Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 2: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 28: A bug's life.

By Razor Knight
Last update: February 25, 2013
Last edited: May 27, 2017

"I'm not joking, I swear I saw them."

Hotaru walked out of the elevator and saw everyone fall silent. Well, 'everyone' was a figure of speech, since only a few of the girls were there. "Hello."

"Hi, Hotaru. Anything interesting going on?"

She looked at Usagi. "No, no other enemy attacks yet."

Minako giggled. "That's not what she meant. I saw you yesterday, at the movie theater."

"Oh, that," Hotaru said dismissively. "That's what couples do, right?"

"We didn't think you would be the dating type," Mako admitted.

Hotaru walked to a rack and picked up a practice staff. "I think you should be worrying about your own boyfriends, or lack thereof, instead."

"Ouch," Mako muttered. "So, you're not going to give us any details?"

"Why should I?"

"She has a point," Ami said. She was again trying to take all the bugs out of the computer, and not having quite as much success as she would like. "I know Terry's not here, but why don't you try training instead of just sitting there doing nothing?"

"Haven't seen you train at all," Mako countered.

"Is that a challenge?"

Usagi looked at Hotaru. "We do need the training. Since Terry's not around, and you look like you've trained on your own..."

"For being nosy, I shall punish you," Hotaru said.

"That's my line."

"I know," Hotaru said with a smile.

"Aaah, she's smiling, run for the hills!" Mako shouted.

"If that was a joke, it was dumb," Hotaru said.

Usagi had grabbed a pair of wooden chakrams. "I'm ready."

"Why not a sword?"

"I'm better with these."

Ami looked at Mako. "Let's watch this, it could be interesting."

"I don't think those disks can beat a staff," Mako said.

"It all depends. Usagi can throw them, but I don't know if she can really fight with them."

Hotaru attacked first, going for Usagi's midsection, but Usagi blocked her strike with one chakram, then used the other to slice Hotaru's arm. That caused her to drop her staff, and Usagi tried to hit her with her weapons, but Hotaru blocked them with her bare hands.

"She's good."

"You mean Hotaru or Usagi?" Minako asked.

"Yes," Mako said.

Hotaru dove forwards, grabbing her staff and bringing it up, knocking one of Usagi's weapons away. As she stood up, She tried to 'stab' Usagi's chest with her weapon, but Usagi dodged, tossing her weapon at her and hitting her in the stomach.

Usagi looked up in time to see her other weapon falling down, and caught it, turning to see what Hotaru's next move would be. However, she saw Hotaru kneeling on the ground and grimaced. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Hotaru said, "but my endurance is low, and I didn't expect you to be that good with chakrams. Who taught you to use them like that?"

"Nobody did."

Hotaru stared at the blonde. "You're joking."

"She's not," Ami said, "you could call it talent."

"Where's Terry?"

Ami sighed. "He said he had something to do, and that being around so many cute girls would distract him from it."

"I still can't figure out that guy," Hotaru noted.

"Welcome to the club," Mako said. "He's not that bad when you get to know him."

"Why is he flirting with everyone, though, if it's clear he's only interested in one of you?"

Ami smiled. "I've asked him, he said it's in his blood." As Hotaru stared at her, she asked. "Yes, I know he likes me, he knows I like him, but we're just..."

"Don't have to explain that to me," Hotaru noted, "after I knew what was 'wrong' with Kage, I realized he had been like that for weeks."

"Maybe we should just lock Ami and Terry in a room until they tell each other what they feel," Mako joked.

Ami blushed, then looked at the large monitor. "Uh, not to switch topics or anything, but we got another incident going right now."

"That Omega thing again?"

"Can't tell from here. We should go and see."

Maria was glad things had been peaceful for a while. Although, on the other hand, they could be sent to another area if no real threat showed up, and that did make her enjoy peace a bit less than she would have wanted to. She would miss Emi and Aki if they split, and also the Senshi. She had heard rumors about the Senshi fighting a robot, but she couldn't find any actual proof of it.

She stopped walking as she heard screams. Looking down the street, she could see what the screaming was about, a monster as tall as her was attacking civilians, seemingly draining them. It looked like a mantis, she realized with a smirk. "And here I forgot the insecticide." 'Emi, Aki, there's a man-sized mantis attacking. Think you can help me squash it?'

A few seconds later, Mira and Circe appeared near her. She had already changed for the party, as she saw civilians were too busy running away or being drained to notice. "That's not a youma, right?"

Mira shook her head. "It's magic is different."

"Let's ask it. Hey, ugly!"

The creature looked at them, and then started shouting at them in an unknown language.

"Same to you, pal," Circe snapped.

The mantis blinked at that, then let out a noise which sounded close to a chuckle. "I apologize, I forget you primitive creatures have primitive languages."

"A bug with manners, how nice," Calisto said.

"Bolt."

The insect was hit by the lightning blast, but didn't seem to notice. "Was that meant to do harm?"

"As a matter of fact..."

"Stone."

A huge rock shot at the mantis, but it just split it in half with its massive scythe. "You're too weak to fight me."

"No, we were just fooling around. Flame Wheel."

The mantis was hit by a large fire disc, and it set it aflame. It let out a screech and jumped into a nearby fountain. "I will have to kill you for that, humans!"

"I doubt it."

"Hah! You will never defeat the might of Cigale!"

"Seriously, an overgrown bug? That's the new evil in town?"

The three Huntresses looked up to see Dragon Mercury floating above the scene, in a blue board. "Where are the others?"

"Some at the base, some elsewhere, but I don't think we need them for this."

"I agree. Thor's Light!" Mira's large lightning bolt was deflected by the mantis' scythe, and blew a store's front wall to dust. "Oops."

"Icycle Spray." The mantis again used its scythe to deflect the attack. "I'm starting to see the problem," Dragon Mercury commented, then leapt off his board, falling sword-first at the creature. It blocked him with its 'weapons' and then tried to slash him in half, but the Dragon blocked that.

"... I forgot to bring some popcorn," Circe commented after the mantis and the Dragon had spent a whole minute trying to slice each other to bits.

"You're good with those scythes, freak, but here's one little tip I can give you: Pay attention to the sword." As he said that, the Dragon tossed one of his swords up, but the mantis guessed what the trick was, and didn't pay attention to it.

"Foolish human, you will never trick me that easi-" The mantis stopped its gloating as it felt a sharp pain in its right scythe, and screeched in pain. The sword which Dragon Mercury had tossed up had fallen back, still spinning, and cut one of the creature's scythes off. "Damn it, now I'll kill you until you're dead from it!"

The Dragon blocked the scythe and chuckled. "Tip number three, never give your back to three foes who can turn you into roasted mantis."

"What happened to tip number tw-"

"Flamewheel."

"Hailstorm."

"Thor's Light."

Calisto looked at the spot where the mantis had been and smiled. "I ate chocolate ants once, I wonder how that thing would taste..." She saw her two friends giving her shocked stares and shrugged. "You guys and your weak stomachs..."

"Target located."

Dragon Mercury looked at the android, which had appeared out of nowhere. "Great, now Robocop wants to fight too."

"What the heck's that thing?" Circe asked.

"An android, and it can..."

"Crescent Beam."

"... Use our attacks."

"Maybe someone was such a fan of you guys, that he built himself a Senshi?"

"Fire Soul."

Dragon Mercury dodged again. "Okay Treepio, time to beat you down."

Again, the three Huntresses watched as the Dragon went melee on an enemy. The robot didn't have swords, but its arms were apparently strong enough to block a sword. "He thinks he's Mushashi."

"Wow, we got here before it ended."

Mira turned to see a few Senshi running their way. "We're just done frying a giant mantis," she explaining, pointing at the burnt mark near them, which was still smoking, "but then this reject from Mazinger showed up."

"Hey, need some help?"

Dragon Mercury shrugged as he dodged a punch from the robot. "No, I'll just keep hitting its arms until my swords go blunt."

"Moon Tiara Flight!"

The attack hit the creature, who was too focused on its current foe to dodge. The tiara hit it several times before returning to Moon's hands, and as she knelt on the ground, she smiled. "Finish it, guys."

"I can handle this." The Dragon leapt forwards, summoning his attack as he did. "Icycle Spray."

"Supreme Thunder. Icycle Spray."

The first attack cancelled the Dragon's one, and the second hit him dead on, sending him flying back and into a wall. He sank to the ground and didn't move.

"Terry!"

"Let's get that tin man," Venus said.

"Saturn, go check on him," Mercury said, "this one's mine."

Venus was about to protest, but saw Mercury had a thin blue aura around her. "Do it, Mercury."

"Mercury Twilight Power!"

Saturn was done healing the Dragon. "You should have left the others help."

"That thing just got lucky," the Dragon muttered.

"I'm serious. Your friends worry about you when you do that kind of things. And look at Mercury."

"Huh? She's powering up, why?"

"I suppose seeing you get smashed into a wall caused that," Saturn said.

"She's going to kick that robot's ass."

"That quite sums it up," Saturn admitted. "Listen, I may not be good at romance, but you two should really talk to each other about-"

"I know."

Mercury was, by now, done transforming. She looked at the android and then rose her hands. "Mercury..." A large ball of ice formed above her hands, and as she spun, it started glowing blue. "... Snow..." She crossed her arms in front of her chest while spinning, and the ice ball floated down until it was hovering in front of her. "... Spray!" Mercury sliced the ice with her hands, and it broke into many tiny fragments, which shoot at her foe.

"Fire Soul."

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter used her own attack to block the android's one. "You're not getting away from that, robbie."

As the attack hit the android, its skin turned blue, and it stopped moving. The others saw Mercury walking up to it, and they saw she had the Mercury Dragon sword in her hand. She gave her foe a short glare before using the sword to neatly cut it in half. "Die already."

"Seriously, I'm never messing with Ami after seeing that," Jupiter commented as the robot exploded.

Mercury walked to where the Dragon was, and smiled. "Here, had to borrow it for a bit."

The Dragon took the sword and smiled back. "Thanks, and sorry for worrying you, Ami."

Mercury looked at Saturn, then at him. "We... I think we need to talk."

The Dragon nodded, then looked at the others. "Guys, we'll walk back to the base, you go ahead."

"You have a base?" Mira asked.

"Since yesterday," Moon explained. "Know the old Kakushin dojo?"

Mira nodded. "Sure, let's go. Mass Teleport!"

Moon looked around. They were near the dojo, but that wasn't what surprised her. "Mira, you..."

"I've been training, too," Mira said, then staggered back. "Ugh."

"Shouldn't overdo it," Circe said.

"Okay, let's show them our dungeon," Jupiter joked.

"Dungeon?"

"You'll understand when you see it."

Ami and Terry had been walking for several minutes, silently. Terry suddenly stopped and shook his head. "It's happening again, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"It took me months to tell her how I..." Terry fell silent for a moment, but then smiled. "Ami, I like you. No, it's more than just like."

Ami blushed. "I like you too."

"Just 'like'?" Terry asked.

Ami looked down. "No."

Terry smiled at her. "Don't worry, you don't have to say it."

"Can you promise me you won't risk yourself like that again?"

"Sorry, I can't."

"Then I'll just have to protect you."

"Heh, Hana used to say the same thing." He noticed Ami flinching. "Uh, sorry."

Ami shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not going to ask you to forget her." She paused for a few seconds as they walked, then smiled. "Let's go back to the base."

"They'll be nagging us about this for hours."

"I don't mind. That's what friends do."

Usagi saw her two friends walk in and smiled. "Hey guys. So...?"

"So, what?" Terry asked.

"You know what I mean," Usagi said. The other girls in the base nodded at that.

Terry smiled and put an arm around Ami's waist. "Make an educated guess."

"Way to go, guys!" Mako said.

"I still think you girls should be worrying about your own boyfriends," Hotaru noted.

"Or girlfriends," Maria added. The others looked at her, and she shrugged.

"Wait, what?" Usagi almost shouted.

Maria looked at Aki and smiled. "We always get that reaction from people."

Minako shrugged. "Love is blind. I wouldn't date a girl, but I don't mind others doing it."

Hotaru was practicing with a staff, but stopped as she heard that. "If they like each other, then gender shouldn't be an issue at all."

Usagi sighed. "You're right guys, sorry about my reaction. It's just that I never really thought about girls dating girls..."

Terry walked to the arena. "Okay, I built this place for you to get better at fighting, so who wants to get a beating?"

"I'll get him," Ami said.

"No weapons?" Terry asked.

"I can't use any weapon," Ami noted.

"I could teach you."

"I know, but for now, let's see if I can hit you."

As the two started trying to punch each other out, Minako sighed dreamily. "How romantic..."

"What do you mean?" Aki asked.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend trying to beach each other to a pulp. So romantic."

"Eh, if you say so," Aki muttered, then looked at the arena. "That was fast."

Ami was lying on the ground, and Terry stared at her. "Ow..."

"Defense is your strong point, but your offense needs a lot of work."

"I didn't even see how you hit me."

"Should I have held back?"

"No. Let's try this again," Ami said as she stood up.

"The Omega wasn't good enough yet. I need to gather samples of the few Senshi who have upgraded, and keep an eye on them. The stronger they become, the stronger the Omega will be."

"Go ahead, I can wait. I want the Senshi dead, but rushing into things won't help us. And the Omega's first test was good enough."

A/N: The idea of Moon using 'discs' (chakrams) to fight is not just something that came out of nowhere. One of my favorite characters in the Dynasty Warriors saga uses them.

After this chapter, we return to the usual canon rewriting/breaking.