Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned on page 1. Full stop. Also, [POSSIBLE SPOILER] I'm not too certain how the senshi came back to life at the end of series 1 in the Japanese version, but judging by some of the episode descriptions, I'm presuming it was the Silver Crystal. Apologies to those that haven't seen the end of series 1.

Chapter IX: Discovery.

Int. Southside Bar, Cherry Hill - September 27th 2002, 8:35 pm.

"Eight ball, corner pocket." Amara had suprisingly gained the upper hand on Darien in their game and was ready to seal the victory. "Get ready to buy the next round of drinks." She lined up the shot and was about to hit the cueball when she was distracted by the siren of her communicator flailing away, causing her to completely mis-hit the cueball, sending it flying off the table.
"BASTARD!!!" she cried out as grabbed her communicator from her pocket in rage. Her feeling of anger was replaced by confusion as she read the message on screen. "Darien, who's Queen Beryl?"
Darien simply froze. He had realised long ago that even though Queen Beryl and her elder, Queen Metallia, were only the first of the evil forces that the army of the Moon Kingdom had to face, had it not have been for the Silver Crystal the scouts would never have been brought back to life.

Serena, who also looked mortified alongside the confused Michelle, immediately ran out of the bar, followed by Michelle, Darien and Amara. With no time to lose, the four grabbed the nearest taxi to the cinema.
"Will someone please tell me who this Queen Beryl is PLEASE?!" Amara was becoming frustrated by not knowing who this enemy was. The outers had less fighting experience than the inner senshi in this current lifetime, and had never fought many of the earlier battles. She had heard Berryl's name mentioned in many conversations, but didn't actully know who she was.
"I don't think you wanna know, Amara." replied Serena soberly. "You'll see for yourself when you get there." Amara became even more enfuriated.
"Why not tell us who we're up against before-" Amara was quietened by Serena, who pointed at the taxi driver behind Michelle.
"Some saturday night this has turned out to be." grumbled Amara, Michelle holding her hand.

Int. Kino residence - September 27th 2002, 8:35 pm.

Hotaru's parents were out of town that weekend, so Lita had kindly voulenteered to look after her. Hotaru was feeling angry at the fact that even though she was 16, her parents didn't trust her to look after the house on her own. However, it didn't seem so bad when she found out she could stay at her friend's house. That night Lita had invited Mina for a girl's night in. They were in the middle of watching an horror movie on cable, snacks at the ready.
"Where do we hide now? That murderer could be anywhere!"
"Exactly. We can't hide. We gotta get out of this place pronto!"
"Yeah, easier said than- BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
The girls almost jumped out of their skins as the calling sound of their communicators shocked them to the core after that moment of tension.
"Holy crap! What was that?" Mina looked bemused as the other three girls pulled out their communicators.
"No... She's back already?..." Lita was almost in tears, very unusual for a girl of her tough personality.
"Who? Who's back?" Mina rushed over to see what the fuss was about. As she glanced at the message on Lita's screen she too froze. "Beryl..." She took a deep breath after a moment of thought. Bloody memories of being torn limb from limb underneath a tundra of ice by Berryl's cronies in the first battle after protecting princess Serenity from the clutches of death flooded to her head, but she knew some action had to be taken.
"Lita! Snap out of it! We need to get there before she causes any major damage!" She shook Lita to grab her attention. "This is Tokyo, not the Arctic! We've got a hundred and twenty-five million people's lives on the line this time, not just our own! We've gotta transform now! LITA!" Mina let go of Lita as the four grabbed their pens and began their transformations.
"Follow me. The cinema's only a few blocks from here." Sailor Jupiter lead the other three scouts out of the house as they raced away into the red evening sky.

Int. Electric Multiplex Cinema screen 14, Tokyo Electric District - 27th September 2002, 8:35 pm.

"Okay, wiseguy. What's the big idea?" Raye was angering by the second, trying to hide her fear. She remembered almost perfectly her last meeting with Beryl, being the last of the Scouts apart from Sailor Moon to face her gruesome death. She was honestly terrified, but she knew she had to mask those fears.
"We distract them." replied the Mars Knight, tapping the screen of his computer a few times. "I'll just scan 'em for weaknesses first." The Mars Knight slowly but carefully held his computer above the seats in front of him, one hand on his sunglasses.
"Okay, but how exactly do we distract them without getting our asses kicked?" Sailor Mars could see the stats of her foes flash past in the Knight's sunglasses.
"I'm trying to figure that out myself. Hmmm... Got it!" whispered the Knight, putting his computer away. "They're not too nimble on their feet according to this, so I think we can distract them enough if we double-team and combine one of our attacks. Something that will create a shower of fire." The pair stayed silent while thinking, interupted only by the sound of Beryl.
"We know you're in here Sailor Mars. Give yourself up now and tell us where we can find Sailor Moon and her precious Tuxedo brat or we will kill you and make certain that you can never be revived!"
"You said a shower of fire." The Knight nodded at Sailor Mars. "What was the name of that attack you did to kill Zoicite?"
"Phoenix bomb. Why d'ya ask?" Sailor Mars smiled. She had just realised how to get herself and the Mars Knight out alive.
"Would it work if I combined my Mars Celestial Surround with your Phoenix Bomb attack? If I'm right it shoud send a torrent of fireballs crashing down on them."
"It's worth a try. On three we'll cast the attacks" The senshi knelt back to back as the Sailor Mars began the countdown.
"One... Two... Three!" The pair jumped up and cast their attacks.
"DOUBLE TEAM MARS CELESTIAL SURROUND!!!"
"DOUBLE TEAM PHOENIX BOMB!!!"
A stream of flames emerged from the Mars Knight's hands as eight Japanese symbols began to surround Sailor Mars. Those eight symbols burst into eight large balls of energy which then flew off into the newly-formed giant fire bird flying above them. Queen Beryl instantly saw the pair casting the attack. She was fuming with anger.
"There! At the back! GET THEM NOW!!!" Her three generals ran up the aisles but were cut short when the phoenix split into hundreds of fireballs which homed in on them and Beryl.
"Now's our chance! Let's get out of here!" The Mars Knight pointed at Malachite who was blocking their exit, causing several of the fireballs to crash into him, sending him flying into a nearby wall. Sailor Mars and the Mars Knight jumped over the balcony before them, landing in the gangway. Without looking behind them, they ran out of the exit and out of the cinema complex, luring the Queen and her generals into open space.

"Now we've just gotta wait for the others to arrive and hope they get here before Beryl bursts outta this place. Anyway, who do you think you are using a copy of my Fire Bird Strike?"
"Not a copy, mine's a more powerful version of your attack. You could even argue that you're copying my attack. Anyway, I think that's the least of our problems at the moment." Sailor Mars was ready to hit him on the head before she was interupted.
"Who's the guy, Mars?" Sailor Mars and the Mars Knight turned around to see Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune and Tuxedo Mask.
"I'm the Mars Knight. I don't think this an ideal time to introduce myself though." He shook the hands of the three Scouts and Tuxedo Mask.
"Charmed. Do you know anything about Beryl, Sailor Mars?" Tuxedo Mask was trying to peer into the building, looking out for the evil Queen.
"She's not alone. She's got three of her generals with her. As far as I know, if the other scouts turn up soon we're out numbering them by over two to one."
"How strong are they?" Sailor Moon seemed very worried. Even though the numbers were on her side as opposed to her one-on-one battle against Beryl with the help of the souls of the inner senshi, they wouldn't stand a chance if the Americans had increased her power. However, it had been a very long time since that first battle and the senshi had gained more powers and were seemingly wiser. It was almost impossible to predict how the battle would end. The pure white wings on Sailor Moon's back twitched with anxiety.
"Very strong offencively, but not very nimble." The Mars Knight took out his computer once again, the data streaming past through his sunglasses. "If we can keep moving and hit her and her generals hard, I think it should be over relatively quickly. It could be over instantly if you harness the power of your Silver Crystal."
"The Silver Crystal's out of the question. If that goes wrong the effect can wipe out an area about half the size of China. If I use it and it fails, the entire Japanese population dies." Sailor Moon turned towards Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. "We're just gonna have to hit her with what we've got and hope I can finish her with the sceptre elimination. That and hope that the Yanks failed to revive Metalia." Sailor Uranus had had enough of being left in the dark.

"Okay, can someone please tell me now who this Beryl person is?" All of a sudden a huge explosion rocked the foyer of the cinema, causing the glass of the entirely-windowed front of the cinema to shatter and fly for several hundred metres. The senshi did their best to shield themselves from the blast. From out of the smoke and rubble emerged a woman with long red hair wearing a purple dress, a large purple scepter in her hand. By her side were three men in black general's outfits. The woman was laughing.
"That's Queen Beryl." explained Sailor Moon, horrified with what lay ahead. Sailor Uranus stared at what remained of the front of the multiplex in disbelief.
"Hey, sorry we're late. What's the plan?" The senshi turned around to see Sailors Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.
"Thank goodness you're all here." Sailor Moon smiled. "Now that everone's here It's ten Vs. four here, so two Scouts per piece of Negatrash. The Mars knight says they're powerful, but not very quick, so if you can dodge their attacks and out-manouver them we're in with a good chance."
"What're you guys waiting for? Let's get this thing over with!" Before Sailor Moon had a chance to say anything else, Sailors Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto dashed past them, constantly changing directions. Sailors Mars, Neptune and Uranus, the Mars Knight and Tuxedo Mask joined them while Sailor Moon took to the air. Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus took on Malachite, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Jupiter took on Jadeite, the Mars Knight and Sailor Mars charged towards Nephrite while Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Mask took aim at Beryl, Sailor Moon floating in the air ready to eliminate any of the weakened generals, maybe even Queen Beryl herself.

The generals had prepared well. When Sailor Uranus attacked Malachite he simply sent a ball of energy in her path even though he was weakened from his encounter with the two Mars senshi earlier, leaving Sailor Uranus powerless to avoid it. He laughed as Sailor Uranus fell to the floor, a few cuts and scrapes on her arms from her own attack backfiring. The Mars knight tried to enclose Nephrite in a circle of fire with his firewall attack, only to have it sent right back at him by a beam of energy hitting the fireball. He dived out of the way of the returning fireball, knowing that he would have been trapped and seriously hurt had the attack hit him. Behind him a huge column of fire rose up into the night sky as the fireball hit the ground.
"Damn, that was close." Nephrite wrestled the Mars knight back to the ground as he tried to get up. Sailor Mars had spotted that Malachite was open after he had knocked Sailor Uranus for six and was about to attack him, not knowing of the Knight's dispostion. Nephrite had a small ball of energy in his right hand, ready to fire into the Knight's face at any moment.
"I don't recognise you. Who are you?" The Mars Knight only frowned, gritting his teeth. "Tell me! I command you!!!" The ball of energy in his hand grew with his rage.
"Your worst nightmare." The Mars Knight saw in the corner of his left eye Sailor Mars dashing towards them, her firey bow and arrow in hand. All he needed was to distract Nephrite for long enough and give his girlfriend a good aim. He spat in the general's face, freeing one of his arms in the process which he used to divert the blast of energy from the general's hand. He looked towards Sailor Mars who was taking aim. "Goodbye."

Sailor Mars let rip with the screaming arrow. It had seemed like the arrow had been hurtling through the air for a lifetime as it edged closer and closer towards the horrified general. The Knight lay down flat as the arrow hit the general in the head with a sickening thud - dead centre between his eyes. The Knight lifted the corpse off himself as the general's black blood streamed from the hole in his head. Sailor Mars reached down to help her boyfriend back onto his feet.
"Nice shot. I owe ya."
"They don't call me the flame sniper for nothing." Sailor Mars looked modest as the Mars Knight dusted himself off.
"Which one now?" The Mars Knight scanned around for the other three enemies. It seemed like Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Venus had the slight advantage over the slow, weakened Queen Beryl although Sailor Venus' face was covered in blood, impossible to tell if it was her own. Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn seemed to be holding their ground against Jadeite, although it seemed the general was about to step up a gear at any moment. The Mars Knight was oblivious to the fact that right behind him stood Malachite, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus collapsed on the ground nearby.
"Damnit! Uranus! Neptune!" Sailor Mars clasped her hands together, ready to attack Malachite.
"Finally, a familiar face." Malachite spoke with an intimidating, sinister tone of voice, kicking the unconscious body of Sailor Neptune as he approached the Mars senshi. "Sailor Mars, I do believe." He looked at the Mars Knight. "And she has a friend with her." With the speed of lightning he raised his right hand out in front of the Knight, casting purple waves of energy in his direction. Within a second the Knight had been propelled over a hundred metres backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
"What the...?" Sailor Mars had never known Malachite to be so powerful and effective in his attacks. Not only had he grounded two of the Scouts, including arguably the toughest Scout Sailor Uranus, but he had just sent another senshi flying.
"A little attack the Americans taught me. Pretty effective, wouldn't you say?" Malachite grinned as Sailor Mars looked at the Mars Knight, who was struggling to get back onto his feet. She didn't say anything else, only running as fast as she could, constantly changing direction.
"Shit, this guy's tough!" She thought to herself as she ran towards the Kninght. She looked behind her to see where Malachite was. He was gone. "Where the hell is he now?" Above her, Sailor Moon was dealing the final blow to Jadeite after Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn delt a deadly series of suprise attacks on a confused Jadeite. Tuxedo Mask had been sent flying into Sailor Venus, whos Fuku had now become bloodstained, by Queen Beryl. Now that she only had one general left, she knew she had to start upping the ante and deal some more serious blows to Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Mask. It was then that Sailor Mars screamed as she felt an extreme surge of pain through her back before being knocked flat. It had felt like she had just been hit by a Juggernaught truck.

"It seems the tables have turned, Sailor Mars." Sailor Mars felt excruciating pain as Malachite kicked her in the ribs a few times before flipping her over. "You will obey my orders otherwise you will die."
"Don't try to scare me, bastard." Coughed Sailor Mars, her arms badly cut. "I've faced death twice in this lifetime alone, and to tell you the truth, I don't fear death anymore." Sailor Mars smirked, still in pain.
"Well, I guess you won't mind me doing it again then." A glowing ball of dark energy began to grow in his hand, ready to obliterate Sailor Mars.
"Be my guest." She noticed that in the corner of her eye that Berly was being attacked by seven of the senshi.
"MALACHITE!!!" Screamed Beryl as the general jumped up and ran towards the senshi attacking the evil Queen. "WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!!!" A blinding purple light engulfed the senshi as the Queen teleported away from the battle.
"BERYL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" As the purple light faded, Malachite looked back at the grinning yet bloody Sailor Mars. "This isn't over. We shall be back." The same purple aurora began to surround Malachite as he burst into a glowing purple orb, which zoomed off into the sky.

Int. Apartment 211, Hiwaka view apartments - September 27th 2002, 9:00 pm.

"Good morning. We're just getting breaking news within the past few minutes that there has been a major explosion at a cinema complex in Tokyo, Japan. There's no exact details about what has happened or whether there are many casualties, but there was a premier of a popular Japanese move being held there that night, so it likely that there have been a few deaths. This has come just a week after a bomb exploded in a shopping centre in Tokyo's electric district, which no-one has yet claimed responsibility for. We're also hearing uncomfirmed reports that Japanese supreheroines the Sailor Scouts have been sighted around the time of the explosion, some eyewitnesses even claiming that they were fighting forces that were last seen over six years ago. We'll bring you more as we get it. Now back to tonight's main story. The prime minister Tony Blair last night found -"
"Ugh. Terrorists. Don't tell me Bin Laden's moved to Japan." Sarah had been spending the past two hours watching television with nothing else to do, waiting for Jack to return so that she could tell him her true feelings. She had just been watching a British news channel. "Last thing I need is a terror campaign in the city I live in." She decided to go channel-hopping, trying to avoid such depressing news on a saturday night.
"Call my name and I'll be there, there's nothing like the laughter that we share, -"
"And you shall shed tears of scarlet! -"
"What is the Matrix? -"
"How long will Mr. Shakehandsman shake hands with -" Sarah turned off the TV and lay down on the sofa.
"Damn, when are ya gonna be back Jack?"

The door clicked and opened as a slightly drunk Jack and Chad stumbled through.
"What time d'ya call this?" Sarah was slightly angry at Jack's state.
"C'mon Sarah, it's saturday! Lets party! Put some of that dance stuff on!"
"Heh, you're pissed and you know it Jack." laughed Sarah.
"Too damn right!" Chad stuck in a random CD from the rack. Some heavy dance music started to play. Jack picked Sarah off the sofa and started to dance with her. Chad just nodded his head to the beat as the mood in the apartment livened instantly.
"Jack, I got somethin' I wanna tell ya later."
"Why not now, babe?" Sarah just smiled at Jack.
"Good things come to those who wait."

Ext. Hiwaka view apartments - September 27th 2002, 9:10 pm.

"Just here please." The grey taxi stopped outside the apartments. From it stepped Mark and Raye, a few cuts and bruises on their faces. Mark had a slight limp.
"Mark, will you come back to the temple for a few minutes? I've got something I want to discuss with you." Raye held Mark's hand.
"Yeah, sure. What's it about?"
"I'll tell you when we get there." Mark looked anxious as the pair crossed the road.
"That was a pretty good movie while it lasted." Raye seemed distant. She was still in shock at finding out that her boyfriend was a senshi even though she knew that all the clues had pointed at him. Raye unlocked the front entrance to the temple and lead Mark to the lounge. The pair sat down opposite each other.
"You're the Mars Knight, aren't you?" Mark simply smiled as Raye looked very anxious.
"Indeed, Sailor Mars." Raye was extremely shocked. He knew her true identity.
"How... how did you know I was Sailor Mars?" Mark smiled still, taking a deep breath.
"Because I'm on a mission to find you. A mission to help you and the other Sailor Scouts." Raye shook her head in disbelief.

"How? Why are you here?"
"I was the one that discovered Negaverse America's plans to revive the major officers of Negaverse Japan. They claimed that they were close to a breakthrough that would allow them to take over planet Earth. They just needed to eliminate the princesses of each planet. After the senshi of America, Germany and Great Britain recovered all of the star seeds to bring their princesses back to life, taking Earth became much harder for the Negaverse." Raye was becoming tearful.
"You mean... we're alive today because of you guys?..."
"Yeah. It was a great tragedy when we first heard that the princesses were dying, and you were gone a good few months before we finally got our break. The fourteen seeds had been scattered throughout the world. Lucky for us the majority of the seeds were found in our home countries of the USA, England and Germany. We found your seed encased within the white cliffs of Dover. The nine of us worked for a good five days trying to get that seed without damaging it or the cliff, but we did it in the end. As far as we know from Central, you were revived on April 17th 1999, your seventeenth birthday I do believe."
"Wow..." Raye was clearly moved. "No wonder I can't remember christmas '98."
"Yeah. We managed to find the seeds of Sailor Venus, you and Sailor Pluto. Anna, a friend of mine who was the Moonlight Knight, the British equivalent of Sailor Moon, found the seeds of Princess Serenity, Sailor Chibi-Moon and Chibi Chibi on a holiday in Tokyo. The only seeds we haven't found yet are those of the starlights." Raye immediately dashed over to Mark and hugged him, tears streaming down her face.
"I had no idea. None of us knew how or why we were revived. I can't thank you enough."
"It's not just me you have to thank. All thirty of us around the globe did our part." Raye let go of Mark.
"What about you? What happened to you during the Silver Millenium? What is your destiny in Crystal Tokyo? I must know!" Mark smiled once more.
"That, my love, is another story for another day."

End Of Chapter 9