Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 8: Hunting Season.
Episode 120: A hunter's tale.

By Razor Knight
Last update: August 9, 2016
Last edited: June 14, 2017

"You're going to sign up for school? Why?"

ChibiUsa nodded. "I already explained this before, last time I came back from..." she stopped and looked down. "Damn. That's another reason I'm doing that. It will help me keep my mind off what happened."

Kage smiled at that. "That's a strange reason to go to school, but I won't say it's a bad one."

"You could also use training to keep your mind off those things," Terry said.

"Is that a challenge?"

"I still haven't seen you fight," Terry said, "and last time we saw you, no offense intended, but your lack of combat experience showed."

"No offense taken, I was sent back to get some real combat experience, after all. If you really want to see how much I've improved, be my guest."

"Well then, let's start."

The base was mostly empty, but the other three persons inside gasped at what had happened. Terry had tried to surprise ChibiUsa by rushing her without warning, but the girl had caught his fist before it hit her face. "Wow..."

Hotaru smiled at Kage's reaction. "I second that."

Terry pulled his fist back and nodded. "I see. Guess I trained you, in the future."

"I trained with a lot of people," ChibiUsa explained, "but you were the one who taught me most of what I've learnt about melee combat."

"Weren't you going to fight?" Hotaru asked.

"I don't need to," Terry said, "I can tell she's a much fighter than last time I saw her fight."

"I can teach you a few things, too."

Terry looked at ChibiUsa. "I'm listening."

"I could help you control your dual form better. I'm no expert, but-"

"If you've been actively training to use it for a long time, then you surely could teach me a thing or two," Terry admitted, "after all, I only use it as a last resort."

"It is a 'last resort' thing," ChibiUsa said, "you'll never be able to run around shooting beams for hours while using two Senshi powers at a time. Still, I know things you most likely still don't know about dual Senshi."

Ami had been silently listening to them, but decided to speak her mind. "I always worry when he uses his dual form. If there's a way for him to train and be able to use it with less risks, then..."

"There's another reason for him to train," ChibiUsa said, "Even though his Mercury form awakened first, his Saturn form is the strongest one."

"It would still drain me faster if I use it," Terry noted, "but yeah, I already sensed it, my Saturn powers don't just boost my other powers, they're much stronger."

ChibiUsa looked at Ami. "I'm not sure if you know this, but I suppose I should show you just in case. Earth Guardian Power!"

Ami stared at ChibiMoon... Although calling her 'ChibiMoon' would be a misnomer, since her suit had an Earth Senshi's color pattern. "That's... So you can call on your alternate form directly. I didn't know Senshi could do that."

The pink-haired girl smiled. "You didn't know in the future, either. I was the first to do it."

"Wait, so you telling us..."

"As Setsuna said, if the future I come from is a dark one, I should make sure it doesn't happen."

"Stop it."

"Hotaru, what-"

"You say you won't mind what happens to you as long as you change your future?" Hotaru said. Her voice was back to her old monotone, but both Kage and ChibiUsa knew why. She was trying to keep her emotions in check. "What about me, ChibiUsa?"

"What about you? If things stay the same, you'll die."

"You weren't meant to come back. Things have already changed," Ami said.

"But still..."

"You really don't care, do you?"

ChibiMoon saw Hotaru vanish and cringed. "Damn, I didn't..."

"She's being a bit selfish, too," Terry said, "but I can understand why. She spent too long trying to get used to the idea that she would not see you again for a thousand years. Just when she was finally getting used to it, you show up again... And then you say you would vanish again if it helps change the future."

The pink-haired girl returned back to normal. "I'm being selfish, I made the person I love angry at me. I lost her once, I don't want to-"

"She's waiting," Ami said.

"Huh?"

"She didn't go too far, she's right outside the dojo. Her mood isn't the best, though-" Ami blinked at her computer. "... She just blasted the camera out."

ChibiUsa looked at Terry. "Guess I'll have to postpone our training."

"Don't worry, Hotaru is one of my best friends," Terry said, "go talk to her, I'm sure she won't stay mad at you if you show her you're really sorry."

Kage shook his head as ChibiUsa vanished. "I can't say I don't understand Hotaru's reaction, but the younger Usagi wasn't wrong, either. At least from a logical point of view."

Ami sighed. "Logic and feelings seldom get along."

They had been staring at each other for a minute, silently. However, ChibiUsa knew staying silent wouldn't help her case. "Hotaru... I know saying sorry won't be enough, but-"

"You're damn right about that."

"Listen, I- I should have realized how you would feel. You once told me the wait had been painful for a while, but that you had learnt to live without me, knowing that you would see me again..."

"I was learning," Hotaru said, her voice still cold. "And you, coming back... It made me happy. I don't want to lose you again."

"I saw you die, and I couldn't do a thing about it," ChibiUsa said, "but if changing the future means you'll hate me-"

"Hate you? You would have to turn into a monster much like that Chaos creep was before I could even think about hating you." Hotaru's voice slowly returned to normal with each word she spoke.

"Good."

"But I don't want to hear you say you would choose death if it means changing that future. We can change it, together. Don't leave me again, Chibi."

"I won't."

"Oh hey, I remember that one. I already killed her."

Hotaru turned to the voice and saw three figures standing there. It was easy for her to guess who the one who had spoken was. "You must be Jaguar."

Hyena looked at Hotaru. "Before you ask why there's three of us, the answer is simple. Your group already showed us we can't beat you hunting solo. A hunter must know when to hunt in groups."

ChibiUsa glared at Rex. "You asshole..."

"Go ahead and transfor-"

Hyena and Jaguar both gasped in shock as Rex was sent flying back, crashing into a building. That girl was strong enough, even in her normal form, to punch Rex away so easily? "Damn it."

"I take no orders from morons," ChibiUsa snapped.

Hotaru walked to her. "Let's beat them."

"Like hell you will!" Jaguar snapped and 'vanished.' His charge was stopped, however, and he was sent flying back. "Who the hell-"

Venus appeared near Hotaru, glaring at Jaguar. "You idiots decide to attack two of us right outside our base, and expect us not to notice?"

Jaguar saw the Light Senshi vanish and growled. "Damn it, that again?"

ChibiUsa, or rather ChibiMoon, saw Rex walking to her. "I'm going to rip your heart out and make you eat it."

"... Sounds painful, I'll pass," Rex said with a smirk. "Care to try hitting me again?"

Just as he said that, he was knocked down by a large, skeletal dragon. Dragon Saturn, Mercury and Dragon Sun walked to ChibiMoon as the villain staggered up. "Just go away, baldy."

ChibiMoon noticed Dragon Saturn's suit was different. "Wait, did you- No way."

"It was quite easy to figure out how to call on my Saturn powers once I knew it could be done."

Rex looked around and frowned. Jaguar was being knocked around by Venus, Hyena was getting a beating from the two Mars Senshi and Jupiter, and he had five enemies to deal with. "I see this attack didn't quite work as planned. We didn't know of your 'base' but now we know better. Next time, we'll get you when you're alone."

ChibiMoon growled at him. "Damn it, why are you doing this?"

Rex saw Hyena and Jaguar had already retreated. "I suppose I could tell you, as long as you can stop your friends from attacking me."

Mars looked at ChibiMoon. "I'd love to kick his ass, but I'm actually curious about what his reasons are."

Rex shrugged. "The reason is simple. You Senshi, you say you fight evil, and you do, for a while. But then, after you run out of evil things... Then you show your true colors."

"What do you mean?"

Rex looked at Mercury, then nodded. "Let me tell you how the Senshi Hunters were born. We come from a world on the other side of this galaxy. A world that, like many others, had Senshi defending it. Senshi who grew so strong, no weapon our race made could hurt them. They defeated many evil beings, but after a while, evil took the hint and stopped trying. Senshi are warriors. Warriors born to defend their worlds, but warriors nonetheless. Our Senshi grew bored of waiting. They wanted to fight, and had nothing to fight against. So they decided to keep themselves entertained by fighting each other. At first they just sparred for a bit, but then their friendly fights became quite unfriendly. What started as fights some people in our world treated as a free show, soon became a threat to everyone and everything."

ChibiMoon knew such a thing was possible, she had heard legends of Senshi gone evil. But not all Senshi were like that.

Rex continued his story. "As their battles became more and more dangerous, some of the allies that had once helped them fight evil decided to try and get them to stop. Yes, I was once allied to Senshi. I considered some of them my friends. And still... I should have known there was no reasoning with those self-deluded fools. I only realized the truth when I saw my own city reduced to ashes by the strongest of our Senshi. But they didn't stop there. We were strong, but we knew we couldn't face all of them. They were killing each other by then, as their once friendly fights had become an all-out war to decide who the strongest Senshi was. So, we waited and trained. Millions lost their lives to their war, the very people they once tried to protect. But we knew we couldn't stop them, we decided to wait for an opening, even though waiting only brought death to our world."

"Since you're standing here telling us that, I will assume you won."

Rex looked at Dragon Sun and then shook his head. "Sometimes it's not about who wins, but about who loses the most. We did get our chance, almost one decade after we stopped trying to talk them out of their madness. There were only three Senshi left by then, and there were few cities left untouched by them. These Senshi were the strongest ones, but we knew that we now had the advantage. We waited until they gathered, they were eager to settle their 'contest' once and for all. We caught them off-guard, by waiting until they had been shooting at each other for a few hours. We killed two of them, but the third... She was the most powerful. She was one of the crystal bearers." He looked at ChibiMoon as he said that, and saw her gasp in realization. "Yes, each set of Senshi has one that's got a special crystal. None of them are as powerful as the legendary one, the first one, but they're still powerful weapons."

"So, you killed her?"

"No. She powered up, shouting at us for killing her friends - friends she had been quite eager to kill - and tried to attack us. If not for Lion's skill, we would have been killed right then and there. But I saw the way she was looking at us. She was overflowing with power, but she had powered up out of rage, and her body was not ready for it. She was dying, and she knew it. Her eyes were those of someone who was ready to die in order to defeat her foes. We tried to attack her, but her crystal absorbed our attacks, using them to feed her even more energy. We knew what she was doing, a forbidden technique, a legendary one, and, fortunately, we realized it before it was too late. We ran. We teleported back to our ship, and flew away from the planet, as fast as we could. We knew what was coming, and we knew even our attempt to escape could be too little, too late. I remember Vulture shouting something, and then everything went white around us..."

"She attacked you?"

"No. She used all of her magic, and all of her life force, to destroy the planet. She was hoping she could kill us with it. But we managed to get far enough from our world, and our ship, albeit damaged, was still in one piece. That day, we became Senshi Hunters. We decided to make sure no world suffers the same fate ours did. It's been centuries since we started, but we'll see our mission through."

"So, that's it?"

Rex glared at ChibiMoon. "What do you mean 'that's it' brat?"

"I admit it's shocking to know there's Senshi out there who could become such monsters, and I would kill them myself if I found them," the young girl said, "but you... You're telling us you've been killing Senshi for centuries, just because the ones from your homeworld were evil? You're pathetic."

"Shut up!" Rex snapped and rushed at ChibiMoon.

The girl was ready to block his attack, but blinked in shock as she saw the man fall to the ground in a heap. She then saw who was standing right behind him. "M-mom?"

Usagi looked down at Rex. "I know you're wondering why you can't move your arms or legs. Be glad I didn't stop your heart as well."

Dragon Saturn was about to say something, but then smiled. Yes, Usagi was bluffing, but Rex didn't know that. "A piece of advice, Rex. Leave. The technique Usagi used on you takes a while to wear off, and any of us could kill you while you're helpless."

"Why don't you do it, Senshi?"

"Because we're not like the Senshi of your world," ChibiMoon snapped. She was aware that she could do it, she could kill him then and there, but she couldn't let revenge cloud her mind. "In fact, I'm sure most Senshi aren't like that. But you're blind to that, too blind to see your crusade left countless worlds defenseless against evil, and you don't care. Maybe it's too late already, maybe you've already become the very evil you hate. I pity you, Rex."

"A hunter needs no pity from his prey."

Usagi saw Rex vanish and frowned. "Damn it."

ChibiMoon walked to Usagi and smiled. "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome," Usagi said, "but you didn't quite need it, right?"

"I was about to give him a serving of dual Senshi magic beams to the face," ChibiMoon mused, "but an Alphard was good enough punishment for now."

"When did you figure out how to do the four-headed Alphard?" Dragon Saturn asked.

"I didn't quite figure it out. I got here right in time to see you talking to Rex, and when he attacked, I just reacted." Usagi stopped and looked at the Dragon. "Wait, should you be in that form for so long?"

"It's a little trick your daughter taught me minutes ago," the Dragon said.

Saturn walked to them, and looked at ChibiMoon. "Those creeps interrupted us."

"You're right. Are you still mad about-" ChibiMoon stopped as Saturn kissed her. "Guess not."

Saturn saw the others looking at her, and shrugged. "Chibi is a bad influence for me."

Pluto stood in front of the time gate, waiting. The ripples were almost over now, but she could still not see the close future clearly. She could, however, feel something. A surge of power, a new threat. And from what she could 'see' with her power, whoever would be visiting the Earth soon, had enough power to make her shiver. "The legends were right, the Earth is really a magnet for powerful magical beings." There was something familiar about what she felt, however, but she couldn't quite tell what. And until the ripples caused by the Senshi Hunters' actions ended, she wouldn't be able to actually see who it was. Something told her she would be able to see this new enemy with her own eyes before that. "Whatever it is, I won't let it win."

"If you need me to keep an eye on things for a while around here, just tell me."

The Senshi of Time turned to the voice, and smiled. "I will."

A/N: Yes, another mysterious figure. No, I won't tell who it is, although those who read Cyber Moon might make an educated guess.