Episode 2: An Enemy Revealed

"Defender!" a deep and powerful voice resonated from deep within a cauldron-like lake.

"Yes, master?" a man with long, sapphire hair responded with a deep bow.

"Have you discovered any pieces of the crystal yet?" It asked in a threatening voice.

Defender trembled, "I tried to, but the sailor senshi stopped my creature."

"Did you form a barrier around it?" the voice inquired.

"Yes, master."

"How can it be," the cauldron wondered "even Sailor Moon shouldn't have been able to penetrate your barrier."

"No, it wasn't them that broke through it," Defender explained "it was Sailor D."

"Impossible," Defender's master shouted "without the power of the Eternal Void Crystal, Sailor D shouldn't have the power to cross onto this plane!"

"I saw him myself." Defender commented.

"If he's really here," another voice chimed in "then we have a major problem, right master?"

"Ah, Strengthener, do you have good news for me?" It asked a golden-haired man.

"Yes, master, I may have found a human who has a piece of the crystal." Strengthener told It.

"Good, well done," the evil lake congratulated "Defender, find the human and retrieve the shard."

"Y, yes, master." Defender stuttered.

"Usagi-chan," a child's voice called out "Usagi-chan, I found you!"

Usagi looked up to see a shadowed figure above her. It reached out one hand as if to help her to her feet. Slowly, the scene fizzled out into nothing. Usagi opened her eyes to discover that morning had arrived. Upon looking at her clock, she noticed how late it was. As usual, a screamed originated from her room and echoed down her street.

"Late again." Makoto sighed touching her forehead.

The group chuckled at Usagi as they walked away from the school.

"Hey, it's not my fault," Usagi whined "I had a strange dream."

"You can't blame being late for school on a dream." Rei commented.

"What was that?" Usagi growled.

"Nothing, nothing." Rei brushed her off.

"So, what was your dream about?" Ami inquired.

"Well, I think I was hiding in it," Usagi recalled "and then a voice above me says 'Usagi, I found you!' and a boy is standing over me, I can't see what he looks like because his face is shadowed out."

"What an odd dream." Minako stated.

'Yeah, but for some reason it didn't feel like a dream,' Usagi thought 'it felt more like a memory.'

"Speaking of boys," Makoto started a new topic "I didn't see Derek in class today."

"Yeah, you're right," Ami agreed "I didn't see him either."

"He did say he felt sick yesterday." Rei inputted.

"I wonder if he's okay?" Minako was worried.

"Well, let's go visit him." Usagi smiled.

"How, we don't have his address." Makoto looked at Usagi.

Usagi snickered at first, but eventually began laughing uncontrollably as she produced a slip of paper.

"I have it written down here." Usagi explained.

"Where did you get that?" Rei wondered.

Usagi blushed, "Oh, uh, I found it on the ground next to him after the battle."

"Ha, I bet she was searching around his pockets while he was unconscious." Rei whispered to the others. They nodded in unison. Usagi stared evilly at Rei.

"Okay, okay," Ami tried to calm them down "let's go and see how he is."

They walked around town until they found the house with the same address. When they knocked on the door, a younger woman with dark brown hair answered.

"Hello." she greeted.

"Hi, I'm Tsukino Usagi." Usagi introduced.

"I'm Hino Rei."

"Hello, my name is Mizuro Ami.

"Kino Makoto."

"Aino Minako."

"Ah, yes, Derek told me a lot about you," she smiled "thank you so much for caring for him when he passed out."

"Oh, ah, it's okay." Usagi blushed.

"We didn't see Derek in school today, and we were worried." Ami explained.

"Oh, yes, you see, he's ill today." his mother told them.

"Will he be okay?" Minako wondered.

"Yes, I believe it's just a twenty-four hour flu bug," she diagnosed "he should be in school tomorrow."

The girls thanked Derek's mother for the information and left.

"I'm glad he wasn't seriously hurt after that battle." Rei sighed.

"Yeah." Makoto agreed.

"It's good that Sailor D showed up." Ami commented.

"Yeah, he's so brave." Minako blushed.

The girls looked at the flustered Minako. She noticed them all staring at her and she began laughing. The others sighed and started on another topic.

"So, where are we going to eat?" Ami wondered.

"Oh I know where!" Usagi pitched her idea.

"Of course you know where to go, you are the human garbage disposal." Rei giggled.

Usagi turned to her and blew a raspberry in her face. Rei responded to this by blowing one in Usagi's face. Usagi and Rei ended up starting a raspberry fight and taking alternating turns. It took about fifteen minutes for them to stop and reach the restaurant. Once they had their food they began talking again.

"So, Usagi-chan, have you heard from Mamoru lately?" Ami wondered.

"Yes, actually, I just got a letter a couple of days ago," Usagi looked up from her food "his studies are going wonderful, and he might be coming back soon."

"Oh, that's wonderful." Makoto smiled.

"I'm happy…" Rei started but suddenly stopped in mid-sentence.

"Rei, are you okay?" Minako asked.

"I sense a powerful evil." Rei concentrated.

"Where!" the girls grew excited.

"Come on, follow me!" Rei raced off to lead the girls.

Rei raced down the sidewalk leading the girls into an alley. A little ways in they found a strange man with long, shiny, blue hair holding a girl by her neck with one hand and his other sunken into her chest.

"It's coming from him!" Rei gasped.

"Girls, transform!" Usagi directed.

"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!"
"Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Venus Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Moon Eternal, Make Up!"

A power radiated from each of the youths and in a matter of seconds they had transformed into the sailor senshi! Giving up, Defender retracted his arm from the girls chest and sighed.

"No crystal," he complained "I should have expected Strengthener to be wrong."

"Stop right there," a voice commanded from above him "and drop that defenseless girl!"

"What the?" he looked up to find Sailor Moon and the other senshi standing above him.

"I am Sailor Moon," she announced "agent of love and justice; in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Defender smiled and dropped the girl, "Try to."

"Venus Love And Beauty Shock!"

Sailor Venus's attack headed straight for Defender until it was suddenly stopped by a powerful barrier.

"That's the same barrier as yesterday!" Ami commented.

"Quite right, my young sailor maiden," Defender laughed "my specialty is being able to create impenetrable force fields around anything I desire."

"So that monster from yesterday was yours?" Sailor Moon inquired.

"Bingo," Defender chuckled "this one is also mine."

He opened his closed hand to reveal a small golden seed. Tossing it onto the ground before the sailor senshi, it immediately began generating massive amounts of energy and quickly formed into a minotaur creature.

"Go," Defender commanded "destroy the sailor senshi!"

The girls gasped as the minotaur looked at them with a glare of death.

"Take this!" Sailor Jupiter shouted.

"Oak Evolution!"

Rapid shots of power sprayed at the minotaur, but unfortunately Defender's shield stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Just like yesterday," Defender smiled darkly "when will you learn that your attacks are useless against my force field."

"He's right," Minako stated "what are we going to do?"

The monster seized his advantage and charged at the senshi. Noticing their predicament, they jumped out of the way while the bull crashed into the side of a building.

"Of course, I had to pick the dumb minion." Defender sighed.

"Actually, you're the dumb minion for choosing to fight against Sailor Moon!" a confident voice called to him.

"Who said that!" Defender growled searching the surroundings. A dark figure streaked across the azure sky and landed in the midst of the sailor senshi.

"Sailor D." Defender moaned as soon as he recognized the figure.

A glint of pride sparkled in Sailor D's eyes as he helped each of the senshi to their feet. As he aided them, the minotaur recovered from it's collision and broke out from the building's side with renewed fury. Sailor D looked at Defender's creature and smiled.

"I would love to play with you right now but I think I will end this quickly."

The minotaur's rage increased when it listened to Sailor D's statement, and prepared for another attack. This seemed to increase Sailor D's amusement, while he stretched his arm outward, palm facing toward the monster, and braced his arm with his left hand.

"D Cannon Flare!"

A flaming orb exploded from his hand and hit the minotaur. It screamed as it slowly burned. Pulling a katana from his leg holster, Sailor D held it above his head.

"Dark Fire Slash!"

The blade produced a wave of dark flames that easily ate the minotaur, reducing it to a small pile of ash.

'Not again!' Defender thought as he quickly disappeared.

"Thanks again." Sailor Moon told the newest scout.

"No problem, but please, stay out of this," Sailor D responded "I was lucky the creatures so far were easy to defeat, but next time we might not be so lucky."

With that statement he threw a smoke bomb to the ground and disappeared behind the gassy screen.

"What was that about?" Makoto wondered.

The scouts just stood and pondered his words.

A dog laid silently on a soft bed with it's eyes closed. Only moments later, Derek's figure appeared at the open window to the room. Entering the room, he stumbled to the bed and quickly pulled the covers up to his shoulders.

"You're finally back," the dog spoke up to him "how did it go?"

"No luck," he answered "the girl didn't have a shard."

"Did you meet up with the sailor senshi of this dimension?"

"Yeah," Derek sighed "once again I saved them."

"This isn't good, we must find the shards and revive the crystal," the dog opened his eyes and looked at Derek "we must not let M19 get hold of the Dark Vortex Crystal, we need it to revive D Zone, or else everything in this dimension will collapse."

Derek coughed, "Yeah, well, we're going to have to find the shards after I get better."

"You're right, just get some sleep and I'm pretty sure you'll be well enough to go to school tomorrow."

"Oh boy." Derek replied in a dry voice.