Mina was surprised. Rather than a person, the voice she had heard seemed to come from the cycle in front of her. There was no-one else it could have come from. Suspicious, she went over to the vehicle and touched it lightly, checking to see if there was a radio or a recording device on the body. As she did this, there was a flash that blotted everything else out with light. When it cleared, she was back in her bedroom at her home, which startled Artemis.
"What is going on here?", the white Lunarian asked, confused.
"I can answer that.", the same voice echoed. Mina and Artemis watched as the bike shifted it's frame. The front wheel retracted and turned into a set of hands, with the front half splitting into a pair of arms. The back half unfolded into a pair of legs, on which the figure now stood. Finally, the handlebars tucked into the front shield, which now formed the head. Mina now recognised it as the metal man from the hospital.
"My name is Motro. And we need to talk."
Meanwhile, back at the Dark Kingdom, Mercury stormed into Jadeite's quarters in a huff.
"What's wrong, Lunarian got your tongue?", the Shittenou said, semi-mockingly.
"That blasted Sailor V blew my cover as a double-agent. In addition, Nephrite suspects that we had something to do with Zoisite's "unfortunate demise".", Mercury replied. "Now Beryl says I need to destroy the Saior Senshi or I'll be destroyed."
"I think I know who you want to start with.", Jadeite said, a sinister tone in his voice.
"Indeed.", Mercury said back "Sailor V, or should I say, Sailor Venus."
"What? Are you sure?"
"Positive. I'd recognise her aura anywhere. And I've already been tracking her for a while. In fact, ever since Motro and Zoisite stole the hospital records." She pulled out a small tablet with the Mercury symbol on it. "Luna gave me this while I was undercover. It contains physiological profiles for all the Sailor Scouts and the Princess Serena. I compared it with the data taken from the hospital and found a match: Minako Aino, known to her friends as Mina."
"And what did you do with this information, then?", asked Jadeite.
"I asked my mother.", the bluenette replied. "She's a doctor at the hospital and knows some of the patients' addresses. When I found this out, I sent your servant Kigaan in to do an infiltration."
"So you intend to have Kigaan terminate her?"
"No, no. Quite the opposite. I intend to lure Venus and the others into a confrontation tomorrow night. Then I shall destroy them all"
Elsewhere, Motro had finally convinced Mina and Artemis to hear him out "I, like most of Beryl's Youma, was once a human. But I lost that when Zoisite recruited me to aid him in his task. But, due to machinery lodged in my body at the time of my conversion, I retained my humanity. I saw that the Dark Kingdom would do the same to other innocents as they did to me. So I split off to take them down."
"Why hasn't Zoisite punished you for your betrayal?", Artemis asked.
"I and a few of his detractors within the Dark Kingdom, including General Jadeite, had him taken out and the blame for it placed on your friends Mars and Jupiter. The other generals assume me deceased following the incident at the theatre."
"What was Zoisite's mission?", the cat inquired.
"He was to find and awaken the 7 Great Shadows."
"But weren't they destroyed"?"
At that, the cyborg lost his patience. "You need to stop asking questions before I give in to my urges and destroy you!" And hen he regained his composure. "They weren't destroyed, they were merely imprisoned. The Silver Imperium Crystal was turned into a house for them, and then split into seven separate Rainbow Crystals. They were later reincarnated as humans throughout the various ages of Earth, and shall continue to do so until the crystals are removed. One has already been located and turned."
"Of course!", Mina said, speaking for the first time in a while. "That's what happened to Mars' grandfather, the old monk."
"So Sailor Mars is the grandchild of Shadow Warrior Ijii? Interesting.", Motro said, making sure to save this data in his memory banks.
But before their conversation could continue, the door creaked open. It was Mrs. Aino, Mina's mother. "Minako, you should be asleep. It's 11:30 PM."
Mina noticed that her mother didn't seem concerned about the robot standing in the room. So she spoke to that robot now. "Motro, is that my real mother?"
The cyborg replied. "Negative. I am reading a strong dark energy pulse from her. She's a Youma that has possessed or replaced your real mother for infiltration purposes."
The sound of a slow clap filled the air. "So the metal man can see through our little deception. Whoop-de-do." The source of the voice stepped out from behind the Youma pretending to be Mrs. Aino. To Mina's shock, it was Mercury, in her "Dark Mercury" get-up. "Hello Mina, or should I say "Sailor Venus."
Venus was shocked. "How did you know who I was? Or where I lived?"
Oh, it's quite simple.", Mercury answered. "My mother is a doctor at the hospital. You've been in there a few times in the past year for "severe injuries". Sustained during your battles with my allies, I assume."
"We're your allies.", Mina snapped back. "They've got you brainwashed into another one of their psychos."
"On the contrary, I'm perfectly in posession of all my mental faculties.", her adversary replied. "But relax, I'm not here to kill you. Your metal friend here on the other hand…"
With that, she summoned her staff and pointed it at Motro. Black waves of energy flew from him, but at the end nothing seemed to have happened to him.
"You fool.", the Cybernetic man declared. "You forgot that when I was converted, parts of my bike's computer were lodged in me and upgraded by the Dark power. My affliction is more technological than magical." With that, he summoned his cannon, blasted a hole in the wall and jumped out, vanishing into the night.
The Youma disguised as Mrs. Aino assumed her true appearance, a disheveled, yellow-skinned woman with red hair, as opposed to her disguise's greying brown hair. "Should, I pursue him, mistress?"
"No!", Mercury snapped. "We'll deal with him another time. But for now, I should make use of this energy." She then used her staff to channel it into the nearby fish tank. Mina's two goldfish, John and Phil, were mutated into another Youma, one with two distinctly coloured heads.
"What do you want from me?", Venus demanded. "Where's my mum?"
"She's fine, don't worry.", her adversary replied. "But to ensure she stays that way, you have to bring your fellow Sailors to the MagLev train station nearby, tomorrow night at sundown. We'll be waiting." With that, she and her allies vanished in a flash and a puff of smoke.
"What do we do, Mina?", Artemis asked. "We can't just not show up."
"It's simple, Artemis.", the blonde said confidently. "We have to find the other Senshi. This ends tomorrow night.
The competition from last time is still on. It'll last until chapter 30, so get your answers in before then.