"You'll never find out if you don't go to the hospital." Fish Eye suggested.
"But what about the bar?" Tiger's Eye sat up and glanced at his companion in surprise.
"I believe we can manage until you get back." Hawk's Eye smiled as he winked at Tiger's Eye. "Besides, what good are you to us if you're just going to sit there all day and mope around about your girlfriend that got hurt?"
"She's not my girlfriend..." Tiger's Eye responded.
"Not yet anyway..." Fish Eye added with a knowing smirk. "Now go before we have to close the place down and drag you there ourselves!"
Tiger's Eye nodded as he put his drink down on the countertop and left Wild Amazon in search for the young woman that had quickly captured his heart.
"This is just too wild, too different for me to accept. Why me? Why is it that I'm apparently having multiple personality disorder... especially when the other personality is that of a talking tiger?" Abenti wondered out loud, not particularly noticing anyone else that was there at Hikawa Shrine that overheard her.
"Abenti, there's nothing wrong with you mentally." Ami said exasperated to her friend. "Mamoru and I brought you here so you could find out that you are not alone. Each of us here can also transform into a senshi. And you saw what happened at the hospital. You transformed too. This is no illusion or mind game."
Abenti looked at the assembled group of five young women and one man before speaking up.
"But..."
"Ami, let us talk to her." Luna said as she and Artemis walked past her and situated themselves so that they couldn't be avoided by Abenti.
"She has a strong feline aura around her. It seem so familiar somehow." Artemis whispered to Luna before they both stared into Abenti's eyes.
"Abenti, we realize this is a difficult thing for you to go through..." Luna started.
Abenti stared in mild surprise at Luna and Artemis, before slumping slightly forward and letting out a breath of air that held too long within her as it just began to sink in that, quite possibly, everything that happened recently could very well be true.
"No amount of denial is going to change that fact, huh?" Abenti finally spoke. "First those strange dreams that turn out not to be dreams at all...and now I'm also a senshi. And I'm finding out that my closest friend is part of a group of senshi as well."
"But, Abenti, you don't have to go through this alone. We want to help you cope with this. It was never easy at first for each of the senshi finding out that they had a special power to help protect this world." Artemis interjected.
"Artemis is right." Rei added. "If anything, we know how it felt to find out that we are senshi to protect the people and every creature and this world from evil. Your strengths, powers and element maybe different from the rest of us, but the goal is just the same."
"If it's all the same to you all, I think I need to spend time alone. All of this is happening so quickly, that my head feels like it's spinning on its own axis."
With that, Abenti walked briskly away from Hikawa Shrine with Luna and Artemis following her from a distance.
"I have to do something...but what?" Bull's Eye said as he paced back and forth in the control room that he and Snake Eyes had set up.
Snake Eyes sighed before he looked up from his calculations.
"Why don't you take a few yajuu with you to get a better sense of this location? No sense in both of us being cooped up here."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Bull's Eye perked up a bit. Snapping his fingers, Bull's Eye summoned four yajuu and had them follow him through a teleportation portal.
"This time, don't kill the yajuu off..." Snake Eyes said a split second too late, right before sighing again and getting back to work.
As Abenti was about to go around the corner, she heard two distinctly male voices arguing amongst each other. She jumped back and leaned back against the side of the building while peaking around the corner to the point where she could get a glimpse of what was going on.
"Perhaps I was being a bit rash earlier. Let's start over, shall we? Join our cause or be tortured slowly into madness."
Abenti wasn't sure who the dark skinned man was, but a gut feeling made the hair at the nape of her neck bristle. The other man however, Abenti immediately recognized as the waiter from Wild Amazon.
"There's no way I would join you, Bull's Eye. I'm human now and I prefer to keep my second chance on life in good standing." the second man said.
"As you wish..." Bull's Eye stated coolly. With a snap of his fingers, the four yajuu appeared and surrounded both of them, but getting closer to surround their target. "Since you won't willingly join us, I'll take you by force."
"No..." Abenti whispered under her breath as she grabbed her golden yellow brooch. "Panthera Tigris Power, MAKE UP!"
After the brief transformation, Sailor Tiger let out a roar as she ran around the corner and leapt up and landed between the waiter and Bull's Eye.
"Well, well, well. Who do we have here, Tiger's Eye? Your own personal bodyguard?" Bull's Eye smirked as he raised an eyebrow.
"And what if I am?" Sailor Tiger said in a barely contained growl.
"Then things have just got more interesting." came the chuckled reply.
"So, you're trying to raise the 'steaks', Cowpie?" Sailor Tiger retorted.
Bull's Eye snorted and glared at the pun-wielding feline senshi.
"Known for stealth and ambush tactics, I am the ferocious sailor suited soldier of the genus panthera tigris, Sailor Tiger. On behalf of all types of tigers everywhere, I shall crush you!"
"Sailor Tiger, hmm? You're one of the two that my previous yajuu mentioned. However since you're lacking in your partner and I have you out numbered, I shall deal with you now."
With a snort and a snap, Bull's Eye had the four yajuu that accompanied him attack.
"When I say so, run." Sailor Tiger hissed at Tiger's Eye. She ducked down out of the way just as two yajuu leapt at her and collided. "Run!"
Tiger's Eye did not have to be told twice as he got out of the feline senshi's way. He made it to around the very same corner that Abenti had hid behind moments earlier, just as Luna and Artemis appeared.
"Must find Sailor Moon." Tiger's Eye gasped, barely registering that the two cat guardians were there. "Sailor Tiger's outnumbered."
"Tiger Teeth Crunch!" Sailor Tiger called out aiming at one of the yajuu.
Artemis ran back in the direction that he and Luna came from to summon the sailor senshi. Luna looked up at Tiger's Eye then at the battle scene. Sailor Tiger had severely injured one of the yajuu and was about to attack one of the three others when Luna saw Bull's Eye conjure a curved rapier with intents of throwing it at Sailor Tiger.
"Look out!" Tiger's Eye and Luna chorused at once when they both saw what Bull's Eye had in mind. They both charged at Bull's Eye with such ferocity, that Bull's Eye was knocked over and was on the receiving end of multiple flesh wounds before he summoned enough strength to knock both of them off.
"You'll pay for that!" Bull's Eye bellowed. His eyes turned bloodshot red as he turned his attention to Tiger's Eye. "You should have kept running."
Bull's Eye snorted as he picked up the dropped rapier and charged at Tiger's Eye.
"Oh no you don't!" Sailor Tiger exclaimed as she launched herself into a flying round house kick, knocking the rapier out of the minotaur's grasp. Tiger's Eye looked up from his position on the ground and took notice of the senshi standing her ground. He then picked up Luna and rushed out of the way from the battleground. Sailor Tiger swiftly landed and turned to face Bull's Eye. "Don't tell me you're one of the masters that your former yajuu blathered about. From this pathetic display you've put on, I can't see why anything would want to take orders from you. I'm going to tell you what I told your previous hired help. Do your own dirty work or bugger off."
Two of the yajuu that Bull's Eye had brought with him were in critical condition, the other two had numerous injuries and kept their distance from the feline senshi. Bull's Eye snorted, then with a snap of his fingers, he and the four yajuu departed.
"It appears we're too late." Sailor Mercury said as she and the four other sailor senshi appeared at the scene. "Sailor Tiger, are you all right?"
"Could be better, could be worse." the feline senshi replied with a far off look on her face. "I still need time to myself."
"It was because of me that she had to fight." Tiger's Eye said as he joined the group.
Sailors Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Moon gasped as they saw him. The last time they did see him, he was on the brink of death with his two comrades when Helios transported them to Elysian.
"Tiger's Eye?" Sailor Mars asked incredulously.
"Yes, but now that I've had this second chance on life, I go by the name of Toraboushi Hitonare. As to how I got this second chance, I'm not so sure... I think it had to do with the tiger that appeared at the bar that Fish Eye, Hawk's Eye and I own called Wild Amazon. I went in search for the girl that had emerged from the tiger when Bull's Eye and his yajuu showed up."
At this, Sailor Tiger reverted to being Abenti.
"But why would you be looking for me? I have a lot to go through at the moment, and since we don't know each other..." Abenti started out.
"It doesn't matter that we don't know each other. That too can be worked on, but I want to help you through it. The sailor senshi helped me and my two friends learn from our mistakes, and I'm sure that they can help you too. Maybe we can talk about it at your place? It seems that this place won't be so vacant for long."
From a distance police sirens could be heard getting closer to their position. Sailor Mercury gave a faint smile to Abenti. "We'll be here for you whenever you want to talk, Abenti."
Abenti nodded as she turned to leave, with Tiger's Eye, who was now called Toraboushi, Luna and Artemis following close behind her. The remaining senshi left the scene to go back to Hikawa Shrine.
"What should we do about Abenti?" Makoto asked.
"I wish I knew. Other than let her be by herself for a while, then try and approach her later, that is." Ami responded. "Not everybody could be expected to take that kind of news the same way. Not only is she dealing with being a senshi, she also has this alternate tiger persona that can take over her body and morph her into an actual tiger."
"Plus there's the Amazon Trio that's been revived." Rei said as she idly swept the walkway leading to the Hikawa Shrine. "There's a big difference in their aura... Or at least there is in Tiger's Eye since we last saw him."
"What concerns me more is Bull's Eye, the yajuu and whomever else we might be up against. We were fortunate to have a few short years of peace, but now..." Mamoru trailed off.
"We're not even sure what they're doing here. There's bound to be an ultimate goal that this new enemy has." Ami added.
"Bull's Eye, why is it that five of my minions are either incapacitated or in critical condition with in such a short period of time?" Sesmar's shapeless shadowed form thundered as he glared at the minotaur.
"I apologize, Lord Sesmar. I had to put one out of its misery and the other four were mangled by a senshi that protects this planet." Bull's Eye said as he bowed respectfully to Sesmar.
"I will accept no excuses, Bull's Eye. If any more of my minions get demolished, it will be your hide that I'll be tanning. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Lord Sesmar." Bull's Eye cringed.
"Now, if you're quite done decimating the legions I have left, I suggest you gather as much information as you can about this senshi that you've encountered... Find out if there's others that would oppose the cause. This planet shall be mine as it was meant to be. Soon enough, we will have to proceed to the next phase and start searching for and obtaining these human's Shabti. The mortal's Shabti are mere trinkets, and would only provide a breif power supply. But those who house Ethereal Shabti, they carry within them the key to immortality! Make sure that that is your main goal and that you don't side track from it. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Lord Sesmar." both Bull's Eye and Snake Eyes said in chorus before leaving Sesmar's throne room.