In every city on Earth there is always a run down part of it. Old buildings forgotten and left unused. Either they were homes left vacant or old business buildings left to rot. There were places everywhere one could hide if they really put their mind to it. That is where a certain Paladin and his trusty mount found themselves in. An old building of some business. Probably a manufacturing plant left to rust. No matter. It would serve them well.

The building was filled with the sounds of low, painful moaning. They filled the dusty air and gave it a macabre feeling to it. The awful sounds were coming from a griffon, a creature not of this earth. At least, not anymore. Beside it was none other than Astolfo. He was looking over the creature's chest as he lay on his side. His usually cheerful expression was marred by a frown. His eyes gazed at the burn marks that had happened when that magus had shocked his mount. On top of that, there might even be some internal injuries. Either cracked ribs or worse. He didn't know and that hurt him.

It wasn't just because this griffon was a gift from Bradamante, a close friend of his. No, this griffon was a friend who had been with him on many adventures. To see it out of commission like this was a punch to the gut. He sighed and patted the griffon's side softly.

"It'll be okay, griffy." Astolfo tried to give the creature a reassuring smile, even if it was hard to do at the moment, "I'll get you home in no time. Bradamante will get you patched up and you'll be as good as new."

It gave a small croon, perhaps understanding his intent. Either that or just hearing Bradamante's name gave him a bit of happiness. She was a lovable sort who took great care of animals. Ruggiero was so lucky to have her as a wife. They were so cute together. Seeing them together idly made him consider getting a wife too but he just never had the time. Besides, he never found the right woman to tie the knot with. For that, he was just thankful to be the godfather of whatever kids they might have and tease his friends along the way.

The problem with that is he had to get back home in order to do that. He couldn't help but feel nervous. He had travelled the lands far and wide before. He was used to being in strange places, yet this felt different. He had seen things here in the short time he had been running he had never seen before. Those metal carriages that ran without horses for example. They smelled bad yet they looked so cool. Maybe he'd try one.

He shook his head. He needed to focus. He had to find out where he was so he could go home after he captured the magus. He shouldn't waste any time. People could be dying. As much as he wanted to have fun, and maybe sleep with a pretty lady or two, he wasn't going to let any of that get in his way. He was a Paladin of Charlamagne after all. It was his duty to protect the innocent.

He would do anything to make sure everyone made it out alright. He knew it was silly to think that would be the case. Astolfo may be crazy but he wasn't stupid. Unless he got lucky or Vauquelin wasn't the type to hurt the innocent, someone was going to die. He had seen it too many times before. He gripped his precious ride's fur.

Astolfo promised the people of this land, wherever this was, that he would do everything in his power to protect them. He would take down Vauquelin once and for all. No matter what, even if he perished. That's what it meant to be a Paladin.


Speaking of which, in another part of the city Vauquelin was seething. He was lost. He knew that well enough. He had no idea where he was or even when he was. The little bits and pieces he had seen of this time period were off. Nothing was as it should be. He had hoped to go to the past, where the country was primitive and stupid. There he could gain influence and power, pushing away magus and normal humans alike for his own empire. Yes, that was his plan.

Yet here he was in an unknown time. For all he knew, he was in the future. If he was, this was awful. He had no means of conquering this time period and he had no idea how far the magus had come in the years between his time and this one. There could be magus far stronger than him and he hated that idea. He clenched his fists. He needed to correct this mistake. A mistake those Paladins had caused him. He would be ruler of Europe if not for them. He'd kill them personally or something. Maybe create a legend about how terrible they were. Yeah, being remembered as monsters was a fitting punishment for their misdeeds towards him.

He was currently walking through some of the seedier parts of the city. It kept him out of sight of the local militia or whatever they used and away from that dratted paladin. At the very least he only had to face one. Given how little time there was between his escape and the possible collapse of the portal, he figured that the small woman paladin was the only one to make it through. That was fine with him. He could show one measly paladin who was boss. As well, that electric strike was sure to put that griffon of hers out of commission for a while.

Vauquelin smiled. Yes he may be lost, but sto was that Paladin. She had no idea where she was. No doubt lost and without a way to treat her griffon, her mode of transport was not something she could rely on. Best case scenario the Paladin would lose her life soon enough by the forces of this time. He would of course lose out on the joy of beating her himself but as long as she was dead, his plan could go on. He just needed to make another machine. Yet how was he supposed to do that? He didn't have the resources or man power to pull that off. He needed to find henchmen. He had monsters under his employ but they couldn't create the machine necessary to get to the right time period.

"Hey you," a gruff voice spoke up.

Vauquelin turned his head and quirked his eyebrow when he saw who it was. They were wearing strange black clothing and eyeglasses fully black. Tattoos of some sort were splayed out on the showing skin. They held small rectangular boxes of some sort in their hands. Given how one of them was pointing it at him, it was a weapon of some sort. How did it function? He guessed it fired something since it had no sharp point but how? It was so strange that he didn't pay attention to the man.

"Hey you," the man spoke up again, "Give us your money and we'll go easy on you."

"Hmm?" Vauquelin came back to reality, "Why should I give such lowlives as yourselves any of my currency?"

"Cus we aren't the types to go easy on cosplayers," the man scoffed and took a step forward. "Now give us your money."

Vauquelin narrowed his eyes. If there was one thing he hated above all else, it was other telling him what to do. He was a master of his own life. No one else could order him around, "And I'll tell you to leave now or there will be consequences."

"Do you know who you're talking to?" The bandit, which was basically what they were in his eyes, growled.

"No," the mage gave a dismissive wave of his hand. This was typical bandit attitude. No doubt they were a part of some gang that had some power around here. Said power wouldn't last of course. Another gang or a local lord would put an end to them soon enough.

This only seemed to enrange the man. He thrust out his 'weapon', "Do what I'll said or I'll shoot you."

"Shoot me?" Vauquelin wasn't too familiar with the term. Perhaps it was synonymous with letting loose a bolt of some sort. "I'd like to see you try. A pathetic man like you can't defeat me, Vauquelin. The greatest magus of his time."

"I don't give a shit about who you are," with that the bandit fired. The bullet ricocheted off of Vauquelin's armor, "Eh? It's real-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Vauquelin shot out a ball of fire that sent the bandit falling to the ground. He cried out in pain as his body burned to ash. The others cried out in panic with most of them fleeing. One of them had fallen onto their butt, staring up at him in fear.

"Who-who are you?" The man shakingly said.

"As I said before," Vauquelin smiled, "I am Vauquelin, the greatest magus of his time. I am seeking out aid in my current project and you are just the type of people I need. Care to tell me who you are?"

"We're… we're Yakuza," he gulped.

"Well, whatever a yakuza is, take me to them." Vauquelin said, "I wish to talk to them. Now."

This was a perfect opportunity. Bandits were poor henchmen but they could be useful from time to time. Cowards motivated by money were easy to manipulate and throw away. He inwardly chuckled. It seems things were going his way again.

That's when he picked up the strange box the man dropped as he burned. He looked it over. It fired a small projectile. It had no way of getting through his magically enhanced armor, yet something so small and light that could fire something so fast. This could be useful. No, this would be useful. He couldn't help but grin. Of course. He was in the future. No doubt weapons had advanced so much that they would be able to wipe away pathetic and primitive people with ease.

"What is this?" He asked the man.

"It's a pistol," the man gulped, hoping he wouldn't say anything to earn his wrath.

"A pistol?" Vauquelin said and then chuckled, "Are there more of these 'pistols' with these yakuza?" The man nodded, "Excellent. I want more of this."

Yes, everything was going better than he had hoped.


"-I'm telling you, that's what happened." Minako said at the table. The girls had all come together like they always had at this little diner. It helped them get stuff off their chest and have a good time. Most people didn't pay them much heed since they were teenagers so they could say quite a bit and no one would take anything from it.

Rei Hino, or Sailor Mars, rolled her eyes. She was wearing her typical shrine maiden outfit since she had just come from taking care of her shrine. She was a rather lovely girl with long dark hair and striking purple eyes. Said eyes were usually set in a scowl for one reason or another, "So what you're telling me is that you fought an armored frenchmen and then a small pink haired girl riding a griffon came onto the scene?"

"And that she said she was Sailor Paladin?" Makoto Kino, Sailor Jupiter, said with disbelief. She was wearing a sweater and jeans, which said sweater was doing a poor job of not emphasizing her impressive bust. Her brown hair was set in a single ponytail up top and her striking green eyes stared at her friend.

Minako nodded, "Yep, exactly. That's what she said and that's what happened. You have to believe me. Other people saw it too."

"Well it's not that we don't believe you, Minako." Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon, said. She had twin pigtails which were rather long and let her blonde hair spin out. Her dazzling blue eyes sparkled with concern and kindness, "It's just… hard to picture it all happening."

"Well, it's not like strange stuff doesn't happen to us all the time though." Ami Mizuno, Sailor Mercury, said meekly. She was the shyest of the group and had short blue hair which stood out in a crowd. Her equally blue eyes were always full of the same kindness as Usagi although she was much more timid and not nearly as outgoing as the Sailor Senshi.

"She's got a point there," Makoto nodded, "Did this Sailor Paladin tell you where she was going?"

Minako shook her head, "Nope. She just took off after introducing herself. Seems the cops may have spooked her."

"Can't really blame her," Minako said and leaned back in her seat, "It's always a little awkward to get the law involved with our battles. I'm just thankful that they don't really do that."

"Well it's not their place to do so anyways," Rei huffed, "Well if this girl is really a Sailor Senshi, we have to meet her. She could be in danger or something."

"Not to mention that poor griffon got hurt," Usagi sniffed and wiped away a tear. Then she glared up at the sky and shook her fist, "I won't allow a villain who hurts animals run about my city."

"Shhhh," the rest of the Senshi put a finger to their lips. People may not pay much attention to them but shouting about in public wasn't a good idea.

"Oh right," Usagi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head, "Forgot where we were for a second."

"Classic Usagi," Makoto shook her head with a smile, "Still, Rei's got the right idea. We need to find her. Maybe we'll talk with Luna. She might know something about this Senshi."

"I'll do it," Minako said, "I met her first and it's up to me to do so again. She seemed to like me anyways."

"Instant best friends," Usagi smiled, "Well a friend of yours is a friend of mine. Sailor Senshi need to stick together."

"She's right," Ami smiled, "The world is a dangerous place and we don't know when another big bad will come about. We'll need all the help we can get."

Minako smiled, "Thanks, gals. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Stumble about like an idiot?" Rei quipped causing Minako to glare at her with a pout. Rei chuckled and waved her off, "I'm kidding. I'm kidding."

"Operation Fine Sailor Paladin is a go," Usagi said with gusto. The rest of the girls said 'yeah' as they threw up their arms in jubilation.

"But what about this Vauquelin guy?" Ami said nervously, "He seems like he'll be a lot of trouble."

"We beat Queen Beryl," Makoto said with a snort, "Not to mention some aliens. I think we can take him."

"As long as we work together," Usagi said with a smile, "We can do anything we set our minds to."

Minako smiled. It seems everything would go smoothly this time around. Then again, all of the girls weren't stupid. No doubt this new villain would have tricks up his sleeves like the others. They would be ready for it. They were the Sailor Senshi after all. They would protect this city, Japan, and the whole world as long as they breathed. This was the power bestowed upon them and they would not back down.