Author's Note: ok, well, ch. 3! ^_^ I just wanna thank venus smurf for reviewing my story! Even though you're probably busy with whatever so arigatou! K, well on w/ ch. 3! Oh, yeah just a little note. This is later on in the ch. but if you didn't know Serena has a huge fear of ghosts and something like that's mentioned later on so..just telling ya ^_^

~*~Chapter 3~*~

"Alright girls, I'm really starting to get worried," Luna stated at the scout meeting that was going on in Raye's temple.
"Why's that, Luna?" Raye asked the cat.
"Because, we the Nega-verse hasn't attacked at all in over a week," Artemis answered for her.
"What's wrong with that?" Mina pondered aloud. She couldn't see anything wrong with them getting a break every now and again.
"If they're not going to attack that's perfectly fine with me. I ain't got no complaints."
"Haven't any complaints, Lita," Amy said absentmindedly from the corner where she'd been silent the whole meeting. Lita sighed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not in English class right now ya know, Ames. Hey, how come you've been so quiet this whole time?"
"Yeah, Amy?" the others inquired in unison.
"Hm?" Amy asked, dazed. "Oh, I was just thinking, that's all."
"Why would wouldja wanna do that if you don't gotta?" Serena asked with a confused look on her face.
"Don't have to," Amy corrected.
"Fine, whatever, 'don't have to'. But what were you thinking about?"
"Nothing really. Just about what Luna's been saying. About the Nega- verse not attacking in so long. I seriously doubt they've given up. Or run out of reinforcements for that matter. No, I think they've got a much bigger plan at hand." She looked back off into space, signaling that, once again, she had slipped off into thought. Serena sighed.
"I really hope that's not what's going on," Serena said.
"So do I, Serena, so do I," Luna replied sadly. "The scouts have pretty much seen the best of the Nega-verse so far and sometimes just barely escaped. I don't know how much more they can take." Artemis walked up to Luna, a worried expression on his face.
"What is it Luna?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice and eyes alike.
"It's nothing," Luna lied.
"Well, if you're sure," he said and with that walked away. Luna shook her head and sighed.
"What could they be up to?" As if an answer to her question just outside the temple there was a huge explosion. The ground shook fiercely, forcing everyone to the ground.
Mina slowly got up from the ground. "What was that?" she asked, bewildered.
"I don't know, but we need to check it out," Luna said. No sooner had she said this than another explosion came right along with another earthquake. "It seems as if it got closer to the temple this time," Luna observed. The girls got up just to be flung across the room by the next quake.
"Girls, transform!" Artemis shouted. "This has to be the Nega- verse!" The girls all nodded in agreement.
"Mercury Star Power!"
"Mars Star Power!"
"Jupiter Star Power!"
"Venus Star Power!"
"Moon Crystal Power!"
They all let their energy course through them and became the Sailor Scouts. "Hurry, outside!" Luna shouted. "It can't be far away!" They all took off at a sprint when once again the ground shook violently, even more so than before. They all fought to keep their balance as the earth moved underneath their feet, threatening to topple them over once again.
"Where's it coming from?" Sailor Venus asked. "It feels so close. But I can't find a source anywhere!"
"Amy, try your computer," Sailor Mars said.
"Way ahead of you, Mars," Sailor Mercury said, already typing furiously into her handheld device. A confused look crossed over her face.
"What is it, Mercury?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"I don't understand. How can this be?" Sailor Mercury asked, not really talking to anyone, but more to herself.
"What?" Luna asked.
"The readings," Sailor Mercury started. "They're crazy. It's everywhere. All around us!"
"What?!" the other scouts shouted together.
"How can it be everywhere?" Sailor Moon asked curiously. Suddenly a hand reached up from the ground, grabbing Sailor Moon around the ankle. She screamed out in shock as the others dodged the same fate.
"Sailor Moon!" they all cried. A hole opened up in the ground and the hand tried to drag Sailor Moon down below the earth.
"No!" Sailor Mars shouted as she grabbed Sailor Moon's hand, desperately trying to save her friend. Sailor Mercury ran up to them and grabbed the hand of whatever had a hold on Sailor Moon.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" She cried out her ice attack, freezing the hand. It let go of Sailor Moon's ankle as it was freezing in a desperate attempt to escape the cold. Sailor Moon scrambled away from the area she had been in. The hand that had grabbed Sailor Moon withered away and died from the cold. Sailor Mercury looked down at her computer and gasped.
"The energy readings are becoming greater! They're surrounding us and moving in quickly!" The scouts gasped and looked all around them. Suddenly hundreds of hands were reaching up from the ground towards them. This time everyone was ready and they all managed to dodge the attack. The attacks became harder to dodge and the scouts found themselves barely escaping the persisting grasps.
"Artemis! Luna! Get outta here!" Sailor Venus cried.
"Right!" the two cats shouted as they scurried up the nearest tree to watch the battle from the safety of the branches. Sailor Venus yelped out a bit as a hand grabbed her.
"Ugh! Let go!" she cried and yanked herself free, just to find another coming after her. She leaned back on her hand doing somewhat of a backwards cartwheel. She looked around to see the others weren't having much luck either. She gasped as an idea struck her. "Sailor Mercury! Try freezing over the entire ground like you did before with the other creature!" Sailor Mercury looked up and nodded.
"Why didn't I think of that?" she asked herself as she powered up for her attack. "Shine Aqua Illusion!" she cried out waving her hand so the attack spread throughout the whole of the area. The hands all froze and, like the first, withered and died. The scouts all sighed in relief and then looked up, averting their gaze in every possible direction at the sound they heard.
A soft clapping came from within the darkness as four shadows emerged. "Well, well, nicely done girls," the unknown voice said.
Mina gasped. "That voice. Why does it sound so familiar?" The others had noticed it too and were puzzled by it.
"Now, now don't looked so surprised," he said, as the voice was given a face.
Malachite. Three others appeared behind him. Jadeite, Zoicite, and Nephrite. The scouts took a step back, aghast.
"Bu- But how?" Sailor Moon barely choked out. "You're dead. Are you ghosts?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Malachite laughed, a cold, harsh thing coming from someone such as himself. "No, of course not foolish girl! We're very much alive."
Two of you were killed by us and the other two died at the hands of Beryl! We know this is so!" Sailor Mercury shouted out in utter confusion.

Once again the coldness of Malachite's laugh rang out into the night. "Do you really think you were strong enough to kill us?" he asked wildly. "Strong enough to injure us into hiding until we regained out strength yes, but kill. No. Beryl was strong yes, but not enough to kill us and she knew it. She merely had enough strength to keep us locked up for a while but with her out of the way. Well she doesn't matter anymore and without her able to keep up the barrier that kept us pent up we're free once again." The scouts just stood there in shock at this newly found information. "So I trust you're ready to do battle then, ne?" Malachite said, drawing his sword. The other generals stepped forward, doing the same.
Luna looked over at Artemis with fear in her eyes. Artemis shook his head no. They couldn't reveal themselves just yet if they were going to be of any help whatsoever to the girls. As hard as it was they would simply have to wait in the seclusion of the branches to see what would happen.
"Come now, let's get this started shall we?" Malachite said jumping in the air, ready to bring his sword down on the scouts.

2nd Author's note: ooooo, cliffhanger! Hehe aren't I evil! But don't worry ch. 4's on the way soon! By the way, sorry for the really boring beginning.I didn't like it that much so I don't expect you to either but hey, it's all I could come up w/. gomen. Well, peace out y'all! ~venusgirl