Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 4: Death Busters.
Episode 64: Birthday battle.

By Razor Knight
Last update: September 13, 2013
Last edited: June 7, 2017

"So, how does it feel to be sixteen?"

Usagi looked at Terry. "To be honest, not different than being fifteen. But aren't you-"

"His birthday's next month," Ami explained.

Usagi blinked in surprise. "Oh."

Hana smiled. "He's younger than some of us, he should respect his elders."

"Like you ever saw me do that," Terry muttered.

Hana nodded. "That's true. By the way, sorry I didn't go to the beach with you guys the other day. I had my own kind of fun, though."

"Isn't what you're doing dangerous?" Usagi asked.

"Those guys just use guns. Worst I've seen was a flamethrower. It's nothing compared to what you guys face every other day."

"And it's not like bullets would affect us anymore," Ami said.

"Huh, didn't know that," Mako noted. Most of the others nodded at that. "Why didn't you tell us, Ami?"

Ami sighed. "I sometimes find things so obvious, that I don't even consider the fact others may not know about them."

"Wouldn't that be a 'dumb genius' moment?" Mako mused.

"I guess that's a way to describe it."

Usagi sighed and walked to the elevator. "Okay, guys, Mamoru's taking me somewhere, you just stay here and don't get any surprise party ready while I'm gone."

"Sure, we hadn't planned anything like that," Terry said, keeping a straight face. As Usagi left, he looked at Ami. "How the heck did she know?"

"I'm not sure. Her ability to read people is just impossible to explain."

"But nothing's impossible for us Senshi, right?" Mako mused.

Rei scowled. "Okay guys, let's leave the talking for later, get everything ready."

"Gotcha, we better hurry," Terry said. "Hocus pocus..."

Minako shrugged as several tables and boxes appeared around the room. "You don't fool anyone, that's not magic, that's just your Senshi pocket space."

"And Senshi powers are..." Terry noted.

"Magic," Minako muttered.

"I rest my case."

Hana smiled. "And speaking of magic..." As she said that, items started floating around the room. "Just tell me where to put them."

Aiko was 'sitting' near them, but looked at Hana as a chair flew through her. "Be careful, you could have hit me... If I had a body."

"So today is the day."

"Yes, it's time for you to join that battle."

"I'll try my best not to be a hindrance for them."

"You should trust yourself, Princess."

"I do, but I'll be the first to admit I'm just a newbie when it comes to actual combat."

"Kaorinite, we don't have..."

"... Time for more failures."

"I am quite aware of this. But I have a plan this time. One of them is celebrating her birthday, and is, right now, quite unguarded. I will set up a trap and force her to face me on her own."

"What if the other Senshi..."

"... Try to interfere?"

"They won't. They value individual lives too much, a weakness which can be found in many humans."

"You may go, then, but..."

"... If you fail, don't come back, we..."

"... Have no use for those who..."

"... Won't bring us the Talismans."

Usagi had to admit Mamoru could be quite a charmer. Dinner at a rather expensive-looking restaurant (and she hoped she hadn't messed up a lot while eating there,) and now they were walking back to the base, enjoying the night. "Guess they should be done preparing everything by now."

"I figured you knew. Thanks for playing along."

"It wasn't hard at all," Usagi admitted, "I know we didn't have a good start, but..."

Mamoru noticed she was blushing hard, and smiled. "You don't need to say it, I know it."

"But I still want to-" Usagi sensed something and leapt back, just in time to avoid an energy blast.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Kaorinite asked, mockingly, as the girl looked at her.

"Damn it, not today!"

Kaorinite chuckled at that, and then a few daimon eggs appeared around her, shooting in several directions. "I'm here to get you, Sailor Moon, and I am done playing nice." As she finished that sentence, her target saw several car-like daimon walking to her.

"Earth Star Power!"

"Moon Star Power!"

Dragon Earth frowned. "Usagi, leave them to me."

"But-"

"If she gets us both, we're dead. Someone has to go warn the others, in case-"

"Then you go."

The Dragon sighed as one of the daimon rushed at them, and swiftly cut it in half with his sword. "I'll be fine, odango."

Moon saw several more daimons crawl to them, and flinched. "Okay, I'll..."

Kaorinite laughed. "As if I would let you go just like that. Die!"

Moon saw Kaorinite run to her, and sighed. "Moonlight Pulse."

Dragon Earth saw the evil woman fly over his head. "Usagi, leave now."

"I..."

"You'll tell me later."

Moon nodded, then dashed away. The Dragon noticed Kaorinite walking to him, her suit burnt in several places. "I was hoping you would stay out of the fight."

"I was hoping that kid would not run away like a coward."

The Dragon frowned. "That's not cowardice, that's just how much she trusts me. She knows I won't lose to someone as weak as you that easily."

"Then she's clueless. You cannot defeat me and my daimons."

"Won't know that until I try."

Aiko was observing as the others put everything in place for the party, but suddenly looked up. "I detect a power spike a few miles from here." She then frowned. "And now it's gone."

"Kaorinite?"

Aiko nodded.

"Don't need a computer to guess what happened," Rei said. "Either Usagi or Mamoru were the targets this time. Damn it, we should have known-"

Just then, Moon walked in. "I can tell you already know what's going on."

Ami nodded. "Where is-"

"He told me to come warn you about it. We have to hurry, or-"

"I've run some scans," Aiko said, "and I cannot detect Dragon Earth or Kaorinite anywhere in the city." She suddenly looked up. "And something else. Look at the screen."

Moon and the others did just that, and they could see an image from outside the base. Kaorinite's face could be seen up in the sky, smiling mockingly at the city below. "Sailor Moon, I have your guy here. Come to the Starlight Tower, alone, in less than one hour, or I will kill him. Don't bring any of your other friends, and don't try anything funny, or he dies."

As the face vanished, Rei looked at Moon. "We have to-"

"There's no 'we' here, Rei," Moon said.

"But this is obviously a trap, you can't just-"

"I can, and I will."

Ami saw Moon walk back to the elevator, and flinched. "Do you even have a plan?"

"I'll go there, throw Kaorinite off the tower, and bring Mamoru back, then we can have a party."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Terry admitted. "Have fun."

Moon smiled as the elevator's doors closed. "I won't."

"Are we really going to let her go alone?" Chie asked.

"What else can we do? If Kaorinite senses us coming, she'll kill Chiba," Kage said, "I trust Usagi, she's beaten that Kaorinite creep before."

Rei shook her head. "Damn it, I can't stand just staying here doing nothing!"

Ami walked to Rei. "But you have to. How do you think I feel? Not counting Naru, I'm the one who's known Usagi the longest. You think I'm not trying to find a way to help that won't get Mamoru killed?"

Rei sighed. "I... Sorry."

Aiko looked up again. "I detect Uranus and Neptune moving. They're heading for the tower."

"Shit, we have to stop them, if Kaorinite sees them-"

"She said she didn't want any of her friends to go," Hotaru noted, "so we don't have a thing to worry about."

"Still, they'll help Kaorinite-"

Kage sighed at that. "Rei, they're not evil. If Kaorinite gets Usagi's crystal, then there's two things that could happen. If it's a Talisman, then those two will get it, and we can get it from them. If it's not a Talisman, then they'll fight to return it."

"Are you-"

"Yes, I know those two enough to know they may be putting a facade and acting though, but they hate senseless deaths as much as we do."

"So what do we do, we wait here?"

"If I may make a suggestion," Aiko said, "Kaorinite doesn't seem to be able to detect magical beings. You could approach the building through the sewers."

Terry saw the faces some of his friends were making. "Are you sure she would just rely on her eyes, and not magic, to detect us?"

"There's a zero point zero two percent chances that she does have magic sensing abilities."

"Good enough, I was saving this trick for something like this."

"What trick?" Mako asked.

"Oh, that," Ami said with a smile.

"What have you two been up to?"

"You'll see it in a minute, or rather, you won't see it," Terry 'explained.'

Moon leapt off her airboard and sighed. A face up in the sky, a black 'dome' around the tower, it was just like that one time. Back then, however, she had her friends with her. This time, she was alone, so-

No, she couldn't give in to her worries, she wasn't the same as she was back then. She was glad her friends helped her when they could, but she was not useless on her own. And she would show Kaorinite just that.

Just then, a hole opened in the 'dome.' She walked in, and saw an elevator's door opening. Just as she was walking into it, she saw Uranus and Neptune rush past the hole in the dome (which was closing,) and into the elevator. "What are you two doing here?"

"Don't worry about them, Sailor Moon," Kaorinite's voice said through the elevator's intercom. "I may need the extra help to fight you."

Neptune shook her head. "We're here to get the Talisman, not to fight you."

"If you risk his life, I'm going to-"

"Don't worry, we will just observe."

Moon frowned. She had no choice but to let them tag along now, but she would still watch her back.

Terry smiled as his friends stared at the 'surprise' he had. "So, what do you guys think?"

Brad looked at the plane, which was hardly visible right now. "An invisible plane. How the heck..."

"It's not quite invisible, its outer walls projects what reflects on the opposite side of it, so you're seeing what you would see if it wasn't there."

"Uh..."

Ami smiled as Minako and Karin just stared blankly at Terry after his explanation. "Think of the plane as a TV screen, it's showing what you would see if it wasn't there."

"So, you finally found where Wonder Woman's secret base was, huh?" Brad joked.

"We should cut down on the dumb jokes and go check on Usagi," Hotaru noted.

"You're right, sorry," Brad said with a sigh.

"Don't mind, I'm sure you'll hit puberty one of these days."

"Ouch. Deadly blunt, I like that."

Minako coughed a bit too loud. "Okay, let's just go, guys, before someone is murdered for flirting."

"And here I always thought it would be me," Terry mused.

"Welcome, Sailor Moon."

Moon glared at Kaorinite, then noticed Mamoru was chained to a wall. "What did you-"

Kaorinite smiled at her, then saw the guy was waking up. "I already checked him, his crystal is normal. I could have destroyed it on the spot, but I thought it would be much better to put it back in, and have him watch as I kill you."

Uranus glared at Kaorinite. "You are going too far, Kaorinite, we-"

"Move and the guy dies," Kaorinite said, pointing her arm at him.

Uranus looked at Neptune who nodded to a dark corridor near Kaorinite. Uranus knew what she meant, and nodded back. "Right. We don't need to fight you, Moon will-"

Moon sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them. "Kaorinite, do I have your word that you'll let him go?"

"Of course," Kaorinite said, not sounding quite convincing.

"As I thought." She looked back at Uranus and Neptune. "If I am a carrier, just... Don't let her kill him. I wish I could have told him..."

Kaorinite shrugged. "Blah blah blah, shut up already!" She rushed forwards, using the same trick she had used before, and got Moon's crystal. As the girl slumped to the ground, however, Kaorinite felt her hand warm up, and had to step back and close her eyes as the light from the crystal blinded her. "What is that? So bright... It has to be a Talisman!"

Uranus smiled. "You idiot, don't your bosses tell you anything? That's no Talisman, but the purest hearts shine the brightest."

Kaorinite walked to the crystal. "Hmph, it doesn't matter, I will simply destroy-"

"Don't you dare!"

She looked at the man. "Shut up, human. There's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Then let me do it. Moonlight Flash!"

Mamoru wasn't quite sure about what had happened. Moon was still unconscious, so who had just knocked Kaorinite into a wall?

The answer was quite unexpected, as he saw a Sailor Senshi in a pink suit walk out of the corridor. "What the... ChibiUsa?"

"Hi, dad."

Uranus saw the new Senshi (who was visibly younger than any of them,) grab the crystal and return it to Moon. "Did that kid just call him-"

"Damn you, brat!"

"World Shaking!"

It almost happened too fast to see, but Mamoru heard the desperate screams and his mind finally made sense of it. Kaorinite hadn't been knocked out by ChibiMoon's attack, and had tried to attack her while she was distracted, but Uranus was faster, and knocked Kaorinite right out of the building. There was a muffled thud outside, and Mamoru couldn't help but smile. "Karma can come from the least expected sources."

Moon staggered up, her mind quickly telling her something had changed while she was out. "Huh? ChibiUsa, is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you-"

"I'll explain later," ChibiMoon said. "Can you walk?"

Moon smiled and, instead of answering, walked to where Mamoru was, and ripped the chains right out of the wall.

"I think that's a yes," Mamoru said. "Thanks for coming to rescue me."

"I couldn't let them take away the one I love," Moon said, then realized something and blushed deep red.

Mamoru chuckled. "If I had known all it would take for you to say that word, was to be captured by an enemy..."

"Hey, what the heck? She's back?"

Moon looked outside and saw a large, futuristic-looking plane, and her friends were jumping into the building from inside it. "Guys..."

"We're a bit late, judging from the small crater with a Kaorinite in it," Dragon Mercury joked. "So, you killed her?"

Moon shook her head. "Not sure who did it, I was... Kaorinite got my heart crystal."

"It was Uranus," ChibiMoon said. "But they left while you were distracted."

"Question, how old are you?" Dragon Mercury asked.

"Twelve," ChibiMoon said. "Wonders of time traveling."

"I guessed you were older than last time we saw you," the Dragon said, then noticed Mercury's stare. "... Sorry."

Moon understood what Mercury meant. "... Seriously, she's just twelve."

Nova (who had, like the rest of the 'sidekicks', decided to tag along,) smiled at that. "Well, we were twelve when we... Uh..."

Mercury looked at her, then at Dragon Mercury, then blushed. "I'm not sure I wanted to know that."

ChibiMoon produced a crystal just like the Ginzuishou, and smiled. "Don't worry, guys, I can take care of myself."

"Oh, you have your own crystal now," Dragon Mercury said. "Okay, I'll just look but not touch. Won't even look, if I can help it."

Moon smiled, but then realized she had a lot of questions to ask her, starting by why she was there.

ChibiMoon seemed to guess what the others were thinking. "Let's get back to the base, I'll explain everything there."

"Sounds good- Wait, what about the plane?"

Dragon Mercury shrugged. "It will just drive itself back to the base."

"... Really, it being invisible wasn't enough for you?"

Dragon Mercury laughed at that. "It's not like it will get a lot of use."

"Nevermind," Dragon Sun said. "Mass Teleport."

While the other Senshi were chatting, Uranus and Neptune were back at ground level. Uranus stopped for a second and checked something. "Neptune, she's not there."

Neptune knew what she meant, the cracks from the impact of Kaorinite's body were there, but there was no body, or even blood. "Perhaps she vanished after dying, like youma did."

"Or perhaps..." Uranus shook her head. "If she comes back, I'll just throw her off a higher building."

Neptune nodded at that, then sighed. "Perhaps we should..."

"What's wrong?"

"What if we're wrong, and Moon's right?"

"I will give Moon credit, she was willing to sacrifice her own life to save her guy."

"Would you?"

"If it's to save you, then of course."

Neptune blushed slightly. "And yet... She didn't look like someone ready to die. She... She trusted us to save her, and him."

"We never gave her any reason to-"

"I know. Is it really just naivety, or is there something else we're not seeing?"

"We could ask her."

"No. Not yet. Let's try to find at least one Talisman first."

A/N: Usagi and Mamoru went for sixty-four chapters without saying the 'L word' to each other. That must be a record for Sailor Moon fanfics, but then again, I don't focus on romance much.

And yeah, Uranus and Neptune are starting their slow, painful de-jerkifying process. Why painful? If you haven't read Cyber Moon, you'll see why soon enough.