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Hey Guys. This is the shortest chapter so far; sorry about that.. I hope you like it. Please review.

Chapter 4

"What do we do?" Sailor Moon pleaded up into the sky as the fiend charged at the Scouts. The answer came unexpectedly.

Believe. A voice whispered in her mind. Work together. Apart, you're no match against this Crossphreak, but together, you are invincible.

Sailor Moon did not even think to doubt this voice and immediately called out to the Scouts. "Please, let's combine our powers!"

The Scouts nodded an affirmative, placing themselves alongside their leader. "Mars Crystal Power!" Mars shouted, placing her hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder. The rest of the Scouts followed her lead. "Mercury Crystal Power!" "Venus Crystal Power!" "Jupiter Crystal Power!"

Neptune rested her hand on top of Mercury's. "Neptune Planet Power!" Neptune cried, joining her power with the Inner Scouts'. "Uranus Planet Power!" "Pluto Star Power!" Uranus and Pluto shouted, adding their power to the rising power of the Sailor Scouts, each placing a supportive hand on Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon felt their energy course through her. "Moon Eternal Crystal Power!" She cried. With an audible blast and a visible flash of rainbow of colors, their powers, funneled through the scepter, blasted the monstrosity into oblivion. The monster screeched, and then disintegrated into dust. Sailor Moon's eyes glossed over from fatigue as she fell to the ground.

"Sailor Moon!" Sailor Venus cried in shock as she knelt down beside her Princess and best friend.

"Sailor Moon, are you ok?" Sailor Mars asked worriedly as she supported Sailor Moon with Sailor Venus.

"She'll be alright," Sailor Mercury stated as she checked Sailor Moon's pulse. "She just has dealt with a lot of power and is fatigued."

"What was that creature?" Michelle asked the Outers out of hearing distance from the other Scouts.

"I'm not sure," Amara replied. "Our powers did not work alone and that is unusual. What is happening?"

"Someone has muddled up Time," Trista said softly.

"What?" Amara asked aghast.

"Someone extraordinarily powerful has blocked me from stepping in and out of Time," Trista stated sadly. "I do not know who it is, but whoever it is, is a grave threat to all of us. Especially to our Princess. We must be extremely cautious."

"We're good at that," was Amara's comment, followed by a small smile from Michelle. "Let's go help our Princess."

"My head…" Serena said as she slowly sat up. "Ow." She looked around, only to discover that the Scout's had moved her to Rei's temple.

"Oh, Serena," Mina exclaimed, giving Serena a squeeze.

"What was that fiend?" Serena asked.

"More importantly, who gave you the idea to have us combine our powers?" Rei asked, half joking.

"I'm examining the dust now," Ami stated as she held out her miniature aqua computer. Within a matter of minutes, Ami had all the information they could gleam from the small dust that was left of the monster. "It appears to be something from the negaverse. Or at least it's something extraordinarily evil. It almost reminds me of…"

"Of what?" Mina persisted.

"It's impossible," Ami replied shaking her head. "I was going to say it reminds me of Galaxia, when Chaos took over her, but that's impossible because Serena destroyed Galaxia." She gave her head another shake before continuing. "Anyway, I'm not sure what that thing is called, but it was a mixture of two animals with a human mindset that appears to be chasing after some type of flower. This flower is a flower of, well, not exactly dreams, but more of hope. Or so I understand from the limited amount of information I was able to access. It doesn't make too much sense, but I'm sure more research and a few more confrontations will give us our answer."

"So you're saying that this monster is after a flower of hope and dreams?" Rei asked.

"Well it's not a flower of hopes and dreams," Artemis replied. "It's more of a flower sustained by dreams and created by hope."

"Still doesn't make much sense," Mina said softly.

"I don't understand!" Serena cried as her eyes began to get really shiny. They all looked at her as if she had gone mad or something. "Why are the negative energies back?! I thought we had dispersed of them when we rid the world of Chaos! Now they took my Darien and are out for more victims!" The tears spilled down her cheeks. "It's not fair! Even after how hard we worked, evil is back for more!"

"Oh Serena," Mina exclaimed as she leaned over to give Serena a hug. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's—it doesn't make sense!" Rei cried. "The evil woman claimed to have been bidding her time well, but for what? Taking over the world again? It seemed only part of what she wanted."

"But why would she have taken Darien?" Lita asked.

"To eliminate the protectors of earth," Ami replied logically.

"How would they have known Darien's identity, though?" Lita persisted.

"I don't know," Ami replied sadly.

"Unless the enemy is a former enemy," Luna exclaimed. "And in that case, you must be extra careful. Now I wonder what this enemy wants with a flower…"

"Whatever it wants, we must be extra careful," Lita stated. "We can't let them have this flower."

"That enemy was really powerful," Taiki said, thinking aloud.

"It was barely hurt when we hit it," Yaten added.

"This must be the danger the Princess warned us about," Seiya added.

"I wonder how we can stop the reign of evil," Taiki said, rubbing his chin, deep in thought. "Our powers seemed no match against that thing."

"What about the Sailor Scouts?" Yaten asked. "Individually, they were powerless, but together they destroyed the monster."

"That does sound… interesting. Do you think if we combined our powers, we would be more effective?"

"It's worth a try," Yaten replied.

Serena looked up at the sky through her bedroom window. What was that voice? She thought to herself. It sounded so…so confident, yet small in power for a lack of… something. She sent a pleading thought to the sky. Oh Darien! What should I do? Where are you? You would be able to talk me through this. I feel so alone. She could do no more except lay on her bed, utterly abandoned. Darien… Darien, are you still alive? What will I do now? How can I face this evil? What is this Crossphreak? What is our enemy after this time? So many questions, but the sky was not yielding. It gave her no answers, letting Serena sink further into her confused, chaotic emotions.

"I need that Flower!" Kaosu ordered Aki Hoshi. "Without it, I will never be able to extract my revenge!"

"I understand, mistress," Aki Hoshi replied meekly. "I will do all that I can to find it."

"You do understand that the longer I wait, the likelier the Scouts will be in uncovering who I am?" Aki Hoshi nodded slightly. "Good. We cannot have that happen. The less they know, the better for us."

"Mistress," Aki Hoshi started. She glared at him for speaking up before allowing him to continue. "Do you mind telling me what this flower is supposed to look like?"

"It looks like a sweet sultan with a rose in its center. Each petal has a different color, reflecting the rainbow of the light. The center, where the rose lies, fades from a deep red hue of love, to the purest of white. It is the Flower of Love and Hope and is the only thing that can possibly stop me. We must find it before the Scouts. But if you happen to find anything that is rose-like, that will help us determine if we are close or not. This pathetic human held a rose of the purest red," she said, motioning to a body. "Here is the history of this pathetic thing, see what you can make of it."

"As you wish, Mistress," Aki Hoshi replied, with a graceful bow. He left his mistress's presence. "Now let's find out who that male form is…"

I promise the next chapter is about Seiya and Serena. Lets see how that goes. Serena is heartbroken, Seiya is unsure of how to deal with the situation. What will happen? Does Seiya have a chance or will Serena bar him from her heart? Find out!

Review please!!! The more reviews, the faster I put up. I think I've been doing well so far.