Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 2: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 27: Toy robot.

By Razor Knight
Last update: February 24, 2013
Last edited: May 27, 2017

One month had passed since the defeat of the Dark Kingdom, and the Senshi had recovered from that war. Pluto looked at Tokyo from her post and smiled. The Senshi didn't know it, but she had been the one bringing them back from that place, and she had closed the link between both worlds. It could be opened again, someday, but she knew that wouldn't happen for a long time.

But peace wouldn't last much longer. And she would be ready to help them, when the time was right.

"So, if we're not going to the mansion, where are you taking us?"

"Patience, we're almost there," Terry said. He had told the others he had something to show them, and he sure did.

"Almost there?" Mako mused. "Then I think I know what it is."

"And here we are."

Usagi looked at the dojo. It had looked quite run down and old last time she saw it, but now its outside seemed brand-new. "Wow."

"That's not the best part," Terry said. "Wait to see what's inside."

"I still don't know how we'll train in there," Mako noted.

"Let's just say your uncle inspired me, in a way. Or whoever built his base."

As they walked in, the others all looked around. "Uhm, there's not a lot of stuff up here," Naru said.

"And the place's quite small," Rei added. "Smaller than it looks from the outside."

"That's because what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. And that's not just a figure of speech."

Brad shrugged. "I already know what you did, I just want to know how to get there."

Terry walked to a wall and put a hand on it. A panel slid to the side, revealing a staircase. "Okay, let's go." The stairs went down a few meters, and ended in a large door. The door opened, and everyone saw a large elevator waiting for them.

"An elevator? But this building's only one story high."

Brad smiled at Minako. "Upwards, it is. Downwards, however..."

Minako (and many others) finally understood what the elevator was for. "Wow, so it's an underground base?"

"Cool, did you also build giant robots?" Kage joked.

"Not yet," Terry joked back, "why isn't Tomoe tagging along?"

"She had to visit an old friend," Kage said. A very old friend, although Kage would never tell that to that person's face.

Everyone had already walked into the elevator, which was large enough to fit a few dozen people without getting crowded. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, get ready to meet your new favorite place in the city," Terry said as he pressed a button and the doors closed.

The house was abandoned, but Hotaru knew it would be the one place where she could, in a way, find her. She unlocked the door and walked in, noticing the house was dark and dusty. It somehow made her feel uneasy, even a bit sad.

"I apologize for not keeping this place clean, but I'm a rather busy woman."

Hotaru turned and saw Setsuna standing there, smiling at her. "Been a while."

"You would not be here if you didn't want to speak to me."

"You must already know what I'm going to ask, right?"

Setsuna stared at her. "I thought you knew my power doesn't work that way."

"It was a joke. Guess I'm not that good at them."

"No, I just wasn't expecting you to joke. I think being around Kage's good for you."

"I've talked to the others too. They don't seem like a bad group to be with."

Setsuna nodded. "So, what are you worried about?"

"First off, I don't think the youma are the only threat out there. Am I right?"

"Yes. I can't tell you what you will face next, or how long you will be fighting it, but there will be more enemies to fight."

"And it will be soon."

"Yes."

"Okay, and my second question was about my power. Why is it I can only revive people once?"

"I can't answer that, because even the ancient Senshi could never really understand how and why their powers worked the way they did."

"It just doesn't seem fair. What if Hiyama or Chiba die again?"

"There are others who could also revive them, if it happens."

Hotaru's eyes widened. "Of course, Dragon Saturn. Do you know who he is?"

"Yes, and I can't tell you."

"I suspected as much. My third question is a bit... Well, I think you'll be surprised. But should I take my relationship with Kage more seriously?"

"I can't tell you what to do in that area, Hotaru. But like and love are different things, and sometimes, unfortunately, one doesn't become the other. It's up to you both whether or not you stay together."

"I see. Thanks for taking time to listen to my questions, Setsuna."

"That's what friends do, and I also wanted to give you something," Pluto said, then reached out her hand, and a small, white key was resting on it. "Here."

"What is this?"

"It will let you go to where I can usually be found."

"Oh? I thought only the Senshi of Pluto could get in and out of there whenever they wanted."

"There are always exceptions to a rule. Any Moon Senshi with enough power eventually figures out how to go in and out, but if one of us Pluto Senshi considers someone trustworthy enough, then we can give them one of those keys."

"Trustworthy?"

"It's not to be used as a toy, or to change what already happened," Setsuna explained.

Hotaru looked at the small key in her hand. "Like going back and stopping a certain car from hitting a certain woman... I could go and do it, you know?"

Setsuna nodded. "But you won't. If I didn't trust you enough, then I wouldn't give this to you."

Hotaru looked down. "It hurts to know I'll never see her face other than in pictures, but... You're right. It's in the past. My past."

Setsuna smiled. "I know. Tell Kage I said hi."

"Will do."

"Color me impressed," Brad admitted.

Mako was looking around. The place was huge, one could play a football match in there. There was actual gym equipment around, but the main 'attraction' was the large area in the middle of the room, which had white flooring and enough room for several training fights to be fought at the same time. "How did you get this built in such a short time?"

"You can't kill an evil alien queen by throwing money at her, but old plain cash can still get some amazing things done if you have enough of it."

"... You could kill an evil alien queen with money, though," Brad said.

Minako stared at him. "You're joking, right?"

"No, imagine tossing a million dollars at Beryl in one cent coins..."

"Death by being crushed by a million dollars. Totally worth it," Terry said.

Mako walked to the training area. "Okay, now I want to fight."

Minako walked to her. "Let's do this."

While Minako and Mako had a friendly fight, Ami was checking a computer console. "This doesn't look like a normal computer."

Terry smiled. "It's not a normal computer." He pressed a button on the console, and the far wall of the room lit up, showing a map of Tokyo.

"That's the second largest monitor I've ever seen," Kage mused.

Ami smiled as she saw the monitor. "You really used my idea."

"Of course."

"What idea?"

Terry looked at Naru. "Ami's been helping me figure out how mana works, and I've managed to build a scanner strong enough to pick on mana readings all around the city. It's not perfect, but it could, in theory, know when one of you is using an attack anywhere in the city. It can only detect mana when it's actively used, though."

"In theory?"

"Can't know if it works until one of you goes out there and shoots an attack."

"Cool, maybe the pyro can go burn something."

Rei looked at Kage. "I don't like that nickname."

Kage smiled. "Sorry, no offense intended."

"Just don't use it again, I wouldn't want to tell Hotaru that I accidentally burnt your hair off."

"Yeah, I'll pass."

"Hell yeah!"

Everyone turned to the center of the room, and saw Minako giving a victory sign, while Mako sat on the ground, out of breath.

"How did that happen?" Terry asked.

Brad chuckled. "Minako can't hit hard, but her dodging skills are impressive."

"I... Agree," Mako said as she stood up. "I suppose knocking your opponent down is not the only way to win a fight."

Minako rubbed her arm. "You're not a soft hitter at all, good thing you only hit me a couple times."

Usagi was looking at a weapons rack near the elevator. She picked up a wooden sword and examined it. "Are these decorative?"

Terry chuckled. "No, these are for training."

"I can't use a sword."

"You don't know how to use one, it's not something you learn overnight," Terry explained, "but you have the Moon Dragon sword with you, right?"

"Yeah."

"You should learn how to use it. "

"Will you teach me?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't have built this place if I didn't intend to teach you girls a few things about combat."

Rei was checking a practice bow a few meters away from them. "What about Hakko?"

"No idea, he's not easy to find," Terry admitted. "Hey, Rei, can you really use one of those?"

Rei smiled and picked up an arrow. Its tip was blunt, but she knew they would still hurt if they hit someone. "I took archery classes when I was younger."

He smiled. "Think you can hit me from the other side of the room?"

She shook her head. "I'm not that good."

Terry summoned his Mercury sword. "Fine, just shoot at me from there."

"Wait, that's dangerous!"

He looked at Usagi. "I know the risks, trust me."

Usagi sighed and stepped back. "Okay, I just hope we don't have to call Hotaru."

"Me too," Terry said. "Okay Rei, any time you're ready!"

Rei frowned. "Hope you know how to dodge."

Terry smiled as the arrow shot, and used his sword to split it in half. "Why dodge?"

Rei blinked a few time before shaking her head. "Showoff."

"Showing off is the best way of showing how."

Usagi looked at him. "Is that another thing Hakko told you?"

"No, that one's all mine."

Ami sighed. Terry worried her, sometimes. She looked at the monitor and gasped. "I think the scanner works, but..."

Terry saw the red spot on the map. "That's quite close."

"Yes, and the computer says it's fire magic. Up to a first level Senshi's power. Could be one of the Hunters. And there's also death magic, Twilight level power. Saturn is there."

"We should go, they may need help," Usagi said.

Kage nodded. "She can take care of herself, but if there's a new threat out there, it means we'll be back in action sooner than we thought."

"I hoped the youma were the only evil out there," Usagi commented.

Minako chuckled. "Come on, you never read any magical girl manga? There's always something else to fight out there."

"You're saying that as if we were in some fiction story," Mako said with a half-smile.

Hotaru was heading back home, but her mind was only partially paying attention to the road. She was still thinking about what Setsuna had told her. She would need to talk to Kage next time she saw him.

"Target located."

The voice was robotic, and as Hotaru turned to its source, she was surprised to see a robotic creature staring at her. An android? It had metal 'skin' and green, glowing eyes, and it was clear to Hotaru that it meant her when it mentioned a target. "I don't suppose you will let me change for the party."

"Fire Soul."

Hotaru dove to the side, and the fire beam barely missed her, hitting a truck and setting it aflame. "That's Mars' technique. How can this thing..."

"Fire Soul."

Hotaru dodged again, and looked around. The few bystanders that had been around when the robot appeared were either running away, or already gone. She hid behind a car and summoned her glaive. "I suppose evil showed up much sooner than I thought," she said. "Saturn Twilight Power!"

The creature saw Saturn leap on top of a car's roof, and aimed its hand at her. "Fire Soul."

Saturn deflected the blast with her glaive and sighed. "Don't you have another attack to use, Artoo?"

"My name is Omega," the creature said. "Supreme Thunder."

Saturn tried to deflect the lightning blast, but the electricity run through her glaive and zapped her. "That's what I get for asking," she muttered.

"Dark Core."

"Grim Wave." Saturn's attack punched through the creature's one, and knocked it back. A part of its metal plating was bent inwards, and it stopped moving for several seconds. "I think I broke this toy robot."

"Structural damage detected. Mission compromised. Returning to base. Teleport."

Saturn saw the creature vanish and turned to leave, but saw most of the Senshi were walking to her. "You're late."

"Who was that?"

"Some sort of android, it said its name was Omega and it used magic. But it was Senshi magic."

"What? I thought only us could use it."

Saturn nodded at Venus. "That's true. The only logical explanation for this is that someone, somehow, gathered our DNA, our genetic code, and used it to create that creature."

"... Sounds like one crazy theory to me," Jupiter noted.

"I'm the daughter of a mad scientist, I know how mad scientists work."

"Okay, since Saturn scared off that tin man, let's go back to the base."

"Wait, we have a base?" Saturn asked.

"Yeah, and you and Chiba are the only ones who don't know it yet," Dragon Mercury said. "Well, the Huntresses, too, but they're not Senshi."

"Interesting."

"Think that thing will be back?" Mars asked.

"I hope it does, maybe we can scan it next time and know who is sending it."

"That was a failure."

"Not quite. I can repair the Omega and send it out there again, but I never expected it to be able to beat one of those upgraded Senshi. I must get samples of them first."

"The Senshi will be expecting its attack now."

"I know that. But tell me, if we already know who they are, why not kill them while they sleep?"

"First off, because I want to see them go down fighting, struggling against something they can't beat. And second... Well, you know all too well what happened to the one Dark Kingdom general who tried to take them by surprise."

"That was just a coincidence."

"Indeed, but coincidences seem to happen much too often around them."

Hotaru leaned on her glaive and looked down at the guy. "I told you."

"I never doubted your word," Terry said as he stood up, "but I have this birth defect, fighting against someone I know is better than me is something I enjoy. Who taught you to use a glaive like that?"

"If I told you, I would have to kill you," Hotaru said.

"... I guess you're trying to get better at joking."

"Wasn't joking." She walked out of the 'arena' and then looked at Kage. "We need to talk."

"Yes sir!" Kage said with a fake military salute.

"I'm serious," Hotaru noted.

Kage nodded slowly. "I know. Let's go."

Terry walked to Ami, who was again using the base's computer. "Like what you see?"

"I think it's quite good, but the scanners still don't work as they should."

Usagi walked to them. "I don't quite like it. We can only know something's out there once it starts shooting at people?"

"It's the best I could do," Terry admitted, "maybe Ami will find a way around it."

"I'll give it a try, at least," Ami said.

Kage knew better than rushing things when Hotaru was involved, but they had walked for a good ten minutes, and she still didn't say a word. "So...?"

"Kage, do you really think of me as your girlfriend?"

"Yes."

The answer was quick, and that surprised Hotaru a bit. "Then, why is it we've never dated?"

"I didn't want to rush into things."

"Two months," Hotaru noted. "I think that's slow enough."

"You're saying you want to go on a date?"

"I'm saying I like you, but I'm still not sure if that will ever turn into..."

Kage smiled as she fell silent. "I see. Say, there's a movie I know you'll like, and it starts in about one hour. What do you think?"

"It's a date," Hotaru said with a smile.

"You look pretty when you smile, you should do it more often."

Hotaru could feel her cheeks heating up. "Guess I should."

A/N: Yes, Hotaru got a time key from Pluto. Hear that? That's the sound of canon shattering to pieces. Oops, my bad.

Fun pointless fact: This fic (counting the first book and what's done of this one) now has nearly one third of Cyber Moon's total size. How many words will this thing have when it's done? To quote a certain toy astronaut, "infinity and beyond!"