Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 8: Hunting Season.
Episode 121: Hunting grounds.

By Razor Knight
Last update: August 24, 2016
Last edited: June 14, 2017

"Tomoe, I want a report on your progress."

Tomoe looked at Kino for a few seconds before turning to look at a map of Tokyo. "We've been working on a little something together with a certain company. They do not build weapons, but made an exception in this case due to the nature of our request, and what it would be used for."

Kino could guess what company it was. "The fact the owner of that company is the father of one of the Senshi had nothing to do with their decision, I'm sure."

"I think it made negotiations easier," Tomoe said. "Anyhow, we've developed a weapon that could, in theory, hurt even one of those 'Hunters' the Senshi are currently fighting."

"Impressive."

"The drawback is, since our methods to gather mana are sluggish to say the least, it takes us a very long time to have enough energy for one shot."

"A very long time as in several days?"

"Several weeks."

"There's always a catch," Kino said, "still, Raiko will be glad to hear the news, I'm sure."

"Already told her about it. She wanted to be the first to shoot it."

Kino looked at Tomoe for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I should have expected that."

Emi, Aki and Maria had gone to the base that day for a reason, but they almost forgot it as they watched Hakko and Usagi train. "She really learns fast."

"That's a trait we all share," Kage noted, "but I think she got the basics already. She just needs practice."

"You didn't come here just to watch Usagi get knocked around by Hakko, right?"

Kage chuckled at Aiko's descripion of what was going on meters away from them. "I can bet they have something quite important to tell us."

"You already know?" Emi asked.

"Mom told me."

Usagi had heard that and nodded at Hakko to stop the battle they were having. She then walked to the others. "Wait, did something happen?"

"Yeah. It took a while for most of our peers to agree on it, but it had to happen eventually. You're looking at the three newest Prime Huntresses."

"Wow," Aiko looked at the three in turns. "I thought you'd have to be older. Then again, I know little about the Demon Hunters."

"But isn't there already a Prime in Japan?"

"The position isn't like one of a king or queen. It's the highest rank, and decisions made by a Prime weigh a lot more than those made by other Hunters, but there can be several of us in one area. Our first decision was that we would stay in Tokyo and help the Senshi, and since we were backed by five other Primes, even if anyone disagreed, they would still not complain openly about it."

Maria frowned. "And back home, I'm sure some of the Hunters are happy I'm not going back to help my mom."

Usagi looked at Emi. "I would like to know more about how your group works. Is there a way for me to speak to your mother?"

Emi smiled. "You could just go to our house and ask what you need to ask."

"But wouldn't that-"

Aki chuckled. "Usagi, even if right now you can't access your magic, you are Sailor Moon. Even the most obstinate of Hunters, the ones which are the most vocal about not wanting the Senshi as the first line of defense, would kneel before a Serenity."

"Uh, that's... I've never really thought about what that title could mean to others. I've always been surrounded by friends since I became a Senshi, so I'm not used to being treated for what my past life was, for what I may, eventually, become."

Emi looked at Usagi. "I know I can't speak for other Hunters, but remember there's three Primes here who respect you and would follow you into battle for who you are, not for your title."

Usagi blushed slightly. "Uh, thanks."

"And who knows, if Aries... If Junko gets to know you personally, she may end up agreeing with us about that."

"So now mom is 'Junko' to you now, eh Maria?"

Maria looked at Kage and shrugged. "She told us that, since we're Primes officially now, we need not bother with formalities outside of Demon Hunter meetings, or the battlefield. And that, since we're Primes, even if we were to call other Primes by name, normal Hunters would usually ignore that breach of protocol."

"That does sound like mom. She follows protocol only when she can't avoid it," Kage admitted. "Not that that's a bad thing."

"So, you're going to try again."

Boa looked at Vulture. "Sure. We'll go for the main target."

"Careful, as things are now, she's more than enough to take on any of us. Still... If anything, your powers will help you a lot against her."

"True. Nemesis caught us by surprise with her strange ability, and if not for Lynx's skill..."

"Want me to tag along?"

"Not yet," Lynx said, "we want to see if we can defeat at least one of them with just our skills."

"Be careful out there."

"You are telling us that?" Boa mused.

"Yeah. A hunter adapts, right? Our prey is trickier than we thought, tricky enough that one of their future selves made us weak enough for the ones in this era to be hard to kill. I won't underestimate them again, and neither should you."

"You know, after what happened yesterday, I gave all of this a lot of thought..."

"Me too," Hotaru said.

"What happened that day is something I won't be able to forget anytime soon. And yet, a part of me is glad that I came back here."

"You mean..."

"If I could have stopped it all from happening, I would have, but that's now a 'what if' and I'd rather not focus on those. I realized I'll get to share those thousand years with you, the years the other you spent alone and waiting. We were only together for a short time in Crystal Tokyo, but here- It's weird. I miss the you from the future, and yet... Ugh, I don't know how to explain it."

"I imagine it must be hard," Hotaru said, "but you don't have to. We'll have time to talk about it all. Let's enjoy these moments of peace we get, together." She saw ChibiUsa blushing and smirked. "You're thinking about that, aren't you?"

"Uh, sorry?"

"Don't be, you've done nothing wrong. And I'll admit that you thinking about me that way... It makes me feel happy."

ChibiUsa looked to the side and sighed. "Fans incoming."

Hotaru saw a few children running to them. "Oh. Hi?"

"Sailor Saturn, you're the best!"

"Thanks."

"Hey, who is she?"

"My name is ChibiUsa Tsukino."

"Tsukino? Like Sailor Moon?"

ChibiUsa looked at Hotaru for a second, then back to the girl who had asked that. "I'm one of her relatives."

Hotaru smiled. That was one way to not say a lie and at the same time not say the truth. "She's Sailor ChibiMoon."

"Oh wow. Everyone at school said you had died."

"I was... Elsewhere. Bad guys don't only show up in Tokyo. But I'll be staying here for a while."

"How do we know you're not lying?"

ChibiUsa looked at the boy who said that. "Let me show you." She called upon her transformation without any words, and moments later she was wearing her ChibiMoon suit. "See?"

"Huh, wait, you didn't shout anything to transform?"

Hotaru chuckled. "That's something not many know about us, we've learnt to use magic without calling it out." And to demonstrate her point, she summoned a skull, which floated above her. "See?"

"Cool."

"Aww, how cute, the girls have a fan club."

Hotaru looked at the two who had just appeared near them. "You must be Boa and Lynx."

ChibiMoon looked at the kids, who were all staring at the two strangers. "Uh, you should leave now."

"Are those bad guys?"

ChibiMoon nodded as her suit morphed into her dual Senshi outfit. "The worst kind, the kind that thinks it's doing good by being evil."

"Why you-" Boa said and started walking to the two, but Lynx stopped her. "What the heck?"

"We can't attack them yet, Boa. Wait until those young humans leave."

Hotaru smiled. "Chibi, there's something I've been trying to figure out these days, and I didn't show you."

"What is-" ChibiMoon started, then saw Hotaru's clothes morphing into her Senshi suit. "Nice."

Saturn looked at their small fans. "Please, go back to your homes, we won't be able to deal with these two if you're around. And they could hurt you, too."

The children all rushed away, some wishing the two Senshi good luck, others booing at the two villains. ChibiMoon looked at Lynx and smirked. "You know, I'm still going to rip you to pieces, but I respect you for not attacking while children were on the way."

"Our fight is with you, Senshi. Civilians are safe as long as they don't interfere."

Saturn was trying to figure the duo out. "You know, Naru told us you two didn't seem to have any special skill. All the other Hunters have something going for them. So, what's the deal with you?"

"It won't be fun to just tell you," Boa said. "Why don't you try and find out what we can do?"

ChibiMoon smirked at that. If these two were trying to tease them into attacking first, she would show them why that was a bad idea. "Fine by me. Think fast."

Think pink beams shot from behind the two Hunters, knocking them both down. "Okay, you're not a soft hitter, girl," Lynx said. "Care doing it again?"

Their foe tried again, but this time she staggered back. "Ugh... What the hell is going on?"

"Chibi?"

"Hotaru, be careful. They're doing something- I'm out of energy already, that's not normal."

Lynx smirked. "Oops, my bad. See, Nemesis didn't notice my powers last time. She thought it was just her running out of mana."

"So your power is to drain mana?"

"Not quite. I can weaken my foes, in many ways. Their physical strength, their magic powers, the amount of mana they can hold, they're all reduced drastically. But on my own, I'm not much of a threat."

"And that's where I come in," Boa said. "I enhance my allies, making their abilities even more dangerous."

"Oh crap..." ChibiMoon muttered.

"Seems you figured it out, kid. Lynx's power is much stronger when he's near me. We're the perfect couple."

"Such a boast to make," ChibiMoon snapped, "but what use is those skills if you have no fighting skills at all?"

Boa smirked and sidestepped, dodging ChibiMoon, then chuckled as her foe stared at her in shock. "Haven't you listened at all, kid? When near us, you'll be weaker, slower, easier to deal with. Your difference in power means nothing to us, you're just another weakling we'll kill."

"Damn you!"

Saturn had been rushing to attack the two villains, but stopped as she saw ChibiMoon rush Boa. There was something quite wrong with her, and Saturn could guess what it was. "Chibi, don't let rage control you."

"Stay back, I can kill these two!"

Saturn tried to hit Lynx, but the man dodged her attack. "So where's that talk about sharing? I don't just want to share peaceful moments with you, Chibi."

Lynx tried to attack Saturn, but was surprised as the girl managed to clutch his arm. "Damn it, let go, you Senshi brat!"

"I won't think you're weak because you need my help at times, Chibi." Saturn turned to glare at Lynx. "Die."

Boa heard Lynx scream of pain and turned, forgetting her foe. That was a mistake, as ChibiMoon used her distraction to summon her sword and slash at her, scoring a deep gash in her back. "Damn it, you stupid brats, I'm done playing nice!"

Saturn had been using her gloves to drain Lynx's energy, hoping to stop his power from working. However, she saw Boa blasting ChibiMoon through a building with a rather large energy beam, and growled. "You bastards..."

Lynx was surprised that Saturn had stopped draining him. "Huh, what's wrong, girl?"

"You're done playing nice, you say? I'll show you what happens when you hurt someone I care about, assholes. Saturn Guardian Power!"

Boa snorted. "Like that's going to help you."

Saturn's suit wasn't that different from the one she had been wearing before, just like ChibiMoon's suit. Only really noticeable difference was her glaive now had Saturn's symbol engraved in its blade. "Oh, this will help me a lot," she said, looking at Boa. "Think fast!"

Boa saw Saturn vanish, and then felt the hand in her back. Before she could react, she felt energy being drained from her. "Damn it, how can you-"

"Look at your guy, he's barely standing," Saturn said. "You need energy to use those skills, and I drained a lot from him. Now, what will you do, Boa? Will you struggle until I drain you to death, or will you just leave to hunt another day?"

ChibiMoon had staggered out of the building she had been thrown in in time to hear Saturn's speech. As Boa vanished, she smiled. "That was awesome, Hotaru, I-"

"Chibi!"

ChibiUsa woke up and looked around. She was inside the base, but only Hotaru was there with her. "Damn, what happened?"

"You got quite a beating, a few bones broken, and passed out. I took care of the bruises and fractures already."

"You make it sound so casual..."

Hotaru grimaced at that. "I know. I guess I'm too used to having to heal others when they get injured. It means I've had to do it too much."

"Thanks for healing me, and sorry for being an idiot back there."

"Well, I can somewhat understand why you would act like that. You were the only Guardian Senshi around."

"I guess you're right... Where's everyone else, by the way?"

"Slacking off, I guess."

"Not to sound overconfident, but now I know we'll beat those Hunters."

"Huh?"

"They have trouble fighting Cosmic Senshi. If you all start leveling up, they'll eventually be too weak to fight us anymore."

"Not to sound pessimistic, but I expect them to have a way to compensate for the difference in both power and numbers."

"Welcome back."

Black Lady looked at Aurite. "Ugh, that was rotten. I'll tell you, Aurite, feigning death is a lot easier when you nearly get killed."

"Don't I know that..." Aurite mused. "Anyhow, it's a pity you didn't have time to test your powers on that girl."

Black Lady smirked as rocks started floating around her body. "Who says I didn't? I must say this ability you gave me is quite impressive."

"You're Onara's masterpiece, in a way. A creature with the ability to copy any power used on her."

"In theory."

"Agreed. I'm not sure you would be able to mimick the Ginzuishou, for example. That crystal is the wild card the Senshi have always had."

"Don't worry, I'll test my skill on that crystal after I rip it off Sailor Moon's cold, dead hands."

"Patience, Lady. We're not ready yet."

"What is it you're waiting for?"

"I found out something interesting while you were out. Let me see if Onara is available, he's better at explaining that kind of things..."

A/N: I would say it's Senshi Upgrading Season again, but that season doesn't really end.