Chapter Six
Boogeymen

Tetsuya got his wish one day late with a very boring and uneventful Tuesday. The next eight days and seven evenings pleasantly followed suit. Tetsuya still had three things weighing on the back of his mind, though. First, he couldn't help but feel that Makoto was starting to distance herself again as the day of the dance neared. Second, he was running out of money and his new identity came with it's own quirks, such as scruples. They made the thought of stealing that much more despicable and Tetsuya had already given up on figuring out how to keep track of and payback the businesses he had taken from so easily. When you could put on a ski mask, hosiery over your face and absorb one get up into your skin and pop out another, it made sneaking into a place of business and grabbing cash easy, but a nagging voice in the back of his head also made it that much harder.

Third, exactly what in blazes was Tetsuya supposed to get Ami for her birthday? Economics aside, he had no idea what to get for a girl he wanted to kiss. Makoto's distancing herself from him yet again didn't make him want to steal Ami from Ryo any less. That damned moral compass of his was also ineffective in swaying him. But his semi-secret desires aside, what was he supposed to get for the girl who adopted him into her circle of friends hours after he fell from space?

Ami did not get her wish as of the study date at the Shrine. She still had no phone calls or letters or anything from her beloved Ryo. She actually found herself missing Tetsuya's cute remarks and passes he made at her as he had started behaving himself. The two of them still talked during breaks and were forming a little trio with Kenji Yamato, who had oddly one day started talking to his classmates out of the blue and smiling on a regular basis. She assumed that he had gotten himself a girlfriend, the lucky bastard!

Usagi was starting to psych herself out on tests after initially scoring a 99 with only one point off for not putting her name on the paper, which automatically dropped her to a zero. Due to the extenuating circumstances, she was not temporarily kicked out of the house by her mother, but her marks were starting to suffer from a slow start. She seemed almost oblivious to Ami's efforts to help and was starting to give up. Maybe she just needed a different angle to see things from. Maybe Tetsuya could help her!

Tetsuya had been plaguing Makoto's mind recently. She was absolutely flattered when she heard about what he had said about her, but the old fears and doubts quickly set in. What if he was just using her, or using the entire group? What if he just wanted to take his chances with getting lucky after the dance? What if she started to like him and something terrible happened to him as well? The dance was a week and a half away, and she hadn't even looked at her lucky dress yet.

Rei couldn't help but keep thinking about what an opportunity it would be to personally thank Tetsuya for saving Ami's life, but also to get close enough to him again and see if she could make anything of his aura. It was noticeable, but not overpowering. It was present, yet felt as if it were asleep. And the most aggravating part was that she couldn't tell if the aura was benevolent or foul. Then again, she was positive that Usagi was a demon when she first met her. She still smiled about that day for many, many reasons. Perhaps she would lay off on her investigation for now...

Minako was getting a bit aggravated with Ami or Makoto bringing Slouch around all the time during lunch. Not only did he slouch, but his interfering presence made discussing the disappearing terrorist impossible until they met up at Rei's. So not only did she have to wait until then to bring up any new thoughts, but she had to remember everything from the previous meeting to provide continuity as Ami seemed to prefer not to care at times. While Minako understood how Ami felt, she also felt that she was slaking in her duties as a Senshi. But time flowed like a river, and Slouch would be arriving soon. Better fire up the discussions right away!

*.*.*

"He's not Journeyman," Minako started suddenly as she slid the door to the study room shut.

"We know," Usagi replied.

"Or the emissary from the world of candy!"

"You can't prove that..."

"He's something," Rei said evenly. "But..." I might as well concede. "...as much as it irks me to say this, it doesn't matter what he is right now. He saved Ami-chan, so he's good. An evil entity wouldn't do something like that. I promise to lay off for the time being."

"Yay, disappearing terrorist, go!" Minako quickly interjected. No one answered. "What about the cats? Luna?"

"Yeah," Usagi pondered after a moment of silence when the black cat didn't reply. "I haven't seen Luna in awhile."

"Artemis!"

No answer.

"Bah."

"Humbug," Makoto threw in.

"Aaaand the meeting's over," Ami sighed. "Tetsuya's on his way in."

"How can you tell?"

"The window."

Minako looked oddly at the window that had been there for years. "Oh, yeah. You can see right through it to the outside. I guess that makes it a window. Hey, Slouch..." She waved at him, her bright smile hiding her disappointment. "He sure is punctual.."

*.*.*

Tetsuya smiled and waved back at her before returning his attention to a black cat. Where have I seen that cat before? No memories popped up and he continued towards the door where it was flung open by a smiling Rei Hino. Goodbye, my soul...

"Good afternoon," she cheerily sang. "Welcome to my home." She bowed and he returned the gesture as he walked in. He'd barely taken his shoes off before she shut the door and hugged him. "Thank you for saving my friend!"

"Oh, no proaahhhggkk!" Tetsuya was ambushed from behind by Usagi.

"Seconded," she cried.

"Hhhuuurrrr..."

"Don't kill him," Makoto chided. "Hey, buddy."

"Hey," he wheezed after breathing in again. Where does she get all that strength from?!

"Hey, Slooo...uuuugger. Slugger!" Minako playfully punched him lightly on the arm.

Tetsuya tiled his head as he looked up at her. "Did you forget my name again?"

She bowed in apology. "Gomenasai, Tetsuya Journey. I can't remember for the life of me. It isn't Steve Perry, is it?"

Very funny, but I don't get it. "Who's Steve Perry?"

"C'mon. You know, the lead singer to Journey?"

"Uhh..."

"Laa-de-da-daah-de-da-daah-daah..."

Tetsuya was not familiar with The Wheel In the Sky.

Rei pursed her lips in thought. "How about...ladadadah-dadahda-aahh..."

Nor was he familiar with Dust In the Wind.

"That's by Kansas," Minako corrected.

Makoto smiled. "Thank you, very much, Sir Robot..."

No one was familiar with what Makoto was trying to do.

"You're thinking of Styx," Minako said politely.

"I know," Usagi started.

Oh, no...

"Up, on de hausu toppu, ding ding ding..."

"That's a Christmas song," Ami exclaimed with her hand over her face.

"And it wasn't by Steven Journey?"

"Just, stop."

*.*.*

The study session was more of an academic intervention for Usagi that took a couple of hours. While most of her issues were quickly tackled, Miss Sakurada's cruel addition of physics to math had the entire class squirming. Rei had given up and was watching a small, old TV in the next room, a habit she had picked up during her time away from the group.

"Rei," Usagi said, "turn it down. I'm trying to get help with these new vectors thingies."

"Hush! I haven't seen this one."

"Gokou, Gohan and Trunks use a triple Kamehameha to kill Broly."

Rei had a disgruntled look of despair across her face. "You blew the ending!"

"I'm not sure that it ends exactly like that," Minako added. "I'm not even sure you're thinking of the right movie."

"Well, either way, it's close enough! They grunt and they huff and they puff and they blast the bad guy all the way to market!" Usagi looked back to Tetsuya and smiled sweetly. "Okay, Tetsuya, so how do these things go again?"

"Let's take a different approach," he said calmly. "Mako-chan, if you would please start walking to the other side of the room. Just ignore me and what I do and keep walking."

"Um, sure," she said as she complied with his request. Tetsuya stood up and walked into her path, causing Makoto to bump into him and the both changed their course slightly. "Um..."

"You see that, Usagi? Now, your turn. If you could do the same thing she did, but jog from the hallway."

Usagi smiled evilly. "I think I see where this is going." She scampered to the hallway and jogged into the room with Tetsuya walking into her path. He was instead of just having his direction changed, he was knocked to the ground. "Fifth down, you must punt!"

"Red card," Makoto chuckled, confusing the sports almost as badly as Usagi had. Ami didn't bother correcting them, but laughed as Tetsuya slowly got to his feet.

"Ouch," he murmured. "Remind me never to get on your bad side. Did you see what happened each time?"

"You changed direction."

"Right. Vectors have three aspects to them. Direction, speed and mass. The last two are combined into a quality called momentum. So how much momentum do the two objects have, and what angle are they at in relation to each other? Mako-chan...hmmm..." Tetsuya looked at all four of the girls in the room. "Actually, all of you are very lovely young ladies with gorgeous figures."

"Oh, you..." Minako over exaggerated being flattered.

He looked back at Usagi and continued his lesson. "But, Mako-chan has more bone structure and muscle, thus, she has more mass than you do. But she had less of an effect on my course when she hit me than you did because you had more speed. Your velocity gave you more momentum, and so you had a bigger effect on me."

"So, I should just think of myself as one of these arrows," she asked.

"Absolutely."

"And you're the other one?"

"If you prefer."

"So, sometimes I do the knocking and sometimes I get knocked."

"And sometimes it's about even. Try this one again."

Usagi's progresses was occasionally interrupted with her sound effects as she finished the problem. "Wow. I should've been the other arrow."

Tetsuya looked at her answer and smiled. "Good job, Usagi-chan! That's the right answer! You got this!"

"Yeah, but look at the end result. You knocked me up!"

Ami, Makoto and Minako burst out in laughter as Tetsuya started to turn red.

Usagi turned on her friends when she finally realized what she had just said. "Baka baka baka!"

"Rei-chan," Makoto hollered to the other room.

"Yeah, I heard," her voice replied. "Congratulations! You trying for a boy or a girl?"

"Not a word to Mamoru," Tetsuya huffed.

Usagi opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Rei's sudden wail. "A special report! This is so not fair! It was almost at the end!"

"Hush," Minako said as she walked towards the TV, "This might be something important." The other three followed suit. Tetsuya followed them after a moment's hesitation and all six of them were huddled around the small TV.

"Live from the Crown Plaza in downtown Juuban via Sky One," the news anchor started with a chorus reply of 'that's here' from the girls, "a masked person bearing a sword and a shield has...wait...there he is...get out of the way!"

On the small screen, a young woman with red hair stepped out of the arcade. The figure leapt towards her with impossible speed and ran her through. It darted off of the camera before her body fell to the ground. The picture cut out with a 'technical difficulties' message.

"That..." Rei whimpered. "You don't think that was...Futuhara..."

"No," Tetsuya murmured. "No, just...the trick of the light. You see, these...these news...people..." Tetsuya stumbled and lost his footing, hitting his head against the counter. He swayed and fell to the floor motionless with his eyes shut.

"That was oddly convenient," Minako said, still taking in everything that was going on.

"C'mon," Usagi barked as she took her transformation brooch out of her purse. Although it was once capable of hepling her attain the form of Eternal Sailor Moon, it was only strong enough to help her attain her original form of Sailor Moon. And without help from Helios, the other Senshi oddly seemed to be trapped in their original forms as well, despite having the latest and greatest transformation pens.

"Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

"Mars Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

"Venus Power, Make-Up!"

The five warriors joined hands. "Sailor Teleport!"

*.*.*

Oh, gods...Tetsuya's eyes flickered open and he began quickly chanting the battle mantras. He hoped and prayed to deities he didn't really believe in that he hadn't seen what he thought he saw. Please...

He leapt to his feet and ran out of the shrine. He knew he had only been out for a minute, but it had been such a shock to him! That couldn't have been a Scout. But the style of uniform, weapons and combat style as well as the eagerness to kill an unarmed civilian all matched. No...why...

He stopped for a moment and thought. If the Kiljargans were invading Earth, there would have been orbital bombardments of the major population centers and military installations. Tokyo would probably have been molten slag and he would be dead. The suburban areas would be randomly selected for fighter and bomber attacks just for fun. That had been how he had lost his second family when they invaded. It was something else.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry as his Scout suit seeped out of his skin and onto his body. As he sprinted towards battle, crying began to win. It wasn't supposed to be like this. As The Journeyman, Tetsuya ran and hopped across rooftops at top speed and cut through ally ways, knocking frightened and surprised bystanders to the ground who didn't get out of his way fast enough.

He knew what was going to happen. He knew what was coming. He knew there was nothing that could be done to avert the tide. Tetsuya's helmet hid the tears of anger and despair that were running down his face. It's not fair. It's not fair! Everything I do, everywhere I go, they're always following me. Always looking at me through a microscope. I hate them. I hate their empire. I hate their religion. I hate them all. I hate Klijarga!

Tetsuya focused his thoughts and let the cold, emotionless battle lust take over. He surrendered to the lust for blood, the thrill of the kill. He knew it was horribly evil, but it was one of the only ways he knew of overcoming his instinctive cowardice. He thought of the innocents that had been slain for no reason, their faces frozen in terror as families lied motionless in heaps. It did nothing for him.

He then thought of looking through the eyes of his squad commander as he lay dying, ran through from behind without warning. Images of the people he had killed in battle or out of anger flowed into his mind. He stopped crying and smiled at the violent memories. The change allowed him to better regulate his breathing and run even faster. Flashes of light let him know that the fight had begun. The Scout had seen the Senshi, and they would be likened to the legendary Val'Kureis of propechy.

So, this is how I will die, in battle with those damned Klijargans. The fight was probably being relayed to a Scout vessel already. Either the Senshi would have been seen fighting the Scout, or the traitor would have shown up. There would have been no feasible scenario to warn the Senshi to stay hidden, no way to fool the Klijargans from discovering that their dead messiah was alive and a traitor. Everything had already turned to crap the moment Klijarga decided that Earth might be its holy land.

So, this is how I die...

*.*.*

"Stop!" Usagi screamed at the masked figure. "You're massacring my people. This is unforgivable! In the name of the moon, I will punish you! Senshi, attack!"

"Shabbon Freezing Spray!"

"Fire Soul Bird!"

"Supreme Thunder Dragon."

"Love Me Chain!"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

The figure who looked just like The Journeyman dodged out of the range of the freezing attack and ducked under the lightning dragon that snapped the air harmlessly. The chain attack wrapped around his shield, pulling aside, but he hit away Sailor Moon's tiara attack with his sword. With a good yank, Minako pulled the shield away, but with a helping toss from him, the shield slammed into her face, knocking her out of the battle.

"No you don't," Rei snarled. "Fire Soul!"

The figure leapt in a spiraling spin through the attack, towards Rei with his sword stretched out. Rei only had time to realize she hadn't told Yuuichirou that she loved him that day as the blade closed the distance.

The other Senshi could only stare in terror as Rei tried to dodge out of the way, but heard a metallic cry of pain as a second black figure tackled her to the ground away from the blade. The figure kept running and oriented himself for another attack.

"Journeyman," Rei groaned as she was yanked to her feet.

"Sailor Mars, we need to stop meeting like this," he replied through the voice filter on his mask.

"With you tackling me?"

"Kyaaa!" Ami, armed with Minako's whip, wrapped the whip around the figure as he made another run at Usagi.

"I got this," Makoto said with a smile. "Supreme..."

"No..." Ami tried hollering.

"...Thunder!"

"You stupid fu...aaaaauuuuuggghhhhh!" Both Ami and the figure were engulfed by the burst of electricity. Ami fell to her knees and lost her grip on the whip. The figure kept his feet, unwrapped the whip and flicked it at Makoto, wrapping her neck with it. He sprinted off, causing Makoto to be dragged behind him, trying to unwrap the strangling whip.

"Sailor Jupier!" Usagi cried. "Moon Princess Halation!" The attack knocked the figure off of his feet, but he kept his grip and leapt over a lamp post, pulling Makoto into the air. He quickly tied it off and faced the new attacker and merely stood, as if shocked.

"Dosh hiur," the enemy yelled in the Klijargan tongue in a natural, masculine voice. "Jirghy jrah Teliktas gryumaphyut jhajha tess." He then bowed.

"No..." Journeyman growled. "No. No! Nooooooo!" He charged towards the other figure and materialized his red blade in his left hand and slashed down. The attack was blocked and the began yelling, as if pleading, but Journeyman would have nothing to do with it. "Shut up! Shut up and die! Just shut up and die!"

While the two were fighting, Usagi sprinted to Makoto and untied the whip. She dropped to the ground coughing. "Are you alright?"

She nodded as she uncoiled the whip from her neck. "Never better," she rasped. "How's Sailor Mercury and Venus?"

"Venus is still down."

"And Sailor Mercury?"

"I'm fine," she hollered while standing over Minako, "no thanks to you, though!"

"Why are you all standing," Journeyman yelled at the Senshi while continuing his duel.

"You're all moving too fast," Rei said. "What if we hit you on accident?"

"Hit us both! Sailor Mercury! Now!"

"Double Sabbon Freezing Spray!"

Journeyman locked his sword against the figure's and grabbed his arm with his free hand. He once again felt the paralyzing cold of the freezing attack. The figure began struggling and almost instantly started to break free.

"Hit him now!"

"Usa..." Mercury started, but caught herself before speak her name, "Sailor Moon and Mars, use your combined Fire Tiara Action attack!"

Sailor Moon and Mars made eye contact, and nodded.

"Fire Soul!"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

Sailor Moon threw her Tiara and Sailor Mars's Fire Soul attack touched it, turning it into a burning red disc heading right for the figure. The shockwave created from the impact threw Journeyman out of the area of Sailor Mercury's spell, and as he flew, he heard the scream of Vendeusi. As he shook away the daze from the blast's concussion, he stood and walked back towards the figure. He took his mask off and smiled at Journeyman. He spoke several gurgled words, blood coursing down his mouth from his ruptured lungs. He then laughed weakly and lowered his head, staring at the sky with half-closed unseeing eyes.

"What did he say," Makoto asked as she carried a semi-conscious Sailor Venus towards the group.

"His name was Igrosh Vendeusi. He and I were Scouts in the Klijargan military's Holy Guard."

"What is he doing here," Sailor Mars asked. "What are you doing here on Earth? Why did you come here? Why did he follow you? What the hell is a Klijargan, and lastly, thanks for saving my life."

Journeyman stood silently for a moment before speaking. "I came here seeking freedom and a new life. I am not Klijargan like him. I come from a world called Aschothiyl. It was invaded and I was forced into service. As for him..." Journeyman looked towards the flashing lights of EMS vehicles that were rapidly approaching. "You can teleport, correct?"

"Ugh," Minako mumbled. "Yeah."

"How about one of the roof tops?"

The five Senshi joined hands with him in the center. "What about him," Usagi asked softly, looking at Vendeusi's body. "We can't just leave him here."

"You saw what he did to those people, and you still grieve over his death."

"I killed him."

"What's wrong? It's different when you kill a person rather than some evil demon, isn't it?" Journeyman meet Sailor Moon's shocked gaze through his unfeeling helmet. "You've never actually killed a person, have you? I'm sorry, but you mush get used to it. I'll explain more in a moment."

"Sailor Teleport!"

*.*.*

Tetsuya took another moment to finish whispering his post battle mantras. He didn't need to pass out again or start laughing at Usagi's expression when the tears began falling. After the last mantra was uttered, he felt relatively, for lack of a better word, human again.

"Sorry about the delay," he said. "I had to alter my mindset. When I go into battle, I have to become someone else."

"What do you mean," Minako asked.

"It doesn't matter. I'll explain it another time."

"You're bleeding," Rei said. "When you pushed me out of the way, he nicked out."

"I'll be alright. My power is to copy or emulate the abilities of those around me after awhile. The powers weaken and disappear if I am away from someone for awhile. However, if I kill someone or am right by them as they die, I absorb their powers and abilities forever. The first ability I ever took in that manner was my rapid healing ability. I won't even have a scar by the morning.

"Now, as for the manner at hand..."

Usagi started to sob. "I'm sorry...keep going..."

Rei put her hand on Usagi's shoulder. "It's okay. I got you."

"I truly am sorry," Tetsuya continued, "but you must all hear this and hear it now. For reasons I cannot understand, the Klijargan Empire now thinks that Earth is it's promised land, and they will begin a holy trial to claim it as their own."

"What kind of a trial? What does this have to do with us?"

"You are like the Val'Kureis described in their holy books, seven planets and a moon guardian. I can't even begin to wonder why they are ignoring Pluto or any of the other outer bodies in this solar system."

"They're coming for us." Rei swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "They're coming to kill us and take over Earth. How do we stop an entire army?"

"Only their elite will engage you in combat. They will send in the lowest ranks first. How many and when and what specific rules of engagement will be determined by them."

"So as long as one of us is still standing," Minako said, "Earth will be safe?"

Tetsuya pointed at Usagi. "She has to survive this. To consecrate this world, they must sprinkle her blood into an urn with the ashes of the prophetess Lady Klijarga. The ashes would then be spread throughout the atmosphere and disperse over Earth. As long as she lives and doesn't flee from battle, the Earth will be safe."

"So..." Usagi had managed to get her sobbing under control. "I...need to fight and kill."

Tetsuya nodded. "There will be thirty to fifty combatants."

"How powerful are they?"

"Very, but from what I've read up on you, you were quiet strong yourself at one time. Is there a reason you're all weak now?"

"That's confidential," Rei said, cutting off Usagi's reply. "But don't worry, we're quickly getting back to our old selves. When's the next part of this trial?"

"Don't worry, they'll find you."

"The way they found us," Usagi demanded. "By killing innocent people? I saw a girl my age lying next to a boy who was probably barely a teenager. The pools of blood were still spreading from their bodies when I came across them. Their faces...I knew right away they were brother and sister. I also have a younger brother. Had fate been different, it could have been the two of use dead on the sidewalk in their place."

"I cannot say for sure what will happen next. Not all of the Klijargans are active butcherers. Some of them refrain from partaking in the slaughter of the innocent, but they do nothing to stop it. That's why I had to get away, and that's why I'm willing to die fighting against them to protect Earth. For the most part, I'm just as much in the dark as you all are."

"What can I do to protect my people? This slaughter is unacceptable!"

"I...I don't know. It depends on who is in the trial. I'll tell you everything I can as soon as I know."

"How will you find us," Ami asked.

"Don't worry about it." Tetsuya bowed to the Senshi and sprinted off into the night.

*.*.*

The Senshi stared at the Journeyman as he ran off. "Well," Makto said softly with a grainy voice, "that's a lot to swallow."

"I once said that I didn't believe you could gain anything from fighting," Usagi said softly. "I still believe that. What can we gain from fighting? It won't bring back the dead, only more to join them."

"You're too sweet..." Rei started.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Usagi whispered. "Don't you dare."

"We have to fight," Ami said.

"I know. We stand to lose everything if we don't fight back. I won't simply lay down my life for these monsters. I can only imagine what fate would befall the people of Earth if they took over. In the name of the moon and the people who lost their lives for no reason this night, I will prevail."

The other four nodded their approval and gave a look of defiant confidence to show their support. "Let's get out of here," Minako said.

"Sailor Teleport!"

*.*.*

Tetsuya had barely gotten back to the shrine when the Senshi all teleported back into the same room. They didn't notice him until they had all powered down to their alter egos. Well, I guess now's as good of a time as ever.

"T-Tetsuya..." Ami stammered.

"No," he replied, "it's okay. I've been..."

"Tetsuya Journey," an unfamiliar voice cried from behind.

Tetsuya turned to the sound and saw the black cat.

*.*.*

"He's coming too," a familiar voice said.

Ami...Tetsuya opened his eyes. "I fainted again..."

"Close. You fell and hit your head. So you were knocked out, I guess."

"I'm worse than Nancy Drew."

"I'm not familiar with her."

"Never mind..."

Something wasn't right, but Tetsuya couldn't figure it out. After passing Ami's quick medical exam, he was cleared to head home, allowing the girls to not discuss what was going on. They'd had enough for one evening.

*.*.*

Tetsuya awoke in a small hotel in Juuban, his head swimming like a bad hangover. He felt the worst he had felt in over a year, as if the chemicals in his brain were completely imbalanced. It was most likely from some terrible dream he didn't remember as he was nearly two years sober. For a moment, he realized his memory had been tampered with, probably through some magic spell of the Sailor Senshi. As he retraced his thoughts, his depression got more severe as he remembered that the Klijargan Empire's elite soldiers were inbound to Earth. That's no dream. It's a nightmare.

He then thought of the Sailor Senshi, and all the depression, all of the doubts and the gloom were eased and replaced by a sliver of hope. He had a strong belief that someway, somehow, he and the Senshi would weather the oncoming storm. The Senshi...who are they? His memory of the identities of the Senshi had been utterly erased, but it didn't matter. Tetsuya would overcome the spell soon enough.

He looked at the clock in his room. It was about time to get up and go to school. He smiled to himself. He was going to see Ami and Makoto. Again, the gloom lessened from a banshee wail to a minor sigh. Tetsuya rose up from his bed and started the day's routine. Maybe he wasn't going to die soon…

*.*.*

Luna smiled at Artemis. "It was a good idea to hang around at the Shrine. It would have been rather awkward if Tetsuya had discovered all of the girls' identities."

Artemis flicked his tail and grinned in reply. "I'm glad you approve."

Minako walked into her small bedroom room where the two cats had been lounging. For four years, it had been her living space ever since returning from England. She had picked a smaller 'guest' room as hers because she liked the coziness. Besides, her house had a full sized study room for all of her stuff. "Oh, sumimasen Artemis," Minako said when she saw the two cats, "I didn't know you had company."

"It's alright," Luna said, "we were merely discussing the memory block spell I used on Tetsuya. I really had trouble perfecting it, but I'm confident it'll hold out. I mean, the only way for the spell to break is for him to rediscover your identities. Oh, I just wish I'd had it a couple years back when Jadite learned the others' identities, but it all worked out in the end."

"Hey," Minako asked, "Ami-chan says that there are no records of the Klijargans on the computer."

"They must be from the Shadow Zone, an area of the galaxy not charted by Crystal Tokyo."

"Even so, wouldn't they still be rebuilding? I mean, Galaxia messed up a large portion of the galaxy during her rampage."

"They might still be recovering. If they're only sending a small elite task force, then it wouldn't really hurt them."

"So we don't know when they're coming, we don't know how many, but from what we've seen, one of them isn't a problem, but a whole group of them would be overwhelming. And the fact that our powers are weakened doesn't make matters any better."

Luna sighed. "Artemis and I think that it's just the fact that you girls haven't used your powers for almost two years that's keeping you weakened. Mamoru is still unable to change into Tuxedo Mask, and we have no way of reaching the Outer Senshi. Hotaru is in Europe with her father and her communicator is at her house. Haruka and Michiru are in Hawai'i."

"Together," Artemis said in an implying voice.

Luna scowled at him before continuing. "Obviously. Anyways, to make matters worse, the gates of time seem to be in hiatus. We have no way of reaching Sailor Pluto, Chibi-Usa or Crystal Tokyo."

Minako thought for a second. "If we could learn Journeyman's identity, we could find out if we can really trust him or not, and maybe he could explain about the Shadow Zone and the Klijargans. I mean, isn't it believed that the Kiseinan Flower originated from there? We could learn a lot from this Journeyman."

Artemis smiled. "Very observant, Minako-chan."

"Thanks!"

"It's just a shame that you can't observe the clock."

"Huh?"

Luna sighed as she pointed at the clock. "You're going to be late for school."

"Observe this!" The two cats received a first-class flight out of Minako's room into the hall.

*.*.*

Tetsuya couldn't figure the whole thing out. A person in the right frame of mind would be screaming to know how they had gotten out of the Shrine, to the site of the skirmish and back without being noticed. But memory spells were a pain, and every time Tetsuya tried to think logically, something more important came up, like a piece of lint on his collar or the patter of the tiles in the bathroom, and the thoughts about his transport to the battle were pushed aside. He knew something was up as he knew that there had once been a time when he knew the identity of the Senshi, but for some reason, he was too busy looking for shapes in the bumps on the coating of drywall on the ceiling. This continued until the day of the dance.

After a vicious battle of words about the conductive properties of Minako's chain whip, Ami and Makoto became friends again, and with a year of catching up to do, the two chatter bugs left Usagi and Minako to do some catching up of their own. Rei was left to fend for herself at the T.A. Academy and kept herself occupied by simply thinking about the strange aura Tetsuya gave off. All she knew was that he and the mysterious Journeyman were good guys. She decided not to bother pursuing her quest when she would see him again at the dance. That was her night to be with Yuuichirou.

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Disconnected ramblings from the author...

Well, it's been a busy week. I've decided to put my notes with my story rather than posting them on deviantArt. So...this chapter was originally 4 1/2 pages and titled First Attack. The major changes is that Tetsuya actually wanted to tell the Senshi that he was Journeyman and that the Senshi knew he had discovered their identities. In the original version, Tetsuya has no intention of revealing his identity and has his memory erased by Luna who is observing the battle. Also, Tetsuya simply left the shrine. Not very plausible when there's a killer swordsman running around a mile away...

Other than that, this chapter is what it is. Have to be careful with song lyrics not in the public domain, and the villains have been revealed, though not really introduced. Well, it's off to the dance next! I should have a lot more to talk about with that one in my notes section.