Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.

The Heart Snatchers

A light shot throughout the dark cave. Its source was unknown. It was directed at Sailor Moon, and in a split second, before anyone had a chance to react, it hit her back. A crystal popped out of her chest, glowing and glittery.

Rini screamed out in fear for her mother's life.

All of the Sailor Scouts, in unison, yelled, "Serena!"

Fists clenched, Sailor Jupiter muttered, "Heart Snatchers." The group of evil they had faced after the Doom Phantom had been one of the worse. It had been after the pure heart crystals of innocent people, searching for three talismans that would help awaken their leader, Mistress 9, who, in turn, would wake Pharaoh 90- a black hole of evil. The talismans had been discovered to be in the hearts of other Scouts, two of whom were originally against their pure-hearted way of fighting- Uranus and Neptune. The third, Pluto, the Guardian of Time, was a friend of Rini's, and had actually helped Sailor Moon and her group in the battle against the Black Moon. It was also discovered that Mistress 9 was possessing the body of yet another Scout, the one of destruction- Sailor Saturn. These were Scouts that fought alone and didn't appear unless necessary. Saturn had actually been reborn yet again, and was currently living life over, still as an infant.

The minions of this group had been greatly evolved, in power, not brains, from the Scouts previous enemies. Kaorie Nite had, after being frozen and pushed off of a tower, come back to life, only to be killed again by her masters. The deadly group of assassins, the Witches 5, had all turned on each other or had their own attacks turned against them. Their leader, under Mistress 9, had been Saturn's possessed father, who was back to good.

But, the Heart Snatcher's were dangerous. If they stole a heart and it wasn't immediately put back in, the victim would die, very unlike when someone's energy was stolen.

"You, Idiot! What do you think you're doing? I didn't tell you to steal her heart! What good will that do me? I said kill her!"

"Hello, Queenie, this is how WE fight," Eugial, the pig-tailed red-head of Witches 5 answered.

Kaorie Nite piped up, "Yeah, we're not very good at physical fights, just stealing hearts. We CAN'T kill them any other way."

"Uh, Guys, a little help here?" Sailor Moon whispered. She was slowly losing her life energy. What were her Scouts doing staring at the enemy while she was dying? And they called her the ditz. "Oh, jeez, I forgot how much this hurts."

"Mars Flame Shooter!"

The Heart-Snatching gun was knocked out of Eugial's hands and Sailor Moon's heart crystal floated back into her body.

"No!" Eugial yelled.

"Thanks," Sailor Moon said. She could breathe again, and sighed heavily.

"I told you that stupid gun was obsolete," blonde Mimette yelled at her rival.

"What's obsolete mean?" Cyprin and Peril, the twins, asked in unison. Their red and blue accented black outfits were perfectly coordinated.

"Out of date," Byruet answered. She was the smartest of the group, not that that was saying much.

"Oh," the twins said. But, what did 'out of date' mean? They thought.

"Go, my sweet plant, steal all their heart crystals," Tillulu told her evil flower, preventing the twins from asking their oh-so-important question.

"I don't think so. Moon Tiara Magic!" The Frisbee like head-piece sailed toward the enemy. It hit them dead-on.

"Finally decided to join the fight, huh, Sailor Moon?" Sailor Mars taunted. It was about time.

"Oh, shut up." Sailor Moon turned back to the now injured Heart Snatchers, "I don't know what's going on in here. All six of you are DEAD! But, I'm sick of you all just popping up everywhere!"

"Seven."

"What?"

"There are seven of us, not six," Byruet stated, displaying her genius again.

"Peril is a part of Cyprin. She doesn't count!" Sailor Moon shouted. Even she wasn't that stupid. The girl had, originally, technically, come to be from her 'sister's' magic.

Peril, insulted, yelled, "Yes, I do!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Moon directly hit Cyprin, but both Cyprin and Peril evaporated, proving her point.

"Moon-dusted," Sailor Moon bragged. "See what I mean?" she told her Scouts and the remaining Heart Snatchers, "One person."

"I'm surprised she figured that out."

"Hey!" Moon turned to her future daughter. How dare that ungrateful little brat be so rude! She was trying to save her sorry pink hide!

"Sorry," Rini apologized. Truthfully, she hadn't meant to say that out loud. She knew it wasn't polite to say such to one's mother. Not that that ever stopped her before, but, in front of enemies at least, Rini had been trying to cut back on the offending remarks. Having Sailor Mars do it was enough. And she really did love and respect her mother. In fact, she admired her mother's past self more than anyone else in the world. She wanted to be just like her.

Of course, there was also the fact that Darien got mad at her when she fought with Serena. She didn't like for her future Daddy to be mad at her. And Serena always told him of their fights when he didn't witness them himself.

"Let's finish them off!" Jupiter shouted, interrupting Rini's thoughts. The pink girl turned her attention back to the battle before her. "Jupiter Thunderbolt Crash!" Tillulu was blasted into smithereens. Apparently, the Heart Snatchers hadn't improved their power or fighting skills like the Scouts had, either. As long as no one gets their heart stolen again, this will be an easy fight, after all, Jupiter thought.

"Mars Fire Ignite!" Eugial erupted into a pile of ashes.

"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" Byruet was blinded. "Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Mimette whined, "That's not fair. There're only two of us left!"

"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" The bright beam of energy hit Mimette's body head on. "And now there's only one of you." Venus smiled all cheeky like.

"You little brats," Kaorie Nite yelled. She fired energy blasts at the Scouts, who easily dodged them.

"Ha! You missed us," Jupiter smirked. Oh yeah, she'd been way off. These guys were a piece of cake to defeat.

"Not quite," Kaorie Nite laughed.

"Ooh, stop that cackling," Sailor Moon said covering her ears with her hands. "It's almost as bad as Emerald's." Indeed, both the red and the green haired, tight-clothes wearing villains had had horrifying laughs. It could break mirrors. It could break worse than mirrors. It was awful. Sailor Moon had been so glad when they'd both been disposed of.

"Wait. What's she talking about? 'Not quite'?" Venus asked, beating even Mercury in picking up that fateful phrase.

"Turn around, Morons."

The Scouts turned around, only to see Rini slowly dying from the blast.

"Rini!" Sailor Moon yelled, horror-struck.

Kaorie Nite continued to laugh.

"Super Moon Tiara Magic!"

And the laughter ended.

Sailor Moon rushed to Rini's side.