Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 8: Hunting Season.
Episode 119: A Lynx to the past.
By Razor Knight
Last update: July 28, 2016
Last edited: June 14, 2017
"So the whole world knows already?"
Usagi and ChibiUsa were walking home from the base, something Usagi had to admit she didn't do enough these days. But she knew her daughter needed some time to cool down and walking was the perfect way. "Yeah, did my future self never tell you-"
"No. How do you handle the fans?"
"Things were quite crazy at first, but nowadays it's not that bad. Terry said that mankind as a whole can have a short attention span, but I think it's because we showed them that we aren't doing it for the fame."
"I think me being around will complicate things."
"Not sure if it will. They also know about Aiko's origins, and there wasn't that bad a reaction to it. Of course, we don't need to tell them why you're here or how long you're staying."
ChibiUsa had been thinking about telling Usagi something else, and she knew her mother enough to know she'd figure it out eventually even if she didn't. "Mom, listen, there's something I didn't mention back then, something I think not everyone needs to know. Hotaru, I mean, the Hotaru from the future and I, we-"
"I know, or at least, I had guessed it already." Usagi said. She noticed the way ChibiUsa was looking at her. "The way you kept looking at Hotaru made me realize that. It's the same way some of my friends look at each other, or how Mamoru looks at me."
"... And you don't mind?"
"You're sixteen, right? I think you're old enough to know what you're doing. And even if I wasn't okay with it, I know how much you and Hotaru care for each other."
"Good," ChibiUsa said.
"Have you told Hotaru that yet?"
"We didn't speak a lot. I'll tell her about it tomorrow."
"I have half a mind to ask you to take a picture of her face," Usagi joked.
ChibiUsa smiled at that, then looked to the side. "Diana, you're awfully silent."
Diana looked up at her. "I'm just... Lost in thought."
"Gotcha." ChibiUsa saw the Tsukino house and smiled. "Been years since I saw this place."
As they walked in, both Ikuko and Kenji stared at the two 'visitors' in shock. "She-"
"To make a very long story short, a long story I'm not quite ready to tell again yet," ChibiUsa said, "something bad happened in the future, which forced me to come back."
"Wait, you mean like the first time-"
"Oh, mom told you about that," ChibiUsa realized. "No, it's not quite the same... I'm staying."
"Staying? What do you mean?"
Usagi saw her daughter look away, and noticed her mood darkening. "Mom, dad, she means exactly that. She's staying. She can't go back. Let me talk to her for a while and then I'll explain it to you."
Ikuko saw Usagi, ChibiUsa and Diana walk up the stairs and turned to Kenji. "That was... Strange."
"I noticed the younger Usagi was not in the best of moods," Kenji said.
"So she was-"
"In a way, protecting her. Stopping her from saying something she would regret."
Ikuko smiled as she thought about that. "Her heart's in the right place." She saw Luna walk in and frowned. "Luna, do you know what-"
"Sorry, I need to go talk to my daughter right now."
"Uh, I understand. Usagi told us she'll tell us what's going on later."
Luna smiled at that. "I think I'll help her explain, then, when she decides to tell you."
"Rex, I have some good news."
"I need some good news. That kid being around will make our hunting harder."
"However, I also have some bad news."
"Damn it. Give me those first."
"I figured out why these Senshi are being so hard to kill. It's something I didn't even know was possible."
"I'm listening."
"Remember Serenity's last words?"
"'Even if you kill me, I'll make sure your next hunt will be your last.'"
"And so she did, or at least she tried," Vulture said. "I had heard legends, in some worlds we've used as hunting grounds, about a world where the First Senshi had appeared, millions of years ago. The name 'Serenity' was mentioned in those legends. Supposedly, the first Serenity was capable of things no Senshi we've met could have dreamt of. Some of the legends say she could even bring a whole planet back after it was destroyed."
"Interesting, but legends aren't always worth taking at face value."
"I know, and that's why I never mentioned them, but what this Serenity did to us makes me think she may be a descendant of that one. This 'Earth' may be the original world of legends."
"Get to the point, Vulture."
"Right, sorry. Simply put, our magic power is less than two percent of what it should be."
"You mean that woman somehow weakened us that much? And you only noticed that now?"
Vulture met Rex's glare with a calm stare. "Tell me, Rex, do you check your own power each morning, to see if it's still the same? Did you notice it being weaker?"
Rex growled at those words, but then shook his head. "You're right. I knew leaving the good news for last was a good idea. They better be good."
"Oh, they are. The other happy couple is back in the land of the living, and they're more than eager to hunt after I told them what had happened."
"Good. I'll go talk to them right away. If they're eager to hunt, I'll let them go and say hi to our prey."
"Which one will you send first?"
"Both of them. With that brat around, we'll have to bend some rules."
"I agree," Vulture said, "but Lion and Hyena..."
"They will agree too, or at least I hope they're smart enough to realize they need to. There's no point in following the rules blindly for this one hunt, since our enemy already cheated."
Hotaru had, as expected, turned an interesting shade of red after hearing what ChibiUsa had to say. "I..."
"Don't worry, I'll wait for you."
The pale girl - who had managed to return her cheeks to their normal color - sighed. "Have you told Usagi and Mamoru about-"
"I told mom about it, she said she would tell dad," ChibiUsa said, noticing Hotaru was blushing again. "You know, your future self almost never blushed. I forgot how cute you look when you do."
"Well, enjoy it while you can, because Chiba is going to kill me..."
"Let him try," ChibiUsa said with a shrug.
That reaction worried Hotaru a little. "I was joking, you know?"
"Yeah. Doesn't mean I wouldn't protect you if it actually happened. He won't get past me."
"You're one level above us, but you shouldn't grow overconfident about-"
"Overconfident? Here's a few things you don't know: A Guardian Senshi is a hundred times stronger than a Cosmic Senshi. And if that's not enough, I am a dual Senshi. And there's one other thing you may not realize, which would make dad have little to no chance to beat me in a fight."
"Which is...?"
"I've fought Endymion plenty of times, while training. I know how he fights. He has rarely, if ever, fought me in this era, so he doesn't know all my tricks. Heck, even if he had fought me a lot last time I was around, I've learnt some new tricks since then."
Hotaru sighed. "I get it. There's a difference between being overconfident and being aware of the advantages you have over your enemy."
"Sailor Saturn!"
Hotaru turned to the voice and saw a girl around their age, looking at them. "Yes, that would be me."
"Don't worry, I won't ask you for an autograph or anything like that," the girl said. "I wanted to thank you."
"Uh, you're welcome."
"You were one of the Senshi in the U.S., right? You guys saved my older brother back then."
"Oh. Feels like such a long time ago for me," Hotaru said.
The girl stared at ChibiUsa for several seconds, and the pink-haired girl finally had enough of it. "What?"
"Uh, sorry, but... Who are you?"
"You may have heard about a Senshi called Sailor ChibiMoon."
"I heard she died, and that's why she wasn't- Wait, you are..."
ChibiUsa smiled as she mentally triggered her transformation. "Yes, that's me."
"I don't remember hearing any news on you for months."
"That's because I... Well, I wasn't planning on returning. That's all I can say right now, but I guess I'll have to tell the whole story sooner or later and let it be believed by those who know there's nothing really impossible."
"I guess I'll have to wait, then," the girl said. "Anyways, sorry for bothering you."
Hotaru saw the girl walk away, and was about to tell her girlfriend something, but then Aiko appeared near them. "Trouble?"
Aiko nodded. "Trouble."
"Who is it?"
"Two hunters I have no data on. They're attacking Naru, and I already informed everyone."
ChibiMoon's mood changed quite quickly. "Two hunters you don't know about? Don't tell me..."
"You mentioned Boa and Lynx," Aiko said, "so I'll make an educated guess and say it's those two."
"I'll make them wish they'd stayed dead," ChibiMoon said.
"Chibi..."
"I know," she said, calming down. She then looked at Aiko. "Are you going to help?"
"Sure."
"Okay then, let's go," ChibiMoon said, and the three vanished.
Nemesis was angry. Two Hunters had appeared and attacked her, and Umino had tried to beat one of them, but he had been knocked out quite quickly. "You assholes hurt Umino, so I'm going to enjoy punching you both to death."
Lynx smirked at her. "You say that, Senshi, but it's you the one with the bleeding arm."
The Senshi of Darkness frowned. No, she would not gain anything by letting rage take control. She was one of the first Senshi to awaken, and she'd seen and fought enough to know that rarely, if ever, helped in a fight. "I'll just have to make things even," she said as her enemies waited for her next move.
Boa chuckled at that. "You're welcome to try, but we've got a score to settle with your group, so don't think you'll have it easy."
Nemesis had been about to attack, but she had sensed something which made her freeze. "What is that..."
"Huh? What are you mumbling about, Senshi?" Boa snapped. "Stop staring and attack already, it would be boring to just kill you."
It wasn't the Hunters their foe was staring at, but their shadows. Shadows, of course. Darkness. "I never thought I would have one of those weird powers," she said, mostly to herself.
Lynx saw Nemesis close her eyes, and growled. "Fine, idiot, if you're not going to attack, then die!" He stopped in shock as he saw Nemesis vanish. "Damn, did she run away?"
Boa saw something she wasn't quite ready to see. "Lynx, behind you!"
Lynx turned around expecting to see Nemesis there, but instead, he saw his own shadow was somehow rising from the ground. "What the hell..."
"Hell? No, it's worse than that," Nemesis' voice said. Lynx was sure the voice was coming from the shadow. His own shadow, which was now growing larger and looming over him.
"Cheap tricks won't work, Nemesis!" Boa snapped and tackled the shadow... Or at least tried to, as she run right through it. "Damn, what-"
"Moron, a shadow isn't a solid object," Nemesis said.
Were was she? Lynx looked around, Nemesis was surely hiding somewhere, and using his shadow to- He stopped and looked down. No, it wasn't his imagination, a spear had just pierced through his leg, and he could see an arm coming out of the shadow, holding the spear. "How the hell are you-"
"How?" Nemesis mused, walking out of the shadow as she pulled the spear out of her foe's leg. "I don't have a damn clue. Some of my friends have weird skills too, skills we shouldn't have, if legends are to be trusted, as they were never seen before."
Boa tried to sneak up on Nemesis, but she saw her vanish, and then felt a hand closing around her neck. "Ugh..."
Lynx saw it was now Boa's shadow being controlled. "Damn it, you Senshi can't win fairly?"
"I stopped playing fair the moment you hurt the man I love," Nemesis snapped.
Boa was trying to break free, but the shadow, despite Nemesis saying it wasn't solid, was still firmly grasping her neck. "Damn... It, I won't... Lose..."
Lynx suddenly saw Boa's shadow shrink and return to normal, and Nemesis 'fell' out of it, kneeling on the ground. "What's the matter, Senshi, did your fancy new trick drain you out of mana already?"
Nemesis glared at him. Unfortunately, that was exactly what had happened. But she couldn't give up, she had to hold her ground until the others... She looked at Dragon Lilith, who was still lying on the ground. There, she hadn't imagined it, his body fading in and out. "Heh, you can be awesome when you really try."
"Muttering crap again, Senshi? That won't sav-Urk."
Lynx saw Boa had a sword sticking out of her stomach. "Damn it, Rex was right, you guys aren't that easy. I'll kill you both later."
Nemesis saw the man vanish, taking the woman along, and sighed, looking up at Dragon Lilith. "Did you just wake up, or were you faking it all along?"
The Dragon smiled. "I was knocked out, but I woke up in time to see your awesome new trick."
"So awesome it was useless."
"If you run out of mana faster, you'll just have to try doing as much damage as you can before you're dry," the Dragon said. "Also, if Minako and Usagi could practice and improve using their own 'special' powers, so can you."
"... You're right."
Just then, ChibiMoon, Hotaru and Aiko appeared near them. "Oh, guess we're late."
Nemesis looked at ChibiMoon. "You knew about my power, didn't you? Being able to move through shadows?"
"Sure I did, why?"
"What you mean 'why'? You could have told me about it, would have been better than finding out in the middle of a fight!"
ChibiMoon sighed. "For the record, I didn't know you hadn't still found out. I wasn't told a lot about the wars after Galaxia, mostly because I didn't need to know, as I wasn't mean to come back."
"Oh. Uh... Sorry, I thought-"
"No harm done," ChibiMoon said.
Hotaru was looking at ChibiMoon, and finally decided to speak. "Chibi, did you really just do what I think you did?"
"What, teleport myself and two passengers without having to call out the spell? Yeah. I would have thought that wouldn't surprise you after I transformed without a word."
Dragon Lilith whistled at that. "Wow, I didn't know we could do that."
Aiko shrugged. "I saw Pluto do it, but I thought a Senshi had to be at her level."
Several minutes later, Naru was back at the base, along with Umino, and had told Usagi about the battle. ChibiUsa and Hotaru had tagged along, as they needed to ask Aiko something.
"... So, what do those two look like?"
"The guy, Lynx, is basically a weirdo in a white cat suit. And that Boa girl... Skin tight full body suit, whatever the suit's made of makes it look scaly."
"It's a weird coincidence that they're all named after predators from our world, and their looks-"
"Not that weird," Aiko said, interrupting Umino, "considering they're likely to be descendants of one of mankind's space-faring civilizations. Maybe those animals were called the same back then."
Usagi looked at Naru. "I must admit I didn't expect anyone else to get a 'special' power." She looked at ChibiUsa. "Will anyone else..."
"This is one of those times when I don't care about telling you. No, nobody else will get such a skill, not even children of Senshi do. I mean, even I have no weird skill."
"Other than your ego," Hotaru teased.
"Shush, you," ChibiUsa muttered, then looked at Aiko. "By the way, how did you know Naru was being attacked?"
Aiko looked at Usagi for a few seconds before answering. "I knew because, while I may not be a Senshi, I also hate to be unable to protect those I care about. Sure, if you hadn't showed up, Pluto would have still helped Usagi, but that didn't make me feel any better about failing to detect the Hunters, or Black Lady. So I simply spent all day today running every possible scan I could think of, and seeing if any of them, or a combination of them, could let me see where the Hunters were coming from."
"So you know-"
"No, I can't sense where they are, where their ship is. But I sensed Boa and Lynx when they appeared near Naru."
Usagi blinked at that. "Aiko, you say you spent all day... Does that mean you've been focusing all of your attention into that one matter?"
"Yes. And before you say anything, I did it because I wanted to be able to warn you all. What use is a scanning program that can't scan?"
"You're not just-"
"Usagi, I am not saying I consider myself nothing but a program. You should know I'm done thinking that. But just like you aren't going to just sit and wait until your powers come back, I'm not just going to sit around and hope you can save each other even if I can't tell you when someone is being attacked."
Usagi smiled. "I think I can understand that, yeah."
Aiko looked at ChibiUsa. "I have one question, though. Wouldn't I still be alive, in your version of the future?"
ChibiUsa flinched at that. She had considered that, and knew Aiko would figure it out sooner or later. ""If anyone could really be called immortal, Aiko, that would be you. Even in this era, you already know how to 'copy' yourself, and I'm guessing you've already figured out how to mass-produce the Element Zero."
"Actually," Aiko said, "I haven't. I just use the Zero from any dead 'copy' to build a new one."
Umino smiled. "If you were a game boss, you would be quite broken."
Aiko chuckled at that. "Only drawback is, I need energy to do that, to copy myself."
ChibiUsa nodded. "Well, if that's the case, and if the you from the future still had that drawback, then I'm not sure you are... Will be alive. No offense, but even after a thousand years, you were unable to catch up with the Senshi."
"No offense taken. Did I at least grow good enough to keep up with a Cosmic Senshi?"
"You were stronger than an Eternal Senshi."
Aiko's eyes widened. "Wow, stronger than Pluto."
ChibiUsa chuckled, not minding the looks the others were giving her. "Sorry, it's just that... Pluto isn't an Eternal Senshi. She's a Holy Senshi."
"A what?" Usagi asked.
Aiko wasn't as confused as the others, because she had 'read' about it before. "Holy Senshi, one 'tier' above Eternal Senshi, and as strong as a thousand Eternal Senshi."
ChibiUsa nodded. "Yeah. She told me, and by that I mean the Pluto from the future, that she had not 'leveled up' since the days of Silver Millennium. She never needed to. She just made sure her power didn't grow dull."
Usagi blinked. "Wait, what about that other... Aeon Senshi, I think Ami called it?"
"Yeah, that's the next step. The final step, for most Senshi."
"So, a thousand times stronger than a Holy Senshi?"
ChibiUsa looked at Hotaru. "Not sure, because that's a thing of legends. It could be a hundred times stronger, or maybe a million times stronger. We won't know until we get there."
Usagi noticed ChibiUsa looking down as she said that, and knew what her daughter was thinking. "We'll get there. We just need to defeat these so-called Senshi Hunters twice, and whatever comes in-between them."
"You make it sound easy."
"Not my intention. I'm sure none of that will be easy. But we'll get through it all, together." She looked at ChibiUsa, and bit her lip as she thought about another thing she wanted to ask her. "Do you know when I'll be able to-"
"No, I don't know. When I asked Queen Serenity about it, the best answer I got was 'my powers returned to me when I really needed them.'"
Usagi blinked at that. "So I pulled a Pluto on you."
ChibiUsa smiled for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, you could say that."
A/N: The title of this episode? I regret nothing.