Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Ranma 1/2

Setsuna voice-over

"Speech"

Thoughts

Telepathy

Flashback

Ch4: Story Time part 1: Silver Millennium

"Alright," Setsuna said after making herself comfortable, "Here's what I know of the Silver Millennium. In the beginning..."

In the beginning, the Universe was created.

WACK! "Ow! Sere-hime, what was that for?" "Setsuna-san, you cannot possibly be that old! Just tells about the Silver Millennium already!" Hotaru, now seventeen again, which was the age she should have been if she hadn't been transformed into a baby after the battle with Mistress Nine, shrank back into a corner. She really didn't want to be part of this if they started rough-housing.

Thankfully, Setsuna gave in right away. "Oh all right, it was just a joke." Setsuna grumbled, ticked off about the jab at her age. "First though, a little background." She said.

"I should explained the situation with the planetary powers before I delve too deeply into this story. Each planet has a certain amount of power which can be given to its champions. These champions are not always women, nor are they always of the same power level. In fact, many of the planets have and need more than one champion at the same time. Each gender has two level of champions; the Sailor Senshi – or soldiers – are the more powerful of the women, while the Sailor Scouts are less powerful; of the men, the more powerful champion is called a Lord while the lesser is a Knight. Back then the Moon did not need a champion, placing its power in the Silver Crystal which ever Queen become Guardian and Keeper of.

A planet may divide its power out among all four champions, have only a Senshi, or have any combination of three. Most planets had only a Senshi or Lord, but the Sun spread its powers among a Senshi, a Lord, and a Knight. As I understand it, Saturn originally had both a Senshi and a Scout, but at the Fall of the Golden Millennium something happened to the Senshi driving all the planet's vast power into the Scout. Sailor Scout Saturn became a Senshi of enormous and near-uncontrollable power, giving the poor child a weak constitution. Yes, this was Hotaru. She was only five years old at the time. She was sealed away at the Time Gate until the time of peace was over and war began to break out again. When the Inners and the Moon Princess were five, I foresaw evil coming to the Moon Kingdom, and saw that Hotaru would be needed in the hard times to come. I released her from the stasis sleep, and gave her to the care of the Saturn royalty. The king and queen of Saturn were childless, and needed her to carry on the bloodline. They were willing to risk her frightening power. Still, many saw her as a threat and shunned her. She grew up feared and lonely."

The Silver Millennium was not always peaceful. It rose from the ashes of the Golden Millennium, born in the time after the fall of that great kingdom. The new Moon Kingdom struggled through battles that arose even after the war that had destroyed the Golden Millennium was officially over. Factions remained and rebels had to be put down. But out of this strife the Alliance was born, and nearly 500 years after the Golden Millennium fell, peace finally descended on what came to be known as the Silver Millennium. And so it lasted for five thousand years.

Queen Selenity looked at the intelligence reports. They were not good. A powerful sorcerer from Nemesis named Talesis was making trouble, and the trouble was getting worse. Youmas had been appearing for several years now and major cities on all the planets in the Alliance had been hit hard. And it was only getting worse. It was time to call a counsel of the planetary champions. No longer could they afford to work on their own. They must begin to work together, as a team.

But all good things must come to an end, and so it was with this. Five thousand years the Lunar royal family reigned in peace, and then trouble and chaos and war reared their ugly heads.

Hopefully they could also offer her one or two Scouts to act as protectors for her beloved daughter Serenity. Because, unfortunately, the Terran Moon had no champion, at all, for all its planetary power was stored in the Silver Crystal each queen carried. A symbol of her supreme authority over the Moon Kingdom.

Queen Selenity looked up at the sky. It was day, but always the Earth hung in the Terran Moon's skies. But Selenity was not looking at the Earth, rather she looked towards the Sun. Her younger sister, Solarisis, had married the Sun's king and was now Queen of the Sun. Solarisis had had twins in the same year she had born Serenity and lost her huband. Prince Titan and Princess Rhea had been chosen as champions of their world – as most royals were – and from the reports Solarisis had recently chosen a third champion, a Knight. Normally the Sun pretty much kept to itself, but Selenity hoped her sister would send her champions to her when she called the counsel.

Now she looked to the Earth. It may indeed be time to call them out of the quarantine that was placed on them. Queen Selenity thought. I have no idea what kind of champions they have, or how many, but we may need all the help we can get. But Selenity decided that could wait. For now. First they would see if the champions of the Alliance would be strong enough to defeat this rebel Talesis.

And so Queen Selenity of the Terran Moon called the counsel of champions.

It was two weeks before the counsel was gathered in full on the Moon. All the Inners were young, sixteen only, and so was the Senshi of Saturn. Luna tried not to shudder. "My Queen, was it really necessary to call Saturn as well?" "Yes Luna, as I have said, we need all the help we can get. The situation with Talesis is getting out of hand. He must be stopped. By any means necessary, including Saturn."

Luna sighed, and turned to watch the champions file into the conference room. Most of them were Sailors this generation, and thankfully all Senshi. Princess Rei of Mars came first, followed by Princess Ami of Mercury, Princess Minako of Venus, and Princess Makoto of Jupiter. Just after the inner Sailor Senshi came two of the Outers: Princess Haruka of Uranus and Princess Michiru of Neptune.

"A great gathering, my Queen. They will all be here. As will I." Luna jumped and spun. A woman with green hair and red eyes stepped out of the shadows. "Lady Setsuna!" Setsuna, the Sailor Senshi of Pluto and Guardian of the Time Gate, gave the Lunar cat a small smirk, then bowed to the queen. With that she took her place at the table.

Luna tried to remember to breathe. Pluto was different, choosing a single champion at irregular intervals. For this champion also became an immortal guardian for the Time Gate, which was said to be set up by three goddesses so long ago in the past it was a barely remembered legend. Just what or who decided when a guardian had finished her term and became mortal again, passing the Sailor and Guardian powers on to the next champion, Luna didn't know. But it was said that Setsuna had been around since the Fall of the Golden Millennium, back when the Silver Millennium was just starting out.

Of course this arrangement with the Time Gate made it extremely hard for the planet to be defended, and by now Pluto was nearly abandoned, Plutonian refugees flooding the starports of any planet which would take them.

And now a bubbly girl whom Luna did not recognize bounced in. The girl was wearing a red and gold Sailor uniform with red skin-tight pants instead of a skirt with a vertical stripe of gold running down each side, gold slippers, fingerless gloves, no bows whatsoever, and a coiled gold bracer on her left arm. Instead of the bow on her chest was an amulet with amber stones in the shape of a sun, set into the white chest armor. A katana hung at her side. She had her red hair pulled back into a pigtail with the bangs held back by the normal Sailor tiara, and her bright blue eyes and ready smile reminded the cat of her princess, Serenity, who sat at her mother's right hand. Queen Selenity looked up. "Ah, Rhea I'm glad Solarisis could send you. Everyone, this is Sailor Senshi Sol, Princess Rhea of the Sun and my niece."

The redhead laughed and waved. "Hello. Nice ta meetcha. Hello Auntie. Good to see you again Sere-chan!" Serenity smiled and waved. "Hello Rhea-chan, it's been ages! Come sit next to me!"

As Rhea moved to do so, three more figures entered the room. Heads turned. Nearly everyone gasped. Sailor Mercury and Luna gasped with horror, seeing Sailor Saturn there. She was the most powerful Senshi after all, and had been woken from a stasis sleep when the Inners were five to help with the troubles Setsuna foreseen. But the rest of the girls – excluding only Rhea and Serenity – had their eyes glued on the two young men who had entered with her. One wore dark blue and black armor with a gold sun emblazoned on the breastplate, with a gold circlet around his forehead and a coiled gold bracer on his right arm. His pitch black hair was pulled back in a pigtail and clear blue eyes danced merrily. He carried no weapon.

His companion wore armor like his but with gold replacing the blue, and a yellow and black bandana kept dark hair out of his eyes instead of the royal circlet. He too had a sun symbol, this one smaller in crimson on the right shoulder. This young man carried a large sword in a crimson sheath, slung over one shoulder. When he smiled Jupiter and Venus nearly fainted at the sight of "those cute widdle fangs" as they would come to be called, to the Knight's chagrin.

Rhea stood up and made introductions as Princess Hotaru of Saturn slipped silently into a seat. "Everyone, these are my brother Titan the Dragon Lord – don't ask why he chose dark blue instead of gold for his armor, he won't tell you – and our friend Pyronis, the Sol Knight." The two nodded politely, Pyronis looking slightly red-faced beneath his bandana at the sight of so many beautiful women – and sat down. Pyronis took the empty seat on Hotaru's left, and Titan sat at the far end of the table, trying to stay as far away from the drooling girls with hearts in their eyes as he could.

Unfortunately, he found Venus on his left and Jupiter right beside her. "So why are you called Dragon Lord? Should you be the Sol Lord?" the blonde Venusian asked. "Um, well, I guess I should be. Probably still am officially, but that sounds weird, ya know? Besides everyone started calling me "Dragon Lord" once I got Raiden." "Who?" Jupiter asked. "Raiden. He's right here." Titan held up his right arm and the golden bracer uncoiled itself, revealing a small gold dragon with eyes as blue as lapis lazuli. White-gold wings unfolded, and small talons clicked on armor as Raiden climbed up onto the Sun prince's shoulder. Nearly all these women would love to be your mate, Master. the dragon mind-spoke him proudly. I know Raiden, Titan told him embarrassed, And it's making me uncomfortable. I feel like I'm being hunted. Wake up your sister so she can hear Auntie too. Then be quiet so I can hear Auntie speak.

As Queen Selenity called the meeting to order and began to tell them of the intelligence reports, the gold bracer on Rhea's left arm uncoiled itself as well. Arashi slithered her way up to her mistress's shoulders. In form, the small female gold dragon looked more like a winged cobra than the traditional spiked and four-legged dragon her brother was. Her eyes were as red as rubies, and her red-gold wings were slimmer but longer than Raiden's.

After a year of the planetary champions working together, Talesis was still on the loose. Queen Selenity decided on drastic measures. She opened negotiations with Earth, finally ending the quarantine that had been placed on it at the start of the Silver Millennium. The reason of this quarantine is lost even to me, or perhaps the information is sealed away.

Queen Selenity smiled down at her daughter. In the months of the negotiations with the Terran Royal Family, Serenity had fallen for the prince of the Earth, Endymion. It would not be a bad match. In fact, it would assure the Earth's smooth union into the Alliance. She'd have to talk with the king and queen of Earth about the possible marriage.

The Earth, she had found out, had champions of a different nature it seemed, than the rest of the planets. It had four men, all of the same power levels, who each controlled power of a different element. These they called "Generals" and they were under the command of each Terran ruler who also had some sort of power from the planet. Selenity found it strange that these powers seemed to be distributed more for political reasons rather than the planet choosing those who would best use the power for the good of the planet. There were several cases in Earth's history books that spoke of misuses of these planetary powers. But it didn't seem like any misuses were being made now. That was good.

Elsewhere, though, things were not going as smoothly. The planet Pluto had been completely taken over by the youma army, and Talesis was pressing deeper into the galaxy. No one's spies – not her own, or any planet's – could find out if Nemesis was backing him, though it was a strong suspicion. Not even Setsuna could find out, for the sorcerer was somehow blocking her. And then there was Titan.

Titan had been popular with all the Inner Sailors. Neptune and Uranus held themselves aloof, but then they did that to everyone. But Mars, Venus, and Jupiter had all been competing with each other to get his attention, throwing themselves at him (sometimes literally, if she recalled that fake fainting spell of Minako's at the blonde's seventeenth birthday party). And yet this had only seemed to drive him away more.

Titan had been comfortable only around his sister Rhea, his cousin Serenity, and Hotaru.

Hotaru. It was strange, but all three Sun champions had taken an immediate liking to the girl. They had won around Serenity, but the Moon princess simply hadn't been able to visit the Saturn princess all that much. The three called Hotaru "Spike" for some strange reason. Tita said it was because of her "crazy spiky aura" which only he and Rhea could see.

Three months ago it had been the frail Sailor's seventeenth birthday. She had been thrilled when Rhea, Titan, and Pyronis had all shown up, bearing gifts. Pyronis had shyly given her a truly wicked looking large glaive with promise of lessons, and she had hugged him joyfully in return. He promptly passed out. Rhea gave her a spiky dark indigo earrings. And Titan had presented her with a matching amulet which Hotaru replaced the old round one on her Sailor uniform with.

Titan had always seen her as a friend, and not a girl he had to run from, because Hotaru wasn't chasing him. She was in love with Pyronis. It was quite obvious to the twins that he returned the feelings, but neither he nor the Saturn princess could manage to tell each other. But things had all fallen apart two weeks ago.

Flashback

Talesis had finally gotten deep enough into the galaxy to make an attack on an Inner planet. Dragon Lord and Sailor Sol had rushed to aid Sailor Jupiter in the defense of her planet, while Sol Knight had gone farther out to Saturn, to help Sailor Saturn deflect the retreating youmas from her planet. Talesis himself had gone to the front in that attack.

The twins were a great team. Titan was physically stronger than anyone, even Pyronis who was close, and could fire off Ki and Chi blasts for far longer than most. Rhea was swifter and more agile, and somewhat smarter that her brother when it came to schooling, and this translated into her being a brilliant strategist on the battlefield. Together they were nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately with youmas attacking everywhere, the two were separated. Titan faced off the evil sorcerer alone, while Rhea went to help the Jupiterians evacuate and escape the attacks safely while Sailor Jupiter and the Jupiter army took care of the youma army. If they had been together it may have turned out differently. Or it may not have mattered.

Talesis and Dragon Lord faced off. "I come out here, expecting a challenge, and I'm face with a child?" Talesis sneered at him. "I'm no child," Titan growled, "You should retreat now. You won't get any farther than this, and I won't let you harm anyone here." "Big words for a boy. Let's see what you can do!"

"Dark Claws!" Talesis called, and waves of darkness came, shredding anything in its path. "Solar Firestorm!" Dragon Lord called out. A hurricane of fire flared up, ramming into the darkness.

In much the same way their battle continued on. It lasted for hours, until both were fighting exhaustion, and fighting not to let it show. But slowly, Talesis was loosing. And he saw this. Talesis refused to die though. He called all his youma to him at once, directing them to attack the Sun prince, and threw nearly all of the last of his power at the young man at once. "Darkness Enshroud!"

Titan saw it coming. He saw the legions of youmas and knew he wouldn't make it. He simply didn't have enough energy left. But he could defeat the youma army. Master I am still with you. Raiden told him, Use my energy. It will help. Titan felt the energy wash over him. He could do this. Talesis would die! I'm sorry Raiden. Good-bye my friend. Tell my sister good-bye for me? He felt Raiden shift his attention for a moment. It is done. Arashi and Mistress Rhea know. Titan nodded. It was time to end this war.

"Solar Inferno Dragon!"

End Flashback

At the Time Gate where she watched the battle, Setsuna had found herself crying. Prince Titan had taken out the hordes of youma, had his body and that of his dragon devoured in the flames, had created the great red storm that would last for thousands of years on the surface of Jupiter, and for what? Talesis, that sneaky devil, had kept just enough power in reserve to teleport himself to his ship in orbit. The prince had died, but their enemy had escaped.

Rhea was inconsolable. She and Pyronis had made it their personal mission of vengeance to find the sorcerer and kill him. They had thrown caution to the winds, left all reinforcements behind, and simply disappeared, tracking Talesis down. No one had heard from them since.

Queen Selenity sighed. It had been hard enough telling her sister Solarisis about Titan's death. She could only hope Rhea would return safe.

"My queen! My queen! There has been an attack on Mars!" Selenity whipped around, eyes wide. No not now! Not with all the Inner Senshi here! All the Inners were at the Moon for the negotiations with the Earth. Talesis could not have chosen a better time to attack one of their planets. "What happened?"

The messenger gasped for breath, and told her what they had found out. Talesis had taken his youma army and attacked the planet Mars. Sailor Saturn had come to their call for aid as no one else was available. Sailor Sol and Sol Knight had shown up midway through the battle, and Saturn had moved away from the front lines, terrified she'd use an attack too strong and blow up the planet or at least a good portion of it.

Rhea and Pyronis had taken over.

Sometime in the battle, Talesis himself had shown up. And Sailor Sol had used her most powerful attack. It was an attack that rivaled Saturn's Death Reborn Revolution, and without her Knight shielding her off from the world, it could very well have destroyed the planet. The shield kept all the energy inside, and Talesis was confirmed dead. But this also meant Rhea had died. And Pyronis, devastated at his failure to protect his friend, simply did nothing and let one of the youma, free to do as they pleased now, kill him.

Selenity didn't know what she was going to tell her sister.

Rhea, Titan, and Pyronis were the only people who were not afraid of Hotaru, and befriended her instead of shunning her. None of the Sun's champions lived to see the Fall of the Silver Millennium. Hotaru was so devastated at their deaths she named two of her planet's largest moons after the Solar royalty. And I believe she nicknamed her Silence Glaive 'Pyronis' after the young man who had given it to her on her seventeenth birthday a few months before their deaths.

"And you know the rest." Setsuna finished. "How Beryl got control of the youma, and brought down the Silver Millennium. How Queen Selenity sent all of the Inners to be reborn in the future on Earth. The surviving people of the rest of the planets went into stasis sleep at the Time Gate. When Crystal Tokyo has been established, I will let them out again, and the Crystal Millennium shall arise."

Setsuna looked at the Sailors for their reactions. Serena looked over at her, a slight frown on her face. "The Inners got reborn? But what about you, and the rest of the Outers?"

"I was trapped at the Time Gate, sealed there by Beryl so I could not help. Hotaru, Michiru, and Haruka were not quite dead when Queen Selenity sent everyone forward. So they were transformed into healthy infants and sent to orphanages in the same time the rest of you were being reborn. Haruka and Michiru got here a few years before the rest of you though."

Serena nodded. That made sense. That's why they had their names from the Silver Millennium, and she, Amy, Lita, Raye, and Mina had different ones. Yet still Serena felt as if something was missing. Even though Sailor Pluto didn't appear to be leaving anything out, there was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind, that there was a little more to it than what had been told. Scanning the room with her eyes, she saw Amy looked slightly troubled as well. So. Just she and Amy then? Perhaps later they could talk privately, and find out what was missing from the story.

Okay another chapter done! Sorry that took so long. I meant to have chapter 5 up with this one, but I'm slow. It'll take me anothe day or two to get it done, but I should have it up soon.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Let's see, that was: Yami Flo, Shiner, Ashaton Saotome, Jerry Unipeg, AshK. Thanks for the reviews, and it is lovely to see returning readers!

Next chapter: Isis tells the YGO crew about the Golden Millennium!