*In the process of revision*
I am revising this and posting this up again chapter by chapter, although I will most likely keep up the original version at the end until I have posted up everything. This is still only Book I. I am working on Book II, but it is taking me a while. Be patient. I have taken some liberty with the timeline, to make sure that it suits my purposes. This should not be too much of an AU, and should fit with the Sailor Moon timeline, although I may choose to make it a happy ending. Either way, ages are listed below, to give you a general idea.
Endymion: 15
Kunz: 15
Zoë: 14
Nephi: 14
Jay: 14
Trista: 14
Alex: 13
Michelle: 13
Heather: 11
Lita: 12
Raye: 12
Amy: 12
Mina: 12
Serenity (the younger): 10
Serenity (the elder): Who knows? Who has the guts to ask?
Luna: looks 22, actually 33 in Mau time.
Artemis: looks 24, actually 36 in Mau time.
PROLOGUE
Everyone knows that the mage-royalty are gifted with talents beyond imagination, and are easy to distinguish from the common man…
Yeah, right! Luna and Artemis, the two Lunar Cats of the planet Mau, were charged with the task of finding the mage-royalty of each planet. As they search wore on, they found that while most of the myths of the mage-royalty are true, some are just plain poppycock. For example, that bit about them being easily distinguishable? Hardly. When you are searching for one person amid the millions of teeming humanoids … well, let's just say that finding a needle in a haystack is a piece of cake compared to this.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Long, long ago, when the Divine Beings (the Gods and Goddesses) roamed the cosmos, many of them were not particular about their mates. Their children and descendants numbered throughout the planets, and before long, the planets were crowded with Divine Descendants. Not long after, the Divine Beings faded away, and no longer lived among mortals.
Then, evil began attacking the universe. To protect their children, the Divine Beings (now all residing in the Land of the Dead) decreed that each time evil threatened the universe, one of each of their children would become a mage-royal, and help defend the galaxy from evil.
However, they did not take into consideration the fact that the human race would slowly erode with corruption, and that soon, the individual human mind was no longer valued. They could never have imagined that overpopulation and degradation of cultural morals would result in an amalgam of human intellect wasted and thrown away. The could not have foreseen that there would come a day when the mage-royalty would be lost in the morass of entropy, and would remain lost for a period of time so long that when evil once again attacked, they would not be prepared …
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Luna grumbled. "As much as I admire Queen Serenity, I still don't understand all the secrecy. Why couldn't she have told us at the Palace? But no … she has to send us to Pluto … the farthest, coldest planet there is! 'Wait,' she says. 'I'll give you instructions' she says. Well, we've been waiting for two hours!"
Artemis rolled his eyes. "Stop grumbling, Luna. Queen Serenity will tell us what she wants in her own time."
"In her own time. That's what I'm afraid of. If she had her way, she probably wouldn't tell us for a whole millennium because she's so busy, she forgot." Luna was about to say more, when a sound startled her, and a hologram of Queen Serenity appeared.
"So, how are you, Luna?" Queen Serenity asked pleasantly.
Luna looked as if she were caught with her pants down. "Umm … Queen Serenity," she stammered. "How has your day been?"
Queen Serenity chuckled. "Now that I've been insulted by a cat, my day is complete."
Luna looked extremely flustered. "I apologize."
Queen Serenity's face grew serious. "It is classified information that Queen Metallia of the Dark Kingdom has begun planning to attack the Silver Alliance. Her first target shall be Earth, the one planet in the Sol System that is not part of the Silver Alliance."
"We know this," Luna said impatiently. "And?"
Queen Serenity frowned. "Patience is a virtue … admittedly one that I don't have either, but it is still something you should consider."
"Yes, Queen Serenity," Luna said meekly.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted … *glare* … I'm afraid that Queen Metallia is an evil that I cannot defeat alone. So I have set this task upon you. You are charged with the task of finding the mage-royal of each planet."
"But that's only a myth!" Artemis protested, the only word he had said so far.
Queen Serenity shook her head. "Contrary to common belief, the Legend of the Mage-Royalty is not a myth, and now that the situation has grown urgent, we must find them."
"We are at your service," Luna said, bowing the best she could on her four legs.
"We are ready to accept our mission," Artemis said, copying Luna.
"For the task set before you, you must be able to accomplish things you may not do in your cat-form. Therefore, using the Imperial Silver Crystal, I grant you the ability to shift between cat-form and human-form whenever you wish."
"Thank you, Queen Serenity," Luna and Artemis said, accepting the gift in the formal manner of Mau.
Queen Serenity smiled sadly at her two feline advisors-in-training. "Your first task is to seek the Mage-Princess of Pluto. You shall receive further instructions then."
"But how?" Artemis asked, baffled.
Queen Serenity smiled at the two of them. "When you see her, you will know. When she nears the magic of the Silver Crystal, which I have cast upon you, the symbol of Pluto shall appear on her forehead." With that, the hologram shimmered and disappeared.
There was a silence. Artemis spoke first. "So … what do we do now?"
To be continued …