Arissa groaned as she slipped in and out of sleep. When she finally awoke, she found herself in a bed that was certainly not her own. The sheets weren't lilac, but rather were an off-white. There were too many pillows and the bed was far too big. She looked at the room she was in as she sat up, wincing from a pain in her back. The room was large and had large windows on either side of a pair of sliding doors that led to a balcony. The walls were a pale red with gold borders. There was a reddish-wood armoire across the room from the bed. One door was partially open and hanging over the door was a female Juuban High School uniform. Arissa's eyes fell upon a door to her left, a simple dining chair at its right. She threw back the covers and turned to get out of the bed, only to be stung with a sharp back pain. She fell back onto the bed, causing the pain to disappear. "I can't let this stop me," she said as she gritted her teeth. "I have to save them..." She sat up again and stood, the pain becoming intense. She walked slowly to the door and stretched out her arm to open the door. The pain nearly blinded her. She grasped the handle and turned, pulling the door open. That was all it took for the pain to knock her out.
"There's no way Arissa can rescue them on her own," Luna said stubbornly. She, Artemis, Morii, and Jakku sat side by side in the living room of Seiya, Taiki, Yaten, and their male counterparts. Sitting opposite the guardians were the four sisters and Yozora, Kuuchuu, and Tsukiyo, the male counterparts to the Starlights. "We must find another solution"
"Luna, there is no other solution," Kuuchuu said. "Arissa will have to rescue them on her own."
"She's far too weak right now," Jakku said. "Her last attack drained too much out of her."
"We have to think of something," Tsukiyo said.
"There is no other alternative," Morii said. "Kuuchuu is right, we have to send Arissa on her own."
"No," Yozora said. "It would be suicide. There must be another way."
"There are no other senshi to help her," Artemis said. "None of us can help her, either. Our only choice is to send her alone."
"Shouldn't it be her choice?" Cooan asked. "She should be able to choose for herself."
"She would choose to help the senshi," Karaberas said, "And she would only get herself killed, too."
"She's more powerful than the others," Petz said. "She'd most likely do better than we give her credit for."
"That powers is what has her bedridden as is," Jakku said. "If we were to allow her to go, she would use more than what she did earlier and in turn she could end up failing that much quicker."
"I agree," Yozora said. "We must simply find another solution."
"We may not need to," Tsukiyo said.
"That's right," Luna agreed. "The senshi are powerful and together, they can get out of anything. They've done it before, and they will do it again."
"Shouldn't someone check on her?" Beruche asked. "After all, she could be awake right not and not know where in the world she is."
"I'll check on her," Yozora said. He stood and took the few steps needed to get to the door. He was about to open it when it opened on its own. Arissa was standing there, doorknob in hand. Before Yozora could say anything, Arissa fell. He reached forward and caught her. Looking over his shoulder, he said, "We really need to find another plan!"
Slowly, her eyes peeked open. Again, she found herself in the strange bedroom. Instead of sitting up, she remained lying down as she looked over the room again. The only difference this time was that the chair by the door was occupied. Sitting in it with his head bent down as if he were asleep was Yozora, Taiki-chan's shadow.
Deciding to chance the pain, Arissa sat up. The pain was minimal and remained that way as she turned to get out of the bed. The creaking of the dining chair caught her attention. She looked over to see Yozora stretching. "Hello there, sleeping beauty," he said with a yawn. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than when I first woke up," Arissa said as she stood. Her standing position didn't last long as pain shot through her legs and threw her back onto the bed.
"You'd better take it easy," Yozora said as he stood and walked over. "That last attack you used drained you." Gently, he lifted Arissa's legs an put them back on the bed. Then he covered her up with the sheets.
"Where a I?" Arissa asked, bewildered and blushing at Yozora's caring.
"This is the apartment that Yaten, Seiya, and I stayed at the last time we were on Earth. Now this is the females' room. I figure they won't mind"
"What time is it? I need to get back to the park! I need to help them!"
"It is only a quarter to ten," Yozora said as he pulled the chair beside the bed. "Besides, you won't be going to help them, at least not alone. Meiou-san has a time key and she will be going to get help later in the evening."
Arissa sighed and looked away. Yozora sat in the chair and watched her a moment. "I have to go, no matter what," Arissa said. "Zeusu set that trap for me, to get to me. No matter what, I have to go."
Yozora looked at her sympathetically and said, "Even so, you won't be going alone." He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump. She looked over at him and found him looking into her eyes. "It would be suicide to let you go on your own. We won't let you."
Arissa smiled slightly, but it disappeared quickly. "I think I'm meant to go alone," she said sadly. "I think Zeusu captured all of the senshi so I would go alone."
Yozora shook his head. "You're not going alone."
"Senshi from the past won't do any good," Ami said. "They wouldn't be powerful enough, even if we went to the Silver Millennium."
"I agree," Rei said. "It would be better to go to the future and ask for Chibi-Usa's help."
"We mustn't go into the future," Setsuna said. "We've intervened with it enough as it is."
"Then why not simply use the time key to send Arissa to the past to prevent it from happening," Hotaru asked. "Wouldn't that work?"
"Doing that could cause something worse to happen," Setsuna said. "We can't take that risk."
"We take the same risk by going into other times to ask for the help of other senshi!" Artemis said. "It is the same thing!"
"We should try to prevent it," Morii said. Jakku nodded in agreement.
"I still have faith in the senshi," Luna said. "They are capable."
"Look, we have two and a half hours until we need a decision," Minako said. "Why don't we drop the subject and relax, then try to think of more ideas in another half hour or so?"
"Minako, the senshi might not have that long," Kuuchuu said.
"We need to keep thinking," Tsukiyo said.
"Still no ideas?" Everyone turned to Yozora as he closed the bedroom door. "I was hoping you would have this figured out by now."
"How's Arissa?" Jakku asked.
"She's awake," Yozora said reassuringly. "Her back was the reason she dropped before, but now her legs won't let her stand."
"At least she's getting better," Cooan said. "Worst come to worst, she'll need to be in good shape to go alone."
"The worst won't come to be," Yozora said stubbornly as he walked to the kitchen. "I've already told her a hundred times that she is not going alone."
"Arissa?" Jakku said quietly as he pushed open the door to the bedroom. It was dark, being half past eleven o'clock. The girls had already returned home after the group decided to send Arissa back to prevent the incident. "Arissa, are you awake? We've made a plan." He jumped onto the bed and then onto the figure that would be Arissa. However, it was too soft. He pushed back the covers and found only pillows. "No! Arissa!" Luna, Artemis, and Morii ran into the room as Jakku leaped over to the balcony doors. They were unlocked and partially open. Jakku pushed it all the way open and ran to the railing.
"Jakku, what is going on?" Luna asked.
"Arissa is gone," Jakku said. "She must have climbed to the roof. It isn't that far away."
"She must have gone to the park," Artemis said. "Come on, let's go!"
The sound of her boots connecting with the sidewalk echoed through the dark, quiet streets as Sailor Keeper Jupiter ran at her full speed. She was panting heavily and pain shot through every limb of her body. In one gloved hand was the phony business card of Jack Emery, glowing brightly as though with warning. Her purple potpourri beat up and down at her skirt, the chain clinking in its own rhythm. Her glasses slid up and down her nose as she neared the park. The closer she got, the brighter the card glowed. 'I can't stop now,' she thought as her heart pounded faster. She made the turn to enter the park, not even slowing down for the turn. As she charged down the path, a faint glowing appeared ahead of her. She didn't slow down, thinking it was a portal. The glow suddenly disappeared, leaving a strange figure in Jupiter's path. She never stopped, not even when the figured turned. It had red eyes and odd pink hair, and didn't move as Jupiter approached, leaving her to smack right into it.
Jupiter and the figure tumbled down the path roughly, coming to an abrupt halt. The pain in Jupiter's tense muscles caught her off guard, plowing into her with all its strength. Yet, she ignored it the best should could as she got to her knees. She looked at the figure and was surprised to see a pink-haired sailor senshi that bore a remarkable similarity to Sailor Moon. Jupiter was speechless as the senshi looked at her and smiled.
"Hello, I am Crystal Sailor Moon!" the senshi said. Jupiter only blinked. "Are you being chased?" Crystal Sailor Moon asked. "Or, are you chasing something?"
"I'm in a hurry!" Jupiter shouted as she jumped up. She tried to run around the senshi, but she was stopped.
"I don't care," Crystal Sailor Moon said. "I'm here for the Amazon Senshi. Can you tell me where they are?"
"They were captured by the enemy and I'm trying to save them and the other senshi!" Jupiter shouted. "Now, let me go!"
"Well then," Moon said, "I'll go with you."
"No, I have to go alone," Jupiter said as she tried to get by. Moon, unfortunately, had a good grip on her arms. Jupiter sighed. "Fine! You can come along but don't get in my way again!" Moon let go and shrugged. As soon as she had let go, Jupiter was running again at full speed. Crystal Sailor Moon ran after her, trying to catch up.
She hadn't caught up by the time Jupiter stopped. She was back where the senshi had first been captured. She looked at the glowing card as Crystal Moon caught up. "Is this where we stop?" she asked as she tried to catch her breath. Jupiter nodded. The glowing card left her hand and floated above the two senshi. "What is that?"
"Our ticket," Jupiter replied. The card burst, shedding rainbow-colored dust around them. The dust formed into a sphere, melting, spreading, and connecting into a solid, opaque one. They felt the sphere left off of the ground with a jolt. The found it difficult to stand and so took to sitting.
For a while, neither spoke. Crystal Sailor Moon often stole glances at Jupiter, until she broke the silence. "So, are you Sailor Jupiter?" Moon asked.
Jupiter shook her head. "No," she said.
"Then, you are Jupiter's keeper," Moon said. "I'm from the future, so I'm not so familiar with all of you."
"Did Setsuna send you here to help me?" Jupiter asked.
Moon shook her head and said with a giggle, "Setsuna Oba-san? No, Guardian Ganymede sent me here to take the Amazon senshi and the four cosmetics sisters to the future with me."
"Good," Jupiter said. "If they are in the future, the enemy can't get them."
They sat in silence a while more. Suddenly, the sphere burst, sending the two surprised senshi into darkness.