Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 3: Crystal City.
Act 1: Generations.
Episode 9: Never enough Senshi.

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 25, 2019


"Is mom going to be okay?"

Usagi looked at her daughter. It wasn't like she would have kept the nature of Hotaru's 'foe' secret, but it was still upsetting to see Kyouko like that. "Honestly? I can't be sure. This 'Soul Harvester' person has a type of technique that is hard to block, and unless Gin can pull that sort of miracle, it can't be undone."

'You there?'

'... Yes, and surprised you finally-'

'Can you do that?'

Usagi saw Gin appear, and looked at Kyouko. "Oh, right."

"Before you ask, or worry, I'm using your mother's energy for this."

"... Good."

Kyouko looked at Gin. "So?"

"The first time a Star Eater showed up, I helped that era's Serenity bring back the souls of those fallen fighting it. It killed that Serenity, but she... Well, there were Saturn Senshi back then."

"So you could-"

"Without seeing how exactly it works for this 'Soul Harvester' your mom is chasing, I can't be sure I could do it."

"Shit."

Usagi sighed. "I guess I'll have to go keep an eye on her."

"I'm going too."

"I don't think-"

"Mom, what the hell? I'm not a weakling, I'm not a kid, and I won't just sit around."

"She's a Serenity, no kidding."

"Gin, you're not helping."

"I know you all think I'm some alien being with no understanding of emotions, or how they could mess you up, but I do understand. Right now, Kyouko is being selfless, but far from reckless."

"That doesn't-"

"Usagi, you know I can't lie. I was not 'built' with that feature. So... Thinking as a mother is good, but in this case, think as a warrior for a minute."

Usagi closed her eyes for a few seconds. "I know what you mean. I am well aware that Kyouko is right now only second to me and mom. But in a case like this, power-"

"In a case like this..." Gin sighed. "Are you not aware of the Harvester's pattern?"

"It only attacks magic users," Usagi said. "Wait, that means... It can sense magic."

"And this 'Harvester' might be fine with having a Senshi and two very strong mages chasing it, but if we add two Serenities to that? It may make it act foolishly."

"Wait, if I go, it could attack me?"

Gin smiled. "You underestimate the effect magic can have in people who senses it. Specially if said people are aware it's not friendly. Of course, this 'Harvester' could be crazy enough to attack either of you, too."

Usagi sighed. "... Screw it. I'll let Hotaru and mom shout at me for it later on, but by Kyouko's age I was already fighting monsters and risking my life. Heck, her grandma killed a very strong demon being just as young, and with ridiculously low power, comparatively speaking."

"So...?"

"We're going to Kyoto."

Kyouko smiled. "Good. I'll go tell Tsuki-"

"She can't tag along."

"I know. I'm sure she'll understand."


Minutes later, Tsuki was giving her girlfriend a rather unconvincing glare. "I understand, but I am not okay with letting you go."

"Even mom-"

"I... Just be careful, okay?"

Kyouko gave her a hug. "I'll have four badass fighters near. I'll be fine."

Tsuki kissed her. "For good luck."

Kyouko blushed. "I..."

"Let's have our second kiss when you get back."

Kyouko smiled. "That's a promise."


The people living in Kyoto nowadays were almost used to 'mages' being something that happened. Some mages were good, there had been mages who stopped robberies, rescued people from fires, and other such heroics. But good and evil were always said to keep a balance, so there were also villains. This was true for most large cities in the world, but no other city had faced a threat as powerful as the Soul Harvester.

Well, except for Tokyo before it's 'Crystal' rebirth, but back then, magic was not as widespread.

Mai was an average teenager in the rather average Kyoto. She had never seen any magician up close, but magic was a thing that she could accept. She had none of her own, so her life was rather dull at times.

But as said above, she could accept magic... So when she saw three women - three Senshi - flying through the sky, it only took her a second to shrug the surprise off. It only hit her hours later, she had finally seen mages. Senshi, even. And from the suits, she knew two were Younger Moon and Saturn, but she didn't know who the youngest one was.

She still dismissed it as a random event. She had heard rumors of Senshi trying to find the Harvester, and with three of them being here, and one of them being Younger Moon, she knew that Harvester monster was screwed.

Yeah, that had just been a random moment of excitement in an otherwise normal life. Mai was not expecting her life to change, for better or for worse.

What Mai didn't know, was that life, at times, doesn't need you to expect changes. It just trows them at you when you least expect them.


Saturn scanned the ground as they flew. "I still think bringing Kyouko here was a reckless idea. I would think you of all people-"

"Mom, please... I wanted to be here. I want to help you. You two have faced worse enemies, right?"

"... Yeah."

"Did you never worry about each other?"

"We always worry," Moon admitted. Saturn nodded at that.

"Then you should understand... Not counting those Kh'Sun bugs, I have never fought any real threat. This Soul Harvester thing sounds like things I was terrified of after reading about them. You expect me to not worry when you're facing this monster?"

"..." Saturn sighed. "Okay, I do understand that. I know you're not a little girl anymore. Was Tsuki okay with-" Saturn noticed her daughter blush. "Something wrong?"

"She didn't like me coming here, either, but she... Gave me a 'good luck kiss.'"

Moon shrugged. "I don't think that's weird."

Younger Saturn sighed. "It was our first. She made me promise there would be a second."

Saturn smiled. "Then we'll have to make sure you can keep that promise."

Her daughter blinked at that. "I though you would-"

"Be upset about a kiss? We would be quite the hypocrites if we were."

Younger Saturn was quite confused. "Huh?"

"First time I kissed Hotaru was right after the 'Pharaoh Ninety' war."

Her daughter had read enough about that era to know what they meant. "You weren't even thirteen?"

"Yeah. I was a bit of a spoiled brat."

"'Was'?" Saturn mused.

"Hotaru, don't make me moonbeam you."

Younger Saturn looked down, noticing something. "So, the Soul Harvester is hiding from us. It may not think magic cloaking is enough. Maybe it's hiding in a crowded place, in plain sight..."

Moon looked down. "Are you sensing something?"

"I'm not sure, but something seems odd about that place. We should play their game, though."

Moon nodded. "I know what you mean. And being in the right place at the wrong time is a skill Senshi seem to have. Let's check it out."

"Should we call Yuki and Aiko?"

"No, they're patrolling the northern part of the city, and there may not be anything here."


Luna had probably seen all of Usagi's moods, so she knew this was far from a good one. "Usagi, I can tell you weren't okay with Kyouko going to-"

Serenity sighed. "Of course I'm not okay. That monster..."

"Kyouko is, right now, the third-most powerful Senshi in our group, not counting the two Plutos... Or maybe even counting them."

"I am quite aware, and proud of her. But she has no experience in a real fight, no matter how good training she gets-"

"Keeping her sheltered won't change that."

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. I still don't like it."

"I guess your 'grandma' instincts are responsible for that."

Gin appeared near them. "Perhaps a distraction could help keep our minds away from that."

"'Our' minds?" Luna asked.

"I may be 'just' the crystal's soul, but I've cared about each Serenity I've been linked to. I've seen them be born, live, train, fall in an out of love... And I've also seen them die. Whenever that happens, I've always felt like a failure, even though I was never able to talk to them. It may just be that I'm programmed-"

Serenity smiled sadly. "You remind me of Aiko, back when... Gin, you may not have a 'real' body, you may be 'just' a soul, but- Maybe it's because you've been linked to us for so long, but you show a lot of... Let's call them human traits."

"So you say it's fine to feel like I've failed?"

"It's natural to feel that way, I guess. But... What did you mean by a distraction?"

"Coincidences happen around you all, and this might be another of those. Usagi, I know you can focus on wide areas. Focus on Kyoto, try to sense familiar energies."

Serenity knew how to do that, she didn't even need to close her eyes to 'see' that way. "I can sense... Hotaru, my daughter, my grand-daughter... I can also sense Aiko and Yuki." She blinked a few times. "I sense another Senshi. Faint, but... I know it's none of my friends."

Luna's eyes widened. "The Cycle has restarted."

"Cycle?"

Gin chuckled. "Luna, the Cycle only took a long break because of a technicality." She saw Serenity looking at them confusedly and decided to elaborate. "I thought Ami would find out about it, but she never had reasons to. At times, it can happen that a Senshi dies without leaving any offspring behind, leaving their 'post' empty. Or they choose to not have any offspring. Or are unable to. For some reason, when that happens, there is always a 'Sleeper' around to take that 'empty' spot. A Senshi that is not raised to be one, but 'awakens' at some point in their life."

"That is... That's what happened to us."

"Yes. The only reason there were no Senshi other than Pluto in this planet between your other lives and your current lives, is because of your mother... Nanna's mother. She wished for you to revive in her future, and the 'trigger' for your awakening was the Dark Kingdom of Arcadia's return."

"I see. So her wish interrupted this 'Cycle.'"

"I could see her thoughts, and I can see yours, so let me clear this out: She didn't know her wish would break the cycle. Heck, she didn't think it would take more than a couple centuries for Beryl to show up."

"... Which explains why our memories were a mess."

Gin nodded at Luna. "In any case, yes, the cycle is still going, and yes, we are sensing a new Senshi in Kyoto."

"But what about that era with no Senshi? Back when Gala and Chaos..."

"The cycle doesn't just randomly chooses someone to fill in the gaps, and in times of relative peace, it... I guess the best way to explain it is that it goes into a sort of stand-by mode."

"Strange, but what isn't when magic is involved?"

Gin nodded at Luna. "In any case, will you tell your daughter about-"

"I'll go there myself."

Luna frowned. "Why not tell-"

Serenity sighed. "Because I can... I can use one aspect of Pluto's powers, and what I see, it's not good."

Gin frowned. "I can't see what you see that way, but if it's that bad-"

Luna understood what they meant. "You can't wait. Go save the world, Sailor Moon."

"The world? I'm just going to go save one girl. Two, if I can. I hope I can. Neither of them deserves to die."


Run. She had to run. Run away from those... What the hell were they? Saturn's aura alone was intimidating from a distance, but the other two? If magic had weight, their auras could crush her easily. Alma was no coward, but she knew she had no chance to win. She could only hide.

There, that mall would do. Enough auras to mask her own. Hopefully. Yes, she just needed to lay low until they gave up.

But why did they care? Her 'victims' were all scum. Scum that cheated on their spouses, scum that 'legally stole' from those who barely had any money, scumbag policemen who let murderers and worse free for a fee.

She killed monsters, just like the Senshi. Monsters that were human, but monsters nonetheless.


Mai sighed. Another boring weekend. She had decided to check the mall's theater, to see if there was anything worth watching, but no luck there.

She was walking around when she saw them. Two women and a girl around her age. From their body language, she could tell they were a family, but... They weren't even disguising themselves. Civilian clothes or not, she knew the two women. Hotaru Tomoe and Usagi "Chibiusa" Tsukino. Admittedly, they were not usually seen in civilian clothing outside their city, and not many would know, or even assume they looked the same they did in pictures taken decades ago. So they were hiding in plain sight?


Alma could sense it. They were close. Too damn close. They could even be inside the building. No, she had to run, to hide. She knew the news had labeled her as a monster, and the Senshi killed monsters. She could not let them find her. If they did... She could do something she would regret.


Mai had observed the trio for a while. Either she was good at stealth, or they were ignoring her. Yep, they were ignoring her. She had overheard the girl's name, Kyouko. Were the rumors right? Did these two had a daughter, not adoptive, but 'natural' daughter? She had seen many discard that rumor, but with magic... The Senshi could fly, tank nukes, summon weapons out of thin air... Two female Senshi having a biological daughter was somehow not that weird. It was obvious they knew she was following her. Should she-

"If you were trying to be stealthy, you suck at it."

Mai saw Kyouko standing right next to her. She was sure she had been meters away a second earlier. "I uh... Sorry, I was just-"

"A fan?"

Mai sighed. "Yeah."

"That's nice, but we're trying to find the Soul Harvester. You should run, unless you are the Harvester, in which case, you should run faster."

The friendliness in the girl's voice made her threat all the more frightening. But Mai noticed the way she had said it. That last bit was not meant just for her, but the whole mall.

She sensed movement out of the corner of her eye, and froze. She saw Kyouko turn around and summon something (a staff?) and use it to deflect something that had been thrown at her. A magic blast? "Whoa..."

Usagi frowned as she looked at the white-haired girl who had attacked her daughter. That was the Harvester? She looked younger than Kyouko! "Are you the Soul Harvester?"

Alma glared at her, but in her mind, she was trying to not faint at the magic she was sensing. "Yes. You got me. Do your worst."

"Our worst?" Hotaru frowned. "We are no murderers. If you don't attack us again, we won't hurt you."

Usagi saw the people around the mall was starting to back away. The bravest ones were using their phones to record it, but even those could try to flee at any second. And yet... No, this 'Soul Harvester' wasn't noticing the crowd. She didn't care about bystanders, wasn't trying to keep them there as hostages. "Can we talk? We want to know why you killed all those-"

"Why?" Alma sighed. "Because they're scum. Criminals who sold drugs at my school, and other schools. Assholes who use lawful means to leave people like my dad without a cent. People who think they can get away with whatever they want because of their power. And people like my mom, who don't give a damn about their families and cheat on their spouses. I hate them all. They all need to die."

Hotaru shrugged. "While I can't approve of your methods, I can agree that not all humans are... Good."

"What. Don't you Senshi hunt monsters? I am a monster, everyone in this city thinks that."

Usagi frowned. Provoking a cornered foe could be foolish, but she needed to know she had heard right. "You... Want us to kill you?"

"I... Not really. But what is the alternative? They send me to an asylum, where they either zap me for years and brainwash me into thinking I am in the wrong, or I go to jail while all those assholes roam free. I hate both of those endings. I'd rather die a villain."

Kyouko walked to Alma, who was too shocked to make any movement. The young Senshi glared at her for a moment before slapping her. "You idiot! You want to die? What about those who care-"

Alma glared back at her. "Mom is happy sleeping with a guy not much older than me, and dad... He couldn't get over the grief. He just gave up. That was the reason I started hunting."

Kyouko flinched. "Sorry, I didn't know... Still, don't say dying is your only-"

"Screw you! What do you know, princess? You live in your perfect city with your perfect mommies. Don't try to tell me how I should feel."

Usagi walked to her. "We won't kill you. You still haven't given us a reason to see you as a monster. You're just too blinded by hatred to-"

Alma glared at her. "Oh, so that's what's stopping you?" She grabbed Kyouko's arm. "Let me give you a reason."

"Don't you dare-"

"No!"

Hotaru saw a lightning blast shoot by, hitting Alma straight in the chest, and knocking her away. She turned to see the girl who had been talking to Kyouko, a certain symbol shining in her forehead for a second. "A Senshi?"

Mai looked at her own hand. She knew she had shot lighting off them, but how? "I am a... Senshi?"

Alma stood up, snarling and running straight to Mai. However, someone appeared right in her path, and the magic aura this woman had was beyond frightening, and her stare was downright scary. "What- Who are you?"

Serenity looked at her, her face unreadable. "My name is Usagi Tsukino. I would say 'nice to meet you,' Alma, but you've threatened my grand-daughter and tried to attack a potential Senshi. You're not getting the death you want, but I cannot let you kill innocents, either."

If Alma had been desperate enough, she would have tried to attack this woman, but two things stopped her. One, she knew who this was. Queen Serenity, the strongest magician on Earth. Trying to kill her would have earned her a foolish death. And two... She could not use her skills. "What did you do to me?"

"It's easy to explain. I can turn powers off. You are not a mage right now, but a normal human girl. And unless I decide you deserve to have magic again, you'll stay that way."

"Great. Just another great. Just kill me already."

"I can't do that. And right now, you can't force us to. I heard enough to know your life has been hellish up to now, so... I promise I won't let them put you in jail, or anywhere else."

"How can you be sure they'll listen-"

"I am Sailor Moon. The planet owes me a lot, even though I'll never collect. But I can and will use that title to fix things, if I must."

"Why do that for a monst-"

"You are not a monster. You wanted to tell life to go screw itself, and... I can't really blame you for that. But I can't let you continue killing. Sooner or later, you will kill someone who doesn't deserve it, or worse, you may start enjoying it."

Alma cringed at that, and looked at Kyouko. "Uh, sorry for-"

"That was my bad, really. I was stupid enough to stand right next to a potential threat. I've trained enough to know that's a dumb move. Way to go, me..."

Mai walked to them. "Sorry to interrupt whatever this is, but..." Lightning balls appeared floating over her hands. "Explain?"

Serenity smiled. "You're Sailor Jupiter. Younger Jupiter."

"How?"

"Mako, that is, Elder Jupiter, has no children of her own. She and her husband chose not to, at least for the time being. But... Let's say there's laws to magic, and said laws don't like it when a generation of Senshi has too many empty spots. So... You were chosen."

"Uh... Cool?" Mai looked at Alma. "I know things were crazy minutes ago, but you don't sound like a bad person to me. Screw the news, you're no monster."

"... Thanks."

"Sorry for hitting you."

Alma sighed. "Sorry for trying to- Ugh, I can't believe I almost..."

Serenity smiled. "Well, I already notified Phase and Warwitch, so let's move to a less public location."

The few civilians who had been brave (or foolish) enough to stay that long saw the women all vanish. Zero property damage, no casualties... It was hard to tell a battle had been fought there, but the threat of the Soul Harvester was over, and the city was safe. Or at least safer than hours earlier.


A/N: To those surprised by the new Senshi: I never said Senshi powers were a hundred percent hereditary before. Heck, most of the "Elders" come from families with no known magic users prior to the Elder Senshi themselves.

The title? A nod to a few people who have told me I have "too many" Senshi in my story. I'm a fan of Touhou and Dynasty/Samurai Warriors. The concept of more characters making a plot "less fun" or "worse" is simply alien to me.