Chapter 6: Struggle For Survival in the Temple of Dark Moon

"Gimzie, look!" Gemineye exclaimed, startling everyone in the altar chamber.

Gimzallaluke had been trying to impress the caged Scouts with the oldest card tricks in the book.

Amy was sure that the wizard must have got the lot of them from the first book of card tricks ever written. She had seen all of them coming a mile off and had not been delighted by any of them.

Gemineye had been leaning against the altar of Dark Moon casting bitter, reproachful looks in Alexia's direction every so often and being irritated when she received a false, sweet smile in return every time.

But suddenly she had noticed the thing that had caused her to cry out in surprise.

Everyone in the chamber stared around the chamber to find whatever had shocked Gemineye.

"What?" Gimzallaluke snapped when all of them failed.

"The window! Look at it!" Gemineye cried, pointing at it.

All eyes were turned up to the huge stained glass window above the altar.

The stained glass normally depicted a moon that was partly white and pure and partly a deathly black.

Now the entire window was completely darkened and the moon could not be made out.

"He's coming." Gemineye whispered in an ecstatic tone.

"Who?!" Alexia demanded.

Gimzallaluke opened his mouth to tell her.

There was no need for as he did so a voice boomed down at them from above:

"Who? Who indeed?"

The cards flew out of the wizard's hand and littered the floor as everyone in the chamber gave a start at the unexpected, throaty voice.

"It IS..." the wizard breathed in a husky, awed whisper.

"...HIM!!" Gemineye's squeal was shriller than ever.

The room plunged into the darkness of midnight as all light in the altar chamber was snuffed out.

Amy breathed shakily in stunned shock.

After all those countless millennia since they had been kindled, the eternal torches of the Temple of Dark Moon had ceased to burn!

What could it mean?

On the floor Fargo's whole body stiffened rigidly inside the net.

What...a...strong...power! He growled inwardly.

Every hair on his body prickled as he sensed the approaching aura of power.

Then the chamber was faintly lit with a ghostly white light, which covered the Scouts' bodies with goosebumps.

A spotlight was shining on the floor in the middle of the chamber.

There was a drumroll.

"Sailor Scouts of the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Charon - say a big hello to somebody very special! One who has astounded people from every reach of the universe with his extraordinary talent to entertain! Whose skill is unmatched on any planet known and unknown in the entire infinity of the cosmos! Talent that is unmatched in any time - past, present or yet to come!" The voice was booming down from an unknown source and filling the chamber.

The girls stood with folded arms and irritable expressions on their faces. They didn't even know Gimzallaluke and Gemineyes' master yet, nevertheless, they thoroughly disliked him already.

Is that what I put the girls through? Fargo wondered. Hmm...what a drag.

"Here he comes! Here he is! His arrival is nigh!"

"Get on with it!" Lita screamed, unable to take it anymore.

"The incredible black harlequin - DARK JESTER!!"

A whooshing roar filled the altar chamber as a thick cloud of white smoke rose from the middle of the room. The cloud spread throughout the chamber, falling lower and lower until it just covered the girls' feet.

The 'incredible black harlequin' Dark Jester made no friends with Fargo, who lay face down on the floor, unable to move.

When the cloud of smoke finally dispersed a new figure stood in the eerie spotlight.

Gemineye squealed and applauded in adoration.

The caged Scouts stared.

The outlandish newcomer's face was hidden behind a black Mexican bandit mask. His head and neck were covered in the head dress of a medieval court jester complete with three bells, which dangled from three floppy extensions that stuck out from the top and tinkled whenever he moved his head. A long black and unfeasibly curly moustache was painted onto his face and a black and white fool's motley completed the get-up. Dark Jester, the master of Gimzallaluke and Gemineye, the newest tenant of the Temple of Dark Moon and the mastermind behind the capture of the Sailor Scouts, removed three different coloured balls from his pocket and began to juggle with them. A few minutes passed as the girls watched him manoeuvre the wooden balls through the air, behind his head, through his legs and under his arms with dazzling ease. Gemineye's eyes were dreamy and Gimzallaluke had to move quickly to catch her as she swooned. Then the little side-show came to a conclusion as he caught all three balls in one hand.

Dark Jester stood with his legs apart and bowed low to the bewildered girls he held captive.

"The black harlequin has arrived," he announced triumphantly. "Long live the black harlequin!"

"Why don't you try covering the bars with chocolate and letting Serena eat her way through?" Fargo suggested in a low voice as he lay face down on the floor a short way off.

Serena growled helplessly, rather like a trapped tiger within the confines of her cage, as the other Scouts managed to giggle, subdued.

Dark Jester gave his captives a sinister smile as he surveyed each of them one at a time with the greatest care while they stood and glared back at him defiantly.

"Six pretty maids in a row," he remarked eventually as a satisfied grin split his made-up face. "Perfect."

"Why have you brought us here?" Serena demanded indignantly as she put her hands on her hips. Dark Jester reclined on a luxurious couch and flashed his helpless captives another vague and yet still unnerving smile. Amy blinked and rubbed her eyes - she was almost positive that the couch had not been there a minute ago. The dim light of the torches must have been playing tricks with her eyes, she told herself uncertainly. However, Amy just could not feel convinced about this for some reason as Dark Jester glanced up carelessly at them.

"You really need to know this very minute?" Dark Jester drawled in a manner that infuriated Lita because she was too far away from him to reach out and throttle him at that precise moment in time. Alexia folded her arms across her chest and tossed her hair so that the dark green plait fell straight down her back.

"We're kinda interested to learn the reason why we're trapped in cages, underground, in the dead of the night." She remarked as she fixed the yawning harlequin with her piercing blue eyes. "So, spill -why have you had us brought here?" Dark Jester gave a relaxed chuckle and showed no sign of hurrying to explain his purpose in having the Scouts captured. After all, there was still an hour left for them to get through, he told himself idly.

"Such a great sum of curiosity for such little girls!" He laughed in a laid-back way and let his head flop back to gaze at the ceiling.

"I hate an unsatisfied curiosity." Rei said coolly. Dark Jester laughed icily.

"That's good." He drawled as he gazed up at the high ceiling, seemingly lost in thought. In reality, however, he was ready to act at a moment's notice. The first the girls knew of this was when he suddenly leapt to his feet with the speed of a spring that had been flattened and then released abruptly. As the girls all started in shock he fixed them all with an intense stare and suddenly his casual attitude was gone. In its place there was now a definite menace as he gazed at each one of the girls. "But remember..." he spat as he bared his teeth, which they all noticed were extremely white and sharp and reflected the light of the sickening torches. "Curiosity killed the cat!" Or kittens, as the case may be." The sudden change in the atmosphere left the girls all shaken and Alexia felt her skin prickle as those cold relentless eyes stared so intensely at her. By him she felt almost as threatened as she had when she had been in Lucilius's 'White Room'. Then Dark Jester gave a light-hearted laugh, which was so mild and infectious that it was totally incompatible with the murderous glare in his ferocious, animal-like eyes. There was a general relaxing in the atmosphere of the chamber as his face softened but now that the girls had seen the other side of him they watched his every move with sheer nervousness. Dark Jester smirked, the most unpleasant facial expression that any of them had ever seen in their lives. Amy was shaking from head to toe, she could see the cold, malevolent intelligence in his eyes as he scrutinised them all.

His eyes...so wild like a tiger's.

Even Gimzallaluke and Gemineye were nervous around him.

He scared her.

"Very well," Dark Jester suddenly broke the tense silence with a hushed, thrilled whisper. "I will tell you of your service to me. After all, you deserve to learn at least something before you die." Mina sent herself a mental note that she did not intend to die if she could possibly help it and then leaned closer to the bars to pay attention to what he had to say. "This most magnificent repository of evil is, as all of you know," Dark Jester indicated the vast chamber with a grand sweeping of his hand. "The Temple of Dark Moon, a focal point of the evil of humanity. A hidden treasure house of unspeakable darkness which was founded in the Dark Ages. The purpose of this temple was to be the place where the worst aspects of the soul were to be focused and gathered together whenever injustice and oppression were rife in the heart of mankind. Men and women who worshipped the ways of evil came together to construct this place so that together they could gather in this very chamber in order to nurture the darkness within their black hearts and cultivate that special evil with tenderness and care."

"There are groups for everything, I guess..." Fargo muttered and was duly ignored as the girls were too riveted by the narrative to take any notice of him.

Dark Jester's eyes narrowed and seemed to...

What?

Rei narrowed her own eyes and leaned closer.

An illusion? A trick of the light?

Was it her or did his eyes seemed to burn with a deep red fire for the briefest instant?

She shook herself to break the trance she had fallen under and she plunged herself back into listening to the story.

"As this place became a spawning ground of pure evil, where the powers of darkness and the influence of the otherworldly realms was exceptionally strong, it began to draw the interest of dwellers of the spiritual realms. That was their undoing, for in their arrogance and delusion as their number and compatibility with the dark side increased they had began to explore the astral planes, which exist outside of existence itself, with their souls. This custom of theirs turned out to be their ruin. You see, one night something came upon them as they travelled the ether. Something bad." As he spoke that last word Dark Jester's voice changed abruptly. His tones dropped to a strange, subdued quiet that made all of them stare at him.

What was it?

Respect? Awe?

Or could it possibly be fear?

A deep shudder went through each of the girls as they tried to think of what could possibly scare their ruthless and irredeemably evil captor.

Dark Jester mustered himself and with an effort continued his tale. "The thing that came across their souls was of the deepest evil imaginable and was as ancient as the cosmos. Older than the universe, for you see it had existed before creation itself brought this world into being. So you see, it did not exist in the physical realm. That was why it enslaved them, tainted their souls into its service and made them into creatures that transcended what they had been before." Dark Jester whispered in awe filled tones. "Its purpose in ensnaring them was so that it would have pawns in our world to do what it could not here."

"What...is it?" Amy asked in tiny voice that trembled. Dark Jester turned to stare at her for a long while and then he replied:

"The thing that the darkness fears." He replied and his voice was deadly serious. What he was telling them all now was not a thing to be discussed lightly.

"What does it hope to achieve?" Rei asked, sounding strangely subdued. "And how does it concern us?"

"It wants in on this world," Dark Jester responded. "And it enlisted my help to do so and in turn I enlisted the help of Gemineye and Gimzallaluke to enlist your help." Dark Jester grinned his white, sharp, gleaming grin again and his awed trance was broken. "You see, the six of you are the key to bringing it into this world." He declared, pointing at each of them in turn. "When you take that plunge the planetary energy within you will be released into the temple's power field upon the moment of your burning hot deaths. When it is it will be focused into one great accumulation of energy that will be colossal enough to meld with the Entity and give it the power to finally take form in our world."

The 'Entity'.

Somehow that one single word sent a deep chill through each of the trapped Scouts' spines that was even worse than the one they'd felt when they'd been informed that they were there to die.

As the deep silence reigned following his declaration, Dark Jester glanced up at the skylight to inspect the position of the moon. Then he lowered his inhuman eyes and fixed the girls with a stare. "So, there you have it," he concluded with a leer. "That's why you are all here. By the way, there's only half an hour to go until the stars are properly aligned and the big moment arrives. Anyone care for a cup of cappuccino in the meantime? We have the instant kind too, if you prefer."

x x x x x

A short while later...

Gimzallaluke hummed tunelessly to himself as he paced up and down the corridor, looking at each of the Scouts in turn. The girls all glared angrily at him as he did this.

"Could you please shut up!" Lita yelled. "Or at least stop pacing around!"

"My, someone's a bit tense." He teased, continuing to walk. He finally stopped when Gemineye danced in.

"Gimzie, can I dress them now, please?!" She begged, her large eyes sparkling. "I want to dress them up and make them look pretty!"

"We're not dolls." Rei muttered. Gimzallaluke smiled at Gemineye, and patted her on the head as if she were some kind of pet.

"Well, since you're so enthusiastic..." he said. "I hope you have something nice for our master's guests to wear." She nodded her head so vigorously that it could've dropped off.

"Oh yes, one of my own designs!" She danced around him. "Okay, who first?" She skipped along the row, pointing her finger at each cell in turn as she chanted: "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mess - which Sailor Scout should I dress?" She stopped at Serena's cell on the word 'dress'. "You!" She split herself into three as the door swung open. Her two clones grabbed Serena and dragged her away, the genuine Gemineye skipping in front. "We won't be long!" She sang as Serena was led away.

x x x x x

"I might as well be naked!" Amy screamed as she was flung back into her cell. "And what are these things on my head for?!" She indicated the long rabbit ears on her head. Alexia gazed at each of her friends in their costumes and bit her lip to stop herself giggling - they were wearing what looked like strapless, backless one-piece swimsuits; so tight that they clung to them like a second skin. Each was a different colour - Serena's was pink, Mina's orange, Rei's grey, Lita's green and Amy's blue; and the high-heels on their feet were of the same colours. Finally, to top it off - each suit had a fluffy white bob-tail attached at the back and their heads were adorned with a pair of long white rabbit ears like Amy's. Alexia knew it was foolish for her to think it funny as she realised she would soon enough be dressed identically, yet she still couldn't help herself.

Gimzallaluke laughed at Amy, who had folded her arms across her chest and was a bright shade of red.

"Don't hide yourself, Mercury, you have a lovely figure!" Gemineye exclaimed. "Don't you like my design?" She looked hurt.

"Of course they do, Gemineye." Gimzallaluke reassured her and the giant grin returned to her face.

"Last but not least - Charon!" She squealed, and once again split herself to grab Alexia. "I hope you're going to be better behaved than Venus was!" She winked as they passed the blonde's cage, the Venusian baring her teeth fiercely as they went by. Gemineye had had to handcuff Venus as she had taken her away to be changed, for the girl had loudly promised to hurt her for what she'd done to her hair. As she was led away Alexia happened to glance towards the main exit of the alter chamber and felt her heart leap into her throat as she saw someone poking their dark-haired head around it - Erin! No one had said he was there as well! She didn't bother to wonder how long he'd been hiding there and how he'd managed to avoid being caught - her mind was too busy thinking about how his presence meant there was a chance they could still be rescued somehow! She managed to keep her excitement extremely well hidden, in case she should catch Gemineye's attention. Unfortunately, Gemineye's attention was already caught. She too had happened to look across to the doorway and had also spotted the boy. She was about to tell Gimzallaluke about her discovery when suddenly Erin vanished, a shocked look on his face. The orange-obsessed girl shook her head and smiled, he must have got scared and ran away, she decided. Forgetting about it for the time being, she walked Alexia into a small room, which was empty apart from a full length mirror and a seat. Gemineye went behind the mirror and pulled out a costume identical to the outfits the others were wearing - apart from this one was purple.

"Ta daaa!" Gemineye sang as she gave it to Alexia. "I'm sure you'll look just perfect in it." She walked over to the door and leant against it as Alexia changed. Unlike Amy she didn't mind wearing the revealing suit - it was just like wearing a tutu, just without the skirt.

"Your legs are so long!" The orange girl exclaimed. "Not as long as Jupiter's, though!" She walked forward and gently took hold of Alexia's braid, filling the dark-haired girl with fear. Gemineye unfastened the tie holding it in place and brushed her long hair out. Her orange eyes filled with tears of love as she let Alexia's now wavy hair flow down her back. Her fingers twitched as her hand moved towards her pocket, but she quickly shook her head and fell out of the trance. "Take a seat," she said, grabbing the final pair of rabbit's ears and placing them on Alexia's head. Next she retrieved a silky orange make-up bag from her pocket and pulled out a purple lipstick. "Now keep still," she said gently as she applied it. "This colour totally suits you," she told her dreamily. "I'm really looking forward to this evening, it's going to be so exciting! I mean - what an ending for a princess, plunging into a pit of lava!" She sighed dreamily. "I must say though, it's not very nice, is it?"

"What isn't?" Alexia muttered between blotting her lips with a tissue.

"That dark-haired boy not sticking around to rescue you all!" Gemineye giggled as she re-positioned the set of rabbit ears on the Charonian's head. "Oh, well, he can't be much of a friend!" Alexia narrowed her pale eyes in anger and jumped up.

"How dare you!!" She scolded, realising that the girl had seen Erin as well. "You have no idea what Erin's like, so don't try to say he's not a friend! You wouldn't know what friendship was if it jumped up and bit you on the nose! So, just shut up and take me back to the others!" Gemineye narrowed her eyes back.

"Fine, if you're going to be like that!" She huffed and grabbed Alexia by the wrist. She split herself and the other Gemineye grabbed her other wrist and they marched her out. She was flung into her cell so roughly that she fell to the floor. "Charon's no fun, Gimzie, she was nasty to me!" Gemineye sulked.

"Poor Gemineye," he said with pity in his voice. "No matter, she won't be around for much longer..." Gemineye nodded, her mood brightening immediately. "Now, why don't you go and make yourself even prettier for the big event?"

"You're right! A touch of make up is just what I need! Thank you, Gimzie!" She giggled, kissed him on the cheek and skipped off back to her dressing room; where she split herself in two before sitting down before the mirror. "A thin layer of number 6, please." Gemineye smiled and her clone hummed cheerfully as she sifted through her silky make-up bag.

The orange lipstick was soon poised in her hand and she turned to apply it to the genuine Gemineye…only to discover that the orange-haired young woman had completely forgotten why they were there.

As she had waited, Gemineye's eyes had wandered to the vanity-mirror…and her own reflection. Now she sat frozen, the sight having jolted her as it caught her off-guard, thinking deeply. She barely even recognized herself…and it disturbed her how little she cared.

Since her transformation a few days ago, Gemineye had been so thrilled and delighted with her new life that she had had no time to look at herself in the mirror…that is, really look at herself.

Now she had done so quite by accident – and she finally realised that the girl she'd been such a short while ago was gone, replaced by a radically different person.

And, for the first time since that night, she felt herself wavering.

Gemineye had been carried away by the initial rush of her fantastic new freedom…but, she was now forced to ask herself, was she happy?

Really and truly?

Of course, her love was with her just as she had wanted – and she had wanted it so badly that she could have died!

But something still didn't feel…right.

"You want to talk about it?" The second Gemineye asked kindly.

Caught out, Gemineye huffed.

"About what?" She asked haughtily.

The clone put her hands on her hips and gazed knowingly at the genuine Gemineye.

Gemineye shuffled in her seat, "It's just a phase…I'll get over it," she sniffed.

The clone sighed and shook her head as she leaned over and began to apply the lipstick…unless you could get someone to admit that they had a problem there wasn't a lot that you could do to help them.

x x x x x

Later...

Just as the Scouts were beginning to despair their salvation came sneaking into the room.

As the hourglass drained of its precious grains of sands under the watchful eyes of the villains and the increasingly anxious Sailor Scouts none of the occupants of the chamber gave the altar at the far side of the room even the briefest of glances.

So none of them noticed a small, orange kitten crawling across the floor of the chamber on her belly at an agonisingly slow pace.

Estrella knew that everything depended on her now and so inched little by little across the floor so that there would be no chance of the bad guys hearing her.

All the while her eyes shot back and forth from the emptying hourglass and the altar.

There was a quarter of the sand remaining when Estrella reached the altar.

Three minutes.

Something snapped in her mind and she darted behind the altar, not caring if she was heard.

Sure enough, at the back of the marble altar, she found a small, metal structure attached to the floor by long screws that burrowed deep into the floor.

Quickly she scuttled up to study it carefully.

It was a silver, metal box that had seven metal levers protruding from it, six of which were moving slowly to the right hand side of the box, inch-by-inch.

One was perfectly still at the left hand side.

There was also a thick-looking, metal key embedded in a round, lock-like hole in the side of the box.

Estrella realised that these must be the levers that regulated the opening mechanisms belonging to the floor inside the Scouts' cages.

The unmoving lever must belong to Merula's cage, which had turned out to be unneeded.

Cautiously, the kitten peeked around the altar to check the hourglass.

Utter horror filled her heart as she saw that no more than a minute and twelve seconds remained!

As Estrella's fur drenched with sweat she stared intently at the controls.

Merula had told her to push the levers back to their starting points...

Estrella was trembling as she felt the acute weight of her burden.

In her paws rested the lives of the Sailor Scouts!

What if she messed up? What if she caused the floor to open early instead of staying shut?

The Scouts would die...because of her!

Estrella closed her eyes in torment.

But she knew what she had to do.

As the final twenty seconds trickled away the small kitten took the first lever between her paws and began to grapple with it...

x x x x x

"Here it comes - the big finish!" Dark Jester announced as the remaining sand began to trickle away along with the girls' life expectancy.

"Five! Four...!" Gimzallaluke began the final countdown to the Sailor Scouts' demise.

Lita pounded against the bars of her cage in desperation.

"Three! Two...!"

Fargo...

Amy's voice was a faint whisper as she spoke his name in her mind.

She didn't know why it was, but the sense of loss that seized her was not completely on account of her life.

"...One...!"

Gemineye sighed.

She'd forgotten to get samples of Mars and Charons' hair.

Ah well, I have some of Venus's!

She reached into her pocket and gave the blonde strands a reassuring squeeze.

"ZEEEEROOOO!!" Gimzallaluke screamed.

The air around the girls seemed to freeze over as the final grain of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass, as if it were moving in slow motion.

"Th-th-th-th that's all folks!" Gimzallaluke cackled foully.

Dark Jester simply waited calmly and expectantly for the coming of the greatest power of the universe.

"HOLY HELL!!" Lita shrieked. "We're done for!!"

And as a rumbling filled the chamber as the mechanisms that operated the opening floors of the Scouts' cages started up she seemed to be right.

"This is it! So long, everyone! It was great, all of it!" Alexia sighed sadly.

...Farewell Alexia...

...'Til we meet again, Rei...

"Dear friends...thank you! I love you all!!" Amy cried.

"I'm soooo happy to have met all of you, really!!" Mina screamed.

Serena was far too shocked to speak.

She had been so sure about her destiny, and now...

Was her future ending before it had even begun?

The girls closed their eyes to await the bitter end as Fargo gave one last futile wrench at the net and cursed his own uselessness.

Farewell, my gentle princess...the world will be a darker place without you in it. And please, try to forgive me...for Queen Serenity's confidence in me was in vain. I'm no knight protector... I'm a...fool.

Amy, I'm sorry.

But it did not come.

Dark Jester's face was staggered as the rumbling was suddenly cut short, as if the gears of the opening mechanism had been stopped by something.

Silence reigned in the chamber.

The floors of the cages remained intact.

Hardly daring to believe it Serena, Amy, Rei, Lita, Mina and Alexia slowly opened their eyes.

They were alive!

"Something went wrong! Gemineye!!" Dark Jester howled.

Gemineye split herself into three and ran up to the altar to glare behind it.

Estrella's heart nearly stopped as the trio of Gemineyes glowered down at her, hissing and spitting like an basket of snakes.

The kitten went for it.

Seizing the metal key in her teeth she dragged it sideways, desperately.

It did not budge!

One of the Gemineyes reached for her, the long fingernails of her hand gleaming...

With strength born out of sheer desperation Estrella wrenched the key in the other direction...

CLICK!

Estrella froze.

She'd done it!

She'd really done it!

Estrella had unlocked the Scouts' cages!

As the bars of their cages slid open, releasing them from their captivity, all that Serena, Amy, Rei, Lita, Mina and Alexia could do for several minutes was turn to stare at one another, open-mouthed. By this point the six had totally lost the thread of what was going on here. Mere moments ago they had finally despaired and completely given up hope as they resigned themselves to the bitter end.

And yet, the end had not come.

The hour glass that had been timed to be drained of sand at the exact second that they would plummet to their deaths was now empty and yet they were still alive. Their prisons were unlocked, releasing them, and it was all that they could do to wonder at whatever miracle had taken place to save them from their doom. However, the girls all realised at the very same moment that they weren't out of danger yet and picking up their jaws they all stepped through the now open doors of their cages and a second later they were all standing in the altar chamber in a small group. How they had survived what had seemed like certain death was quite beyond all of them but since they were alive they decided that they would ponder the reason for their salvation later on.

Dark Jester gave a ferocious snarl as he watched the Scouts march towards him and a streak of sweat traced its way down his temple.

Too many things were going badly wrong.

He bared his teeth at the liberated girls with the ferocity of a wounded tiger as they all came to a stop a few yards away from him.

"Get back into your cages!" He snarled and his eyes burned at them all in hatred.

"Get lost!" Lita shot back and glowered across at him. The brunette's eyes were gleaming with vengeance as she thought about the long hours she and her friends had spent in captivity.

Fargo breathed a great and long sigh of relief as he sent up a silent 'thank-you' to whoever had watched over the Scouts that night. He had been determined not to give up hope that the Scouts would be saved from the fate that Dark Jester had had ready for them and, even though he had been on the very brink of crumbling and giving way to despair, he had steeled himself as the final few grains of sand, which had measured the girls' last few moments of life, had trickled away, along with their futures.

Now he knew that his faith had been rewarded, and he was glad that he had not given up.

"I warn you all," Dark Jester hissed like a spiteful cat that had just watched the mouse it had been chasing escape. "Each and every one of you..."

"Shut up, you cackling clown." Fargo spoke up as he lifted his head and tried to look over his shoulder at the confrontation going on at the other side of the chamber. "You're all washed up and you know it!"

As he realised his plans to fulfil the sacred task that had been entrusted to him by his dark master were falling apart Dark Jester felt a wave of frantic desperation wash over him.

He could easily have ordered Gimzallaluke and Gemineye to 'escort' the Scouts back to their cages...but that might take too long.

In a few more minutes the time, during which his master would be close enough to the physical plane to be brought into the world, would be gone and thus the chance would be lost. Considering that the next time his master would be close enough to make another attempt to enter this world would arrive in the next millennium, when the stars would return to the all-important position that gave the sacrifice its power, Dark Jester was extremely eager to bring his master into this world on the first attempt, since whether or not he or indeed the Sailor Scouts would still be around by the time the stars were correctly aligned once more was highly questionable.

Narrowing his hateful eyes as he contemplated the prospect of failure Dark Jester made up his mind on the spot.

Turning away from the defiant Scouts he fixed Gimzallaluke with a baleful look.

"Release the sentries!" He spat abruptly.

Gimzallaluke simply stared at him in momentary shock, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Seeing that the sorcerer's mouth had fallen open in dismay, the Scouts could only wonder what these 'sentries', which he seemed to be reluctant to release, might be.

Amy had a bad feeling about it as she gazed at Gimzallaluke's horrified expression.

"DO it!!" Dark Jester bellowed at the sorcerer in a thunderous voice, pointing a single, slender finger at him...

The prospect of facing his master's wrath seemed to disarm Gimzallaluke's thoughts of rebellion.

Feeling intimidated, the sorcerer turned and charged over to a wall on the far side of the chamber. He came to a halt right before a huge mural, which was even more horrific and upsetting to look upon than those that the Scouts had seen when they had first descended into the temple.

It depicted an large army of forest folk, who all bore lighted torches, confronting a horde of the dark residents of the temple. Although the people of the forest greatly outnumbered the evil temple dwellers they stood no hope against the foul and dark powers of those they sought to purge their homeland of and were being killed horribly and graphically by their enemies, who stood unfazed.

Amy could only glance at this scene, which was something she could never have imagined or even dreamt about in her deepest nightmares. She tore her eyes away, closing them as she took deep breaths of air and stood shaking in the middle of this place of depravity and darkness.

Serena couldn't bear to see her best friend so frightened by something and, turning her back on what Gimzallaluke was up to, she took Amy in her arms and reassured her that she was among her friends in this hell hole.

By this time Gimzallaluke had found what he was searching for.

Reaching toward the unspeakable mural he closed his hand around a one of the torches that the forest people were holding and pulled it down.

The torch was, in fact, a hidden switch and it made a dull thud as it came into contact with the stone wall.

It was followed by a faint clicking sound and then silence.

Dark Jester was once more regarding each of the girls through his insidious, glaring eyes.

As Serena comforted the freaked out Amy, Lita walked forward to stand directly in front of the harlequin and folded her arms, scowling at him.

"End of the ride, Jingle Bells!" She snapped and assumed her fighting stance, prepared to go for him. "This is where you get yours!" Dark Jester merely sneered at her as he took a single step back; he seemed to be remarkably confident for somebody who was outnumbered six to one.

"Oh, believe me, Sailor J, I rather believe that you have more...pressing issues to deal with right now." He mocked her with a derisive grin. Incensed at being taken so lightly, Lita narrowed her dark green eyes.

Behind their master Gemineye and Gimzallaluke chortled, as if they saw something amusing about the situation.

"What's so funny?" Rei demanded, suspicious, as they laughed at her and her friends like they were the focus of some huge joke.

"Yeah, share the joke with us!" Mina exclaimed as she put her hands on her waist and frowned at their three captors darkly.

"Well, I'll just say this, Sailor Simps!" Dark Jester taunted them both. "Things are just about to get rather hairy for you all!"

"Huh?" Alexia was baffled.

Dark Jester made no further comment because he had tilted his head to one side and seemed to be listening to something.

As it happened this was just what he was doing...

And suddenly the Scouts all froze as they heard it too.

From below the floor came three, snarling growls.

"SAAAAAAAHHHH!!"

"SAAAAHHH!!"

"SAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Alexia's face turned white as she felt the sheer ferocity of those inhuman roars that were approaching them.

A foul grin of satisfaction had split Dark Jester's face as he chuckled in delight and looked at the girls, who were at this point feeling more than a little worried about the 'sentries' that were now approaching them.

"Hey, that'll be them now!" He sniggered as he saw the anxious looks on their faces.

Realising that she had to be on her guard for the team's sake, Amy pulled herself together and stepped out of Serena's arms to face the arrogant villain. Her eyes shone with courage and defiance as she gazed at Dark Jester.

"Whatever tricks you have up your sleeve we can overcome you." She declared in a crystal clear voice that was steady and strong. "Maybe we don't have our powers to help us but we'll fight you to the end, Dark Jester!"

Serena smiled, greatly comforted by her best friend's determination not to give up in the face of adversity.

Fargo grinned as he thought about how much Amy had changed from the shy and quiet girl she had once been.

All down to my wonderful influence I shouldn't wonder, he told himself, although he didn't think it was.

Dark Jester scowled at the defiant blue-haired girl and then he smirked, remembering that it wouldn't matter in a mere few seconds.

"We'll see how mouthy you are after you've met our watchdogs." He snapped. "They should be arriving riiiiiight about...now!"

And he was absolutely correct.

A deep rumbling began to shake the floor and vibrate the soles of the Scouts' high-heeled feet.

As they stood looking at the floor and wondering what the hell was going on, Mina made a sudden exclamation and pointed at a spot of the floor a few feet away from where she was standing.

"Look! There!" She yelled.

The other whirled around to stare at what she was pointing frantically at and they all gasped.

A pit had opened up in the floor and was rapidly increasing in size.

Amy suddenly felt the floor beneath her left foot disappear, almost causing her to topple over backwards.

Looking wildly over her shoulder she gave a gasp of fear as she saw another pit had opened up just behind her.

As Amy's foot dangled in the empty space Rei suddenly made a dash forward and, wrapping her arms around Amy's waist, she dragged her back away from the pit to safety.

"Thank you!" Amy stammered as they backed away from the new pit and gathered together in a huddle.

Mina gave another yell and pointed at a third that had opened a short way off.

Sudden suspicion dawned on Alexia and as she glanced around it was proven to be well founded.

The three holes in the floor were arranged so that they surrounded the girls, who all stood in the middle of the chamber.

"Watch out, everybody!" She exclaimed. "We're trapped! He had this planned!"

The ear-splitting roar bellowed throughout the chamber once more.

"SAAAAAAHHH!!"

"SAAAAAAAHHH!!"

"SAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

As the Scouts gathered together in a circle, each of them facing outward, their eyes became wide with fear and apprehension.

Three huge and bulky creatures were rising into view from the three holes on stone elevator platforms!

Serena thought about how glad she would have been to have had her transformation brooch back at that moment...