Richforce: Before we get started I just want to get a few things straight. I will use a mixture of Manga and Anime elements for parts of this story that refer to the stars story arc. First off, Chibi Chibi (here called Ren) held Galaxia's good star seed and they became one, the Starlights are girls even when not transformed, the Amazoness Quartet was put to sleep until Rini became a "True Lady" at which point they would become the Asteroid Scouts (Sailors Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Juno) and finally Sailor Cosmos has not appeared...yet. Also I'll use some elements from the game "Sailor Moon: Another Story". Warning: this chapter will seem to have come from the Twilight Zone. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, the chibi scouts belong to Angel Raye.

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Chapter nine: Helios' Return

Serena looked around at the transformed school that was covered in colorful banners and surrounded by booths. "I love school carnivals!" she squealed.

"Even after what happened with Ren and Sailor Lead Crow that one time?" Mina asked.

"That was a couple of years ago and besides this is our last one, we should have as much fun here as we can."

"So what are we waiting for?" asked Lita. "We only have one day to do every thing we can here!"

"I agree." said Greg. "We deserve some time off."

"Don't forget us!" said Rini as she came up with the other Mini Scouts. "We want to have some fun here too!"

"Sure." said Serena. "The outer scouts and knights are here too, school carnival is open to everyone."

"Just behave yourselves." said Luna. "And that includes you too kittens."

"We will Mama." said Moonbeam.

"For the most part." Sunspot said under her breath.

As they started to go into the carnival they heard barking at which Luna and Artemis climbed up Serena and Mina on instinct. Kaede smiled when she saw that it was a small white dog with hairy floppy ears and hairy curved tail. "Kishal!" she then picked the dog up and it started licking her face. "Oh Kishal, you're the sweetest puppy, yes you are! I missed you so much!"

"You know that dog?" asked Artemis.

"He must have followed me here from Crystal Tokyo. A very good friend gave him to me."

"He won't attack us then?" Luna asked.

"He doesn't do that anymore." said Crescent. "We get along ok."

"Alright, but we'd rather not stay around him."

"Come on let's go!" said Rini.

###

For half of the day they visited booths, ate cotton candy, and played carnival games. After a little while Serena, Molly, Rini, Kaede, Luna, Diana and Kishal met up in front of a fortune teller's tent. "This is the best carnival ever!" said Serena.

"You bet!" said Molly. "But I wonder where the others are?"

"Probably visiting the other booths." said Rini. "I want to get my fortune told."

"Sounds like fun." said Serena. "Let's go in."

They entered the tent and saw that the fortune teller was hooded man who kept shuffling a deck of tarot cards. "I can already tell that you have an interesting destiny." He said. "Would you like me to reveal some of it to you?"

"Yes please." said Rini.

Kishal started to growl. "Kishal!" said Kaede. "We don't growl at someone who's just doing their job!"

"Yeah cut it out!" Diana said it softy so the fortune teller couldn't hear her.

"How much?" asked Molly.

"For someone with such an interesting destiny I'll do it for free."

"Then let's get started." said Serena.

The fortune teller shuffled his tarot cards and started to lay them on the table. "The first card is the Fool; that tells me you are clumsy at this point in time. The second card is the Lovers; you will soon be married to your one true love. Next is the Empress; you will rise to power in this world sometime in the future."

{It's like he has already visited the Crystal Millennium.} Serena thought.

"Uh oh."

"What?" asked Serena.

"This forth card is the Tower."

"What does that mean?"

"I feel it's telling me that the foundations of this destiny might be lost. Something may prevent it."

Serena thought he may know what they must do in order to save Rini's future. "What will prevent it?"

"This next card will tell." He placed a card that had the image of the grim reaper. "Death, a fitting card, since I'm going to silence you all forever!" He lifted his face up and reveled himself to Scorpio.

"You!" said Molly.

"MASK OF ILLUSION!"

After a flash of light came from Scorpio's mask everyone except Kishal fell unconscious. Kishal then ran out of the tent. Prim and Axel then came in. "That's all of them." said Prim.

"Put them with the others." said Scorpio. "I'll see that my guests are properly entertained."

"Whatever you say S-man!" said Axel.

###

Helios was also at the school carnival. {I hope I can find Rini before I have to go back to Elysia.} He came back when he found out that Rini had returned to the present. He also used his powers to keep people from seeing his horn. Suddenly he felt a tug at his pants leg. "What the...?" he looked down and saw Kishal biting his pants leg and tugging it. "That's mine, not yours." He then felt something strange from Kishal. "Wait a minute; you've been around Rini haven't you?" Kishal barked. "She's in some kind of trouble?" Kishal then dashed off. "I wouldn't be surprised if we found her down a well!"

###

Serena was starting to wake up. "Ohhhhh, where am I?" she looked around and saw that she was with Luna, Artemis, and the other scouts and knights and they were waking up as well. "Are you guys ok?"

"I think so." said Darien.

"I'm okay." said Amy. She took out her computer and tried to scan the area. "That's weird; my computer doesn't seem to be working."

They took a look around. They were in a field that seemed to have come straight out of a children's storybook. "This place looks so sugary it makes my teeth hurt." said Amara.

"Be on your guard." said Trista. "This place may more dangerous than it appears."

They walked through the field. "This place reminds me of an imaginary land I thought of when I was a little kid." said Mina.

"An imaginary land?" asked Raye.

"A special place little kids could go far away from adults."

"And could do whatever they want." said Chad.

"How do you know?"

"I thought up of the same imaginary land when I was a little kid."

"I think we all did at one time or another." said Michelle.

"I know that I did." said Walter.

"It wasn't that long ago for us." said Anthony.

"I guess deep down everyone wants to be a kid again." said Hotaru.

"Except maybe Luna." said Gary. "She probably was just the same as she is now."

"I'll have you know that Artemis and I were quite the rapscallions when were little." said Luna.

"The two of you? I can't believe it." said Jamie. "You're so serious and Artemis is so laid back."

"I'll show you." she then touched Artemis with her paw. "Tag, you're it!"

"Oh, I'm gonna get you!" said Artemis after Luna ran away and he then chased after her.

"Strange." said Melvin. "It makes me want to join them."

"Me too." said Molly. "I have this urge to play."

"I know what you mean." said Darien. "I feel like I'm a little kid!"

"Well I doubt any of you can catch me!" said Serena and began a chase with the others.

###

Sailor Mini-Moon woke up in a drastically different location. {This is weird.} Sailor Mini-Moon thought to herself. {First Scorpio hits me with a weird light the next thing I know I've transformed and I'm wandering around a creepy old graveyard.} She saw this strange dust covered grave. She brushed the dust off and read the inscription.

Here lies Kaede, princess of Earth.

"No, she can't be dead!" she dusted off other graves and read the inscriptions.

Here lies Annika, princess of Mars.

Here lies Ariel, princess of Mercury.

Here lies Daisy, princess of Jupiter.

Here lies Gloria, princess of Venus.

Here lies Madelyn, princess of Saturn.

Here lies Margaret "Maggie", Princess of Pluto.

Here lies Faith, princess of Uranus.

Here lies Hope, princess of Neptune.

"No! My friends..."

"All gone." said a familiar voice from behind her.

Sailor Mini-Moon turned around to see Eclipse sitting in a gnarled old tree. "You can't be here, I'm not you!"

"Oh please, I've been a part of you since the day you were born."

"You did this didn't you?! You killed my friends!"

"No, you did that."

"No!"

"They counted on you as a leader, and you failed them."

"I failed them...?"

"Become me again. You have no future to return to, your home is destroyed, your friends are all dead, and you have nothing left to lose."

"No, I don't want to!"

"Then I can leave you with guilt you have, guilt you can lose if become me."

Sailor Mini-Moon started crying.

###

Sailor Mini-Mercury woke to find that she was clinging to the side of a steep mountain. "How did I get here?!" she asked herself.

"You've been climbing this mountain all your life." said a voice from above her.

"Chill?!"

"This mountain is everyone's expectations of you. You can see how big it is; after all if both of your parents are geniuses then you must be one too. But we both know that isn't the case, you just study and apply yourself more than most. One slip here could be disastrous, the moment you fail your life is all for nothing."

"No, it can't be."

###

Sailor Mini-Mars was a dark hallway when saw some one familiar up ahead. "Gloria!"

Gloria just turned around and said "Later." before turning into smoke that was blown away by the wind.

"No!" she turned around and found Stardust. She ran to her until the same thing that happened to Gloria happened to Stardust. "Not again!"

"Annika?" said a voice from behind her. She turned around to find an older Raye wearing a red version of the dress worn by Neo-Queen Serenity complete with silk wings coming from the back of the dress; all of the princesses of the solar system wore similar attire in the Crystal Palace when they were performing royal duties.

"Mama!" she ran to her but Raye vanished in the same way as the others. "NOOOOO!"

"Face it you'll never see any of them ever again." A new voice said.

"Blaze, how can you be here?!"

"I'm always where you are and now I'm your only friend."

"I can't be alone with you!"

"What's the matter, gonna cry?"

"No." Sailor Mini-Mars sniffled.

"You are pathetic, but if you become me no one will ever call you a crybaby again."

Sailor Mini-Mars shed a few tears.

###

Sailor Mini-Jupiter found herself at what looked like the site of an earthquake. "Help me!" she heard.

"I'll be right there!" she ran to the source of the voice and found a pile of rubble. "I'm going to get you out!" She tried to move as much of the debris as she could but the pieces were too heavy for her to lift.

"I can't hold on anymore..."

"No!" Daisy punched the ground.

"If only you were stronger." said a voice from behind.

"Bolt?!"

"You pride yourself in being strong, but when it counts you're weak."

"No I'm not!"

"You are just a weak little girl, but if you became me again you can be really strong."

"I don't want your kind of strength!"

"But do you need it? You know you're not strong enough to protect you friends."

Sailor Mini-Jupiter was feeling torn.

###

Sailor Mini-Venus found herself in a park. {What is this place?} She thought to herself. {It seems familiar...} she then found a plaque at the edge of the lake.

In memory of Princess Annika who fell through the ice on this lake.

"No, sure she fell through the ice but she didn't die."

"But she almost did."

Sailor Mini-Venus turned around. "Dazzle?!"

"She wouldn't have gotten out on the ice if you hadn't thrown her hat on it, all because you thought it was would have been funny if she slipped and fell on her butt."

"I didn't mean to hurt her."

"You and I are more alike than you realize. Your pranks for example, you do as you please without ever thinking that someone could get hurt. Becoming me again just seems to be the next reasonable step."

Sailor Mini-Venus felt really bad.

###

Sailor Mini-Saturn was in a strange room that was filled with dolls on one side with a throne in the middle of them. {I know I've never been in here, but this room seems familiar.}

"Mady?" she heard from behind her.

Only two people ever called her that she turned around and saw an older Hotaru in a purple winged dress sitting on the throne. "Mama!" she ran up and hugged her. "I missed you so much! Does this mean we can go home?"

"But we are home." The future Hotaru said but something wasn't right about her voice. Sailor Mini-Saturn opened her eyes and saw that she was now hugging a pale skinned woman with a long black dress.

"Mistress Nine?!"

"What's wrong honey?" Mistress Nine said. "Don't you want to hug?"

"Mama told me about you! About what you made her do!"

"She is your mother." said a woman with short black hair, purple eyes and wore a purple wicked lady outfit.

"Who are you?!"

"The wicked lady Shade and as you can see darkness is very strong in your family."

"Not this kind of darkness!"

"It was so easy for your mother to become her, don't think it won't be just as, if not easier for you to become me?"

"No..."

###

Sailor Mini-Pluto could only see mile after mile of barren wasteland. "Where am I?" she asked herself.

"Home." said a woman with long dark green hair, purple eyes and a dark green wicked lady outfit. "I am the wicked lady Gale."

"Home? This can't be home!"

"It is now and all because of you."

"What?"

"Your mother was supposed to be the Guardian of Time; she still might have been if she hadn't met you."

"So?"

"So she wanted you to be born, she denounced her duty, married and had you. But with no guardian evil people used the gates to alter history and this is the result, Earth is now a dead lifeless world. We are standing where the Crystal Palace could have been, and it's all because of you."

"Me?"

"But you can change things, become me and you can exist without her giving up her post."

Sailor Mini-Pluto was felt as if her heart was pierced.

###

Sailor Mini-Neptune found herself in a room that was filled with a just about everything she ever wanted. "This is a cool place! Even though I'm not sure how I got here."

"I'm glad you like It." said a woman who had blue eyes, blue hair down to her shoulders and a sea blue wicked lady outfit.

"Who are you?"

"The wicked lady Splash. I knew that spoiled brat like you would like this."

"Spoiled brat?!"

"Yes, we both know that's what you are! Your parents are so willing to give you everything you want."

"Not everything."

"You still expect them to though. All you want is your own way, so it makes perfect sense for you to become me."

"I'm not a spoiled brat...am I?"

###

Sailor Mini-Uranus found herself back on the street but everyone and everything was frozen in place and in a dull grey color. "What happened to everyone?"

"It's what happened to you." said a woman who had blue hair done up in a ponytail, blue eyes and a yellow wicked lady outfit. "I am the wicked lady Gaia."

"I get it now. The attack, me becoming a scout, going back in time, you; it's all been a dream."

"You always lived life in the fast lane like your parents, leaving others in the dust. Well now you can't slow down, you're moving so fast that it seems everyone else is frozen in place."

A phone started ringing. "That's probably my alarm clock. See you the next time I have too many of Dad's hot peppers before bed." She found the payphone that was ringing and pulled on the receiver that seemed to be stuck until it collapsed into dust. "How..."

"This isn't just some dream you can wake up from! You're stuck in high-gear, you will live your entire life alone in the time it takes a kid to tie his shoelaces! That is unless you become me."

"Alone?"

###

Sailor Mini-Earth woke up in what appeared to be her room in her family's chambers in the Crystal Palace. "I'm home?" she left her room and found her parents were sitting down for breakfast. "Mama, Papa!"

They didn't seem to hear her. "Honey I may be a little late coming home; I've been assigned to attend a science conference that will probably run for a while." Melvin said.

"But Jenny is coming over for dinner tonight." said Molly.

"Ok, I'll try to get home as soon as I can. You can tell your sister I'll be here before the roast is in the oven."

Kaede was annoyed. "Mama, I'm right here!" she ran to hug her but passed right through as if she where a ghost. "How?!"

"They can't see, hear or touch you." said a woman with brown hair, green eyes and a brown wicked lady outfit. "I am the wicked lady Wild."

"Am I dead?"

"No, they just forgot that you existed."

"No, they could never forget me!"

"Well how do you expect them to take you seriously if you never took anything seriously yourself?"

"Huh?"

"Life was just one big game to you, even after the Negamoon attacked you just continued to play around and never consider the consequences. It was only after your parents were killed that you started to treat things seriously. Well it's too little too late, things are back to normal and they didn't miss you at all."

"But..."

"The only choice you seem to have now is to become me, maybe then you won't treat everything as a joke!"

Kaede started crying, then screaming and she did she could have sworn she heard the others screaming as well accompanied by a golden glow.

###

"What is this?!" said Eclipse. The graveyard seemed to be cracking like glass as Rini screamed. Eclipse started to crack as well. "No, Chill, Blaze, Bolt, Dazzle, Shade, Gale, Splash, Gaia, Wild; what's happening to us?!"

The graveyard shattered to a white void where the other mini-scouts and Wicked Ladies were. All of the Wicked Ladies were cracking. The golden glow got brighter.

"NOOOOOO!" the Wicked Ladies screamed before they also shattered.

###

Scorpio smiled underneath his mask. "Looks like we have a new player."

###

The mini-scouts stopped screaming and had a heartfelt reunion. "I'm glad you're all Ok." said Rini after it they changed back. "Now all we gotta do is find the others and get out of here."

"We may want to figure out where here is first." said Faith.

"And what that light was." said Hope.

"That was my doing." A new voice said.

Rini turned and had a smile on her face. "Helios!" she ran up and gave him a hug. "How did you get here?"

"A little white dog led me to you."

"That must have been Kishal!" said Kaede.

"Well I'm glad he found you Helios." Rini said.

"Hey." Gloria said. "You know him?"

"Yeah the last time I was here." Rini began to blush. {I never told them about Helios and they don't like boys as anything more than friends. If they find out that I LIKE like him...}

"Then tell us!" asked Daisy.

"I'd like to know who your friends here are." said Helios.

"Well they came back here with me and Helios is the guardian of the Golden Crystal. He disguised himself as Pegasus and hid in my dreams."

"And that's it?" asked Maggie.

"Yes!"

"Sounds like she's hiding something." said Annika.

"Wait a minute..." said Ariel.

"Are you in love him?" asked Hope.

"Rini are you embarrassed about us?" Helios asked.

"No I'm not embarrassed! Opps!"

"You are in love him!" said Madelyn.

"That is so gross!" said Faith.

"It's not gross!" said Rini.

The other mini-scouts continued to taunt her. "Do you want to get cooties? I'd never like a guy like that! And isn't he a little old for you?"

Rini finally blew a gasket. "Why don't you all just grow up?!"

###

Scorpio smiled to himself again. "Thanks for the idea Small Lady."

A bright light came on all of them once again rendering them unconscious. Helios woke up and saw that they had all transformed again. "Rini are you Ok?" on closer inspection. He saw that Rini had grown up to an eighteen year old.

"Helios?" Rini said she then looked at her hands. "I've gotten older!"

Helios then looked at the others. "And looks like you're not alone." The other mini-scouts were waking up but you couldn't call them "mini" anymore.

"What happened to us?! We're all adults! When she said grow up she wasn't kidding!"

"Are you all ok?" Helios asked. He got his answer when they surrounded him and started staring at him with hearts in their eyes.

"We're fine!" said Gloria. "But why would you be interested in Rini? You would like a girl with a sense of humor like me!"

"No!" said Annika. "You'd like someone sweet and sensitive like me!"

"You're wrong!" said Daisy. "You need a good cook like me!"

"Come on!" said Ariel. "You would like someone with intelligence like me!"

"You'd have rather like someone delicate like me!" said Madelyn.

"You'd love someone gutsy, like me!" said Faith.

"Wouldn't you rather have someone Artistic like me?!" said Hope.

"No, someone mature like me." said Maggie.

"I know you would like a girl who's perky like me!" said Kaede.

Rini was getting really mad. "LAY OFF HIM HE'S MINE!" she yelled monstrously.

Helios was sweating the whole time. {One moment they taunted Rini for liking me, the next they were trying to steal me away from her. What have I gotten myself into?}

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Richforce: Stick around, it only gets more interesting. Review please.