Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.

The Negaverse

"So, I guess we look familiar, too," Zoicite said as she, Nephlite, and Malachite joined Jedite in a square around Rini.

"Aahh!" Sailor Moon screamed again. What the heck was happening? This couldn't possibly be real. "You can't be here; you're all dead; you hear me, dead, dead, dead!" she said in a hysterical whine.

"Sailor Moon, snap out of it!" Sailor Mars scolded. Sailor Moon was right, of course. The four generals, currently surrounding the child they had come to rescue, were minions of the first enemy the Scouts fought once they were awakened. They were also the group responsible, under their leader Queen Beryl's rule, for destroying the Moon Kingdom. They had been sent to the future, along with the Scouts themselves, by Serenity's mother, when she couldn't defeat them.

But in this life, Mars herself had watched each of their demise. Sailors Moon, Mercury, and herself had turned one of Jedite's own tricks against him, crushing him underneath a plane. He had been alive enough to magically transport himself away, but had been mortally wounded. And they had never heard from him again after. Even if the Negaverse he'd worked for had had some kind of healing device, it was unlikely Jedite had been allowed to use it. Beryl was not known for patience. After numerous failed attempts to collect the human energy she needed and to kill the Sailor Scouts, she wouldn't have saved her first general's life.

Nephlite, they'd discovered, had a heart. He was killed by his rival Zoicite while protecting an earth girl he had fallen in love with.

Zoicite's attitude had been her downfall. After attempting to murder Tuxedo Mask, against her Queen's orders, Sailor Moon was realized to be the Princess. She'd blasted the creep. They'd later been informed, by Zoicite's lover, Malachite, that Queen Beryl had finished the job, killing yet another of her generals.

Malachite, the strongest of the four, had been forced to work with a brainwashed Tuxedo Mask. Constantly trying to outdo him in the Queen's eyes, Malachite had gone up against Sailor Moon and lost.

So, what they were all doing alive again, Sailor Mars couldn't figure out. But, it most certainly wasn't the time for Sailor Moon to freak out.

"Snap out of what?" Sailor Moon questioned. "I'm dreaming. This is all a dream! This can't be happening! This is not happening. They're dead. They are, they are, they are!"

"Shut up, Serena!" Sailor Mars yelled over her leader's wails. Enough was enough. They had to dust these baddies and save Rini.

"Ok, I know Zoicite and Malachite; and I'm assuming that you guys defeated those other two before I came, right?" Sailor Venus questioned Sailor Jupiter. She was out of the loop. Having made her grand entrance into the group just a day before Zoicite's death, Venus hadn't gotten a chance to show off her fighting skills against Beryl's earlier lackeys.

"Actually, Zoicite and I kind of made our entrances together. I have no idea who the others are." Jupiter answered, confused. Likewise, Jupiter had also never fought Jedite or Nephlite.

"That's Jedite and Nephlite," Mercury explained. "I can't figure out how they're alive again, but, putting that aside, Nephlite turned good right before he was killed. So, even if he did somehow come back to life, I don't see how, or why, he's evil again. Perhaps, he found out that Molly's with Melvin, now?" The girl Nephlite loved, Serena's childhood friend, had since moved on and was dating the girls' junior high's resident nerd.

"Oh, my love!" Nephlite wailed. It seemed that this was the first he'd heard of this recent development. "Why did you betray me?"

"You know, I don't really know who any of those people are. But, could someone puh-lease get me out of here?" Rini hollered. What was wrong with these people? Here she was, tied up and surrounded by villains that were apparently from before she'd started to time-travel, and all her supposed saviors could do was talk about an enemy's love life? There was something wrong with that picture.

"Get you out? We can't get you out! You know why? Because this is a dream. None of this is really happening! You know why? Because they are dead. Ok, they are dead. D-e-a-d! Dead!" Moon screamed. Why did no one else seem to understand that it's not possible to come back from the dead? Sailor Moon stopped her crying for a second and stared blankly. Her and her friends had actually come back to life several times, now that she thought about it. But, they were good. That must be it. Only good guys were supposed to come back to life. So then why were those generals back? Moon broke out into a fresh batch of tears.

"I'm surprised you knew how to spell dead. Now will you please GROW UP?"

"Mars, we really don't need you picking on her right now," Jupiter reprimanded. She was starting to get a migraine. Mars really needed to cool down if they were gonna be able to win this fight. Part of the reason the Scouts were so successful in their battles was the fact they knew how to use teamwork, something none of their enemies so far had been able to imitate.

"What? Who's picking? She's being a huge baby. I mean, come on, do you guys realize how much our powers have increased since we last fought them. This'll be a cinch," Mars bragged. Yeah, the whole thing was confusing them all, but, seriously, her fire packed quite a punch, if she did say so herself.

"We'll see about that," Malachite yelled, throwing an attack toward Sailor Moon.

"Sailor Moon, watch out!" Venus yelled, pushing Sailor Moon out of the way, but being hit by the attack herself.

"Wow. That didn't hurt a bit. I thought he was supposed to be the strongest of the four. Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Kissing her palm, Sailor Venus threw an electrifying burst of power at the white-haired man. "One down, three more to go," she finished with a smile. Mars was right. This really was easy.

"I call upon the power of the stars," Nephlite began his century-old mantra.

"He's still on that! Gosh, what an idiot! Mars Flame Shooter!" Sailor Mars finished him off with a deadly arrow of flame.

"Let's see how you take me," Zoicite tossed her long yellow hair over her shoulder and threw an attack at another Scout.

"Jupiter Thundercloud Zap!" The only female general was swallowed by an electric explosion.

"How are you defeating us so easily?" Jedite asked. He backed up a bit before throwing a beam at Sailor Mercury.

"You miscalculated how strong we've gotten since our last encounter. Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Playing her musical harp, Mercury sent a powerful wave straight at the blonde, who soon disintegrated.

"You see, Meatball-head, all that complaining and you didn't even have to fight!"

"They've improved more than I had thought," the queen said to herself, in the privacy of her throne room. But, that was okay. She had gotten plenty of back-ups for just that reason. "You two are up. Get ready."

"Strike one!" the queen's gloomy voice echoed throughout the cavern the scouts were in. "Strike one."