Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 2: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 33: Fire, ice, and magic.

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 31, 2013
Last edited: May 29, 2017

"This time, you will not attack alone."

"Rubeus, I can handle those-"

"You can't," the man interrupted Cooan, "you've shown that already. Beruche will help you."

"I understand. What about the other group attacking the city?"

"Let them be. They are a distraction to the Senshi, so as long as they stay out of our way, we will stay out of theirs."

"Be honest, I suck at fighting, don't I?"

Mamoru looked at Usagi. "You're good at dodging, but everything else needs a lot of work."

Hakko stared at the two in turns. "That's true. By the way, I hope neither of you holds back."

"They will," Terry noted, "but they shouldn't do it conciously."

"Ha!"

Hakko turned to the other mock battle and nodded. "Well done, Aino."

Minako smiled. "Finally!"

Brad stood up and shook his head. "You only won because I'm not allowed to buff myself."

"You need to learn how to hold your ground without your powers."

"We'll be using our powers when we fight our foes," Naru noted.

Hakko nodded at her. "And you'll know how to fight even after you run out of mana, which will make your battles much easier."

"But we could also train with our powers," Terry said, "we may find things about them we don't know."

"You should train, period," Hakko noted. "What are you doing right now?"

"I'm trying to create an AI for the base, one that can keep things running even if none of us is around. One which could tell us when something is attacking even if we're not here." He looked at the console again and smiled. "Though Ami's doing quite a bit of the coding. I didn't know she was that good with computers."

"Right. I suppose if it's something like that, I can let you slack off for a while." He spun around after saying this, and caught a wooden disc heading straight for his head. "Nice try."

"Not my fault," Usagi said.

Mamoru was sitting on the floor, with a hand over his stomach. "I used my sword to deflect that, but she hit me with the other disc while I was still thinking of my next move. Good thing these are practice weapons."

"Some are more skilled with certain weapons than others," Hakko said, pointing at the far end of the room. Rei was there, using a practice bow. The target was a good fifty meters away, but she had managed to hit its center with nine out of ten arrows. "Quite good."

Rei walked to the man and smiled. "I'll be happy when I can hit a coin-sized target from a block away."

"Your foes won't stand still."

"I know that. Hey Terry, start running."

"Sorry, I'm busy right now." He looked at Rei, then at the target, then smiled. "But here's a target."

Rei saw the blue airboard appear in front of her and start flying around. She shot at it, but the board changed its direction, avoiding the hit. "Won't this distract you?"

"No, the base's computer is 'driving' it right now."

As Rei started using the new target to practice, Usagi was fighting Hakko, using her own chakram. Hakko was amused by those gadgets, as the girl had made them bladeless with but a thought. He was just blocking or dodging her swipes, as she knew the girl needed to improve her offense more than her defense.

Mako walked in and saw Usagi's fight. "I see we're having fun."

"When she actually focuses on something, she can be good at it," Terry noted.

Usagi was aware of one major disadvantage she had. She could throw energy blasts around for longer than any of her friends, but when it came to physical combat, she couldn't keep going for too long. These mock battles weren't meant to be won, specially not when fighting Hakko, but she could still try and surprise him.

Hakko blocked a chakram swipe, and got ready for the next one, but then he saw something which made him freeze for a fraction of a second. The girl's other chakram had suddenly turned into a wooden sword, and she tried to stab him with it. As he deflected the blow, he saw her other weapon was now a wooden mallet, and barely managed to block it. He saw Usagi was just staring at him in shock, and frowned. "What's wrong, Tsukino?"

"Didn't think you would be ready for that."

"Not the first time I fight someone whose weapon can change its shape," Hakko admitted, "but I didn't think you would do that."

"In short," Terry said, walking away from the computer for a moment, "he wasn't quite 'ready' for it, but already knew what to do in case it happened."

"Expect the unexpected," Brad said.

"Okay, I suppose that's enough practice," Rei said, walking to the others.

Terry looked at the computer. "Apparently, you hit my board with thirty-eight out of forty arrows. Nice."

"... You were keeping track of it?"

"The computer was."

Brad smiled at Rei. "I bow to your skills."

Rei stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Minako, what did you see in this guy?"

"Sometimes, I wonder that myself," Minako admitted.

Terry looked at the others in turns. "I know I'm not training as much as you, guys, but-"

"You don't need it as much as the rest of us," Mako admitted. "But what are you and Ami doing, anyhow?"

"Besides the computer's AI, I'm trying to get the airboards and weapons done as soon as possible." He looked at Usagi. "Which reminds me..." A board appeared hovering near him. "I finished this one already."

Usagi looked at it. "They work just like the weapons?"

"Yeah. You've seen me smack a few faces with mine already."

The board floated to Usagi, and she smiled. "Thanks."

"You should test it here before using it outside," Terry warned.

"It can't be that hard to-"

"I took quite a few falls while testing my own board, and Ami didn't fare much better."

"Eh, guess I'll try it out first, then. It just wouldn't look good for the mighty Sailor Moon to fall off her airboard while heading to a battle."

"Haven't seen you girls outside school lately."

"You guys are always at your base, and since Hakko's training you, we thought you didn't need us anymore."

Usagi shook her head. "Most of us consider you our friends. You're welcome to go there whenever you want."

Emi smiled. "Thanks."

Aki leaned back on her chair. "I must admit you're not a bad group."

"... That's her way of saying thanks," Emi noted.

Hotaru looked around. "Seriously, guys, we need to stop talking about certain things in here."

Emi scanned the classroom and then shrugged. "Don't worry, the SEP spell keeps them from hearing, in a way."

"What's SEP?"

"Well, that's not its real name, but my brother calls it Someone Else's Problem. It makes people ignore things they 'shouldn't' hear or see. They still hear and see them, but their minds quickly decide they're not their problem."

Usagi thought about it for a minute, then nodded. "I think I understand. The Mooncats use something similar."

"We noticed. If everyone could see those marks they have, they would eventually connect the dots." In fact, Aki thought, it was likely the Demon Hunters had simply emulated the Mooncats' ability, rather than creating the spell.

Later that day, Usagi had decided to take ChibiUsa to the park. Despite the strange way in which this girl had appeared, and how much she wasn't telling her (either because she didn't know, or she couldn't,) Usagi still felt strangely close to her. Almost as if she was really a part of her family. Maybe that cat-faced ball was affecting her after all?

She saw ChibiUsa suddenly freeze in shock, and looked in the direction the younger girl was staring. There was a woman with white, long hair, wearing a form-fitting cyan suit. It wasn't hard for Usagi to guess what that meant. "Another one?"

"Hello there, rabbit," the woman said, ignoring Usagi as she stared at ChibiUsa. "It's time for you to die."

"Moon Prism Power!"

"Hmph, like that will help you."

"I don't care who you are, but you're not going to hurt her!"

"Name's Beruche, kid, and you shouldn't assume I'm alone."

"Dark Fire!"

Moon realized what that last bit meant a little too late, and was knocked down to the ground by a flame blast. "Cooan..."

"You can't defeat us both, kid. Just give up."

Moon staggered up, and glared at the two women in turns. "I'm not a kid, my name is Sailor Moon!"

"Dark Ice!"

Moon summoned her weapons, using one to block the ice blast. Still, she knew this would not be an easy fight. Both women were above her level, and outnumbered her.

"Hey Ayakashi!"

Cooan turned to mock the 'Rabbit' but saw the small girl was holding a very large, metal hammer. "What the-"

Moon saw Cooan get hammered into a tree, and frowned. That thing wasn't a toy, it changed forms like... "Oh, now there's a plan."

"Stupid human, you won't defeat me on your own!"

"Good thing I can even the odds, then. Shadow Arrow."

Moon smiled as Beruche was knocked back by a darkness blast. "Thanks."

Warwitch floated to her. "I'm not strong enough to defeat them, but you are."

"I can barely keep up with them..."

"Trust yourself, I'll help-"

"Dark Pyre!"

Moon gasped as Warwitch was wrapped in flames. When the attack ended, the witch was on her knees, her arms burnt and her face a mask of pain. "No..."

"That's what she gets for messing with us. Weaklings should just die without struggling!"

Moon glared at Cooan. "You... I cannot forgive you!" an aura of light surrounded her, and she closed her eyes.

"Crap, is she powering up?"

"No, it's something else, what-"

Moon smiled. She could see it in her mind, but she didn't think something like this would happen. She could guess even Terry would be surprised, but still, this could just be what she needed right now. Her two weapons shone with light as she spun, and she stopped, raising them both above her head. "I'm no weakling, I'm no kid, and I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else. Moon..." She tossed both discs at Cooan and completed her attack phrase. "...Double Flight!"

Cooan's shock didn't let her move away in time. Beruche saw the attack clearly, the two discs spiraling around each other, energy cracking around them. The discs hit Cooan, sending her flying away, and then corrected their course, heading straight for Beruche. "As if! Dark Freeze!"

The discs punched right through Beruche's attack, which was a large ball of ice, and she was also knocked away by them. Moon saw the two evil women were down, and sighed as her weapons returned to her. She then looked at Warwitch, who was still on her knees, but healing herself. "Thanks for your help, Warwitch."

"I suck, all I did was-"

"You're better at it than I was when I started," Moon admitted.

Warwitch noticed the two women were gone. "They escaped."

"I don't mind. In fact, it's good they decided to leave, that stunt really drained me."

"I see. In any case, it's time for me to leave."

"Why don't-"

"Not yet, Moon. Phase."

Moon looked around. "ChibiUsa?"

The girl walked out from behind a tree. "I'm here."

"Let's go to the base, I need to tell the others about what happened."

They had observed the twins for a while, and knew what to do. Natsumi and Seijuro Ginga lived in an old mansion in the outskirts of Juuban, but that mansion had been abandoned for years, and the two current residents had moved in only a few days ago, coincidentially, the day after the strange meteorite incident. And Emi had seen Ail and Ann fly out of the mansion. They were using some kind of magic which made it impossible for normal humans to see them unless they wanted them to, but it didn't work with those like her.

Right now, Emi and Aki were looking at the mansion. Maria was near, keeping an eye on the area, as they were going to try and find out what exactly was in there. "No barrier of any kind around the building, and I sense no 'alarms,' technological or magical, either."

"Good, let's go in and out fast," Aki said.

The two teleported in, and saw the inside of the building didn't look much better than the outside. Those two didn't care about dirt, apparently. However... "Can you feel it?"

Emi nodded. "A faint magic aura, in that direction."

They walked for a minute before finding it. "Whatever it is, it's inside this room." Aki opened the door, and the two of them gasped at what they saw. A large tree, its roots sank into the flooring, while its top had punched a hole through the two upper floors of the mansion. "What is that?"

"Looks just like a tree. But I've never seen a tree like this one before."

"It's withering."

"Not surprising, trees are meant to be outside."

"No, I don't think this one-" Emi frowned and walked to the tree, placing a hand on it. She yelped and pulled it back, staring at it and the tree in turns. "This thing feeds on life energy?"

Aki shook her head. "If what I sensed is true, then no." She reached her hand out, a thin stream of light forming between her and the tree. After a few seconds of this, she smiled. "As I thought, it feeds on raw mana."

Emi saw the tree looked healthier. "But why are those aliens draining civilians, then? Won't find a lot of mana in them."

"Perhaps they don't know that, perhaps any other worlds they've been to didn't have their mana capped like ours does."

'Girls, leave whatever you're doing and get out of there, I sense the two aliens coming our way.'

Aki heard Maria's message and sighed. "Okay, let's go."

Terry just stared at Usagi as she finished her story. "That is..."

"So I guessed right, you didn't know my weapons would give me a new attack."

"I didn't see that as possible, either," Ami admitted, "but that's another reason to finish the rest of them quick."

"Think you can use that again?" Terry asked, "I'd like to get a reading."

Usagi complied and transformed, then summoned her chakrams. "Moon Double Flight!" The discs hit the far wall of the room, and kept going, drilling through a dozen meters of rocky wall before bouncing back to Moon's awaiting hands.

Ami was checking her computer, noticing Terry was as surprised as she was. "Amazing."

Moon walked to them. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing wrong, but your attack has about ten percent less power than Mars' Twilight level one. That makes it almost as strong than some of our Twilight attacks," Ami explained. "Slightly stronger than mine, even."

"Wow..." Moon stood there, frozen, for a second, then smiled. "Hell yeah, I'm the best!"

"Overestimating your own powers is as deadly, or deadlier, than underestimating your foes."

Ami looked at Terry and smiled. "You can sound smart and mature when you want to."

"But if I was smart and mature all the time, I would be a boring old man like Hakko."

Usagi sighed. "But what you said is true, Terry. Shouldn't let power get to my head."

"At least there would be something in there, for a change," Rei noted.

Usagi glared at her. "Shut it, firebrain."

"Slacker."

"Pyro."

"Airhead."

"Magma breath."

Terry looked at Ami. "Thought they were over that phase."

"Me too."

The guy smiled slyly and tossed a couple spheres near the two girls. As usual, a cloud of smoke surrounded his targets, and he nodded. "And that's how you stop an argument."

As the smoke cleared, however, Usagi was holding a heavy-looking mallet. "That was rude, Terry."

Rei produced one of her charms and nodded. "Now we'll have to punish you."

Ami cleared her throat and looked at the two girls in turns. "Save all that energy for our enemies."

Terry shook his head. "Actually, these two slackers need to train and Hakko's out of town for the day, so... Just try to hit me, girls."

Ami sighed as she saw her friends fighting. She knew they wouldn't hurt each other on purpose, but they could sure look like they wanted to, sometimes.

A/N: Moon just invented the Double Kiensan. Those who suffered the old Dragon Ball Z dubs will know it as "Destructo Disc."

One short scene was moved from last chapter to this one, just in case some readers get a feeling of deja-vu.