Stars. Points of light marking focuses of substance in the void of space. However just because light does not fall on it does not mean it does not exist. Such an object drifted through the cosmos. Its direction was taking it towards a dull little solar system. One star, nine planets, asteroids, very ordinary except for one all-important fact. It contained life and it was this that drew the monster from the void. It moved slowly, unhurriedly, though maybe such a gargantuan form could not be urged into going faster. Whatever the reality the consciousness within was in no rush. It had all the time it needed.
The two comparatively much smaller, but by no means tiny shapes also heading for the same solar system but from the other direction were in a very different state of mind. For them, time was running out.
"Sailor Moon." The voice floated through the mist like a ghost, soft but urgent. Usagi stood in the swirling miasma looking around trying to work out where she was and what was happening. It was chilly and she was only wearing her pink pyjamas so she wrapped her arms about herself trying to keep warm. It didn't work and she shivered a puff of vapour forming in the air as she breathed out between chattering teeth.
"Sailor Moon." The voice came again. She heard it this time, clearly but still couldn't understand what it was saying. Sailor what?
"Hello?" she called. "Hello? Is anyone there? Who are you and what are you talking about?" She felt a fresh chill and began to hop from foot to foot. Looking around she could not see anything. Only the gently rolling mist was visible as far as she could see through it. 'Stupid cold dream mist' she thought, looking behind her.
"Sailor Moon!" That had been quite close. She looked around over her shouolder and saw a woman, tall and dark haired standing in front of her. She held a long staff and wore a strange sort of sailor outfit, like her school uniform, but in white and black. Usagi was startled by the woman's appearance and leapt back. Then, thinking about for a second, she decided that this was her dream and she wasn't going to be pushed around by some strange woman in a sailor outfit. She dropped into a stance taught to her by her self-defence instructor.
"Don't come near me you strange dream, school-girl, woman type thing." She momentarily considered what she had just said but decided it would be silly to change it now and so let it be and stared into the woman's eyes. They looked sad and she felt a twinge of regret for being so ruthlessly scathing towards her.
"Don't you remember, Sailor Moon?" She asked looking Usagi up and down.
"What are you talking about," Usagi replied. "Who is Sailor Moon? Who are you?" She waited for a response but just then a distant wailing started. A shrill repetitive sound that got louder and louder. It was quickly joined by another sound, a kind of screeching. Usagi looked around her but could see nothing and when she turned back to the woman she had gone.
Usagi woke to the sound of her alarm clock going off and her cat, Luna, screeching along with it. She grabbed a stuffed toy and used it to club the clock into silence before hurling it at Luna who swiftly dodged it. When all was quiet again she picked up her pillow and placed it over her head to shut out any more noise. After a moment she felt a pressure on her stomach. Lifting up the pillow she saw Luna standing on the bed covers and staring at her with wide cat eyes. She meowed softly. Usagi gave the cat one of her best 'get off me and let me sleep' stares but quickly realised she was beaten and gave in.
"Alright I'm getting up are you happy?" She swivelled and sat on the bed pushing her feet into her slippers and yawning, accompanied by a wide stretch of her arms.
"What time is it?" She said and looked down to see Luna nudging the clock with her nose where it had landed on the floor. Usagi leant over, picked it up and stared rhumely at the clock face. A second later she leapt across the room towards the door, her long pigtails flapping behind her.
"I'm late! And it's only the first day of the new semester! Why didn't I set the alarm earlier?" she cried as she fumbled with the door. Getting it open she bolted down the stairs, slamming the door behind her. She was opening the front door when she realised something and ran back upstairs.
Luna was scratching at the bedroom door as Usagi threw it open sending her rolling across the carpet to land upside down against the bed. The cat opened her eyes just in time to see a pile of clothes, hastily flung by Usagi from her wardrobe, sail through the air towards her. She wailed as they landed on top of her with a soft thud.
"Uniform! Uniform! Must have my uniform!" repeated Usagi to herself over and over while she rummaged through her wardrobe. "Here it is!" she cried holding up the crumpled shape of her school uniform.
Meanwhile the pile of clothes by her bed moved and eventually Luna poked her head out from under them. She meowed irritably just as Usagi's discarded pyjama's added themselves to the pile. Once again Luna struggled against the weight and escaped just in time to hear the door to the bedroom slam again. She sighed and hopped up onto the windowsill and saw Usagi sprinting down the pavement munching on a rice cake.
Tokyo glowed in the glorious sunshine. The buildings stood tall and gleaming and the water of the bay shimmered, reflecting off the gentle waves little more than indistinct ripples from this vantage point. As a background to the sprawling metropolis were the mighty mountains to the west. As we move in closer our focus is not the city proper, the bustling urban jungle that never sleeps, but somewhere in the suburbs. Here is greener by comparison and lacking the monolithic towers of central Tokyo. Here cherry blossoms carpet pavements and parkland with their pink petals.
Juuban Junior High School was bathed in sunlight as Usagi pelted around the corner and through the main gates. She had made good time, despite the momentary distraction of an ice-cream van. There was still the matter of finding out which class she was in and getting there before class started. She didn't want to have to stand in the hall. There were still straggling groups of students around though they all seemed to know where they were going and have plenty of time to get there. Usagi stared at them savagely as she tried to catch her breath. She hurried up the steps to get to the board where the class lists were published.
She reached the corridor and saw only one other girl around who was looking at the lists. She strode over to them and, sighting along her finger, began to work down the long columns of names. As she reached for the third class list she saw her name at the same time as she bumped heads with the other girl.
"Ow!" said the other student straightening up putting her hand to her head. Usagi did the same with one eye closed in embarrassment rather than pain.
"Sorry." she said with a grin anxious grin. She hadn't been in the school more than a few minutes and she was already hurting people. She was so careless at times.
She looked at the other girl. She wore the same uniform as herself and was a little taller with short blue hair. She looked worried now that she had stopped rubbing her head. Usagi wondered if there was anything wrong.
"Are you okay?" she asked the girl.
"Mmm." The girl hesitated and then continued, "Yes I'm fine. Please forgive my clumsiness." She began to bow.
"Whoa. It wasn't your fault. I should be sorry. And you don't need to be so formal. I'm Tsukino Usagi." The girl blushed and smiled.
"I'm Ami. Mizuno Ami. I just transferred here." Her gaze kept shifting shyly to the floor, the board or down the hall.
"Hi Ami." Usagi checked the board again to see what it was Ami was looking at. She noticed Ami's name on the list. "Oh. You're in the same class as me. Brilliant, I'll show you the way" and without another word Usagi grabbed Ami's hand and led her off down the corridor.
'Lucky!' thought Usagi. 'It'll be a good excuse for me being late. I stopped to help the transfer student.' She grinned to herself. Perhaps the day wasn't going too badly.
Ms. Haruna, the teacher, was too busy seeing to Ami when the two arrived to comment on Usagi's lateness. The two got seats next to each other near to another friend Osaka Naru. Naru-chan sat on Usagi's left and Ami, when she had finished introducing herself, which she did blushing and trying not to be noticed, sat on her right. Usagi liked this as that meant that she had two people who she could potentially copy from during a pop quiz. During the first class she couldn't help but notice how good Ami was at anything that Ms. Haruna set.
'Lucky again!' thought Usagi. 'My new friend Ami is so clever she'll be able to help me with all my homework.'
"Usagi!" called Ms. Haruna, "Why have you got that strange look on your face?"
She realised that she had been giggling to herself whilst wearing a Machiavellian grin as she planned how to shift her workload.
"I was just trying to figure out the answer to this problem."
"And which problem would that be?" the teacher asked.
Usagi looked at the blank answer sheet in front of her.
"One," she said lamely.
The three girls spent most of the day together, showing Ami around her new school. Usagi found that even though the new student was very shy she began to like Ami more and more. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but regardless of having only met her this morning, Ami seemed like an old friend. It was almost as if they had known each other before. Usagi repeatedly had to shake this thought from her head. They had never met before. How could they? Ami had only just transferred here.
School could not end too soon for Usagi and Ami was persuaded to go and get something to eat.
"I want cake!" bellowed Usagi as they walked through the shopping district. It was reasonably quiet but there were still plenty of people around. The buildings on either side of the road were a continuous line of shops, restaurants, offices and the like. Kids from the whole area were shopping eating or just milling about. They past a parked Hiachi-roko, a couple of boys stood next to it chatting. A girl with a guitar strapped to her back rode past on a yellow scooter.
"Yeah… something sweet and tasty," agreed Naru.
"As long as its not tuna," said Ami quietly.
The trio had not noticed it yet, but darting from alleyway to alleyway, jumping on top of walls and other obstacles was a black cat. Luna had followed them since they left the school. After being let out by Usagi's mother she had waited at the school for Usagi. She had decided to stay back when she had noticed the blue haired girl. Luna had seen that girl before. She knew what this could mean and so wanted to see what happened. Therefore she was now going to great pains not to be noticed.
Ahead of the three girls was a TV and Hi-fi shop. A small crowd had gathered at the window in which were displayed several TV sets. As they reached it they stopped their chatting and tried to get a peek at what was creating so much interest.
Two people were visible on the screens. It was obviously an interview. The interviewer was just off camera but you could see the microphone in his hand. The two on screen were an odd pair. Both were dressed in lab coats and were obviously academics. One was thin and wiry with a haircut that flared at the back and little goggles-come-glasses that completely obscured his eyes. He had a strange little grin on his face and held a plate on which was a flan, partly eaten. The other was tall and broad and on top of his head was an even more ludicrous hairstyle with strange rolls of his long hair jutting out from the sides of his head. He leered down at the camera with a contemptuous arrogance. The interviewer spoke apparently already part way through the interview and asking questions,
"And how does it feel to have been the first to have discovered the new meteor that has entered our solar system?"
Both the interviewees looked at one another then threw their heads back and laughed in tandem,
"Kyahahahahaha!"
"Waahahahahaha! There was no doubt that my colleague and I would be the first to discover it. None can match our genius in any field we care to turn our exceptional minds to." As the taller one said this he made wild gesticulations that caused the camera to swing sideways at one point to try and dodge his flailing limbs. Even his companion had to shield his flan.
"Does this new object pose any threat to earth?" said the slightly shaken voice of the interviewer.
"Not at all." said the shorter one, a blob of flan wobbling on his spoon, "our calculations suggest that it will pass near us but has no chance of hitting the earth without having to pass through the sun. Unless it can manoeuvre around our local star it poses no danger." He giggles manically to himself and went back to his flan. The interviewer decided he had had enough.
"Professor Nova, Professor Alcantara, thank you."
Usagi, Ami and Naru turned away from the screen as an advert started.
"That was fascinating," said Ami.
"Yeah. Riveting," came Usagi's deadpan reply.
"Don't you know what this means?" said Ami. "This is a great astronomical discovery. We will be able to study this object more closely than any other…" Usagi's eyes had glazed and she kept walking on autopilot. "…that we can detect outside our solar system. The consequences of such a…"
Usagi was busy not understanding a word Ami said, when she blundered into someone coming the other way.
"Oh sorry…" she blurted. Then she looked up at whom she had walked into. He was tall with dark, almost black, hair and looked like a senior high school student, maybe even a college freshman. Usagi couldn't help but notice he was also quite handsome. She felt herself blush slightly.
"That's okay," he said. "Just try to watch where you're going in the future, dumpling head." He said this in a good-humoured way, smiling as he indicated Usagi's hairstyle. Her face grew redder but this time from anger. 'Who did that jerk think he is? I apologised and he insults me. And he did it in such a nice way! Why I'll…'
"Who do you think you are, jerk?" she raged flailing with her fist. She suddenly noticed two things. Firstly the jerk was no longer there and secondly her friends were staring at her with nervous expressions.
"Are you okay Usagi?" asked Naru. "You went really red for a bit and the guy walked off. Who were you shouting at?"
Usagi threw her head back and laughed, Ami and Naru drew away slightly as she did so. Then she looked around quickly.
"Cake!" she cried pointing at a shop. She ran across the road, dodging vehicles, and stared gazing through the window at the various cakes and buns displayed in the window. Ami turned to Naru.
"Is there something wrong or is she always like this?"
"You'll get used to it." replied Naru. "Come on. Let's hurry. She'll eat all the cake if we don't get some before her." She smiled as they ran across the street.
Footsteps rang on metal and echoed down a dark corridor, lit only by dull red lamps set into the floor on either side of the walkway. Four figures trudged along in broken step to the corridor's terminal, a large double door. One reached out with a gloved hand and touched a panel. With a hydraulic hiss the doors swung open onto a high vaulted hall. It too was lit with the same red light though it was also illuminated by a glow from a huge circular view port set into the far wall. In front of this port stood a tall robed figure. What little of his head that was visible above the high collar of his crimson robes was covered in dark hair. He gazed out into the space scape and did not turn as the other four entered the room. The group stood silent as the doors shut behind them. Of the four, one was female with long, flowing, deep red hair, and eyes of deep violet. One of the men was tall and broad. His hair too was long but it was black and his eyes were a uniform white, lacking apparent iris or pupil. Another was tall and lanky, bald and had little black pupils set in bloodshot eyes. The last and shortest stood ahead of the others and was thin and wiry. His short-cropped, silver hair was not befitting a face as youthful as his. His eyes were yellow in colour and suggested a certain imbalance within the brain behind them. They all wore the same black and gold armour and all had the same deathly pale skin. None showed any sign of impatience as they waited for the robed man to act. After a moment and without turning his gaze from the stars he spoke.
"You are all aware this is the last briefing before you depart." It was not a question. The voice was not harsh, but gentle and sinister. This sort of voice would often be heard while the speaker sharpened its claws. The robed man continued, "I have made you all aware of what you must do. If you have any questions now is the time to ask them. I wish for no mishaps in this matter as I have already made only too clear." The voice's owner had still not moved, indeed nothing in the room had flinched aside from the hulking figure who swayed gently but by no means unsteadily. The silence lingered.
"Then go!" snapped the voice eventually. The taller men and the woman pivoted and stalked out of the hall and back down the corridor. The fourth stood where he was but his eyes began to dart about the room, one more erratically than the other. It should have been clear to any observers that there was not even the sound of any breathing in the room. Only the dull electronic hum of powered circuitry picked out the silence. This was broken again by the voice.
"Yes, Crow? What is it?"
The armoured figure, the one addressed as Crow, straightened slightly and his eyes locked onto the back of the other's head.
"I would ask a question of my Master." He said. His voice, like his face, betrayed youthfulness.
"Go on."
"Well after we have carried out our orders and our task is complete…" Crow hesitated.
"Yes?" The inflection on this word suggested that what Crow had to say better be very good.
"What are we to do with the Sailor Senshi?" Crow's head inclined forward slightly and cocked to one side as he said this. The other moved for the first time turning his head slightly to view Crow out of the corner of his eye. Out of this corner came a green glow. The tone he used now was one of hollow amusement.
"The Sailor Senshi?" He chuckled causing his robes to billow slightly. "I give them to you Crow. You can do with them as you wish. Anything your demented little mind can dream up." He turned back to his stars. One in the centre of the glass glowed brighter and larger than the rest. It was from this that the dull, white glow originated.
Crow's lips curled baring sharp, white teeth his face twisting into a vicious sneer
"Thank you, my Master," he began to leave but hesitated. "Er… Master?"
"Hmm?"
"Does that mean that I can keep their sailor uniforms?"
There was a sigh and the robed figure gave a dismissive gesture with his hand sending a ripple through the material of his cloak.
"Yes Crow. You may keep the sailor uniforms."
"Even their shoes?" Crows face lit up with a nasty grin.
Another deeper sigh.
"Get out."
"Thank you Master." Crow nearly skipped from the room, his armour clicking as he moved, and hurried to try and catch up with his companions. This left only the one with robes in the room. He kept looking out of the window, but gently shook his head.
"He wants their uniforms?" said with quiet disbelief. From the darkness on one side of the hall came a brief mirthless laugh. The robed figure sighed again.
Crow lowered himself into a cockpit. Instruments flashed all around him. As he closed the solid metal canopy over himself the dim light of the hanger was blocked out, being replaced by the red glow of the cockpit's internal lighting. He began to press buttons and hooked a cable to the collar of his armour. He gazed intently at a group of controls and instruments that were separated from the rest. A line on a scope pulsed rhythmically and the lights surrounding the little screen glowed green. He grinned and then reached down and flicked a switch.
"My cargo is secure. Raven, are you ready?" He continued to glance over his instruments. The woman's face appeared on a screen in front of Crow, her skin lit with a similar glow.
"And waiting, Lord," she said with a cold and terrible smile.
"Vulture?" asked Crow. The bald man's face appeared, replacing the woman's onscreen.
"At your command," he sneered.
"Rook?" The large man's face replaced the former's. Neither his face nor glazed eyes showed any expression as he nodded sharply. He said nothing.
"Then let's go and de-bone the Sailor Senshi!" he cried and cackled manically as he reached up and pulled an overhead lever.
On the Destroyer's surface a panel slid aside, silently in the vacuum. Nothing happened for a moment then four objects shot from the cavernous opening. Turning sharply, and shot off into space at speeds that are only spoken of in science fiction stories. The craft took a course that later the Destroyer itself followed at its own pace, towards the system of planets that serenely orbited their local star.
Elsewhere, not far by the inconceivable standards of distance in space, the other two shapes sped on. From one shot a capsule that tore through the vacuum and disappeared towards the same cluster of planets.
Light from the Sun, now low in the sky, was streaming through the window of the café. It fell across the table at which three friends were seated, eating various sweet things and talking animatedly about whatever held their interest. Usagi had bought a huge slice of cake, Naru an ice cream. Ami had settled for an iced bun. It was fairly quiet in the little shop. There was another schoolgirl, tall with chestnut hair pulled back into a ponytail, sitting at the next table looking at a magazine. The only others were a couple of odd characters sitting on the other side of the room. One was a flat chested girl with fiery red hair; the other was a large blond man. Both were dressed as if going to a fancy dress party or a fantasy convention and both were stuffing their faces with enormous amounts of food. In the background a radio was blaring out the weather forecast, which was unfortunately rain.
"Next I want to look at some music shops!" said Usagi digging her spoon into the cake.
"Yeah!" chipped in Naru, "There's this new album by a band called Lion. They sound pretty cool."
"Nah! Probably no different from any of the other new bands." Usagi smiled and shovelled in another mouthful of cake as Ami put her hand to her mouth and yawned.
"Sorry if we're boring you." Usagi said teasingly. Ami blushed and hunched her shoulders, taking her friends' jokes too seriously again.
"Oh its not that," she straightened up, "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
Naru's eyes widened and she froze with a laden spoonful halfway to her mouth. Ami continued,
"It's just that I've been having these weird dreams." Naru relaxed and ate the mouthful. Usagi had now stopped eating and looked keenly interested in what was being said.
"What about?" she asked.
"It's too odd," replied Ami. "I would feel silly."
"No please. I would really like to know. I've had strange dreams too." Usagi had a rare look of gravity on her face. Even Ami, who had known Usagi for less than a day, was inwardly taken aback. This was nothing, however, compared to how Usagi felt. She couldn't understand why she had suddenly become very interested in Ami's dreams.
Outside Luna watched the girls sitting in the snack bar. She recognised the other girl, the one with chestnut hair. Shaking her head, eyes closed, she realised what was going on. Incomprehensible forces were at work drawing up battle lines. Somewhere an entity was directing evil intent at this small planet.
Halting her musings, she became aware of something nearby. She turned and stared into the beady eyes of a small grey cat. It looked back and then grinned, showing a row of sharp, white teeth.
"Well," Ami was still red as she told her story, "it's dark or misty and I can't see anything. Then this woman's voice is calling. She's saying 'Sailor Mercury'." She shot a glance to Usagi who was still staring back, remarkably leaving the last of her cake untouched.
"Yeah?" she said.
"Then the woman appears wearing this strange uniform and tells me I am Sailor Mercury and begs me to remember. You see I told you it was stupid."
Neither Usagi or Ami had noticed, but the Girl with the ponytail at the next table was suddenly sitting bolt upright.
"No. No it's not." Usagi reached out and put her arm on Ami's shoulder. "I had the same dream. Except the woman told me I was 'Sailor Moon.'"
The girl had now turned her head to look over her shoulder. Naru was staring at her two friends.
"Come on guys. This is creepy, stop it." She tried a grin but it met the grave expressions of Ami and Usagi.
"Excuse me!"
The three turned to face the direction from which the voice had come. The girl with the chestnut ponytail was smiling back at them.
"Sorry. I'm Makoto. Kino Makoto, though you can call me Mako. I couldn't help overhearing about your dreams and well…" The smile faltered slightly and there was an edge of nervousness that had not existed before, "well I had the same dream." She looked back at them. For a moment the four schoolgirls sat in silence staring at one another. In the background the other two diners left arguing about the way they split the bill. As the door to the café shut Naru said very quietly,
"Somebody please say something." Usagi obliged.
"Whoa! Look at us. Anyone would think someone had died." The cheerful flippancy was forced. She stood up. "I think we should all go for a walk and get some fresh air. We can take a walk up to the temple. It's pretty close."
As the group walked and talked heading for the Hikawa Jinja shrine it became apparent that Mako was very easy to get on with. Also she had indeed had a similar dream. This was not what was worrying Usagi. She was lost within her own thoughts. She got the same impression of Mako as she did of Ami. She could scarcely believe they had only just met. This and the dreams made her feel creepy. Had they known each other in a past life?
"Hey Usagi. Wakey wakey!"
The voice was Mako's. They had reached the shrine and the others were looking at her as she had walked on too preoccupied to notice they were no longer with her. They were standing outside the gates to the shrine now. The area was paved but cherry trees grew nearby sprinkling their pink blossom. It was raised slightly from the surroundings, steps that Usagi had not noticed climbing leading back onto the lower streets. Some railings to one side cordoned off a ledge. Beyond the drop were trees and beyond those Tokyo. In the light of the setting sun the city looked quite beautiful. She joined the others leaning against the railing, taking in the view.
"What do you think it means?" Usagi asked dreamily.
"What?" replied Mako.
"The dreams? They must mean something."
"The probability of us all having such a similar dream is incredibly low," said Ami and Usagi guessed that she was agreeing with her.
"I think it means that you're all creepy and you should stop talking about it," said Naru.
Behind them came the sound of sweeping. Looking round they saw a girl with long black hair in shrine robes sweeping the courtyard. She was keeping an eye on them but did not seem terribly interested.
"Hey look!" said Mako pointing at the sky. "A shooting star. Make a wish."
"There's more than one!" said Naru.
"I count four," said Ami. "The probability of four shooting…"
"Do you always talk like that?" interrupted Mako.
"Those aren't shooting stars."
They all looked round at the speaker. The shrine girl had stopped sweeping and was staring into the darkening sky.
"I was going to say that," mumbled Ami transfixed by the four little lights.
"How do you know?" asked Usagi.
"I occasionally see a shooting star when I'm out here. That's not what they look like. They're too bright."
"I was going to say that as well," said Ami. Usagi turned back to the sky.
"It looks like they're getting brighter," said Naru.
"Well if they're not shooting stars what are they then?"
No one got a chance to reply.
A small barren planet floated in the void. Around it circled a smaller object. The two were know respectively as Pluto and Charon, Pluto's moon. It was upon these two that the Destroyer advanced. It loomed many times larger than the little planet, vast and metallic. At it's fore gaped the massive mandibles capable of rending a planet's crust asunder. A ring of steel ran around its equator. Lights on its surface picked out its shape, making its dark bulk visible even this far from the local sun. It sped on towards the little planet, defenceless and alone against an ancient and terrible evil.
Then inexplicably the Destroyer halted its advance. This was not voluntary; something unseen had managed to stop the titan. Between it and Pluto had appeared a tiny shape. The form hung, suspended in the vacuum, not heeding the lack of air or warmth; standing, nay floating, firm against the Destroyer. The shape was that of a woman. She was tall and slender (as much as that meant in the infinite void and before the megalithic Destroyer) and had long dark hair. She wore a skirted sailor uniform in white and black and bore an ornate staff in front of her, holding it out in challenge to the intruding behemoth. Her face was set but her eyes were filled with a deep melancholy. Perhaps she could see an outcome to this encounter.
"I am the first of many Destroyer. You cannot pass." Her lips did not move as she spoke. The words were carried by a medium other than air.
In reply the form of the Destroyer lurched forward.
"You are powerless against me." Rumbled the Destroyer. The woman tensed and seemed to strain against unseen forces.
"I shall not let you!" she said and from her staff came a glow. She closed her eyes, not from the light but in concentration. The ball of light continued to blaze becoming so intense that the darkness of the behemoth she faced was illuminated.
Naru looked from face to face at the people around her. Almost in unison everyone had let out a yelp and then gone quiet. Now they were all standing eyes closed clutching they're heads as if in pain. She had tried to talk to them. Then she had shouted at them. Nothing she did got a response. She approached Usagi. Taking her arm she shook it.
"Usagi! Listen. Stop it okay?"
As she said this a shape leapt out of the trees and onto the rail. The little black cat then dropped gracefully onto the ground and surveyed the scene. Naru's pleas continued. "You're all scaring me. Stop it! Can you hear me!" Tears began to well up in her eyes. She didn't know what to do. She noticed the cat for the first time. Then she looked to the sky. Above her the little lights were getting brighter.
Usagi looked around. She recognised this place. It was her dream again. It was different though. The mist was darker. As her eyes adjusted she saw the others. Ami, Mako, the shrine girl. Where was Naru?
"It's my dream again." said the shrine girl.
'Your dream! It's my dream!' thought Usagi, but then said, "And who are you?"
The shrine girl turned.
"I am Rei, Hino Rei. A Priestess of the Hikawa Jinja shrine."
They had only just met and already this girl was getting on Usagi's nerves. It was the way she carried herself: such obvious arrogance. She just had to drop in the fact that she was a priestess.
'May as well be polite,' Usagi thought.
"I'm Usagi and this is Ami and Mako," she said indicating her companions.
"Hi!" chorused Ami and Mako pleasantly.
Usagi wondered how they could be so nice to this girl.
"What did you mean when you said my dream." She said to…Rei was it?
"I've seen this place in a dream I've been having. It's a little different now."
"Darker," said Mako.
"You've had it too?" asked a surprised Rei.
"We all have," said Ami.
"If this is our dream," asked Usagi, "why are we all here and where is the creepy sailor lady…? Why are you guys all staring at me like that?"
"Do not be afraid Sailor Moon."
Usagi jumped at the voice and spun around to look behind her. There was the lady, creepier than ever in the twilight. She could see why the others were looking the way they did.
"Don't be afraid any of you. Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, welcome." She said this indicating Usagi, Ami, Rei and Mako respectively. "I am Sailor Pluto. I would explain properly, but time is now of the essence. My other attempts to communicate the graveness of the situation were unsuccessful. For this reason you must listen now." Here she paused and stared off into the middle distance. Usagi and Mako both turned to look but could see nothing. After a moment the look of concentration passed and she looked at them once again.
"Whether you remember or not you must now fulfil your destiny. A great danger is coming that threatens life on this planet and all others. The lines of defence must be drawn here. You are that defence. You are the Sailor Senshi." Again she seemed to be sidetracked. Her voice trailed as she went into an almost trancelike state. Usagi took this opportunity to voice some opinions.
"What do you mean? I think I speak for us all when I say we don't have the foggiest what you're talking about. We're not Senshi. We're just ordinary schoolgirls." She wasn't sure if the lady had heard what was said but she again snapped out of her trance and turned to Usagi, fixing her with a glare.
"You are Sailor Moon. I am sorry but there is no other way. Look!"
The lady swung her staff and drove it into the ground before her. Usagi and the others all instinctively tried to take a step back but found themselves unable to move. A gem at the top of the staff glowed. They tried to close their eyes but found they were also unable to do so. The light became brighter but did not become painful to observe. It contained a thousand different images. Images of a time gone and thought buried. Usagi could barely register all this information, but she found her mind able to keep up almost as if she were merely being told what she already knew. Emotions came with the pictures, thoughts, feelings, tastes, smells. Struggle, loss and triumph. Then it was gone. Usagi looked around totally perplexed. Her friends (and the shrine girl) were still here; all wearing expressions that Usagi thought must mirror her own. She looked back at the lady though she was not looking at them. Her face frightened Usagi. Her eyes looked so sad, her expression a mixture of dread and failure. Suddenly she tensed, arms thrown wide and disappeared. As the lady vanished so the mist began to part and fade. Just then Usagi fell to her knees clutching her head as if struck. Soon the four girls were back in the darkening Tokyo twilight.
In the blackness of space light danced about the lady's staff, swirling in complex patterns. If one were to look closely small birds composed of the wonderful light soared and flew about its pinnacle. These increased in intensity as more and more light gathered to them. As restraining forces vanished, suddenly unleashed, the ball flew at the Destroyer. It streaked across the distance plunging towards its cavernous mandibles and beyond; its dark core. As it reached it surface the light roiled and swirled, flickering much as flames would but with a glorious intensity like none on earth. Then as suddenly as the last of the trailing beam entered the magnificent inferno it sputtered and disappeared. The woman's eyes widened as a voice, not that of the Destroyer, began to laugh. It was a terrible gloating noise that swirled in her head muddying her thoughts.
Another beam of green burst from the Destroyer. It passed through the woman, her body tensing, head thrown back, arms wide. It continued on to Pluto itself. There it struck the planet's surface. As it did so tendrils of the same green colour flowed around the planet. Where they met they fused forming a web. It grew more and more dense as more tendrils arced through space. Once the binding was complete and unbroken the Destroyer moved forward. Its jaws were wide and followed the course of the green beam of light. The woman disappeared into the gaping maw just as it tore at Pluto's surface. Chunks of the planet were ripped apart and drawn into the Destroyer's belly. There they were pulverised, smelted and moulded by the great furnaces of the Destroyer.
Pluto did not take long to die.
"Remember…"
Ami, Makato and Rei all looked at each other and at the prone Usagi. Naru had backed away. She was not privy to their shared vision.
"Who was that? Who is Sailor Pluto?" said Mako.
"What kind of danger?" asked Ami
"What are the Sailor Senshi?" from Rei.
"What's going on!" cried Naru looking from face to dazed face of each of her companions. Above them the lights in the sky continued to grow.
"Are those what that woman was talking about?" shouted an exasperated Mako, "Are they dangerous?"
"If they are what can we do about them." said Ami. She was trembling slightly.
Usagi raised her head.
"I remember," she said quietly. The others looked at her bewildered.
"Right. Time for Sailor Moon!" cried Luna and leapt into the air. Naru was just about to be very surprised at supposedly hearing a cat speak when she had to be surprised at something else. The cat performed a curled role and where she hung for a moment in the air there appeared a glow or pure, beautiful, white light.
The group shied away from the object that had appeared, floating in the air. It was a sceptre, a long shaft topped with a heavy looking crystal that was fastened there by gold bands. It was from this crystal that the light shone. Usagi stared at it, transfixed.
"Its beautiful," she breathed. She began to reach out to it but hesitated.
"Go on Usagi. Take the Solaris Sceptre! Become Sailor Moon. Reclaim your past!" cried Luna. Usagi hesitated a moment longer and then clasped the sceptre.
"Moon Solaris Power, make up!" she said, not knowing where the words came from or why she said them. Around her the sky, the shrine, even her friends faded as she was engulfed in light's pure beauty. She was not afraid. She remembered this, or at least something very like it.
"What's happening?" cried Naru. She looked at the others. They all just stood there, looking at the light enthralled. She concentrated on Ami who was nearest her. Ami's face suddenly lit up with an expression of recognition and remembrance, though what she could be recalling Naru had no idea.
"Right!" called Luna, "Sailor Senshi! Your turn!" Once again the cat leapt into the air and somersaulted. Three little objects suddenly appeared. They looked for all the world like pens. They dropped from where they had appeared, one falling to Ami, another to Rei and the last to Mako. As each clasped the little talisman they held them aloft and called,
"Mercury Star Power, make up!"
"Mars Star Power, make up!"
"Jupiter Star Power, make up!"
As they said these words they too were engulfed in the same white light. Naru had to shield her eyes as the glows intensified. Then as quickly as the light had come it was gone again.
Naru looked around, her eyes needing a moment to readjust to the evening light. She found herself no longer surrounded by her friends. The four had disappeared and had been replaced by new girls who looked strong and beautiful. They all wore similar uniforms but in different colours. The four opened their eyes and looked around as if seeing the area for the first time. Naru fell to her knees, tears running down her face.
"What's happening?" she whimpered.
Sailor Moon stared at her and then at the four lights, brighter than ever.
"I think, we're about to find out." Sailor Moon turned and asked, "Are you okay Naru?"
Naru nodded very slowly and then flopped to the floor unconscious, Sailor Moon stooping just in time to stop her from hitting her head on the pavement.
"What now Sailor Moon?" asked Mercury.
"Now?" Sailor Moon replied. "First we put Naru somewhere safe."
"She can sleep at the shrine." interjected Mars. "My grandfather will look after her for the night."
Sailor Moon nodded. Sailor Jupiter turned to her.
"Then what?"
"We're going to wait for the visitors to arrive and then we will have to meet them."
On saying this, the Senshi looked up at the approaching lights.
In the vacuum the metal monstrosity continued onward inexorably. On its surface panels slid back and folded away. From these shot capsules, launched from the bays at an incredible speed. Swarms of them tore away from their erstwhile carrier, hurtling into space on a course that would take them around the not too distant star and towards a planet just beyond. A little planet with blue oceans and green continents all wreathed in wisps of white cloud. A planet called Earth.
Coming soon(-ish... maybe): Part 2 - The Dawn of Mayhem
The second thrilling instalment of the Metal Moon Crisis and the continuation of the adventures of Sailor Moon and The Transformers! With more old friends turning up to help against new enemies you really won't want to miss anything.
The sound of record scratching and Japanese techno
Don't miss it!