Cycles of Life

by Technuma

My very own personal P.O.V. on the series. Old characters return, new characters appear, new situations, and more than one surprise to pop up while reading. Go ahead, read and enjoy.

7. When Choices are Made

By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn


After reading this episode, you might be lead to believe that I don`t
like professor Tomoe and Sailor Saturn.

Don`t get me wrong- they`re great characters! I just don`t know
that much about them, so I`m pretty much forced to clean house if I
am to go on writing this story.

* * *

CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 7

WHEN CHOICES ARE MADE



The two girls had been fighting for weeks on end, taunting and
mocking each other. No one could have guessed it would go so far.
They had reached the point of no return and only one would walk
away from this battle.

Rei stared intensely at Usagi and vice versa, lightning bolts
shooting out of their eyes. All around them, people looked in
bewildered amazement as the final confrontation began.

"This time, you went too far, meatball head!" said Rei.

"Then why don`t you do something about it, fluff-for-brains?"
replied Usagi.

The two adversaries took their positions, ready to fight one last
time, winner takes all.

"This situation is totally out of hand, we have to stop them!" said
Laurella, concerned for her newfound friends.

"No, it`s between Usagi and Rei, we must let them settle this...
their way." said Makoto.

"Prepare to eat asphalt, girl." snarled Usagi.

"Make me!" snapped Rei, a murderous glint in her eyes.

They both inserted a token in the "Killer Fighters" game and pushed
the start button, choosing their favorite warrior and engaging the
pixel fighters in a lethal combat. Everyone in the game center held
their breath, captivated by the relentless assaults of the top level
players who attacked and counter-attacked with deadly precision.
Punches followed kicks, one after the other as most of the blows
were blocked or dodged. Both fighters were almost out of energy-
Rei went for broke and attempted a daring jump-kick; Usagi saw it
coming and struck like thunder, hiting over and over in a seemingly
endless combinaison and giving out punishment like never before.

"ULTRA COMBOOOOO!!!" screamed the machine out loud for all to hear.

"No... I lost! I can`t believe I lost!" cried out Rei.

"Nothing says *overkill* like an ultra combo, don`t you think?"
bragged the victorious Usagi.

"I bow to the greatest player.. you win." gracefully said Rei.

"This competition was fun... hey, let`s do it again with the new
dirt track racing game!" Usagi said.

"Yeah, good idea!" answered Rei who ran right behind Usagi to the
other side of the game center, almost running down Mamoru in the
process.

"Don`t these two ever stop?" wondered Mamoru.

"Not very likely." replied Minako.

"I can`t believe Ami missed the final showdown..." commented Makoto.

"She stayed home with Luna to catch up on her studies... like she
even needs to study!" said Minako.

Mamoru smiled as he looked at his sweet Usagi playing the racing
game. He could hardly believe that just an hour earlier, he didn`t
even remember ever working in this place where he met her; his
amnesia had stolen much from him, but he claimed it all back one
piece at a time. Now if he could only remember what this Tuxedo
Kamen persona of his was supposed to be... after all, Usagi told
him he was responsible for many of the scouts` victories over the
last few years. His cast would go off soon, but memory loss can be
such a tricky thing...

* * *

Somewhere on the outskirts of town, an ominous mansion stood out
like a vulture atop a dead tree waiting for its next meal. In the
heart of this house of evil, a lonely man worked tirelessly, making
plans to find the precious talismans that would enable him to get
the holy grail and take control of the earth in the name of his
leader. He was well on his way of completing his latest daemon egg;
this was undoubtedly his best egg yet, the crown achivement of his
twisted carreer. This one could not possibly fail its mission.

His attention was suddenly distracted by an intruder monitor turned
red- someone was trying to break in his mansion.

"Hmph. Just you wait `till you meet my friends the witches 5, you`ll
be regretting entering my home... not for very long, but very, VERY
much." he commented.

Powerful battle sounds echoed through the walls; the intruder was a
strong one for sure or he`d be dead by now. Hotaru entered her dad`s
lab, showing worry.

"What`s going on?" she asked.

"Someone`s trying to break in, but the girls are taking care of it
right now. It shouldn`t take too long." he explained.

The sounds of the raging battle continued for a few minutes, then
died down.

"See, I told you honey. I pity whoever that was, the witches 5 can
be so damn cruel." commented the professor.

Without prior warning, the laboratory`s door blew up, shooting wood
splinters everywhere and propelling the professor and his daughter
to the floor. When the sawdust cloud settled, young Hotaru was lying
unconscious while her father scrambled to find his missing glasses.
He found them in time to witness the entrance of a powerful man
dressed in heavy golden armor. In his right hand, he held a blood
stained two-bladed battle axe mounted on a pole as tall as he was.
The knight walked in the lab in a slow, deliberate fashion meant
to inspire fear.

"Who the hell are you?" Tomoe screamed in a panic.

The knight opened his left hand and threw down what it held so
tightly a second before; the remains of the daemon egg that had
possessed a plastic skeleton a few weeks earlier. From his deep,
growling and openly menacing voice, he spoke:

"Is this yours?" he asked.

"Yes..." answered the terrified professor.

"You`ve been meddling with us, professor."

"I... have?"

"Yes, trying to gather heart crystals, fighting the sailor scouts,
attracting attention... we don`t like it. You`re truly annoying to
the triad and we won`t stand for it. My associates sent me to
correct the situation- PERMANENTLY." coldly explained the knight.

With one mighty swing, the knight struck the professor in the chest.
The horrible damage to his internal organs was enough to kill him
instantly. The young girl came to, an evil sparkle in her eyes.
Sweet Hotaru had left her place to the wicked Mistress Nine. She
changed her clothes into the uniform of Sailor Saturn and
materialized a large glaive to fight the knight with. He would pay
dearly for what he had done.

"What manner of demon are you?" she asked.

"Your worst dream come true, a knightmare brought to life." he
grunted in a low tone.

"I never have nightmares." she snarled, charging the golden warrior
before he could remove his axe from the professor`s corpse.

The golden glint of the armor faded away, the color vanishing as
well. A fraction of a second later, the knightmare had dissolved its
physical form into a dark cloud of putrid smoke. Sailor Saturn
slashed like a maniac at the cloud, utterly failing to do any damage
at all. Her weak body soon slowed down, refusing to go on fighting.
Breathing fast and barely standing up, she let her glaive slip from
her fingers and clank on the cold cement floor. The knightmare
reformed himself from the black smoke, snickering as he did so. He
smashed his fist in her face, sending her flying back into a table
that collapsed under her weight. She tasted blood in her mouth and
noticed her nose was broken. Sailor Saturn had met her match.

With dead cold precision, the knightmare pulled his axe from Tomoe`s
lifeless body. As he walked to his next victim, he crushed a small
radio under his foot wich turned itself on. By a sinister
coincidence, it blared out Metallica`s succesful song "Enter
Sandman".

HUSH LITTLE BABY, DON`T SAY A WORD

The knight strode forward, swinging his axe in the manner of a
practice swing.

AND NEVER MIND THAT NOISE YOU HEARD

He came closer to Sailor Saturn- her bruised body refused to
move.

IT`S JUST THE BEAST UNDER YOUR BED

Through his helmet`s visor, his eyes glowed blood red.

IN YOUR CLOSET, IN YOUR HEAD

He slammed down his foot on Saturn`s chest so she couldn`t move as
he aimed; his tremendous weight pinned her down solidly.

EXIT LIGHT

Feeling death close at hand, Sailor Saturn began to cry in fearful
despair.

ENTER NIGHT

"Please, don`t kill me..." she silently pleaded with her tear filled
eyes.

TAKE MY HAND

He swung the axe down on her neck.

OFF TO NEVER-NEVER LAND

* * *

From her high position on Ami`s desk, Luna watched the sleeping
Artemis. "What did I ever see in that lazy alleycat?" she thought.
Ami knew well that Artemis had no interest in her algebra problems
and came to her house only to escape from having to go to the game
center stuffed in Minako`s carrybag. Luna didn`t care much for that
bag either.

"So, Luna, who do you think will win?" asked Ami to the black cat.

"The final showdown, you mean? Rei is pretty good and very
disciplined, so that gives her an edge over Usagi`s reckless game
style, but if push comes to shove, Usagi fights like a tigress. It`s
anybody`s match." answered Luna.

The door bell rang and Ami went to see who that was; her parents
were out for the afternoon, so she had to take some time from her
studying to do it. Not that a minute away from her book could do
much to hinder her schoolwork. She was surprised to see her
boyfriend Greg standing on the porch, an embarassed look on his
face.

"Hi, Greg, can I help you?" she asked.

Luna, from a conceiled spot, eavesdropped on the conversation; she
realized Usagi was beginning to rub off on her.

"Actually, I`m here for you." he said, his smile drifting away. "You
left this calculator at my place and figured you`d want it back,
since you`re planning to break up with me today." he explained. She
almost asked him how he knew, but the answer was obvious; his
ability to foresee the future had given her away for sure. "I saw
it in a vision last night. I couldn`t see exactly why, but I do know
you need to sort out your feelings right now." he added.

"I`m so sorry, Greg, it can`t work between the two of us." said
Ami.

"I`ve seen this moment in my head before, so I`m sure I can`t change
your mind. Take care, Ami, I`ll miss you." he said, turning his back
and leaving her life.

A tear roled down her cheek. Luna, who saw the whole thing, jumped
on her shoulder.

"What was that all about? You two are breaking up?" asked the cat.

"Yes." answered Ami.

"At least tell me why- you can`t just let him walk out like
that!" said Luna.

"I can`t tell why, because... I`m not... I`m still not sure yet."
uttered Ami.

"Ami, you`re not making any sense!"

"That`s all the sense I need right now, so CASE CLOSED, all right?"
snapped Ami.

"If you say so..." said the cat, realizing she couldn`t change
anything.

* * *

The doors closed on the Sunforce plaza`s main elevator, the only one
capable of taking Coran Demsy to the top floor. He looked prety
ordinary with his medium built stature and average-sized
musculature. Whatever charm nature had failed to give him, he made
up with style; from his latest fashion clothes to his well groomed
hair, not a detail was out of place. Even though his shades matched
his clothes perfectly, they were practical in nature: ever since he
was fifteen years old, a simple eye contact with anyone allowed him
to read their mind whether he wanted to or not. He wore the shades
to avoid "accidents" that cluttered his own mind with futile surface
thoughts of other people; besides, he had the tendancy to lose
himself in these thoughts if he wasn`t careful. Psyche, as he was
also known, had a gift that was also a curse.

The doors opened on the twenty-sixth floor; only the triad could
access it with the appropriate palm scan as it contained the magical
belongings of the elementalist Majestra Vortika. He stepped
cautiously through what ressembled an antique alchemist`s laboratory
remodeled by a schizophrenic interior designer. A huge gust of wind
blew Psyche`s hair, making him swear because it took close to an
hour of careful brushing to make it look good that morning. A
middle-aged woman dressed in a green elementalist`s robe floated
in front of him, held up by the miniature windstorm localised solely
inside her lab. Not a single one of her black hair was affected by
the powerful winds, neither were her scrolls, books or various
knick-knacks.

Hell, how DID she do that?

Majestra Vortika let herself float through the winds and landed
gently in a luxurious wheelchair. Without the winds, she could
barely move around; her legs refused to support her weight. Psyche
had asked her many times why her body was so weak despite her great
magic. The price of power, she`d always answer.

"You`re right on time for our meeting." she commented.

"If Ronmar can show up, we`ll be able to begin..." replied Psyche.

As if on cue, a dark noxious cloud seeped in the lab through the
elevator doors. "Speak of the devil and you`ll see its horns." said
the fashionable man. The black smoke formed itself into a large
knight completely covered in gold battle armor. His axe was still
smeared with blood.

"Ronmar, dread lord of darkness, first knightmare of the spheres,
has arrived." he said in his deep, growling voice.

"I assume you took care of the parasites?" asked Vortika.

"A knightmare does NOT fail in his tasks. The nuisance has been...
cut down to size, shall we say." the knightmare said with fiendish
pride.

"Good, we can proceed to the next phase of our plan." said Vortika.

"Yes, it`s time to gather more information on the sailor scouts."
said Psyche.

* * *

Later that evening, it was all over the news: the Tomoe residence
massacre shocked the entire country by the sheer brutality and
violence of the assault. Nobody knew what sick individual could
have possibly commited such a monstrous act.

Sitting in her living room, Haruka watched the news report and tried
to figure how this would affect her quest for the talismans. Would
they even be necessary now? Would these deaths change her objective?
Michiru joined Haruka and sat next to her on the comfortable sofa.
She had been watching the news as well.

"It must have taken a strong evil force to do such a terrible
thing." observed Michiru.

"Indeed. Our quest for the grail might have ended with these murders,
you know." Haruka observed.

"Perhaps, but the war against evil is far from over. We must stay
ready in case the fight turns in evil`s favor- we can never let the
forces of evil triumph." Michiru replied.

"True, but after a highly visible strike such as this, it`s not
likely they`ll do anything else tonight." said Haruka.

"Yes, that leaves us some time to relax..." whispered Michiru,
cuddling to Haruka.

Haruka smiled and turned off the television. There are things in
life more important than news reports.

* * *

"Dear lord, this is awful!" said Shingo when he saw the news.

"I`ve never heard anything so horrible!" said Ikuko.

"What`s this world coming to?" wondered Kenji.

Usagi said nothing. She was too busy trying to figure who in the
world was powerful enough to kill Tomoe and his entire gang all at
once.

This doesn`t sound good, thought Luna.

* * *

A new enemy had made its first move and the scouts needed to know
more about it, so Rei got started on a fire reading. She relaxed her
body and focused her mind on the dancing flames, trying to summon an
image from the fire god. This was an exceptionaly difficult task as
this evil entity had some mental shielding covering up its presence.
Rei was not about to give up, though.

An hour passed when she finally saw a face; it was the man whom his
allies called Psyche. Having never met him, however, she could not
know who that was, so she commited his every feature to memory,
preparing to spot him out of a crowd the first time she saw him.

Yuuichiro knocked and came in.

"Whoa, you`re drenched, Rei, tough reading, huh?" he said.

"Yeah, it`s difficult sometimes." she replied.

"Your grandfather wants to know if you`re planning to sleep at all
tonight or stay here until the sun comes up tomorrow morning."

"I`m done now, I`ll be in bed after a quick bath." she said smiling.

The young man wanted to say something else; he opened his mouth to
speak, but stopped before any words crossed his lips. What he wanted
to say remained stuck in his throat, just like all the other times
he tried to say it before.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Yuuichiro?" Rei asked.

"No, it`s not important." he said.

I`m just madly in love with you, he thought, I have been from the
first moment I saw your eyes. Yuuichiro bit his tongue for choking
up again and went to his room. Tomorrow I`ll tell her, he thought.
Yeah, for over a year and a half now it`s been tomorrow, always
tomorrow.

The next day was Usagi`s favorite: saturday. To be quite honest, any
day without school would easily win her favor. A scout meeting was
about to begin at the temple , so she walked there and enjoyed the
beautiful day that announced the soon-to-come summer. A speeding
motorcycle screeched as it braked and stopped right next to her.
Haruka lifted her bike helmet`s visor and smiled; Michiru, who was
holding Haruka by the waist, did the same.

"Hi, Usagi, nice day for a walk." said Haruka.

"Yes, it is!" Usagi answered.

A second motorcycle came by, stoping aside Haruka. The pilot removed
her helmet- it was Laurella. Haruka was impressed by the motorcycle
model Laurella was driving.

"Hiya Usagi, who are your friends?" she asked.

"This is Ten`ou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru. Girls, this is my friend
Laurella Hammerson." Usagi said, introducing everyone.

"Nice bike." said Haruka. "That`s a Velociraptor Four, right?"

"Yeah, dad gave it to me thursday." Laurella said.

"What`s the occasion?" asked Michiru.

"No occasion, he`s just happy that I`m getting better so he gave me
his latest model." she answered.

"HIS latest model? Wait a minute... is your dad the same Hammerson
from Hammer corporation?" Usagi asked.

"He`s the one!"

"Tell your dad he manufactures the best bikes in the world. His
Wakizashi model never let me down." said Haruka, reving up her
engine. "Well, gotta go now! Bye girls!" Said Haruka and Michiru,
speeding along the street.

Usagi looked at Laurella and asked the one question that burned
her lips:

"Did you see that on television?"

Of course, that question was unnecessary. EVERYONE in Japan knew of
the Tomoe massacre.

"Yeah, you`d think a man like him could have defended himself better.
He should have hired guards from the agency." said Laurella.

"What agency?"

"THE agency. It`s a security personnel company that`s specialized in
security guard rental. Dad signed them up to protect his head office
last month and he`s very pleased with the performance of the soldiers
in purple" explained Laurella.

"I really don`t think they would have made much of a difference to
Tomoe." commented Usagi.

"Regardless, I think we should continue this conversation at the
temple. See ya there, meaball head!"

"Hey, only Mamoru can call me that!" protested the blonde girl.

Laurella did her best to understand the weird interactions between
the sailor scouts, but was sometimes confused; this "meatball head"
thing, for instance- why was she so insulted unless it was her
boyfriend who said it? Many details still escaped her grasp. No
matter, she`d learn fast enough.

* * *

Majestra Vortika sat in the near-total darkness of her lab, focused
on the twelve glowing crystals displayed in a ritualistic fashion on
her ebony table. A bubble of vision was thus created, granting view
of a small part of a downtown shopping mall. Ronmar stood in a
corner, out of the way of Vortika`s elemental magic. He watched with
great interest from a distance; it was clear he did not care to get
caught by a stray spell. Through her magic, Vortika was able to tap
into Psyche`s somewhat limited telepathic abilities and communicate
with him directly through their thoughts.

"Is everything set for the scouts`arrival?" she asked without making
a sound.

In an alley, Psyche heard this voice in his mind and smiled,
caressing a rough piece of crystal in his hands.

"All ready to start over here." he replied without moving his lips.

He threw the crystal in the air where it morphed into a moving mass
of rough crystal shards that vaguely ressembled a humanoid creature.
Upon its formation, it heavily landed on the concrete sidewalk.
"Attack." said Psyche to the creature. Like a mineral wave, the
bizarre beast "glided" on the pavement towards the crowded mall with
a single, primitive impulse driving its semiconscious mind: DESTROY!

Amidst the panic created by the beast, a young girl calmly opened her
blue laptop computer to warn her friends about this creature. "Rei`s
fire reading can wait, we`ve got trouble down here!" said Ami. She
ducked in a dark alley to quickly change in something more
appropriate to the situation.

"MERCURY STAR POWER... MAKE-UP!"

A wave of liquid blue energy wrapped around Ami, fading away her
jeans and shirt to replace them with Sailor Mercury`s uniform. Now
she needed to delay the beast until the rest of the team arrived-
she ran after the hulking crystal mass who had already entered a
furniture store. She did not notice the man lurking in the shadows,
observing her as she transformed.

"Wasn`t that interesting..." he whispered to himself.

"Quite the lucky find, my friend." said Vortika`s voice in his mind.

" We`re on to something here, this plan is working even better than
I hoped." he thought to Vortika.

* * *

Sailor Mercury dodged left and right to avoid the barage of flying
tables and chairs thrown by the creature in her direction. She was
getting tired and couldn`t take much more of this; unfortunately,
the beast didn`t seem tired at all and over half of the store`s
merchandise was still untouched, ready to be used as projectiles.

"Give... up... yet?" asked Mercury to the shifting crystal formation,
trying to catch her breath.

The beast growled and hurled an oak table to the scout who didn`t
have any strenght left to move out of the way- she wasn`t hit,
though. A bolt of lightning blasted the table to bits before it
could hit its intended tearget, showering Mercury with harmless
wood splinters. The cavalry had arrived: Sailor Moon, Mars, Jupiter,
Venus and Jendra were ready for action.

"I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon and I won`t stand for huge
monsters destroying perfectly good furniture!"

"Cut the chit-chat, Sailor Moon, that thing doesn`t have a clue
about what you`re saying, it probably doesn`t even have enough
intelligence to flip on a lightswich!" said Sailor Mars.

"Killjoy!" she replied.

* * *

"They`re all eager to fight my creation, it seems. Do they realize
that by doing so they`re playing right in our hands? I think not."
observed Vortika, completely entranced by her magical viewscreen.

Ronmar watched the battle unfold from a more emotionaly detached
point of view, analyzing the scouts` strategy with the experience of
a hundred wars.

"They pose no threat individually. However, their superb teamwork
makes them a formidable fighting force." he commented.

They stared at the screen as the scouts each used their individual
attacks to weaken the beast, allowing Sailor Moon to use her scepter
to erradicate it.

"Our course of action is clear: we must dismantle this team one
piece at a time." said the knightmare.

"Remember that we can`t kill them yet- our whole plan rests on
collecting them ALIVE. Only then can we use their power to our own
ends." said Vortika.

* * *

Back at the temple, the scouts were at a loss as what to think about
this battle.

"Anyone can figure out what that was about?" wondered Makoto.

"This monster attack seemed rather pointless, I admit." said Ami.

"A mindless hunk of crystal doesn`t just start moving by itself, you
know- someone`s behind this for sure." said Usagi. She was afraid
this would ruin yet another date with Mamoru.

Usagi made a lot of sense, for once, thought the others.

"My guess is it`s the same jokers who bumped off Tomoe yesterday.
There`s a new Mr.Big in town and he wants to get the message across,
one way or the other." said Laurella.

Luna, silent until that point, lifted her head as if she tried to
hear a distant sound. The girls hung on her lips, waiting to hear
her opinion.

"We`ve had many powerful enemies in the past..." said Luna.
"...Beryl, Metalia, the Doomtree, the Dark Moon... you`ve always
pulled through somehow..."

She looked at Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako.

"... standing your ground until the end..."

She turned to Usagi.

"...discovering your true strenght..."

She hopped on Laurella`s lap.

"... finding true friendship and love along the way." she concluded.

Luna`s words brought new confidance to the sailor scouts.

Would it be enough, wondered Artemis.

"You should get some rest, we might have a tough fight on our hands
real soon." said the white cat.

"Be careful. We still don`t know what we`re up against." concluded
Luna.

Rei left her friends who were going home and went back to her room.
She changed to her temple garbs to do her daily chores. As Sailor
Mars, she fought evil and stood for justice, defending the innocent-
how long could the scouts keep on going, she wondered. There might
come a day when they would face someone just too strong for them
and... what then? What would become of her grandfather, of Yuuichiro,
of all those who relied on them?

No, she couldn`t allow herself to wallow in self-doubt because then
the darkness would truly triumph over her faith. She had to be
strong, for Usagi, for the scouts, for everyone. She knew she would
have to stand alone to this inner darkness she fought, so she would
continue this battle on her own terms.

"Pick yourself up, Rei, it`s no time to weaken." she told herself.

Now, where had Yuuichiro left the broom?

* * *

Usagi decided that the best way to be ready was to be relaxed, so
she laughed her head off reading some comic books she borrowed from
Rei (before she had a chance to read them, of course). The lights
then dimmed, blinking on and off, like the power was being affected
somehow. She looked out the window and saw only her house was being
subject to this electrical fluctuation; she got nervous. Could they
have found her already?

Could her family end up as another mass murder, a "Tsukino
massacre"? She got worried for her little brother upstairs; her
parents were out of the house at the moment, so it was up to her
to make sure he was all right.

"Shingo? Are you okay?" she asked. No answer.

Her heart pounded hard as she climbed the stairs three steps at a
time, the lights blinking all over the house.

"Shingo!!!" she screamed.

"Don`t panic, ditz-head! It`s just a small power surge, nothing to
freak over." said Shingo through his bedroom door.

"You`re all right, then?"

"Try not to sound TOO disappointed." he answered.

Maybe I`m too tense, she thought.

Shingo heard his sister walk downstairs and cracked open his door to
make sure she was gone, then breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at
the charred remains of what used to be his desktop lamp.

"Whoa, she almost caught me, this time. Like I want to explain THAT
to anyone." he told himself.

* * *

The sun rose over Tokyo, waking up the japanese city for yet another
day. The clear blue skies promised a beautiful day for all those who
would seize it. Many people were already up and going about their
business, running left and right at breakneck speed in an ever
accelerating race against the clock. Two seemingly timeless beings
knew better than the short lived humans, however, taking their time
to grieve their fallen students in a deserted graveyard.

These two visitors cared little for the constant races and worries
of humanity.

The first one placed a few flowers on the girl whom he had thaught
everything she knew about being a sailor scout over a thousand years
ago. Technuma Saturn shed a tear for Tomoe Hotaru, Sailor Saturn.
Even though she had been corrupted by the evil Mistress Nine, a
part of her was still the devoted sailor scout he had trained in
the days of the moon kingdom. From another part of the graveyard,
Technara Mars came to meet him.

"Celeste has a beautiful resting place." she said. "For all the evil
she commited in the name of duty, she was still the most devoted
warrior the guardians have ever trained."

"Maybe so, but the fact remains that she murdered Kitechnum and
Laurella in cold blood." said Technuma.

"Technuma, I`ve known you since we were created by the Prime. You
can`t hide anything from me, I can tell you still feel guilty over
this situation." she observed.

"Laurella was still breathing when I found their bodies; it was too
late for Kitechnum, but I should have saved Laurella! I gave up
too soon on her..." he said, hiding his sadness with little success.

"You know Celeste had drained her essence, like Kitechnum`s, she
never could have lived."

"That`s no excuse for not trying." said Technuma, looking at the
stark tombstone.

Here lies Tomoe Hotaru
Gone but not forgotten

"Let`s go, our business here is done and I don`t have any reason to
come back to earth again." he said to Technara.

"You know, Technuma, maybe they`ll meet again somehow... Kitechnum
cared so much for Laurella, that must count for something." said
Technara.

"Like Endymion and Usagi, you mean? I suppose that`s possible."

"I always thought they made a cute couple." said Technara Mars.

"I always wondered why they thought we didn`t know they were in
love." added Technuma Saturn.

The two technum guardians walked to an empty lot a few miles away
where they had landed their cloaked ship, the AVATAR MARK II. They
knew the scouts would be facing a new powerful opponent- that was
just the sort of thing they had been trained for by the guardians.
So that no guardian would ever lose his life and imbalance the
Technum flux of the solar system; that sort of thing can destroy
planets.

* * *

Even though this was the most beautiful sunday Tokyo had seen since
the last summer, some people nonetheless insisted on spending the
day inside the public library. Ami was leading the pack as always.
Sitting by herself at a table lost between two rows of shelves on
the second floor, she read a very old history book. Digesting the
steady flow of knowledge to feed her starving brain, she was more
hungry in this regard than Usagi was for food. There was something
intoxicating about this place. No matter what the weather was like
outside, the library always felt the same; warm, but not too hot,
comfortably numbing for the body to let the mind work unhindered.
The air had a strange smell of paper, humidity and photocopier ink
that compelled silence to all.

Rei, on the other hand, was bored out of her skull. She approached
her friend, the bookworm high commander, and spoke in hushed tones,
almost afraid of whatever divine punishment befell those who would
dare defy the most sacred rule of all: KEEP QUIET.

"Ami..." she whispered, "are you gonna stay in here all day?"

"Why not?"

"Look outside- it`s a beautiful day that deserves nothing more than
a picnic in the park and an afternoon of outdoors fun with the whole
gang!" said Rei.

"It`s not lunch time yet, can I read a bit more before we leave?"

"Sure, I`ll go talk to the cute guy I saw in the geography section-
I hope he`s single."

* * *

One floor down at the entrance, a man dressed in a very sharp black
suit with matching shades walked over casually to engage conversation
with the receptionist. She thought him to be very attractive and
would have liked to see his eyes, hidden behind his ever present
dark lenses.

"Hello, maybe you can help me, I`m looking for my friend, I think
she came here earlier..." he said very politely.

"What does she look like?" she asked him.

"About five feet two inches tall with short dark blue hair,
probably carrying a couple of books of hers."

"Yes, I`ve seen her. Ami does comes here often, don`t you think?"

"So Ami is her name, is it?" thought Psyche. "She loves to read,
what can I say... so she`s here right now?" he asked.

"On the second floor somewhere."

"Thank you ever so much." said Psyche with a very big smile.

He took his time to go through the various sections, getting a few
lovestruck gazes from young girls along the way. Even in world
conquest, style was everything to him. On the second floor, he
managed to find his way through a bookworm`s maze to the now lonely
Ami.

"Perfect," he thought, "she`ll never know what I`m doing until it`s
too late to resist. No witnesses either."

A simple surface scan would suffice; he`d get all the information
he needed and be gone in a moment. He`d done it many times before-
hit and run, as it were. Mercury wouldn`t know what was going until
he was gone.

Captured by the magic of the written word, she didn`t hear him
coming.

"Excuse me, may I borrow a moment of your time, please?" he said.

"Yes, how may I help you?" said Ami.

"Penny for your thoughts..." said Psyche, pulling down his shades
to reveal his ash grey eyes. He stared right into Ami`s deep blue
eyes, making eye contact and entrancing her in an instant.

"Now I have you!" he thought.

Ami had no idea what was happening to her; she felt like this
strange man was using her eyes to look in her head the same way he
would use a spyhole to look through a closed door. She wanted to
resist but couldn`t do a thing. Psyche browsed through her surface
thoughts and learned much in very little time, from the scouts`
powers to their secret identities. The girl was strong, however,
and held back a lot from him. He felt this and pushed further,
digging through the carefully stacked layers of her complex mind,
searching for more. Ami began to shake; she wasn`t taking this
well at all.

"What are you keeping from me, Sailor Mercury?" he asked silently.

Mercury could feel his fingers clawing through her mental defenses,
unveilling her every secret. The more he dug, the more he found.
She desperatly wanted to scream, but her body was paralyzed. The
weaknesses of the scouts were finally exposed to Psyche`s prying
eyes- he had found what he was looking for, still something
remained, a secret so heavy on her conscience that it mustered all
of her mental ressources in covering it up. So heavy was this
secret that even Ami herself was forbidden access to it by her
subconscious. He had to know, so he pushed with all of his psychic
might. Ami couldn`t take any more of this and her remaining inner
defenses crumbled under the assault. She screamed from the terrible
mental pain she suffered while Psyche learned her secret; the entire
library was alerted and Rei came running to help her friend.

"Well, this was... interesting." said Psyche, turning his back to
Ami who collapsed on the floor in tears. He put his shades back on
and left.

Rei ran as fast as she could and bumped right into Psyche. She
recognized him from her vision.

"YOU!" she said. Her attention was distracted by the painful crying
of Ami, so Psyche pushed Rei aside and escaped.

Getting back up, she wanted to run after him; her friend was more
imporatant, however, so she went to Ami wich she found curled up in
a foetal position on the floor, crying uncontrolably.

"Ami, what happened?!?" she asked.

"He... he..." tried to say Ami through her sobbing.

"Has he molested you?"

"No... his eyes... in my head... get him out of my head... GET HIM
OUT OF MY HEAD!" she cried out to Rei, cliging on to her for
protection.

People began to huddle around the two of them, curious as to what
happened.

"Call the police, that man dressed in black did something to my
friend!!!" said Rei with rage in her voice. Everyone understood
what she meant.

"I saw him a few minutes ago, I can describe him to the cops!"
said the receptionist who suddenly felt guilty when she realized
that she directed Psyche to the innocent Ami.

"Don`t leave me alone... with the eyes..." cried Ami.

The strong Sailor Mercury had vanished from Ami; it was nothing
more than a frightened, helpless child that Rei was comforting.
She would need counseling to heal the horrors she had been put
through.

* * *

"What the hell did you do back there, Coran? We`ve got cops on the lookout for a rapist that
fits your description!" resounded Vortika`s voice in Psyche`s head.

"There were... complications. Her mind was much stronger than any I ever encountered before,
I had to do a more forceful search to get our informations, wich I DID get, thank you very
much." he thought back to her.

"You can`t get back to the Sunforce plaza now, keep a low profile at
our hideout until you are needed again. Now, tell me what you found
that will help us defeat them..."

* * *

"I came as soon as I was told, where is my daughter?!?" asked Ami`s
mother in a frantic fashion.

Then again, who could possibly blame her for it? Ten minutes ago,
any mother`s worst nightmare became a reality when she received a
phone call informing her that her child was being treated at the
rape victim center after a maniac assaulted her. The details were
scarce and she was fearing the worst; she was sent to a room where
Ami was being comforted by her friends Rei, Usagi and Laurella. She
ran to her daughter and hugged her tight, crying along with her.
Rei told Miss Mizuno exactly what happened- the edited version, of
course, expunged of the sailor scouts and fire readings.

"So he didn`t touch her?" Miss Mizuno asked, worried.

"No, but she`s in shock." said Rei.

"What kind of sick monster would do such a thing?" Miss Mizuno
wondered.

"That`s what we`d all like to know." said Laurella, clenching her
fists tightly. She`d never felt anger like this before, but
instictively knew that her friends surely felt it too. When she met
that man, there would be hell to pay.

* * *

"So now we know where we`re going; Mercury is out of the picture
already and I figured the best target for this morph spell I
prepared." said Majestra Vortika to the knightmare sitting across
her in her lab.

Carefully polishing his battle axe, Ronmar was quite busy bringing
back the golden luster to his favorite weapon that had been worn
down by use and time.

"That mind reader is making too much trouble. He`ll be the end of
us." growled the knightmare.

"Not as long as I`m here to bring focus to his agitated mind. Alone,
he`s nothing and so are we. The triad has the power to overcome all
obstacles, so together we will stand. After we triumph, we will have
the freedom to go our own ways again." Vortika explained.

Ronmar obviously disliked the man; Vortika once asked the first
knightmare of the spheres what is the first thing he would like to
acquire as a ruler of earth. "Demsy`s head on a lance." he had
replied very seriously.

"So tell me, Majestra, what do you intend to do about your fugitive
vice-president?" Ronmar asked.

Vortika thought the problem over and came to the conclusion that
Demsy`s action could not hinder the operations of the agency. Though
they were perfectly legal and were not directly part of Vortika`s
plan, they still served the purpose of gathering the monetary
ressources she needed to acquire the spells and artifacts her
craft required.

Demsy`s assault of a teenage girl could tarnish the agency`s
reputation.

She floated into her wheelchair and used her magic to transform her
green elementalist`s robe into a high-class business suit.

"I`ll hold a press conference to announce the agency`s decision to
terminate mister Demsy`s career and offer a reward for any
information leading to his capture." she announced.

"A smoke screen, very appropriate." commented the knightmare.

"I knew you`d appreciate the irony." she said with a smile.

"Majestra, I was curious; if your magical tomes and objects weren`t
so expensive to find and recover, would you still keep your business
going?" asked Ronmar.

"If I didn`t need so much money, you mean? I`d drop it all in a
second."

"I`d better leave as well, I have some work of my own." said Ronmar.

"Be careful what route you take through the ventilation, the
nineteenth floor staff has reported horrible odours, they think it`s
from some dead vermin." commented Vortika.

"I`ll take a detour through the empty storage rooms." assured Ronmar.

* * *

Laurella watched the evening news and learned from Vortika`s press
conference that Ami`s assaillant was the same man who negociated the
agency`s security personnel deal with Hammer Corporation. She had
met the man a few times and even though he seemed a bit strange, he
was certainly not someone to impulsively molest young girls. This
was really too weird to be tossed aside as irrelevant. The previous
day, a monster had attacked a shopping mall in what looked like a
random event and today a man with an untarnished reputation
assaulted a sailor scout despite her secret identity.

The scouts should look into this, she thought. She went to her dad`s
computer and hacked in using the passwords she figured he might have
chosen to protect his business files. The first word she punched in
unlocked the password protection system.

"LAURELLA? Come on, dad, can`t you be more creative?" she thought.

While the information flowed on the computer screen, she picked a
small cigarette pack from her jeans` back pocket and lit up one. Of
all the self-destructive habits she picked up during her suicidal
depression a few months ago, it was the only one she hadn`t been
able to shake off, so she tried to cut down the best she could.
With all these weird psychopaths trying to kill the scouts right
now, she really needed to calm down somehow and pretty much gave up
on her attempts to quit.

* * *

Around two o`clock that night, the Cherry Hill temple was a very
silent place. Rei was sound asleep in her warm bed, dreaming of
better days when no monsters haunted her life and she could be a
normal girl enjoying the company of her friends.

Vortika`s noiseless appearance in her room was proof that those
days were gone. She floated there, hanging in the air like a helium
balloon.

"Sweet child, born of fire with a soul of flames; mirrors of the
soul, unleash this child`s darker side!" she said, releasing the
magical energies she had harnassed through hours of tireless
meditation. The energies entered Rei`s body and began their evil
work.

Once the process was complete, Vortika vanished. Rei woke up
suddenly, a cold chill down her spine. What was that all about?
She felt fear, doubt and confusion invade her mind. Her muscles
were stiff as well, painful to move.

"I have to sleep in a better position, or else I`ll wake up with
some awful cramps." she told herself, going right back to sleep.

* * *

In the japanese metropolis` industrial park, an old factory complex
laid sleeping. It had done so for years, its owners having given up
on the obsolete facilities ages ago. Or so it seemed. The beat-up
exterior was no more than a cover for the interior, a hybrid of
magic and technology. Hundreds of hours had been spent creating this
decor without attracting any attention. For all the city officials
knew, this was an old eyesore on some demolition company`s "to do
someday, hopefully" waiting list.

In one of the old offices refurnished as a bedroom, Coran Demsy
was bidding his time until he was needed again in his allies`
masterplan. He slept dreamlessly as the memories of his mind-read
victims gave him more "dreams" than he ever wanted during his
waking moments. His last victim`s thoughts were greatly disturbing
as they triggered moral dilemmas for wich he clearly wasn`t
prepared for. He hated having to drag along this excess baggage
and would be relieved to get rid of some if he could.

An unholy presence filled the dark room as a black putrid smoke
cloud seeped in under the door. The monstrous stench woke up Psyche
instantly while the dread lord of darkness reformed himself, looming
over the mind reader in all his vileness. Psyche coughed violently
on the nauseating vapors.

"Did you really have to enter my room in THIS particular fashion?"
he snapped at the knightmare.

"No, not really." growled Ronmar.

"Okay, then, tell me why you`re here."

"Majestra wants you to be ready; we`re collecting our guests now and
we`ll need you to guard them."

"Finally, something to do! A man of my talents is NOT meant to be
wasted doing nothing." complained Psyche.

"Don`t flatter yourself, any idiot could do that." mocked the
knightmare.

"Not really, Majestra chose ME over you for the job!"

"You`re lucky you don`t dream, little man, otherwise I`d give you
nightmares that would make you cry like a young child in the dark."
threatened the knightmare, his eyes glowing red through his visor.

"Shut up and let me get dressed." snapped Psyche.

Ronmar dissolved back in his noxious gas form and slipped out of the
room under the door. Psyche coughed again like a bronchite stricken
man.

"USE THE (cough cough) DAMN DOORS!" screamed Demsy as loud as he
could manage.

The knightmare reformed outside the room and snickered under his
helmet. He walked around the central area of the factory, turned
for the occasion into a ritualistic setup. Carefully, he inspected
the many instruments already in place for the power drained of the
prisonners they would soon gather. A huge altar surrounded by six
huge black granite slabs held the small talismans required to
extract the scouts` energies. They wouldn`t cooperate, of course.
That`s exactly why the slabs had resistant metal shackles.

"How sweet must taste the energies of these young warriors, I`m
almost impatient to consume them... almost." he thought.

He then observed the altar in all of its details and dragged his
hand along the smooth surface. Even through his heavy gauntlet,
he could feel the numbing cold radiating from the evil stonework.
The uniformity of the surface was breached only by a small engraving
created to fit snugly the silver empirium crystal.

"I have work to do now." he said, returning in his gaseous form and
taking to the sky, blending in with the dark mass of night.

Psyche came to the ritual area in time to see Ronmar leave, much to
his pleasure.

"I can`t believe I let Vortika talk me into working with that
creature." he thought.

* * *

Minako was deeply asleep, warmly tucked under her hearts-covered
sheets. Artemis slept on the floor, uncomfortable with the warm
cotton that Minako liked so much. His little fur coat was definitely
not adapted for summer nights. Lost in a beautiful dream, she smiled
gently and moaned occasionaly. In her dreamworld, nothing could hurt
her. Or so she believed. In her window, an ominous golden figure
watched over her sleep. The first knightmare of the spheres had
powers that could break the strongest will, bend the most resistant
spirit without as much as making a sound.

* * *

Minako enjoyed the bright and hot sun at the beach, lying in the
warm sand, her feet diping in the cool salt water. Her friends were
there too, some distance away in a game of volleyball. Hum, her
bikini wasn`t quite the right color- red just didn`t work for her.
There, now it was a golden yellow. Much better. Now if she could
only get a cold drink...a glass of iced tea found its way to her
hand.

Simply divine.

Out of the sea, a huge beast came out roaring. The blue dragon
screeched out of the waves and charged to the beach.

No problem! Venus star power, make-up.

Sailor Venus could take care of everything, and so could the other
scouts who transformed in turn after her.

* * *

"Minako, snap out of it!" screamed Artemis at the sleepwalking girl.

No use, she wouldn`t wake up. In all the years he had known her, she
had never done anything even remotely like this; transforming during
her sleep was certainly a vast step beyond in the field of
sleepwalking, though not necessarily a good one. What was she doing?
What could she be dreaming of that could get her to do this?!?

* * *

Something`s wrong, here, her Venus Crescent Beam should have
dispatched the dragon as it always did before.

The dragon swooped down on her friends and tore them to shreds.

NO! It`s not possible, they can`t die, the scouts always win!

The dragon went back to the waters, leaving the shocked Sailor Venus
alone with her dead friends.

Usagi, you can`t be dead, Crystal Tokyo will need you! Makoto, Rei,
don`t leave me here alone! Laurella, Ami, please don`t die...

A knight in golden armor came close to her, offering her some comfort.
I can make the pain go away, he said, come with me so I can numb the
sorrow.

Yes, make the pain fade, numb it to nothingness...

* * *

Artemis could only watch and freak out as Sailor Venus walked in a
trance into the night, holding the arm of Ronmar. He had to warn the
other girls fast! He could go meet Luna at Usagi`s but Makoto`s was
closer, and time was running out quicker than he ever could run
himself.

* * *

Makoto woke up in a sleepy haze, Artemis knocking wildly in her
bedroom window. She opened it and the white cat jumped in and told
the whole story in a frenzied haste:

"QuicklyougottawarntheothersMinakowaskidnappedbyaweirdknightinagold
armorafewminutesagoI`mafraidfortherestofyougirlsI`llbetit`sthesame
guyfromtheTomoemassacreyougottawarnLuna... "

"Whoa, slow down!" she said, yawning a lot.

"Minako`s gone! They`re on the move, we have to be ready to face
them and rescue Minako!"

"You`re right, I`ll call them right now." agreed Makoto.

"Better start with Usagi, she`s so hard to wake up, it`ll give her
a chance to meet us in time."

* * *

Psyche locked the shackles on the wrists of Sailor Venus. He had no
idea how Ronmar did it, but the girl was still sleeping, lost in her
dreams.

He had to want to rule the earth very much to let himself be involved
with the knightmare. This didn`t matter, however. The huge warrior
would return to his home realm or whatever hell he crawled out from.
Once the girls` power had been divided among the three of them. At
that point, he`d never have to see him again. Good riddance, he
thought.

Vortika, on the other hand, he HAD to stay in touch with. This
splendid teamwork that allowed the triad to work so well was her own
working; no way would he ever work with the freak warrior if it
wasn`t for her.

* * *

Ronmar entered the rape victim center in total silence, unhindered
by the locks and steel doors that the humans built to keep intruders
out. His next "guest" was treated here after Psyche`s assault on
her. With ghostly silence despite his heavy armor, he walked down
the corridors. He reached her room and opened the door and saw Ami
sleeping in her bed. She was recovering well from the mental shock,
although she had adamantly refused to remove her clothes to go to
bed. She had also been given a small dose of tranquiliser to allow
her to sleep.

"Come with me, child, your ordeal is almost over. I promise you that
death will be a painless release from existence" he whispered as he
gently picked her up in his arms.

He looked at her for a moment and softly brushed her hair. Ami moved
in her sleep and cuddled to Ronmar, a peaceful smile gracing her
lips. Why had Psyche hurt this sweet girl so needlessly? He
regretted having to destroy her, but had no choice in the matter.
Power was everything to him and her death was part of the price to
pay.

* * *

Rei woke up from what had to be the worst night of her life, her
body wracked by cramps that accompanied her awful headache. Her
alarm clock kept ringing, so she figured she might as well turn it
off. Wait a minute, that wasn`t her alarm clock but her communicator!
She slipped on her shirt and boxers as she tried to figure where she
left it last night. Her bathroom, of course.

She went in and looked at the mirror as she picked up the small red
transmitter.

* * *

Concentrating as much as he could on his early-in-the-morning-just-
before-the-sunrise prayer, Yuuichiro jolted when he heard the
terrible scream coming from Rei`s room. He ran in a hurry to find
out why she was doing this. Barging in her room, he found that she
left through the window after smashing her mirror. He saw the
beeping transmitter and tried to turn it on. Usagi`s face appeared,
looking rather surprised.

"Yuuichiro? What are you doing with Rei`s commu... hem..."

"I don`t have time to explain, Usagi. Like, something happened to
her and I`ll go after her myself. You`ll have to do without her
this time." he said.

"Hum... alright, then, good luck." she said, signing off.

Yuuichiro slipped the communicator in his back pocket and ran in
Rei`s pursuit. He was hoping very much he could find her somehow,
and fast.

* * *

"That`s weird, he didn`t seem surprised about Rei`s communicator or
seeing me calling. Is it possible that... he knows?" asked Usagi.

"I don`t know, it`s hard to say. It doesn`t matter much right now
anyway." replied Makoto.

"With Rei, Minako and Ami neutralized by our new nemesis, that
doesn`t leave us much to go on." observed Laurella.

"Maybe so, but you have to go anyway, who knows what these people
are planning to do?" said Artemis.

"Yes, Ami and Minako need your help! Transform, now!" ordered Luna.

"Right! MOON CRYSTAL POWER... MAKE-UP!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER... MAKE-UP!"

"JENDRA STAR POWER... MAKE-UP"

The trio was surrounded by blazing waves of light and thunder, their
clothes fading in exchange of sailor scout uniforms.

"Hum... where do we go from here? I mean, we don`t even know where
they`re being held!" observed Usagi.

"That`s not entirely true." said Laurella.

"You know something, don`t you?" asked Luna.

"Yep. Yesterday, I saw the press conference held by the agency
announcing their intention to help bring the man who attacked Ami,
their vice-president, to justice. From the moment the police
released publicly the description of Coran Demsy to the press
conference, that left them exactly fourteen minutes to recognize his
description, decide to terminate his carreer and prepare the press
conference. Pretty quick for corporate bureaucracy, don`t you
think?" she explained.

"Yes, so where does that leave us exactly?" asked Makoto.

"I searched in my dad`s databanks about their recent activities; it
turns out they have an old factory that`s been unused for years now-
not very cost effective to maintain that kind of factory considering
the taxes and all. It should have been demolished for years and is
still standing to this day. If they were planning to do something
out of public view, that`d be the place." continued Laurella.

"Well, lead us on, Sailor Jendra, no time to lose!" said Makoto.

* * *

As Psyche secured the shackles on Mercury`s wrists, she gently woke
up. She was beginning to recover and the shock was gone; the fear
held on tight, however, when she realized WHO was holding her
prisonner.

"YOU AGAIN!" she screamed, waking up Venus with her loud shrieks.
Minako and Ami tried to move, but were restrained by the short
length of chain holding them onto their slabs. They could only
sit up and look around at the strange decor.

"Haven`t you done enough already? Haven`t you hurt me so much that
you can consider your evil work done?!?" yelled Ami in unrepressed
anger.

"Mercury, where are we? Why are we chained like this?" asked Minako,
nervous that she might not like the answer.

"You think it`s been easy for me?" Psyche asked to Ami. "I have your
memories stuck in my skull now! Do you know how it feels to remember
things you`re not even sure happened to you or not?"

Psyche realized this might be a good chance to confront her with the
memories he got from his mind reading, forcing her to admit her most
secret thoughts. This always brought him some relief as it allowed
him to distance himself from the surplus thoughts his mind could
hardly handle. He clung on to his sanity like a drowning man to a
life preserver, and he felt a confrontation could help keep him
afloat a while longer.

"Tell me, Ami, why did you break up with the cute fortune-teller,
Greg? He cared for you very much, after all." he asked her.

"Why are you asking me this?" she wondered.

"This is none of your business." said Minako.

"Shut up and pay attention, there`s gonna be a test later." he
snapped at Sailor Venus,

"I don`t have to answer any of this." said Mercury.

"That`s true, I guess, but that doesn`t matter anyway because I
know the answer. Don`t you think your friend Minako would be
interested to know? It concerns her too." Psyche said.

"Please, don`t say this!" pleaded Ami.

"I could keep quiet, but wouldn`t the weight of that secret crush
you over time? How long are you planning to live with it without
telling anyone?" said Psyche.

"I can... I know I could..." Ami tried to argue.

"You`re both going to die soon, this is your last chance to release
this burden." he whispered to Ami. "Could you really allow yourself
to die before you`ve had a chance to come clean?" whispered Psyche
with his amazingly charming voice.

His words were well chosen; Ami`s resolve to take her secret to the
grave wavered into hesitation and further down into downright doubt.

"Minako..." said Ami softly, "I broke up with Greg because I didn`t
really love him. There is someone else who I gave my heart to,
someone I love with all my being..."

"And... who would that be?" asked Minako, afraid that Ami might be
trying to say that...

"I love you, Minako." whispered Ami.

This exchange left Psyche`s mind a bit more stable- he`d be able to
sleep more comfortably, at
least.

"You two obviously have a lot to talk about, so I`ll leave you to it.
I don`t know about you, but I feel a lot better." said Psyche as he
left the ritual area with a huge smile on his face.

Ami began to cry silently. "I`m sorry, Minako, I just can`t help it."
she appologized.

"Don`t ever be sorry for being in love, whoever you might be
attracted to..." said Minako, trying to reassure her friend.

For all of Psyche`s cruel intentions, he`d actually done her a favor:
by releasing herself of her heavy secret, her soul began to heal.

* * *

Yuuichiro had been on the trail of Rei for almost half an hour now.
It had been surprisingly easy to follow her through the streets and
alleys; not so much that she wanted to be found, but more that she
didn`t even try to hide.

He entered a small alley; it was filled with garbage cans and
containers, most of wich having their contents spread over a rather
wide area. Not the cleanest place he`d ever been to; not the nicest
smelling either. The young apprentice heard a faint noise coming
from the end of the alley- someone was crying, hiding between a
container and the dead-end wall. He approached slowly, whatever
had pushed Rei to run in the first place could get her to run again
if he scared her.

"Rei, is that you?" he asked softly.

The crying stopped; a shadow moved behind the container, he was
sure that was her.

"Why did you run from the temple?" he asked her, moving closer.

"Don`t come any closer, Yuuichiro!" she yelled in an authoritarian
tone mellowed by sadness. He stopped moving forward.

"You don`t need to run, I can help you! Your friends will always be
there for you!" he said.

He moved a bit closer, he could almost see her.

"STOP! I forbid you to come here!" she desperatly yelled.

"No, Rei, I`m not going to just stay away while you`re hurting. I`m
your friend and I care for you more than you can imagine. I`ll be
there for you, I promise." he said.

There was a few moments of silence, then she replied hesitantly.

"You can come, but... promise me... you won`t scream."

"I promise."

He walked closer and saw Rei; at least he thought it was her. Her
skin had been somehow replaced with dark green snakelike scales. Her
eyes were now a repulsive shade of yellow and her fingers now had
claws instead of nails. Sharp fangs protuded from her mouth,
completing this horrid shapechange. The instant he saw her, she
began sobbing hopelessly.

"I`m not human anymore." she said through her tears.

"Who... what did this to you?"

"I don`t know, I woke up and saw myself in the mirror like... this!"
she said, showing her hands as evidence to her sad story. "I`m a
monster now, like those Sailor Moon destroys. She`ll probably come
after me next!"

"It doesn`t matter to me, Rei, I`m still your friend and I`ll do
everything I can to help you. Sailor Moon is also your friend and
she won`t let you down."

"What do you mean? Sailor Moon, my friend?"

"I know your secret, Rei... I know you`re Sailor Mars. Last year
when that whacko cat girl attacked the temple, I saw you transform
before I fainted. I never told you about it because I knew how hard
you tried to keep me and your grandpa away from your fight against
evil." Yuuichiro explained.

"So why did you put up with me all these months, despite the hell
I put you through?" Rei asked.

"Because I`ve been in love with you from the first moment you looked
at me." he said with a smile.

Rei was touched by the feelings of this sweet, honest, caring man.
She wanted to be strong so much, always insisting on being
independant, that she forgot to listen to her heart. She hugged him
and found his embrace comforting. Despite her hideous appearance, he
didn`t seem repulsed by her contact. A warm flood of emotion filled
her heart; her skin tingled, too.

Her skin tingled?

No longer being subject to self-doubt, her form began to change once
again. Her boost in confidance was restoring her human appearance at
a steady rate; Rei realized that her own negative thoughts had been
dictating her form. The more she hated herself, the worse her shape
degraded. Now, with the help and love of Yuuichiro, her claws were
retracting, her skin softening and her eyes regained their real
color.

No magic could ever be stronger than true love.

* * *

Ronmar joined Vortika in the seemingly abandonned factory, reporting
on his progress.

"Mercury and Venus were easy to collect and are held in place, ready
for the ritual. Mars, however, was nowhere to be found. Judging from
what she did to her mirror, the morphing spell caught her at the
lowest of her self confidance, with no chance of increasing now.
She`s become no more than a stray, scared girl. If we can find her,
picking her up will be a simple matter." explained the knightmare.

"It doesn`t matter if we find her or not. Five scouts or six, our
power will be great either way; Mars`disappearing act is of no
consequence. The other three should be here soon, they have a way
of finding their enemies wherever they are. " said Vortika.

"With a leader who can`t lead, a fighter who doesn`t think and an
inexperienced recruit, they don`t stand a chance against the first
knightmare of the spheres." bragged the dread lord of darkness.

They looked at their two guests. Both had been crying and were sunk
deep in sadness.

"My guess is Psyche forced her to admit her biggest secrets to
alleviate his own anguish." observed Vortika.

"Maybe now he won`t be such a pain in my armor joints... but I
wouldn`t count on it." said Ronmar.

"The scouts will be here soon, prepare for an assault at any
moment."

"I`m always ready for a fight, you know that. Just be ready to
extract their energies once I bring them in."

"Psyche will be standing by to neutralize any one of them you can`t
handle, should they prove too powerful." said Vortika. Ronmar let
out a deep growl of rage.

"Have I ever lost a fight before? That miserable mind leech better
not get close to me in combat, I might strike him down... by
accident, of course." angrily grunted the knightmare.

"Of course." Vortika replied.

* * *

Laurella, Usagi and Makoto watched the sun climbing the sky as a new
day began in Tokyo. The old Sunfire factory shined in the distance.
This bright new day might be the last one of the sailor scouts,
three of its own out of action already.

"I`m afraid for my friends as well as for my life." said Laurella.

"Same here. My stomach`s twisted in a knot." said Makoto.

"What really scares me is that Mamoru hasn`t remembered he`s Tuxedo
Kamen yet; if this fight goes bad for us, we can`t count on him
showing up to turn the battle around." said Usagi.

"It`s a chance we have to take, isn`t it?" asked Laurella, not
really expecting an answer.

They rushed over to the factory, ready to fight for their friends`
lives.

* * *

"They`re here." said Vortika, looking in a small vision crystal.

"Good. I`m ready for their arrival." growled Ronmar.

"So am I." replied Vortika.

* * *

The sailor scout trio searched for a way to enter the abandonned
factory, unsure where to look first. The windows had been boarded
shut and blasting their way in would undoubtedly attract attention.
A small unlocked service entrance door provided access to what
looked like a machinery room. The lack of any light from both the
burned out electric system and the boarded windows made their
progression difficult; they bumped into machinery with each step
they took.

"I can`t see where I`m going!" complained Makoto.

"It`s not my fault if the front entrance was such an obvious TRAP
that we had to avoid." replied Usagi.

"This should help." said Laurella, shooting in the air a small
floating globe of light. Its color shifted constantly through all
the rainbow colors and partially restored sight to all.

"Nice." commented Usagi.

A terrible stench filled the air, nauseating the girls who never
smelled ANYTHING so monstrously vile in their lives.

"What`s that smell? Did something DIE in here?" asked Makoto,
unaware of the powerful knightmare reforming right behind her.

Ronmar hit Sailor Jupiter in the back of the head with his armored
fist, knocking her out instantly.

"Not yet, child." he whispered, thus revealing himself to the other
two fighters.

Sailor Moon and Jendra froze in fear for a second, frightened by the
dread lord of darkness. They quickly came to, preparing to defend
themselves from this unholy warrior.

"JENDRA CHROMATIC BLAST!"

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"

The girls did not anticipate the knightmare`s enhanced abilities
brought by the room`s darkness. Ronmar lifted his hand and molded
darkness itself into a large shield that easily deflected the
glowing disk and dissolved into nothing the multicolored blast of
blinding light.

"How can we defeat this monster?" asked Laurella.

"You don`t." growled Ronmar, his eyes glowing red underneath his
visor.

Moving faster than anyone might imagine possible for a man in full
battle armor, he charged Sailor Jendra whom he punched in the
stomach and in the face. She went down like a inanimate rag doll.

Sailor Moon retrieved her tiara and prepared to launch it at him
again; Ronmar, however, had picked up both unconscious scouts by
their necks and looked straight at her.

"Surrender or be responsible for both of their deaths." he told
her.

"All right... you win." replied sadly Sailor Moon, dropping her
tiara to the ground. It stopped glowing and retrieved its normal
form on impact.

"Clever girl." he said. His eyes glowed wickedly in what could be
approximated as a smile of sorts.

* * *

An oppressing darkness bathed the ritual site as Vortika set up the
final preparations for the power transfer ceremony. She ripped
Sailor Moon`s brooch, reverting her back to Usagi.

"I`ll need this now." she said, admiring the delicately crafted
brooch.

"I`m sorry, I failed you all." appologized Usagi to her immobilized
friends.

"If we weren`t all chained up, we`d beat you to a pulp, old witch!"
screamed Makoto.

"But you are, so I win." said Vortika.

"We all do." added Psyche.

Deep down inside, Usagi was praying for a miracle. Even if Mars
showed up, what chance would she have now? Vortika removed the
silver crystal from the brooch and placed it in the altar`s central
engraving.

"Shouldn`t we wait until we have all six girls?" asked Psyche.

"We don`t have time. If we are to proceed, we need the correct star
alignment. We must begin now. Five scouts will work just as well as
six." told Vortika.

Ronmar moved in closer to receive the energies that would soon be
drained. Vortika activated the crystal with slow gestures and
incomprehensible words of an unknown language.

This is it, Usagi thought, we`re going to die.

As it radiated a dark, evil light, the crystal extracted a steady
flow of energy from the girls that infused Vortika, Psyche and
Ronmar.

"It`s working... IT`S WORKING!!!" yelled Psyche.

"Power, glorious power!" said Ronmar with excitment.

This is my death on the moon kingdom all over again, thought
Laurella.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" screamed a voice within the surrounding darkness.
Although no one could see quite clearly, it was obviously Sailor
Mars. When she came in visual range, Vortika couldn`t believe her
eyes; she had beaten the morphing spell.

"You`re stronger than you seem, Mars, and so are we." said Psyche.
He pulled down his shades, revealing his energy filled eyes. Silver
beams shot out of his eyes, barely missing Rei. The explosion
knocked her down, making her easy prey for the all powerful Ronmar
who grabbed her and brought her to the empty slab. The stolen
energy infused in the knightmare surged through his hands, severely
shocking Mars as she was being brought to the sixth slab.

This time it`s truly over, she thought, Tuxedo Kamen wouldn`t be
there and all was lost.

Then it happened.

Out of the darkness, a beam of pure primordial energy soared through
the air and connected to the glowing silver crystal. The raw Technum
reverberated along the artificial powerlines created to drain the
scouts, thus melting the chains, revitalizing the weakened scouts
and removing the stolen energy form the triad.

"Who... what did this?" asked Minako.

"No time to find out now, we`ve got a fight on our hands!" said
Makoto.

Usagi ran for the crystal, so did Vortika. They began fighting over
it angrily, Usagi clearly overpowering the physically feeble
elementalist. The scouts fought Ronmar with every ounce of strenght
they possessed. After removing forcefuly her crystal from the
sorceress`s hands, she placed it back in her brooch and transformed
back to Sailor Moon in radiant light that pierced the magical
shadows.

Feeling the fight turning sour, Psyche kept behind Vortika; he knew
she`d have some trick up her sleeve to give the triad the upper hand.
Surely enough, she began casting a strong tornado spell a hundred
times more powerful than the cantrip that held her hung in the air.
The scouts who managed to stand up replied immediately with a
thundrous assault of their own.

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

"BURNING MANDALA!"

The spell was not sufficient to deter the combined powers of the
three scouts; Vortika`s magic backfired from the attack and consumed
her own body. The price of magic is always high, and this time
Majestra couldn`t afford it. Psyche was blown back and lost his
shades as he fell down hardly. The out of control magic reduced the
once powerful Majestra Vortika into smoking ash.

Sailor Moon was now ready to put an end to this madness; she pulled
her scepter from a pocket subdimension where she stored it between
battles. She looked at the dread lord of darkness who had lost much
power in the bright light.

"MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"

The bright flash of energy struck Ronmar and he screamed as he
dissolved into a putrid black puddle on the ground.

Laurella, seeing Psyche laid down on the ground, went to him, glad
to put the man behind bars at last. She grabbed him by the collar,
but didn`t realize that his power worked through simple eye contact.

"What`s your straightjacket size, girl?" he asked Laurella as he
gazed straight in her eyes and into her mind.

He wasn`t just trying to drag information out, this time. In his
rage, he simply wanted to do a lot of damage. Laurella had seen much
darkness in her days, though. You want to see horror, you`ll get it,
she thought.

Psyche witnessed the memories of Laurella, her despair and
hopelessness as she believed that her life had become so empty that
it wasn`t worth living anymore. He saw her enter her home`s bathroom
and search frantically for the one item she thought could end her
suffering. He saw her pick up her dad`s razor blade, press it
against her wrist and.. and...

"AAAAAAARRRRGHHH!!!!" frantically screamed Psyche, grasping his
wrists to cease the hemorrage that existed only in his mind. Too
many stolen memories, too many false thoughts. His mind finally
snapped like a fragile twig, propelling down into the downward
spiral of madness. His mind destroyed, his mental power was
snuffed out.

"We won, let`s dump him in the police`s care and leave." said
Sailor Moon.

Everyone agreed.

Hidden in a corner, the man responsible for turning around the
situation for the scouts felt good about himself. His only regret
was not seeing who Sailor Moon was before she transformed; the
dark mists prevented him from finally learning her identity. He
slipped away discreetly, feeling confidant he`d meet with the
scouts very soon.

* * *

An hour after they had all left, the black puddle reformed back into
the dread lord of darkness. He had fooled the scouts this time and
he`d live to fight them another day.

"I`m not going down with a sinking ship." he told himself, leaving
the Sunfire factory and never returning to the Sunforce plaza.

There might have been a time when he would have found honor and
pride in fighting impossible odds to the bitter end, but those
days were long gone. He needed to think of a new plan, a better
strategy.

* * *

"Are you sure the energy blast was Technum?" asked Usagi to Rei.

"Certain. It felt just like Technuma Saturn`s presence, charged
with power strong enough to create life or destroy it, familiar
even, in a strange way." she described.

"Didn`t Technuma Saturn tell you the guardians were all dead?"
wondered Luna.

"I`m not sure anymore. Maybe Technuma lied to me for some reason."
said Rei.

"Maybe they were reborn, like us." said Minako.

"Psyche looks good in a straightjacket, doesn`t he?" commented
Makoto.

"He messed with the wrong mind, he paid the price." observed
Laurella. She felt avenged for destroying the mind of Demsy,
although she swore to herself that she`d never forgive him.

Ami lifted her head and made subtle eye contact with Minako for
the first time since the defeat of the triad earlier that morning.
Her eyes said "I need to talk to you". Almost an entire day had
passed and she still hadn`t said a word. The girls assumed this
was because of the strain Psyche had put on her the previous day;
she was all right, though, and was keeping quiet for another
reason. She left Rei`s house to "take a short stroll on the temple
grounds". A minute later, Minako made up some excuse about needing
some air and left as well.

As Minako left, Yuuichiro entered the scouts`meeting.

"Hiya girls, just came back to give this back to Rei, I forgot to
when I found her this morning." he said, handing Rei her
communicator.

They froze an instant, but Rei reassured them.

"It`s all right, he knows. He`s known for quite a while and never
said a word; we can trust him." she said, taking back her small
transmitter.

"I betcha you girls have a lot of serious world-saving business to
talk over or some monster to hunt or something, so I`ll just go."
he said.

She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him down next to her.

"Please don`t go. You were there when I needed you most even though
I`ve always pushed you away. You also reminded me I can`t carry the
world on my shoulders. I`ve been trying to be strong by myself so
much that I forgot to listen to my heart " she said, placing her
arms around his shoulders. "I need you."

She kissed him right in front of the other scouts. She didn`t give
a damn that they knew.

* * *

Sitting under a tree, Ami was staring at the cloudless sky; she
seemed embarassed at her earlier declarations. Minako sat down
beside her and came out directly to the point.

"How could you keep something so big bottled up inside?" asked
Minako.

"I guess that I buried it so deep that I made myself forget..."
said Ami who blushed. "...besides, what would you have said if I
had spoken out?" she asked.

"I`m not sure, really."

"There`s more than just that, actually." admitted Ami. "Mom, for
starters. She doesn`t show it, but I know she can`t wait until I
fall in love with the man of my dreams, get married and have
children of my own."

Man of her dreams; these words sounded so devoid of meaning, all
of a sudden. Like one of those polite made-up expressions everyone
expects you to blurt out in social situations even if you don`t
agree with them..

"You`re afraid of not living up to her expectations." said Minako.

"Yeah. And society`s, too. People would be staring at me like they
do to Michiru and Haruka. I understand them, now, even envy their
lack of concern over it. They just love each other, people be
damned." said Ami, smiling.

"So, I take it you don`t want the others to know?"

"No. Not yet, anyway."

"Don`t worry, I`ll keep my mouth shut." said Minako. She smiled and
placed a sweet, peach flavored kiss on Ami`s lips. "It`ll be our
little secret." she added, hugging Ami tenderly.

Some love stories unfold for all to see while others are condemned
to stay in the shadows of secrecy. It matters not wich choices you
make in life, you must simply be able to live with the consequences
once those choices are made.


The End

* * *

Here`s something I feel I should have done a long time ago:

LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO

Sailor Moon, tuxedo Kamen and other characters depicted in this
story (except for those of my creation such as Sailor Jendra and
the triad) are the trademarks of Naoko Takeuchi, DIC, KEI
entertainment and many more people involved with the Sailor Moon
manga and television show.

The use of these characters in this story does not construde as a
challenge to such status, nor is it an attempt to make money by
leeching off someone else`s ideas (I`m not making a cent, here!)