Chasing the Moon

Chapter 9

Everyone give a great big THANX to my betas: Yami-san, Crazy-chan, Dreamer-chan, & Ten-chan. With their help, this chapter was made much better than what I had originally. YAY! And also, thank you to everyone who replied to my beta request. I greatly appreciate all the support!

::IMPORTANT:: For old readers, PLEASE REREAD CHAPTERS 1 & 8 (most noticable) because CHANGES have been made. THANK YOU.


A white cat slowly nudged open a door, the sounds of happy humming and sizzling floating through the air. A brunette stood at the stove, the handle of a pan in one hand, her other holding a spatula and poking at the contents. The cat padded to the chef and rubbed its head against her ambles, startling her.

"Oh!" She jumped. Hand over her heart she looked down at the cat's upturned face. "Artemis! I almost ruined breakfast!" she scolded, waving the spatula.

"Sorry, Makoto," the cat spoke, bowing his head. Then he stuck his nose in the air, closed his green eyes, and took an exaggerated sniff. "Mmm. What are you making?"

"Omelets," she turned back to the stove. "They're almost finished, so would you mind waking Mina up?" She sent a wink towards the grimacing cat. "I'll give you extra portions…" she bribed.

Artemis flicked his tail once before padding out of the kitchen. There was a muffled "thanks!" behind him as the door swung shut. He walked down the hall and stopped at the second door on his left. He pawed at the closed door until it opened slightly, then he nosed into the closed-curtained room, and stalked forward. He stopped a foot from the bed and contemplated the lumpy mound occupying its center. A streak of sunlight shifted across the bed from between the curtains and the lump moved.

Dropping into a crouch, a devilish smirk graced his feline features before he leapt onto the bed, as loud a screech as he could produce roaring out as he landed.

Back in the kitchen, Makoto paused as a loud "Ahh!" ripped through the small apartment, followed by a yowl and accompanying thud. Makoto shook her head, sighed, and continued setting out the food. Moments later a sleep-rumpled blonde entered the kitchen, zoomed in on the food, and promptly sat down to eat.

"Good morning, Mina!" Mako chimed cheerfully. Mina sent her a half-hearted glare until Mako set down a cup of tea in front of her. Moments later, a second cup was set in front of the more alert blonde, which she sipped leisurely in between bites of breakfast. "Better?" Mako asked with a fond smile.

"Much," Mina replied. "And good morning."

"Mako," Artemis whined from under the table. "I'm hungry, too." Mina sent a kick at him, which missed. He swiped a sheathed paw at her in retaliation, grumbling about spoiled blondes.

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Across town, Makoto's counterpart, Nephrite, was calling his suitemates to the table. As soon as Mamoru and Kunzite walked in, he sent them right back out and to the showers. Jadeite, already sitting at the table, smirked at their disgruntled expressions, until Nephrite forbade him to eat until they came back.

"And where's Zoisite?" Nephrite asked the sulking blonde.

"With Ami. Where else?" Jadeite snapped. He got a head-smack in turn.

A few short minutes later, Mamoru and Kunzite returned to the kitchen freshly showered. A word of thanks to Nephrite for the food and the meal was quickly devoured.

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Exiting the city's public library was a frequent pair of visitors: a college-aged young man of average height, blonde hair in a horsetail and intelligent green eyes, holding a bag presumably filled with the necessary books; accompanying him was a shorter, high-school aged young woman with her nose in an advanced science book. The young woman's boy-cut black hair kept falling into her navy eyes and obstructing her view frequently. The young man put an affectionate arm around her shoulders, guiding her to avoid obstacles in their path.

"You know, Ami, it helps to watch where you're walking," the blonde said, amused.

Without taking her eyes from her book, Ami reached up and patted the hand on her shoulder and then laced her fingers with his.

"That's what I keep you around for, Zoisite," Ami replied absently.

"I shudder to think what would happen if you didn't," he chuckled.

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In a large house on the quiet edges of the city, soft string music flowed out of the open windows. Inside an elegantly decorated sitting room were two young women: one sitting, one standing.

The younger of the pair – looking to be no more than 16 – had her shoulder-length black hair pulled away from her face with plain silver clips, allowing her to play the violin upon her shoulder without worrying about catching her hair. Her pale fingers danced with the bow and the stings of her instrument, her lavender dress swaying gently with her rocking motion.

The elder – looking to be about 18 – sat in an armless chair, a cello between her legs. Her long aqua hair was secured at the nape of her neck, her head bowed over her instrument, eyes closed in concentration. Her off-white dress complemented her lightly tanned skin and shown brightly against the dark wood of the cello.

A door behind the duo slid open silently, a tall dark-skinned woman entering just as quietly and taking a seat on the couch pushed against the wall to her left. Her long dark hair gleamed an emerald green in the soft overhead lights as she blew on the mug of tea in her hands. Taking a sip, she closed her eyes and sighed appreciatively. She smiled gently, her legs crossing beneath her mauve skirt and foot tapping in time with the music.

The music slowly tapered off and the woman on the couch opened her eyes.

"That was lovely. Did you write that, Michiru?" she asked.

The cellist opened her eyes as well, smiling as she turned to face the speaker.

"Good morning, Setsuna. No, actually, Hotaru here is writing it," she nodded fondly at the youngest in the room.

Hotaru nodded at Setsuna, slightly embarrassed as pink blossomed on her face.

"Good morning, Auntie Setsuna."

"Good morning, Hota. That was a beautiful song. Have you finished it yet or do you plan to add more?" Setsuna inquired.

Hotaru's face grew melancholy, the color fading from her cheeks.

"It's not done yet. But the music has grown louder." Hotaru began to stare at something unseen, the top-crossed, slightly wavy "h" symbol of Saturn glowing softly against her forehead.

Setsuna swung her worried cinnamon gaze to meet Michiru's matching teal eyes. They turned to look at Hotaru as she continued softly.

"She's close now. Her song is clearer. Closer." She blinked dreamy violet eyes at the pair staring at her. "We'll find Her soon." She smiled.

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Jadeite climbed a long flight of stairs leading to the Cherry Hill Shrine in the middle of the city. An irate young woman in red hakama and white gi stood at the top of the stairs, tapping her foot.

"You're late!" she yelled at Jadeite.

"Sorry, Rei!" he yelled back.

"Not yet, you're not," she shot back. She pointed to her left, towards a pile of cleaning supplies. Jadeite groaned as he spied the broom, mop, rake, bags, and other equipment that promised a long day of manual labor.

He heaved a sigh that earned him no sympathy from the fire priestess, grabbed a broom, and got started on the top steps.

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Rei stalked off, huffing angrily under her breath about the evils of men, and listened carefully for the sounds of sweeping. Satisfied that Jadeite was doing his job, almost an hour late, she released her breath and calmed down. Standing outside the Fire Room, she breathed in and out several times to relax her mind and body. Entering into the Great Fire's presence with too much emotion - especially for someone so in-tuned to the element to begin with - was just asking to get burned.

Her tranquil state of mind restored, she slid open the shoji and entered. The Fire flared a little at the income of air, but quickly returned to normal after she closed it behind her. Rei walked forward to kneel before the flames, sitting quietly in meditation as she sought the source of her earlier disquiet. How long she sat before the Fire she did not measure, but at the sudden flare her eyes snapped open.

Inside the now white flames was a dark shadow. Rei's internal fire roared to life at the presence of evil but she pushed it down, looking deeper into the glaring white for the location of the youma. When she found it, the fires died down as she jumped up and rushed out of the room.

"Jadeite!" she yelled. "Time to go!" She quickly brought her communicator out of her robes and hit the plain white all-call button. "Girls, we've got a visitor waiting for us in the City."


Soft taps accompanied by nearly inaudible grunts played counterpoint to the sharp snaps of ribbons and capes as the Senshi and Generals raced across rooftops. Sailor Mercury, in her ice blue and dark blue accented fuku, was in the front as she led their direction based on the information from her computer.

"Two blocks, a right and then we should be on top of it!" she shouted to the others behind her.

"Can you get any readings on the youma itself, Mercury?" a Senshi in orange and pale yellow, a jeweled chain wrapped around her waist (1) asked as she pulled even.

"Not without being closer, Venus," Mercury replied. "What about you, Mars? Can you pick up on anything?"

A Senshi in sharp red and softer purples pulled up closer to the two Senshi in the lead.

"Nothing definitive, but something is restless and something else is… waiting, I think," Sailor Mars frowned, trying to decipher what she was "picking up" on.

"Something else?" a smooth baritone voice interjected. Mars and Venus shifted their positions to make room for Tuxedo Mask. "Is there more than one youma?"

"I don't think it's another youma, but I don't know for sure," Mars replied hesitantly. Her eyes grew distant as she focused her attention inward.

A General, dressed in a light grey suit, dark red piping along his suit's hem, came up behind Sailor Mars and gently steered her around obstacles she didn't notice in her trance-like state. He pulled hard on her arms when the group stopped but she didn't. The abrupt halt jolted her out of her trance and she focused on her surroundings.

Five stories below the Senshi and accompanying Generals was a shroud of silence and bodies. In neat circles that formed an aerial target were unmoving and carelessly sprawled civilians. There was no sign of the youma. Venus gave a signal and the Senshi split into pairs and spread out around the perimeter of the block, sticking to the rooftops for a better view of the land. Venus and Pluto remained where they were as Mercury and Jupiter moved to their left side. Mars and Neptune moved to the right side of Venus and Pluto and completed their triangle formation. General Jadeite joined Mars and Neptune and General Zoisite joined Mercury and Jupiter, while Tuxedo Mask remained with Venus and Pluto.

With the group as strategically placed as possible, being short three members, they all dropped to the ground and began to enter the first ring of bodies. When all three groups confirmed that the civilians had pulses (though faint and a little quick), they began to search for the elusive youma they all could feel somewhere in the vicinity.

A loud roar sounded but echoed confusingly among the buildings, before everything fell silent again. The groups of three all held their breath in the eerie quiet. If they hadn't, they probably would not have noticed the faint scraping sound. Mercury, Jupiter, and Zoisite quickly backed into an alley where Mercury dropped to one knee, pulled out her computer and visor, and began scanning the area for the disturbance. Just as Mercury's computer beeped a response at her, Mars let out an involuntary yelp from across the block. Neptune and Jadeite quickly responded with simultaneous roundhouse kicks to Mars' assailant.

Mercury's eyes widened as she cried out. "No powers! It's the civilians! They're being controlled!"

The first ring of bodies that they had all passed through – and now had at their backs – rose up and stood with the boneless look of a marionette. They all lumbered towards the separated groups, attempting to pull them each down into a suffocating dog pile. The Senshi didn't use their attacks not wanting to injure the innocents, but with so many of them coming in wave after relentless wave, they began to grow anxious. There came another great roar and all the bodies stopped instantly and stood in docile positions. The Senshi and generals froze in their defensive positions, looking around warily. Jupiter and Zoisite moved back to Mercury's side and with a sharp nod from the nearby Venus, Mercury dropped down to one knee again to scan the area. A low staccato growl filled the empty air and everyone – excluding the intently scanning Sailor Mercury – tensed at the sound.

"Your tiny gadget will not find me, Ice Brat," a gravelly voice growled out. "Then again," the staccato growls began again, "I'm not the one you'd want to be looking for!"

Mercury froze for a second as her computer began to frantically beep. Her eyes widened and she shouted a warning to the others as she dived into an alley.

"Move it!" she screamed.

The other began reacting when they noticed Mercury's unease, but were too far from protection. A sudden blast hit the ground a handful of yards from the scattered group, knocking them down, crashing into people and buildings. The possessed civilians seemed unaffected by the blast, the few knocked down by the affected heroes merely stood back up and waited. Mercury threw out a quick "Shabon Spray" and a thick foggy mist quickly filled the block. The Senshi got to their feet and grouped around Mercury, who was again scanning for the youma. The men stood protectively in front of the women.

"The computer says the energy blast came from directly ahead, about fifty feet," Mercury whispered. "There's a large mass, but I'm not reading any type of energy signature."

Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Mask exchanged quick glances.

"Initial assault?" she asked.

"Small group, distant attacks."

"Too much risk. One attacker would be best."

Tuxedo Mask was quiet for a moment. "Contrast image, then." Sailor Venus nodded. "I'll do it then. I can do distant and multiple," he cut off her protest. She sighed and agreed. Tuxedo Mask stepped forward and away from the group, reaching into his cape before sharply tossing out handfuls of steel-edged roses in the direction Sailor Mercury pointed him in.

There were multiple sounds of impact and Sailor Mercury, who was focusing on her computer's read-outs, gave a soft "ha!" in triumph.

"It's large," she said, "but it has a weak energy signature."

"Any weak points?" Neptune asked in the same tone. Mercury was silent as she continued typing.

"Its body heat appears to be drastically low, so intense heat may be effective. However, it appears to have some form of armor on that theoretically would prevent such an exploitable fault."

"Is the armor vulnerable then?"

"Try the joints," was the hesitant reply. "There's one directly down the center and two on the sides. Those appear to be the weakest parts." Venus and Tuxedo nodded and then the men went out on the offensive. Venus turned to the Senshi behind her.

"Pluto, when I give the signal, I want you to hit it first. Neptune, Mercury, I want that thing drenched. Jupiter, zap it. Hopefully that will have weakened the armor enough that the guys can break it off. Mars, once that armor falls; you and Jupiter fry the thing. I want it extra crispy!" Venus commanded.

"HAI!"

"Go!"

Venus and the Generals charged into the mist and began firing off their most physical attacks. As their momentum brought them closer to the mist-shrouded youma, they let out one more barrage of attacks and abruptly backed off. Venus shouted "Now!" to the waiting Senshi behind them.

Pluto's whispered attack slammed into the battered youma, which was too cumbersome to move out of the line of fire. The youma countered with several impressive blasts, but it's slow movements allowed everyone to easily dodge the now-visible attacks. After Pluto, Neptune and Mercury stepped up; first Neptune soaked it, then Mercury froze and immobilized it.

Jupiter shot off a "Thunder Zap" attack that danced and crackled around the ice. As it began to smoke the ice cracked off and the youma slumped forward. It began laughing its staccato growl and shot off a final message as Mars' fiery assault bore down on it.

"I'm not the one you should worry about!" Then its armor broke and the youma disintegrated. From its ashes rose a black mist that began to quickly cover the ground. Everyone backed away from it, wary of letting it come close, let alone allowing it to touch them. Mercury was again using her computer to scan everything, but nothing besides the group and the still-possessed civilians were registering on her visor screen.

"Mercury, what is this stuff?" Zoisite called to his lover. At the first sound of his voice, the first sound to have broken the silence since the youma was dusted, the black mist stopped spreading instantly.

"What the hell?" was the consensus by all. "Mercury?"

"I don't know; it's not registering all at!"

A soft, airy laugh whispered through the area, followed by a dark figure walking out of the mist towards the Senshi. The form was short and, as the meager light fell upon it, looked to be a child with curly light brown hair in a Lolita-style (5) dress. She was carrying a toy bear's head in one hand and the bear's body in the other. She flashed a charming, innocence-laced smile at the stunned group, a sweet child's voice coming from her direction though her lips never moved.

"This? This is the stuff Nightmares are made of!"

The child-youma cocked her head to one side and the mist moved with her, shooting out at the nearest person, Sailor Pluto, and covering her head-to-toe. There was stunned silence for a moment and then her screams rang out from her black-shrouded form, her thrashing struggles clearly visible and obviously futile. The child-youma giggled, delighted with the effects.

"Pluto!" Venus screamed. Venus rushed towards the giggling child-youma, calling out her "Crescent Smash" attack. The youma cocked her head to the other side and a civilian suddenly appeared in front of the attack, shielding the child-youma. The person didn't make a sound or even flinch as the attack sliced through. "Oh Goddess!" The civilian wilted and black mist began oozing from the wound in place of blood.

"That wasn't very nice of her, was it, Mr. Bear?" The child lifted the bear's head to eye level and shook it side-to-side. "If they're not going to play nice, neither will we!" She dropped her hand off the bear's head, which remained floating in place. The head turned to face the Senshi with evil red eyes and a fang-baring grin. Pluto's screams and thrashing grew more violent as its mouth opened and began sucking in all the mist, dragging Pluto's covered form with it.

"Mercury!"

"I don't know! Nothing's registering!"

Unnoticed tendrils of black mist snagged the legs of three Generals and the nearby Senshi, Mars and Jupiter, pulling them to the ground and dragging them towards the bear's head as well. The child-youma clapped the bear's hands together, giggling excitedly and bouncing on her feet as she watched everyone struggling against the growing shadow-bonds.

"Light of Revelations!" an unfamiliar voice called out. It was followed by a burst of blinding light that literally burned away the black mist, leaving smoking grey ashes in its place.

"Ahh! What have you done! Mr. Bear, Mr. Bear!" The child-youma sounded suitably upset, standing over the ashes of what was her toy bear's severed head. "Who did this? Who did this?" she screamed, her eyes beginning to glow red.

"I did." Everyone turned towards the voice. Silhouetted by a ray of sunlight in the otherwise grey and gloomy atmosphere, was an unrecognized Senshi. She stepped forward and revealed herself to the group. First were gold knee-high boots encasing bare legs covered in a matching gold mini-skirt attached to an iridescent white fuku. White gloves with gold piping half-covered arms crossed in front of a gold-jeweled white bow. Finally, her face was brought to light; a determined expression in her sunset-shifting eyes and crowned by a darker gold tiara, a glowing gold gem set in its point. Her rosy-gold hair was held in two pigtails at the top of her head, each tail confined into a pair of braids that reached her waist. Standing in the light, she recited her introduction, "I hound the heels of Darkness, bringing the Light of Truth and Justice. Shadows do not exist in the presence of the Sun. I am Sailor Sun!" (2)

"Sailor Sun, is it?" the child-youma snarled, its voice no longer so sweet sounding. "Even the sun can be covered by shadows!" She thrust the bear's headless body toward the new Senshi and the black mist burst out of the gaping hole.

Sailor Sun didn't budge from her position even as the mist converged upon her. When she was fully covered and concealed, the child-youma began cackling. She stopped when cracking filled the air and beams of light shone through the tears in the mist. The shadows exploded and dissolved into ash as Sailor Sun stood in her stance, arms cocked on her hips now, and glowing a bright, sunny gold.

"Well then," Sailor Sun raised a hand and snapped her fingers, a small marble-sized ball of light forming above her opened palm. "One turn deserves another, doesn't it?" she asked rhetorically before flicking the ball of light at the child-youma.

Everyone remained motionless as they watched the light soar through the air to bounce against the youma's forehead and settle onto her hair. The ball of light shone brighter and then seemed to melt over the youma's body, covering her completely. As the light covered her eyes she began screaming, clawing at the insubstantial light. The Senshi and Generals stared in shock as the youma freaked out over the light covering her body.

"The Darkness cannot abide the Light. Use it to your advantage, Sailors, Generals." Sailor Sun nodded to each group – who stared at her blankly, still shocked – and she leapt away, disappearing into a beam of light they couldn't look into.

"Light!" Mercury exclaimed, the first to figure out the meaning as she snapped out of her daze. "Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Jadeite! Your attacks!"

As the others shook off their shock, the aforementioned turned questioning gazes to the Ice Senshi.

"Your attack elements all produce the most light! If the four of you all attack her, it should dust her!"

"Alright, you heard her," Venus said strongly. "On three!" They all stood up and prepared. "One, two, three!"

Four attacks rang out, combined, and hit the obliviously screaming youma. She stopped screaming for an instant and then exploded into ash. Everyone let out sighs of relief before jumping to the rooftops.

"Tomorrow, 2 PM," Venus said quietly. "There's much to discuss."

Everyone nodded, then separated into pairs or singles, dropped into different alleys to dehenshin, (3) and went about their day as though nothing happened. In the street below, the possessed civilians all came out of their trances and continued their business, never aware of any change in their lives. The civilian Sailor Venus thought she attacked slowly faded away in the light, the illusion of shadows holding it together slowly dissipating without the child-youma to hold it together.


Unseen on a nearby rooftop, Sailor Sun stood with two other Senshi.

"They need a lot of work," Sailor Sun said.

"They have to be ready," the tallest added.

"They will be," the third interjected. "It'll just take time."

"Time's not your forte, Crescent," the tallest shot back, amused.

"And it's not yours, either," Sailor Sun snapped back. "Patience is a virtue, but you two are the very definition of tardy!"

"Hey!" they shouted, giving chase to a laughing Sailor Sun.


Dressed in priestess clothes, Rei kneeled before a roaring fire, murmuring chants under her breath as she focused her mind. Jadeite sat a few feet away in matching priest robes also staring intently into the fire. Behind the pair, in two even rows sat ten people; two men and three women in each row. Mina, a young woman with long pale blonde hair, opened her mouth to speak just as the fire in front of them suddenly flared out and turned white. No one moved away from the flames despite their heat and extreme closeness. When the fire settled to normal, the pair in front sighed and turned to face the group behind them.

"What did you see?" a woman's voice asked from a shadowy corner of the room. As everyone turned to look at the newcomer, two felines walked out of the shadows and into the light cast by the fire. A solid black cat with dark blue eyes walked over to a younger girl with shoulder length black hair and dark violet eyes, sat down in her lap, and repeated, "What did you see, Rei?"

"Luna-san," Rei nodded to the dark feline, "the Great Fire was vague. It showed three figures, each cast in shadow, but their silhouettes suggest a Senshi's uniform. The sun rose and the figures vanished." Rei stopped abruptly.

The other feline, pure white with green eyes, got up from his place in Mina's lap.

"What is it?" he asked.

It was Jadeite who answered.

"The sun rose in the shape of your marks," he nodded at the gold upturned crescent moons that adorned the feline's foreheads. "Do you know what that could mean, Artemis-san?"

Luna and Artemis exchanged looks.

"No, Jadeite," Luna answered after a moment. "We've not heard of such a sign before."

"Was there anything else you saw?" Artemis added.

"Before the fire… changed," Rei started.

"There was a descending cover of darkness," Jadeite added.

"Then a hard wind started to blow, things grew hot, and then there was a burst of light," Rei finished.

"Wind, heat, and light?" a young woman in the back row piped. She made a gesture and a mini computer bearing the sign of Mercury fell into her hand.

"Is there something important about that, Ami?" Michiru, a woman with wavy aqua hair and matching eyes, politely inquired.

"Elements," Ami muttered. "We all have elements that define our unique abilities. Mine is ice, Michiru's is water, Setsuna's is time and space, Mina's is light and emotion-based, Rei's is fire, Mako's is storms and nature, and Hotaru's is Saturn and silence, death, and healing fall under her."

"So these other elements…?" Setsuna prodded.

"The only one that makes any sense to my computer is wind. Uranus."

"But the one we met claimed to be Sailor Sun," Mina pointed out. "And the heat could easily be caused by Rei's powers. The light could be any of us, really."

"So this new Senshi isn't in your database at all?" Michiru questioned. Ami shook her head negatively.

"Generals, you've been very quiet about all this," Artemis spoke up. "Any thoughts?"

"If she is not in Mercury's database, is she actually a Senshi?" Nephrite, a chestnut haired, brown-eyed man asked from the second row. (4)

"I agree with Nephrite," Zoisite, the strawberry-blonde next to Ami, said. "The Mercury Database covers everything. If this 'Sailor Sun' person isn't listed in the first place, how could she be a Senshi?"

The other men nodded in agreement.

"A good question, Zoisite," Luna replied. She then turned to Ami and asked, "If you could please, bring up the list of every known Senshi for this Solar System?" Ami nodded and started typing. "Thank you."

A short moment later and a hologram of the system popped up. Above each planet was a picture of each Senshi; Ami above Mercury, Mina above Venus, Rei above Mars, Makoto above Jupiter, Hotaru above Saturn, Setsuna above Pluto, and Michiru above Neptune. Uranus, the Sun, and Earth remained empty.

"Not everything," Luna murmured, looking at the empty space above the Moon. She shook her head free from past thoughts and thanked Ami again. "Until we learn more about this Sailor Sun, treat her as a neutral element but don't engage in any battles against her. She's already shown she's powerful.

"Now, this enemy youma you had mentioned disturbs me. They don't fit the pattern type. Beryl is far more flashy and uses human hosts… these are much more independent and subtle."

"It could be someone new, then," Rei said.

"That would explain a new Senshi in our territory, too," Setsuna added. "The Gates showed me a second set of shadows, but shut me out again before I could see further. If we are dealing with another enemy as well, maybe this Sailor Sun has followed them from their original location."

"If she's that powerful to antagonize them into relocation," Makoto said seriously, "I don't think we should cause trouble with her."

"No one is to engage this foreign enemy," Mina stated, looking at everyone. "Avoid them if you can. If you must – and I mean absolutely must – engage, then use defensive maneuvers first. If Sailor Sun is on the heels of this new group, then she should be the one to engage in the battles."

"Draw her out," Hotaru exclaimed. Mina nodded.

"And if she doesn't show?" Michiru asked.

"No less than three Senshi are to engage in offensive maneuvers. Mamoru, I don't know if you want to include your Generals in this or not. That's your decision," Mina replied. Mamoru nodded at Mina and the men.

"I agree," he said simply.

"If that's everything, I think we can be adjourned," Luna said. She stood, nodded at the group, and then bounded out the door before anyone could comment.

"There's something she's not telling us," Kunzite spoke for the first time that night. His words left everyone quiet.


(1) Senshi's uniforms: I have made some alterations to the uniforms; they're going to be based a little more on the manga-versions because it makes them more unique. I will probably post a separate chapter in the future with the uniform basics and what additions or changes I made to them.

(2) Sailor Sun: in case it's difficult to imagine, try this – Saturn's boots in gold with white laces, a matching gold skirt and collar, her chest and back bows are both white and her chest jewel is a rosy pink. Her tiara is a darker shade of gold than normal and has a gold gem at the point on her forehead. Her hair is in two pigtails on the top of her head, each pigtail has two braids, and falls to her waist.

(3) Dehenshin: detransforming, untransforming, dropping the transformation, whatever you want to call it.

(4) Generals: information on the Generals' appearance was very hard to dig up. I will be going by the descriptions I found in Takeuchi-sama's art books (I think it was the Materials Collection) and they will also be listed in detail when I do the Senshi's uniforms. I will not be using the Japanese term "Shittenou" only because I'd never remember it, just like I will not be using "Tuxedo Kamen."

(5) Lolita-style: For those who may be unfamiliar, this is part of the fashion style and subculture Gothic & Lolita, which originated in Japan, and largely inspired by Victorian children's clothing and the elaborate costumes of the Rococo period. Other influences include the western goth subculture, punk subculture and french maid outfits. Information taken from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia. For more information see: http://en(.)wikipedia(.)org/wiki/Lolitafashion


THANK YOU EVERYONE!! Given the way my betas have been insisting on Chapter 10 already, I'd say no more than a month before the next update. I also have two little drabbles (that I may or may not use in the actual story) posted up on my LiveJournal (which you can access through my Author Page under my hompage/website).

And please, let me know what you think about my fight. It's not the "first" I've ever written, but it's the first I've ever posted.

Kuroi Koneko