this is going to be fun, she thought sarcastically before launched a sudden attack on the Youma.

"SATURN GLAIVE SURPRISE!"

"Saturn, no! Don't!"

Just as Saturn launched her attack, the Youma smirked and threw a wall of power at her attack, causing it to rebound back onto Uranus.

"What?" Saturn was shocked. This had never happened before, in all of her lives that she could remember.

"We tried to warn you," a weary Jupiter informed Saturn. "But our attacks just don't work on it. Or we think they don't. We're not sure. We haven't been able to land one. It's as if it can tell they're coming, so it reflects the attack back onto one of us."

"In that case, all we have to do is distract it just long enough for Sailor Moon to destroy it." Saturn stated firmly. But how? She frowned in concentration. Ugh. I just can't think straight with all this ringing. Wait. Ringing?!?! Dread and horror began to fill her. No! Not now! Not in the middle of a fight!

Saturn clutched her head as the ringing began to get louder, and with the ringing came the voices. No! Stop it!

::Why n…::

::I can't believe this…::

::All I have to do is …::

::Just one more…::

With each voice talking in her head, the noise got louder. Unbeknownst to Saturn, as the voices got louder the Youma began to have trouble as well.

"You! What are you doing! Aaargh!!" the Youma roared, clutching its head. "Get out! Get out of my head!" In her pain, Saturn never saw the Youma throw the wave of power at her until it hit, throwing her towards the wall behind her.

"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!"

Just as Saturn had predicted, the Senshi attacks did work on the Youma, all they needed was for it to be distracted for long enough. The Youma didn't see Sailor Moon's attack coming until it was too late and then it was dust.

"Saturn! Are you okay?" Sailor Moon turned around, looking for her small friend.

"Saturn?"

- Later that day -

"Setsuna, what happened?" Usagi asked, nearly in tears. "Where is Hotaru?"

All of the Senshi had gathered at Rei's temple to try to discover what happened to Hotaru. Rei had been checking the fires, Michiru was consulting her mirror and Ami was scanning for Hotaru's communicator signal, but none of them had found anything. Haruka was attempting to pace a hole in the floor and muttered under her breath while Makoto sat in the corner holding a distraught Usagi.

"Forgive me Your Highness, but I do not know," replied Setsuna. "When the Youma hit Hotaru, it also managed to create a portal behind her."

"So just check the Gates of Time! See where she went!" Haruka demanded in frustration.

"It's not that simple. You see, wherever that portal sent Hotaru, it went through my Gates. The forced entry has damaged the gates, and it will take time for me to fix the gates and to then determine whether Hotaru was sent through the Gates of Time or the Gates of Worlds, or both." Setsuna explained to her horrified audience.

"You mean she could be anywhere?" gasped Makoto.

"Or when." whispered Ami.

- At the perfectly-fine Time Gates -

Sailor Pluto stood alone in front of her gates, watching the world that Hotaru had fallen into.

I'm sorry every one. But if she'd stayed, it would have hurt us even more than now. She needs to be with people who will understand what she's going through, who can help her to control her developing powers. And soon they will need her, perhaps more than she will need them.


Well? Good, Bad or Ugly? Tell me what you think; even if you think it's horrible, I want to know. How can I develop my writing skills if no one tells me what they think was good or where I needed to be better? All reviews are accepted, even flames or anonymous reviews.

There's a little purple button below this. You might want to click on it. See what happens.

Just a thought. :o)

Ja!

Ice.