Moon of Destiny

by Lord-Mandrake

Post Galaxia, The Senshi learn the history of the universe before the Moon Kingdom. Powerful enemies and Allies awaken, and destinies are fulfilled

10. Shadows

Chapter 10: Shadows

Ami glared Zoicite with loathing. She was a hairsbreadth away from freezing him solid and knocking him off the balcony when Neko gently took hold of her hands, interrupting her spell.

"Hold on a moment Sprite, don't kill him until he has a chance to explain."

Ami glared at her lover, and then finally realized that she was completely naked in front of her enemy. She quickly willed her Senshi transformation, and was adequately clothed in her fuku before Neko had more than directed his gaze, once again, to the trapped former Dark General.

"Zoicite, what in the hell do you think you're doing? What part of 'guard the Senshi from harm' have you misconstrued into 'peek on Ami's and my sex life like a total hentai'?"

"I'm sorry Neko-sama I just. I just needed to see her."

"Neko, what's going on? How do you know this worthless hentai disease pustule?" Ami asked harshly. The fact that she was using such derogatory language spoke volumes about her feelings concerning the blond.

"A moment please, Sprite." Neko said gently before turning to impale Zoicite with his eyes. "Well Zoicite, I'm waiting."

"Neko-sama, you know how I feel about her. I had to see her. I know what you told me, but no matter what orders you give you can't make my heart stop loving her." Zoicite turned and gave a pleading look to Ami as he continued. "I know it's been thousands of years to you, and I know what you must think of me, but Mercury-chan to me it's been less than a week since I held you in my arms. I know what happened after I was captured Mercury-chan, but I didn't do it. It wasn't me." He pleaded with his past lover for understanding.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Ami said venomously. She turned her gaze to Neko. Her eyes were nearly glowing with anger. "Please tell me you didn't do what I think you did."

"And what would that be Sprite?"

"You brought them back didn't you? Is this the answer you and Mori came up with?" Her voice was getting louder and very angry. "Did the two of you bring them back? Well did you?"

"Yes, and we had a very good reason."

"Oh I think I can make a good guess what your reasons must have been. Do you honestly think that Rei or Makoto would give them any consideration? If you think I'm angry you can't even imagine how Rei will react."

"Neko-sama will you please release me? The cold." In a flash the ice prison disintegrated and Zoicite fell to the ground.

"Don't move." Neko ordered. "Sprite I went through both Makoto's and your own memories trying to learn everything I could about who I could find for her. You wouldn't believe how few people there are in existence that Makoto or Rei could respect in combat. Even fewer of them could be trusted with the knowledge of what you girls are, and of all of the possibilities only Jedite and Nephrite have a chance of wining their love."

"You're insane. Makoto will hang and gut Nephrite on sight, and Rei. well at least you won't have to worry about a funeral for Jedite, she'll burn him to ash."

"Sprite please listen to me, there are things about them you don't understand."

"And just why did you bring Zoicite back. I could understand bringing Jedite and Nephrite, but you have to know who Zoicite was during the Moon Kingdom."

"He was your lover. He was one of the four guardians of Prince Endymion, and the hereditary ruler of one quarter of the Earth. Endymion's family ruled over them from the Isle of Atlantis, or /Solitude/. I know exactly who he is, and the only reason I haven't killed him for spying on us is because I understand his feelings."

"Why did you bring him back?" She repeated angrily.

"Because like the Senshi they were a team. Without Zoicite or Kunzite they would have faltered and failed."

"Kami-sama you brought back Kunzite too? You are crazy. You have to know he and Mina were lovers. Mori will go ballistic."

"Mori knows, and he helped me bring them back. Trust me Sprite, I know what I'm doing."

"Neko-sama?"

"Ahh Zoicite, what am I going to do with you?"

"Neko-sama I apologize for being seen, but my lord I couldn't help myself."

"Yes, just like you couldn't help yourself from falling into Beryl's hands and betraying me right Zoicite?" Ami spat. The bishonen man flinched at the raw hatred in Ami's voice.

"Sprite you don't understand. He wasn't just brainwashed like Mamoru was. He was possessed. Someone under mind control can only be pushed so far. No matter how strong the control you can't be forced to do something completely against your will. This of course means two things. One, the Guardians were possessed, there's no other way Beryl could have forced them to kill the women they loved. Two, somewhere deep inside him, Mamoru wanted to hurt Usagi." Ami's eyes narrowed in barely controlled rage.

"The best way to tell mind control from possession is does the victim remember anything? Someone who was possessed, like Zoicite here, will remember nothing. Whereas Mamoru. Well you get the idea."

"I don't want to hear this." Ami said just a tad less harshly then before. "This has got to be the worst idea you have ever had Neko. I refuse to be a party to this stupidity. When you get done talking to the traitor let me know. I'm going home." Ami concentrated as hard as she could on the mystic pattern Neko had briefly shown her that afternoon. She focused all of her will on its perfect form, and pictured its ending point. With a small pop she teleported home.

"You do realize Zoicite that if she made an error trying to teleport she will more than likely die. Do you know who I'll blame for that?" His voice though pleasant carried an edge of lethal intent.

"Yes my lord."

"Now, I know you've been following her ever since we brought you back, and so far I haven't said anything about it, but this time you went too far. First, you exposed yourself, jeopardizing both the mission and the safety of your companions. Second, you were spying on the woman I love when she was unclothed. You made her feel uncomfortable and cheapened the beauty of her and my time together, that I won't forgive." Neko's eyes flashed silver-blue and Zoicite found himself in the living room of the apartment he shared with the rest of Endymion's Guardians. He had only the briefest of instants to marvel at the change of scene before the agony hit him.

********

School the next day was a nightmare. Ami knew they were out there watching her and the other Senshi, but she couldn't decide whether or not to tell Mina and Usagi what she had learned.

Neko had been wrong, Mina had made it to class, but there was no doubt that she had had a rough night. She moved slightly stiffly, and she looked rather tired. Ami knew just how rough it must have been considering that Mina's bracelet had the same defensive capabilities as her own anklet, and neither of them needed more than two hours of sleep a night anymore. Ami was slightly jealous that Mina's night had obviously gone that much better than her own.

It was Neko's expression during English class that finally made the decision for her. He looked so proud of himself, so insufferably arrogant and convinced that he knew better than she did how her friends would react, that she resolved to prove him wrong. She only had to wait until lunch to spread the news.

When lunch finally came around a few hours later she quickly got Mina and Usagi's attention and made it clear that she needed to speak to them alone. Mina looked at her quizzically, but Usagi seemed to understand her intention instantly. They made their excuses to Makoto and Rei and quickly headed off to a quiet corner of the courtyard.

"What is it Ami?" Mina asked sleepily when they were out of earshot of everyone.

"I found out what Mori and Neko are doing about the situation you brought up Usagi."

"Really?" The blonde girl asked excitedly. "Are they almost ready? How long will it take for the girls to meet them? Do you know who they are?" The whole series of questions came out in a nearly indecipherable single breath.

"I know who they found, and you won't like it."

"Who is it Ami?" Mina asked again yawning.

"The Generals."

"Huh?" Came the response from the two blondes.

"They resurrected Beryl's generals. Apparently when they rooted around in our heads they found the memories from the Moon Kingdom and decided that if Makoto and Rei loved them once then they could fall for them again."

"They brought back Jedite and Nephrite?" Mina asked aghast. Usagi just stood staring at Ami dumbfounded.

"Not just those two, they brought them all back." Ami replied.

Mina's face was a study. Her eyes narrowed in anger and her upper lip curled in distaste. Usagi on the other hand was still confused.

"I don't understand. They know how we feel about Beryl's generals. Why would they do something like that?"

"They brought back Kunzite?" Mina asked in a very controlled voice.

"Yes Mina, and Zoicite too."

"I really need to find my Moon Sword." Mina muttered looking positively murderous.

"I'm going to go talk to them." Usagi said with determination. "Their idea won't work and it will hurt Mako-chan and Rei-chan's feelings. I won't let those boys do that."

Usagi marched across the courtyard with Ami and Mina flanking her like the guards they were. As expected all three resident Primarchs were sitting with the other Senshi. Makoto seemed very happy, but was sitting far too close to Konjou for Ami's taste. Rei sat a bit away from the group looking wistfully at Tenjin, who was so engrossed in conversation with Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka and Hikage that he didn't appear to notice.

"Tenjin I need to talk to you and the other boys for a minute. It's sort of private." She finished casting a look at the other girls.

Tenjin shrugged and got to his feet with a quick grin that clearly said 'let's placate the child'. Konjou met Ami, Mina and Usagi's chilly expressions and wondered for the first time if they had done the right thing. Hikage on the other hand didn't move from his position of holding Hotaru in his arms.

"Hikage are you coming?" Usagi asked sounding slightly irritated.

"This has nothing to do with me. I was neither consulted on the matter, nor did I have anything to do with its implementation. Besides, I already know what you have to say, and how the situation will end. My presence is irrelevant." It took Usagi a moment to sort through his language but her long years with Ami and Setsuna, and the recent flood of memories from the Moon Kingdom, allowed her to understand without Ami translating it for her.

"Okay." She said and the little group walked towards a secluded portion of the school grounds.

"What was that all about?" Makoto asked the instant they were out of ear-shot.

"I really shouldn't say," Hikage began. However when Hotaru turned her large violet eyes on him with a soft expression, his resolve to remain silent had all the hope of a Twinkie at a weight watchers convention. "Okay okay," Hikage muttered under his breath drawing smiles from the girls. "Usagi asked Konjou and Tenjin for some help recently. She wasn't as specific as she really should have been so pretty much all of it was left up to their discretion on how to handle it. Well you girls know what that meant. Letting those two run around 'fixing' things for you is probably not the path to wisdom and long life if you're mortal. To get to the point, Konjou and Tenjin did quite a bit of research into the problem, decided on what they felt was the proper course of action and implemented it without consulting Usagi as to their plans. The fact that they happen to be right this time means little. Let's just say this little idea of theirs will give you girls a few tense moments, and Rei is going to need to give Mina the Moon Sword back to keep herself from doing something foolish like gutting Mori with it."

The girls took several minutes to digest what he had said, which he used to his advantage simply soaking up the feelings of warmth and togetherness he only felt with Hotaru in his arms. For a being that had lived since the beginning of the Universe without any sense of companionship or even the most fleeting physical contact of a non-violent nature, holding the woman he loved ranked just slightly below making sure the Universe continued to exist.

"Mordred," Hotaru whispered into Hikage's ear. Her breath sent little shivers down his spine. "You dodged the question very well. Will you tell me what they did wrong?" The slightly pouty tone she had quickly learned reduced Hikage's willpower to that of a drug addict looking for his next fix. In an instant he began to whisper to her the truth. A few moments later Hotaru jerked back with a completely shocked look on her face.

"What!" she screeched. Hikage simply nodded. "Are they crazy?" Hotaru continued. "They're going to completely blow up when they find out!" She yelled and cast a quick furtive glance at Rei and Makoto.

"It will work out." Hikage responded.

Hotaru cast a withering disbelieving glare at Hikage. The rest of the girls, especially Rei who had noticed the quick glance in her direction, were very curious.

"What was that all about?" Haruka demanded. The rest quickly seconded her question.

Hikage looked around the gathered group and took note of everyone's expressions. Hotaru was shocked and appalled. Haruka had an almost militant expression as if she intended to tear the information out of him. Michiru wore a look of polite inquiry that failed badly at disguising the steel in her eyes. Makoto looked confused, she knew this had something to do with her. She didn't know how she knew, but she was positive that it did. Rei was just angry. She hated it when people kept secrets from her. When the secrets were about her. well if it was anyone except the person that made Mori and Neko afraid she would already be. persuading him. It took him less than a second to read the intents of everyone around. His psychic abilities worked just fine on the Senshi. Knowing what he did about their respective temperaments he did something he was very, very good at. He shut up.

********

The walk to a secluded corner of the Schoolyard took a surprisingly short time. Usagi hadn't once even looked in their direction since she had demanded they speak in private. It was obvious to Tenjin what she was upset about. Neko told him that morning about Zoicite's stupidity, in fact he was planning to have a little chat with Kunzite about just that. Obviously Ami had told the others and Usagi and Mina were a bit put out about it.

"Konjou, Tenjin," Usagi began calmly as soon as they were all seated on the stone benches. "Just what in the name of the Kami were you thinking!" It seemed her calm had abandoned her. "Do you have any idea what those people have done to us?"

"Nothing."

"Do you realize how bad the girls hate them? Where did you get the idea to try to set them up with Rei-chan and Mako-chan? Not to mention bringing the others back."

"Usagi, shut up." Konjou said sharply. "You don't know what you're talking about." He ignored the sputters of outrage and indignation coming from the girls. "Unlike you girls we know exactly what happened, both in the past and the present."

"That's untrue." Ami retorted. "For the last week or so I have regained much of my memories from the past. I remember the day I found out Zoicite had betrayed me like it was yesterday." Mina nodded her head so violently it was a wonder it stayed attached.

"I remember everything." Usagi responded quietly. "Right after Tenjin read my mind it started to come back. When I used the Crystal to attack Iria's Illithid creature it all returned in a flood."

Konjou and Tenjin shared a look at that. Each remembered their own difficulties in replacing the massive and complex memory blocks the Silver Crystal had placed over portions of the girl's minds. Tenjin winced slightly at how badly he must have failed in putting it back correctly.

"Sorry Usagi." Tenjin said slightly ashamed. "I guess I must have done a worse job at putting the memory block you had inside you back where I found it, than I thought."

Ami glared hard at the idea of memory blocks, but resolved to handle it once the current crisis was seen to.

"So you remember what you knew from back then?" Konjou continued this time hardly waiting for them to nod in agreement before pushing on. "Even back then you had no real idea what happened to them." His expression held all three girls in their seats and forestalled any protestations they were about to voice.

"Let me tell you what really happened." He nearly snarled. "About three months before the attack, King Therin the fifth ordered his son's bodyguards, who just happened to be the rulers of the four great kingdoms of Earth, to investigate the strange uprisings that were going on in the more remote portions of their kingdoms. There had been more than a few recently, and the death toll among the guard units dispatched to suppress them had been staggering."

"Now you need to remember that the people of the Earth were immune to the Mind Control spells that Queen Serenity was using on the other worlds, so the Earth was always a more violent and fractious place. King Therin used the Gold Stone, what your people referred to as the Golden Crystal, to enforce his rule by controlling the forces of nature. It was damn near impossible to make war on an island nation when its King controlled the tides, the winds, and could level your entire country with an earthquake if you didn't do what he said. Be that as it may, something or someone was stirring up the peasants and needed to be stopped."

"The guards, who were the commanders of their home armies, left their duties at the side of their prince. They said tearful goodbyes to the women they had fallen in love with, who were consequently the guardians of the prince's fiancée, and returned to their homes to investigate the disturbances. Each of these men had their own means of gathering intelligence, but one of them stood out as the best. Nephrite, King of the East, one of the greatest students of Astrology ever to be born, learned of the arrival of the being known as Metallia within a week. He quickly sent word to his liege and his fellow Guardians of what they were up against. Of course what he didn't know was that a woman that had spent the last several years mooning after his prince, Lady Beryl, had also learned of Metallia's arrival and with the small amount of magical power she herself possessed, forged an alliance with the evil being."

"Now just to make something clear to you that should be readily obvious. Metallia was an Ulterran. I actually knew her before I went to sleep. The Ulterran were divided into five groups, and each group was made up of innumerable families. The groups corresponded to the type of energy that powered them. Since they were modelled off of us the five groups bore the names of the Creator that made us. Metallia was a Rhendarian Ulterran, which meant she used energies similar to Lor. By the way, that's why she wanted the Silver Crystal. Only an Ulterran could wield its powers without dying instantly, and since she already had Time based energies, and the Gold Stone was nearly in her grasp. The Silver Crystal was easily the next obvious step."

"Beryl offered Metallia the one thing she lacked, a willing physical being to channel her powers through. Metallia herself was actually an energy being, which of course makes truly ruling any territory a difficult prospect. Together they began to raise an army, and the war for Earth began."

"Jedite, who was a powerful Sorcerer in his own right, found himself and his army directly in the path of the advancing horde. The Royal Army of the West fell like wheat before a scythe. The hordes were nearly unstoppable. They were not simply humans, many of them had become the unwilling hosts for creatures of a like the world had never before seen. Jedite failed to escape the destruction of his army. He was captured as he attempted to rescue the body of his own brother."

"Beryl recognised Jedite instantly, and knew what a prize she had captured. Days went by with him languishing in a dirty hole in the ground his magical abilities suppressed and guarded by monsters from his darkest nightmares before, Beryl was able to convince Metallia of the windfall they had received. It took them weeks to begin to break him, and in fact all of the others were captured before Metallia finally took a more direct hand in his conversion."

"Zoicite was the next to fall. Only a week into Jedite's torturous captivity, the Youma ambushed Zoicite inside his own palace. Dozens of his own servants had already been suborned by the demonic forces, and they took him while he was asleep. His nightmare never ended."

"Nephrite, with his precognitive abilities, knew what had happened to his fellows. He tried to flee back to his prince, but never made it. Metallia herself captured the Astrologer. He had no more hope against her than you would have against me. Unlike Zoicite he knew what was happening, and as further punishment for the powerful will he demonstrated, they locked him below the ground, he couldn't even discern night from day in his prison. For Nephrite that was a far worse torture than death."

"Kunzite was worried. Jedite hadn't reported in for almost three weeks, Zoicite for just under two, and Nephrite for nine days. He knew something terrible must have occurred. As he sat in his council chambers hearing the horror stories from the peasants that had fled from the occupied regions, a lone critically wounded battle-mage teleported into the room. Kunzite recognised the man as one of Zoicite's elite guard. He begged the wounded man for news of his friend, and before the mage passed out from his wounds he managed to tell of Zoicite's capture."

"Kunzite knew what must have happened to the others. He gathered every combat capable wizard he could find and trust, and over one thousand of his greatest warriors, and they opened a portal to Beryl's headquarters. Unfortunately it was a trap. The Battle-mage had long before succumbed to torture and Mind Control. When Kunzite and the rest of his strike force made it through the portal, Metallia's forces attacked. The strike force killed thousands. They waded hip deep through the bodies of fallen youma and brainwashed peasants, in the end though it was hopeless. Kunzite fell and joined his compatriots in captivity."

"With all four of Endymion's guard captured and within their power, Metallia took personal charge of their re-conditioning. It became obvious to her that if they managed to actually break the Generals, that they would be worthless. Their wills were simply too strong to ever serve her. With that in mind she turned to her only other option if she wanted to use them. Powerful spiritual creatures, Aralyn, were called forth from the Nexus, and Metallia cajoled them into joining her cause. She fed the generals to them. Zoicite was the first to go, and Jedite was the last. The Aralyn devoured their souls, holding them captured within themselves, raided their memories, and learned everything they needed to complete their tasks."

"Hours later the newly possessed men were released to gather the rest of their forces for the attack on Atlantis and the Moon Kingdom. The gathering took several weeks, weeks in which the loved ones of the possessed men suffered terrible despair. The imprisoned souls within the possessed bodies fought their best, but no mortal could have possibly fought off an Aralyn. Soon enough they attacked Atlantis, where King Therin unleashed the forces of the Gold Stone, and sunk the island to the bottom of the ocean rather than see it taken. The last living descendent of Earryn's line recovered the Stone and whisked it to safety. Enraged by the loss of the Stone, Metallia sent her hordes to attack the Moon Kingdom. For the first time she brought forth her greatest converts. The possessed men were quite easily able to take advantage of the confusion of combat and get close to Queen Serenity. They met and using the shock caused by their apparent betrayal, killed the women who loved their hosts. Swarms of youma overran the palace, and Beryl struck out at the object of her greatest hate, a beautiful sixteen year old Ulterran girl that had claimed the heart of the man Beryl was obsessed with."

"Queen Serenity could feel her daughter and the Senshi die. She knew the battle was lost, but she knew a way that they might still win the war. Metallia was undeniably powerful, but she was a mote beside the true capabilities of the Silver Crystal. Serenity knew she couldn't hope to kill Metallia and her entire army. If she would have tried she would have failed utterly. Instead she chose to banish them to an extra-dimensional prison. The effort was more than she could have possibly survived, so in order to leave some hope to future generations she forcibly tied the souls of all the Senshi that had fallen to that of her daughter and Prince Endymion. That way they would all be reincarnated at the same time, hopefully to know peace in their next lives."

"Now the flaw to this plan was that she found it necessary to cast the two spells simultaneously. They blended together and when the time of peace came that triggered the reincarnation of the Princess, the seals holding the prison together began to crack. You awoke to your powers when you were needed, and once again you found yourself confronted with the Meat- Puppets that were the possessed bodies of the men you once loved. You know the rest."

Usagi's eyes had grown huge throughout the story and were filled and shiny with unshed tears. Mina looked almost the same. Even Ami was moved by the suffering the men had undergone. It didn't even occur to the girls to doubt Konjou's explanation, to the best of their knowledge he had never outright lied, and there was no wiggle room in his language. Obviously the Generals that had betrayed them, and had battled them so fiercely in modern times, were not the men the Senshi had once loved.

"Aren't you afraid that I might leave you for Zoicite?" Ami asked. "If I loved him as much as you think, and now I know he didn't betray me, what's to stop me from going back to him?"

"Nothing. I hope that despite whatever you might have felt in the past for him, that your feelings for me are strong enough to survive the truth of what happened. I wouldn't try to force you to stay with me, even if I could. If you really loved him no magic I could ever cast would change it."

Less than a second after Konjou finished his statement, he found his arms full of forty eight kilograms of crying odangoed blonde. Ami wasn't far behind her and he could easily hear Mina's sniffles from the direction of where Tenjin was standing.

"That's the saddest, sweetest thing I've ever heard!" Usagi wailed.

Konjou looked down at Ami who was sharing space in his embrace with Usagi. She was already looking up at him, love and understanding in her eyes. He let out a small sigh of relief and drew her into a light, but sweet, kiss. Usagi on the other hand abandoned his embrace for Tenjin's. Mina didn't seem to object any more than Ami had. She simply changed her grip to include Usagi.

********

Math class was more of a joke than usual. Now that Mina was completing her assignments, perfectly, the Sensei spent almost all of his time making sure that Usagi understood. Much to his dismay she understood almost as well as Ami and Mina. It seemed to Konjou and Tenjin that Serenity had been far more of a scholar that Usagi was. Needless to say, with the primary students responsible for slowing the lesson plan turning almost overnight into some of the best in the class, the Sensei had dramatically under planned and was forced to end the class early.

By the time P.E. came around, Konjou was so bored he was ready to start killing people just to liven up the day. He stood by the fence separating the boys and girls exercise areas watching Ami and the rest of the Senshi. Konjou was honest enough with himself to admit that he found all of the Senshi, even Haruka and little Hotaru, very attractive. Only the surety of Ami's negative reaction to the idea kept him from seducing the whole group of them. Well that and the certainty that Mori and Mordred would literally kill him the instant he moved towards either Mina or Hotaru.

He shuddered at the thought of actually being killed. Despite what they had led the Senshi to believe he had proof positive that it was possible. He was living proof that the Primarchs could die, a little over twelve and a half billion years ago there had been a different Primarch of Will, Taliaesin Mÿth?los. The Primarchs, in their pride, had attempted to mimic what the Creators had wrought. The beings they brought into creation were nightmares of the highest order. They had only made three total, but it was more than enough. The Abominations, as they came to be known as later, had ran amuck. They were completely out of control and nothing seemed to be able to stop them. Taliaesin had tried to talk them out of their mindless destruction, but it was hopeless.

The Abominations turned on their makers and brought war on the Primarchs. Entire galaxies were consumed in the magical warfare. The Primarchs had erred greatly. The Abominations were so similar to them that they even shared their most potent abilities. Azin, the greatest of the Abominations, showed Mori and the rest of the Primarchs just how badly their abilities could be bent to destruction. Taliaesin faced him in single combat and was utterly destroyed. The Primarchs reeled back in shock and horror. They had believed themselves completely invulnerable. Azin's advance through the magical barriers they had erected was relentless, Until Mordred got involved.

Nothing had prepared anyone for the sheer devastation Mordred unleashed. He had not participated in the Abominations' construction. Until that time the Primarchs hadn't taken Mordred seriously. His general passivity made him appear almost defenceless. They couldn't have been more wrong. Athan and Kayla, the weaker two Abominations, were swept away in an instant by Mordred's power. Azin survived to do battle. The combat carried them away from the other Primarchs. No one other than Mordred knew what exactly happened, but a month later Mordred reappeared with news that Azin was no more.

Where there were once five Primarchs there were now only four. Enkil had lost his avatar to it's and the others greed and stupidity. Nothing was heard from the Creators. The prayers of the Primarchs for guidance went unanswered. Finally after they had given up hope of ever being answered, he had appeared.

He could easily remember the first instant of his awareness. All of the other Primarchs were together, worrying themselves on how to maintain the balance of forces without their lost friend. When he appeared it was the answer to all of their prayers.

"Our job is to enforce our spheres of influence and to maintain the balance of power. Not to meddle in things we cannot possibly understand," were his first words. He didn't know at the time why he said them, but the others took the warning to heart.

Taliaesin had been by far the least powerful of the Primarchs. That was untrue of him. Only Mordred and Mori ranked greater than he. Jander had once lorded his superior capabilities over the friendly Taliaesin. He had no such joy with Neko. Though the battle would have been fierce, Jander knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was overmatched.

Konjou shook himself out of his musings and returned his attention to the plethora of beauty just across the fence. The girls were doing sprints today it seemed. Makoto was paired up with Mina and would be racing next. He watched amused as Usagi and Rei argued while waiting for their turn. Further back Ami stood next to Umi.

There was a certain bizarre symmetry in the pairings. Neko wondered briefly if it was intentional or just random chance that the new girls Sensei had put those particular groups together.

That brought another smile to his face. Setsuna had been livid to learn that a male had been posing as the girls P.E. Sensei. It was pointless to try to point out to her that none of the Primarchs were truly male. What gender is a ball of light? He thought with a smile. Sure the only Primarchs that could shapeshift without magic were he and Mori, but the rest were quite proficient in magical transformation. Of course they had all long ago had Mori alter their true forms to a human shape, something he could only do with their assistance, but that didn't change the fact of what they really were. All of the Primarchs had decided on appearing male for one simple reason. Females were, in their opinion, far more attractive. It was considerably easier, and more rewarding, to attract the attention of a female when they were male.

Setsuna had threatened to expose Lor for what he was if he didn't stop. He personally believed that it was Setsuna's disapproval rather than the threat itself that stopped Lor's perversion.

He returned his attention to the girls in time to see Mina come across the finish line well in advance of Makoto. The girls shared a friendly laugh and headed over to the bleachers to wait for the rest to finish. After a few others had ran Konjou watched with a smile as Usagi left Rei in the dust. His heart swelled with pride at her accomplishments. Rei appeared to make some sort of comment about Usagi's win, and yet another friendly bickering session was underway.

Finally Ami was down at the line. She smiled in a friendly way at the shy Umi, and cast a wink at Konjou, who she could easily see despite the distance. The Sensei blew her whistle and Ami took off in a dead sprint. Her body was grace in motion. Her movements were more efficient now than they were a short week ago. There was absolutely no wasted effort in her run. Umi was in very good shape, she wasn't as fragile as she appeared, but no normal human could have hoped to keep up with Ami. Four strides before she crossed the finish line all hell broke loose.

Konjou felt it just as she stumbled. Her life force, the energy within her, plummeted to almost nothing. She instantly lost her balance, but her momentum carried her forward just the same. Ami dropped like a stone face first towards a meeting with the track. It never happened.

By the time that her legs dropped out from underneath her Neko was already in motion. The fence separating the boys and girls sides of the field was four metres high. There was almost four hundred metres between them. Both facts were totally irrelevant. Konjou simply teleported directly to her side and had her in his arms before anyone could even perceive the appearance.

Of course that wasn't even close to all of what went wrong. Konjou was more afraid at that moment that he had ever been in his entire existence. He had no idea what had happened but Ami was in very real danger of dying. His fear translated into a complete loss of concentration, and control. Konjou instantly resumed his default appearance and burst into brilliant silver radiance. The running and screaming began immediately.

"/Fuck./" Tenjin said as chaos descended on the schoolyard. As of that instant their cover was completely blown. Neko was looking completely wild eyed and ready to melt continents, leaving him little choice other than to step in. Shedding his disguise Mori teleported directly to Neko's side and began trying to calm him down.

"/Neko, bring it back down!/"

Of course his demand was totally ignored. In fact Neko seemed not to have even heard him. Mori decided to look into the cause of the outburst. He noted in passing that the Senshi hadn't started fleeing with the rest of the students. Of course they were smart enough to have not transformed, but just by hanging around they were risking their identities. He sent Mina a pleading look and gave her a mental nudge to run screaming pretending that she was in danger. She ignored him.

The instant he turned his perception to Ami the problem became obvious. She was in almost as bad of shape as Mina had been in after the battle with Iria. He couldn't understand what could have possibly happened. Any attack or spell capable of draining her like that would have been obvious. Not only he, but anyone capable of using magic within several hundred kilometres would have felt it. Of course it was right about then that Neko finally noticed him. He was more than a little shocked when Neko shifted Ami into one arm, grabbed him by the front of his cloak, lifted him off his feet and shook him like a terrier shaking a rat.

"/How did you help Mina!/" He growled. Neko was obviously way beyond reasoning with. He knew better than to attack Mori.

"/Neko calm down I'll./"

"/Tell me!/" He screamed. The air became thick with magical energy. Neko was obviously heartbeats away from raging.

Mori considered his options and quickly blasted the information directly into Neko's head. Neko would have a headache for hours from that, but it was hardly his fault. Neko's aura flashed and he was gone. Neko used so much energy Mori felt the endpoint of the teleportation. He understood Neko's feelings. If Mina were in danger he would have reacted almost exactly the same. He shook his head remembering that he had reacted the same.

Looking around assured him that school was over for the day. Students and Sensei were still streaming away from the building as fast as they could. Only the Senshi and the unconscious remained where they were. He was interested to note that the girl Mina was so jealous of, Umi, was among the unconscious.

"You know Mina-chan," he said as he walked over to the girls. "I don't understand what you think she has that you don't." He pointed at Umi. "Can you imagine fainting just because Neko showed up? That's pathetic."

Rei looked at the dozen or so unconscious people and looked back at Mori's smirking expression. In an instant she found a way to express both her and the rest of the dumbfounded Senshi's feelings.

"Baka!" she screamed when she smacked him across the face.

********

Neko appeared directly in his bedroom. He set Ami gently on the bed and contemplated what Mori had shown him. A negligent flare of power turned Ami's clothing to confetti. Mordred might have had the power to transfer his energy through it, but he agreed with Mori, the fewer barriers the better it would work.

He knelt down at her side and hoped with all his heart that the wound on his shoulder wouldn't interfere with what he was about to do. He placed his hand directly over her diaphragm, his palm just grazing her skin, and began to chant a spell he had never realized he knew.

"/Enkil, Lord of Will, Soulforger, Father of Mysteries, heed my call. Enkil I call to thee and beseech thee, bring our beloved within your embrace./" Every ward on the walls flared into brilliant light, completely eclipsing his aura. Ami let out a whimper and seemed to twitch lightly. "/Waves of Will surge forth! Fill she who is empty, bring forth that which hides, unchain what is leashed!"

Neko could feel the energy pouring through him and into Ami like syrup. He had the irresistible urge to move his hands over her. He complied and watched as everywhere he touched, her skin returned to its healthy colour. She gasped in her sleep from the sensation burning through her. Minutes later the transfer completed, and Neko, worn out by his wound and drained by the spell did something that had only happened one other time in the entire existence of the universe. He fell asleep.

********

"Ow!" Rei screamed as she cradled her hand. She glared at Mori accusatively as if it were his fault that her hand hurt. The look he returned was an obvious 'well what did you expect?' expression. While she cradled her hand Makoto clarified their disgust at his tactlessness.

"He was scary looking ok? Oh sure, we know he was just worried about Ami, but no one else knows how harmless he is." She stated.

Mori didn't bother to disillusion them about how close Neko was to doing some serious killing. Explaining would have been counterproductive. Instead he decided to use the unexpected free time to accomplish a few tasks he had been putting off.

"Alright, fine. Maybe he might have looked dangerous to the uninformed," Mori said placatingly. "But it's too late to do anything about it. It's actually sort of a good thing really. There are a few things I need to talk to you all about and now that you have some free time."

"What do you mean free time?" Rei interrupted.

"Look around Pyro. Isn't it obvious that classes are over for the day?" Usagi shot back. Rei reddened in embarrassment and glared at Mori in further accusation.

"Girls, this is pretty important. If you would all just come over to the apartment we could discuss what's going on, and how it affects you." At the blank stares he received he shook his head and tried another tactic. "You got lucky last time girls. Iria is a powerful Ulterran. The next time you meet her she'll probably just kill you instantly rather than try to do battle."

"She won't." Usagi said with confidence. "She said something about not being allowed to."

"Usagi, though I have never actually met Iria personally, I know quite a bit about Clan Soren. Iria is the youngest child of Soren himself. She is an Ulterran of the Second Generation. No one could possibly give her orders except a Primarch."

"I don't know anything about that," Usagi admitted politely, "but she said that Zeryn would be mad if she killed one of their own kind."

The Senshi watched in fear as all the colour drained out of Mori's face.

"Zeryn?" He asked softly. At Usagi's nod he broke into a stream of what had to be profanity in Aleph. Judging by Mina's expression it was more than likely very bad. "Oh this is just wonderful." Mori said sarcastically. "Makoto go find the Outers, even Setsuna, and get back here as fast as you can."

No one thought to question his orders. His expression left no room for argument. It took Makoto less than five minutes to return, more because the Outers were already on the way to investigate rather than any other reason. Only Setsuna was absent and Michiru handled that problem with the cell phone in her purse.

"When we get to the apartment you run downstairs and get Mamoru, Usagi."

"He's at class right now." She replied.

"Fine I'll do it the easy way." The girls were very happy they weren't Mamoru for some reason.

Mori once again looked within himself and an instant later one of his portals opened before the gathering. After ushering the girls through, he followed and allowed the doorway to collapse.

As usual they had arrived in the front room of the apartment. Unlike normal all of the glass globes that usually emitted soft light were dark. Mori strode purposefully towards the hallway that held Neko's room.

"Mori wait!" Mina called. "What if their. you know."

"Then I interrupt them. This is a bit more important than that."

"But Ami-chan might be naked!" Usagi squealed indignantly.

"It wouldn't be the first time I saw her nude. I've watched all of you transform several times." He pointed out. "Haruka has an interesting little mole on her inner thigh." He disappeared down the hallway leaving the furiously blushing girls to dwell on that.

Five minutes later, a bleary eyed and tomato red Ami sat dressed in a quickly donned robe with the rest of the Senshi. Neko sat behind Ami on the large overstuffed chair she had convinced him to get for her. Mori paced back and forth in the middle of the room. Mina had given up on trying to get him to relax. Michiru was busy trying to calm Haruka, who was still fuming about Mori's admission that he had seen them all nude. Makoto watched Ami with a bit of fear and envy, but something seemed different about the expression. There was an almost total lack of the hostility that had been present since she had learned about Ami's and Neko's relationship. Hotaru sat impassively waiting. Rei on the other hand was still trying to adjust to the crisis of the day. The serenity that was so much a part of her Shinto training was nowhere in evidence.

"You were peeping on us!" She seethed at Mori.

"Rei, I know more about your body that you could possibly imagine," he said. Mina blushed furiously and became inexplicably interested in the floor. "Besides, it's hardly peeping when it was your careless transformations that gave me the show. Is it my fault the spell Lunari designed belongs in an ecchi movie? I didn't teach her it. If you have to blame anyone for your outfit and transformation being a hentai's fantasy, blame Neko, he's Lunari's father."

Neko looked at Mori with a 'gee thanks' expression and casually ignored the killing looks the Senshi cast his way. He was saved from further comment by the sound of the elevator announcing its arrival at the penthouse. Mori opened the door before whomever it was even had the chance to knock, and when he returned he led both Mamoru and Setsuna into the room.

"Now that were all here," Neko said dryly, "maybe you can tell us what has you so tense."

"Usagi?" Mori asked politely. "Would you please tell Neko what you said to me at the school?"

"About Zeryn?"

"What!" Neko yelled spitting the mouthful of tea he had been in the process of drinking across the room. "Where in the hell did you hear that name?"

"Iria said that someone named Zeryn told her to kill the people that were stopping his 'loth. She also said he would be mad at her if she 'killed any of her own kind'." Usagi replied.

Neko's face was a study. It was impossible to determine just exactly what he was feeling, but anger was obviously on the list.

"/Mori, this is not good at all./"

"/You think I don't know that?/"

"/Does this mean you want to do what we were discussing then?/"

"/Yea./"

"Hey!" Usagi complained. "It's not nice to talk like we aren't here you know. Some of us can't understand you when you speak in your language."

"I'm sorry Usagi-chan." Mori replied gently. The simple fact that he had once again used an endearment for anyone other than Mina got everyone's attention. "Look girls, we have some important stuff to say, and then something to ask you, so I want you all to get comfortable ok?" Once everyone was seated except himself, he began.

"First, Zeryn is an Ulterran. I know that was obvious, but what you don't know is he is beyond the shadow of any doubt the most powerful non- Primarch that has ever existed. The first generation of Ulterran all have one thing in common, they appeared spontaneously. It didn't happen all at once. In fact their manifestations were scattered starting with Asteroth, just a bit over six billion years ago, and ending with Zeryn fifteen thousand years before we went to sleep."

"We Primarchs felt every one of them come into existence. When they first showed up the Ulterran were nothing like what they ended up. The Universe made improvements, if you would, on each being it forged. The last handful of the First Generation were nearly a match for us. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, the last five of the First Generation were Alielle, Nilrathin, Lunari, Zymor and Zeryn. Alielle was a Rhendarian Ulterran of terrifying power. Lor was forced to destroy her when she tried to travel back to the beginning of the Ulterran and destroy the ancestors of her rival. Zymor, the pinnacle of the Chuthulian, disappeared into the Nexus chasing an Akulin that killed his mate. I can only imagine how many he killed before he was brought down. Lunari, the greatest of the Enkilar, was Usagi's ancestor and more than likely killed herself over-channelling the power of the Silver Crystal. Nilrathin, the Dallakan, was murdered by Zeryn."

"Zeryn was obviously a Dahak. In terms of sheer power he almost matches Lor. When it comes to destructive ability however, he probably exceeds Neko. Like every one of the First Generation, we knew him personally. Zeryn is extremely intelligent, even for an Ulterran. He was the rough equivalent to us that Ami is to mortals." That widened more than a few eyes. "He was calculating, devious, and cruel. He believed that the degradation of the Ulterran was the result of inferior bloodlines being allowed to exist, he set about to rectify that."

"In one Earth year he did almost as much damage as. well lets just say he killed billions." The girls looked ill at the idea. "Remember that by the time he started, well over seventy percent of the Ulterran clans had gone mortal. Where they had once numbered in the hundreds of trillions, only a small fraction remained."

"As you well know, all of us have an allergy. It is easily the most guarded secret of every clan. If someone knew what your allergen was it would give them tremendous power over not only yourself, but all of your clan. Allergen wounds can not be healed magically. The tinniest amount of it inside of us, or in fact for most of us simply touching it, strips an Ulterran of their power." His eyes took on an almost feverish light as he continued. "I've even heard rumours that the mere presence nearby could hurt or kill truly weak ones."

"Zeryn did something we fully believed was impossible. Somehow he devised a spell to divine the allergen of anyone he had a piece of."

"I still say it can't have been a spell. There is just no way to magically divine the allergens." Neko put in.

"What else could it have been, Neko? We can trace his powers easily. He's harder to hurt than I am. He was able to read auras and had that nasty energy power. His lesser abilities were even more obvious. The omni- sight was proven when he killed Rath, Kerai proved he was capable of empathic transmission, even on her. And let's not even get into how obvious his precognitive abilities were. He was able to avoid Lor for Dallak sake, not to even mention the little battle between him and Zymor. That was all his greaters and his lessers."

"Unless he was more like us than we ever gave him credit for." Neko shot back.

"Jander brought that idea up once. While I can't completely discount the possibility, I'll ask you the same question I asked him. If it were anything other than a spell, why did he wait until after he failed to kill Earryn to start? The only reasonable explanation is, was, and always will be magic. That's why it failed on Earryn."

"I still disagree. There's just no way it could be magic."

"It hardly matters right now, Neko." Mori said and returned his attention to the Senshi, who were watching the exchange with rapt attention. "Zeryn took his fight to the greatest of the surviving clans. Any clan that refused to join with his was targeted for destruction. He tended to keep females of those humanoid clans that did well against him alive in captivity. We surmised later that he intended to use them as breeding stock. He was pretty much the archetype of an evil tyrant bent on total domination. Unfortunately for him he made the error of attempting to take Lunari."

"Now you have to realize that up until that point we had stayed out of it. With remarkably few exceptions we let the Ulterran struggle amongst themselves, sort of a modern Darwinian philosophy. That is not to say that we didn't have our moments, if Lunari kept any records from our time you can verify that by reading about the fate of the insectoid Taryn, but to get back to the point, when Zeryn attacked Lunari he crossed the line. Neko took that a bit personally and. well we thought for sure we killed Zeryn. Obviously we didn't do a thorough enough job."

"If Iria was telling the truth, then we have a serious problem on our hands. We imploded an entire spiral arm trying to take him out. Zeryn must still be trying to bring back the Ulterran, and that means bad news for everyone. His obvious fixation on it hasn't abated in all thirty five thousand years of his existence, there's no talking him out of it now. He will most probably continue to summon bigger and nastier things until all of you are dead. Now, while Neko and I, and to a lesser extent, Ami and Mina can survive and put down anything short of a full scale invasion from the Nexus by ourselves. We are not perfect. We can't be everywhere at once, and eventually you all will die. We would like to change that."

"What Mori is saying," Neko said getting to his feet. "Is that there is a way to give you a chance against these things. Long ago Lunari did something unconscionable, she abused the power of the Crystal and somehow changed your ancestors. I have no idea how many failed attempts were made, but you girls are the results of her efforts. Believe it or not, you aren't truly human. No human could ever hope to contain and channel the forces you do. Oh sure the few that are capable of magic could mimic some of what you do, but the deep reservoirs of power you hold would turn any human to ash."

"What we want to do is complete the change. Now, either through ignorance, fear, or a lack of ability, Lunari only pushed your ancestors so far. She also only had the Silver Crystal to work with. If you will allow us to do it, we will give you the power you need to face the creatures Zeryn and Iria are likely to summon on more even footing. I doubt that you would be able to stop an Akulin, or even a Kilthor one on one, but Enkil help anything else that gets in your way."

"The downside is this. Not only would the change affect you, but all of your descendents would also be changed. You would be even further from human than you already are. It is highly unlikely that you would look any different, but there would be no going back. Until we actually do the transformation on someone I can't even be sure that you would be able to interbreed with humans successfully. To be honest, this is something that has never been done, and the only reason we know its possible is because the changes you already have are incomplete."

"Will it hurt?" Usagi asked fearfully.

"Usagi-chan, we wouldn't try to put the changes on you if we could. You aren't like the other Senshi. You aren't human at all anyway. All of your power stems from one source, your Ulterran heritage. Only your Senshi could be altered like this." Neko replied

"What about Mamoru?"

"He is still completely human. His family has wielded the Gold Stone for so many generations that he has a small amount of innate Plant based magic, but he isn't like the Senshi."

"Could I be altered as well anyway?" Mamoru spoke up for the first time. "If you think the girls don't have any hope against these things you have to know I have even less. This Stone nearly kills me to wield. I took you by surprise once, but it didn't take you more than that to figure out how to get out of the way."

"Mamoru, there aren't many things that could survive one hit." Mori put in oddly gently.

"What happens if there is more than one? What do I do if something gets hold of Usagi? I don't have any real way to moderate the power of this thing. It's all or nothing. If you need a guinea pig let me do it."

"Mamo-chan, no!" Usagi sobbed.

"Mamoru, I don't think you understand just what I mean. You're completely human. We would have to change you all the way, not just halfway like the girls. You might not even survive. There might possibly have been some reason Lunari didn't complete their changes. She might have tried and killed a few that way. Do you really want to risk it?" Neko added.

"Better me than any of the Senshi. Anyone that can use magic can use the Stone right?"

"Not really, you have to have the consent of Stone's guardian, or my own." Mori replied.

"Then if I fall someone else can take up my fight. The Senshi are irreplaceable."

"Well you're right about that. The spell that made the Senshi could only be used on women with magical power, more than likely there's a morality component as well. I'd be willing to be that Uranus, Neptune and Pluto would have failed that portion had they not inherited their powers."

"So you can't use it on me because I'm male?"

"No, I said the original spell worked that way. You really need to stop underestimating me Mamoru. It's starting to get insulting. I can alter it to suit your needs, but I have no idea how well it will work."

"Since Mamoru would be a different kind of magic, would it help you at all for testing out the changes on us?" Setsuna asked.

"No, but it would make him capable of the same kinds of power."

"Then test it on me." Haruka said standing up. "Look, we all know there's no chance of me ever having children anyway, and it's not like this would be the first time I risked it all to gain the power to beat an enemy. Let me do this."

"I should tell you in advance that this wont work on anyone that has been absorbing Primarch energies. That leaves out Ami, Hotaru and Mina."

"And me as well then." Setsuna said with only the barest hint of a blush.

"Well," Mori said with a slightly shocked expression. "That was unexpected."

"So only Haruka, Makoto, Michiru and Rei could undergo this? Are we sure it's a good idea then?" Neko asked.

"Do it. I don't know about you, but the idea of standing aside while someone else fights my battles makes me sick." Haruka replied.

"But it's not your battle, Haruka. It's ours." Mori responded.

"Is Usagi in danger? Are the people of the Earth in danger? Those are my battles. Do it."

"I think I was wrong about you Haruka. You and I are far more alike than you could possible imagine." He said shaking his head. "Mamoru, give me the Stone."

Mamoru took the Stone from his subspace pocket and handed it to Mori. Instantly upon contact with its maker the Stone began to hum softly. He looked at Neko who had similarly withdrawn his Crystal and raised his eyebrow in question.

"Do we do this here or go to the laboratory?" He asked.

"I recommend the laboratory, this will make way to much noise, besides if something goes wrong we can confine the explosion there." Neko answered.

"All right, follow us minna, and don't touch anything. There are dust bunnies in there that can eat you."

The girls marvelled at the laboratory. It was obviously constructed within a subspace pocket like so many things the Ulterran had made. It was modelled on the concept of a medieval European castle room. Large cyclopean stones made up the dark walls. Many stone tables stood on the floor. Several of which were covered in odd alchemical contraptions and enormous books. The books surprised Ami, who knew very well the Primarchs had little to no need for them. Despite the appearance of age, the room was completely free of dust, dirt, or any other mess. Mori's threat of man eating dust bunnies was obviously an exaggeration.

"Be careful not to touch the walls, they're made of Magestone and absorb magical energy. If you touch them it will drain you of all power for a couple of days, and you would not like it. Your bodies are used to having huge amounts of magic within them, and the draining would likely put you in a coma." Neko said in warning.

"Haruka, are you sure you still want to do this?" Mori asked on last time.

"Yes."

"Ok strip and lay down on that table." He said pointing at one of four that were gathered close together. "Neko, we need to talk about the order of this. Do you want to finish the boosting first, or deal with the defences?"

Mori and Neko shifted to Aleph while they discussed the finer points of the magic they intended to cast. The girls however had other things on their mind.

"Have you noticed that every time either of those two want to cast a spell on us we end up naked?" Makoto said in passing.

"It has to do with your clothing possibly interfering with the magical energies. There are so many man made materials in them that they might have unforeseen effects. Mordred doesn't worry about it. There is no such thing as unforeseen to him." Hotaru said flatly.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with those two seeing me naked." Rei said nervously. She wasn't fooling anyone though. It was obvious that she still was very attracted to Mori, and afraid of him finding fault with her body.

"Don't worry Rei-chan." Mina said gently. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, and you know they wouldn't hurt or take advantage of you."

Haruka had no such fears. She had simply disrobed hopped up on the table and laid down waiting, she did however have a complaint.

"Kami-sama this thing is cold. You could have at least put a blanket down, or warmed it up or something." She protested.

Neko didn't even bother looking. He just pointed a finger at the floor under the table where she lay and a stream of blue flame struck it. It cut of an instant later, but it had done the job. Haruka was no longer shivering. A few moments later the two men finished their debate and returned to Haruka's side.

"Ok, this is how were going to do this. Neko is going to use the Crystal to complete the magical side of the transformation. Assuming you survive I will then use the Stone to boost your defences. If this works the way we plan when I get done with you, you should be nearly immune to magic of your own elemental resonance." He looked deep into Haruka's eyes, seeking even the smallest sign of doubt. "Are you ready?"

She swallowed nervously and nodded. "I'm ready."

"Just to let you know Haruka, once we start this we can't stop. If we do you die. It's that simple. Neither of us have any idea what this will feel like. More than likely you'll be begging us to kill you to end the pain. No matter how bad you scream and how much you plead I won't stop though. I'm going to paralyze you temporarily to keep you from doing yourself any harm." Neko said gently. He waved his hand over her and all movement except the rise and fall of her chest, and the blinking of her eyes, halted.

"Jarathu kondes mortal, tegir sedul ieerai. Sotho nedum tse cordes." Haruka began to make horrifying sounds though she couldn't actually scream due to her paralysis. Neko's chant continued on, a low rumbling counterpoint to her frantic squeals. A fine sheen of sweat broke out all over her body and her eyes filled with tears.

"/Fires of Brasstin burn within, I command thee in the name of Enkil forge anew this vessel./" Ami twitched at the words Neko spoke. She had no real memory of the transfer he had done to her earlier, but if it was anything like this she was glad she was unconscious. She wondered why they hadn't just knocked Haruka out. The look in her eyes was wild, and her sounds had taken on a tone of pained supplication. She couldn't watch anymore. She closed her eyes to the sight of the suffering girl.

"Ia, Ia, Ia kanpa. Tsuru medug dora nea." Tears flowed freely down Michiru's face. She knew Haruka was suffering this for her and Usagi. Michiru knew that she would have volunteered if Haruka hadn't and she knew Haruka knew it too. The blonde girl almost seemed to be twitching despite the magically induced paralysis. She prayed that it was almost over. The sight of her lover in pain was killing her.

"Fedee, granth jon. Dunu xor galanthe!" Neko completed. Usagi was glad to see part of it finished. Now only whatever Mori had to do was left. She knew she couldn't let any of the other Senshi do this. Haruka was the toughest of them all and she looked so hurt. Her skin was flushed completely and she had started making wheezing sounds as well. She was crying so badly that only Neko's warning that stopping would kill her kept Usagi from stepping in personally. Usagi began to weep for her friend when Mori began to chant.

"/Dallak, Lord of Form hear me. Your servant invokes the ritual of binding, she who lies before us seeks the power found in its grace./" Mori began. The looks on Mori's and Neko's faces were strange. There seemed to be something wrong with the process. Mina needed to believe that Haruka would survive. She looked so bad right now, and Mori was obviously worried about something. His chant continued and despite the magic binding her, Haruka's hands clenched into fists.

"Kasai gatan Sedor." Mamoru watched as impassively as he could. He felt no attraction looking at Haruka's nudity. Though she was undeniably beautiful, he was too busy considering the implications of what he was seeing. This was only the final half of the transformation. If the beginning was as bad or worse he honestly didn't believe he would survive. If he didn't undergo it though, there was no point in him living anyway. Usagi was his entire world, and he could do nothing to assist her against this new threat. He shivered in fear for himself, and said a silent prayer for Haruka.

Mordred had told her this was going to happen. Though he assured her that Haruka would survive, despite her desire not to, she still worried for her guardian. He told her that she would have no lasting damage, but it looked so bad. She hoped it would be over soon. Just as she finished thinking that, Neko stood and prepared to end the paralysis.

"/.and be reborn!/" Mori finished in a shout, just as Neko terminated the binding spell. Haruka screamed at the top of her lungs again and again she curled into a ball only to throw her arms and legs out violently instants later as another wave assaulted her. She continued like that for several minutes before either he or Neko were able to respond to just what had gone strange.

"Well," Neko said with wide eyes. "That was. odd. I didn't expect anything like that."

"Me either Neko. me either."

Michiru dashed forward as soon as Mori stepped out of her way and drew her tortured lover into her arms. Michiru cooed gently to Haruka and stroked her tear drenched face in an effort to sooth her. Haruka on the other hand pulled the Aqua haired girl weakly closer and cried softly into her shirt.

"Kami-sama!" Makoto swore softly "what did you do to her!"

Mori looked at Makoto with indignation as he responded. "We warned you we didn't know exactly what would happen. How could we have known about that." He said disgustedly.

"Well at least we know why Lunari didn't finish the transformations." Neko added.

"Yea, if the first part was anything like that I understand. She would have been embarrassed as hell to have been the one responsible for giving the first Senshi the world's biggest orgasm like that." He paused for a moment and took stock of the situation. "So who's next?"

********

"Chibi-Usa, this is undoubtedly the most ill-conceived idea I believe I have ever heard of. Not even your mother ever acted this foolish." The grey cat scolded her pink haired charge. "If you think for one minute that I will simply sit back and allow you to run off and charge into battle against someone that has not only all of the Senshi, but my parents as well in mortal terror, and most probably under some sort of control you have obviously forgotten who I am."

"Diana, I'm done hearing you complain. Have you thought of any other way to fix the situation?" Usa said primly. When no response was forthcoming she continued. "Now you agree with me that these Primarchs obviously have some sort of control over the Senshi, and Elios either can't contact me or he is also under control, which means it's up to me."

"I still disagree with your choice of target. If you must rush blindly off to confront one of these beings, wouldn't it be more advisable to start either with the one that has both your and my parents under control, or the one who seems to have Elios? Why have you decided, against my explicit advice I might add, to target the redhead?"

"Because, according to my mother, this 'Mordred' person is the strongest of them, which makes him the leader. Once I defeat him the rest will probably run away or be so busy fighting each other that freeing everyone will be easy."

"The Moon could float through the holes in that logic." Diana muttered under her breath. "Fine, I'll accept your reasoning about that, for the time being. Now, could you please explain the camouflage stripes you put on your cheeks?"

********

Elios watched amazed as his bride-to-be quite easily broke the stupid barrier. Oh he guessed her thoughts made sense, from certain uneducated, narrow minded, point of view. At least she was planning on attacking Mordred. There was simply no way she could do him even the smallest harm. That fact would save her life. If she were to do something stupid, like say, attack Neko or Kami forbid, Mori, then he would be a widower before he ever married the twit.

This was his third day in a row of watching exclusively her. He was having a very difficult time trying to decide just how old she was. Her actions argued that she couldn't have been more than twelve or so, but her body. That was the stuff dreams were made of, literally. Physically she appeared to be less than a year younger than her mother, and since Usagi had turned seventeen a short time ago, it was obvious why he was as frustrated as he was.

He briefly considered warning Mordred of her intentions, and then realized what he was thinking. Mordred was the most powerful being in the Universe. His precognitive capabilities were unmatched. The entire idea that the brainless wonder here could sneak up on him was ludicrous.

Elios sat back and watched as his betrothed once again wiped the camouflage grease paint off her face and begin reapplying it, this time in little bunny shapes. He could just see the long years of his marriage stretching out in front of him. Elios wept.

********

Of the four newly boosted Senshi, only Haruka was showing signs of the twitching coming to a close. It had taken until both Michiru and Makoto had already agreed and been transformed before Rei made her choice. She would have much rather the process hurt as bad as it looked like rather than what it really did. As the unbearable waves of ecstasy crashed through her, and she lie magically paralyzed on the warm stone table, she wept tears more of shame than pleasure.

Of the Senshi that had undergone the change, she was the only one that had never had a lover of any kind. True Makoto was still technically a virgin as well, but Rei had never shared her body with anyone. Mamoru had hardly noticed her presence, and Yuuchiro panted after like a demented puppy, but she would have stuffed him in the sacred fire before she let him touch her. Mori was the only man to have ever really touched her, and she had her clothes completely on at the time. The only pleasure she had ever felt was through her own efforts.

The feelings that the transformation forced on her were the next closest thing to rape. She hadn't wanted them, and knew deep in her heart that she would spend the rest of her life wanting them again. Having Mori and Neko see her naked hardly meant anything compared to that indignity.

"Mina, would you take the girls to the main bath. I'm willing to bet they want to get cleaned up." Mori said quietly. Mina, Ami, Usagi and Hotaru quickly gathered up the discarded clothing and led the shaking girls out the portal and down to hall to the bathroom. Once they were out of the room Mori and Neko turned to Mamoru, who Usagi had blindfolded when Michiru and Makoto started disrobing.

"Do you still want to do this Mamoru?" Neko asked.

Mamoru's face took on an expression caught somewhere between terror and longing. Neko understood him quite well. The power was a seductive thought, and the sheer bliss the girls felt would seem attractive to a man, but the fact that a man was causing it would be disturbing to say the least. Then there was the fact that the process had never been attempted on a male, and was highly dangerous. Oh yes, he understood Mamoru's hesitance quite easily.

"I can't allow my fear to put Usagi in danger." He said at length. "Do it." His last words were nearly a whisper.

Setsuna walked up behind Mamoru and began to lightly rub his shoulders as she spoke. "Do you want me to bring Usagi back here to you Mamoru?"

He turned, taking Setsuna's hand into his own and squeezed it gently. "No Setsuna, I couldn't bear to have her see this. It would be like cheating on her."

"I understand," she said softly "do you want me to stay?"

"Yes please. I know it's a little weird, but you're the only one besides Usagi that I really trust."

Mamoru's words were like a dagger twisting in her heart. He seemed to think of her as a big sister, or Kami forbid a mother figure. Though she smiled reassuringly and nodded her understanding to Mamoru, she desperately wished that she could be spared this. She wanted Lor.

Mamoru stripped and chose a different table from one any of the girls had lain on. Though they had been magically cleaned he felt strange about going through the transformation where any of the girls had recently been. It felt somehow intimate.

"Let's get this over with." Mamoru said tightly.

"Ok, but when this is over you're cleaning up the mess." Neko said, and then he began.

********

An hour later Usagi held a shivering Mamoru cuddled in her arms. It had become obvious instantly why Lunari had used women. Mamoru's heart had stopped from the agony more than a dozen times throughout the procedure. While females experienced boundless pleasure, men felt pain. Lunari wouldn't have been able to keep a male alive.

The transformations were a success, but they carried a cost. None of the changed would be able to have children with a human that didn't have magical abilities. Magic using humans were just close enough to them for it to be possible. Neko wasn't sure what the Senshi were anymore, but they obviously weren't human.

Mamoru could hardly believe the changes within himself. He could taste the stone walls in the air. He could feel the magic flowing through the Senshi, and most especially the Primarchs. He could smell the changing hormones inside Setsuna. His sight and hearing were even more acute. Ami bent her head down as she read one of the books scattered on the table next to her, and he not only heard her hair move, but he could count the individual strands. He hadn't had a chance to try out his strength or any other improvements, but he felt confident that he could once again hold his head high when he stood with his love.

"Well Neko," Mori said from his position as Mina's chair. "Now we only have one more thing to do today. The new Mau."

"New Mau?" Usagi asked. "You mean there are more cats like Luna and Artemis?"

"Not yet." Ami said almost inaudibly.

"No Usagi, you see, I'm turning a bunch of normal cats into Mau today. Oh and Mori, don't forget to recycle the worlds landfills and junkyards."

"Damn that's right. Okay, you deal with the Mau, I'll take out the trash." Mori reluctantly lifted a protesting Mina off of his lap and walked towards the door. "Mina stay here and keep the girls company, this will take me about an hour." With that the odd amber staff they had seen him summon from time to time appeared in his hand.

"What is that?" Ami asked before he so much as took a step.

"This?" he said lifting the long staff.

"Yes. I've seen all of you carrying staves, but you don't do it often."

"It's my focus-magnifier." He said like she should have already known.

"What precisely does it do?" Ami asked her tone was quite a colder now.

"Hmm, well to put it simply, it magnifies my powers considerably. Unaided I could collapse a spiral arm into one gigantic black hole. With the staff I could get most of a galactic cluster."

"Kami, what do you need that kind of power for?" Michiru asked aghast.

"Recycling." He said, and walked out the door.

"Sometimes he scares me." Usagi said softly.

"Usagi, sometimes he scares me." Neko replied. "Pardon me, I have to go make a lot of Mau, thank Enkil Mori already granted them Shapeshifting."

********

Everyone was gathered around the large kitchen table eating a delicious meal of steamed fish and rice. Even Lor and Mordred had shown up. Usagi still thought it was strange to see Hotaru so happy. When Mordred had teleported in she had literally jumped into his arms and showered his face with kisses. Of course Haruka didn't look happy about the easy intimacy between the two of them, but everyone else knew love when they saw it.

What took her completely by surprise was the interaction between Lor and Setsuna. Usagi still wasn't happy with Lor for what he did to her and Mamoru. He still believed he didn't do anything wrong, but something had changed between the two time guardians. Oh Setsuna didn't rush into his arms or anything, but there was a feeling of connection between them. She could tell that Mina saw it too, which confirmed her belief.

She smiled and rested her hand on Mamoru's leg beneath the table when Mina tapped Mori on the nose and kissed him when she finally got his attention. Ami was involved in a deep conversation with Mordred, but kept looking back to Neko with her feelings glowing in her eyes. Haruka and Michiru were never demonstrative in public, probably some residual fear of rejection of them for their choices, but today even their love for each other shone brightly. She sighed in pleasure when Mamoru began to nibble gently on her neck. Their relationship had strengthened greatly after weathering the doubts Lor created.

Of all the Senshi, only Makoto and Rei were alone now. She knew the guys thought it was a good idea, but she still knew it would never work. The guys could convince her, and the women that loved them, that the Generals were innocent but convincing Makoto and Rei would be impossible.

Makoto had lived a very hard life. She was a lot more open now than she used to be, but somewhere inside her the emotionally traumatized little girl who had struck out in anger at an uncaring world, still lived. She was far more capable of killing than any of the other Inners.

Rei was almost as bad. With her mother dead, her father had abandoned her to her grandfather in order to pursue a political career. She tended to overcompensate and often jumped to conclusions. Rei was convinced completely of Jedite's guilt. Nothing she could think of would shake that certainty from the miko.

Now that they had been changed it was even worse. They had no chance at all for happiness with a normal human any more. They needed someone like their lost love to even have a hope of a family. The problems they had faced for so long were growing, and spiralling out of control. She had to find a way to make them see the truth, and quickly. She could see how bad it hurt them to watch everyone else be happy when they felt so alone.

Mordred stood and lightly tapped his glass with the handle of his chopstick. The ringing quickly quieted the conversations and focused all attention on him.

"Let me just say congratulations. There were several possible futures stemming from today and with the choice the four of you made you have all but eliminated the worst of them. I won't say that everything is perfect now, or that you stand on the edge of peace, but your hope is far stronger. Nothing I have foreseen threatens the harmony I see here tonight. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that even Makoto and Rei already know the face of their soulmates, and will see them tonight. Don't lose heart, what you seek is within your reach." With that he raised his glass in a toast and once again took his seat. There wasn't a dry eye in the room when the window exploded inward.

Three men and four girls began to glow long before the glass hit the floor. The others weren't very far behind the coloured light as their transformations lit the room in a kaleidoscopic display, ending with everyone in the room save Mordred on their feet and combat ready.

"Children are the hope for the future, but it is the parents that mould those hopes. Your days of mind control and evil dominion are over creepazoid, I'm Neo-Moon and in the name of the Moon I will punish you!" Chibi-Usa stood posed dramatically in a fuku far more reminiscent of Sailor V's than anything. She had small pink wings the exact shade of her hair, and a red eye-mask which completely failed to disguise her features in the least. In her hands she held a short bladed sword, completely unlike any weapon her mother had ever wielded. She seemed poised for action, and eager to do battle.

"Chibi-Usa, just what in the world do you think you're doing?" Usagi asked in a long suffering tone.

"Rescuing you from the clutches of the evil Primarchs!" She shouted proudly.

Everyone except Sailor Moon herself powered back down at the realization of who the mysterious attacker was. Usagi on the other hand frowned at her wayward quasi-daughter. "Minna do I sound half as silly as that why I give my speeches?"

"Yes." The group chorused instantly.

"Okay, new rule. No stupid speeches, just monster bashing." She said gathering the remains of her pride.

"Moon Force Blade!" Chibi-Usa yelled and a pink crescent, much like Haruka's Space Sword Blaster, leapt from her kodachi and struck Mordred on the arm. He didn't appear to have noticed.

"Chibi-Usa!" Usagi screamed in both fear and anger. "Stop that this instant!"

"Moon Heart Wave!" The pink haired girl yelled. Again her attack flew towards Mordred, this time the attack was highly evocative of her mothers Moon Spiral Heart Attack. It had no more effect that her previous efforts.

"Stop, stop, stop this at once!" Usagi pleaded at the younger girl.

"Why can't I hurt you?" Neo-Moon wailed. "I'm supposed to stop the evil Primarchs, save my family and the other Senshi and live happily ever after with my dream prince, but I can't do that if you don't get moon dusted!"

Mori started to laugh at the pink haired girl's plight. His humour lasted right until Neo-Moon broke down into tears and did the impossible. Mordred's aura flared the instant Neo-Moon summoned the rose. She threw the beautiful, deadly, silver projectile directly at the head of her new arch nemesis. Only Mordred realised the danger, and amazingly, it was too late.

In all the Universe never before had the next series of events happened. Mordred was taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of the Lunar Rose. The reasoning was simple. The only things Mordred could not foresee were paradoxes. Chibi-Usa was a paradox. Her direct activities were occluded to his sight. It took great effort for him to see the secondary effects, and he had to have a reasonable idea what to look for. His precognitive abilities had kept him safe from his allergen for almost thirteen billion years. Chibi-Usa ended his perfect record.

The rose flew towards him, but he was too shocked to react. He managed only a small movement so instead of stabbing him in the head, the rose struck him in the back. When it hit the stem bent slightly under the force required to penetrate Mordred's skin. When it snapped back to its previously arrow straight perfection the bloom flung its pollen all over him, and instantly the most powerful being in the Universe was reduced to mortal capabilities. His aura gutted and died like a match under a fire hose. Everyone but Neo-Moon and Mordred were totally silent for several seconds.

"Yatta!" Neo-Moon shouted.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Mordred remarked, still sounding in shock when Neo-Moon's Heart Wave became the first thing ever to wound him.

Mordred was knocked backwards into the wall by the attack. The wards flashed brilliantly saving the structure, Mordred on the other hand was critically wounded. The attack had torn through the magical protections offered by his uniform. Still having more than enough power left over to drive his broken ribs into his lungs. He groaned in agony and rolled away from the wall. Neo-Moon drew back for a second attack instantly.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Mori said, his voice heavily laced with fear.

"We have to help him!" Hotaru shouted and moved to protect her fallen lover.

Lor was terrified. The stupid girl had no idea what she was doing. Assuming that she actually did manage to kill Mordred the entire universe would come to an end within hours. Without Entropy the delicate balance between life and death would be destroyed. He had to do something, but there was no way he was getting anywhere near Mordred. He looked pissed.

Mori took matters into his own hands. He was of the firm belief that Entropy could not die. No matter what it looked like right then. Mordred could however get angry. He knew that if Neo-Moon made the smallest mistake Mordred would still be able to cast mortal magic. He had managed to do so with a silverran arrow in his shoulder. Mordred also wasn't known for moderation when irritated. Mori responded in the safest way possible. He simply grabbed Mina, Rei and Usagi and summoned an Invulnerability Field.

Neko took one look at the rage building in Mordred's eyes and began looking for an exit. Of course he knew that there really wasn't anywhere to go, but that didn't stop his desire to flee. He caught Mori's defensive action out of the corner of his eye and agreed whole heartedly with the idea. He pulled Ami, Makoto and Endymion in close and erected his own Field.

Setsuna was positive that she was going to die. Mori and Neko had pulled over half the Senshi into their protective barriers, and she desperately wished Lor would do the same. That looked unlikely though since he was too stunned by what was happening to think clearly. Haruka and Michiru were holding each other close with looks of fear and resignation on their faces. She looked again at Mordred and watched as a Force Blade opened a forty centimetre long cut on his chest. Neo-Moon cheered and drew back for another strike. Her Force Blade stopped inches from her target, dissipated in mid air where it came in contact with the nearly impenetrable barrier erected by forty kilograms of furious ebon haired girl.

Neo-Moon had no idea what had happened until she noticed Hotaru step in front of Mordred. She didn't understand how Hotaru could have blocked the attack, she wasn't even transformed. Of course she was glowing with a purple-black light which reminded Neo-Moon strongly of every Negative Energy wielder she had ever seen.

"Chibi-Usa, stop this!" Hotaru yelled at her. This got everyone's attention, Hotaru never raised her voice. "You honestly have no idea what you are doing!"

"Hotaru-chan, I'm trying to save you please don't fight me! I don't want to hurt you." The pink haired girl responded.

"Save me from what? From falling in love? From having friends? From becoming someone I can respect? Or do you mean from living to see tomorrow, because if you don't stop none of us will!"

"Hotaru-chan I know how you feel. I remember when Wiseman had me brainwashed." she said.

"That couldn't have taken very long." Mori muttered.

"Don't you have to have a brain for that?" Neko said to Ami.

".but you have to fight it Hotaru-chan. We can't let them win. Crystal Tokyo must be built, it's the only hope for the future!" Neo-Moon implored her friend.

"Chibi-Usa look around you, all of the Senshi agree with the Primarchs. Artemis and Luna agree with them, even your own parents have given up on Crystal Tokyo."

"The Primarchs have you all under their control! You have to believe me!"

"Crystal Tokyo is dead. The idea was an abomination. The Primarchs don't have us under their control, but in your precious Crystal Tokyo your family did."

"Do you mean the Cleansing?" At Hotaru's nod Neo-Moon shook her head. "The people allowed my mother to cleanse them, it's not the same thing!"

"What happened to the people that didn't allow it Chibi-Usa? Did she let them live their lives as they saw fit? Did she leave people their free will? How did she become Queen in the first place? Let me remind you of your own words. She declared herself Queen. Where did she get that kind of right?"

"She saved the world! They needed her to protect them and she had to be in charge to do it!"

"So because she was the strongest she had the right? That's tyranny. That's a yakuza protection racket taken to planetary size. Almost every enemy that attacked was ours, not the people of Earth's. By your ideas of right and wrong the Primarchs would have the right to do the same thing, but they haven't. You need to get it through your spoiled princess little head that we choose to stand with them."

"You're wrong Hotaru, and I'm sorry you can't see it." She looked around sadly at the obviously brainwashed Senshi and the glowing bubbles that marked where Mori and Neko and disappeared with their captives and sighed. "But I know something you haven't seemed to figure out. I'm still here so Crystal Tokyo must still be the future. I will defeat you." She raised her kodachi and prepared to do battle with her best friend.

"/Agony Surge./" Mordred said just loud enough to cut through the impending battle. All eyes darted to him ignoring the pink haired girl writhing on the ground.

Mordred stood straight despite the obviously crippling wounds he bore. His eyes were pools of liquid darkness, giving not even the slightest hint to his feelings. His tattered clothing hung about him dripping blood from his many wounds, yet despite his obvious pain his face remained impassive.

"Mordred." Hotaru whispered, her voice heavy with emotion. She felt like crying seeing his obvious suffering. Before she could reach out to him it happened.

A flicker of purple-black light flared around him, an instant later it repeated. A sound similar to electrical crackling accompanied the visual phenomenon. As they group watched both the length and frequency of the flickers increased rapidly until it appeared as if Mordred were surrounded by a strobe light of his aura.

"How in the hell." Mori whispered to himself.

"Enkil! He's fighting off the allergen! How can he do that?" Neko said in wonder.

Ami on the other hand had opened her computer and was taking readings. Not that she understood them just yet, but she had the feeling they would come in handy. Neko's words had her interested if Mordred was doing what Neko believed, then he was doing something even he had said was impossible.

Usagi stared through the barrier that Mori had put around them. She was biting her nails in fear, first for Mordred, who was really a very nice man. He always treated Hotaru so well, and he even kept Mori and Neko from hurting anyone during the fight, soon though she became worried for Hotaru. Even though Hotaru was saying bad things about the way she would have became Queen and how she would have ruled, Usagi knew it was because of how much Hotaru loved Mordred. Besides, she thought, it was true when you look at it the way the Primarchs did. When Mordred stood up and hurt Chibi-Usa it took everything Mina and Rei could do to keep her from rushing out to help her.

Mamoru stared at the scene before him and could hardly contain his pride. That was his little girl out there kicking the ass of the most powerful being he had ever heard of. He didn't seriously expect it to last forever, and was completely unsurprised when Hotaru intervened. The things Hotaru said made him angry, but he could see her point. When Chibi-Usa started screaming in pain he ran towards her, and bounced ineffectually off the wall of the bubble that surrounded him.

"Let me out of here! I have to protect her!" He screamed at Neko. The sound of Makoto laughing scornfully at him drew his attention.

"You want to get in his way? You must be out of your mind, that has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

"She's not the only person that can throw roses." He reminded Makoto frostily.

"That wasn't a typical rose Mamoru." Ami said without even bothering to look at him. "There was something special about it, and I highly doubt you could mimic her accomplishment."

"Let me out of here!" he screamed again.

"No," Neko said with finality. "I have no desire to try to comfort Usagi after watching you die."

Back outside the spheres Haruka and Michiru watched as Mordred's aura flared once again, brighter than ever and finally stabilized. The instant that happened all signs of him ever having been wounded simply disappeared.

"Fuck me." Lor whispered at the unbelievable sight of Mordred apparently healing allergen wounds.

"Later anata," Setsuna said still watching the unfolding scene, "I doubt that would be very appropriate at the moment."

"Mordred?" Hotaru asked fearfully.

"Please move away from Chibi-Usa, Hotaru-chan." He said very politely.

"Please don't kill her Mordred, she's just confused and scared. She doesn't know what has happened." Hotaru pleaded for her friend.

"Do not worry little firefly. I promise she will survive." Something about the way he said it made her even more afraid for Chibi-Usa. Hotaru gave serious consideration to the idea that Chibi-Usa might well not want to live after Mordred got done with her. Knowing there was very little she could do to stop whatever he chose to do anyway, Hotaru stepped away from the thrashing pink haired teenager and awaited the inevitable.

She was in agony. Never in her entire life had she ever hurt this bad. It felt like all of her nerves had been lit on fire while being electrocuted and repeatedly stabbed in the stomach. Her tears were not comprised wholly of pain though. She also cried in anger at the betrayal Hotaru had been forced to commit, shame for her failure to defeat her enemy, and depression at the knowledge that she would die and Crystal Tokyo would never come to be. It took her several seconds of screaming to realize that the pain had stopped.

She looked up from her undignified position on the ground and saw her nemesis standing over her. His face was absolutely expressionless, his black eyes reflected nothing of his thoughts. She could clearly feel the cold menace rolling off his aura however.

"Chibi-Usa, you have done something I have managed to avoid since the beginning of time. Until today I have managed quite simply to keep from coming into contact with my allergen, and I was happy that way. Your stupidity makes me regret saving you from Lor, do you understand me child?"

"I'm not afraid of you." She said shakily from the ground. "Good will always prevail." She sounded far more confident that she felt.

"You will survive this for one reason only, Usagi Chiba. Hotaru asked me to spare you. You will not however go unpunished." Mordred sat down in mid air and Chibi-Usa was instantly teleported belly down across his lap. "You have obviously been coddled your entire life. That of course will change, immediately. I am already completely sick of your melodramatic, ignorant, incessant whining. Your previous social position is gone. It is time you grew up and took responsibility for your actions, starting now." He glared down at the prostrate girl and for the first time since the trouble started and expression crossed his face, amusement.

"Since you have chosen to behave like a child though, this time you will be punished like one." With that he lifted her skirt over her back pulled her panties down and proceeded to spank her, in front of all of her friends and family. She wished he would have just killed her.

********

"That could have gone worse." Mori said once everyone other than Ami and Mina had left. "At least Hotaru was able keep him from killing her anyway." He restated at the flat looks he received.

"Mori," Ami said severely, "he hit her hard enough to fracture her hips. Her tailbone was broken into six pieces, and even after Usagi healed her, her butt was nothing but one giant bruise."

"Like I said it could have been worse."

"I think getting spanked had to be the most embarrassing thing he could have done to her." Mina said quietly. "In Crystal Tokyo she was a princess. I bet no one ever did that to her before or if they did it was in private. He did it right there in front of everyone."

"She was lucky we were in the apartment when she attacked him. Do you think having civilian witnesses would have made any difference? I don't." He grinned at the thought. "Can you imagine the media response to a Senshi getting a public spanking?" He grinned wickedly at Ami with a considering look.

"Don't even think about it Neko." She said in warning.

Their peace was shattered when Ami's computer began to beep a warning just as Mori and Neko felt a strong magical pulse.

"Ami call the others, there are at least five point summoning sources out there. It looks like Iria is back."

With as many disturbances as there were the Senshi were forced to split up. It took no time at all to decide that it was unnecessary for either Ami or Mina to have backup, the simple fact that Mori and Neko would be with their respective lovers assured their safety. Neither Setsuna nor Chibi-Usa were in any condition to join the battle, but Haruka, Hotaru and Michiru were already headed towards the closest disturbance to them. Usagi and Mamoru were on the way towards the shopping district where yet another disturbance had been detected. This of course left only Makoto and Rei to deal with the remaining threat. Ami hoped they were up to it.

Mina and Mori were the first to make contact with the enemy. The creature was a slimy ten metre long worm-like thing with tufts of wiry fur growing at random points along its body. Its behaviour was snakelike and it moved with striking quickness. Mina suppressed her disgust at the creature's appearance.

"This is your chance Venus." Mori said to her as the creature rammed into a city bus obviously seeking the prey it sensed inside.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a half pleading tone. She had an idea what he meant, and didn't like it one bit.

"This is your first chance to go into battle using real magic. Don't worry, I have faith in you." The worm exhaled a noxious looking green cloud onto the bus, which immediately began to dissolve.

She drew herself up to her full, and completely unimposing, one hundred sixty centimetres and spun to face the worm. She raised a single hand out straight before her and quickly pulled it back over her shoulder in line with her ear. She snapped her arm in a whip-like motion and chanted the words she had practiced so hard to learn. "/Mono-Whip!/" she screamed in Aleph, and an impossibly thin golden band snapped forward, bisecting the worm.

Of course it didn't have quite the effect Mina was hoping for. First, cutting a worm in half does little more than irritate it, more importantly Mina had once again failed to take into account the fact of just how good the monomolecular whip was at cutting through materials such as streets and subway tunnels. As she drew the whip back for a second strike it continued slicing through the pavement, into the cavern below. As she prepared to strike out again the ground beneath them gave way, dropping her, Mori, both halves of the worm, and a rapidly melting city bus full of people into the subway terminal beneath their feet.

Ami and Neko teleported directly to the front of the movie theatre. A brief memory of her failed attempt to stalk Neko made her smile. Her good humour lasted as long as it took her to see what was going on. A monster, obviously a Yugoloth by the description she had heard, was quite busy doing what it did best, killing people. It flashed from place to place quickly enough that it would have been hard to see before the Primarchs came. It took her no time at all to come to a decision.

"/Icelance!/" She screamed and watched as the Yugoloth ineffectually tried to dodge the metre long shard. As expected it failed and she was rewarded with an inhuman scream of pain. If she thought that would end the battle however she was greatly mistaken.

The Yugoloth pulled the shard from its stomach and hurled it back at her. She easily dodged, but in the moment of distraction she lost track of the Yugoloth. That of course was what Neko would call a Bad Thing.

The Yugoloth struck her from behind before she was able to locate it. Her anklet not only flashed, it became incredibly hot, giving Ami an idea just how much force it had absorbed. Though she reeled from the unexpected blow she quite easily found her attacker, and she made very sure she wouldn't lose him again.

"/Ice Blades!/" she screamed, and hundreds of tiny shards of razor sharp ice danced madly in the air around the Yugoloth. Its black blood rained down on the ground below it from the gruesome wounds they inflicted. The Yugoloth looked up at her, and Ami could feel the hate in its glowing red eyes. She knew its wounds were mortal, and so did it. It wasn't going to die alone though if it had anything to do with the situation. The Yugoloth pointed a single four fingered hand at her, and did something she never contemplated as a possibility. It cast a spell at her.

"/Shadow Spear./" It hissed hatefully. Ami watched in stunned disbelief at the metre long bolt of darkness tore through the air towards her. There was no dodging that, she knew it.

"/Soulblaze!/" Neko's voice cut through her fear. At the same instant he materialized in front of her, blocking the spear with his own body. The Yugoloth fell to the ground and faded into mist.

"Well that sucked." Neko said when the spear disappeared leaving a rapidly closing bleeding wound. "Remind me to teach you how to shield yourself"

Sailor Moon leapt to the top of the boutique and frantically searched for the enemy. She could already see evidence of its passing. Several unmoving civilians laying strewn about like dolls left behind after a child's tantrum put a sick weight on her heart. Endymion stood on a lamp post on the other side of the street also searching for the monster, but he has having no better luck.

"Moon, I think it's moved on, see if you can contact Mercury and learn whe." His words were cut off in a scream as something yanked hard on his ankle sending him face first into the ground. Usagi looked but didn't see his attacker.

When Endymion hit the ground he tried to roll over and get back to his feet, but the monster still had a hold of his leg. He kicked backwards, yet hit nothing but air.

"Moon, it's got my leg!" He yelled somewhat in panic. Invisible opponents were not something he had ever had to deal with.

Moon looked again, but still couldn't see Endymion's assailant. Something nagged at the back of her mind that there was something out of place, but she didn't have time to waste figuring it out. Her strongest attack was wide enough to hit the monster no matter where it stood as long as it continued to hold Endymion's leg.

"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" She yelled and watched in amazement as the heart streaked away like a comet. It passed through where Mamoru's attacker should have been a fraction of a second after she released it, and hit nothing.

"Quesahh Hallan" A voice called out, seemingly from everywhere. Black lightning rushed up to completely cover Endymion. The screams were horrific.

"Mamo-chan!" Moon called in anguish and launched another attack at where she believed the still unseen assailant had to be.

"Dezzu nothras kinzu tse doomalla githis tor." The voice again echoed. She sensed the attack an instant before it struck, and just managed to get her hands in front of her face as it hit. Hundreds of blood red spheres lashed against the nearly skin tight barrier that had mysteriously encased her. Though she remained unharmed, the noise of the multiple explosions shook the Moon Senshi badly.

The lightning had finally stopped arcing around him, and Endymion was tired of playing the victim. He could feel the power he had suffered so badly for just beneath his skin. Words came unbidden into his mind. Along with a fairly good idea what would happen if he said them.

"Petal Storm!" He yelled, and thousands of immeasurably sharp flower petals appeared and wove a sphere around him that nothing should have survived.

Moon heard Endymion's new attack just as the explosions around her halted. She watched in fascination as the beautiful but deadly sphere formed, and the thing nagging at her mind crystallized. If she was correct Endymion's sphere had accomplished little but to buy him some breathing room.

"Endymion!" she yelled when the sphere dissipated. "Watch out of the shadows!" Endymion looked around in confusion, but it was too late by the time he understood.

Three shadows slid sickeningly across the ground. Their vaguely, yet out of proportion, humanoid shapes seemed to elongate further as they reached for him. He recoiled in an attempt to get away, but he misjudged their intent. Instead of striking at him, the closest slashed at his shadow and a long gash appeared in his thigh.

Moon knew what her targets were now. She smiled grimly and raised her hand at the nearest enemy. It didn't seem to notice her attention, and in truth it was far too late for it. Moon called out perhaps the most powerful solo attack she had ever contemplated.

"Moon Cosmic Ray!"

She had no idea where the idea for the attack had come from, but the results were satisfying. A silver beam of light twenty centimetres thick fired from the palm of hand. It shot towards the shadow causing the air to ripple with its passing. The shadow looked up just in time to see its doom. The sliver light passed through it without even showing the slightest reduction in its intensity. The shadow she targeted disassociated, as did the one behind it that she only managed to graze. In an instant only one attacker remained, and for the first time in its existence it was afraid for its life.

Endymion wasted no time at all. As soon as the shadow stopped moving he threw an energy draining rose at it. The rose impaled the shadow, seeming to nail it to the ground. Endymion looked at the woman he loved with pride shining in his eyes. He bowed in her direction and watched as she wiped another threat to humanity from the cosmos.

Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn made remarkable time getting to the exclusive neighbourhood that was the sight of their assigned monster attack. Uranus keep watching Saturn for signs of becoming tired by the high level of physical activity, but unsurprisingly she never slowed.

Uranus tried not to think about the implications of that, yet she couldn't stop herself. Saturn was physically much improved from the little girl she had been only months ago. Though Uranus had no evidence as of yet, she was willing to bet that Saturn would also have substantially more potent magical power as well. Saturn had admitted as much by not disputing Mori's claim that she had been absorbing Primarch energies. That left only one possibility in Uranus' mind. She had been sleeping with Mordred.

It hurt to think of her little girl acting so grown up. She was proud of Saturn's new self confidence, and her new attitude had done wonders for her ability to make friends at school, but she missed being the most important person in Saturn's life. Uranus decided to have a talk with Mordred. He probably wouldn't listen to her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him, but she wasn't going to sit back and allow him to take advantage of a fourteen year old girl.

Neptune sighed at Uranus' obvious growing irritation. She was astute enough to know it had to do with Saturn's obvious actions. She herself was mildly curious just where the little girl had learned to manipulate Mordred as well as she had during lunch. It was only a few hours ago yet it felt like days.

She was still slightly twitchy after what she had gone through to increase her power. She knew she would never be able to look Neko in the eyes again. Even so she had a job to do, and wool-gathering about the mind blowing sensations she had so recently experienced would only put her and the people she loved at risk.

The creature was pathetically easy to find. Of course hiding a four metre tall vaguely draconic quadrupedial killing machine in a residential neighbourhood was asking a bit much. Despite being a draconic quadruped it still had a human-like torso, though it too was covered in scales and had a bony ridge for a mouth much like a turtle. It was obviously very strong, but seemed quite content to throw fireballs rather than engage in the destruction with its hands. Uranus didn't give it a chance to notice them before she taught it some respect.

"World Shaking!" She yelled, and the yellow ball of energy struck the monstrosity with the force of a tac-nuke. The shockwave levelled everything within two hundred metres. Secondary explosions caused by the ignition of combustibles ran rampant yet no fire could survive the wind rush when the air poured back into the area following the detonation. Uranus was paralyzed with fear of her own power, never before had she even dreamed of anything like what she had just done.

The creature was still alive. It didn't even look that terribly injured. It was bleeding from a few isolated injuries, but on the whole it was still quite combat capable. Of course that was before Neptune's attack hit.

Uranus was obviously not the only one boosted to that extreme level of power. Neptune's attack was no longer confined to a sphere. It now took the form of a tsunami. The fifteen metre high wave streaked forward faster than the speed of sound. The creature was literally swept away the entire half kilometre that the wave continued. Neptune stared in horror at the collateral damage she and Uranus had caused. The creature had hardly done a tenth the damage they had. She was terrified to think of how many people were hurt or worse by their actions.

The draconic thing once again got to its feet following Neptune's attack, looking considerably worse than it had. It limped forwards indicating one of its legs had broken. Its right arm hung limply at its side, and one eye was bleeding profusely. Still it came forward. It made a throwing motion with its hand and before anyone could react Uranus was tossed backwards into a large pile of debris by an unseen force.

Saturn had seen enough. She could tell that the creature had begun to slowly regenerate its wounds. She acknowledged that its regeneration was only slow compared to Neko's and Mordred's. At its current speed it would be perfectly healthy in a matter of minutes. She would not allow that to happen. She briefly considered using the Silence Glaive, there was no danger of hitting anything else now that Uranus and Neptune had destroyed everything but the creature and themselves within nearly a square kilometre, but that wouldn't make the statement she wanted to send to the summoners of this thing. If she remembered what Mordred had told her correctly, this could only be an Akulin, one of the most powerful beings of the Nexus. She stepped in front of Neptune and waited until the thing was less than ten metres away before she struck.

"/Entropy Shockwave!/" She screamed, and all hell broke loose.

A cone of oblivion three centimetres wide at the base continuing in a thirty degree arc for just under one hundred metres struck the charging Akulin head on. Saturn knew it would survive the spell, but it wouldn't like it. Everything within the cone except the Akulin simply ceased to be. Just like her silence glaive attacks it made no sound at all. The Akulin was held perfectly still by the magic, and when the wave passed the excess entropy it had left with the Akulin wreaked havoc with its life force.

"/Darkbolt!/" She called out. An ebon blast leapt from her pointed finger and hurled the stunned Akulin backwards. It landed a dozen metres away and curled in upon itself in obvious pain. One more like that would easily end the beast, but she still needed to send the proper message.

"/Dahak, Lord of entropy I call to thee. Dahak, I beseech thee hear my plea. Shadows of Entropy, Devourer of time, I command the claws of oblivion to tear forth. Remove from my sight that which I find abhorrent. Consume this stain upon the beauty of Nothingness. Open the eye of Daharu!"/" She finished.

A twenty metre across black dome flashed into being. It lasted for less than a second, but when it passed there was no trace of the Akulin, or anything else that had been there either. The fact that a hole in the ground marked the position of where the effect had stood made it clear that it had actually been a sphere. Neptune, and Uranus now that she had removed herself from the debris she had landed in, looked in awe at the destruction their little girl had wrought. Saturn stretched her hands over her head and smiled at them. She didn't even look winded.

"That was much easier than using the Silence Glaive use to be." She said with a happy little smile before starting on her way back towards their home.

"Michiru," Uranus said quietly to her partner despite the fact that they were currently transformed.

"Yes Haruka?" Neptune responded.

"Remind me to never, ever make her angry."

"Yes anata."

Rei knew even before her communicator had gone off that something had happened. She could feel something dark and evil out there, like a coating of oil on her skin. Makoto was at her house when the call came, so it made sense that they would meet the disturbance at the grove near the old Imperial Palace. It was a very long trip, but they had made it before, and they were much faster now.

It took the two of them less than five minutes to cover the distance to the sixty two hectare park. Finding the source of the disturbance once they arrived was considerable more difficult. There was almost no one in the large protected forest, and the lack of explosions and screaming civilians left them with few clues.

"Where is it?" Jupiter asked softly, not really expecting any sort of an answer.

"I think its somewhere over in that direction." Mars replied quietly. "I can sort of feel it." She replied to Jupiter's questioning look.

"Are you sure?"

"Not really, this is a first for me."

Jupiter didn't inquire further. It was glaringly obvious that Mars' new perception was the result of today's. activities. She still felt the occasional twinge of sensation from this afternoon. The sun had not yet set, telling her how short of a time it had been since her life had changed so dramatically. Her body felt strange to her, as if she had put on someone else's. She did her best to ignore it, and hoped Mars was having better luck at keeping her mind on the job.

Mars followed the feeling of evil that she could sense off to her south. She leapt high into a tree to get a slightly better view, and nearly fell as yet another shudder from the damnable transformation struck her. The absolute worst part in her opinion was the memories it invoked. She was positive that the other girls were remembering the caress of their lovers from now, not so for her however. She had no one in this life to compare it to, so of course she was reminded of Jedite. The evil she could feel made an excellent backdrop for her memories of the traitor.

She was lost in her memories, and trying to think of just how to pay Mori back for her current problems when the feelings of evil spiked hard. She just managed to drop down from the tree in time to avoid being cut in half.

"Mars!" Jupiter yelled. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" She yelled back from beneath the fallen foliage. "Look out it's in the trees."

Jupiter got a brief look at a small thin primate-like creature with improbably large claws before it vanished into the treetops. She quickly moved into the largest open space she could see and concentrated all her efforts on locating the thing. Moments later Mars joined her, and back to back they watched the trees.

"Over there!" Mars shouted and called out her attack even as Jupiter was turning to face the threat.

"Mars Flame Sniper!" She called. The results were far more than either of them had expected. Jupiter had no idea what the liquid flame that poured out of Rei like a fire hose was, but she was getting burns just by standing too close, and she just knew some of her bangs had just burned off. Of course the primate had no idea what happened either. The thing fell to the ground twitching and flailing ineffectually. Well more than half of its body had been turned to ash.

"Jeez Mars, save some for me next time." She said with a half smile.

"Umm," Mars said still looking distracted.

"What?" Jupiter asked.

"I don't think its dead." She answered.

Jupiter cast a disbelieving look at the charred and mangled body and simply had to disagree. There was no way anything survived that. Just to make sure however Jupiter walked up and prodded it with the toe of her boot. She got the surprise of her life when something jumped out from inside the primate and tried to wrap itself around her. Only her new speed saved her from whatever fate awaited her.

"Ewww!" Mars screamed looking at the thing. She had had nightmares that started like this.

The creature was little more than a half metre across ball of spine covered tendril-like appendages. It could have quite easily played the primary roll in uncountable numbers of H-manga. She had no intention of even getting close to it.

"Oh that's just nasty!" Jupiter said easily understanding Mars' reaction. She also had no desire to let it get close to her. She dived further out of its path and launched her attack.

"Jupiter, Oak Evolution!" The leaflets streaked away from her faster than ever before. They struck the small spiny ball of perversion and detonated into green bursts of light. The ball was quickly reduced to less than half its original size, but the severed tendrils squirmed sickeningly where the lay.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Mars said as one of the severed tendrils tried vainly to wrap itself around her leg. She burned it to ash and prepared to strike again at the main mass. When it launched an undamaged tendril into the trees and quickly pulled itself out of view she barely managed to halt her attack.

"What is that thing?" Jupiter said as they resumed looking for it. Mars had began to move off in the direction it had gone, obviously following the faint sense of it presence she had.

"I don't know, but I don't like it at all." She stated needlessly. The severed tendrils the passed made half hearted attempts to grasp at them, but quickly succumbed to Mars' fiery temper. "Did you notice it was regenerating?" Mars's asked. "It seems all of the things we've fought recently can do that."

"Yea, but how long till its fully healed I wonder."

"Probably too soon, I think it's outside the park." Mars replied. The two girls picked up speed and soon found themselves crossing the wall that separated the palace from the forest. "Look, it's been here." She said pointing at the stick green substance that had been leaking from the damaged tendrils that now lay on the top of the wall.

"Yuck," Jupiter said.

The girls walked slowly and cautiously towards the palace stables following both Mars's sense of evil and the stick green fluid trail the creature was leaving behind. One of the doors had been obviously forced open, so they carefully snuck in each mentally cursing the darkness inside. The sound of movement was the only warning they had.

Something shot down from above them wrapping around their wrists and jerking them off the ground to dangle several feet in the air. The small of blood flooded the room at this height. Jupiter was terrified to think of what could be causing it.

"Fire Soul!" Mars yelled, and the liquid fire shot out of her bound hands to impact on the underside of the exposed tile roof. The flame splashed down, falling on the hay in the loft instantly igniting the highly combustible material. In the eerie flickering light that sprung up both girls could clearly see the half dozen or so slaughtered horses the creature seemed to be feeding on. Two of its tendrils were stretched over the central support beam, and they were what held the struggling girls, the others wrapped tightly around the unfortunate equines the spines hooked deep into their flesh. It was clear that it was drinking their blood.

"That's it, there's no way I'm getting raped by some blood sucking hentai plant!" Jupiter yelled. "Supreme Thunder!"

The lightning had nowhere to go, normally it would follow as she directed with her hands, but Jupiter was held in such a way that she was pointing at her friend, and she refused to electrocute Mars. She channelled the lighting inwardly, and cheered at the effect. She was also very glad for Mori's alteration that rendered her immune to it. The lightning did as all good electricity should, it took the shortest rout to ground. Since the thing held Jupiter in the air, it had no choice but to flow through it to get there. The tendril ball twitched spasmodically and the unfortunate horses died from electrocution, but it dropped the struggling Jupiter like a hot coal. Mars wasn't anywhere near as lucky.

Mars had the luck to also be off the ground, which insured that she was not electrocuted, but when the creature convulsed from the attack she was thrown into the stone wall of the stables. She slid down into a pile of pain and wished with all her heart for the day she wouldn't hurt like she did.

Something black passed Jupiter as she climbed to her feet. It was humanoid, but that was the best she could tell before it began harassing the plant creature. The plant lashed out violently at its newest attacker, but didn't appear to hit it. She was just about to launch another Oak Evolution when she was tackled but someone. The sound of a tendril whistle over her head made her grateful that whomever this was saved her from taking another hit. She looked up to say her thanks and froze in shock. The Tuxedo Kaman outfit didn't stand a chance in hell of disguising him from her. She'd know Nephrite no matter how well disguised he was.

"Not now Jupiter-chan." He whispered at the look of rage in her eyes then grinned with an expression she would see in her dreams for the rest of her life. As she began to push her way up despite lying under the former Dark General he leaned down and brushed her lips with his own. Once she got over the shock she decided that he had to die, again.

Mars had managed to get to her feet in time to see some strange man dressed like Tuxedo Kaman kissing Jupiter. It wasn't that she had any moral objections against kissing, but a battlefield in the middle of a life, death or worse battle was hardly the time or the place. One should also note that she was still a bit keyed up by her experience that afternoon when she responded.

"Jupiter if you wouldn't mind telling your boyfriend to get off you so we can finish this thing off I promise not to interrupt you sucking on his tongue." Her tone was just a bit hostile, and her words drew the exact response she was looking for from Jupiter, focused rage. Thankfully there was a nasty looking hentai monster for her to vent on.

Jupiter decided she would have to kill Mars too. Right after she gutted Nephrite with a stirring spoon, a wooden one. It was really too bad that Mars had to die, she was a wonderful friend.

"Try not to take Mars' words personally Jupiter." A voice called from the darkness. "Mars is. temperamental, with the emphasis on mental." By the time the unseen man's words ended Mars looked like she was going to explode. While she was busy looking for the man insane enough to taunt her, one of the electrocuted horses stood up and kicked the plant sphere into the wall. It had didn't even have a chance to come to a complete stop before the blue-white lightning bolt struck it from the darkness. The man that cast the bolt was briefly illuminated, but it was over too quick for Mars to get more than an impression of his shape.

The Tuxedo Kaman knock off launched a swirling blue ball of misty light at the spiny thing while the shadowy person continued to distract it. Jupiter nodded at Mars and the two attacked it in unison, their powers combining in mid air. The resultant explosion completely destroyed the stables that had stood since before the Mejiin Restoration, and allowed the two men to escape in the confusion of raining debris.

Jupiter took one look at the devastation and turned a pleading look on Mars. "We really need to get out of here." She said and the distant sounds of police sirens guaranteed that Mars' agreement came quickly.

********

Mamoru half lay on his couch in exhaustion. To say the day had been full would be a rank understatement. Quite aside from the term paper he had started on in his psychology course at Todai, he had been remade into something inhuman, put through more pain than he had ever imagined, beaten up by a shadow, and of course he couldn't forget the powerful mental summons Mori had used to let him know they needed to talk to him. He still had a headache from that. It was simply amazing he hadn't passed out yet.

He stared blankly at the local news program that was ever so busy trying to find rational explanations for the devastation caused by the powered up Senshi's attacks. When the girls had each called in and explained what they had faced, it became blatantly obvious that they needed to learn to control their new powers. The entire Kozentaru Hinode neighbourhood was just gone. The causality reports hadn't even begun to abate. Haruka and Michiru would likely never forgive themselves. A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts, and had him checking the clock. He wondered who would call on him at that time of the night.

"Hi Mamo-chan." His girlfriend chirped at him when he finally got the door opened. She hopped up and kissed him with a curious smirk on her face.

"Usagi? What are you doing here at this time of night?" He asked her.

"I missed you Mamo-chan. Today was just such a bad day I couldn't bear to be alone right now." He smile was slightly hentai. The effect on him was staggering.

"Usako, you know I love you but this isn't the night for this." He was feeling slightly nervous of her. The experience was disturbing.

"But Mamo-chan." she said sadly, her eyes huge and shiny. "Every time I close my eyes I see all those people lying around that the Laira killed, or I remember what Mako-chan said about the Kilthor, or even what Mina said about the Wyrm. Please Mamo-chan don't make me leave." She sniffed sadly.

"Oh Usako," he said drawing her close. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm just a little tired and worried about what happened." She nodded her understanding against his chest leaving little damp spots on his shirt from her tears. "The Senshi need to learn to control their new powers before something worse happens."

"I know Mamo-chan. I'm a little scared of what happened. They didn't used to be so powerful."

"Well you know what Mori said, if they didn't do it they would have been killed by the demons."

"Nexus creatures," Usagi corrected automatically. "Demons are just weak half-breeds"

"Right sorry," He replied. "Do your parents know you're here?" He felt her shake her head no. "What about Chibi-Usa?"

"She's tied up with Diana right now." Usagi responded.

"Is she ok? Mordred hurt her pretty bad."

"She's fine, she's an Ulterran it takes more than a few bruises to keep us down." She leaned up again and kissed Mamoru as deeply as she could without him actively participating. "Mamo-chan?" She said he voice carrying an obvious question.

"Usagi, aren't you tired after today?"

"No, I hardly did anything at all. Please Mamo-chan, don't turn me away. I need you."

Mamoru knew he should have told her to go home. Tomorrow was a school day, and Usagi would get little enough sleep as it was if she left right then. Taking her to bed would be selfish in the extreme. He didn't stand a chance. She pressed herself fully against him, demonstrating instantly that she wasn't wearing a bra and she was already quite excited.

"Usako," he said trying to explain his reticence. "What about school tomorrow?"

"Don't worry about it Mamo-chan. I have it all under control." With those words she had had enough of his hesitance. Using her body she gently pushed him back towards the couch. He fell into a sitting position when his knees unexpectedly hit the arm. It took her no time at all to have him sitting properly with her straddling his hips.

"Usako!" he said slightly in amazement. She was never this forward.

"Shhh." She said softly. "Let me love you."

Mamoru simply couldn't believe what was happening. She began to kiss him deeply, and his response was automatic. She was very enthusiastic and the little noises she made coaxed an amazing response from him. He was lost in her touch long before she even got around to undoing his pants. His heart stopped completely when she gently and without the slightest hint of a blush took his manhood in her hand and began to stroke him.

She made him feel things he had never even dreamed of before. Never in his life had he imagined just how many ways a woman could stroke him, or the plethora of sensations it could cause. Usually Usako was quite eager to please him, but for all intents and purposes had little practical skills in lovemaking. She had only lost her virginity a short time ago, and he was the only man she had ever been with. She simply hadn't had time to figure these things out. Obviously the memories she claimed were returning brought with it a very large benefit for him. He nearly crawled out of his skin when she slid down his body and took him completely into her mouth.

"Usako!" He gasped at the feeling and his mind retreated to wait out the storm of hormones. Less than five minutes later he was simply gibbering, her skilful oral exploitation of him had reduced his brain to putty. She very lightly drew her teeth along him and swirled her tongue over the sensitive crown. He lost it instantly. His fingers literally tore through the cushions on his couch with the massive wave of pleasure that surged through him. He was gasping for air and felt incredibly light headed.

"Shh Mamo-chan, I know, I know." She cooed at him. He desperately needed to get her clothing off. He needed to be inside her more than he needed air. He clumsily fumbled with the fastenings of her school fuku and cursed the person that designed such complicated closures. She giggled slightly at his difficulties and quickly finished stripping herself.

"Is Mamo-chan ready to play some more?" She asked with an innocent tone, and clashed badly with her knowing expression. The duality excited him to no end, and helped him to regain his erection long before he had any reasonable expectation to. "My, my, you're very ready aren't you?" With that she straddled his hips once again, and took him fully into her body.

He should have lasted far longer after already having orgasmed once, but it took her less than ten minutes to have his eyes rolling back into his head and his toes clenching. She followed him over and laid her face against his chest.

"Usako, that was beautiful." He felt her nod her agreement and smile against him.

"Hai Mamo-chan it was beautiful." She replied.

She grew restless when he began to gently stroke her hair. She stood off him and began to dress herself once again. Her actions were mitigated by her look of joy, and the slight shaking of her hands.

"Mamoru? We need to talk." She said softly.

"About what Usako?" He said feeling slightly nervous.

"I don't think we can guard the Gold Stone. I mean you know that Iria is looking for the Avatar Gems, and she would do anything to get them. I just don't want you to get hurt over them."

"I.I don't understand Usako."

"I think we should give it back to Mordaki. He would be able to keep it safe until Zeryn and Iria are gone."

"I don't know Usako, I mean it's the only thing I have to show who I am."

"But Mamo-chan you're so much more powerful now, you don't need it anymore, besides if you keep it you'll get hurt. Please Mamo-chan, for me, let me give it back to Mordaki."

Mamoru looked deep into Usagi's large soft blue eyes and was lost. He knew that Usagi was only concerned for his safety, and really she was right. Mori would make a much better keeper for now. If he really needed it he knew Mori would likely return it to him.

"Okay Usako, I'll do it."

"Here Mamo-chan I'll give it to him on my way back home. I can get in easier. Their apartment is warded against mortals. I can just teleport up and give it to him."

"Okay Usako. Whatever you think is best." At that he removed the Golden Crystal from subspace and handed it to her.

"Thank you Mamo-chan!" she said instantly much happier. He smiled at the obvious joy not making her face glow. "I'll see you later Mamo-chan, bye." She gave him a kiss goodbye and teleported away.

********

Rei sat in front of the sacred fire. She should have long since been asleep, but the events of the day wouldn't allow her to rest. Every time she closed her eyes she remembered the feelings the spell transformation caused her. She strongly considered doing something about her needs herself, but her pride wouldn't let her give in to her desires that easily. What she needed was to find someone that could love her. Mordred had said that she would see the face of her soulmate today or yesterday now as it was long past midnight, but she couldn't recall seeing anyone that might have fit the bill.

She shivered despite the heat of the fire room and again concentrated on seeing the future. If she could just get a glimpse of her soulmate she would be content. It would prove to her that he was out there somewhere waiting for her. She pushed more and more energy into the flames before her, and unbeknownst to Rei, the elemental resonation that Mori had strengthened so greatly flooded the sacred fire with magical power.

An image of a clarity never before seen formed in the flames. Rei gasped at its perfection, not even noticing at first just what it showed. When she finally noticed she cried out in frank disbelief. There in the fire was an image of her looking just a little older, probably only in her early twenties. She was holding the hand of a small black haired girl with very familiar features. The man beside her held an infant in his arms that she was somehow positive was a little boy despite the total lack of evidence. As shocking as that might have been to her it was the identity of the man that had her crying out. There at her side looking down at her with obvious love in his eyes was the one person she would never think of in a romantic way, Jedite.

She knew that fire readings could be misleading, but this was too clear. Somehow, someway Jedite was coming back, and she would become his lover. It was more than enough to make her cry.