NOTE: Here is a key for the story:
"......" - aloud speech
'......' - thought speech
italics - past speakers or memories teletype - Lita's journal

_______________________________________________

Chapter 2: Then There Was Four

Lita held up the tear. It was about the size of a golfball but didn't look like it. The smooth sides created the shape of a tear that glistened as light reflected off of it and made a green light shine onto Lita's walls.

"Wow..." was all Lita could say in that moment. Her eyes were as big as saucers while she rotated the tear in her hands, glaring at each face of the emerald.

She then heard a telephone ring and she snapped out of her shocked state of mind. Quickly, with the emerald tear still in hand, she answered, "Hello, Lita speaking." Before she could ask who it was, the person hung up.

"Ah, must have been a wrong number," Lita smiled for a moment, then it faded away. 'So many questions have to be answered, I just can't believe all of this.'

Quickly walked back over to the box, she noticed that inside with the Emerald, there was a small note. Again with fumbling fingers, Lita opened the small note:

Lita Dearest,
I hope that you enjoy your present. I know that you will find out what it is for but I am also sure that you have opened this present when you needed answers. To find your answers, just ask yourself within. You will find them. Remember your past.
Love Grandmother

Lita put down the letter and picked up the box. Carefully, she placed the Emerald Tear back into it's spot. 'My dreams... they need me back in the past. I need to know. I have to go back!' She was just about to shut the lid when it gave off a small radiant light. Lita's head started to ache but she didn't appear confused.

Lita closed the box, then quickly checked outside her room. When all was clear, her alter ego took over and adrenaline surged through her as her voice pierced the air with "Jupiter Power!" With another flash of light, where Lita had been standing stood Sailor Jupiter. Quickly, she picked up the box and placed it back in her jewelry box.

"Well, off I go. I know something is wrong... hopefully my alter-ego will help me figure this all out!" So, with a bound from her window, she carefully snuck up to the roof and made her way downtown.

---------

"No, you get back here!" Sailor Jupiter growled as she ran after what she recollected to be a Negaverse Monster... or what seemed to be one. Something was different about it and of course, the Negaverse had been defeated... so she really had no clue.

She was fighting it in the beautiful green and flowered park in downtown Tokyo. Surprisingly no one had gotten anywhere near the fighting and Jupiter intended to keep it that way.

The Monster suddenly stopped running and turned to face Jupiter. For the first time Sailor Jupiter realized how hideous the creature was. It was like a huge snake, with pincers like a crab. It had legs like a human and its eyes were the majority of its facial features.

She quickly decided to use an attack. With a swift motion, she raised her arms and yelled, "Jupiter Thunder Crash!" The thunder roared through the air and knocked the monster off its feet. Within a minute, it was back up and swinging the huge pincers at Sailor Jupiter. She fell tripped and fell backward. Sailor Jupiter knew that she couldn't beat this thing alone. She silently cried out for any of the other Sailor Scouts that she knew existed in her heart.

Jupiter slowly got up and put in a full force blow to the monster, knocking it down, but not out. Before she could even scream, one of the pincers caught her leg and pulled her down. Her energy was being drained from her. She felt herself getting weaker by the minute. In a last effort deal, she screamed out, "Jupiter...Thunder... CRASH!" She hit the monster square between the eyes, leaving it blind.

Sailor Jupiter squirmed from its grip and crawled back under a tree to rest for a moment. She felt so weak and drained she didn't know how she was going to finish off the monster. A moment went by and she heard something.

"On behalf of the planet Mars, I will punish you!" Then a black haired girl came jumping down from a nearby tree. Jupiter noticed that she had on the exact same uniform she did, except she it was red and she had high heels on instead of boots.

The girl came rushing towards Sailor Jupiter, "Are you ok Sailor Jupiter?" She bent down to check out her wounds.

Jupiter asked, "Who are you?" She then tried to get up and also glanced back to find out where the monster was.

"I'm Sailor Mars. We've been looking for you for a while. You're a hard one to find you know." Sailor Mars grinned then turned towards the monster. Two more girls jumped down from different trees. Sailor Jupiter was now up on her feet staring at the two girls running towards her. 'Wow... geez, I can't believe this...' She fell to the ground with a thud. Sailor Mars bent down again to check her the new-found scout then yelled, "Sailor Moon, finish it off!"

Sailor Moon nodded and within minutes the monster was destroyed and in its place was a plastic lobster and a rubber snake. Both girls came running forward, then peered around.

"It's ok, detransform," a blue haired girl spoke softly.

So, there stood three girls and a Sailor Jupiter lying quietly on the ground.

"Princess... wake up." Lita heard someone calling her from afar. She peered around and saw that her surroundings had infact turned into the destroyed Jupiter Kingdom. Lita got up from where she had been laying, "Who's there?"
"Trust me Princess... you have to get up. You're friends are waiting for you..."

Lita blinked and before she knew it, she was back in the park, staring up at strangers. She quickly touched her face where her tiara had been and graciously found it not there anymore and her sailor outfit was gone also.

"Um... hi?" Lita questioned as she started sitting up. She noticed that there were three girls surrounding her, two of them arguing and one using a mini computer beside her.

'Oh I hope that I detransformed before they saw me... please...'

"Oh hello... you had a bad fall, are you alright?" A girl with blue hair asked, quickly typing in information into the small computer.

Lita frowned, "Yeah, I'm alright, just a little drained. How long was I out?"

A small blonde haired girl with two bun-ish pigtails bent down and extended a hand, "Hey, I'm Serena! This here is Raye, a hot-tempered friend who works at the local temple..." Raye knocked Serena upside the head, leaving her speechless, all except for a grunt as she fell over.

"And I'm Amy" She typed in more stuff as she spoke.

"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Lita. I was walking in the park and this monster attacked me! I didn't even know where it came from..."

Serena laughed for a minute, "Lita, we know who you are. We've been looking for you for a long time now."

Amy nodded, "Yes. We have. Although, I didn't want Serena to say anything until I ran a complete scan on you, I do believe we have found you finally."

Raye's eyes glared, "I thought we were going to wait guys!"

Serena shook her head, "Raye, we've waited long enough. Lita, come on. We have some talking to do!"

Lita shook her head, "But I just met you... and why were you looking for me?!"

Amy was the first to answer. She took a moment to look around to see if anyone was in ear distance, "We are the Sailor Scouts. Raye is Sailor Mars. She's the one that found you first. I'm Sailor Mercury and that..." she pointed to Serena, "is Sailor Moon. She's the Moon Princess..."

Lita gasped, "I found you finally... my dream... oh geez..." She took a moment and stood up. Then walked over to Serena, "You have to help me...I-I... need to get back to the past. 1000 years to be exact. My Kingdom, Jupiter... I've had these dreams. They are telling me to go to the past... and I found the Jupiter Emerald Tear! My grandmother had it..." Lita was spouting out information, mumbling and rambled.

"It's all too much for her. Come on Lita, let's go back to my house..." Amy shut her computer and took one arm, Raye took the other. Serena brought up the rear as they headed over to Amy's house to figure this out. Quietly, she brought out her communicator and pressed a button, "Luna... meet us over at Amy's... we have Jupiter! Yay!"