Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 16: Bark to school.

By Razor Knight
Last update: November 14, 2012
Last edited: May 25, 2017

Terry walked into the classroom, and saw there was only one other person in there, and it was someone he hadn't noticed before.

"Uh... Hi."

The girl looked at him from her seat. "Hello."

She either didn't know who he was, or didn't care. He wasn't about to complain, though. "I haven't seen you before, are you new?"

"Yeah."

"I knew it, I never forget a pretty face."

The girl stared at him for a second. "I was told you were gloomy and unfriendly."

"I'm slowly getting over the first part of that rumor, and the second is partially true. I'm not friendly to anyone who stalks me around the city."

"I suppose I wouldn't be friendly, either, in that case. Name's Yukiko Hokuge, by the way."

"Nice to meet you... I suppose you already know who I am."

"Terry Zephyr," Yukiko said. "I'm more interested in other celebrities in this area, actually."

"Other celebrities?" Terry smiled at that, then nodded. "I know what you're talking about. The Senshi."

"You know them?"

"Not personally," Terry lied, "but they've saved my rear before."

"Nobody seems to know who they are. It's strange, since they wear no masks..."

"I know the cause of that. They're using some sort of magic trick, it makes you not able to remember what their face looks like, even if you try hard. It also distorts their faces in any film or picture taken." He had tested all that while fighting alongside the Senshi, of course, but he wasn't about to tell Yukiko that much.

"Is it true that they're using magic?"

"It's either magic, or some unknown technologic gadgets. The one who saved me summoned some sort of mist which lowered the area's temperature a few degrees, and didn't let me see past my nose."

"Sailor Mercury."

Terry almost flinched at that. This girl had really done her homework. "Yeah, I guess that's her name."

"Hey Terry, who's that?"

Terry turned at Naru, and was about to answer, but Umino, who had entered the classroom right after her, beat him to it.

"She's Yukiko Hokuge, came from Hokkaido a couple days ago and signed up for this school. She's a big fan of the Senshi, from what I've gathered."

Yukiko stared at Umino for a few seconds before shaking her head. "So the rumors are true about you."

"No, I don't know that much about the Senshi," Umino said, guessing what she was about to ask. "They're very good at hiding and vanishing after their fights."

"Gee, they're quite hard to meet, then."

"Not really," Naru said, "just walk around the city, wait for a youma to attack you, and you'll meet them... Unless the youma knocks you unconscious before they arrive."

"Sounds like a plan?" Yukiko joked.

"That new girl in our classroom is weird," Usagi said.

"She's not weird, she just has a... Particular fixation on the Senshi."

"Huh, what new girl?" Ami asked.

"Yukiko Hokuge, another transfer student. Kinda cute, but she seems to only care about Senshi."

Ami blinked at that. "As long as she's not another general in disguise..."

"I don't think so, they're either old creeps or old ladies," Usagi noted.

"I don't think those women look that old... Thirty, at most," Terry said.

"See, old ladies!" Usagi said.

The three were talking right outside the school, but fell silent as Yukiko walked by.

She turned and looked at them. "Oh, hi Zephyr."

"Hi, Hokuge."

Yukiko kept walking, but then turned to them. "Tell me, about the other part of those rumors..."

Terry sighed. "Depends on what you heard."

"Your girlfriend died and you came to Japan to look for her murderer."

"I came to Japan because there were too many painful memories back home."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Don't trust rumors, most of the time they only tell you part of the truth, or just lies."

Yukiko nodded. "Guess that's right. Hey, I know Tsukino, but..."

"I'm Ami Mizuno," Ami said with a bow. "Nice to meet you."

Yukiko's eyes widened. "Oh, you are the genius girl?" She looked at her, then Terry, and smiled. "You guys look cute together."

"What, we're not..." Terry started, but saw Yukiko was walking away. She turned and saw Ami was blushing a deep shade of red. "Ami?"

"I'm... Okay," Ami said.

"I agree with her."

"Cut it off," Terry muttered.

Usagi flinched at the way he was staring at her. "Sorry, just a joke."

"Nevermind, let's just..." There was a shout coming from inside the school. "The youma are attacking here?"

"We need to find a place to change," Ami said.

There were some flashes of light inside the building, and the three watched as one of the hunters was thrown out of the building, landing near them. "Fuck, that hurts."

Terry frowned. That was Spanish, Calisto was being too careless... But there was no time to think about that now. "Let's go!"

Calisto saw the three run away. "That was Zephyr... So those two may be Senshi."

Just then, Nephrite appeared near her. "I'm not done with you yet."

"Dark Core!"

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Guess you are," Calisto said as Nephrite was knocked back by both attacks.

"Who is he after this time?"

"They attacked a girl inside the school, and knocked out anyone who was still in there."

"Let's go, then, the others shouldn't be far from here," Nemesis noted.

"I guessed as much," Calisto said, mostly to herself.

Jupiter stared at the building in shock. "Are those... Vines?"

"I suppose whoever was attacked was another carrier," Nemesis said.

Circe and Mira were in quite a rough spot. The target had turned into a strange creature while they tried to beat Luminite. Her skin was a sickly, pale green, her hair was dark green and vine-like, and bark served as clothing.

"Bolt!"

Luminite dodged to the side. "You kids are annoying."

"Thanks, we try, Mira said. "But I think you should see what's behind you."

"I won't fall for that -"

"Moon Tiara Action!"

Luminite barely had time to dodge the disc. "Damn it, the Senshi are here already. Aruboru, get them!"

"What, and who, is she?" Zero said looking at the creature.

"I suppose that's a Spriggan," Mercury noted.

Moon gave Mercury a blank stare. "Spriwhat?"

"They are ancient nature spirits," Mercury explained. "Maybe the Spriggans are based in this monster, after all."

"Fireball!"

"Spark!"

"Wisp!"

Moon flinched as she saw Luminite being knocked through the wall. "Guess we should take care of the tree lady."

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Dark Core!"

The two attacks hit Aruboru, but only made her stagger back. "Okay, she's strong."

"She's absorbing energy from plants and trees in the area," Mercury explained, "the longer we wait, the stronger she'll be."

"I got this. Moon Tiara Flight!"

The tiara hit the creature and bounced away, looping around and hitting it a second time, then a third. By the fourth hit, the creature was down on her knees, but so was Moon.

"Damn, it's still not enough."

"Moon Tiara F-" Moon started to stand up, but instead fell on her back. "Sorry, I'm out of power."

Aruboru let out a screech, and several vines shot up from the ground. Mercury, Moon, Jupiter and the three Hunters were caught by them, while Zero and Nemesis managed to avoid them.

"Dark Core!"

The creature chuckled as the attack hit one of the vines harmlessly. "Weakling. One of you won't be enough to defeat me!"

"Then what about two? Fire Soul!"

Zero gasped as Mars' attack caused the youma to scream in pain. "Of course, fire should be quite strong against her."

Mars smiled. "Then let me take care of this one. Fire Soul!"

Aruboru screamed in pain again as the second jet of fire hit her. "That hurts, but it's still not enough!" She sent more vines forth, and they caught the three who were still free.

Mars flinched as the vine wrapped around her squeezed her. The others were trying to break free, but not even Jupiter was strong enough to do it. If she could hit that tree girl again, then maybe she could... No, her attacks weren't strong enough. She closed her eyes and focused. Yes, she could feel it, that's what she needed to do!

Nephrite had managed to crawl into the building, and saw Luminite trying to stand up. "Aruboru's got them."

"Not for long!" Mars said. "Mars Fire Soul Bird!" The fire this time didn't shoot from her hands, but run through her whole body, turning the vines holding her into ashes. As Mars looked up, the fire stood there, slowly changing its shape to resemble a bird.

And the bird shot forth, hitting all of the vines without harming any of Mars' allies, and finally wrapping Aruboru in flames. The Spriggan fell to her knees, screeching in pain, until she fainted. The flames around her vanished as her form returned to that of a normal human.

"Damn it. Aruboru, return to me!"

Mars turned to attack Luminite, but saw the Generals had already vanished. "Cowards."

Zero walked to her. "That was quite a cool attack, pun intended."

The Fire Senshi fell to her knees. "And tiring." She looked around "so, the Generals got that crystal."

"We'll just have to punch them around until they give it back," Jupiter said with a shrug.

"Ugh... My head..."

The group turned to see the target standing up. It was none other than Karin Chiba. "Are you okay?" Moon asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked around and flinched. Charred tree branches hung from the walls, and she could see said walls were quite wrecked. "Crap, did I do that?"

"You were possessed by a youma... It was quite a strong one," Mercury explained. "But it's over."

"You guys gonna be done fighting these things soon?"

"We're doing all we can to stop them," Mercury said.

All they could. Moon shook her head at that, but said nothing. "Guys, we need to leave."

"Yeah, they may make us pay for this mess," Mars joked.

"I could, but I won't," Zero said, also joking.

Karin watched them leave and sighed. They were a weird bunch of heroes, but they had saved her, so she wouldn't complain.

"Are we, really...?"

The group was back to their normal forms, and walking away from school. Usagi's question caused the others to stop and look at her. "What do you mean?"

"What Ami told Karin back there. 'We're doing all we can.' We only won the last two times because me and Rei got an upgrade out of nowhere. And even my new attack did little against this youma."

Rei sighed. "Well, we are doing all we can. We'll have to trust our own power."

"Or you could train," Terry said.

"Train?" Mako frowned. "I don't know if that will help us."

"You all could use some practice, specially those who are, honestly, useless in melee combat. Throwing energy blasts around won't always solve all our problems."

"And who's going to train us, you?" Mako said.

Rei shook her head. "He could actually..."

"Or I could check if Hakko is available."

"But we can't go to a normal gym to train our powers. And I wouldn't like to wreck Terry's house," Ami noted.

"I'll see what I can do, but it may take a while."

Usagi sighed. "I don't like fighting, and I would rather just stay home and do nothing, but... I don't like to see my friends get hurt."

"I still don't see how this guy could help us train," Mako muttered.

"Want me to show you?" Terry said.

"I would love to, but Usagi will be mad at me if I hurt you."

Terry smiled slyly. "How can you hurt what you can't touch?"

Usagi saw the two were quite ready to start punching each other. "Guys, wait!"

Rei shook her head. "They're not going to fight, at least not in the way we fight those Generals."

Ami smiled. "It's a kind of training, too."

Naru just watched the two get ready. She actually knew these two would not hurt each other on purpose, but still...

Mako rushed in without warning, going for a jab. Terry caught her arm and tossed her over his shoulder. "Come on, Mako, stop fooling around."

"Okay, you're good," Mako muttered as she stood up. She charged again, apparently going for the same move again, but Terry noticed her other arm in time to avoid the feint. "Not done yet," Mako snapped. She had tried an uppercut, but as Terry dodged, she used her other arm to deliver a rather strong elbow to the chest.

Terry stood up and smiled. "Now that's better. Who taught you to fight like that?"

"I taught myself," Mako said before rushing in again. She tried to kick his side, but Terry blocked it, grabbing her leg and knocking her down to the ground. She rolled to the side to avoid a stomp, then came up with an uppercut... Connecting at the same time as Terry's punch hit her face.

"Okay, enough of that," Usagi said as the two fighters fell to the ground again. She walked between the two and stared at them in turns, her face unreadable.

"I agree," Terry said. "I've seen enough. You're quite good, Mako, but your style is wild."

Mako stood up. "And you're not bad, yourself. Didn't think you would fight me without holding back."

Terry frowned at that. "Huh? Why?"

"Because every guy I've fought underestimated me. They were always sorry they did, though."

"A warrior is a warrior, gender is just a footnote."

Rei smiled. "That sounds like Hakko."

"Yeah, he told me that. I soon learnt what he meant when I started training with Hana."

Usagi saw Terry's face change for a split second, but he was back to normal after that. "Terry..."

"Don't worry, I'm okay," Terry said. "In any case, I think you could all use the training."

Usagi winced at the thought. "You would beat me up in no time."

Terry looked at her straight in the eyes. "So what? I still remember the first time I trained with Hakko. He used me as a punching bag for a month or so. But training got me where I am today."

"So, you were used by Hakko as a punching bag, just so you could be used by youma and Mako as a punching bag?" Rei joked.

Terry stared at her for a minute then laughed. "I guess so. I would challenge you to a fight, but I've already had one pretty girl beating me up today."

Rei blushed slightly and looked to the side. "Don't tempt me, I'll just call my new pet bird."

The guy flinched. "Uh, I'll pass."

Mako saw some army trucks speed by and frowned. "Guys, I'll see you later."

"What was that about?"

"Who knows," Rei said.

Saiko Rakurai walked out of the school building and gave a long, theatrical sigh. "The Senshi really wrecked this place."

"Those youma did a lot of damage too."

Saiko turned to the man and nodded. It wasn't often that Kino decided to leave his office, but she knew he had a good reason to be here. "She's not here."

"Then, she may have left before the attack started."

"Want me to check the..."

"I'm still alive, Saiko."

The two turned to see Mako standing there. "Good, we were worried."

"I guessed as much, that's why I came back."

"Seems like this one youma gave them a lot of trouble."

"I was still around when it started," Mako said, "and there was a nice view of the fight after they blew a hole into the front wall."

"Everyone was apparently too busy running away to see what happened," Saiko commented.

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Anyhow, there was some plant girl fighting the Senshi, and I saw Sailor Mars using some sort of huge fire bird to beat that youma. It was awesome."

"That would explain why everything in that particular classroom is burnt to ashes," Kino admitted.

"I wonder what their suits are made of, though. None of them seemed to be affected by the flames."

"We'll ask them next time we see them," Saiko said. "Anyhow, you should go home, this place's going to need some repairs..."

"Does that mean school's out for a while?"

"Possibly," Kino said.

"I know at least one of my friends will be glad to hear that."

"... And the youma left, and took that crystal with them."

Aries heard the report and frowned. "That crystal shard was, if legends are to be trusted, a fragment of the Ginzuishou."

"The what?"

"Ginzuishou. A legendary crystal used by the Moon Senshi, it boosts the user's power exponentially, and was rumored to have many abilities. Legends say the last Moon Senshi destroyed it, but fragments of it could still be around."

"What if the youma get more of those pieces?"

"They could use them as sources of energy," Aries guessed, "or maybe the crystal wasn't quite 'destroyed' as much as split into pieces. If that's the case, a Moon Senshi should be able to restore the crystal."

"So if the Senshi gather all those pieces, they could win this war?"

"The Moon Senshi in their team is weak and lacking experience. Even with that crystal, it may be hard for her to defeat the youma. But it will still help turning the tide."

"Okay, I get it. Next time we see those crystals, we'll try getting them."

"Unless the Senshi are around. We don't want them to think you're trying to keep those crystals for yourself."

"Agreed. The two Senshi who upgraded lately could kick our rears, so I don't want to get on their bad side."

"You're doing a good job, all circumstances considered, Mira. Keep it up."

"Thanks, mother."

A/N: For those who read Cyber Moon: Yes, Yukiko is already around. When I re-read Cyber Moon after "finishing" it, I realized she didn't show up as much as I would have wanted her to. You can see how I intend to fix that.

I could add Calisto's Spanish in actual Spanish (my native language,) but that would look odd compared to how I deal with other "foreign" languages being spoken in my fics.