In Another Life: The Legend's Beginning . . .

by Fushigi Kismet

A universe where some things are just a bit different. The Sailor Senshi must protect the world from two different groups of enemies with a little assistance from the mysterious Guardians. [incomplete]

8. Episode Eight: The Three Who Meet

Standard Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to me. It belongs
to Takeuchi Naoko, Kodansha, Toei Ltd., and tons of other people.
Thank you very much for creating such a wonderful story and please
don't sue me. ^_^;;; However . . . the events of this story and
some of these characters are MY property. No stealing!

This is a long episode and one long in coming. Sorry 'bout that! I
haven't posted a new episode since the end of last August! ^^;;;;;
Ten months . . . *makes face* WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!!!! Anyway,
here it is, so, be happy, minna. ^_^


In a time of peace . . .

In a time of war . . .

Two kingdoms lived side by side . . .

Two hearts cried out for one another . . .

And thus was a legend born.

SAILOR MOON
IN ANOTHER LIFE:
THE LEGEND'S BEGINNING

by Fushigi Kismet


The Tree seemed withered, almost dead. Sagging, it seemed more
like some twisted caricature than a living being. Ann ran her hand
over some oddly shaped scrapes in the trunk and felt the vibrations
of the Tree trembling beneath her. Her hand glowed faintly as she
tried to channel some of her energy to the plant, but the glow faded
immediately. She hung her head in despair, tears spilling forth from
her eyes.
"Ann?" a voice asked, his hand touching her shoulder.
She refused to look at him. "Ailan, we have *got* to do
something! I mean, how much longer can the Doom Tree sustain us with
the shape it's in now?"
"I don't know, Ann. I just don't know."
"Ahem."
Ann and Ailan whirled about.
"YOU!" Ann snarled.
"Perhaps I can be of some help?" Fiore said, bowing gracefully and
smirking at the expression on Ann's face.
"I *don't* think so."
Ann and Ailan held hands and the fierce burst of energy that
rushed forth from their bodies flung Fiore's surprised and undefended
body across the "room" that they were in.
After his limp body had skidded across the ground for several
hundred yards, he came to a stop and pushed himself to his feet. His
eyes glowed an eerie red and a strange type of electricity began to
crackle about his hands. "That was totally uncalled for!" he spat at
the other two.
"Not after what you did to the Doom Tree!" Ann screamed back,
tears filling her angry eyes.
"You and that damnable *weed* of yours!" Ailan added.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Fiore asked, not really
caring.
"It doesn't really matter now, does it?" Ailan hissed in a low
voice, energy gathering about his clenched fist.
"No," Fiore replied, his fist and flower glowing, "I guess it
doesn't."
Energy rose around all three of them, and then there was a fierce
flash of light, as the energies created met in an explosion . . .


The Three Who Meet
aka
And Scheme . . .


Saturday

"It has been announced that a Sailor V live-action movie is in the
works. The current model of the Sailor V animation, video games,
manga, and artwork may very well be starring in the new movie. This
little known model and budding actress hails from Japan but has
currently been living in England where the real Sailor V, herself, is
said to live. The actress will more than likely return to her
hometown of Tokyo where the movie will be filmed if she is indeed
chosen for the role. Her name has not been released to the public,
but photos of her *have* been obtained for the purpose of this
report."
A few pictures flashed on screen. "The model is a big fan of
Sailor V. Here we see her with her white cat, which is also used as
the basis for the renditions of Sailor V's *own* white cat. It is
rumored that the cat's name is Artemis . . ."
Luna stared at the photos of a smiling blue-eyed girl with light-
blonde hair cuddling a white cat to her. The cat's blue eyes gleamed
mischievously out at the television audience.
"Artemis, you fool! What have you done?! The last thing we need
is all of this *publicity* . . . Who knows who might be watching
this and, inadvertently or not, discover the truth . . ."

Kenneth stared at the news broadcast, his mouth curved in a slight
smile. The VCR was taping the whole thing. "It's you," he murmured
gently, more gently than anyone had ever heard him. "It's you. I
know it is. Ever since that day in England . . . Don't think that I
give up so easily. Or that you have many secrets left to hide from
me. I'm here for a reason. After all, I knew . . . about your
coming here. I knew it all in advance. I promised that we would
meet again. I will find you again . . ." He opened his wallet and
pulled out a tattered photograph worn from being looked at so often.
Her smiling face looked up at him, blue eyes brilliant. He flipped
it over and his eyes greedily read the words which seemed rather
cramped on the small photo.

Peggy, I loved modeling for you! That series of paintings you
did for the company . . . They were so awesome! You'd think I
*was* Sailor V, huh, Peggy? But I especially loved the one you
did . . . of just me. I'll hang it in my room. Enjoy Tokyo.
Paint lots of beautiful scenes and people. This movie deal may
be just the thing to get me back home. Your message is still
lingering in my mind. I promise I won't forget. You were a true
friend to me. I'll miss you, Peggy-chan . . .

Your friend always,
Sailor V
(Mina Love)

He shut his eyes. I couldn't have the painting, but she let me
have the photo. It's something to remember you by, isn't it? But
it's not enough. I'm not letting you escape this time, Mina. I'm
not letting you flit off to who knows where. Damn your Allen! This
time . . . it's just going to be you and I.

A hand froze mid-brush stroke. The other hand brushed away some
tears trailing down her face. She gazed at the painting before her
and suppressed a sob.
"Why?" she demanded of the empty room. "Why?"
Grey eyes gazed back at her silently from the wet paint.

Ailan slowly regained consciousness and getting his weak and
battered body up on hands and knees, he crawled over to where Ann
lay, several feet away. Her eyes were closed, and her chest rose and
fell with her shallow breaths. Green blood trickled down from the
side of her mouth and a gash on her cheek located under her right
eye. He held her hand in his, knowing that he could do nothing until
she awoke, then turned to take in his surroundings.

Fiore was gone.

This, he noticed immediately, being unable to sense the green-
haired alien's presence, but he pushed aside the thought, his eyes
adjusting to the darkness. The otherworldly space that they had
created for the Tree was intact, but had it been more substantial,
the energy that they had expended would have almost certainly leveled
it. His eyes looked searchingly for the Tree. Nothing . . . all was
dark.

It was then that Ann took a breath.

The Tree pulsed into being, glowing in the darkness. Ailan
exhaled the breath that he had been holding and turned to her as
though to speak . . . but she was beyond him, lost in the
luminescence of the Tree. Her eyes flickered oddly, brightly, her
skin began to glow in answer to the Tree. She spoke and the voice
was the voice of a thousand Anns . . . "I come to thee, Mother."
The tree pulsed in answer.

"So that's the plan, ne?" Lita asked anxiously trying to keep her
voice a whisper.
"Right!" Molly agreed emphatically, also careful to keep her voice
low. The two girls were hiding behind a large tree shielded by a few
bushes in the park. A few feet away was a bench where *he* sat.
Lita paused for a moment, hesitation plain on her face. "Are you
sure what we're doing is okay?"
"He's not happy with her! You can see that, can't you?"
"Well . . . hai. But she's happy with him."
"Who do you think he'd be happier with: Onee-I mean, Katie, or
you?"
"I don't know!" Lita cried out miserably, frustrated. "That's up
to him."
"Well, *I'm* sure who he'd be happier with!" Molly argued. I'm
sure *this* time anyway . . . "Trust me. Now, GO!" She pushed her
forward and Lita stumbled through the bushes a little awkwardly.
November looked up from his sketch pad. "Lita-san!" he said,
surprised.
"Er . . . Gomen nasai for disturbing you, November-san . . . I
didn't mean to . . ."
"Nonsense," he said, his smile widening. She's extra kawaii when
she blushes like that. Uh . . . what am I thinking? He gestured to
the spot next to him on the bench. "Have a seat."
Lita stared at the bench for an instant before coming to herself
and stumbling forward, awkwardly seating herself next to him. "Um .
. . what are you doing?" Aaah! I sound like *SUCH* a DORK!
"Huh?" He looked confused. What *AM* I doing?! Katie will be
along any minute! ARRGH!!! Nev, he addressed himself, when did
you start becoming such an . . . AIRHEAD?!
"I . . . I mean here," Lita said, flustered. Kami-sama, that
sounded even MORE stupid! It's a PARK for goodness sake!
"I'm . . ." Waiting for my annoyi . . . matte, can't think that,
my girlfriend. Uh . . . can't SAY *that*! ". . . uh . . ." He
grabbed his sketchpad tighter and showed it to Lita, almost
desperately, it seemed to Molly, observing the scene with amusement.
"Sketching."
"Oh . . . uh . . . HAI! I should've seen that!" Lita said
quickly, grabbing at the sketchpad. "Can I see?"
"Um . . . sure . . ." Iie! Iie! Baka! he thought to himself,
remembering what he had been sketching on the last page of that
*particular* sketchpad.
Lita was flipping through it, looking at sketches of plants and
trees with interest. She stopped and stared at a silhouette of the
Tokyo skyline. It looked almost as though he had climbed on top of a
very high building to get that particular viewpoint. Baka, it's
from a WINDOW, she chided herself. It's not like he's Spiderman or
something. It was a beautiful sketch. "This one's really nice,"
she commented.
"Do you think so? It's a view I'd like to share someday . . .
with someone I care about," he said slowly, calming down as he stared
down at her dark head and green eyes intent on the picture. His
heart started to pound.
"Honto?" she asked quietly, and his heart seemed to stop for an
instant. That tone of voice, the sound . . . it seemed to be
bringing back memories . . . He could almost grasp them, assailed by
a wave of hazy recollections . . . He heard a voice saying:

'Really?'
'Yes,' his own voice replied, laughing.
'I'm really your one and only?'
'Yes!' he responded, a little more emphatic.
'Good. I'm glad . . . Because . . . because . . . you're the
only man I've ever . . . really loved . . . ' Green eyes met his own
for an instant, and his own, no, not quite his own . . . he was older
in those eyes . . . reflection looked back at him from those shining
eyes.
'Completely,' she finished.

"Nev-kun?" Lita asked, waving a hand in front of his face. He
snapped back to reality and looked over at her. Worried green eyes
stared back at him.
"Um . . . I must've wandered off. Gomen."
She handed him back the sketchpad and he nearly breathed a sigh of
relief. Her eyes, though, were hurt. "Gomen," she said slowly, "I
didn't mean to force my company on you. I'm sure you have better
things to do." She got to her feet.
Bewildered at this change in events, he caught her wrist and as
she turned to look at him, he said, "Iie, Lita-san. I enjoy your
company . . . very much. I just have a lot on my mind. Forgive me
for getting distracted? Onegai, I don't want you to be angry at me."
Acutely conscious of their physical contact, she said a little
breathily, her eyes softening toward his pleading eyes, "I shouldn't
have made so much of it. Forgive me for being too sensitive?"
"Only if you forgive me first."
"All right. You're forgiven." She smiled. "Completely."

'Completely.'

He let go of her wrist abruptly. She looked at him, wondering
what she had done wrong now.
He looked away. "Gomen nasai, Lita-san . . . what you said just
now . . . reminded me of something . . . someone, rather."
"Someone?"
"Someone . . . very close to me . . ." I think.
Great, now I remind him of Katie. She forced a smile. "Is that
good or bad?"
He looked back up at her from where he sat on the bench. His eyes
were troubled. "I'm not . . . I'm not sure."
She tried to laugh it off. "Well, I guess we'll have to wait and
see, ne?"
"Hai, I guess so. Lita-san," he spoke up suddenly, looking at
her. "You're a very special person. Don't go too far away . . . all
right?"
Lita pulled back a little, coloring. "H . . . Hai!" Then she
ran off down the path and he watched her go, admiring the fluid
movement of her body . . . She was like the elements, beautiful and
equally untamable. Untouchable.
"Untouchable like your mind and spirit, Lita-chan," he whispered.
But perhaps not your heart.
He flipped open the pad to the last page . . . where Lita's face
looked out at him, sketched in loving detail. Why am I so
*confused* . . . ?
"November-kun!" Katie cried, breaking his contemplation.
He started and quickly shut the sketchbook. Getting up and waving
less than enthusiastically at Katie, he sighed. It was going to be a
LONG day.

'Don't go too far away?' Lita wondered, her feet pounding down
the path. What did he mean by that? And . . . and he called me
"special." She colored, ducking her head in an unconscious attempt
to hide her embarrassment.
"L-Lita-chan!" Molly panted. "Matte!"
"Nani?" Lita ground to a stop and whirled around. "Ah! Molly-
chan! Gomen! I kinda . . . forgot about you."
Molly smirked, looking up from where she was bent over, panting.
"I could tell. So how long d'you think it'll be before he asks you
out, Miss "Special"?"
Lita's face turned bright red. "Ano . . ."
The red-head laughed. "Never mind! Gomen for listening! I won't
next time. The two of you need some space . . . what with all those
fireworks going off."
Lita sobered, her face falling. "I was such an idiot!"
"Hey, now." Molly smiled. "You made *him* nervous! I've never
seen that before. You're getting to him."
"Demo, he's got a *girlfriend*. And she's *Sandler Katie*! How
am I ever going to compete against that?!"
"Lita . . ." Molly began softly, "November never goes against his
heart for long. This is what all of this is in the end . . . a
battle of the heart. You're good for him, Lita. You make him happy.
And in the end . . . his heart will win out. And he won't be the
only winner."
A small ghost of a smile appeared. Lita's green eyes shone.
"Arigato, Molly-chan."

People stopped to glance at the red-haired woman walking down the
street. She was quite striking. However, they didn't stop and stare
for long. Something about her warned them away, some hint of
deadliness, of cruelty, of darkness perhaps . . . something that they
could not stomach.
Rill stopped and glanced into a store window. But no, the man
inside was not who she was looking for.
She smirked, her lips curving in a vicious smile. She would find
him sooner or later . . . the object of her desires . . .

Darien.

He would be within her grasp soon - he and those Sailor Senshi.
Her lust for him could only be overcome by her hatred for them. Yes,
they would all be hers, one way or another.

There was no escaping her.

There was no escaping her, Nev thought despondently, half-
listening to Katie's chatter as she clung to his arm. He wondered
what had possessed him to start dating her again. Now that they were
together all the old reasons for breaking up with her flooded back
again.
And there were *A LOT* of reasons.
First of all, they had hardly anything in common. Second, she
never seemed to mind that he wasn't listening to her when she was
talking. Third, she never professed any interest in the things that
he found interesting. It wasn't that she didn't care, it was just,
if he didn't bring something up, she would be happy to talk about
tennis forever. Fourth, he *hated* her taste in movies. Fifth, she
couldn't cook and he usually ended up making food, which in itself
wouldn't be so bad, but he only knew TWO recipes. Toast and boiled
eggs. It was a wonder he had managed to survive whenever his parents
had been at work too late to come home and make something. Oh yeah,
now he remembered . . . he had gotten take out. Sixth, there were
the pet names . . . The pet names he *hated* . . . Like now, for
instance . . .
"Honey-bunny," Katie said, smiling up at him, "do you want to go
for a boat ride?"
"Uh, sure," he said, wincing.
She smiled happily. "Good! Boat rides are *so* romantic don't
you think, November-wember?"
He tried not to groan. "Yeah, Katie-Watie." Maybe she would get
the hint . . .
"Oh, that's so sweet!"
Maybe not.
*SWEATDROP*

Fiore trudged along the street, carefully disguised as a human.
His whole body hurt. Ailan and Ann were surprisingly formidable
opponents despite their weakened states. He winced. He wouldn't
underestimate them again.
He turned to look at his Flower. The source of all his present
troubles . . .
. . . and the solution to all of his past ones.
He had come to after the battle when the Flower had sent an
infusion of energy through his body. Energy it should not have had.
Energy that he and Ailan had stolen from the panicked human weaklings
in their last scheme for power. Energy that they had presented to
Ann and the Tree who had need of them.
It was then that he had *known* why the other two had turned on
him after they had seemed to be getting along - the Flower had stolen
the energy from the Tree. He had verified this moments after he
awoke when he had placed a hand on the darkened Tree. It had been
almost completely drained of energy.
Though his ties to it had long since been severed . . . the Tree
had called out to him. It had wanted his help . . .
He shut his eyes, blotting out the memory.
Fiore had turned his back on it long ago - had left the ways of
his people and had forsaken the Tree.
All because he could no longer bear the pain that it had caused
him. He admitted it now . . . his weakness had been his undoing.
*She* would not be proud of him now. He was not worthy of her. Had
she not . . . He stopped the thought, determined to stay in control.
He could not think of her. Not now.
He looked down at the Flower he wore at his chest.
Hana-sama . . .
It had been his savior. It had saved him from death . . . had
allowed him to be free from the Tree. From his past. He owed it
everything.
And yet . . . it had sent one of its children out . . . to steal
the energy from the Tree in his absence. It had betrayed the trust
that Ann and Ailan had shown him. It had betrayed his trust in *it*.
He could not condone its actions but neither could he condemn
them. They were both simply doing what they could to survive. And
the Flower . . . it had promised him . . . the one thing he desired
most. The only one left to him, now . . .
It was not too late to remedy the past. Or, at least . . . some
of it.
Fiore stretched out a hand, felt the power he now possessed from
the stolen energy (enough to protect himself from Ann and Ailan's
energy combined), and laughed. He would find who he sought and all
would be right with his life . . . at last.
It was then that two high-heeled shoes appeared in his vision. He
looked up, startled.
I don't believe it . . . That can't be . . .
Dark red eyes bored into his own. Her lips curved in nasty smile.
"Hello . . . old friend."
"Hello . . . Rill."

"Um . . . Katie, could you *please* sit down? You're rocking the
boat-"
"Demo, honey, I think I see Etsuko-chan from the tennis club!"
She waved exuberantly to her friend.
"How can you tell?" November asked, squinting at the form on the
shore. She looked like a dot.
"I've got good eyesight," Katie replied promptly.
Etsuko waved back from the shore, then cupped her hands to her
mouth and shouted something.
"NANI?!" Katie yelled back. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
Etsuko tried again and Katie leaned forward in the boat, straining
to hear.
"Katie!" Nev shouted, alarmed. The boat was rocking *A LOT*.
It was then that Katie fell into the lake.
Nev sat still for a moment and sweatdropped. Then tossing the
oars into the water he stood up, groaning. Katie can't swim.
He leapt into the brink after her and moments later pulled her to
the surface. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and blown their
rowboat seemingly halfway across the lake.
Damn. It's a rental.
He turned and began making his way to shore . . . half a mile
away.

Fiore stared for a long moment, his thoughts and emotions a
jumble. Rill merely looked back at him, looking as though she
couldn't decide whether to be amused or irritated by his behavior.
Finally, he spoke again. "It's . . . been a while."
"That's all you have to say?" she asked, idly.
"Well-"
She reached forward and grabbed him, her lips pressing against his
with a wild animal lust. His eyes widened and he tried to pull away,
but she wouldn't allow it. Finally, she broke away and looked at
him, satisfied.
"It's been more than a while," she said after a moment.
He coughed, grateful for the air filling his lungs.
The people walking the streets gave them a wide berth. It was
unseemly to be seen kissing in public in Japan.
"What the hell was that for?!" he demanded, irritated and
humiliated.
"Just a reminder," she purred, "of what you gave up last time . .
. and a taste of what you'll never have."
"Something that I'll never want! At least with you."
"My, Fiore," she said, smiling, "I had expected better from you.
Or perhaps not. You were always too weak-willed for my taste."
The Flower pulsed.
Rill looked at it, studied it for an instant, then burst into
nearly hysterical laughter.
"What are you doing!" Fiore hissed, looking around at the
passersby who had stopped to stare from a safe distance. They
hurriedly moved on when he caught their eye.
Rill ceased her laughter. "That Flower . . . is controlling
you."
"Don't be ridiculous," Fiore replied, "it is doing nothing of the
sort. We have a symbiotic relationship."
"With it the dominant partner." She reached up and caressed his
face, her long nails making small cuts which bled. "Oh, poor Fiore .
. . Whatever shall I do with you?"
He grabbed her hand and pulled it down and away. She let out a
cry at the strength of his grip. The bones in her wrist felt like
they were about to break in two.
"Do not *think* to toy with me, Rill."
A subtle green light pulsed around is body for a second and then
vanished . . . as did the cuts.
He tightened his grip on her wrist and Rill felt a bone snap.
"Damn you, what do you want?!" she said harshly, no longer amused.
If he could hurt her, with the Senshi strength that she possessed
even in her mortal form, then he was more dangerous than she had
supposed . . . perhaps even a match for herself.
"I want you to be a good little girl, Rill," he whispered in her
ear, "and come with me. Don't struggle or attract any attention. I
have not forgotten your other self and I have need of the talents you
possess while in your other form."
She licked her lips. "I could demonstrate some talents in this
form."
He snapped another bone. "Rill, you would as soon kill me as the
other. Don't think that I don't know that."
"Fine," she snapped, "but I won't work simply for your
convenience. What's in it for me?" She wasn't worried about her
wrist. Senshi healed fast.
"You'll live."
"Not good enough." She lifted her other hand and he could see the
glint of metal. She had hidden a dagger in her sleeve.
"Very well." He released her, and she took a wary step back. "I
seem to recall some very pesky young ladies that might be causing you
problems. If nothing else, they're bound to get in the way and
that's something *you* wouldn't like."
Rill's eyes narrowed. She was thinking.
He smiled. "Does "Senshi" mean anything to you?"
A malevolent smile appeared. "And you have the means to dispose
of them?"
Fiore matched her smile with one of her own. "I have a plan that
should rid us of those *annoyances*, once and for all!"

November deposited Katie's limp body on the shore. Looking up,
his eyes confronted two pairs of legs. Looking up further he saw who
they belonged to. "Oh . . . hey, Molly-chan. Lita-san."
"Need a hand?" Molly asked, trying to keep a wry smile from her
face.
"Um . . ."
But he was cut off by Etsuko's shout. "Kami-sama!" she said,
running up. She had dark brown hair which she wore in two ponytails
and worried brown eyes. "Is she okay?!"
"Yeah," November said, hefting up Katie's body again. "I think
she's all right."
"Maybe we should take her to a hospital!" Etsuko fretted.
It was then that Katie's eyes fluttered open and she spat out some
lake water. "Hi, Etsuko-chan," she said, smiling. "What were you
trying to tell me?"
"Oh, I . . ." Etsuko looked flustered. "It wasn't very important!
Katie-chan, we've got to get you to a hospital!"
"Me? Oh, I'm fine-" She fainted.
Etsuko let out a scream and began panicking loudly.
Molly ran to the nearest pay phone to call an ambulance while Lita
checked Katie's pulse and vital signs.
"She's all right . . . Just fainted," Lita said, looking up at
November across Katie's limp body in his arms.
"Domo arigato gozaimasu," he said, softly, so Etsuko couldn't
hear. But the brunette was too busy freaking out to notice.
"You're welcome," Lita replied, a shy smile warming Nev's heart.
Molly ran back to the group. "The ambulance should be here any
moment! How is she?"
"She's all right," November said distantly, his eyes fixed on
Lita.
Lita blushed.
Molly grinned. Maybe things aren't going so badly after all!

Serena walked into the park, early for once . . . earlier than
usual. She sat down on a bench and stared vacantly off into the
distance. Spring was slipping away into the long hazy days of
summer. Fall would follow, and with it, Winter.
The stone bench was warm, having soaked up so many rays of
sunshine during the bright, sunny day. Looking down at her hands,
which she had been unconsciously wringing, she sighed and forced
herself to stop. She had gotten here early to think . . . about what
had happened to the other Senshi and her powers, but more than that,
and more importantly in her mind, about what had happened to her.
She shut her eyes and thought about what had happened . . . the
kiss that Darien and she had shared, that instant of magic, the
presence of a feeling inside her that she had never before
experienced to such a degree and had not known existed. Well, not
for him. She had guessed, she had wondered, but she had never been
sure. His kiss had swept away her doubts, the feeling of electricity
that had coursed through them both, the absolute certainty that *this
was right*. She knew now . . . and she was afraid. She had never
truly been in love before. Everything was fresh and new and
frightening. She had run from him. She did not know why. At the
time she had rationalized that the Sailor Senshi were needed to
defuse the bomb, but she knew that that was not the reason why she
had run. She had been running . . . from herself.
Yes, that was it. Running from the things that she could not
face. Running from the rejection in his eyes, the knowledge that it
had all been a mistake, that he did not love her, that he thought of
her as nothing but a silly, stupid schoolgirl, that he was sorry for
ever laying eyes on her. That was what she feared. That was what
she had to face up to now. His eyes . . . and the truth shining in
them. It would either break her heart or grant her the chance to
hope, to dream . . . to love.
She opened her eyes, only to find that she was in darkness. A
shadow was cast over her. His shadow. She glanced over and saw him
standing to one side, looking at her. His face was unreadable, his
eyes dark with feelings that she could not understand, emotions that
lived beyond the realm of her comprehension. She wanted to speak, to
say his name, but found that she was unable to make a sound, so she
simply sat, partly turned to face him, the breeze blowing her hair
gently about her, her eyes wide in a strange, unreasoning fear of
what he would say.
He said nothing. Instead, he walked slowly over to her and sat
down on the bench next to her, careful not to touch her at all. She
wanted to reach out and take his hand, to hold it to her face and
feel the warmth in his rough fingers . . . feel the heat surging
through her body with just that small contact. She dared not. She
feared that he would pull away.
She looked at him steadily, waiting for him to speak, for him to be
the one to break the silence that reigned between them. They sat
like this for a time, easy, yet uneasy in the placid stillness that
surrounded them. He said quietly, solemnly, in such a low voice that
she had to strain her ears to hear him:

"Serena."

He did not look at her as he said her name, but she noticed, torn
between her emotions, that his hands were trembling. He continued,
his voice slightly rough, with fury or pain she could not discern,
"I'm sorry about the other day. I'm sorry about what I did. It
wasn't right. I shouldn't have-"
"It's all right," she said softly. Now she turned away.
"It's not all right!" he said in a sudden burst of anger. "I
shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that!"
"Taken advantage of me?" her voice held a trace of strained
laughter. "You didn't take advantage of me. I wanted you to kiss
me." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I wanted it so much . . ."
"It was wrong of me. Wrong of me to give in to my impulses.
Serena, you're so young-"
She jumped to her feet. "Since when did age have anything to do
with it?!"
"It should have," he said quietly, still sitting, his hands
dangling uselessly at his sides.
"But it didn't." She knelt down next to him in the grass, gazing
up at his bowed head, earnestly, desperately. "It never has."
"Why did you run?" he asked abruptly, suddenly having to know.
"Were you afraid of me?"
"Afraid? Of you? Is that what you think?" Tears came to her
eyes. "How can you think such a thing! I could never be afraid of
you."
"You should have been, dammit!" He surged to his feet, and stood,
not looking at her. "You are so naive."
Slightly bewildered, she said, "You would never hurt me, Darien."
"No. Not that way. But I am toying with you, Serena, with your
emotions."
She remained silent.
He continued blindly on, "If not that, then why did you run?"
"Because . . . I was afraid of myself. Afraid that I wasn't good
enough for you."
He got to his feet and walked a few feet away from her. "Not good
enough for me? You are such a fool."
She got to her feet. "You're always cruel to me. Why is that?
Why am I such a fool?"
"There, you see . . . I've hurt you again," he said.
She walked over to him. "Why am I a fool?"
"You don't think you're good enough for me? Serena . . . no one
is good enough for *you*."
She backed away a step, her eyes wide and soft with fear and hope.
Darien . . .
Refusing to look at her he said, angry at her and at himself.
"You want to know why you're a fool? All right, I'll tell you.
Because you've got a silly crush on me when you could do so much
better."
"It's not a crush." Her voice was quietly firm, her hands clasped
together at her chest.
He smiled gently and turned to look at her. "You are *still* so
young." Two blue eyes gazed back at him unblinkingly. And so
beautiful, Serena. So very beautiful . . .
She stared at him and with a sinking heart discovered that she
still could not read his face, his eyes. It was as though he was
guarding himself against her. She wanted answers, but she knew that
she would never get them. Not this way.
"I believe we have a lesson?" she said calmly, hiding her inner
turmoil, a plan forming in her mind.
He seemed both disappointed and relieved, she noted, as he sat
back down on the bench and she went to join him. "Yes, we do," he
said softly.
She smiled blandly, but secretly, secretly, she was promising
herself that she would never give up . . . that she would *make* it
so that he would grow to love her.

Darien hid his expression of dismay and buried his emotions.
This is only right, he thought as calmly as he could. You can't
hurt Serena. She'll get over this crush soon enough and then . . .
And then what?! he demanded of himself angrily. Darien, she's not
the fool, *you* are . . . for allowing yourself to fall in love with
her!
Gazing at her, he could only think, Maybe someday . . .
She looked sweetly up at him and it was all he could do to
restrain himself from crushing her to him and kissing her until they
were both breathless. He gritted his teeth and shoved the notion to
the back of his mind. How can you love her without knowing her? he
questioned himself. You both need some time. You don't know her as
well as you think, Darien. She's got plenty of secrets that you know
nothing about. You've got to learn about her . . . all about her.
And then, if you still love her and you're *sure* that this is what
you want . . . then, you damn fool, *then* you can try to earn her
love. He pulled a textbook out of his bag. "I believe we have
chemistry . . ." he said, keeping his tone as neutral as possible.
Her eyes sparkled. "Hai, I believe we do. Please, continue . .
."
He couldn't help smiling a little. Quick, aren't you, Serena?
"We'll have to take it slow. It's a difficult subject. After all,
we don't want our chemical reactions to fizzle out before we have a
chance to study them, now do we?"
"No, of course not. Slowly then . . . but surely. A step at a
time."
They shared a secretive smile. It seemed that they had come to
the same conclusion.

After the ambulance came and took Katie to the hospital - a purely
precautionary measure - Etsuko riding in the back, the three of them
hung around for a while, sitting on a bench. November bought the two
girls ice-cream cones from a vendor and they sat quietly, eating.
Finally, Nev got to his feet and said, "Well, I'm off to retrieve the
boat."
"You're not going to go swimming, are you?" Lita asked, looking at
him. His wet clothes stuck to his body, outlining his musculature .
. . Damn, he's gorgeous . . .
He sighed. "I don't know how else I'm going to-"
"Get another boat," Lita said immediately, before swallowing her
last bite of cone and ice-cream.
"And once I get to the second one?"
"Bring someone with you to get it back."
"Like who?" Nev asked, eyebrow arched. "Are you volunteering?"
Lita sprang to her feet, her eyes sparkling. "Sure, why not?"
She turned to Molly. "You coming?"
Molly remained sitting on the bench. "Naw, I think I've had
enough excitement for one day . . . You two go and have fun."
"You sure?" Lita asked.
Nev pretended not to care but Molly could tell that he didn't want
her to come. Perfect . . . "Go ahead. Get the boat. I think
Mama's expecting me back home anyway."
Lita shrugged. "Okay, then."
Nev offered his arm to Lita. "Shall we?"
"Why, good sir, how gallant of you!" She took his arm and they
strolled off together to rent another boat.
Molly smiled. She would have smiled more fifteen minutes later
had she stuck around long enough to see them racing each other back
to shore in their rowboats . . .
. . . only to reach the shore at precisely the same moment, mind
and body fully attuned to one another.
They shared a smile.
Then Katie paged him and the moment was shattered . . .

"How long do I have to stand like this?" Jed complained, attired
in his golden armor.
Zephyr ran a scanning device up and down him, typed something into
his portable computer, and clucked his tongue on the roof of his
mouth. "Eight more minutes. Why? Uncomfortable?"
"Yeah. This thing isn't exactly *light*, you know."
"Well, of course it is." Zephyr looked at him sharply. "It's
much lighter than it has any right to be. You shouldn't be able to
*stand* in that getup."
"What've you discovered, Professor?" Kenneth asked lazily from his
position sprawled on the sofa.
"It's made up of some type of light alloy. I've never seen
anything quite like it. It's very strong-"
"And heavy," Jed panted. "*Very* heavy. Hurry up!"
"Six minutes. Relax."
"Easy for you to say!"
"-and it's also very flexible," he continued, as though he had
said nothing since that sentence.
The door opened and November stepped in, and shut it with a growl.
He flopped into a chair, grabbed a bag of pretzels from off of the
table, and stared at Zephyr and Jed. "What're you guys *doing*?"
"Have a nice date?" Zephyr asked, a hint of humor in his voice.
"I don't want to talk about it!"
"Oooh-kaaay." Zephyr rolled his eyes and went back to typing
something on his computer.
"What took you so long?!" Jed snapped. "If you'd gotten back
sooner, *I* wouldn't have been roped into this!"
"Sorry. Geez, what's the matter with you?"
Kenneth coughed into his hand. "He's been in that armor for an
hour and - How many minutes now, Zeph?"
"Twenty-seven."
"Three minutes," Jed muttered under his breath. "Then I am free
to *kill* you."
"Now, now."
November finished a handful of pretzels. "Big deal. We've been
in those things longer."
"An hour and a half *without* moving?"
"Uh . . . never mind. Hey, what's Zeph doing, anyway?"
"He's taking pleasure in driving me crazy!" Jed said between
gritted teeth.
"I'm analyzing the armor, Jed's endurance, his vital signs, and if
wearing the armor has any debilitating effect on his health. Later,
I'll conduct some tests on his powers - yours too," he added. "Oh,
and I *am* taking pleasure in driving him crazy."
"I'm going to get you . . ."
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Zephyr-" Nev
began hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"Don't bother him! It'll take him longer." Jed glared.
"Nonsense. Go ahead, Nev." The blonde smiled, pausing in his
typing.
Jed groaned.
Nev smiled briefly. "How'd you crack the passwords? I know we
went over all of this in debriefing but I found it kind of hard to
believe that the two of you just kept *guessing* . . ."
His eyes narrowed. "We didn't."
"Zeph, here, has an IQ of 212. Didn't he tell you? He's also got
an "extra" power that pops up now and then. Makes him useful . . .
We call it "Machine-telepathy" or "Techepathy." He can work directly
with machines . . . especially computers, with his mind. It's almost
like if he's in the right frame of mind we can just plug him in and
leave him running . . ." Keth grinned, taking a sip from his can of
soda.
Green eyes glinted. "Thanks ever so much for that *lovely*
comparison. You make me sound like a vacuum cleaner!"
"Whatever works. 'Sides, we all know how much you eat."
Nev stared, brown eyes disbelieving. "No way? You can just . . .
work with computers like that?"
Zeph allowed himself a cautious smile. "Not that I let Ms.
Mercury know. I just "image" things . . . You wouldn't understand
unless you were doing it yourself. It's rather strange."
"Plus, he has a tendency to crash." Keth frowned. "I really need
a better model."
"Oh, shut up!"
"Are you done yet?!" Jed yelled.
Zephyr turned his gaze back to the computer screen and instead of
typing anything, he simply stared at it. His eyes grew lighter and
lighter, the pupils dilating. Light flickered over them. Words
appeared at a phenomenal rate on the screen and scrolled upward.
Diagrams appeared, changed, shrank, disappeared, reappeared as new,
different ones, and a complex array of symbols formed and finally the
screen stayed still.
Glowing on the screen was an image of a red phoenix in flight,
curled around itself.
Zephyr blinked, and his eyes came back to himself. "Okay, all
done."
Jed stretched his right arm out and concentrated . . . there was a
brief flash of red light and then he stood, dressed in a black t-
shirt and black jeans.
"How . . . Goth," Nev commented.
Jed ignored the comment, staring at his clothes in slight
apprehension. Then he looked to his wrist and gazed anxiously at his
watch. "Damn! I'm going to be late if I don't run for it."
"Late for what?" Keth asked.
"My job!"
"Job? What job? You've got a job here."
"I mean my *real* job. I can't just stay here and do nothing all
the time. Something has to pay the bills."
"I pay you. I pay all of my employees."
"Look, it's not that I don't appreciate that . . . It's just that
I've got my own life to lead - apart from all of this. Try to
understand, I don't want to be Phoenix all the time. I'm Jed Raven
and-" He checked his watch again. "-I've got to run!"
He opened the door and dashed out.
The other three looked after him.
Zephyr was the first to speak. "Those clothes . . . That wasn't
what he was wearing when we started! How is that possible?" He
typed rapidly into the computer. "Shoot, I need more tests." He
frowned and turned around. "Oh, Nev-"
November took one look at the maniacal gleam in his eyes and
bolted for the door.

Jed ran past a shrine, checking his watch, and smashed into a
smaller form. He reached out with his hands and grabbed her by the
shoulders before she could fall, then looked down, repentant. "Er .
. . Gomen! Gomen nasai!" He pulled away and bowed . . . all of the
Japanese he knew but those two simple words, having flown out of his
mind at the instant of the collision. Getting a good look at his
watch again, he looked forward, continuing his apologies and ran as
fast as he could by the person whom he had knocked into. Half-
glimpsed long dark hair and violet eyes nearly stayed him in his
course, but shaking off the feeling of familiarity washing over him,
he continued on his way, promising himself that he would return to
the shrine later and look around.

Raye opened her eyes upon feeling two gentle hands bracing her
arms and a warm feeling suffusing her body. She saw a blur of blue
eyes and golden hair running past her. "Gomen!" the oddly pleasant
male voice yelled.
Turning to watch the blur speed away, she put one hand on her hips
and shook her right fist after him. "Well, watch it next time!" she
yelled. "Honestly," she whispered to herself, "you'd think he was
the male version of Serena or something." She shook her head, an odd
sense of deja vu and warmth surrounding her. Her senses were
reacting strangely to the atmosphere. She didn't sense an evil
force, but something with its power muted . . . Almost as though it
was hidden . . . Walking back to the shrine, she contemplated. I
wonder . . .


Afternoon, the next day . . .
Sunday

Zephyr, his hands deep in his pockets, walked down the street, his
mind on things other than the shopping list in his right pocket.
Kenneth can damn well do his own shopping. I'm not in the mood to
go buy whatever the hell he wants. If he can negotiate those
business contracts with Spain, he can get his own Nachos!
He fingered the list in his left pocket. On the other hand, I
might as well go get those computer components now. He shook his
head. I can't believe that blasted contraption blew a fuse. I am
*SO* switching back to Macs! *They* don't ask what I'm doing Friday
night! He stopped short in front of a store. Hang on a second . .
.
A dagger sparkled in the display case. Its handle was white . . .
with a unicorn wrapped around it.
He was almost tempted to move on. He didn't need anything else
that reminded him of his alter-ego.
The unicorn's eyes glittered at him. They were made of zoisite.
"That tears it!" If this is a trap . . . I'm walking into it
with both eyes open.
He went into the store.
Five minutes later he walked out, dagger in hand. Well, dagger
wrapped in cloth in the bag that was in his hand. He could just
imagine how long it would take the police to apprehend him if he'd
walked out of the store waving his dagger around.
A police car drove by.
He made a face. Nev's power had *better* not be rubbing off on
him! He had enough to deal with at the moment. More than enough.
He turned back towards the street and saw some girl walking
towards him and waving.
Shoot! I know I've seen her before . . . but I'll be damned if I
can remember her name. Play it cool, Zeph. With that thought he
strode forward.

"Konnichi wa, Mist-san!" the girl called, smiling.
"Konnichi wa," Zephyr responded with a smile, walking past.
Amy stopped walking, noticing the identity of the man who had just
walked past. She blinked. How casual . . . He didn't even stop to
talk. "Um, excuse me," she said, rather shyly to the girl.
"Anderson Amy, ne?" the girl asked, perplexed as to why the girl
genius was speaking to her.
"I couldn't help seeing you and . . . Mist-san. Are you very
close?"
"Oh, him?" The girl shrugged. "Not really. We met at a party.
I wouldn't mind being his girlfriend . . . then again, maybe it's
better that I'm not. He's what you might call a ladies' man. Half a
dozen girlfriends already and all exes now. And that's *just* since
he moved here."
Amy looked at her quietly, her heart sinking. "Really?"
"Yeah." She laughed. It was a heartless, thoughtless sound to
Amy. "Still, there are other guys, ne? No need to bother about just
one . . ."
"Sure," Amy said shortly. "Why bother with just one?" She turned
and strode away, her head held high and her heart dragging.
The girl watched her go and frowned. "What's the matter with
her?"

"Chiishi-san," the cashier reported to her boss who had seemingly
materialized behind her, though she knew that she must have come in
through the back door, "I just sold that dagger."
"Really?" her boss asked, and the girl couldn't tell whether she
was interested in the information or not. "To whom?"
The girl knew that her employer took an inordinate amount of
interest in her customers so she answered promptly, "Some man. He
came in and asked about it. Average height, blonde hair, green eyes
. . . Spoke like a gaijin."
Chiishi tapped her bottom lip with one of her long fingers. "I
don't suppose you got his name?"
"No, ma'am." The girl looked chastened.
"Credit card number?"
"He paid in cash, ma'am."
"Cash?" Chiishi's eyes narrowed. "How much did you sell that
dagger for?"
"The specified amount."
"*Really* . . . and he paid with *CASH*? Well, no matter. I'm
sure we'll be meeting again. Get back to work."
"Hai, ma'am." The girl happily complied. Speaking with her
employer always made her anxious . . . After all, what kind of a
person had a name that meant "bloodstone"?
Chiishi made her way to the back of the store, and shut the door
behind her. "Interesting," she murmured under her breath, pulling
out the hair pins that held up her long dark red hair. Her curly
hair tumbled down about her shoulders. She picked up a long dark
crystal and ran her finger along its edge. "Very interesting." A
dark smile appeared and her violet eyes shone . . . "We *will* be
meeting again, Guardian . . . and at the time that *I* ordain."

"Mars POWER, MAKE-UP!" she screamed. But it was no use. Nothing
happened. She pulled down her hand, clenched tightly around the
henshin wand, in defeat. Staring at the pen which seemed to shimmer
more and more dimly with each passing moment, she sighed. She sat
down, drawing up her knees to rest under her chin.
She started a moment later as two sneakered feet appeared in her
line of vision, but, recognizing the shoes, she calmed somewhat as
Serena sat down opposite her, face propped up on her hands. "You
okay, Raye-chan?"
"Iie." Raye glared at the ground. "Of course not, you Odango
Atama! Why would I be? Not only can't I attack, but now I can't
even henshin! I'm powerless!"
"We've *all* lost our powers, but that doesn't make us powerless.
We'll just have to work that much harder."
"You talk big, but . . . never mind."
"Nani?"
"No, forget it."
"Raye, what were you going to say?"
Raye looked up, her eyes tear-filled and angry. "I just want to
know if you're going to come through for us when we need you! 'Cause
if you're not . . ."
Serena met Raye's eyes with her own and Raye looked down. "Gomen
nasai."
The blonde sighed and looked up off at the blue sky. "Isn't it
pretty out today? We should be out enjoying ourselves."
"That's just what I mean! That's just it! You try to laugh
everything off!"
"That's just how I DEAL, okay?! Kami-sama, give me a break for
once, Raye-chan."
They glared at one another before Raye buried her face in her
hands. "Why am I doing this to us?" she asked, her voice muffled.
Straining to hear, Serena replied, "Because you're angry, upset,
and frustrated . . . like I was the other night. Only, it's just
really catching up to you now."
"I thought for sure that my powers would be back by now, but . .
."
"Patience is a virtue."
"Since when did you become a book of quotations?!"
"Since I started hanging around you!" Serena stood partway up and
held out a hand to the other girl. "It'll be okay."
Raye took the hand and smiled slowly. "Yeah, I know it will."
Serena pulled her up, and they stood for a moment, just smiling,
before Serena asked, "D'you wanna go shopping?"
Raye face-faulted.

Lita sat by the phone doodling on a piece of paper. Why am I
sitting here? she wondered, embarrassed. He doesn't even have my
number!
But Molly does, she answered herself, and he's Molly's Onii-
chan . . .
She stared down at the pad of paper she was doodling on. The
words Nev & Lita, Mrs. November Light, and even more embarrassing,
Nev + Lita = LOVE met her eyes. Okay, that's it! I'm a COMPLETE
whacko! She picked up the phone and dialed Amy's number.
"Moshi moshi?" a pleasant voice said at the other end.
Must be Amy's mom. "Hi! May I speak to Amy, please?"
"I'm sorry but Amy's at the library," the pleasant voice replied.
"Might I ask who's calling?"
"Yeah, this is Kino Lita."
"Well, I'll be sure to let Amy know that you called."
"Arigato." Lita hung up.
Mrs. Mizuno hung up the phone, then stood for a moment, looking at
it thoughtfully. Amy never told me that she'd made some friends . .
. She smiled. Thank Kami-sama. Now she can be happy.

Mizuno Amy was *not* happy.
He was in the library. Dammit, how *dare* he be in the library!
Amy blinked for the second time that day. Had she actually just
sworn in her mind? Oh, who cared! She pressed her back against the
wall and stared blankly out at nothingness. I could leave . . . but
that would just be me being weak. She sucked in a deep breath, then
pushed away from the wall like a swimmer pushing herself off of the
wall of the pool for that important thrust through the water.
She strode into the open area of the library where he sat at an
empty table, reading a thick volume, stacks of books surrounding him.
He did not look up as she sat noisily down. He did not look up as
she grabbed a book from the top of the nearest pile. He did not look
up as she flipped through it impatiently, scanning a line here and
there. He only looked up when she brought the book down from its
position blocking her face and said in the flattest voice she could,
"I shouldn't have believed you."
He looked at her, silent, seeming to urge her on, to rant and rave
as much as she wished. So she continued:
"I shouldn't have believed anything that you said. You're a
horrid person."
"Is that all?" he asked mildly, propping his head up with one hand
and pulling off his reading glasses with the other in a way that,
embarrassingly enough, Amy found *really* sexy. "Nothing else to
say?"
"Do you even know who I *am*?" she hissed, surpressing the odd
desire to reach over and touch his hand.
"Mizuno-Anderson Amy. Divorced parents, American father.
Believes that knowledge is the most important thing. Wants to be a
doctor. Does that about cover it, Mizuno-san?"
"Do you memorize facts about all of your girlfriends that way?"
she demanded.
"You're not my girlfriend." His voice was calm. She wanted to
shake him until his voice ceased to be so cool, until he became
angry, because she felt herself getting angrier and angrier with each
word they spoke to one another.
"No . . . I'm not. Nor would I ever wish to suffer a fate so
terrible."
"Really." The droll manner in which he uttered the word made it
perfectly plain that it wasn't a question. He smiled lazily at her.
"No, I don't, Mizuno-san."
"Pardon?" she asked, then felt like kicking herself for such an
engrained politeness. He didn't deserve it.
"Memorize facts about all of my girlfriends that way. Just about
you."
She felt her cheeks growing red and fought to squash the feeling
of pleasure it gave her to hear him say that. "You're trying to
flatter me-"
"Yes."
"-just like all the others. Tell me, am I just another conquest?"
"You, my darling, are a challenge."
"Y-you shouldn't address me in such a way!"
"Of course not. That's why I am."
She pushed against the table, her palms flat on the dark wood
surface, and rose to a standing position. "We have nothing further
to talk about!"
"Yes, we do. Because, you see, Mizuno-Anderson Amy," he murmured
softly, leaning forward as though to share a most profound secret
with her, "I find you most desirable. In fact, I believe that I have
begun falling for you. There are a great many things that I like
about you. Most especially that angry expression of yours . . . ."
"I hate you!" she cried, taking the book that was still in her
hand and flinging it across the table at him. It struck him in the
side of the face, the pages open and fluttering. He caught it before
it could fall and put a hand up to his cheek. "Your kiss, milady?"
"Oh! You're impossible!"
"Wasn't that obvious from the first?"
She stared at him for a moment longer, then stormed away, pushing
her way past curious people who had stopped to stare at the
uncharacteristically angry and loud girl. They all knew who she was
. . . her reputation had preceded her and they thought of her as the
princess of the library: shy, quiet, demure, studious, and perfectly
behaved. Who would have thought that she could behave in such a
manner? Little Amy-chan?
Meanwhile, the man sitting at the table threw back his head and
laughed. He had gotten a rise out of her. He had made her angry.
How, he wasn't sure exactly, but he had invoked some emotion in her.
That was to his benefit, for he had learned all about her long before
she had discovered anything at all about him. He knew that he had
made her mad and he was glad of it. Aloof little Mizuno Amy . . .
fiery little Amy-chan . . . He smiled again to himself. She was,
indeed, a challenge. And he would make damn sure that he rose to the
occasion. For he had been as honest with himself as he had been with
her . . . he *did* find her desirable, and he *was* falling for her.
For now, that was enough for him. The other girls were no matter.
None of them had stirred the feelings in him that she did. You may
think the worst of me, Amy-chan . . . but this I swear . . . you
won't for long.
It was then that he noticed the bewildered stares of all of the
other library patrons. "What?!" he asked, irritated. "I'm *trying*
to read here. Don't you people have anything better to do?"

Serena walked away from the shrine, looking down and sighing.
"Serena-san," Darien said with a gentle smile. "What's keeping
you down?"
She looked up, startled to see him standing there. "N . . .
nothing, Darien-kun. And . . . what's with the "-san" all of a
sudden? Drop it, would you? It makes me feel too . . . formal."
She said the last word in English and he grinned.
"Not bad."
"I . . . I've been practicing." She managed a smile for him.
"Demo, not right now! If you're going to use an honorific, use the
"-chan"!"
"I don't feel right calling you Serena-chan . . ."
"Usa-chan, then," she suggested.
Darien made a wry face. "Weird, but workable. You'll have to
call me Mamo-kun, then."
She made a face in turn. "All right, if you say so! Anyway, I
feel fine! Raye and I are going shopping later!"
He sweatdropped. "Oh." But he still wasn't fooled.
"Serena, you don't have to act around me." Tell me the truth.
"It's just . . . have you ever *really* *REALLY* wanted to do
something . . . something that you've always been able to do . . .
but you seem to have lost your knack for it?" She looked up at him,
pleadingly.
"Uh . . . not really." Seeing her crestfallen face, he hastened
to add, "But there've been things that I've *really* wanted to do
but couldn't."
"And what do you do then?"
"Well, sometimes . . . sometimes . . . it just isn't possible.
But other times . . . those times . . . you've got to try your
hardest . . . with all your heart and soul . . . and then . . . It's
achievable, Serena."
She repeated his words to herself. "It's achievable . . . Domo
arigato, Darien-kun!" She beamed, reaching up with one arm to pull
him down so she could give him a hug about the neck and a quick kiss
on the cheek. Then she ran off, cheeks flaming, embarrassed by her
newest impulsive display of affection. She just couldn't seem to
keep *all* of her emotions towards him bottled up all of the time.
Darien watched her with a smile, the place where her lips had
touched him still burning on his cheeks. Then he began whistling as
he walked in the other direction.

Raye quickly pulled back behind a tree as he walked by. As soon
as he was gone, she began to laugh and ran up the steps into the
temple grounds. Looking up at her two crows, she uttered another
laugh, and began walking towards her room. "You can't tell me that
there's nothing going on between 'Nii-chan and you, Serena! I've
seen it with my own eyes now . . ."
She sobered, her laughter dying away. Her breath caught in her
throat, the beginnings of a sob forming. How I envy you, Serena . .
. Not because of the two of you . . . You both seem so happy. I
just want somebody . . . somebody too. She slid open the door to
her room and shut it behind her after she had entered. Sitting down
on her bed, she stared at the wall, her arms wrapped about the legs
drawn up against her body, her chin resting on her knees. Her gaze
flickered downward, tears welling up in her eyes. I just want
somebody . . . Someone to love . . .
Looking up, she saw the picture of the two of them together. He
seemed to be looking coldly back at her, his arms wrapped idly around
her laughing younger self. She shut her eyes in an attempt to block
the image of him out. It's too painful . . . Kaidou-san . . . Why
can't you just leave me alone?
An image appeared before . . . that of the golden-haired man in
her vision . . . He bore a resemblance to Kaidou-san, but the
blazing eyes gave him away immediately. They were the color of blue
flame. He was the one who had shouted out her name with such . . .
torment . . . before . . . before . . .
Flashes of the vision returned to her . . .

Death.
Red death.
Blue eyes . . .
The glint of a sword . . .
Red blood spilling forth . . .
His hand stretching out, trying to reach her, as he fell . . . his
scream trailing off . . .
Goddess, the blood . . .
A whisper.
"Rei."
Tears . . .

"Am I her?" she whispered dully. "Am I her?"

'He was my lover, and that makes no sense at all.'
'Maybe he was . . . in another life, Raye.'
'Maybe he was.'

Again she repeated the words, "Maybe he was. Kami-sama, why do I
*remember* this *now*?!"
But his eyes returned to haunt her. Bluer than a summer sky.
Raye held the distant memory of his face, of the love in his eyes,
close to her heart. If I am not loved now . . . at least I was
once.
She buried her face in her arms, and surrendered to her grief, the
pain in her soul screaming for release. "I loved you once," she
whispered in a voice hers and yet, not her own. "I would rather
remember you . . . even at the end, then Kaidou-san. Because you
loved me. You loved me. And I loved you. I don't remember when, or
how, or why . . . Only . . . I loved you. Were we to meet again, I
think . . . I still would. Would you?"
Stay in my memories . . . stay in my heart. Whoever you are . .
. I loved you once.
"Aishiteru."

Jed's concentration wavered for a minute and Kenneth took
advantage of the lapse to disarm him. "So much for skill."
When Jed continued to be distant, not even noticing that his
weapon was halfway across the room, Kenneth peered into his face.
"Hey, you feeling okay?"
Jed blinked, coming back to himself. "What? Hey! Hell, how'd
you disarm me?!"
"You were more than a little bit out of it a second ago," Keth
said, looking at him suspiciously.
"Dang. Okay, sorry 'bout that. How 'bout we try that again?"
"Will you stay *awake* longer this time?" the silver-haired man
demanded to know.
"Yeah. Now, toss me my staff already!"

Zephyr stared at Phoenix's schematic. Hitting a button, he
scrolled down, then typing quickly on the keyboard, he brought up
several windows and checked his figures and the placement of
additional information.
"Everything checks out," he said, uneasily, chewing at the end of
a pencil. Something was wrong with the way it looked. He wasn't
sure *what*, but something was definitely not quite right.
Then he let his consciousness directly affect the computer and
another schematic appeared directly over the first one.
Opening his eyes and seeing the results, he bolted up from his
seat and did some fast calculations. The answers were *not* to his
liking.
"Shit." He hit save and went off to find the others.

Jed and Kenneth were easily found. They were still sparring in
the training room. As Zephyr entered, a spear or some type of stick
(he was too busy to dwell on it) went sailing over his head and hit
the wall, clattering to the ground.
"Damn," Jed said, breathing heavily as he stared at Kenneth.
"That's the fourth time! And I thought that *I* was in good shape."
Keth smirked, easily twirling the wooden fighting staff that he
held in his hand. "Face it - my skills are superior."
"You wanna back that up?!" Jed demanded, getting back his wind and
grabbing a matching staff from the rack on the wall.
"Any time," Kenneth replied, his eyes sparkling with confidence.
"You'll lose, of course . . . demo, there's always that one time in
ten when we *might* get a draw . . ."
Jed yelled something inarticulate and lunged at him with the
staff. Kenneth moved aside easily, anticipating the move. What he
didn't anticipate was Jed twisting mid-lunge and thrusting upward
with the length of the staff, hitting him across the chest and
knocking him over. Kenneth's staff skidded across the room.
Posed over him, staff in hand, Jed's eyes shone brightly. "What
were you saying?" he asked lightly.
"That's ENOUGH!" Zeph yelled.
Jed turned his head to look at him and as he did so, Keth grabbed
the staff and yanked it, sweeping Jed's legs out from under him at
the same time. Jed landed on his back with a curse, and Kenneth
stood, dusting himself off, Jed's own staff pointed at his throat.
"What were *you* saying?" the silver-haired man asked calmly.
"That's not fair!" Jed complained, getting to his feet. "If it
wasn't for Zeph . . ."
"*AHEM*!"
The two sparring partners once again turned to look at the man who
stood in the doorway, making agitated flapping motions with his arms.
"Yes, Zephyr, what is it?" Kenneth asked.
"I've found something that the two of you might want to see."
With that, he turned and left.
"Trouble?" Jed asked Kenneth, his eyebrow raised.
"We'd better go see."

Amy didn't feel like going home after making that scene in the
library. She needed time . . . to get madder and to mull over what
he had said . . .
'I'm falling for you . . .'
"Bah!" she said, out loud. "Falling for me? Well, I'm not
falling for it! What does he think I am, some kind of idiot . . ."
She looked at her reflection in a shop window. She was blushing
furiously. Irritated, she ran her hands over her face. Maybe I am
an idiot!
"That's it!" she shouted, not caring who heard. I'm going to
*work* on something!
She passed by the arcade and noticed that it was closed early.
It's gotta be one of Andrew and Rita's anniversaries . . . But
that gave her an idea . . .

Ann opened her eyes. She was within the Tree . . . It was
healing her. She felt stronger . . . not as strong as she had in the
old days . . . but stronger. But the Tree was weaker . . . She felt
its strength fading all around her. She reached out a hand and
thrust it through the trunk.
Outside, Ailan grabbed it and pulled her through.
"Quickly, Ailan," she said urgently. "We must help it. It needs
energy soon or it *will* die."
"What do you recommend?" he asked.
"Fiore's plan," she said quietly.
"FIORE?! But he-"
"Hush, my love. What's done is done . . . The plan was sound
enough."
"Then we will drain the energy of a company . . . Which one, my
love?"
She shut her eyes. They lacked the energy to call forth a Cardian
but Ann still *knew* things. Knight Corporation. She smiled.
Their energy will serve us well.

Amy got into the command center through the secret side door.
Busily typing away at the supercomputer, she ran through the records
of activity on the night of the Amdale Tower fiasco . . . when they
had all lost their powers. She was surprised at the wealth of
information. It seemed that the computer network had some type of
stealth satellites in space and one of them had luckily been focused
on Amdale Tower at the time . . .

"I wonder how?" Sailor Pluto muttered to herself, watching Amy
work. "Geez, when is Luna going to give her that supercomputer?!"
She glanced back at her stash of water balloons . . . and two new
additions. Super-soakers.
The Senshi smiled. "Oooh, cats *hate* water!"

Amy frowned as she called up some information on the Guardians.
There was quite a bit. There seemed to be less on the enemy. She
briefly wondered why, then shook the thought away. No matter.
She called up the data on the Senshi, forgetting to close the file
on the Guardians . . . Then something happened that froze her in
place. A few seconds later she had Luna on the communicator. "Call
a Senshi meeting, now!"
Seeing the look in her eyes, the cat didn't argue.

"What's your plan?" Rill demanded, impatient. Fiore had
disappeared last night without revealing his plans for ridding them
of the Senshi.
"Ann and Ailan will be attacking a company soon," he said,
smiling, "in an attempt to drain the workers of their energy. The
Senshi will doubtless show up to foil their plans. While they keep
busy trying to stop Ailan and Ann, we'll eliminate them."
"Do you have any method in mind?" she asked.
"Use whatever you want," he said.
Rill laughed, her wand flashing into her right hand. "Oh, I'll do
that . . . and it'll be a pleasure."
Fiore shielded his eyes as she shouted, "Earth . . . *Power*,
MAKE-UP!"
Moments later she was clad in her dark Senshi outfit. "I will
have fun killing them," she murmured darkly, her eyes glinting.
"What company will we be going to?"
Fiore concentrated a moment, picking up an echo of Ann's thought.
"Knight Corporation."
"Even better . . . I have some old scores to settle with those
classmates of mine." She smiled. The Guardians don't know who I am
. . . but I know who *they* are . . . and I've taken precautions.
She frowned. If I could only be sure that the Senshi were as well
taken care of . . . but if those blasted Outers show up, they'll be a
problem . . .

The Sailor Senshi (sort of) sat in the chairs at some of the
computer terminals of the Command Center.
Serena was disappointed. She'd had to cancel her shopping trip.
Lita was disappointed. Nev hadn't called yet.
Raye wasn't disappointed. She didn't want to go shopping and she
certainly didn't want to sit by herself in her room crying all day.
Now, some kind of problem . . . That was something she could
concentrate on.
Luna was quite simply worried. If *Amy* had found something that
warranted a Senshi meeting as opposed to a *study* meeting, then
something had to be seriously wrong.
Amy's fingers flew across the keyboard of the supercomputer,
calling up detailed schematics and analytical data.
"While I can't get a full reading," she informed the others, "what
I did get is *very* interesting."
"Mind filling us in, Amy?" Raye asked dryly.
"It seems that the Guardians are the ones blocking our powers."
"I *knew* they were trouble!" Raye shouted.
Lita pounded her fist into an open palm. "Well, they'll regret
messing with us."
"Matte!" Amy yelled.
"Huh?" Lita asked, slightly intimidated. Ever since Amy had
returned from the library . . . she had seemed more aggressive and
the look in her eyes at times was downright scary.
"The Guardians *are* blocking that, but they shouldn't be."
"Well, we *know* that-"
"Raye-chan, please! That's *not* what I meant."
"Then what *do* you mean, Amy-chan?" Serena asked calmly for once.
After doing a double take and briefly wondering if that was the
*real* Serena or some kind of impostor, Amy continued speaking. "It
seems that I was not making myself sufficiently clear. Let's try
this again, and please . . . no interruptions."
Lita and Raye shrank back under the hint of venom in her voice.
Amy drew a deep breath. "We are on the planet earth, correct?"
"Amy, we're *not* two-year olds," Raye griped.
"Well, you SHOULD be! We are on Earth and Earth emits a certain
type of magical energy. Let's call it Earth mana for now, to borrow
the Hawaiian word for "spiritual energy" . . . Okay?"
"Sure, fine, whatever you say, Amy-chan," Raye said hurriedly, a
sweatdrop forming on her head.
Amy smiled beautifically. "Fine. Now then, this "Earth mana" is
very strong since we are ON the planet. Thus, Sailor Earth is very
powerful because this is basically her home turf. We can only assume
that she uses this "Earth mana."
"*WE* on the other hand, use the mana of our *own* planets, and
while I am sure that we would be *much* stronger were we actually on
the planet, I do not believe that distance from the planet would
change our power levels to any great degree. I would have to perform
more tests, but for instance, I do not think that Mars would be any
more or less stronger here than on Jupiter. However, were she on
Mars . . . that is another story. The "Mars mana" would probably
give her ten times the strength and power level, if not more, than
any other place in the universe. Why the distance does not matter, I
am not sure, but we'll just have to assume that it has something to
do with the nature of the mana.
"According to the readings I obtained on the Guardians, they are
making use of "Earth mana." While none of them is as strong
individually as Sailor Earth, at least, I do not believe so at this
point in time, combined, their power is far greater than hers. That
is why they were able to defeat her that time."
"Then why couldn't they take care of those weird monsters easier?"
Lita asked, then quickly covered her mouth.
"It's all right, Lita-chan," Amy said kindly, "it was a pertinent
question. The Guardians' power levels *are* very high, but they are
neither making full use of them, nor, as far as I have seen,
sufficiently trained to use them to a higher degree. Together,
though, their close proximity might have bypassed those self
restricted blocks and granted them fuller access to their powers."
"Oh."
"As for why their powers are blocking us, especially *now* while
they weren't before . . . something has distorted their use and
connection to the "Earth mana." The schematics I have show that
their energy signatures are skewed almost beyond recognition. They
still have access to their powers, and are probably not even aware of
the discrepancy, but in this structure, their "mana" blocks *ours*.
That should *not* be happening."
"What is causing this, Amy-chan?" Luna asked.
Amy frowned. "Only someone with a connection to the "Earth mana"
can affect another's connection in this manner. It cannot be proven
without a doubt, but the only person that we know who has this
connection to the "Earth mana" is-"
"Sailor Earth," the others finished, their expressions grim.

"Yeah, Nev. We need you here. Zeph's kind of going psycho on us
. . . What? It *seems* important. Think you can ditch your date?
You don't have to be *that* enthusiastic! You'd think that the two
of you weren't getting along . . . Ow, ow! Stop yelling! Okay, see
you soon." Jed hung up the phone and sighed, rubbing at his ear.
Kenneth stuck his head in the door. "Come ON!"
"Coming!" . . . Mother. Geez, it's like I never left home. It
was then that he paused, someone's faint echo of thought brushing his
mind. He felt *power*.

Raye stared at the others, her eyes distant, her thoughts
disturbed. Sailor Earth . . . only someone with a connection to the
Earth mana . . . Earth mana . . . Mars mana . . . no, no something
else . . . surging powers . . . pain . . . red death . . . warm
feeling . . . hidden power . . . Raye . . . Raye . . . *Rei* . . .
blue eyes . . . the feather-light touch of another mind brushing her
own . . . shared smiles . . .
Who *are* you?

Jed looked up for an instant, a strange feeling playing over him.
He had decided to keep the twinge of power he had felt a secret for
the time being. He was certain that it had not been their prince.
How, he was not certain, but he was convinced that it had had a
definite feminine edge to it. Now, he knew. The power was feminine.
His dark-haired goddess smiled in his memory and he smiled a
little thinking of her. The memories of her that were ever with him
. . . slightly beyond recollection, asserted themselves from time to
time to gift him with a remembrance.
Kenneth glanced over at his comrade-in-arms who was smiling like
an idiot. "I don't think there's anything funny about this." He
gestured at the computer screen.
"Oh, neither do I!" Jed replied immediately, replacing the
contented look on his face with a concerned one. Inside, though, he
was still smiling despite the severity of the situation. He couldn't
help it.
Keth looked skyward. Why fight it?
"Would *one* of you *please* pay attention?!" Zephyr snapped, an
irritated expression crossing his face.
They both snapped to attention.
"Well, uh . . . What does it mean, Zeph?" Kenneth asked hastily.
"Where's November?" he asked instead, ignoring his friend.
"I called him on his car phone. He said he'd be here as soon as
possible," Jed supplied.
"Fine. We can't wait for him." Zephyr directed their attention
to the computer schematics he had called up on a large digital screen
on the wall. "This," he pointed at the original schematic, which was
rotating slowly, "is a three-dimensional extrapolation of Phoenix's
armor." His eyes glowed a little and another image appeared. "This
is Dragon's armor." He overlaid the two schematics. "Notice the
degree of discrepancy."
"Can't that be accounted for by the differences in the armor and
powers?" Jed asked.
Zeph glared. "Do you think that I'm stupid enough to disregard
*that*?!" He hit another button and the two overlaid schematics
shrank off to one side and a larger schematic appeared. "This is the
basic foundation armor that I have found based on the underlying
energy structures of the armor itself. Each individual set of armor
should have no more than 25% discrepancy at this stage. Later on, in
more advanced forms, the armor may grow to have over 95% discrepancy.
But in their current stages the armor already has 75% discrepancy in
the energy patterns. The discrepancy is not natural. It is mana-
induced."
Jed looked at Zephyr in concern. "But how can it be mana-
induced?"

"That's a good question, Raye." Amy frowned. "As of now, the
nature and extent of Sailor Earth's powers is unknown. With that
being the case, I am unable to narrow down or even derive an
explanation for it. We do not even know for certain that Sailor
Earth is definitely responsible. It is a reasonable hypothesis,
however."
"So what do we *do,* Amy?" Lita asked.
Amy sighed. "That's the problem. Unless the Guardians are
capable of reversing the changes that Sailor Earth has made and are
so inclined . . . there's nothing we *can* do."

"Obviously, someone has been screwing around with our energy
patterns. How he or she managed to do this, I don't know." Zephyr
tapped his chin with a pencil.
"How are we going to deal with this - get whoever it was to fix
this mess?" Keth asked.
Zephyr grinned. "That's the good news. We don't have to."
"What?! Can't this cause problems . . . give whoever did this a
hold over us?" Jed glared.
Zephyr shrugged. "Yes, maybe. But that's what's *beautiful*
about this whole thing . . ." He paused for dramatic effect. "If
this person messes with us . . . we can mess with him just as easily.
More so, for we are Four and he is One." He looked at the computer
screen and the image shifted. "Also . . . we can fix this problem
ourselves."
We just have to "tune" our armor's energy structures so that
they are correctly aligned with *our* energy structures. The armor
*is* part of us, after all.
And how do we go about doing that? Jed sent.
Zephyr sent him the image . . .
The phoenix seared itself into his brain . . . red fire, blazing,
singing . . . He saw the structures, the lattices and magical
"cells" that formed his armor . . . and he forced them to stop
mutating, to devolve . . . back . . . back . . . into the red armor
that he had been granted so long ago. Then the barrage of images and
schematics grew to be too much for him . . . .
Zephyr smiled. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" He turned to
Kenneth. The sound of Jed, passed out, hitting the floor with a thud
made him jump a little, but he pretended that he hadn't heard it.
"Now, it's *your* turn and since you never let me scan you . . . I'm
afraid you're gonna have to guess."
"WHAT?!" Kenneth glared at his friend. It was one thing to know
what you were doing and pass out, but to not even have that . . .
The blonde rolled his eyes. "Just kidding! I made some
extrapolations." He sent the image . . . A few seconds later
Kenneth was stretched out on the ground, unconscious.
Zephyr let out a side. Nev wasn't there yet so that meant that he
had to go next . . . He wasn't looking forward to it. Mental
overload was a state that he preferred *not* to be in. But, well,
sacrifices have to be made in times of trouble. He sighed, then
closed his eyes and focused on the watery blue image of the unicorn.
It seemed *distorted* somehow . . . Clumsy, deformed almost . . .
It swam into his mind . . . and proceeded to yell at him for being so
difficult.
Another sigh. Sometimes, his subconscious was just too smart for
him. He focused on the image, the structure, the energy patterns
flowing, twisting, turning, layer over layer. A twist here, a twist
there, a hammer blow here and here . . . ah, the shape was forming
itself into what he wished . . . A few seconds later he was
unconscious . . . the blue unicorn still lecturing in his mind,
dancing gracefully.

"We go . . . Now!" Fiore said, his eyes narrowed. "Ann and Ailan
are on their way to hit their target."
Rill let a smile cross her face. "Finally."
The two figures made their way into the night.

The Senshi sat about, depressed.
"Kami-sama," Raye said, "we can't just sit here. We have to-"
A sudden beeping cut her off. The eyes of the Senshi turned
towards one of the computer stations. Two blinking red dots appeared
over a map of Tokyo.
"What the hell is that, Amy-chan?" Lita demanded, looking at the
screen without comprehension.
Amy slid into the seat in front of the computer and hit a few
buttons. The screen zoomed in on the section that the red dots were
in. They were clearly labeled "enemy." Amy called up another window
and some text scrolled across the screen. It was in an odd language
that none of the Senshi knew, but vaguely recognized. The blue-
haired girl hit another couple of buttons and the text manifested
itself in Japanese. Reading quickly, she turned to look at the rest
of the Sailor Team. "Two alien life forms just teleported themselves
to the Knight Corporation building. The computer identifies them as
enemies. One has a 99.785% probability of being that blue-haired
male we've fought before and the other has a 27.63% probability of
being the pink-haired female we've seen before."
"Only 28%?" Serena asked, rounding quickly. "Shouldn't it be
higher? It's not Sailor Earth, is it?"
Amy checked. "No. There's no way it can be Sailor Earth. The
percentage is so low it's not even worth considering."
"Okay, well, let's go check it out," Serena said, looking at the
map carefully.
"Without our Senshi powers?" Lita asked, feeling prudent for once.
"We'd get toasted!" Raye protested. "Though I'm all for trying to
help if we can."
"Raye and Lita are right," Luna said, jumping up next to the
computer and staring at the specks of red. "This is too dangerous
for the four of you to go out as you are."
Serena's face grew red. "I don't care what anyone says! I'm
going. People are going to get hurt if we don't, and that's just not
acceptable! We might not be able to henshin but we're still Sailor
Senshi! If I've gotta chuck rocks at those aliens I'm gonna do it."
"Serena's right," Amy said, standing up. "We've got to make
ourselves useful. It's time those aliens learned that nothing can
stop the Sailor Senshi . . ." She stormed out of the Command Center,
Serena running after her. "Matte, Amy-chan! Geez . . . You can't
leave *me* behind . . ."
Raye and Lita exchanged a look.
"D'you think something's going on with Amy?" Lita asked.
Raye nodded. "Uh-huh."
"The library," Lita muttered under her breath. "Come on, let's go
catch up! Those fools are gonna need our help."
"Yeah."
The girls ran after the other two.
Luna stood perfectly still for a moment, her mouth open. Did I
just see what I thought I saw? Serena acting like a leader . . .
The Senshi all determined to fight even without their powers? A
slow smile spread across the cat's face. Finally! That training is
*finally* paying off!
The black cat hopped down from the counter and looked about the
empty command center. "I wish there was something I could do to help
. . ."
A computer turned on at one of the terminals. And spoke. In
Lunar. "Hello, Luna."
She turned to look. "Q-Queen Serenity?!" Luna found herself
saying, staring at the image of the silver-haired Queen of the Silver
Millennium . . . a time she could barely remember.
"Luna . . . this program will only have been activated if the
situation is desperate and the alternatives unthinkable. Punch in
command code Luna-1 and activate voice override on this computer."
In a shimmer of light Luna had transformed to her human form and
was doing as told.
"Activate voice override, Luna-Delta-B1-Gamma-6."
"Voice override activated."
"Now, Luna, access the technical and magical schematics of the
Silver Millennium vaults using Queen-heiress code."
"Open file on technical and magical schematics of the SM vaults."
"Queen command clearance needed."
"Serenity transfer command clearance Silver-Moon-mirror-8117."
The cat-woman sucked in a breath then said the words that Queen
Serenity had told her once and only once in her entire life. The
words capable of unlocking the Kingdom's most dangerous secrets . . .
"I love you, Ophion."
The file opened. The Silver Millennium's greatest secrets were
hers for the taking . . . but Luna was nothing if not loyal. "Now
what, my queen?" she asked, quietly.
"Open the defense file."
Luna touched the icon on the screen.
"Now the Senshi file. The Inner file."
"Inner?" Luna asked, staring at the two sets . . . Inner and
Outer.
"Now is not the time, Luna," Serenity's voice said, sadly,
soothingly.
Luna complied and opened the file on the Inners.
"Second level . . ."
The woman's eyes widened as the schematics rolled across the
screen. "The . . ."
"Yes, Luna," Serenity's voice said calmly. "The star henshin
wands."

Kenneth, Jed, and Zephyr's eyes snapped open. The first thing
that pervaded their consciousnesses was the ceiling that swam into
focus above them. Then the sense of something amiss slammed into
them with all the force and subtlety of a bullet train.
"Damn," Keth said, a hand to his head. "What the hell did that
modification DO?!"
Zeph winced. "Sharpened our senses . . . We're back to normal,
boys."
"Yeah, right," Jed muttered. "Great. Hey, what *is* that?"
"Dunno." Keth got to his feet. "Let's go check it out, whatever
it is. It's trouble, one way or another."

The two aliens floated outside the building, perplexed. Large
waves of energy flowed out to Ann and as of yet, no one had appeared
to stop them. That was strange.
On the other hand, the building itself was odd. They could sense
within the collapsed employees, their energy radiating out of their
bodies and into Ann, who served as a vessel to channel some of it to
the Tree, but their was a general wakefulness and awareness that was
not normal. There was . . . something *different* about this
building and the people within.
"Whatever could they do here?" Ann wondered.
"Nothing normal," Ailan replied, puzzled by the make-up of some of
the energy they were receiving.

The four girls had had a hard time getting to the Knight
Corporation building. After all, without their powers, traveling
across Tokyo was suddenly a lot harder than it had been. And then .
. . they had been a little short on taxi fare and had been forced to
use public . . . *slow* transportation. But they had *finally*
arrived. And they didn't like what they saw.
The two aliens were floating outside the building, near the top.
Energy flowed out of the building, manifesting itself in physical
form with a flow and a sensation that made the hair on the backs of
the girls' necks rise.
Lita gritted her teeth. "Is this city made up of idiots? Why
doesn't anybody *notice* that?!"
"It's not like they could do anything about it, anyway," Amy said,
staring at the sight.
"Well, we can," Raye said.
"We can try, anyway," Serena added. They ducked into a nearby
alley between two warehouses and made sure that no one was about.
"You ready?" Serena asked.
The other girls nodded.
"Moon Prism Power . . . MAKE-UP!"
"Mars POWER, MAKE-UP!"
"JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!"
"Mercury Power, Make-UP!"
There was a crackle and flash of energy, then . . .
"There's something wrong," Moon said, looking down at her fuku.
Everything seemed all right, and yet . . .
Mercury and Mars were looking at themselves with looks of
dissatisfaction on their faces as well.
Lita simply looked confused since she hadn't changed at all.
"Hey, uh . . . guys? What's wrong with me?"
The other three looked up . . . and sweatdropped.
"I guess this isn't going to be as easy as we thought," Moon said
slowly.
"And *when* did we think this was going to be easy?!" Mars
demanded.

Nev nearly skidded past the room, but caught himself on the door
frame and propelled himself inside. "Apologies for being late!
What's up?!"
"No TIME for that *now*!" Zephyr hissed, digging through a pile of
technical instruments. "Maybe you'll be more prompt to respond
*next* time! Right now, we've got trouble!"
"Uh . . . Hai!" November responded instantly, wincing at the scowl
on the blonde's face.
"Found it!" Zephyr declared, picking up what looked to be some
kind of strange headphones with a visor and tiny microphone.
"What in the world's that?!" Nev asked, staring at Zephyr as he
put it on. Jed rolled his eyes.
"It's a scanning device, fool!" Zeph snapped.
"Henshin-yo!" Kenneth commanded, sternly, shooting all of them
*looks*.
They hastened to obey.
But . . . once they had. "Wait, hang on," Unicorn (I *hate*
that!-Zephyr) said, turning to Dragon. "You can't go out like that."
"What do you mean?"
"Unicorn's right," Griffin said with a sigh as the afore-mentioned
Guardian twitched. "De-transform . . . Zephyr will fill you in and
feed you the image while Phoenix and I go out to deal with the
situation."
"Hey!" the two sidelined Guardians protested.
"I mean it! And make it quick! I have the feeling that we'll be
needing both of you. C'mon, Phoenix."
"Yessir!" Phoenix said, hurrying along behind as they left the
room.
"Oh, great," Zephyr snapped, glaring at Dragon as he de-
transformed. "Do you know how much time this will take?! That's not
even mentioning how long you'll be unconscious . . ."
November blanched. "Unconscious?!"
Zephyr laughed, almost amused in spite of himself, as he turned on
the computer and called up November's armor specs.

Moon tried an attack, aiming at the wall of the alley. "Moon
Tiara Action!" The tiara fell lifelessly to the ground. "Oh,
terrific, we can transform but it doesn't look like that'll be doing
us any good anytime soon," she muttered. "I don't think you're
missing anything, Lita."
Lita made a face. "So *you* say."
It was then that the black cat ran into the alley. She leapt into
the air and did a backward flip. Three wands fell into the Senshi
and Lita's hands.
"New wands?" Mars asked.
"New wands," Luna said, nodding.
"What about me?!" Moon cried.
"Gomen, I looked . . . but you don't have one." Already the
memories of the Command Center were beginning to slip from her
memory. When she had finished constructing the wands, Queen
Serenity's image had uttered some type of trigger word in her mind so
that she would forget the secrets that had been revealed to her.
"NANI?!" Moon asked. "No wand?!"
Luna ignored her. There just wasn't time.

Zephyr dusted off his hands looking at November's prone body.
"Well, that's done with. Now, it's time that I go."

"Henshin-yo!" Luna commanded. "Add the "star" trigger word before
power."
The girls nodded, tossing their wands into the air.
"Mars Star Power, Make-up!"
"Jupiter Star Power, Make-up!"
"Mercury Star Power, Make-up!"
Moon crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Yeah, yeah,
yeah."
There were three large flares of light . . .
Then three Sailor Senshi stood, illuminated by moonlight.
"Now," Jupiter declared, "I'm back in business!"

Ann and Ailan who had been attracted by the large burst of light
floated over the alley.
"Not for long!" Ann declared. Her hair flowed about her, and her
whole body seemed to crackle with the amount of energy she had
absorbed. Her eyes glowed. She let loose a burst of green energy at
Jupiter.
"Hey!" Jupiter cried, leaping out of the way at the last moment.
"What?" Ann said. "Trapped in a corner, nowhere to go?"
"We have you right where we want you!" Ailan laughed. "And soon
. . . we'll be rid of you!"

It was at that moment that Fiore and Sailor Earth arrived at the
scene.
"Damn!" Earth spat. "We seem to be a little late."
"Iie," Fiore corrected her. "We're right on time. As you can see
. . . the Senshi have no way out of their predicament."
"So, shall we kill them now?"
"Iie, let's watch and see how this progresses. If they rid us of
Ailan and Ann, so much the better. We can eliminate the Senshi
afterwards." The Flower at his chest glowed.
Yes, the plant hissed. Good, Fiore . . .
I follow your will, Hana-sama.
Sailor Earth did not notice the red light in his eyes.

"Burning MANDALA!" Mars screamed. The rings of fire spun out
towards Ailan and Ann. They held hands and a green wash of energy
obliterated the attack, and struck Mars, knocking her to the ground
with enough force to cause the pavement to break apart. She cried
out in pain.
"Sparkling WIDE PRESSURE!"
The electricity hit the two aliens, but despite the strength of
the attack, it didn't seem to be having any affect on them. If
anything, it seemed to revitalize them more than hurt them. Ann was
smiling when she flicked her fingers at Jupiter. A ball of green
lightning, a perfect imitation of Jupiter's attack, but for the
color, rolled out from her and struck the unsuspecting Senshi,
lifting her into the air and slamming her against Mars's prone body.
The two Senshi cried out as their bodies hit with enough force to
crumble buildings.
"But . . . I'm immune to lightning," Jupiter whispered, her body
battered and aching.
"Perhaps you're not as immune as you thought?" Ann said, sneering.
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" Now, that attack took them completely off
guard, for they had only known Mercury to have a weak defensive
attack before and had completely forgotten about her presence.
The attack also did nothing to them. Rather, Ailan and Ann seemed
to welcome the water that hit them with all the force of the ocean.
"Do you think you can hurt us anymore?!" Ann shrieked, as she and
Ailan directed another wave of energy at Mercury, flinging her across
the alley. The three fallen Senshi tumbled about like dead leaves in
the force of the blast. "We are life . . . We are all living
things! We live on the energy of this world! Your attacks cannot
stop us . . . It's too late!"
"It's never too late," Moon said, seething. Luna was standing a
little behind her.
"Sailor Moon," the cat hissed, "you can't attack!"
"Urusai!" Moon shouted. C'mon Luna, do you want our enemies to
know?!
"We're waiting," Ailan said, lazily. "What've you got, Sailor
Moon?"
"Uh . . . um," Moon hedged. "We'll defeat you no matter what!"
She took off her tiara, but as soon as she touched it she knew that
she wouldn't be able to change it into the energy disk. Her
transformation still seemed off, somehow. She couldn't gain access
to her powers.
"As I suspected . . . You're too weak to do anything on your own.
You've been depending on the abilities of your friends too much!"
Ailan jeered. "For that mistake, you shall DIE!"
As the energy raced towards her, Sailor Moon searched her mind for
something that would save her.
'You've got to try your hardest . . . with all your heart and
soul . . .'
The energy struck.
"There's *got* to be a way!" Moon said from between gritted teeth,
ignoring the pain.
She began to glow . . . silver and pink.

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

There was a fierce explosion of light and red ribbons seemed to
reach up and entwine the Senshi. In seconds, she had transformed . .
. and this time, there was a new light in her eyes.
"All RIGHT! Now you twerps are gonna get it!"
"You're still all alone, Sailor Moon," Ailan whispered.
"Not really," Mars said, painfully getting to her feet.
Jupiter and Mercury stiffly got up as well and the four Sailor
Senshi stared at the two aliens defiantly.
"Why don't you give up?" Ailan asked.
"Why don't you go to Hell?" Jupiter replied sweetly.
"I'll see you there!" Ailan declared. He and Ann raised their
arms and an ENORMOUS ball of energy grew over their heads.
The Senshi exchanged looks.
"Let's get to it, then," Moon said.
The energy flew towards them . . .
"Moon Tiara ACTION!"
"Burning Mandala!"
"Sparkling Wide PRESSURE!"
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"
"SOUL PHOENIX FIRE BURN!!!"
"SPIRIT MIND UNICORN WATER PURIFY!"
"POWER GRIFFIN ENERGY BLAST."

The two blasts canceled each other out and the girls turned and
looked up to see the new arrivals. The Guardians flashed them grins
from atop one of the buildings.
"Aren't you missing one?" Jupiter asked.
"It's only temporary," Unicorn assured her.
"Oh. Uh . . . what's that you're wearing on your head?"
"Never mind!"

"Things don't seem to be going so well," Earth observed from Fiore
and her position nearby. "I didn't come to watch, nature boy. I
came to kill." She licked her lips. "Now that the gang's all here-"
"Fine," Fiore cut her off. "Go and have your fun."
"Do you think I need permission from you?" she asked, letting out
a short laugh. "Think again." She leapt off of the building rooftop
and made her way towards the scene of the battle.
Fiore's eyes glowed red for a moment, then he ceased hovering in
the air and began to fly after the murderous Senshi.

Seething with anger the two aliens began preparing another blast
but found their energy sources heavily depleted from the last attack
they had launched. And now instead of dealing with four they were
facing seven.
"Shall we even the odds a little?" Fiore asked pleasantly, popping
up behind them.
The two aliens glared at him, their hatred evident. Even Ann, who
had always treated him well.
Oh well. Fiore shrugged. Let us let bygones be bygones . . .
At least until we eliminate the Senshi. We have a common goal, after
all.
Very well.

"Sailor Earth," the Senshi and Guardians said, looking up at the
traitorous woman who stood before them.
"My, my," she said, smiling, "I'm going to enjoy wiping you all
out in one fell swoop. Wait a moment . . . Where's the other one?!"
The Guardians remained stubbornly silent.
"I don't know what you want, Sailor Earth," Moon yelled, "but
we're not going to let you have it!"
"What I want is very simple," she said, the dangerous edge to her
voice even more evident, "I want all of you to die. Now. In the
most painful way possible."
"Well, you're not going to get that wish!"
"Little girls . . . all of you Chibi-Senshi . . . Do you really
think that you are capable of defeating *ALL* of us?" Fiore threw
his head back and laughed. Ann and Ailan were to his right, directly
opposite the Senshi, while Earth was opposite him. They had them
surrounded from above on three sides. Unfortunately, they forgot to
take into account the fourth. A figure cloaked in night made his way
there unnoticed.
Sailor Moon shut her eyes and opened them. They shone with
determination. "If not us . . . then who? Ai to segai no sailor
fuku bishoujo senshi, Sailormoon! Tsukini kawatte, oshiokyo!"
Sailor Earth's eyes stared back at her, cold and filled with hate.
"Prepare to die, Sailor Moon."
A red rose flashed down in front of Rill.
"Not today. Taunting Bishoujo Senshi ought to be a crime! These
lovely young ladies will no doubt teach you all a lesson! Know this
. . . evil cannot triumph over good as long as there are those
willing to oppose it!"
"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" Sailor Moon whispered, hearts in her eyes.
"Oh brother," Ann groaned, rolling hers.
Moon ignored her. "Have you come to help us?" she asked.
"Hai," he replied. "But you must stop this evil yourself. You
have the power within you . . ."
"The power? Demo . . . I don't."
Tuxedo Kamen held her hand, squeezing it to reassure her. "Try .
. . Sailor Moon!"
She bit back her tears and nodded. "I will."
She concentrated and a blast of pure white light exploded out from
her. In that light something began to take form and in between their
two clasped hands, a scepter appeared . . . gently shining.
"Masaka."
"You see? Belief is everything. Use your power, Sailor Moon," he
urged her.
She nodded. "Hai."

"Moon princess halation!"

The blast of energy spiraled towards the four enemies, splitting
off in three different directions, its power seemingly undiminished.
Sensing its power, Ailan and Fiore teleported, reappearing elsewhere,
outside of its blast range. Sailor Earth dove out of the way at the
last instant. Ann was too slow in teleporting and the blast hit her
full on. She scowled menacingly at the Senshi. "You burned me, moon
brat!"
"You'll be more than burned if you don't leave us alone!" Sailor
Moon declared.
"That's right!" the Senshi chorused.
"You pesky little brats!" Ann yelled, flinging out an open hand.
A wave of green energy sped forth from her and engulfed the Senshi
flinging them back several hundred yards. Their bodies skidded along
the ground throwing up more pavement. The Guardians and Tuxedo Kamen
caught them before they could be smashed against the alley's dead end
brick wall. Griffin caught Luna. Ann stared for an instant at what
she had done before she gasped and fell . . .
. . . into Ailan's waiting arms. "My sweet . . . what have you
done?!"
The pink-haired alien let out an agonized scream as her body
arched in pain and rainbow colors sped over her skin. Her eyes were
wide and staring, a cold sweat broke out over her body and her hands
trembled. "Ail . . . Ailan . . ."
He held her close to him before hurling one final curse at the
battered Senshi. "For this, you will *SUFFER*!!! That is a
promise." Then their two forms vanished in a flash of green light.
Sailor Moon weakly got to her feet as Tuxedo Kamen let her go.
"I've suffered enough, thank you. Ow! Itai! Itai! Itai!!!"
She turned around to thank Tuxedo Kamen and the Guardians but they
were gone. There was also no sign of Fiore or Sailor Earth. The
other Senshi looked just as dazed with what had just occurred and
Luna seemed unable to take in everything that had happened.

Dragon leapt onto the rooftop near the other Guardians. "What's
going on? What'd I miss?"
"It's all over," Unicorn said absently, staring at the readings
his visor had collected.
"For now," Griffin corrected.
Phoenix continued looking at the scene below, quiet. "Do you
think they'll be all right?"
Griffin clapped him on the shoulder. "They're soldiers, Phoenix.
Never forget that. They may be a little battered and worse for wear,
but in the end . . . they'll be fine."

On the ground, Sailor Moon had given up looking for their
mysterious men-in-arms. The first ramifications of the evening's
battle were finally getting through to her. And they frightened her.
"Luna . . ." Sailor Moon whispered, looking at her scepter.
"Where did it come from?"
"It . . . it came from you, Sailor Moon."
"I . . . created it?"
"You did - with the strength of your love."
"H-How?"
Mercury looked up from where she was tapping furiously away at
some device she had taken from the Command Center. "Moon . . . *and*
Earth mana."
"Earth?" Moon repeated, confused.
Luna's eyes widened. "Then that means-!"
"Tuxedo Kamen can tap into the mana of Earth . . ." Mercury
finished, eyes shining with realization.
"But he can't be a Senshi! There's already a Sailor Earth!"
Sailor Moon protested.
"No. There are no male Senshi, Sailor Moon. With Sailor Earth an
enemy and a threat to its existence . . . Earth has no Senshi. It
only has defenders . . ." Luna's eyes were troubled.

Far above them, the Guardians looked on.
"No," Dragon began, "Earth's Senshi was never meant to be."
Unicorn smirked, taking off his head gear. "From the beginning,
the task of protecting Earth was always ours."
"Earth has no Senshi," Phoenix continued, clenching his hand into
a fist. "It only has Guardians."
As one their gazes went to Griffin who stood still as a statue,
the wind blowing against him, his cape flapping in the breeze. His
eyes were almost silver in the moonlight as he looked towards the
horizon. Then he let out a low laugh and turned to face them, the
wind lifting his silver-white hair and letting it fall gently to his
shoulders. His grey eyes were like steel, and the smile he wore was
a dangerous one.

"It only has princes."

To be continued . . .


Next time . . . the Guardians do a little planning, Rill stirs up
*A LOT* of trouble, and things start to heat up *just a little* . . .
I'm debating whether to turn most of it into a recap episode so I can
write that one quick and get to episode ten which should be *much*
juicier. What d'you think?

Whew! Done at last!!!! Really, gomen nasai for this episode! I
wrote 90% of it a year ago . . . but didn't get around to writing the
other 10% until this week . . . and somehow it ended up being around
50-50. But, the fact that I didn't write it all at once really
shows, I think, so hopefully the next episode will be more coherent
and *together*. I couldn't get this episode to work out to be one
day so I split it into two days . . . and I think that was *also* a
bad move on my part. *Sigh* It's so *hard* to get back in the flow!
^^;;;; (November and Lita totally took over the *ENTIRE* first half
of the episode! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!)
Well, at least I changed the episode so the Senshi weren't fighting
toasters. Why toasters, you ask? I have NO IDEA! My villains went
temporarily insane and began playing with my mind. (They were pink
toasters . . . with white bunnies on them! Serena was happy. She
picked one up for free and . . . uh, never mind. ^^;;;;;)
I do make you one promise, dear readers . . . you will *NOT* have
to wait another ten months for the next episode! I fully expect to
have a few episodes done by the end of this summer and some episodes
of "IAL:GB" will be trickling out soon . . . it's important that I
finish *that* "season" (Season Zero) before this one because it deals
with Sailor V's exploits in England and this "season" (Not to mention
Season Two will get really confusing if I don't!).
Oh, and um . . . I picked Etsuko's name before I knew what it
meant. "Etsu" means "rat-tailed anchovy" and the "ko" can be
translated as "little" or "child," so she's either a "little rat-
tailed anchovy" or a "rat-tailed anchovy child." ^^;;;;;
Check my page
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/3649/index.html for updates .
. . I will be doing a *MAJOR* revamp soon (definitely by the end of
the first week of July, maybe sooner) and remember, everything I
write will be posted there *first* (if Geocities' FTP server ever
starts to work again . . . *grumble grumble*)! Ja ne! ^_-


Usa Serena/Tsukino Usagi
Mamo Darien/Chiba Mamoru
Anderson-Mizuno Amy/Mizuno Ami
Hino Raye/Hino Rei
Kino Lita/Kino Makoto
Mist Zephyr/Zoisite
Raven Jed/Jadeite
Light November/Nephrite
Knight Kenneth/Kunzite
Luna/Luna
A(i)lan Galaxy/Ail Ginga
Ann Galaxy/Ann Ginga
Fiore Et/Fiore
Doom Tree/Makujii
Bell Rill/Beryl
Sailor Pluto/Sailor Pluto
Baker Molly/Osaka Naru
Sandler Katie/Saionji Rui
Etsuko/ORIGINAL CHARACTER
Chiishi/ORIGINAL CHARACTER


Ai to segai no sailor fuku bishoujo senshi, Sailormoon!=For love and
justice I am the sailor-suited pretty soldier, Sailor Moon!
Tsukini kawatte, oshiokyo!=In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!

Aishiteru=I love you
Ano=Um
Baka=Idiot
Chibi=Little
Demo=But
Domo arigato=Thank you
Domo arigato gozaimasu=Thank you very much
Gaijin=foreigner (a bit derogatory)
Gomen=I'm sorry
Gomen nasai=I'm very sorry
Hai!=Yes!
Hana=Flower
Henshin-yo!=Transform!
Honto?=Really?
Iie=No
Itai!=It hurts!
Kamen=mask
Kami=God (Shinto religion)
Kawaii=cute
Konnichi wa=Good afternoon
Masaka=It can't be or No way
Matte=Wait
Nani?=What?
Odango Atama=Dumpling head
Onegai=Please, I'm begging you
Onii-chan=Big brother
Urusai!=Shut up!