Author's Note: Yes, I DID steal a little bit from Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this chapter... Don't sue me! Ten points to anyone who spots the bit that I took!

"Sailor Angel and Sailor Phosphora: The Fight Against Catastrophe"

Chapter Seventeen

By Angel Sentier and M'Lila Cronk

Dark Angel sat, comfortably, in Catastrophe's lap and played with the ends of his long dark hair as they reclined in the throne room together.

"Forgive me, master," she said. "All of a sudden there were twice as many. And I had no weakness data on the new ones."

"You played the correct maneuver, lovely one," he said, running his fingers through the silky strands of her golden brown locks. "We'll send down another expendable demon and gather more information soon."

She smiled. "You're not mad at me?"

He trailed one fingertip down one of her arms. "Not unless you want me to be." His sinister look was calculatingly sexy and she giggled.

"So, then... Can I play with the puppy?"

He sighed. "I suppose. Give him some good exercise."

She gave him a lingering kiss and he smacked her on the rear as she climbed down from the throne. As soon as she had disappeared into a rift, Catastrophe called for his head minion.

"Xerkxak!"

The henchman appeared through a similar rift and bowed before his master.

"Ready another demon and be prepared for reconnaissance. I want as much information on these new sailor senshi as soon as possible."

"Yes, master."

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Angel reappeared in the dungeon. She smiled down at Yuki, who was shackled to the floor. He was shirtless and his chest bore a few scars he had not yet managed enough strength to heal.

"Hello, puppy."

Yuki did not respond, but he squeezed his eyes shut in pain. He'd tried to talk some sense into her before, but she clearly didn't remember him and saw him only as a prisoner to 'play' with. He hated that Catastrophe had changed her into this sad shadow of her former self. When he remembered the friend he'd had so briefly, it made the pain she inflicted now even worse.

"Time to play." The door opened for her. "I hope you won't disappoint me this time. Try not to pass out so quickly." She walked over slowly and straddled him, crossing her arms over his chest, and leaning her chin on her hands. She looked at him with a smile, seemingly thoughtful, taking delight in the discomfort she was causing him. "What shall we do today?"

In her hand, she created a tiny burst of energy, about the size of a match's light, and tossed it onto his bare chest. He sucked in a quick breath. The little energy blasts only hurt a little at first, but after a while, they did damage and hurt quite a lot, as shown by the scars. It was torture to be slowly burned by the dark power.

She leaned forward and licked his ear, then whispered into it, "Shall I tell you what my master did to me last night?"

This was the part he hated the most; when she would take such pleasure in his pain of having to hear, in exquisite detail, everything that went on between Catastrophe and his eager slave. Then, near the end of the torture, she'd offer to let him out of the dungeon if he'd agree to the same transformation she underwent. She'd ask Catastrophe if he could be her slave and wouldn't that be fun? He spat in her offer each time, and each time, she'd render him unconscious, and then she'd forget about it for a while. But he figured she would only do that for so long. And he dreaded the day he might actually be forced to take the dark power. That would be the day his life would end.

'Please,' he prayed, silently. 'Someone come to her rescue soon!'

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The fire room at the temple was decidedly crowded. The Inners, Outers, Starlights, Zara, and Usagi and Mamoru all sat on one side of the room while the new senshi sat on the other.

Minako, with some helpful details from Ami, had just finished explaining about Catastrophe, Angel, and the plan about the rift.

"But that's probably going to have to be redone, since Angel's a bad guy now," she said, sadly. She looked at Artemis for confirmation.

"Unfortunately, that's right," he said with hesitation. "Until we find out whether or not it's reversible, there's no point in risking our lives to get through the rift and save her."

Zara slammed her fist on the floor.

"But," Artemis added hurriedly, "we ARE going to figure out a way. Ami collected an impressive amount of data tonight. I'll take it to Central Command and analyze it. I'll try and figure out how soon a rescue will be possible. At the moment, protecting Usagi is the primary concern."

"That was the mistake in the first place!" said Zara, angrily.

Everyone looked at her in shock. "What do you mean?" asked Luna. "It's quite clear that Catastrophe IS after Usagi."

"But you're assuming he ONLY wants Usagi, and that's what got Celeste kidnapped. Didn't Usagi tell us that Catastrophe said he wanted to draw out BOTH Sailor Moon AND Sailor Angel that last time?"

No one had considered that. They had just assumed, since all of the villains had been after Usagi in the past.

"I propose," Zara continued, "that we all work together with a different strategy. There's no telling what he'll do. He may be trying to separate us one at a time, and then we'd be weak, since we all work best when working as a team, right? No more of this splitting up. Rather than banding together to protect one... we need to start protecting each other."

"But a senshi's duty is to protect the princess," began Luna.

"Zara has a point, Luna," said Rei.

"Concentrating on Usagi may very well be the thing that gets her killed in the end, if we're split up," added Seiya.

Zara smiled at her two supporters. "And I never said we should stop protecting Usagi, just think about the big picture. We all ought to pair up. Safety in numbers. That way, we'll never be caught alone. No one goes anywhere by themselves."

The rest of the senshi began nodding, conceding Zara's point.

"But I think we should have you introduce yourselves before we start thinking about that," said Artemis, speaking to the Warriors. "Then we can better determine who should pair up with whom."

One by one, the Warriors began to stand up and present themselves.

Wind went first. "Most of you know me already, but for the sake of the new arrivals... I am Warrior Sailor Wind." She held up a wand with a long golden ribbon attached, like a gymnastics tool. "I use the Wind Ribbon to tie up, confuse, and shock my enemies. My home planet is Uranus." She touched the heart that secured the bow on her chest and detransformed. "My name is Pandora. Since I was manufactured, rather than born, my creators thought it appropriate." She sat back down.

The girl who had spoken to Zara earlier went next. She stood up with a bright smile and flipped her long pink ponytail over her shoulder. "I am Sailor Nebula."

"Wait," said Minako. "Why is it that you're just sailor and Pandora is warrior sailor?"

Pandora shrugged. "Some planets prefer the older title, even though our duty is a bit different from yours."

"Anyway," said Nebula. "Sailor Phosphora, well, Zarie, is my cousin..."

"And if any of you call me Zarie, I will have to kill you," added Zara.

"...and so is Cousin Kakyuu," continued Nebula, who was beginning to look a bit annoyed at being interrupted so many times. "By fluttering my wings, I create Rainbow Waves, which can knock a bad guy back while at the same time knocking in some damage. Cool, huh?" She crossed her arms over her chest, closed her purple eyes, and detransformed. Her outfit was decorated with lots of ribbon and frills, almost ostentatiously so. "I'm Twila. My home planet is Kinmokusei. And it's really nice to meet all of you!"

As she sat down, a little girl stood up, but not the same one who had helped defeat Dark Angel. This girl's waist-length hair was pure white and her eyes were red-violet. She wore a stylized sailor fuku in light blue and black and carried a tall, white staff with a star at the top. "I am Warrior Sailor Ice. And I am three hundred and seventy-four years old."

Everyone blinked in disbelief. This little girl couldn't possibly be older than eight!

She sighed. "It's true. My home planet is Mercury, and the ice running through my veins effectively froze my aging process when I was a mere child. It can be an advantage, as enemies tend to underestimate me." She indicated the staff. "I use the Ice Staff as my weapon, but I also use it to heal. I was working as the healer of the planet, since the previous healer was taken by Catastrophe."

"Killed?" asked Ami.

"We don't know. Most likely." She touched the heart at her bow and detransformed. Her clothing was semi-gothic in black, white, and leather. "My name is Ayesha. It means 'small one.'" She cast a glance at Pandora and rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha, ha..."

Next, the other little girl stood up, but she looked older than she had before. Earlier, she had appeared as old as Warrior Ice, but now she looked closer to the age of twelve. "I am Sailor Omega. My home planet is Saturn, and I, too, hold power over death, using the Alpha Rod." She held up the Rod in the air and detransformed. "My name is Maria, but you can call me Marie. I'm so named because it means 'rebellious.' As you may have noticed..." Here, she rapidly shot up in height and suddenly, she looked sixteen. "My body tends to rebel against my age. All of my clothing is made of special fiber that 'grows' and 'shrinks' with me and thank goodness for that..." As she sat back down, she shrank back down to age eight.

Next, a tall woman with blazing short red hair and icy pale eyes stood up. Her stylized fuku was in black and red and she carried a short, slim stick that didn't appear to do anything. "I am Warrior Sailor Fire, and I come from Mars. I use the Fire Stick to blow fire at my enemies."

"You mean that thing?" asked Makoto, pointing to the stick in her hand.

Warrior Fire smiled. "It's more threatening than it looks, which can be an advantage." She touched the heart on her chest and detransformed. Her dress was red, sexy, and augmented with a leather jacket. "My name is Jolie. No special story... Except perhaps that I appear to be the only one of us who is married." She blushed slightly. "But that's a tale for another time."

A graceful woman stood up as Jolie took her seat. She had wavy shoulder-length violet hair and warm brown eyes. Her fuku was in violet and black with a star pendant. She also carried a staff. "I am Sailor Noctra. My home planet is Neptune and I hold power over the night. I can use my powers anytime, but naturally, they are stronger during the evening." She touched the star pendant and detransformed. She wore a comfortable-looking top and skirt in soft colors. "My name is Noel."

Next, another tall woman stood up, the one with the short black hair and the completely white fuku. "I'm Sailor Sol; Jupiter; power over day; stronger during day." She waved one arm across her body and detransformed. She wore a charcoal-colored suit with tasteful white pinstripes. "Name's Alie. You can tell, I don't like to waste words. So don't make me repeat myself, 'kay?"

A sailor in black and yellow stood next. She had electric blue hair that curled into a perfect bob at the ends and bright chartreuse eyes. "I'm Sailor Aurora. My planet's Venus. I can do anything with light. I can bend it and shape it however I want. I tend to use lightning as my weapon of choice." She brought one fist to her chest and detransformed into sensible clothes. "My name is Dawn. Yes, yet another 'meaningful' name."

"Also," said Alie, since the introductions were then over. "In light of your previous conversation about a senshi's first duty is to protect the princess, I should point out that all of you," she indicated the Inner and Outer senshi, "are the princesses of our respective planets, which means we are bound to protect you. So, I think I speak for all of us Warriors when I say we agree with you, Zara."

Ami furrowed her brow. "Wait... Why isn't Pluto represented?"

Jolie, blushing again, answered her. "She's in training. Unfortunately, she's a bit too young to join us right now. She's... um... my daughter."

"How can she be the Warrior of Pluto, if you're the Warrior of Mars?"

"Her father, my husband, is from Pluto." She appeared to be getting more and more embarrassed. Apparently, her private life wasn't something she normally discussed.

"I see."

"Any other questions?"

Usagi raised her hand. "What were your names again?"

Some groans were raised. It looked like they were going to be there a while.

To be continued...