Chapter 3

Power Surge

Usagi opened her eyes to the sun beating in through curtains. She pushed herself up and looked around. It took her a few moments and realized she was in her boyfriend's bedroom. Her boyfriend, however, was nowhere to be seen. She smelled a delicious scent coming from the kitchen. She got out of bed and went to the kitchen, finding Mamoru cooking breakfast. He looked away from the pan and smiled at her. He put the pan down on the counter and walked up to her and gave her a warm embrace. She hugged him back, feeling guilty. She imagined how badly he must have worried about her. She once again felt useless and weak, not able to defeat the monster without help from her love and her friends.

"I'm so sorry," Usagi said quietly, failing to hold back her tears.

"It's alright Usako," Mamoru said in a comforting tone, "We'll talk about it later. Right now you should eat something".

She nodded, and sat down as Mamoru retrieved their breakfast. Usagi didn't eat much, thinking about what she will say to her friends. She looked to Mamoru, "Are the girls angry"?

"I won't lie. They are a upset about what happened yesterday. And I am also. You blocked our connection, and then seeing you on the ground with that creature over you took ten years off my life. I thought…"

Mamoru choked up, not being able to finish his thought.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't need you to worry about me. If I was stronger, you wouldn't need to worry."

"Usako-"

Mamoru's phone rang. Mamoru went to answer it as Usagi decided to finish her breakfast.

Mamoru came back, "That was Makoto. She said we will meet at her apartment."

Usagi nodded and the couple finished their breakfast.

In a room, lit with gadgets and advanced tech devices, a man wearing goggles and a long gray lab coat was working on his newest creation. His new creation was a robot, its chest opened while the scientist worked on the wiring. He took out a container filled with a black gaseous substance and placed it in the robot's chest.

"And…" a click went off, as the contained locked perfectly into place, "done."

He closed the chest piece and backed away from it. He pulled the sleeve of his coat back and it revealed a device. At first glance, it would look like a long metallic glove that extended to his elbow. But a closer look, one could see buttons and exposed wires. He lowered his goggles so they wrapped tight and secure on his eyes. He rose his arm up and began pressing buttons on the glove. Data streamed through the frames of his goggles as he looked at his creation. The robot began to move and then began to change its appearance. Lightning was released from the robot and dark energy from its core surrounded it, concealing the transformation from viewers.

The shadows lifted, the robot no longer there, but replaced by a creature that appeared to be a male human, but with mirrors of different shapes and sizes on his suit, and two large flat mirrors on his forearms.

There was a knock on the door, and Cirrus burst in without waiting for an answer.

"Stratus, can you keep it down. I'm trying to call on a new yokai for the next battle".

"Don't bother. My bot is much more reliable and stable than those yokai you summon. This one here will get us what we need."

"Really. What's it do?"

"Well, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. If you want, you can come and see my creation at work."

"Thanks but I'll have to pass. I still have work here."

"Suit yourself," he said, turning to his creation. He typed on his arm device and the bot walked onto a panel and vanished in a flash. Then Stratus pressed the center red button on the back of his hand and vanished in a flash as well.

Usagi and Mamoru arrived at Makoto's apartment, with the girls waiting for them. They first, each had a chance to yell at Usagi for her recklessness, though they didn't try to offend her. Makoto was most furious, telling how careless she had acted, Minako was upset and explained how she didn't want another friend hurt, and Ami kept calm but still angry said how Usagi shouldn't fight all on her own with a new enemy now on Earth that they had no information on.

After yelling at Usagi (followed by hugging, glad she was alive), they began to discuss the new enemy that appeared.

"So, the woman, Cirrus, said she was from the Void Empire. Have you ever heard of it," Minako asked Luna and Artemis.

"No," Luna answered, "I've never heard of such an empire before".

"They must be here for a reason. We have to know what they want," Ami said, "We know nothing about them. We're basically fighting blind."

"Especially with Rei now…hurt," Makoto said, choosing her words carefully, trying not to offend anyone, "I don't think her condition and their arrival were a coincidence."

"No," Usagi said, "I know they have something to do with this."

"We'll contact Kinmoku," Artemis said, "Perhaps they might know who these guys are".

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Usagi said, "But just ask them if they know anything about these guys. Tell them we have things under control here and they don't need to leave their home just to fight for us."

"Usako…" Mamoru said, concerned.

"They are still recovering from the fight with Galaxia and Chaos," Usagi said, in a sure voice "I won't burden them with our problems. Whatever comes, we can handle it."

"Alright," Luna said.

In the middle of a busy section of Tokyo, Stratus and his creation appeared on the top corner of one of the buildings. Stratus looked down at the human and vehicle traffic passing through the area. He turned to his bot, "Go ahead, create some Chaos".

The bot jumped onto one of the lower buildings, looking at the crowd. He placed up the mirror on one arm, facing it to one place of the street and sidewalks, and pointed the mirror on his other arm, and pointed it to a different section. It drew a small amount of power from the city, causing a short power drain but was quickly replenished. Suddenly, a long, tall field formed from one section of the sidewalk and street, and went down to the opposite side of the road, with the same thing occurring with the other section of the area. Some cars approached the area and as they drove into the field, the cars vanished, and reappeared in another section of the city. People also began to walk into the invisible field and appeared in another random area. Vehicles began to collide with one another and people got lost in the city.

The bot jumped to different sections of the city, creating different fields.

Anger, fear, and confusion began to spread throughout the Tokyo. The people began radiating dark energy, as all that energy began to be gathered by Stratus in the jewel piece built in the palm of his arm device.

Ami was typing on her laptop in a café, trying to find any indication or clues as to what the Void Empire is. As she was looking through the net, her computer started to surge a little, causing her and the block to lose power for a few seconds. Suddenly, a little toddler just appeared right into the building.

"Mommy," the girl said, looking around confused and scared, "Where are you?"

"Hey there," Ami said to the little girl, "My name's Ami. Did you lose your Mommy?"

"Where am I?" she asked, "We were going to the toy store and now I'm here."

She started to cry.

"It's Ok," Ami said, comforting the girl, "I'll help you find your Mommy. Where was the last place you saw Mommy."

The little girl told her the name of the store they were going to before she vanished. Ami knew it was relatively close by, just three blocks away and took the girl's hand to head to there. Ami reached the area and began to see people and cars begin to vanish randomly. Some people reappeared only a short distance, others on buildings or out of sight. Cars sometimes were unaffected or vanished completely.

"Rina!" a woman screamed to Ami and the child.

"Mommy," the girl screamed in joy, running to her mother. The two embraced and the mother looked at Ami.

"Thank you," she said.

"It was no trouble," Ami said. Ami looked at the roof and saw someone dressed strangely lurking there, "You two might want to get out of here."

Agreeing, the woman carried her daughter away from the area. Ami clicked her wrist watch, "Guys, we have a problem here."

After calling them, Ami went behind an ally, and transformed into Sailor Mercury.

"Hm, such delightful energy" Stratus said, continuing to gathering more of the dark energy.

"What are you doing," Sailor Mercury said, "I know you're behind this".

He smiled, turning around, closing his fist, stopping the stream of energy.

"I was wondering when you Senshi would catch on," he said confidently, turning away from Sailor Mercury, "I have to say, I've done a fine job for my first mission here on this little world. If you listen, you can hear the chaos and disorder sink into your… primitive society. Though from what I've read, you certainly aren't the same as these primitive animals."

Mercury saw an opportunity and charged at him, but suddenly the bot appeared from above and punched a hole in the concrete, throwing Mercury away from its master.

"I guess I've got what I needed," Stratus said, looking to his bot, "Take care of her and her friends."

He then looked at Mercury, "I look forward seeing you again." With that, he pressed a button on his arm device and vanished.

The bot used one of its mirrors and focused sunlight on the ground, causing the concentrated sunlight to become a harmful beam of light. It then began to drive the light to Sailor Mercury, who was still a little stunned from the attack. The bot was hit away by Sailor Jupiter, as the other two Senshi went to check on Mercury.

"Are you alright," Venus said.

"Yeah, I'm OK."

Before the bot could react, all four Senshi used their attacks. The creature was paralyzed by the damage and it formed a small explosion, with the pieces dissolving into smoke.

"What was that thing," Moon asked.

"It was some kind of machine," Mercury answered, "Something much more advanced than anything on Earth."

"A machine? Not a flesh creature?" Sailor Venus asked, "Do you think someone else is here besides the Void Empire".

"No," Mercury answered, "I saw who created it. He was definitely after the same thing Cirrus was after. I know he is working with her."

"We need to get out of here," Sailor Moon said, "Someone could have seen the explosion."

The others agreed and the fled. It took a few hours for the chaos to dies down, the effects of the attack still present but eventually order was restored. The Senshi still wondered what their enemy might try next and how they might be able to stop them.

At the base, Stratus appeared in his lab, with Cirrus waiting for him.

"So, how was the mission," she asked with amusement.

"It was quite enlightening actually. I ran into one of the Senshi, Sailor Mercury. I saw in her eyes, the superiority of her intellect compared to these other Earthlings."

"Why if I didn't know any better, I'd say you've found-"

"A worthy rival," he interrupted her, "She will make things interesting for me."

"I see you bot has been destroyed. It was a good try, but I guess it couldn't stand against the Sailor Senshi".

Stratus placed his armed hand on a panel, and turned a lever up on the console. Dark energy released from his contraption, and went to a room above his lab. He then turned the lever down again and the remaining energy went into his machines and storage containers.

"No worries," he said, "That was just the first bot." He then walked over and turned on a light switch, illuminating the room, revealing an assembly belt and dozens bots yet to be programmed.

"The first of many."

In the hospital at night, Rei laid still by the medication that was being given to try and keep her calm. The screams were still strong in her mind and she was desperate to see the end of them.

'Please, someone, help me,' she thought.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the dim room. Rei could not see the being and thought it might be something in her mind. Or worse, it could be something trying to hurt her, or even going to bring her eternal peace.

"Don't worry," the being said in a soft feminine voice, "I am here to answer you call. I will silence those screams. But it will come at a price, if you are willing to pay for it."

Rei turned to the being, seeing a somewhat familiar shape within the glow. She felt safe in its presence and trusted it. "Please," she whispered her voice sore from her own screams.

"Of course," the being said. It placed its soft hand on her forehead.

Rei began to feel the visions begin to die. However she had one more flash before her. A voice, "I'm sorry, but the only way to help you was to cut you off from your psychic senses. My power alone can't stop them. Rei, you and your friends must be united if you want to defeat this thing."

Rei had one last vision. She saw images flash through her mind of a castle that looked familiar. Then she was looking through the eyes of the being that was saving her. 'She' stood inside the castle, looking down a huge ledge which stood over what looked like a hole in space. 'She' turned around and saw the silhouette of the creature that cursed Rei. The evil thing rose its hand unleashing a dark blast at 'her' and Rei was suddenly awoken from the vision.

She was in the hospital room, alone, with the curse no longer afflicting her mind.

A/N: And that ends the third chapter. Please tell me what you think on how the story is going so far. I really appreciate feedback.