Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 8: Hunting Season.
Episode 112: Hunter's Moon.

By Razor Knight
Last update: October 15, 2015
Last edited: June 14, 2017

"These enemies look different than the ones we fought before."

"The scans tell me they're weaker. Maybe this will be an easy task."

"That would be boring."

The men stood around a strange device, looking at a three-dimensional image of the Earth which floated over it. "Who should we get first, Rex?"

"I suppose saying hi to their leader first would be the most polite thing to do."

"Don't have too much fun down there."

"Are you okay?"

"I wish everyone stopped asking me that."

Hotaru smiled. "Sorry, Usagi, it's just that-"

"I know, it's been two months," Usagi said, "I'm used to it. I'll just have to wait until I get my powers back."

Hotaru sighed. "Guess I know how that feels, in a way."

"You're a lot less grumpy these days."

The pale girl nodded. "Just like you, I got used to not having her around."

"We shouldn't be sad, we're almost officially adults now," Usagi said.

"But you'll be always a toddler inside," Rei said from the side.

"Better than having been born an old woman," Usagi countered.

Suddenly, the room lit up. Usagi turned to the center of the room and flinched. "Terry, you're supposed to help them power up, not beat them up."

Dragon Mercury saw his foes were all scattered around the room, in various degrees of consciousness. "Oops."

Earth staggered up. "I thought we would be enough to get you."

"The power difference between Star and Cosmic is huge," Ami lectured, "even six Star level Senshi would have a hard time fighting a Cosmic level one. And Terry also happens to be the best at melee, so you should have just shot at him for a while."

Lilith looked at Ami. "Last I checked, not taking risks was the opposite to what's needed for us to level up."

"You could also do it through training," Dragon Mercury said, "so perhaps I should just keep on beating you up until you become strong enough to not get beaten up. Upgrading to Cosmic level should happen somewhere along that line."

Dragon Earth sighed. "No offense, but has anyone ever told you your ego is bigger than your bank account?"

"Yes, and that's because they never saw my bank account."

"He's not joking," Ami said with a nod.

Warwitch looked down at the city and smiled. "You know, shooting elemental blasts is cool, but flight is something else."

"It's more floating than flying, though."

"Aiko, don't be a pest," Warwitch muttered.

"Sorry."

"It's okay, I'm used to your quirks." The witch looked down at the city again. "It's becoming harder and harder to hide my own identity. I think it's time to tell the world who I really am."

"A sidekick," Phase teased.

"Ugh, we need a better name for our 'group.'"

"Two aliens, a witch, an almost-human cyborg, a psychic powerhouse, and three mages who already have their own group. Not sure what name we could use."

"I know, 'The Avengers!'"

Phase stared at Warwitch for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I think I'll ask someone who's not crazy."

"It's just one of the things that makes me loveable."

Phase sighed at that. "Yeah, let's go with that. Anyhow, about what you said before, if you're going to reveal yourself, I'm probably going to have a harder time hiding who, or what, I am."

True, they didn't have as many fans as the Senshi, or even Nova - or enemies, for that matter - but they had both been fighting normal criminals for months, so the people of Tokyo knew Phase and Warwitch. Perhaps it was time to stop hiding, it had worked better than expected for the Senshi.

"Think Hana will also..."

"No idea," Phase said, "she seems to love wearing a mask."

"She could still be using it after-"

"You know what I mean."

Warwitch smiled. "Yeah."

That night, Usagi and Mamoru were walking through a park. She knew that the main reason he had taken her out for dinner almost every week since the battle against Galaxia was to help her keep her mind off her powers, but she suspected there was something else. She wouldn't ask him, though, she knew he would tell her when he was ready.

"This was a fun date," she said, looking at him. "I didn't think there would be one tonight, after today's training."

Mamoru smiled. "I'll have to admit Zephyr can be quite impressive when he gets serious."

"Too bad he doesn't do that as much as he should," Usagi mused.

"I've been beaten worse than today," Mamoru said, "won't stop me from taking a beautiful girl out on a date." He had something else planned, too, but had been waiting for the right time. Or, a part of his mind noted, he was avoiding it for as long as he could. He promptly told that part of his mind to shut up.

Usagi was happy, really. Everything was perfect right now. The park, the soft breeze, and the full moon, which shone down on them, reflecting on a nearby pond, and also on the plating of the robot which had just walked out of that pond.

... Robot?

Mamoru noticed Usagi's mood swing before he noticed the robot, and by the time he also noticed it, Usagi was in 'battle mode.' Civilians had started fleeing as soon as the robot appeared, as usual, and the creature ignored them. "Since it's walking to us, I think it knows who we are."

Usagi nodded. "What do you want, robot?"

The creature looked at her. "My mission is to eliminate the one known as Sailor Moon. Transform so I can fulfil my mission."

Usagi smirked. "Well, I'm unable to transform for the time being, so maybe you could just leave?"

The robot turned its attention to Mamoru. "Understood. Mission directives changed. New mission: Eliminate Dragon Earth."

Mamoru frowned. "Guess that means it won't leave us alone. Earth Star Power!"

Usagi had dreaded this. A new enemy was around, and she had no way to fight. She couldn't even summon her weapons as she normally would. Still, she didn't want to play the part of the innocent bystander... But what could she do to help?

Dragon Earth wasn't having an easy time with his foe. His attacks didn't do any visible damage, and the robot was quite fast, so he had been dodging and trying to find an opening to get to melee range. He summoned a large rock and threw it at the creature, but it dodged. However, as it did, a beam of darkness hit it from the side. "Thanks."

Nemesis smiled. "It's easy to guess something is going on when you see civilians running away from an area."

The creature looked at Nemesis. "Secondary threat engaged. Chances of success at seventy percent."

"Never thought a machine could be overconfident," Dragon Earth commented. The robot was suddenly knocked to the side, and he gasped as he saw Usagi, holding a lamp post which was now slightly bent after hitting their foe. "Nice."

Usagi was about to say something, but the robot rushed to her and clutched her neck. "Damn it... What's with evil things and... Necks?"

"Sailor Moon is still a threat. Directives reset. Eliminating Sailor Moon."

Dragon Earth growled at it. "Leave her alone!" His sword started shining, and he looked at it. "Excalibur is..."

Nemesis saw a second item floating in front of him. "A shield?"

Their foe released Usagi and turned to him. "Power spike detected."

The Dragon took the grey, stone-like shield and smiled. "Its name is Aegis," he said then glared at the robot. "Earth Cosmic Power!" The transformation was quick, and he didn't waste time with speeches. A large rock appeared right above the robot, smashing it into the ground.

"So much for this year's model of Omega," Nemesis commented as the rock vanished.

Usagi looked into the hole left behind and saw pieces of metal at the bottom. "Looks quite dead to me."

"Don't worry, I still have plenty of those."

Usagi turned to the voice, and saw a man floating there. He looked quite human, not counting the metal around his left arm (was it a glove or was his whole hand robotic?) and his right eye, which was made of some kind of red crystal. "Another enemy?"

"Yes," the man said, "but don't worry, I'm not here to fight, at least not tonight. I just wanted to take a close look at my prey."

"Prey? Who are you?"

The man looked at Dragon Earth. "My name is Rex, and I'm here to eliminate all the Senshi in this system."

Nemesis frowned. "Oh, that's nice. Yet another group of losers who target us? I liked it better when this job was about saving the world, not saving ourselves."

Rex was about to say something, but had to stop to dodge a beam of darkness. "That was uncalled for, Nemesis."

"See me care," Nemesis said and leapt up at the man.

Rex kicked her down. "When the prey lunges, the hunter has to defend himself."

Nemesis stood up and glared at him. "The hunter should make sure not to become the hunted," she said as her spear appeared, floating besides her. She looked at it, and saw it had a black aura around it. As she grabbed it, the spear changed, its tip growing bigger, and four small 'blades' appeared around the tip, in a cross-like pattern, making the spear look almost like a trident from the side. "This is... Gungnir," she said, looking at her 'new' weapon.

Rex smiled. "Oh, this will be interesting."

"Nemesis Cosmic Power!"

As the transformation ended, Nemesis leapt up again, and shot another dark beam. Rex dodged it, but then several spears made of darkness energy hit him from behind. "Good, you have actual skill," he said, then rushed forwards. "Too bad said skill isn't enough."

Usagi saw Nemesis fall and grimaced. Rex had hit her several times in a split second. He had knocked out one of her friends that easily? "Mamoru, be careful."

"That creep is messing with my friends," Dragon Earth said, "I won't let him escape."

"Big words," Rex snapped, "but can you back them with actions?" He saw the Dragon shrink behind his shield and smirked. "Thought so, now if you're not going to entertain me, then I'll-"

Usagi smiled as Rex was knocked down. Rex had assumed that shield was just a shield, but the Dragon had shot a wide energy beam from it, taking him off-guard. "Finally, he shut up." She started scanning the area, just in case.

Rex laughed. "This is good, I was fearing this would be an easy hunt. We can just fight until you're knocked out, just like your friend. Worry not, I won't kill you, that wouldn't be fair since we already failed today."

"So, if I don't shoot again, you'll just leave?" Dragon Earth asked.

"Yes, so let's just end it he-" Rex's non-robotic eye widened in shock and he looked down to see the tip of Nemesis' spear coming out of his chest. "Ugh, how the hell-"

Usagi was right behind him, still clutching the spear. "I may not be able to use my own magic, but I'm not just an innocent bystander, Rex."

Rex shrugged despite the pain in his chest. "I'll remember that next time."

As Rex vanished, Usagi saw Dragon Earth was staring at her. "What?"

"... It's not just Rex who forgot what you just said," he admitted.

Usagi smiled at him. "I think most of our friends did, unfortunately."

Nemesis staggered up. "Ugh. Did you beat him?"

The Dragon nodded. "Usagi did."

"What-" Nemesis saw Usagi was still holding the Gungnir. "Oh. Well, that's just awesome, I power up and still have to be saved."

"Naru..."

Nemesis looked at her friend and sighed. "I know, sorry."

"We'll need to tell the others about this," Usagi said.

Dragon Earth returned to normal. "We will, but... I have something to tell you first."

Nemesis saw the way Mamoru was looking at Usagi, and smiled. "Guess I'll go ahead and call the others."

Usagi saw Nemesis vanish, and turned to Mamoru. "What is-"

"Years ago, I met a cute girl. I thought she was naive and silly at first, but the more I knew about her, the more I realized she was the one for me. Even if I hadn't already seen the future with my own eyes, I would still want to spend the rest of my life, no matter how long it will be, with her."

Usagi just stood there, frozen, as Mamoru took a ring with a small diamond out of his pocket. "I..."

Mamoru smiled as he put the ring in her finger. "Of course, I'll wait until you're out of college, but I wanted to make this official. Usagi Tsukino, will you marry me?"

Usagi smiled and hugged him. "It's not fair, you already know what I'll answer."

"Do I?"

Usagi kissed him deeply, then stepped back. "I remember that guy I met, I thought he was a jerk and I couldn't stand him. But he's always been there for me and I couldn't help falling for him. I'm eager to spend the next thousand years with him."

Mamoru smiled at her (rather good) mimic of his speech. "So..."

Usagi sighed. "Naru figured it out, I'm sure of it."

"I'm not sure I want to go to the base right now, then."

"I'll walk if I have to," Usagi said.

"Can't you use your board?"

Usagi looked at him evenly. "I can't summon it, so I would have to walk home and get it."

"Oh. Well then, I guess I'll have to get us both to the base."

As they appeared inside the base, they saw most of their friends there. Usagi was surprised, however, when nobody made a comment. "Uh... Hi?"

Naru smiled knowingly. "I'm just done telling them about that Rex guy." She paused for a moment before her smile turned into a grin. "I haven't told them about... That other thing."

"What other thing?" Minako asked.

Usagi reached out her hand, showing them the ring. "Mamoru just proposed to me."

Rei smiled. "Nice. When's the wedding?"

"Three or four years from now, I think," Mamoru said.

"That answer is so... You," Rei muttered.

Usagi sighed and looked at the large screen in the far wall of the room. "I'm guessing the scanners didn't detect this attack."

Aiko nodded. "I was quite shocked when Naru showed up. I... Hate it when enemies can just run around without me knowing."

Usagi sighed. "Trust me, I know how that feels now."

"What did that robot look like?"

"It was quite plain, actually. Just a dull android," Mamoru explained. "It was also strong enough to resist Star level attacks, so those of us still in that level should be careful."

"Or we'll just get angry and level up."

Ami looked at Karin and shook her head. "I know you're joking, but it's too true to be amusing."