I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the other things I mention.

Evolution

Chapter 10a--Attacking Tokyo

Darien got up slowly. It had been almost one month since Serena had disappeared. When she had first disappeared, he had been frantic with worry. The worry had slowly changed into anger, and now…now he was just numb. He normally got up before the sun rose to get a quick run in, just like Serena had done.

Now it was officially too cold to run. Though it was kind of expected, it was also very unusual. Darien walked over to his balcony as his thoughts continued to torture him.

There had been no monsters since Serena disappeared. Almost as if she was their only target, either that or they were scared for some reason.

Serena's communicator went off.

After she had disappeared, the girls had gotten in the car and taken everything that would give anyone a hint about who she really was. After they had, they left the car exactly where it had been. Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino had called the police immediately, telling them that a bunch of her friends had gone to look for her and hadn't returned just yet. And although, Mr. Tsukino said that he was mad about the car, they kept telling the police that they would rather have their daughter back than their car.

As what was expected, they only found the car.

Darien was secretly wishing that they would find her somewhere, even though he knew it wouldn't happen.

The campground officials had said that there had been a lot of unusual hydro activity earlier that morning, and that particular dock, where the car had been found, was currently closed to the public because of severe flooding conditions. The police had thus determined that it was a force of nature accident, assuming that the water activity had washed Serena into the water. After that, everything quieted down, and everyone accepted, except Darien and the girls, that Serena died in an accident. The funeral was held with just a picture remembering her life.

Darien walked over to the communicator. "Yeah," he answered.

"We have a big problem on the bridge," came Raye's voice.

"Are you serious?" Darien asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and it's a big problem."

"How big is big?"
"Oh…um…I don't know…five hundred or so." Raye replied sarcastically.

"I'll be right there." Darien quickly transformed. He was about to jump off his balcony when his building started to tremble. It didn't feel like an earthquake's shake, but more of a light tremor. He looked around him. Tokyo was in the midst of a midday break. People were out walking around, not knowing what was going on. When he looked east, coming over the horizon, he saw what was causing the trembling.

He grabbed for Serena's communicator. "Raye, are they still at the bridge?" He nearly screamed into it. Not caring that he used her Christian name instead of Sailor Mars.

"Yeah, Mercury says their numbers are at six-hundred and still rising." She sounded out of breath. "Get your butt down here."

Darien shook his head. "No, you guys need to get back to the city now!"
"But they'll destroy the bridge!"

"Let them! Tokyo comes first!"

Raye finally connected the dots. "We still need to get some people off the bridge, we'll be there soon." The communicator turned off. Darien jumped to a lower building so he could watch the march. Serena, where are you? We need your help, Darien thought as an army of what looked like the undead marched towards him.

He was scared. He didn't know what was happening. Why did the monsters choose now to start coming? It had been a peaceful three and a half weeks—even if they had been frantically searching for Serena during that time.

"Do we know what they are yet?" Sailor Mars asked as she came up behind him.

"It's not what, but who." Sailor Mercury responded before he could even say he had no idea.

"What do you mean?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

"According to my scans, each of them has a steady heartbeat. Whereas most of the monsters we face, were just inanimate objects turned into a living, moving form."

"So those are humans?" Sailor Venus clarified.

"I'm guess. If I could get some fluid from them, then I could be—"

"Ewww!"

"You're just like—" Sailor Mars stopped short before she said 'Serena.' Since the blond meatball head had disappeared, everyone had been practically tiptoeing around even mentioning her name. It wasn't just in front of Darien. Everyone was hurt concerning how she had disappeared.

The girls glanced over towards Tuxedo Mask, wondering if he was going to get upset. They were rather startled when they saw a small smile on his face.

He gave a small laugh. "The only difference between them would be that Serena would have stuck out her tongue."

"You're right, she would have." Mercury said, softly. "Do you think she's all right?"

"We can only hope and pray she's better off than we are about to be." Mars replied, her psychic's eye focused on the enemy.

Tuxedo Mask's focus turned back to the marching enemy. Serena, he thought, we could really use your help right now.