Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 4: Death Busters.
Episode 60: Mars times two.
By Razor Knight
Last update: August 8, 2013
Last edited: June 6, 2017
It was just another day at school, but Usagi was quite glad to be able to pretend her life was normal. "It's been one week since we dealt with that ice queen."
"'We'?" Terry asked, giving Usagi a sly smile.
"You know what I mean."
"Hopefully we'll get a long break from fighting," Mako commented.
"You should know better than saying that, Mako."
The three turned to see Ami and Rei walk in. "Hey, what are you two-"
"I was told I would be in this group from now on," Ami said, "wonder how that happened?" She shot Terry a sideglance as she said that last part, and he shrugged.
Rei leaned on a wall. "Grandfather thought I should be here since my friends are all studying in this school. I know it'll make father angry, too, so I thought it was a good idea."
"Why would you want to upset your fa-" Mako started, then saw the way Rei was looking at her. "Uhm, forget I asked."
"Let's just say I don't get along with him," Rei said.
"But he's your family, Rei," Usagi said.
Rei sighed and shook her head. "Someone like you won't understand, and I'm not in the best mood right now, so let's switch topics, okay?"
Yukiko walked in right then, but noticed the mood wasn't quite good, so she silently moved to her seat.
Usagi knew Rei enough to know she was serious, and she also knew Rei's family was quite unlike her own. "Okay. So, what's worrying you?"
"I have a bad feeling, like something's out there, waiting to strike. I guess I'll see if the fires can tell me what it is."
"You can see things in fire?" Yukiko said, and her hand was suddenly wrapped in flames.
"Not just any fire," Rei noted, "and don't do that, someone could see it."
Yukiko nodded. "Sorry."
"Will enemies ever stop showing up?" Mako pondered.
"Well, remember Crystal Tokyo," Usagi said. "A thousand years into the future, and we'll still be fighting evil."
"We will surely get a century or two off along the way," Rei joked.
Usagi saw most of the class arriving right then, along with two new students. A tall, blonde guy and a girl with green hair. Both had short hair, and from their body language, Usagi knew they were most likely a couple. "Those two..."
Terry looked at the couple as they sat in the back row, and smiled. "They both look cute." The girls all stared at him, but he shrugged.
"The guy's not bad to the eye, at all," Mako admitted.
Hotaru listened to the others. Terry had obviously realized it, but she wondered how long it would be before the other girls would.
Yukiko frowned. "What I don't get is, why is she wearing a boy's uniform?"
"I'm more comfortable in these clothes," the 'boy' said, "and don't speak about us like we're not here."
Mako blinked in awe. "Wait, you mean you're a girl?"
The other girl smiled. "Haruka has a weird sense of fashion."
"Don't be a pest, Michiru."
Hotaru stared at them. There was something different about them, but she couldn't quite tell what. Still, if they were here, that meant they would join forces to fight the new enemy.
"Wonder if they are..."
Kage looked at Ami, and knew why she hadn't finished her phrase. She was right in her guess, but he wouldn't tell her that yet, as he didn't know what his two 'sisters' were planning.
As she walked into the room, the woman saw her two leaders waiting. "I am ready to attack. Who is the target?"
"The priestess known as Rei Hino, she..."
"... could be the carrier of a talisman. If she's not, you..."
"... know what to do, Kaorinite. You may use a daimon to help you fight her."
The red-haired woman looked at the image floating in mid-air and smiled. The priestess was her first target? She already had a plan to deal with her without having to fight her. "Of course, I will either get a talisman, or get rid of an obstacle."
"Do not fail..."
"... us, Kaorinite."
"I won't." Kaorinite frowned. Her 'leaders' had a strange way of speaking, but she and her allies were wise enough not to ask them about it. With the power she was sensing from them, upsetting them could be suicidal.
Later that day, Hana was walking home. True, she could just teleport home, but she wanted to give things some thought. She hadn't been that useful to the Senshi so far, and she just wished she could... No, she couldn't quite tell what was bothering her.
She saw a brown, large van speed by, and for some reason, alarms rang in her mind. She mentally 'tagged' the vehicle, and saw the men inside it. They were all wearing masks, and had guns in their gloved hands. As the van stopped near a bank, it wasn't Hana who was following them, but Nova. "Guess it's worth a try." The men had swiftly executed their plan, it was obvious they knew what they were doing. But Nova wasn't a rookie either.
"Nobody move or I'll shoot!"
"So brave, pointing your gun at unarmed targets."
The man turned and saw Nova there, floating a few inches above the ground. "Who the heck are you? One of those Senshi brats?"
Nova snorted. "Sorry, they have no time for small fry like you, so you'll have to deal with me instead."
"Funny last words, miss," the man said and shot his gun several times. He then took a step back as the bullets had all stopped in front of her target, falling to the ground harmlessly. "What the... What are you?"
Nova noticed all the would-be-thieves pointing their guns at her, and smiled. "Someone who doesn't like criminals shooting at her."
"Bitch, we're going to kill y-"
Nova sighed and shot a psi wave, knocking out all the thieves, but not harming any civilians. "That threat doesn't work, I've already died once."
The bank manager walked to her. "Lady, who are you?"
"My name is Nova," she said, then vanished.
"Huh, that's weird."
Terry had been fighting an imaginary foe with his swords, but stopped as he heard Usagi. "What is?"
"Doesn't Aiko look... Older?"
Ami smiled. "Remember when we mentioned her code being altered? Her looks are part of said code, and for some reason, she is... Trying to catch up with us."
"I know about this change, but I don't know what's causing it," Aiko commented.
"She's also speaking almost normally now," Terry noted. He had a few guesses on causes for Aiko's change, but he couldn't prove any of them yet.
The base was quite empty, as some of the Senshi had decided to enjoy peace while it lasted. Kage was the only other person in there, and Usagi watched as he used his guns on a moving target. "Wow, you're pretty good."
"I trained with guns when I was younger, as I thought it would be useful if I run out of magic in a fight."
Aiko looked up. "Weak magical entity detected. It's attacking the Hikawa Shrine."
"Rei was right," Usagi noted. "Kage, can you-"
"Go get them, boss. Wisp Portal."
"Why did you phase only her?" Terry asked.
"I've wasted a lot of my energy training," Kage said.
Ami sighed. "Doesn't matter, Rei's shrine isn't that far from here. We'll just use our boards."
Kage saw the two go and frowned. He couldn't tell them the real reason, but he was sure Moon would have some help, even if none of his friends reached the battle in time.
"I've already warned the others. Aren't you joining them?"
"I think I should," he said, and started walking to the elevator.
"Your energy levels seem to be high enough to-"
"I can't explain why, but don't tell the others."
"I understand."
"So you can keep secrets, huh? That's a human trait, in a way."
Aiko stared at him as he left, then turned to the map of the city. "But I'm not human. Or at least I think I'm not..." She blinked once, then frowned. "I will have to run some more tests, just in case."
Kaorinite appeared near the temple, and looked around before summoning a large, purple egg. Daimons were mere puppets of her master, the lowest warriors of his army... But they would serve their purpose. She walked close to a tree, and the egg was absorbed by it. "Now I only have to wait," she said before vanishing.
Rei stood up and looked at the fire. What it had shown her was just... Images of Tokyo being destroyed, several shadowy figures looking over the destruction, and the last image was Sailor Mars, but with a strange, triangle-shaped object floating over her chest, and she looked quite dead. What bothered her was that she could feel something familiar about one of the 'shadows' but didn't know why. However, she was feeling something else. An evil presence, and it was near.
As she walked out of the room, she saw Yuichiro was sweeping the floor. "Yuu, there's something out there. You should leave-"
"I'm not going to leave."
"Then at least... Stay inside."
"But-"
"Damn it, I'm supposed to be the stubborn one," Rei said with a groan. "The kind of monsters I fight, they could kill you, and I don't want that to-"
"Fine, go be a heroine, I'll just be cowering in fear here."
Rei sighed. "Sorry. Mars Star Power!"
Mars walked out of the temple, and knew exactly what was wrong. One of the trees, an old, large one, was leaking evil energy. "I am not fooled by you, demon. Show yourself."
A pair of eyes appeared on the tree, and it stared at Mars before unrooting itself. "Makujii!"
Mars smiled. "That is a really bad choice to fight the Senshi of Fire."
"Makujii!" The tree daimon whipped its branches, trying to catch Mars, but she dodged. "Makujii!"
"What the heck are you, a Pokemon reject?"
"Makujii!"
Mars summoned her bow. "Okay, enough of that. Flame..."
"Makujii!" The tree moved much faster than Mars thought, ensnaring her arms with its branches, then rose her from the ground. "Maku..."
Mars saw a black star appear right under the tree's 'mouth.' Before she could think of a way to escape, a beam shot from the star, and she gasped as she felt something being pulled out of her. A triangular object, just like her vision had warned her. She tried to use her sword to cut the tree's branches, but it knocked her weapon away. She knew she had to break free, but she was feeling extremely tired, for some reason.
"Double Flight!"
The tree was knocked away, dropping Mars, who was already unconscious. Moon saw the small item near her, and frowned. "What is that?" as she walked close to it, however, she sensed movement, and leapt back just in time to avoid an attack.
"Deep Submerge!"
Moon saw a ball of water shot by, crashing into a tree and blasting it to splinters. "Another enemy?" Two figures stood on the rooftop, and Moon frowned. She couldn't see their faces, as the sun was behind them, but she could tell they were wearing Sailor Senshi suits. "Who are you?"
One of the figures leapt down from the roof, catching the strange object, and leaping back up before Moon could do anything. "This is not a talisman."
"Makujii!"
The figure looked at the tree. "Go away. World Shaking!"
This time, it was a different attack. Moon couldn't quite tell what the sphere was, it was almost invisible. Wind? She looked at Mars and saw she was extremely pale. "Hey, give me that back!"
The figure looked at her. "Sure, we have no use for it if it's not a talisman."
Moon grabbed the item as they tossed it to her, but then saw they were leaving. "What about the monster?"
"It's not our problem."
Moon frowned. The tree was already up, but she had to figure out how to save Rei. "Damn... I don't have time for this."
"Then maybe I can help. Mars Fire Spikes!"
Moon looked to the side as a barrage of fire needles hit the tree. A man in a red Dragon Senshi suit was standing there, looking at her, and she knew who it was almost immediately. "Yuichiro, please help Rei, I'll take care of that monster."
Dragon Mars caught the gem (it looked like a gem to him) and nodded. "Okay." He knelt besides Mars, then shrugged. "Sometimes the simplest way is the right way." He put the gem on Mars' chest, and it melted back into her. "Good."
"Moonlight Pulse!"
The Dragon turned to see Moon blasting the tree monster to atoms. He then sensed something and looked down. "Hi."
Mars sat up and looked at him. "What the... Yuu?"
"That's me."
"Why did you-"
"You were out cold, and Moon was alone against that tree and two other enemies. I know you didn't want me to-"
"But you- Using that sword without- Damn it, Yuu, you could have died!"
"If I die trying to protect the one I love, then I'll have no regrets."
Moon smiled as Mars' face turned as red as her skirt. "I'll go call the others."
Mars sighed as Moon walked away. "I... Suppose I should thank you."
"I didn't do much, just distracted that tree long enough-"
"Stop."
"Rei?"
"You speak too much," Mars said, and then did something that surprised even herself. She kissed him.
Moon was almost done telling the others what had happened. "... And also, we have a new Dragon."
"A new-" Jupiter started, then frowned. "Mars' guy?"
"Yes."
"Is Rei okay?"
Moon's smile didn't falter. "Yeah, she's fine. So, any ideas on what that gem was?"
"I'll search my computer's database," Mercury said. "You should come to the base."
Moon looked back and smiled. "Well, Rei and Yuu look a bit busy right now."
"A bit-" Mercury sighed. "Oh, I see."
"We'll be there soon," Moon said, and turned around. She saw the two Mars Senshi walking to her. "Are you okay, Rei?"
"I'm feeling tired, but I can guess Mercury's going to try finding out what happened, right?"
"Yeah. We should go to the base. Unless you two want to stay here a little longer..."
"Usagi, don't be a pest," Mars muttered.
"Huh, you mean Miss Tsukino is..."
"All my friends are Senshi," Rei said. "They can be a bit crazy at times, but you'll get used to it."
"Rei, are you okay with this, he-"
"He already got himself kicked around a few times trying to protect me. At least now I know he will have a slight chance to fight back."
Moon summoned her board and leapt on it. "Let's go." She then frowned. "Wait, he doesn't have a..."
Mars had summoned her board too, and looked at the Dragon. "Leap in."
The Dragon stood right behind Mars. "Okay... I've seen you flying in these things, so I know they're safe."
Mars smiled impishly. "Just don't get any funny ideas. You could fall off the board accidentally."
Dragon Mars smiled back at her. "Don't worry, I won't do anything weird... Unless you allow it."
Moon saw Mars blush and giggled. "You two look cute together."
"Ugh, let's just go," Mars muttered and floated up.
As they flew, Moon's mind returned to the battle. The monster wasn't like anything they had fought before. It wasn't hard to deal with with some help, but if Mars had been alone against it... Well, she could have been revived, but that wasn't the point. And also... Those two Senshi. Who were they, and why had they acted so coldly?
In any case, this meant peace was over, once more. As surprising as it was, she knew a part of her had hoped for this to happen. A small part of her, which actually enjoyed fighting. Perhaps the Princess was, in a way, still alive in her. Or perhaps all that training had been a bad influence for her. A good influence, that part of her corrected, but she swiftly told it to shut up.
A/N: If you read Cyber Moon, and think Dragon Mars showing up so "soon" is weird, then you should brace yourself for the other surprises I have planned for this arc.