Somewhere in the northern oceans...

Everything is coated with a thick blanket of white fog.

Suddenly, a strange sound breaks through the silence of the fog banks...

"Meow!"

Quick footsteps.

"Come on now, leave the captain alone..."

"If you ask me, this whole trip is one big waste of time... I tell you one more time, captain: Let's turn back around and sail home! This is getting us nowhere!"

A short span of silence.

"SIT!"

WHAM!

"OW! Hey, what did you do that for?"

"Be careful, captain... you two don't want to make a leak in our boat, right?"

"You'll all see," a peeved, female voice called out. "You'll see I'm right! And now, QUIET!"

"All right, Kagome, we understood you..."

Silence...

A few moments later:

"Hey, captain... That white thing on starboard... could that be an ice berg?"

"STEER HARD TO PORTSIDE!"

"AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!"

But for now, let's leave the foggy oceans of the north behind and take a look back at our Gaulic village...

Steaming mad, Rei came stomping out of the druid's hut, carrying a big fish with her right hand. According to its smell, it has to be 5 weeks old, at least...

Rei approached a certain fish shop, headed straight for the turquoise-haired saleswoman (who had stepped back as a precaution) and slammed the smelly fish on the sales counter.

"There!" the raven-haired druid snarled. "Care to explain that?"

Michiru chuckled nervously. "Well... the fish seems to be quite old... right?"

"Hotaru bought it yesterday for me," Rei explained, looking at Michiru with burning eyes. "I asked her to bring me a somewhat fresh fish for my potions... She told me this would be the freshest one she could find! Now I wanna know: Why don't you have any fresh fish for once?"

Michiru gulped. "Well, Haruka hasn't gone fishing for a while now..."

"Then I'd say it's about time, isn't it?"

Rei looked past Michiru into the fisherwoman's hut. "Haruka, explain to me: Why is it so hard for you to go out with your little fishing boat and catch some fresh fish?"

The blonde fisherwoman gulped. "Well... we have a slight problem with the boat..."

"Care to elaborate on that?"

Michiru sighed. "She has... sold the boat."

"Beg your pardon?"

The fish saleswoman nodded. "That's right! And not just the fish: She also sold most of her fishing gear, too! And she didn't even ask me for permission!" She threw her companion an icy glare.

"But... but... you have to understand," Haruka tried to defend herself. "I needed some money!"

"And what for?" Rei asked.

Haruka pulled out a stone slab and grinned. "Here, look at this: The newest sports chariot on the market! All the rage in Lutetia!"

She pointed at the little carved image of the vehicle on the slab. "Copper adornments, side impact protection and a horse power of four!" She smiled like all of her dreams had come true. "I just need XXV more sesterces, and I'll be able to afford it!"

"So you sold your boat to afford a chariot..." Rei groaned. "Never thinking about your customers..."

"I should throw you out of the house for that," Michiru grumbled. Haruka winced.

"I... I just thought, for a few days, selling some of our old fish would be sufficient..."

"Well, it would have been bad enough if it was just because of your customers..." Rei muttered. "But sadly, there's also the matter of one tiny, additional problem..."

"Um, and that would be?" Haruka asked.

Rei took a deep breath.

Then she yelled right into the blonde's face: "I CAN'T BREW ANY MAGIC POTION WITHOUT ANY FRESH FISH!!"

Meanwhile, other villagers have gathered around the fish shop, having listened to the last part of the conversation.

"What do we do then?" Minako gasps. "Without your potion, the Romans will surely be able to defeat us."

"It's no use... we have to catch some fresh fish out in the ocean," Rei replied.

"But... how? If Haruka sold her boat..."

Grandpa Hinix strode up to his granddaughter and grinned. "No worries! I own a small boat lying at the shore... in my younger days, I used it to catch fish myself. Thee also must be an old fishing net in there..."

"You heard it," Rei said to Haruka. "Get to it... now!"

"But... but..." Haruka whined. "If I go now, I might miss the newest edition of 'Horses, Chariots and Races'..."

Rei snarled and made a fist. "You'll miss some teeth if you don't..."

"Hey, calm down, Rei," Ami quickly said and stepped in-between the enraged druid and the cowering fisherwoman. "Let me go fishing if Haruka doesn't want to... I surely know how to steer a boat."

"Oh yeah, me too," Usagi said excitedly and hopped up and down. "This will be fun..."

"All right then," Rei sighed. "But you better hurry, I only have one cauldron of potion left... wait, lemme get you a bottle, just in case, okay?"

Ami nodded. "Sure!"

Rei threw one last glare at Haruka. "We'll talk later..."

By now, the crowd was slowly dissolving, and Michiru was dragging her companion inside. "Come, you... it's time you learn something about business!"

"Ouch! Hey, lemme go..."

Ami giggled as she watched the two women vanish inside their hut. She then looked at Usagi. "You really wanna come along? You haven't really been on many boats before..."

"Ah, it's okay," the blonde menhir delivery girl grinned. "I'll do fine, somehow..."

"I guess I better come with you two," Luna grumbled. "I don't want to know what disaster Usagi might cause out there..."

Usagi glared at her feline friend. "Luna, that was unnecessarily mean!"

The black cat just shrugged.

Rei came back with a small bottle of magic potion. "Here, Ami! Use it if the two of you would get in any kind of trouble... I would come with you, but... I have to make sure the others don't waste the rest of the potion within hours... and you know how irresponsible grandpa can be at times."

"It's okay, Rei... but thanks for the potion. We'll come back as fast as we can."

Rei nodded. "Good, I'm counting on you! Happy fishing!"

Luna groaned when she saw grandpa Hinix' boat that was floating next to the catwalk, on the shore just outside the village.

"We're supposed to use that tiny thing? Well, it's just fine that Rei wasn't able to come... she wouldn't have fit inside anyway."

Ami looked over the small boat and smiled. "I like it. It's enough to catch some fish... it's not like we'll be gone for days, right?"

"All right," Usagi cheered. "Let's get inside!"

She made a small step and jumped on board of the small vessel.

"Usagi, be careful!" Ami shouted. "You don't want to fall into the..."

"Aaaaaah!" Usagi's own force carried her further than she had intended to, and for a short while, she was staggering at the edge of the boat, desperately struggling to regain her balance...

SPLASH!

"...water..." Ami said with a groan.

Usagi surfaced and spit out some water. "Oops," she said with a grin. "Teehee, I guess I got carried away for a while..."

Luna shook her head. "I have the feeling this is going to be a looong trip..."

Like a sailing expert, Ami was setting sail and let the wind carry the small boat away. When she believed they had reached a good point for fishing, she nodded and stroke the sail.

"Usagi, cast the net!"

Usagi saluted. "Aye, aye, captain!"

Usagi took the net and threw it over the ship's rail. Luna watched her for a while while she was fumbling with it, and shook her head.

Turning to Ami, she asked: "Do you really believe Usagi is able to use that thing?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure Usagi can do it if she really tries," Ami smiled.

Just then, the blonde in question tapped her blue-haired friend on the shoulder. "Ummm... Ami?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

Usagi fidgeted with her fingers. "I don't know how to say it, but..."

"Yes? Out with it!" Luna said impatiently.

Usagi sighed. "I kinda... lost the net."

"What?"

She nodded. "It's true. I was just holding on it, when suddenly, a BIG fish yanked it out of my hands. I tried holding onto it, but... it was kinda slippery..."

Ami sighed. "Oh, great... what are we supposed to do now?"

"Great job, Usagi..." Luna threw her an angry glare.

Usagi whined. "I'm sooo sorry..."

Ami shook her head. "Well, we certainly can't fish like this... looks like we have to go back to the village and fetch another net."

"Easier said than done," Luna commented. "There's no wind... and we have no paddles. So, getting back to the shore won't be easy..."

Ami sighed. "Well, then we just have to wait for some wind, right?"

"I'm hungry!" Usagi whined.

"You should have brought something," Luna said. "Now stop your whining."

Then they were quiet for a while.

Suddenly Luna looked up from where she was dozing. "Um, girls... I can see a ship over there."

"Really?" Usagi looked over the rail. "Perhaps they've got some food."

Ami chuckled. "Usagi... even if they had, how do you plan on going over there?"

The blonde Gaul grinned. "Just watch me."

And she jumped into the water, swum behind the boat and began pushing it. And with her enormous strength, she was easily able to move it with the speed of a modern motorboat.

At the top of the ship's mast, a black flag was hanging, a flag that was putting fear in the hearts of all sailors whenever they see it... a black flag with a white skull and a pair of crossbones - the usual flag of a pirate ship!

Well, it was an upside-down pirate flag, but that's beside the point.

The red-haired pirate captain lifted her eyepatch and looked up. She groaned.

"Pallas... you hoisted the flag upside-down again..."

The ditzy, blue-haired mate giggled. "Oopsie... Sorry, Vesta! I'll be more careful next time."

Vesta shook her head. "I swear, we always get into trouble because of your ditziness..."

Pallas pouted. "That wasn't my fault last time... I was being distracted because of Ceres' stupid perfume..." She gestured over to a pink-haired girl that was clothed quite elegantly for a pirate.

"Hey, a girl has to make sure she smells great," Ceres replied. "And spending weeks on that old boat makes you smell like fish..."

"It's not my fault the last ship we seized was a fishing boat," Vesta returned. "If Juno had paid more attention from the crow's nest..."

The captain looked up. "By the way... Hey Juno, any ships?"

"Let's see..." the green-haired girl said from above. "On starboard... nuh-uh... on portside... nope... straight ahead... oh... oh, oh... c-c-captain..."

"What's up?" Vesta asked impatiently.

"The Gaga... the Gaga..."

Vesta looked at Ceres. "What's she talking about?"

Ceres shrugged. "Dunno..."

Vesta walked up to the ship's front side and looked herself. And when she saw the approaching boat and its occupants, she gulped.

"The Gaga..."

And then, the terrible creature that has haunted their dreams was jumping aboard... blonde pigtails whipping around, as it shouted cheerfully: "Hi there!"

"The Gauls..." Vesta finished weakly. Nervously, she backed off. Every time the Pirate Quartet was running into Usagi and her friends, it ended in a disaster... and most of the time, their ship ended up sinking down into the sea.

Ami smiled as she appeared next to her friend. "Why, fancy meeting you here! It's always nice to run into old friends, right?"

Vesta giggled nervously. "Now, see here... can we make it quick this time? You just say what you want, we give it to you, and you leave us alone, 'kay?"

Usagi looked around. "Well, I'm kinda hungry, sooo..."

Vesta sighed in defeat. "All right... Ceres, get some food from our galley..."

"ALL the food, please..."

Another groan. "All the food..."

Some time later, the Gaulic ship was disappearing in the distance. Vesta let out a sigh of relief. "Wow," she muttered. "We sure have been lucky this time... the ship stayed intact."

Just then, the grinning face of Pallas looked out of the ship's hold. "Don't worry, captain... Pallas took care of everything. When I saw the stupid Gauls, I quickly fetched my little axe and made sure they wouldn't be able to sink our nice ship..."

"The axe?" Ceres mumbled. "What did you need the axe for?"

Pallas grinned and raised her little tool. "Oh, I just hacked a little hole into the hull... if we sink the boat ourselves, they won't be able to do it, right?"

And as the pirate ship was slowly descending, sinking down into the waves, its captain could only say one thing:

"Pallas, you stupid little twit!"

Usagi suppressed a burp as she lay down in the boat. "Now that was a good meal..."

Ami looked at her sternly. "Usagi... you should have saved some for later..."

"So? I did so, right?" The blonde girl took an apple out of her pocket. "Here, that's for later..."

Luna was searching the horizon. "We've been drifting off very far... Usagi, you think you can push us back to the shore like you pushed us to that pirate ship?"

But the only thing she got as a response was soft snoring.

"USAGI!"

"Just leave her alone," Ami said and yawned. "It really has been a long day... and I must say, I'm a little tired as well... I think I'm going to take a little nap too."

"Here? Out in the ocean? You can't be serious..."

But then something happened that forced them to focus on something else than on naps.

All of a sudden, it was getting much darker, and big clouds were covering the sky. A low rumbling woke Ami up.

"Wha... what's that?"

Strong gusts of wind created big waves which carried the small boat up and down. Luna covered down at the floor of the boat. "It's a storm! Ami, take the rudder!"

Ami did her best to steer the small vessel back the way they came, but the winds were just too strong... they carried them further and further away from the Gaulic continent.

And then, the thunder began crackling.

"If this keeps up," Ami shouted. "We will being swept to the edge of the world where we will fall off..."

"I'm hungry again... Ami, would you like an apple?"

Much later in the evening, the storm has calmed down. By now, the sun has already set, so it was almost pitch-black.

"It's no use," Ami sighed. "We have to wait for some wind which can take us back to Gaul."

"Let's hope tomorrow we'll have more luck," Luna said.

Usagi scooped the black cat up with her arms and clutched her to her chest. "Luna... I'm sorry about being such a glutton. If I hadn't swum to the pirate ship, we could easily be back home by now... and we would see Minako again... and Makoto... and Rei... but now we're lost and can never return back home! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!"

"Now, now..." Luna tried to calm down the crying menhir delivery girl. "It's all right, Usagi! We all make some mistakes now and then... and while you're a clumsy little klutz sometimes... you're also a sweet girl... and my friend!"

Usagi sniffed. "Luna..."

Ami had to smile as she imagined the scene in front of her, which she sadly couldn't watch because of the darkness. "Let's go to sleep, okay? Tomorrow, we will try to find a way back home."

"Okay!" Usagi replied. "G'night, Ami! Night, Luna..."

"Goodnight, Usagi..."

Somewhere else on the ocean, hidden within the darkness of the night, a gruff male voice suddenly gasped.

"By the gods! What was that infernal yell? Just where did you lead us to, Kagome?"

"Calm down," a female voice answered. "Perhaps those are some sort of sirens who want to mislead us with their demonic voices. Just put some wax in your ears and all will be fine."

"I hope you're right..."

Silence.

"We'll never get out of here alive, Kagome... Kagome...? KAGOME!!"

"Huh, what?"

"Ah! I almost thought you were gone..."

"PUT SOME WAX IN YOUR EARS AND SHUT UP!"

Usagi looked down at the apple slice in her hands. "This sucks..." she whined. "I really should have listened to you and saved some food for later... now all we have is a slice of this apple for each of us..."

"Here, I also caught some rain water," Ami said and handed Usagi a bowl. "Here, drink, but not too much, okay?"

Usagi drank her water and pouted. "I wanna go home.. I wanna big, juicy pork roast and some goat milk..."

"Well, we have to find our way back home first," Luna sighed. "But I hope we'll find the right direction."

"Let's rest for a while, afterwards we'll try going east. Usagi, you feel up to it?"

Usagi nodded weakly. Ami smiled. "Good! I know you can do it!"

For some time, the three of them were lying down in the small boat, which was swaying gently within the small waves. The warm sun was shining down and made them feel sleepy.

Ami had the feeling her eyes were slowly closing...

CRUNCH!

Ami got startled and was wide awake when a heavy blow made the boat shudder. Usagi shook her head and looked around in confusion.

"Huh? What? Where? How?"

"Ami, what happened?" Luna asked.

Ami looked down at the outside of the boat. "Looks like we hit some cliffs..." she murmured. Then she looked further ahead. Raising above them, a steep, rocky cliff was rising.

Usagi shivered. "That's the end of the world... behind those cliffs, the great nothing is lying..."

Ami shook her head. "Let's worry about that later, Usagi..." She stood up and carefully stepped onto a big rock that rose next to their stranded boat.

She looked their tiny vessel over and frowned. "Doesn't look too good... we have an enormous leak at the right side... without any tools, I doubt we will be able to fix it."

"What will we do now?" Usagi asked. "Now we're stranded at the edge of the world, doomed to stay here for all eternity..." She looked like she was ready to cry.

Ami looked up. "I don't know, Usagi... I don't think that this is the end of the world. Wait here, I wanna go up there and take a look..."

"Ami, that's too dangerous," her blonde friend protested. "What if you fall down into the great nothing?"

Ami smiled. "I'll be fine... but you can come with me if you like."

Luna smirked. "I think Usagi is too afraid to do anything."

That did it. Huffing, Usagi stood up, picked Luna up from the ground and followed Ami over the rocks.

It was a difficult climb, but in the end, the two Gaulic girls reached the top of the cliffs.

"Now let's see..." Ami mumbled and looked over the edge. The sight before her eyes made her speechless for several seconds.

"What's up, Ami?" Usagi asked. "Do you see the sky? The stars? Or a big, black nothing?"

"I see... land!"

"What?" Luna asked. "But how...?"

"See for yourself..."

And Usagi and Luna took a look as well.

In front of them was a big forest of big pine trees, rustling in the soft breeze that swept through the woods. Behind the forest, they could see an enormous range of mountains rising, tipped with white peaks. And in-between the trees... a crystal clear river was flowing.

They pulled themselves up completely and gazed at this new, wondrous country in awe.

"Where are we, Ami?" Usagi wondered.

"I... don't know for sure, Usagi..." her friend answered.

"This is indeed an astounding discovery we made..." Luna mumbled.