Chapter 3

Scouting

"Wow! I love this shirt!" Serena and Mina exclaimed together. They looked at each other with challenging eyes and made for the shirt and started a tug-o-war. The other three scouts stared in horror as the shirt started to stretch.

Raye jumped in just as the shirt made a sickening ripping sound, just before the actual rip would have taken place. "I can't believe you guys! Grow up!"

The two blonds had sweat drops and waved away invisible things floating in the air. Lita joined Mina at her side and patted her on the back like a little child. Mina threw her a look of rebellion and walked over to Raye, snatched the shirt, and ran for the changing rooms before Serena knew what was going on. However, she would not have noticed at all because she had already lost interest in clothing and was purchasing a slushy from the nearest food stand. Everyone shook their heads with annoyance and began their own browsing expeditions.

Serena sat down at a table and started to sip her slushy happily. As she drank she noticed a shadow cover the table.

Curious, she looked up, "Rini! What are you doing here!" surprised she gave a little jump.

"Shh! I'm not staying long. I just wanted to talk with you. If Daddy finds out I'm here I'm in big trouble."

She's gotten older! Almost a teenager now! How time must have flown. Tears almost fell at the sight of her future daughter, but she held them back.

"I can't really talk to my mom about anything right now in my present time. So I decided to come and confide in you. Mommy has been very stressed out lately. I don't know why, she won't tell me. I don't think anyone else knows either, I'm not sure. She is the only one who seems to be worried.

"I wish I could help, but I'm out of the loop. I think my daddy may know something, I just don't know what," her pink hair was now very long, and it fell over her face and hid her pained features.

"Oh, Rini, I'm sorry, your mother…I… tend to take the world on my own shoulders. I don't want others to worry, and I know your mother would never want you to worry," Serena leaned over and stroked her hair, she's about my age now, Serena realized. What if the Queen knows what will happen? How can that be, this threat comes from the future. She could not know what will happen. "Don't worry, Hunny," she tried to sooth her as best as possible.

She looked up and saw that her other friends were heading over. Rini noticed too. She got up, "I've got to go, no one else can see me! Pluto let me get by this one time, but only if no one else saw me! Bye…Mommy." Serena blinked; this was certainly a different visit between the two. As she stared Rini began to vanish, amazingly it was so discrete that it was hard to believe that she had been there only one second ago. It hurt her to see the girl go; she wanted to converse with the pink haired girl a little longer.

"Serena, do you still want to look around?" Amy asked as they approached the table. She shook her head, feeling a bit alone again. The others didn't seem to notice. "Okay, come on, let's go then." Serena took the blue haired girl's hand and let herself be led out of the shopping center.

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Serena sat on her bed while she listened to the black cat's advice. Luna was telling her not to look so worried about this new enemy. She was reassuring her that she was prepared for any and all enemies. She was Sailor Moon. She would conquer all evil. Artimus happened to pop his head in the window at that exact moment and nodded his head in agreement as Mina opened her bedroom door.

"Hey, hey Serena, you're mother let me in," the blond grinned and sat herself by the surprised girl. "How are you doing?" her grin disappeared and was replaced with a concerned frown.

"Hey, Mina! I'm good, you guys really don't need to be asking me that you know. I'm dandy!"

'Dandy.' That was not too comforting for Mina. "Serena, I won't pry. I promise I won't, but we are all just so worried about you, especially Darien," Mina had no sense of cheerfulness, she was all business.

Serena only looked at her face not saying anything. Her stare did not waver either. Mina sighed and decided to change the subject to something more comfortable.

"I bought the shirt," she grinned. Serena jumped up and screamed her ecstatic surprise then begged her to try it on. So Mina went into the bathroom and switched shirts quickly. Serena squealed at how cute Mina looked and told her so.

Then a thought struck her. "Wait," her eyes narrowed. "How does it fit you so well? I swore I heard that thing rip and I know I saw it stretch."

Mina giggled madly, "Oh, I actually found another shirt just like it! The luck, we thought it was the only one left!"

Meanwhile, as the two chit-chatted, the two cats huddled in a corner and talked amongst themselves.

"How is she doing, I heard she was a little off yesterday after that telepathy incident." Artimus inquired.

"I think she is fine now, ever since she woke up this morning she's been back to normal." Luna looked a little concerned but seemed relieved that nothing seemed to be wrong. The white cat nodded and they started to talk of the new enemy.

"What do you think of this enemy?" he asked presently.

Luna shook her head, "I really can't say, especially since I was not there."

"Mina said she seemed familiar,"

"Yes, Serena said the same thing," Luna paused, "Darien is so worried about her, when I talked to him he told me that she did not tell him what was on her mind. I have not talked to him today though. I think we should tell him Serena seems to be alright now." Her companion nodded and they both jumped out the window deciding to walk to his apartment instead of having him called. They both thought they needed to discuss the new enemy a bit more privately.

"So, how is school for you Mina, aren't you excited? We will be in high school next year! We will be in the same school to boot!" Serena laughed, genuinely excited.

"Yeah! I can't wait to share school adventures with you guys, finally!" Mina paused, thinking, "Is Raye going to go to the same school too?"

"You know, I don't know," Serena sat and pondered.

"Oh well, we can just ask her later," Serena agreed.

Serena chewed on her lower lip a little, "You know, I've been thinking. Usually the enemy or their minions would have already confronted us at least. This new lady has not even made a move yet."

"Serena, it's only been a day," Mina replied, but tensed at the thought all the same. "Well, perhaps if you are really worried, we should live up to our name and 'scout.'" They both laughed and agreed.

Serena whipped out her communicator and contacted all the remaining scouts at once. "Guys, I think we should go and scout the city for that lady, or at least anything strange. It'd be better if we all transformed. It will be faster and easier to find anything suspicious."

"Right!" they all answered simultaneously. As she was about to close the connection she could still hear all the scouts call out their transformation phrases, eager to be able to help relieve Serena from her stress.

"Mars Star Power!"

"Mercury Star Power!"

"Jupiter Star Power!"

The two blonds stared at each other for a moment and they both nodded, then Mina stood up. She raised her power stick and called, "Venus…. Star…. Power!"

Serena watched as her clothes changed and took a deep breath, it's time to be a leader. She got to her feet and raised her broach, "Moon…Crystal…POWER!"

The two bounded out of the window and stood on the roof trying to decide which way to go. "Should we split up?" Serena asked, but Mina decided against it, she didn't want to leave her friend alone in the state she was in, even if she didn't let others sense it, but Mina didn't mention that. They jumped to the ground together and ran down the road towards Serena's school.

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The two cats made it to Darien's and told him about Serena's current mood. Darien was not satisfied. He still felt useless. He knew Serena was concealing something, but what was it? Luna's ear twitched and both the moon's on the two cat's foreheads glowed faintly. Darien looked up. They could sense that the girls had transformed, but why? Darien tensed; he could not sense anything out of the ordinary. They must be scouting about, he decided to himself. The cats must have thought the same thing because they settled themselves back down. He, however, stood up.

"I'm going to go to Serena and help her with whatever she needs my assistance with," Darien stated, and transformed into Tuxedo Mask. The cats nodded and watched as he jumped out of his window and landed perfectly balanced on the neighboring roof.

As Darien went on looking for Sailor Moon she came up behind him. "Darien! I was looking for you!"

"Hey, Tuxedo Mask," called Sailor Venus from a little behind.

"Hey, you guys," Darien smiled. "I was looking for you too."

Mina giggled at how she could sense mushy stuff coming on, "Well, I think you guys can scout this area. I'll go towards the radio tower since that's where that lady first confronted us," the two nodded and watched her as she leaped over houses and buildings until they could not see her anymore.

"How are you today, Serena?" Darien turned to her.

"I'm fine. This new enemy just has me restless, so I had everyone go out and look for anything suspicious," Darien nodded. He felt relieved; she was much more at ease at the moment.

"Darien, I want to tell you something," he looked over at her. As she opened her mouth to speak a big explosion behind her caused the girl to fall into Darien's strong arms. They both looked into each other's eyes then looked behind her, alarmed.

They both breathed out their tenseness as they just saw a bunch a construction workers tear down a building in a demolition site with a powerful crane. They both laughed a bit as Serena realized that she was still in his arms. She stood up and placed her arms around his neck.

"Darien," she looked up at him pausing for a second.

"Yes?"

A purple crystal grazed her cheek that next second. Serena jumped back shocked. She touched her cheek and felt the warm blood seep through her gloves, and slowly spill from the slash. Darien looked up and around to find where that crystal had fallen from. As he looked he sensed something behind him. He turned around and saw a lady floating in a red, dress, with slits on both sides of her legs falling all the way from the hips. He stared at her, not sure what to make of the situation. She was just floating there, not making a move. He then noticed her jewelry. They were all dark purple. He could sense the evil emanating from them. He knew that power! Could it be…

The woman tore off one of her earrings and threw it like a dagger at Sailor Moon once more, but Tuxedo Mask was quick and was able to get her out of the way in time. This was not the same lady that they had seen at the Baking Festival. She must be a subordinate of the mysterious enemy.

"Who are you?" Tuxedo Mask demanded.

The solitary figure did not answer. She responded by ripping off her other earring and threw it as well. He dodged it easily and saw it land snugly in the ground. Those things were sharper than knives! He glared at her. She did not make much effort to attack them, but he could tell she was very dangerous.

"Answer me!" he yelled. Sailor Moon was getting over her surprise and was whipping out her scepter. Tuxedo Mask threw a rose at her and it sliced through the soft skin of the enemy. The woman did not even seem to feel it.

"You are right, Darien, " came a voice that echoed through the air. "That is a drone of mine."

Darien turned around searching for the source of the voice. She was reading their minds! Serena raised her scepter.

"Attack." Said the deadly, familiar voice.

The jewel wearer thrust herself at Sailor Moon as her bracelet slid off her wrist and into her hand, expanding into a sword. Serena blocked the move with her scepter and kicked at the villain's stomach. The villain moved away before the moment of impact. The Sailor Scout realized that she would need to weaken this monster before she could possibly dust it.

She threw up her scepter and it disintegrated into sparkling dust. Then she pulled off her tiara. It started to glow as she called out its magical phrase.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she threw the tiara straight at the villain. It dodged it just in time and lunged at her once again. Once more Sailor Moon's scepter appeared into her hand as the jeweled sword almost sliced into her face. While the demon was distracted, Serena made another kick at the woman's side and made contact this time. As she fell to the right, the tiara had boomeranged back and hit her in the back. Serena silently cheered herself on. It did not kill the woman, but she knew that it wouldn't. It was too strong for that. Her tiara had lost most of its power, for some reason, during the time when Allen and Ann had arrived on earth. She was able to get back some of its power, but was never able to revive it completely. The woman began to back up again, and threw another earring that had just seemed to appear on her ear again. This one struck Serena through the leg. She screamed.

"No! Sailor Moon!" Darien yelled. He threw a shower of roses at the lady and rushed to his love's side. "Now, Sailor Moon!"

"Right…" she winced, but was able to stand up. "Moon… Scepter… Elimination!"

The monster tried to dodge, but was too slow with the repeating shower of roses and all her wounds. As she turned to dust, the couple heard the evil laughter of the vanquished creature's master.

"Did you have a nice work out?" more laughter. "I've forgotten how strong you are at this age. Well, no matter. You are still no match for me. Don't take me likely, my old friend." The venom seemed to pour out with her words. "So, how did you like my creation? She was made from the flames of mars and the essence of the dark crystal."

Darien's eyes narrowed. I knew it. That power I sensed from it, I knew it was the power of the dark crystal.

Serena gasped, "How did you get that?"

"Well, that's an easy answer," her voice paused, "it found me."

"What do you mean by that?" the sailor soldier gasped from the pain in her leg.

The voice only laughed as it faded away. The remaining sailor scouts were rushing over to the scene sensing the danger.

"Sailor Moon, you're hurt!" Sailor Mercury gasped. She ran over and tore some of her ribbon to tie around the injured part of her leg.

All the scouts began to cluster around Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, interrogating the two about what had just happened.

"Okay, guys, let's go somewhere a little better to talk," Tuxedo Mask interrupted.

The others nodded and they all followed Sailor Mars back to the temple. Darien picked Serena up to carry her back, instead of having her make the trip back on her injured leg.

"Darien, you are being such a worry wart," Serena commented. "You don't need to carry me. I'm fine, really. You have been so worried about me since yesterday. I'm fine." He looked down at her but did not put her down. He knew he was being over protective, but he could not help himself. Serena sighed; she didn't mind too much, she liked the romantic feeling of it. Smiling she rested her head against his chest as he continued to follow the others.

Darien set her down on a step behind the Cherry Hill Temple where no one would see them. The other scouts untransformed. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask did the same. Serena looked down to get a good view at the wound on her leg. The pain seemed to have subsided a little making her remember the cut on her cheek. Raye looked at the wounds closely while Darien sat by Serena and watched.

"I'll be back. We've got some medicine in the house," she left quickly to find the materials.

"I'm fine you guys," Serena reassured them.

The other girls just smiled. "So, what happened?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, we're sorry we were not able to come help you," added Lita as she pulled back her brown hair into a new ponytail. Serena smiled and told them it was okay. She told them the whole story when Raye came back and began to dress her wounds. The audience listened intently trying to help decipher anything that they could to help them figure out anything about this new enemy.

"Serena, did you say that she claimed that her adherent was forged from the fires of mars?" Raye asked edgily.

Serena nodded, "Yeah, I was surprised too."

"That is so weird," Raye looked up at the sky, deep in thought. "We did think she was familiar right? Well, maybe we know her as one of the Dark Moon enemies. You did say that she used the dark crystal too."

Amy spoke her opinion, "That is a possibility, but I don't think so. Everyone was destroyed, or was turned to the good side. Besides, we do know her, she has made that clear. She must be from the future."

"I wonder why she seems so familiar to us then," Mina interjected. The rest of them nodded.

Serena looked out of the corner of her eye. Darien hadn't said anything during the whole conversation. He looked deep in thought. Serena reverted her attention to the other girls and listened to them analyze the situation. As she listened she felt something soft brush against her leg. She flinched as she looked down.

"Luna!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm alright, it's only a little wound. I've had worse." She smiled at the cat. Luna jumped onto her lap and purred. As she looked up she saw Artimus jump into Mina's arms. Serena smiled, it was nice to have everyone here together. She leaned over on Darien's shoulder. He broke his gaze and glanced down at Serena. His glazed eyes began to focus on the girl watching the other teenagers discuss the matter at hand.

"What do you think, Darien?" Raye asked suddenly.

"About what? Sorry, I was lost in thought," he replied.

"About where we know the woman from," Mina piped in.

"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking, however, about what she said about how she made that adherent of hers. I was thinking that if she made it with Mars's flames, that perhaps she is staying on Mars."

Everyone stared. Serena sat up straight to see him better. The girls looked at each other turning over the possibilities. Raye nodded, she believed that was a very likely possibility. Raye's eyes darkened. How dare she desecrate her own planet? She felt it was a bit personal at this point. Serena noticed the looked.

"Raye, don't worry. We'll get her out of there soon." Raye seemed to come out of her angry thoughts and nodded.

"She's so scary when she looks like that!" Mina whispered into Lita's ear. Lita nodded her head fiercely, a sweat drop on the back of her head.

"Serena, what did Greg tell you?" Amy asked quietly.

The other girls all looked at Amy, and then fixed their gaze on Serena. Greg had said something to Serena? Perhaps that was why she was so upset yesterday.

"What? Oh, he did not say anything of importance." She looked up at all of them. "Really, he didn't. It doesn't mean anything anymore." Amy sighed and turned away.

"I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," she jogged into the house and disappeared. Serena looked down, she was being so cruel, but they would find out soon.

The others looked at each other with curious looks, but did not say anymore about it. They picked up the conversation again, talking about the next plan of action.

"I think that we should just wait a little longer. We don't know anything about this enemy, and if we try and confront her now, then we may be at a major disadvantage." Artimus stated. The others nodded, knowing that was very true.