Episode One

A Question of Spirits. A New Soldier Protects the Senshi

"Tsukini kawatte, oshokio!!"

Three points form into one.... Rei had had this vision before...but this.. this seemed different. Standing atop the balcony of a beautiful white castle, a castle she recognized, a strange looking man stared defiantly into the sky. He was dressed in loose shirt that hung from one shoulder and a black sleeveless shirt underneath, with a white bandana billowing from his forehead, on it, an upside town triangle with three other triangles surrounding it. His hair was green and eyes an olive hazel. Behind him, in the night sky, the Earth shone down. A voice spoke to Rei as she watched the somber looking man.

"I am the bridge between inner and outer. The wounded ninja who fights in three waves. I destroy, embrace, and weep."

The ninja looked right towards Rei and spoke.

"Chiron."

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Rei's eyes snapped open and she gasped. She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"A strange dream." She mumbled. "A strange man." Yawning, she stretched and moved out of bed. Rei moved to the window and looked out. "What does it mean?"

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Sitting in a booth in Crown Fruits Parlor, Usagi explained a story to Ami, Minako, Makoto, and Unazuki.

"S-so then, I pulled on the rope with catnip ball and Luna ran for it, and I moved it to a wall! She was so confused!" She pounded her fist on the table in hysterics. "And then, when she ran toward the wall to get it I pulled it away again, but this time she wasn't quick enough and smacked into the wall!!!" Usagi burst into laughter and Minako joined her. Luna, at Usagi's feet, grew very angry.

"How dare she tell that story.....!" Artimis, who was beside Luna under the table tried to stop his laughter, but he too burst out, to which Luna applied a mean scratching across the face. She then turned, in her rage, and bit down HARD on Usagi's foot. The girl screamed and shot up out of the chair, waving her leg up and down hysterically, but Luna held onto tight. Usagi tried a new approach and kicked the wall with the Luna infested foot. Luna's eyes turned into squiggles as she smashed against the wall and slid down slowly to the floor.

Unazuki blinked and giggled a little. "Sometimes I think animals can understand what we are saying." Usagi, Minako, Makoto, and Ami all grew sweatdrops. Luna laid flat on the ground, still swirrly-eyed. Unazuki turned from the table and headed off. "Arigato for the story, Usagi-chan, but I have to get back to work!"

Makoto looked to Usagi and smiled. "I think the next time you tell that story, Usagi-chan, you should make sure Luna is not around." Usagi laughed and sat back down. Luna, still dizzy, crawled back under the table muttering something incoherent about getting revenge.

The door to the restaurant opened and Rei walked in. "Gomen nasi. I didn't mean to be late, but I overslept. Strange dreams kept me awake far too late."

Ami blinked. "Strange dreams? About what?"

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"A young boy calling out to me. He was dressed as a ninja of some sort and looked about Usagi-chan's age." Michiru frowned and looked down at her mirror. She and Haruka were driving along the coastline. Haruka frowned and looked to her.

"Is he a new enemy?"

Michiru shook her head. "There was none of that feeling. Mostly sadness. The vision was so melancholy, and he looked so lonely. But.. Haruka... there was a familiarity about him. He is connected to our past in the Silver Millennium."

Haruka looked back to the road. "If it happens again, tell me. He could be a new ally. You have a sixth sense for these things ... if you find someone who you think might be another soldier, don't hesitate to confront them."

Michiru laughed. "Because the first person I did that to reacted so well." Haruka got a big sweatdrop.

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The ruins of an old temple. The place is dark and quiet. Sitting in the center of the ruins, a man in all black stared quietly forward, his face hidden in shadow. Beside him, two women, also hidden from view, stood quietly. He looked up from his feet, as if awakening from a dream. He called out, "Gaian Elite."

There was a moment of silence and darkness. Then, four bright lights. From one a flame burst and formed the body of a man, then whirled away revealing a tall, spike (think Hawks Eye) haired man, dressed in red orange and yellow. His hair and eyes were red as well and seemed, themselves, to burn. The second light exploded into leaves and flowers, which swirled around to create the form of a woman, then dispersed, a woman actually being there underneath. She had long, straight, dark green hair and deep brown eyes. She wore and brown and green dress, kind of Celtic looking, and had several daisies in her hair. The third light swirled round and round, creating a wind, which seemed to mimic the shape of a man. There was a ripple in the air and the wind disappeared, a man standing there. He had long white hair (think Kunzite) and wore a great white and light yellow uniform. His skin was pale, and he was unbelievably handsome. The last light began to bubble as if boiling over. Water and bubbles spewed forth created a giant bubble, the shadow of a woman inside. The bubble popped, and she was there. She had long wavy hair (thing cross between Michiru and Emerald) which was an ice blue color. She wore a light and dark blue dress and was beautiful beyond comparison.

The four 'Gaian Elite' bowed before the shadow covered man. He waved his hand dismissively. "I hope you all are ready to begin the first phase of the purification." The all nodded and said 'hai' solemnly. He smiled. "Good... Pyron repeat the mission objectives."

The fiery man took a step forward from the line. "To find the Fluorite Phoenix" He then took a step back and rejoined the others.

"Good.. " The dark man looked to the next in line. "Floran, where can this creature be found?" The flowery woman took a step forward and spoke very politely. "Well, sir, it can be found within a human. All humans contain anigai, or animal spirits, but only one will have the special one we need." The man smiled. "Very nice, Floran. Arigato." Floran smiled cheerfully. "Do itashimaste! Arigato!" She took a step back and rejoined the others.

The dark man looked to the third in line. "Aeron, how can we find the human who holds the anigai." Aeron stepped forward, looking casually confident. "Unfortunately, specific anigai cannot be detected. We have clues to finding the one.. a connection with animals, and having other people drawn to them, but outside of that, it is a trial and error process." The dark man nodded. "Unfortunately that is true. Good work." Aeron stepped back in line.

"Last, Aquan, how can we check a human for what anigai they carry?" The watery woman stepped forward. "Real animals fear fire, as do anigai to some extent. By using the Fires of Terra," she held out a blue flame shaped pendant, "we can successfully scare the anigai out of a human's body. Once free, we can use a Spirit Ball," she produced a white rubbery ball, " to contain the anigai's power and see what it is." She took a step back.

The dark man clapped slowly. "Wonderful. You all understand perfectly well.. I had my doubts. Begin work immediately."

The four bowed and spoke in unison, "Hai, Choas-sama." Then teleported away the same ways they had come.

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Usagi giggled quietly to herself. She was doodling pictures of Mamoru in a tuxedo and her in a wedding dress. This was her usual way to pass time in class when she should have been studying or listening to the lecture. The teacher stopped writing on the blackboard and turned around. "If you will study this equation carefully, you can see-" The door to the classroom opened, interrupting the teacher.

A tall boy entered with short green hair kind of like Mamoru's and Haruka's combined, and olive hazel eyes. He was thin (think Shinji for NGE) and looked a little flushed, like he had been running. The teacher frowned at him. "You're late Sorano-san." The boy was kind of out a breath, and gasped out, "Gomen, Sensei! I was awakened late and-" The teacher interrupted. "Don't worry about it. You haven't missed much, yet." He turned to the class. "We have a new student joining us today, his name is Sorano Kizu. Please make him feel welcome." He looked to Kizu. "You can sit in the empty seat behind Tsukino-san."

Kizu walked down the aisle and sat down behind Usagi. She turned around and smiled. "Ohayo! I'm Tsukino Usagi, and this is Aino Minako-chan." Minako waved. Kizu frowned, "Wonderful ... you have names." He quirked a brow. "You know.. your hairstyle looks kind of like two-"

Usagi yelled. "DUMPLINGS!!! I KNOW! MY HAIR LOOKS LIKE DUMPLINGS!!!!!"

The class all turned and looked at Usagi who was turned around in her seat facing Kizu. She turned a bright red and slowly rotated 180 degrees to face the teacher who's eyes resembled something like red egg-halves. "Tsukino- san! Out!"

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The bell rang and students exited the room. Usagi was outside when Kizu came out. He stopped for a minute and smirked. "You have a rather large voice. It's unlady like, odango-atama." He then continued on down the hall. Minako walked out and looked to Usagi. "Kizu doesn't seem to like you, does he?" Usagi had squiggly tears streaming down her face. "Odango-atama... AGAIN."

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In a dark Japanese teahouse, the four Gaian Elite encircled a table. The room was totally empty, and lit by purple and yellow lamps that hung from the ceiling. Pyron sat back in his red, orange, and yellow fiery kimono and sighed. "Choas-sama makes finding the anigai sound so easy, but where do be even begin?"

Floran sipped her tea and then set it down. She was in a green and brown flowery kimono. "I think we should play jenkenpo for who has to go first. It's only fair, and everyone knows the first performance is the hardest."

Aquan grew a sweatdrop. "I don't think it's exactly a performance. But the jenkenpo idea works. I really don't feel like going out and getting my dress dirty. I just washed, too."

Pyron leaned over and whispered the Aeron, "And took an hour to do it. There was NO hot water left."

Floran set down the tea bowl and smiled politely. "Shall we begin?"

"JEN KEN PO!"

After several rounds, Aquan was determined the loser. "AGH! But I don't even know where to go!"

Aeron thought a minute. "Temples are pretty clean, you probably won't get dirty there. Why not check for someone there?"

Aquan perked up. "Hey, yeah! I was visiting the Hiwaka Shrine the other day and there was this cute apprentice working there! The girls who visited the temple all seemed attracted to him and he was nice to the crows!"

Aeron nodded. "There you go. Fight hard for our cause." Aquan teleported away.

Pyron stood. "I'm going to go make use of the mirror while she's gone and can't use it."

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Usagi, Minako, Ami, Makoto, and Rei all sat around a table in Rei's shrine. Usagi was recapping to new student's behavior.

"And THEN he said I had a big mouth!"

Rei reached over and pulled on the sides of Usagi's mouth so they became very wide and funny looking while Usagi made and 'eghk!' noise. "He does have a point..." Usagi spat a widemouthed raspberry in Rei's face. Thus, a fight ensued.

Ami looked to Makoto. "Maybe he just doesn't know how to deal with people well."

Makoto nodded in agreement. "I used to be very aggressive with new people, too. Give him some time, I think."

Minako's eyes grew big. "He was kind of cool looking, too! A future prospect of love!" The other girls, including Usagi and Rei who were pulling on each other's faces stopped and stared at her. Minako laughed a little wildly. "The goddess of love is always searching for new prospects."

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Outside, a beautiful woman with wavy blue hair stepped up to Yuichirou, who was sweeping the steps.

"Excuse me. Is the shrine still open?" Yuichirou blinked and looked at her, then turned a nice shade of red.

"Um.. yes it is. What can I do for you?"

She smiled coyly. "Tell me, what animal are you most fond of?"

Yuichirou blinked and took a step back as she advanced forward. "N-nani?"

Aquan wasted no time. She removed the blue pendant from her chest and it shot out a burst of blue flame that enveloped Yuichirou, who began screaming in pain while something pulled from his body. The girls heard the scream outside and rushed out, seeing Yuichirou being attacked they nodded to each other and transformed.

"Moon Eternal Power, Make up! Mercury Crystal Power, Make up! Mars Crystal Power, Make up! Jupiter Crystal Power, Make up! Venus Crystal Power, Make up!"

A silvery shape was pulled from the boy's body just above his head. Aquan gasped.. "Animagi.." She threw the white ball in her hand at it. The ball seemed to swallow it and began to convulse.

"Jotto matte yo!" Aquan blinked and looked around to Eternal Sailor Moon and the other senshi.

"A cool autumn day at a quiet Shinto temple is a time for relaxing and talk among friends! How dare you attack a selfless apprentice! I am Sailor Moon. Tsukini kawatte, oshokio!"

Aquan blinked. "Sailor Moon? You are sailor senshi? But what is a senshi from the moon doing on Earth? No matter, the anigai has already been tamed. You are too late."

Yuichirou collapsed and the white ball began expanding and contorting until it took a human form. Aquan's eyes glowed as she waited to see what it would be. There was an explosion of light and the senshi shielded their eyes. When they looked back, floating above Yuichirou was a strange looking wolf/man with a gray pendant attached to his chest. Aquan frowned in frustration. "Damn! It isn't the one I'm looking for. It's not even a gem." The anigai laughed wildly and let out a howl. "Stone Coyote!!!" Aquan frowned. "Stone Coyote, take care of the sailor senshi."

"Hai! Stone Coyote!" He moved towards the senshi. Sailor Mercury stepped forward. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" A blast of ice splashed towards the beast, but it just smacked it into a tree with it's broad hand.

"Nani?!"

Stone Coyote pulled out five lasso's and whirled them around in the air. "Patience is a virtue, wait quietly!" The ropes shot in different directions and lassoed the senshi to trees, rocks, etc. Sailor Moon gasped as the beast came towards her, drooling and snarling.

(Ba-Dum-Bum!)There was a piercing red light and the rope holding Sailor Moon fell in two. At her feet, a rose. Stone Coyote glared up and on the temple's roof stood Tuxedo Mask.

Aquan snapped to attention. "Kakoi! He's handsome!"

Tuxedo Kamen glared down. "A young girl's fragra-" Stone coyote was already on him. It leapt to the roof and bashed Tuxedo Kamen to the ground with a giant fist. Sailor Moon rushed to him. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!!" The beast leapt down right in front of the unconscious Tuxedo Kamen and weeping Sailor Moon. The other girls struggled to free themselves and help Sailormoon, but the ropes held tight.

Whoosh.

Like the wind, something pierced right through the foot of the coyote that was on the rose. A sing gray feather was there, stuck to it. The beast glared around confused. A voice came seemingly from nowhere. "I am the bridge between inner and outer. The wounded soldier who fights in three waves. I destroy, embrace, and weep."

Sailor Mars's eyes widened.

In a moment, he was there, beside the wolf. On his wrist a bangle with three gems, red, blue, and yellow, but otherwise, the same as the dream Rei had. The red gem of the bangle glowed brightly and it changed into a hand fitted crossbow in an instant. The crossbow was made of the same metal type material of the bangle, but was decorated with the red jewel that glowed. It looked like an old piece of medieval equipment. The stranger aimed the bow point blank at the Coyote's temple.

Aquan snapped up. "Who are you?! ANOTHER disturbance!"

Stone Coyote batted at the boy who jumped back out of the way. The boy smirked and pointed the gauntlet bow at the monster. He screamed out, "Trinity-Scarlet Arrow!" A bright red glow appeared on one of the triangles on the bandana on the boy's forehead and a blast shot from the strange crossbow/armlet that blew the beast's head off. Sailor Moon and the other scouts gasped, but there was no blood or carnage. A white light came from the hole in the neck and a glowing coyote leapt out and sprinted to Yuichirou's body, leaping inside. The rest of the Stone Coyote's body melted back into the white ball, which fell to the ground and immediately rotted into the earth.

Aquan clenched her fist. "Shimata." A bubble formed around her and then popped, and she was gone. The ropes holding the other four scouts fell away and they rushed to Sailor Moon and the still unconscious Tuxedo Kamen. Mercury stood and looked to the strange man.

"Arigato! W-who are you?"

The boy looked up He had a bright red scar in the middle of his forehead.. The crossbow on his arm reassembled itself into the three gemed bangle. "Where are the Outer Senshi?"

Jupiter blinked. "Nani?"

Seeing they didn't know, the boy turned around and walked away from the temple without another word, leaving the confused inners behind.

Rei frowned. "The boy from my dream ... why was he bleeding?"