The four Sailor Guardians surrounded Zoisite, cutting the Shittenu off from his prey.
The leader of the guardians, Sailor Venus, glanced at her comrade, the warrior of water, Sailor Mercury. "Get Greg out of here. We'll deal with this," she ordered.
Sailor Mercury nodded as the other three guardians shifted into a triangle formation, protecting her as she lifted the boy up and placed his arm over her shoulder so she could carry him out of danger.
"Out of my way!" Zoisite yelled, attempting to leap over the guardians to get at Greg. Sailor Venus grabbed the bead chain which was wrapped around her waist and threw it upward. The chain wrapped around Zoisite's leg, and the warrior of love pulled on the chain, throwing their enemy to the ground.
Zoisite grunted in pain and glared at the guardians.
"You're not getting away this time, Zoisite," Sailor Venus declared, still holding the other end of her chain tightly. Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter moved to flank their leader and prepared their attacks.
"I don't have time to waste on you little girls," Zoisite snarled. He pointed his hand at his entangled leg and let out a small burst of energy, unwrapping the chain and creating a gust of wind that forced the guardians to shield their faces.
When the guardians lowered their arms, all that remained of their foe was a falling mass of flower petals.
Sailor Mercury laid Greg down on a bench in the park. He was barely conscious and groaning in pain from Zoisite's attack.
She wet a cloth in the park's fountain and put it on Greg's head.
"Don't worry," she assured him. "You'll be safe here with me, Greg."
Greg opened his eyes. "Thank you, Amy, for taking care of me," he whispered.
"What?" Sailor Mercury exclaimed as Greg lost consciousness completely.
"How does he know my real name?"
Two seemingly normal teenage girls stopped at the site where the guardians had faced Zoisite.
The brunette huffed after finally being able to stop running. "Ok, what was that about?" she asked with more than a hint of annoyance.
The blonde's eyes darted back and forth. "There was a magical battle going on right here."
Her friend shook her head. Though she did not look it, Kitty Pryde was no stranger to battle, being the youngest member of the mutant superhero team the X-Men.
"Well, there's no one here now," she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Come on, Illyana. I'd like to get to the arcade before it closes."
Greg tossed and turned, trapped in the grip of a horrible vision. His eyes shot open as he saw himself strike down the girl he liked.
"Easy," Ami said. She had turned back into her human form so as not to attract attention to them and because she thought it would be easier to talk to him as herself. "You just had a bad dream."
"No!" Greg insisted as he sat up. "I was seeing my future, and it isn't pretty, Amy."
"What are you talking about?"
He looked away in shame. "I have this power to predict things in the future. That's why I did so well on that exam."
"I know all about you, about your friends, and about the Dark Kingdom," he declared. "And I know … I'm going to end up fighting you."
Amy sat down next to him. "It doesn't have to be like that."
Greg shook his head. "The future can't be changed. You have to promise that when I start to turn into a monster … that you'll kill me!"
"No!" Amy screamed.
"You must promise me!" Greg yelled. "If you don't, I'll …"
Greg stopped. Two girls had entered his field of vision at the other end of the park, too far away for him or Amy to hear what they were saying.
Kitty was dragging Illyana by the arm. "Can't you just teleport us there?"
"If you want to arrive by next week, or maybe next year," Illyana answered. "You know I can't control when I end up."
Greg's eyes widened as new images filled his vision.
He saw a glowing white sword cut through the air.
He saw a glowing crescent moon appear on a girl's forehead.
He heard Zoisite's voice ask: "You, you're the moon princess, aren't you?"
"Listen to me," Amy said firmly, shaking Greg out of his reverie, "the future is something you build for yourself."
Greg blinked and looked back across the park, but the two girls were gone.
"You have to decide what your own future will be, Greg," Ami continued. "If you give up, you'll never control your own destiny."
Greg looked up at Amy and smiled. "You're right."
They gasped as Zoisite's disembodied voice began to laugh all around them.
"What a touching scene," the Shitennu said as he appeared above the fountain, "but unfortunately, I need the rainbow crystal the boy is carrying."
Amy transformed into Sailor Mercury and threw herself at Zoisite, who merely held out his hand and unleashed another burst of energy which threw her back and far away from the two of them.
With the troublesome guardian temporarily taken care of, Zoisite turned his attention to Greg and held out the black crystal. Greg screamed in agony as the rainbow crystal was violently pulled from his body.
The yellow crystal flew straight into Zoisite's hand as Greg's transformation began.
"Come forth, Bunbo!" Zoisite yelled. "Awaken and destroy this Sailor Guardian!"
"Greg!" Sailor Mercury yelled. But it was too late. In place of the mild-mannered teenage boy was a large reptilian monster covered in metal armor and with swiss army knives for hands.
The monster known as Bunbo stared at Sailor Mercury for several long seconds. She gulped and assumed a battle stance.
But Bunbo looked up at the one who had caused his transformation and leapt straight at Zoisite, tackling the Shitennu out of the air.
Zoisite dropped the rainbow crystal in shock and the precious stone fell into Sailor Mercury's hands.
"Greg, you're still in there," she realized.
"How can this be?" Zoisite asked himself. "He still has human emotions!" He teleported a few yards away, causing Bunbo to fall into the fountain.
Zoisite held out the dark crystal again and focused its energy on Bunbo once more. "You will obey me, monster!"
Bunbo began to grow even larger, reaching 15 feet in height. Sailor Mercury turned and ran, knowing she was no match for the creature in its current form.
"Go," Zoisite commanded, "take back the rainbow crystal that belongs to us!"
Kitty and Illyana had finally reached the arcade when Illyana suddenly turned around.
"What is it now?" Kitty asked in exasperation. Illyana ran back the way they came without answering.
Bunbo continued to chase Sailor Mercury across the park when it was struck by a bolt of lightning, stopping it in its tracks.
Sailor Mercury breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the other three guardians arrive.
"Damn," Sailor Jupiter said. "Supreme Thunder didn't even scratch it."
"Wait!" Sailor Mercury yelled. "That's Greg! We have to save him!"
Sailor Venus took out her crescent compact. "Leave this to me."
Zoisite snarled, knowing exactly what she intended to do. He launched himself at Sailor Venus, screaming "oh no you don't!"
Sailor Mars put her pointer fingers together and yelled "Fire Soul!" A large fireball burst from her fingertips and flew straight at Zoisite, forcing him to stop in midair to avoid being burned.
That was all the time Sailor Venus needed. She opened her compact and held it straight up, screaming "Venus Power, Love Crescent Shower!"
A bright light shot out of the compact straight up. Zoisite cursed under his breath as he covered his eyes from the intensity of the light.
"Curse you Sailor Guardians! I'll get you for this!" he warned as he disappeared before the 'attack' returned to earth.
The light came back down in a rain which covered the entire area, purifying everything in the park. Even dying blades of grass suddenly sprung back to life.
Bunbo looked up at the strange rain in confusion.
"What's going on?" Sailor Mercury asked as the rain of light began to fade away. "Why isn't he turning back to normal?"
"Could they have put so much evil energy into him that the healing light isn't working?" Sailor Venus asked. This had never happened before. Her compact had always restored corrupted people to human form.
"So what do we do?" Sailor Mars asked.
"We've got no choice but to fight," Sailor Venus declared.
They all assumed battle stances as the rain of light stopped completely and Bunbo turned his attention back to them.
The monster took a step forward when a glowing sword sliced through its torso. Bunbo screamed and was enveloped in a bright light. As the light faded Greg collapsed to the ground.
"Greg!" Sailor Mercury yelled as she ran over to him.
Sailor Venus turned her attention to the two newcomers. Illyana was walking back towards Kitty, whose head was tilted in confusion.
"What the heck was that?"
Illyana shook her head. "I don't know. There must have been powerful black magic to turn that boy into a monster like that, but I've never seen anything like it."
"Yeah. I guess demons in Limbo are more about the horns and fangs and less about robot parts."
Illyana still carried the gleaming sword she had used to cut through Bunbo. It glowed so brightly that the guardians had to shield their eyes when they looked at it.
"Who are you?" Sailor Jupiter yelled at them. She was naturally the most suspicious of the guardians. "Are you with the Dark Kingdom too?" Sailor Mars also looked at them with suspicion.
Kitty grimaced. "Shoot. We can't say we're from Xavier's or that we're with the X-Men. That could blow our cover," she whispered to Illyana.
Illyana nodded and turned to the guardians. "No. We have no idea what this Dark Kingdom is. Who are you?"
"We're the Sailor Guardians," Sailor Venus declared.
Kitty and Illyana looked at each other and raised an eyebrow in unison. The name meant nothing to them and seemed strange.
"Is the one responsible for this about to come back?" Illyana asked.
Sailor Venus shook her head. "Once he pulls his disappearing act he's gone until he chooses his next target, which will be a few days at least."
Sailor Mars put her hand on her leader's shoulder and shook her head.
"Don't say too much. I sense an intense darkness coming from that girl."
Sailor Venus grimaced and looked back at the two mutants. Her instinct was to seek out allies, the defeat of Bunbo proved these two could be a great help in the battle against the Dark Kingdom, and her own senses detected nothing she considered out of the ordinary. But she trusted the flame warrior's intuition completely.
With neither side willing to reveal any more information, Illyana and Kitty turned and walked away. Whatever questions they had, keeping the fact that Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters was actually a school for mutants and the base of the X-Men was more important.
When they were gone, the guardians turned to Sailor Mercury, who was cradling the still unconscious Greg in her arms.
"Wake up! Please wake up!"
Greg groaned and slowly opened his eyes.
"You're all right!" Sailor Mercury said with tears in her eyes.
Greg nodded. "The princess," he said softly, "she saved me."
The Guardians all looked at each other with the same shocked expression.
"The princess…" Sailor Mars said.
"You don't mean the Moon Princess?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
Sailor Venus looked back at where Kitty and Illyana had stood just a minute earlier.
"We need to find those two."
