Cyber Moon: Chronicles.
Act 4: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 38: Pink-Haired Mistery.
By Razor Knight
Last update: February 9, 2007
The man looked at the four women in front of him. "Ayakashi, you know your mission already."
One of them, who had black, short wavy hair and a strange, form-fitting pink suit, took a step forwards. "We've located the Princess. She's in Tokyo right now, as we supposed."
"Well done, Cooan. Go there and kill the Rabbit, she's a threat to our master's plans."
"At once, Rubeus," Cooan said and vanished.
Usagi was watching Mako and Rei play a fighting game, while Minako took a turn at beating the Sailor V arcade 'or die trying.' It was a good thing she wasn't the only bad player around anymore, but...
"Hey, Usagi!"
Her brooding interrupted, Usagi turned to the voice. "Hi, Karin."
Mamoru's sister walked to her. "You know what Mamoru's up to lately?"
"What do you mean?"
"He's been weird for months, disappearing suddenly without any explanation, leaving to 'meet some friends' I never see, and so on. I'm worried he's doing something dangerous."
'You don't know half of it,' Usagi mused to herself. "I don't know, but I'll try finding out what he's up to."
"Thanks," Karin said with a smile. She then turned to the other girls. "I see you're only missing the blonde joke today."
"Nah, she's right here," Rei noted.
"Can it, Rei," Usagi snapped.
"Terry and Ami were babbling about computers and stuff like that, then they left," Mako commented.
"Hey guys!" Umino said as he appeared between Mako and Karin. They both grabbed one of his arms and tossed him back. "You girls aren't nice."
"You think?" Karin mused. "That was nice, if I hit you like the others do you wouldn't be conscious to say whatever you were about to say."
"Uhm... Nevermind. I heard rumors of several spaceship sightings this week."
"There's usually a lot of those, mostly bullshit," Karin noted.
"Strange thing is, all witnesses described the same thing, even though they were never in contact with each other."
"A coincidence, perhaps?" Rei pondered.
"With the Senshi around, I don't really think that's a coincidence," Umino admitted.
"What, think they got a new vehicle?"
"No, most likely those are their new enemies."
Mako and Rei looked at each other as Umino left. "Don't mind him, girls, Umino's always been weird like that," Usagi said. But maybe he was right, and that spaceship meant they'd have another evil force to worry about.
"Strange..."
Ami looked up from her computer as Terry muttered something. "What's wrong?"
"The base's computer's detecting something, but it's energy's weak enough not to be considered a threat."
"We should check it, just in case."
Terry nodded and his board appeared out of thin air. "I love these space pockets..."
"Can you make more of those?"
Terry looked back at Ami. "Possibly, the Zero is relatively easy to produce, once you know what it's components are. Why?"
"I was thinking, maybe the team could use those boards to save time. "
"Good idea. I just gotta find a way to adapt them into my other project..."
Ami stopped and looked at him curiously. "What project?"
"You'll know about it soon."
"Keeping secrets from me, huh? I'll have to punish you."
"Is that a promise?" Terry asked as he leapt on his board. Ami just shook her head and leapt behind him.
Usagi had left Crown a few minutes ago, and was now walking home, thinking about what Umino said earlier. That was the only reason she didn't notice someone was following her until her stalker decided to act. "Stop right there!"
The blonde looked at the little girl in front of her. She was eight at most, wearing a blue dress and with a hairdo similar to her own, albeit the buns were oval-shaped and the girl's hair was pink. But the strangest thing was, she was holding a gun. "Kid, put that thing away, you could hurt someone."
"Give me the Ginzuishou."
"Wha... Who are you?"
"My name's Usagi Tsukino, and I'm here to get the Ginzuishou."
'Usagi Tsukino?' Usagi was lost for words. This kid knew about her crystal and was trying to steal it from her. She was about to transform and call the others when she noticed a certain couple flying their way. "Hey guys, a little help here?"
The girl looked up at the two Mercuries and her eyes widened. As they both leapt off the board, she took a step back, her gun vanishing as if it had been just an illusion. "Wha... Senshi?"
Dragon Mercury glared at the girl. "Even if you're just a kid, I don't like anyone threatening my friends."
Usagi saw the kid dashing away, and as the Dragon moved to chase her, she stopped him. "Let her go."
"What? But..."
"She's after my crystal, I don't know why, but... She'll probably be back."
Mercury nodded. "Be careful."
Usagi smiled. "I'll be. I'm going home, hopefully that girl won't be back for a while."
Back at Crown, Natsumi and Seijuru were preparing their attack. 'This place's full of energy.'
'Let's start the draining.' They walked out of the building, and suddenly, a flute could be heard. "Hey, what's that music?" Karin asked.
Before the others could answer, a humanoid bull crashed through the front wall, and started draining everyone. "I thought music soothed the beast," Minako muttered.
"I don't like bullies," Karin said then charged at the creature. To everyone's surprise, she managed to dodge a jab from it, and kick it out the window.
Mako looked around and noticed everyone was knocked out. "Darn... Mina, Rei, go look for help."
"What about you?" Rei asked.
"Hey, if Karin can punch that bull's face in, so can I." Rei nodded and the girls dashed out the back door. As Mako turned back to the monster, she saw it was choking Karin. "What's with evil monsters and necks?" she muttered.
Karin tried to kick the creature, but she was rapidly running out of air. She saw something hitting the monster form the side, and fell on her butt. "Thanks..."
Mako nodded. "You okay?"
Karin stood up after recovering her breath, and kicked the bull back. "Takes more than a chokehold to beat me."
The creature was getting angrier by the second. Its masters had told it the only resistance it'd find would be Senshi, but these two human girls were being an annoyance. It decided to stop playing soft, and use its real skills.
Karin and Mako dove aside as the bull shot energy beams from its eyes. "Laser eyes, so cliche," Mako muttered.
It decided to focus in one target only, and started shooting at Karin. The girl dodged as well as she could, but one of the creature's shots hit a parked car. The explosion was enough to knock Karin down, and as she stood up dizzily, the monster chuckled coldly.
Mako frowned. She couldn't stop the bull in her normal form, but transforming would mean... She saw its eyes light up with energy again, and took the risk. "Jupiter Planet Power!" She dove in front of Karin as another pair of energy beams fled her way, and summoned her attack. "Supreme Thunder!"
Jupiter's attack sent the bull flying back, but Jupiter herself was knocked to the ground by the monster's blast. Karin looked down at her and grimaced as she saw her suit was smoking near her left arm. "Thanks."
"I couldn't let you... Die," Jupiter said as she kneeled on the ground. The monster hadn't been killed by her lightning blast, however, and was charging up for another blast, this time aimed at Jupiter. It never had the chance to shoot, though.
"Mars Fire Soul Bird!"
The bull vanished, and a blackened card was left in its place, turning to dust as it hit the ground. "Smells like steak," Karin said.
Jupiter winced as she stood up. "Those eye beams weren't soft at all. "
"You okay, Mako?"
Venus and Mars both gasped at Karin's words. "She..."
Jupiter nodded. "Sorry, had to think fast and she was about to get pierced through by that bull. But... You didn't seem too surprised. "
Karin smiled. "I've known for a while. Both me and Chie saw Usagi talking to her cat, a weeks days ago. It was right before that eclipse..."
"The day we fought Beryl," Jupiter noted to herself.
Mars groaned. "It's Usagi's fault, as usual."
"I'm not telling anyone, Rei."
"Good... Guess," Mars muttered.
"Easy one, as Mako sent you both for help."
"Okay, let's get out of here before..."
"Long time no see, Senshi."
"... Too late," Mars muttered as she saw Rakurai walking to them. "Late as usual, huh?"
"We didn't know how strong that monster was," Seia noted.
"It was quite a sissy, since I gave it a beating," Karin commented. "In any case, I'm outta here."
Seia rose an eyebrow as Karin left. "Who's that girl?"
"An innocent bystander, sort of," Mars simply said.
Venus produced her communicator. "Uhm... Hi Moon. Where the heck were you guys?"
"We just fought an evil woman here," Moon explained. "Come to the base and I'll... Hey wait, where were you while we fought?"
"Fighting a bull monster that kinda wrecked Crown."
"Again? Well, you'll tell us about it when you get here."
Several minutes earlier, Usagi had walked into her house to be greeted by an unexpected visitor. "Hi, Usagi."
"You? What are you doing here?" The blonde almost snarled at the young girl.
"Usagi, that's your cousin, ChibiUsa," Ikuko Tsukino said.
"Cousin?" But how could that be, her parents had no siblings... She saw the girl was holding a black, ball-shaped artifact that looked like a cat head, and its eyes shone as she looked at her. "What did you do to them?"
The girl blinked at her. She couldn't use her magic in her? But that'd mean she was... "Can you take me out for a walk?" Usagi nodded, giving the small girl a meaningful glare, and both walked out of the house.
When they were far enough, Usagi stopped, her glare not lessening at all. "Okay, first you point a gun at me, now you brainwash my parents... Who are you?"
"I already told you that," ChibiUsa said. "And I didn't brainwash anyone, I just inserted fake memories into their minds. It won't hurt them at all."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I need the Ginzuishou."
"I can't give it to you."
"Well, well, I guess finding you was easier than I thought."
Usagi turned to the voice and saw a woman wearing a strange pink suit. "Not another one..."
"Girl, just give me the rabbit and I'll let you go."
"The ra..." Usagi looked at ChibiUsa and blinked as she saw her hiding behind her. "I don't think she wants to go with you."
"Last warning, blondie."
"Grim Edge."
Cooan leapt aside, barely missing the death blast. "Who the hell..." She looked up and saw Saturn standing on a rooftop. "Sailor Saturn, I suppose."
"That's true."
"I'll let you know, that attack wouldn't have harmed me at all."
"I guessed that. I just wanted you to forget about your real target. "
"What do you..." Cooan turned to see Usagi and ChibiUsa were gone. "Damn!"
"Grim Edge."
The second blast hit its mark, and Cooan staggered back. "Leave before you make me angry."
"I don't think so," Saturn said. At least, not while she still had energy left to fight.
Usagi was observing the battle from around the corner. "ChibiUsa... You should've told me someone was after you. I can help you."
"What?"
"I guess I'll have to return Saturn's favor. Moon Prism Power!"
ChibiUsa gasped as Usagi transformed. "You're Sailor Moon?" 'But that'd mean she's... No, that can't be.'
Moon nodded. "Now excuse me while I go deal with that woman."
ChibiUsa watched the scene in awe. Moon used her tiara to knock Cooan down, and as she stood up she noticed two more Senshi were there, Sailor and Dragon Mercury.
"I'd love to stay and fight, kids, but I know when I'm outnumbered." And with that, Cooan vanished.
As the Senshi walked back to where the girl was, they noticed Saturn had left the scene, as usual. "So that woman was hunting her?" the Dragon asked.
"Her name's Cooan," ChibiUsa said, "and she's one of four woman they sent after me."
"Who sent them?" Mercury asked.
"I can't tell you that, but they're evil."
"Okay, let's tell the others about this," Moon said as her communicator appeared out of thin air.
Two figures walked out of the shadows. They were human-like, but their skin was a pale green color. Also, their hair color was quite unusual, the guy had blue hair with pink highlights, and the girl had pink hair with blue highlights. They were inside an abandoned house near Juuban, their base in their new planet, and their place to hide from humans.
The girl walked into a dark room and looked at the tree. The Makaijuu, the tree that kept them alive... And also, the tree that they had to feed with life energy. The girl had a quite large energy ball in her hand, and as she pressed her palm against the tree's trunk, the energy was absorbed by it. The tree instantly grew new leaves and looked healtier, but soon it withered again.
"It's not enough, Ali."
"Then we must gather more."
"What will we do about those Senshi?"
"We'll just use a stronger Cardian next time, Ann. We can't afford to fail."
A/N: Yep, Ali and Ann show up at the same time the Ayakashi do. Stay tuned for a few more surprises in the next two hundred and thirty or so episodes. ;)
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is a creation of Naoko Takeuchi, and I thank her for creating that universe for me to write about.