Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 2: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 30: Pink-haired trouble.

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 6, 2013
Last edited: May 29, 2017

The leader looked at his four soldiers. The best his army had to offer. They already knew their mission, and he knew they were eager to begin. "Cooan, you will go first. Find and kill the Rabbit."

"I will not fail," Cooan said. "The Dark Moon will be victorious."

"Go, and do not fail. The Senshi should be weak enough for you to deal with."

Usagi stared at the girl for a few seconds. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Usagi, don't you remember her?" Ikuko Tsukino asked from the kitchen. "That's your cousin, ChibiUsa."

Usagi looked at the girl again, knowing it was impossible for her to be her cousin, as her parents didn't have any siblings. The girl was holding a strange spherical artifact which looked like a large cat head. The artifact's eyes shone for a few seconds, but Usagi still glared at her. "What did you do to her?"

The girl frowned. "Oh, I forgot that doesn't work with Senshi."

Usagi shook her head. "What exactly are you?"

"I'm just a normal human girl," the girl said, "and I need the Ginzuishou."

It was clear the girl knew who Usagi was. "Let's go to the park, ChibiUsa."

The girl seemed about to protest, but then understood what Usagi meant. "Okay!"

Ikuko walked out of the kitchen and smiled. "Have fun, girls."

"We'll be back soon," ChibiUsa said with a smile.

After they had walked for a few minutes, Usagi looked down at the girl. "Listen, I can't give you the Ginzuishou. If you tell me what you need it for, I could help you."

"I can't tell you..."

"Then I can't help you." Usagi stared at the girl, and noticed her eyes were watering. She was just a small girl, and Usagi couldn't bring herself to hate her. "At least tell me what you did to mom."

"I put memories of me in her mind, I also did the same with your father and brother. Don't worry, it won't harm them, and they'll forget about me as soon as I leave. Please, I need your crystal."

"I may be naive at times, but I'm not just giving you my crystal. Either tell me what you need it for, or leave."

"But-" ChibiUsa sighed. She couldn't tell her the whole truth, but she could at least tell her a part of it. "I need it to save my mother."

"Then I'll help you save her."

"Oh, here you are. I've been looking for you."

Usagi saw a woman walking to them. She was wearing a pink suit, and had buns in her head shaped like cat ears. "Who are you?"

"My name's Cooan, and I've been looking for her."

Usagi noticed ChibiUsa was trying to hide behind her, and looked quite frightened. "I don't think she wants to go with you."

"I don't care. Move out of the way, or I'll kill you both."

Usagi gasped at that. She couldn't just run and let this woman kill the girl, but she couldn't transform in front of an enemy, either. "I won't let you hurt her."

"Brave last words. Dark Fire!"

"Fire Soul!"

Usagi sighed in relief as Mars' attack blocked the enemy's fire blast. "Thanks, Mars."

"Guess Mercury was right," Mars said, then looked at the woman. "Leave before I hurt you."

"Likewise, Sailor Mars. Dark Fire!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Dark Fire! Dark Fire! Dark Fire!"

Usagi took a step back as Mars was hit by the barrage of attacks. This woman was too strong, Mars was going to...

Mars stood up and coughed, spitting some blood. "Damn it, you're stronger than you look."

"And you're pathetic, even for a Senshi. Now kindly move out of the way so I can kill that kid."

Mars looked at Usagi. "Don't worry, I won't let her harm anyone else." She turned to the woman, who was smiling mockingly, and glared at her. "Should have left while you had the chance. Mars Twilight Power!"

Cooan gasped. "Hmph. I'll just kill my target while-"

"Supreme Thunder!"

"Dark Core!"

"Grim Edge."

The three blasts hit Cooan and knocked her to the ground. She stood up and glared at the three Senshi who had just arrived. "Damn it, I'll take on all of you if I have to!"

"We won't fight you," Saturn said in her usual monotone, "because we don't need to."

Cooan realized Mars' transformation was done, but it was too late to do something about it.

"Mars... Burning..." Mars reached her hands out, a melon-sized ball of flames forming between her open palms. "Soul!" A stream of fire shot from the ball, washing over Cooan and knocking her back down to the ground. "Still alive? Too bad."

Cooan knew she was on the losing side now. Her suit had several burnt marks all around, and she had used most of her energy just to minimize the damage. "Screw this, I'll kill her next time," she said before vanishing.

Usagi smiled. "Thanks, guys."

"Who's the dwarf?" Jupiter asked.

"I'm no dwarf, my name is Usagi Tsukino."

"Another Usagi? What is she doing here, anyhow?"

Usagi looked at Mars, who was leaning on a wall. "She says she needs my crystal to save her mother, but won't tell me anything else. That woman wanted to kill her."

"Trying to kill a little girl?" Saturn was, for once, letting her anger show. "What a monster."

"I agree," Usagi said. "Don't worry, ChibiUsa, I won't let that woman hurt you."

"Why don't we bring her to the base? She'll be safe there."

Usagi nodded. "Good idea."

Terry saw Usagi walk in, followed by the others, and one girl he didn't expect to see there. "Hey, what's that kid doing here?"

"She was attacked by an evil woman," Rei explained. "I had to power up to defeat her."

"Are we forgetting that kid aimed a gun at Usagi's head?"

ChibiUsa sighed. "Sorry about that, I just didn't know what to do to get that crystal."

"I already forgave her for that," Usagi said, "so don't treat her like she's an evil being."

"... Okay," Terry said.

"So, she knows who we all are?" Ami asked.

"I do. I can't tell you how, though."

"There's a lot you can't tell us," Usagi noted.

"Sorry..." ChibiUsa said, her eyes watering.

"Hey now, don't cry," Terry said with a smile. "Crying won't solve anything."

"She said she needed the Ginzuishou to help her mother. Maybe her mother's hurt, or..."

Terry nodded. "We can't go wild guessing, though."

"If that woman shows up again, maybe I'll beat her around until she gives me some answers," Usagi said.

"Where's the peace-loving, kind Usagi we all know and like?" Terry mused.

"Still here, but someone who would try to kill a small girl deserves no kindness."

"Can't say I don't agree with that," Ami admitted.

Next morning, Usagi walked into her classroom to find only two people inside. "Where's everyone?"

"Guess since you're getting here on time most of the time, the universe has to balance things out," Terry joked.

"Hey, where's your 'cousin'?" Mako asked.

"Luna's keeping an eye on her."

"... But it's not like we can just run off to help her if that woman shows up again, right?"

"It's not 'can't' but 'shouldn't,'" Terry said. "We still don't know what we're facing, or who that girl really is, but she's just a kid."

"Think the card monster and that woman were related?"

Terry shrugged. "Not sure. It may have been the same force. Worst case scenario would be that we end up facing two evil forces at the same time."

"Sounds like fun."

Hotaru walked in, and saw Kino was waiting for her. "I suppose this means you'll stop pretending you don't know who I am."

"Of course," Kino said, "but that's not why I wanted you to come here. See, we became aware of a construction company working underground, in an area close to Juuban. Whoever hired them was skilled, for there's no record in said company of that building, or whoever ordered it, and we can't track it back to its origin."

Hotaru was silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "We needed a base, a place to gather and train."

"Oh, that was its purpose."

"You won't ask me who had that base built?"

"No, I was curious as to why anyone would spend so much money just building such a large underground area there. Besides, I have my guesses on who the Senshi are."

"Information is a good tool to have," Hotaru admitted, "but sometimes it can be dangerous for its holder."

Kino was surprised by her words. "Is that a threat?"

"No. But there may be evil forces out there, and if they figure out you know who we are, they may go through you to get to us."

"Understood. I'll take the risk."

"I won't stop you, it's not my job."

Kino nodded. "If we weren't meant to know, a certain lady in green would take care of us."

Hotaru shook her head. "I wouldn't like her to brainwash dad."

"Don't worry, that won't happen."

Hotaru saw Kino's face and stopped herself short of smiling. "Hello, Pluto," she said without turning to her.

"Hi, Hotaru."

"You are..."

"Sailor Pluto, guardian of time. I don't want you to get the wrong idea, General. You can investigate the Senshi, and you will eventually find out who they are. I will not stop you from doing either, as long as you don't consider us your enemies."

"I'm quite aware of what your roles are," Kino noted, "and I just wish I could help them more. But you could tell me who they are, right here, right now."

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

Kino stared at Hotaru as Pluto left, and noticed the girl was smiling. "Does she joke like that often?"

"She wasn't joking," Hotaru said, her smile fading, "but it's amusing to see the target's reaction whenever she does that."

She wouldn't give up, even though she had been quite unlucky when it came to finding them. It wasn't an easy task, and she knew the risks, but she didn't mind. Once again she was walking around, trying to find clues on where they hid, or who they were.

"Run!"

Yukiko saw many people running past her. That most likely meant there was a monster attacking. And monster attacks meant the Senshi would be there. She would have to find a safe spot from which to observe the battle, and then afterwards she could-

A metallic noise interrupted her train of thoughts, and she looked to the side just in time to see a humanoid crab rushing at her. She screeched and leapt back, but then saw something she wasn't quite ready to see. A ball of fire had shot from her hands, and hit the creature dead on, sending it flying back for half a block. "What the-" The creature was as surprised as she was, so she took her chance to dash away.

The crab let out a frustrated growl, and was about to chase after its prey, when it saw three figures appearing in front of it. "I've heard crab stew is quite tasty," one of them commented.

"Flametongue," Another figure noted, and the crab was wrapped in flames.

Mira stared at the spot where the crab had been seconds earlier and smiled. "They don't make youma like they used to."

"Let's go before the Senshi show up and shout at us for stealing their kill," Circe said.

"Actually, we should go ask them about those creatures."

Yukiko watched them vanish, but she was much more worried about what she had done. It wasn't her mind playing tricks on her, because her imagination wouldn't send the crab creature flying away. What did this mean? She didn't know, but she would have to find out.

"There we go."

Usagi looked at the chakrams. They didn't look any different to her. "So, what did you want them for?"

Terry tossed one of the weapons, and smiled as it landed quite far from where they were standing. "Call it back."

"Huh?"

Ami shook her head. "Terry, you had to tell me how to do it, remember?"

"Oh, right. Focus in your weapon, and think about it coming back to your hands."

Usagi stared at the disc and her eyes widened. "You mean I can..." she fell silent for a few seconds, then the disc flew to her outstretched hand. "Wow!"

"Great, you're adding to her laziness," Rei joked.

"You're just jealous because I have these and you don't, so..." Usagi stuck her tongue out at her friend.

Terry smiled. He would let her figure out how else to use that modification.

Ami suddenly looked at the monitor. "There's a monster attacking- No, wait, it's gone."

"Guess it's good to have sidekicks," Terry mused.

"Floater."

Terry found himself floating up. "Oh, hello there, Circe."

"I told you not to call us sidekicks."

"Oops," Terry said, noticing the three Huntresses were there. "You're right, I shouldn't make such pretty girls mad at me."

Circe blushed slightly, then stopped her spell, and Terry fell a good two meters down. "Don't you have a girlfriend already?"

Ami sighed. "As long as he just looks and doesn't touch..."

"Lucky, am I not?"

Ami stared at him, her face unreadable. "Yes, you are."

"What did you see in this guy?"

"He has his moments."

Terry stood up and noticed Usagi had been testing her weapons... And that she had already figured something out. "I didn't think you would know how to do that, Rabbit ."

Usagi looked at him as her chakrams kept spinning around her. "I saw you use your airboard to knock youma down plenty of times. I wondered if these things could do that too, and... Well, I guess they can."

Calisto blinked at that. "Chakrams? Where did she get those?"

"That would be my fault," Terry admitted. "But why are you three here, anyhow? Want me to teach you how to fight?"

"We fought a crab-like creature minutes ago, and we were wondering if you knew about them."

"They're not youma, but we don't know what they are yet. There's an evil woman who may be leading those attacks, and she's looking for someone we're protecting."

"Still, they're draining humans, just like the youma did," Ami said.

"I don't care if it's one army or twenty, they're hurting innocents, so I will fight them."

Terry looked at Usagi. "You know, when I first met you I didn't think I would ever hear you say something like that."

"When I first met you, I didn't think I would ever see you smiling."

"Good point."

Yukiko stared at the ball of ice floating milimeters above her hand. She didn't know where this newfound power came from, but she had already tested enough to know she could control several elements. So she wasn't a Senshi, they seemed to only be able to control one element. Maybe she was like those other women? Some called them Demon Hunters, but Yukiko had not found any info on them whatsoever.

Still, she was aware of something else. Even though she didn't know where it had come from, she now had magic similar to that of the Senshi. She was not an innocent bystander anymore, whether she liked it or not, and she had to be honest with herself, she did like it.

But just like the Senshi, she had to protect her identity. She couldn't risk enemies knowing who she was, and hurting her family. So she would have to get a few things before she could start fighting evil. A superhero name, for instance. Sailor Sun? No, there was a Dragon Sun already, so there could be a Sailor. No, the name had to be something else. Something like...

Yes, that name would be perfect. And maybe through her new identity, she would be able to get close to the Senshi and meet their real selves. "But first, I need to get a battlesuit."

A/N: The scariest thing that can ever happen to a group of superheroes: A super fangirl.

If anyone out there's still wondering about Usagi's weapons, search for "Sun Shang Xiang." Xiang even has a pair of chakrams called "Moon Chakrams."