Okay, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Last time:

Tuxedo Mask stood transformed and waiting by the pilots. Rini ran to hug Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon goodbye.

"Promise you'll come back," she whispered.

"As always," Sailor Moon said, hugging her tightly before Tuxedo Mask scooped Rini up for a hug.

Sailor Moon gazed at Rini a moment longer, her eyes glazing over before she turned away. Sammy gave Sailor Moon a look of understanding that was rarely passed between the siblings, and Sailor Moon gave a sad laugh and hugged her brother goodbye.

Hotaru hugged the other outers goodbye, waving to the girls.

"We'll see you soon," Mars told Wufei, and he nodded. A tense silence passed between them, before Wufei's arms were suddenly around Mars. It was perhaps the most peaceful moment the two had ever shared.

"Not gonna wish me luck Heero," Venus said playfully. Heero actually smirked, and approached her.

Trowa and Jupiter embraced before finally breaking apart, Trowa's whisper of "I love you," lingering in her ear.

Mercury stood off to the side, never feeling more out of place as she silently suffered. She turned away from the group and waited for them to finish their goodbyes.

"Are we ready now," Sailor Moon finally said. Everyone nodded, and parted.

Chapter 13

The senshi linked hands, all standing in a circle. Sammy frowned. He had never seen this before.

"What are they doing," he asked, from where he stood by Rini and Hotaru in the doorway, "Playing ring around the rosy?"

Hotaru laughed, the laugh echoing off the walls slightly, since Tokyo was so silent.

"No silly," Rini said. "Watch."

"SAILOR TELEPORT!"

Sammy gasped as chunks of the ground began to break and rise up slightly, a strong wind taking over the entire area, the only light in the darkness coming from the bodies of the scouts. It was the most amazing thing Sammy had ever seen.

And then they were gone. The ground returned to normal, and it was as if they had never been standing there.

Sammy blinked a few times, Rini smiling and taking his hand. "Come on Sammy, let's get inside and lock the doors."

"Way ahead of you," Hotaru said from inside, "Now get in before I lock you out!"

Pluto stood by the remaining pilots, silent a moment before turning to look at them.

"Alright guys. We'll go to the gates of time and then head to your demension. But be warned. The enemy had control of the gates of time the whole time I was captured. They attacked little Rini's world because of it. We must be careful while we travel."

She waved her staff, and a light appeared, before becoming almost like a doorway.

"Step in, one at a time please," she said. Wufei looked at her as if she was mad. Heero walked forwards and stepped in, followed by Trowa, and then finally Wufei.

Pluto followed.

"Alright," she said. "Now all we have to do is-" she stopped when she realized that no one was listening.

The pilots were looking around the area in amazement. It was kind of dark, with fog everywhere.

"Makoto told me you stay at the gates of time always. This- this is where you live? Alone?" Even Trowa, whom Pluto had pegged as the loner of the group, seemed surprised.

"Well," she said tentatively. "It's not exactly like home, but you get used to anything after the first few centuries alone."

"Do you...leave her often?"

"I only leave when I have to check on a time that may have been tampured with. Sometimes, my superiors give me special permission to help the scouts when a battle is too great for them to handle alone."

"Superiors," Heero said, rasing an eyebrow at her and looking around.

Pluto shrugged mysteriously. "Now, back to what I was saying. We must travel through the time gates now. I do not practice the wrong methods our enemies use. They think that they can just pop from demension to demension, anywhere in time that they want without changing things. As to not destroy time, we respect it by traveling only one way, through the gates of time."

"Why are we getting a long, boring, explanation?" Pluto turned to look at the very impatient Wufei, whom smirked at her glare.

"I am telling you this so you understand how gutsy it was for the enemy to just jump into your time and bring you to ours. They could have changed it in the process. Traveling through the gates of time is not fun. This is a warning, and I'm informing you why we have to do it this way. Now," she moved past them and towards two large double doors, about three of her. She waved her staff, and they began to slowly open with a loud sound, light pouring from them.

The three stepped forwards and looked inside.

"It looks like something from a sci-fi movie," Trowa commented, quirking a brow.

"We don't have much time," Pluto said, "Now everyone, link hands. Focus on your time, and only on your time. Let your mind wander and who knows where we'll end up. Also, don't let go of each other once inside, no matter what. You'll be lost in time forever, and trust me when I say that not all time streams are as civilized and- populated as our worlds."

The group appeared, hands linked, on a metal platform. It was vast, and they were in the middle. It lead to a huge metal structure.

It took Mercury a moment to realize that they were currently in space.

"Wow," Jupiter said, looking around.

"A satelite never picked up this enormous base," Venus said skeptically.

"Not when it is being shielded," Mars said, and everyone nodded.

"Who knows- how long it's been here, I mean. They could have been watching us for years. Mirvette and Sanyu's leaders must know all of our weaknesses by now,"Mercury said.

"Brighten up everyone. We're here, and we're ready to fight them," Moon said, turning and walking towards the entrance. "Let's go!"

"Easy there Sailor Moon. We don't even have a plan, so wait for everyone else before you courageously barge in there," Tuxedo Mask said, running after her and grabbing her shoulder.

"Well, come on! I want to get this over with! We get the guys, and then the other guys blow this thing up. That's a plan!"

Sailor Moon hurried in, everyone at her heels. They entered to find the structure- bright, to say the least. Everything inside was white. Large lights lit the ceiling. It was the extreme opposite of every space base their previous enemies had ever had. Upon entering the door, they were in a hallway, which was currently occupied by several people walking down it busy with other tasks.

As if they weren't expected- which Mercury knew was not true. The scouts froze in front of the doorway, blocking much of the hallway, but everyone ignored them. They continued with whatever it was they were doing, simply walking around them.

"What the hell," Mars said.

"This is the main enemy base. I would have thought they'd shoot us down at the door," Venus commented in shock. Everyone nodded.

The hallway was steadilly becoming more crowded as the group took another cautious step in.

"Keep your guard up scouts, this must be some kind of a trick," Mercury warned.

The hallway filled up evern more, crowded like a street in Tokyo as people continued to move past the senshi, seperating their group as more and more passed, seemingly from thin air.

"Attack them!" Jupiter shouted. "They're not even looking at us! It's a trick!" Her voice was almost lost over the sound of the chattering crowd passing by.

Mercury pushed through the people, walking to where she and her friends had been standing, only no one was in view.

She pushed a button on her communicator, and heard static.

"Oh no."

They had been seperated within one minute of entering. And the enemy had chosen to do it in a clever way. Rather than attack and seperate them, which would lead to possibly losing fighters from the start, they chose to push them apart by an act as innocent as walking.

The crowd grew more violent as they all began to shove to get through. Mercury felt herself shoved in several directions, and then suddenly felt a pang in her neck. She collapsed to her knees, the people seeming to circle.

"Are you alright Miss?" A woman with short red hair asked her as she crouched next to her. Mercury looked up at her, but shifted her gaze to what was in the woman's hand. A needle.

"Did you just-" She didn't get to finish her question, as darkness overtook her and she blacked out.

With a groan, Mercury blinked open her eyes. Her vision was hazy, but steadilly clearing. She tried to move, but found she really couldn't. Her wrists were chained together above her head to a metal bar, and the room was pitch black. Whoever had chained her had not bothered to chain her legs, which Mercury found quite surprising.

"Miss Sanyu, she's awake," a female voice said.

"Excellent Dina. Go work on the northern satellite please. The lab 3 people told me it was down."

"Of course."

Mercury saw a woman wearing a white lab coat open a door in the wall and hurry to leave, the light shining on Mercury's surroundings only a moment before dissapearing. She remembered that everyone in the halls when they first arrived was wearing a lab coat.

"Surprised?" Mercury glanced at where Sanyu stood, to her right. Sanyu approached.

"Yes," Mercury replied. "I've never seen our enemies actually interested in research and science."

"Well, your other enemies didn't last one year. We've been watching Earth, watching you scouts, for years. Waiting for the perfect time to attack. We thought that time was last year. You put up a struggle, of course. And then you left us a window for a worse attack this year."

Mercury sighed. She hadn't realized just how strong a force their enemy had become. It was like nothing they had ever faced. An educated, intelligent enemy, with a game plan of their own.

"Enough small talk though. I'm sure you realize you've been seperated. We need answers."

"Answers?"

"Yes. Where are the other three pilots?"

Mercury did not reply.

"Where is Pluto?"

Again, Sanyu was met with silence.

"Oh, you love to make things difficult, don't you?" Sanyu raised her hand to strike Mercury, but stopped.

"Hmmm, I think I know of someone better to do this. Maxwell..."

Out of the shadows, a figure stepped out. Mercury blinked. Aside from a change of clothing, Duo looked almost the same. His face held a smirk that hid more than a bit of humor.

"Hey Ames, how's it hangin'?" Mercury glanced up at her chains, sighing that he was still joking as Duo gave a hollow laugh. It was not the normal one he usually gave, the one filled with joy.

"Yes well, while the two of you get acquainted, I'll go question another scout. I believe Quatre and Mirvette already are."

Sanyu exited quickly, the door swinging shut behind her. The room was again engulfed in darkness.

Mercury tryed to clear her vision and see where Duo was, but he was far ahead of her. She figured it out when she felt a hand on her upper thigh.

"Hey!" He stepped away.

"Still shy I see."

"So your memories are intact then. That's different. What did they do to you?" Mercury remarked, trying to see through the darkness her chains.

"Hey!" Duo grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, Mercury steadilly being able to see better in the dark.

"Don't take me so lightly. As soon as Sanyu left you started looking for a way to escape."

"So?"

"So I'm supposed to question you. Unless of course...you'd prefer to do something else?"

"I'd prefer to be released," Mercury snapped, looking up at her chains.

"Really? Well I had a theory. See, I figured that if it was Rob who had captured you and had give you that option. that you would have done it."

Mercury glared at him.

"Okay, let's hear it. Where is everyone?"

Mercury sighed. "Why should I tell you? So you guys can capture them, turn them into what you've become, and further destroy our world?"

Mercury heard a sigh, and before she knew it, she felt a searing pain across her head. She shouted, unable to grab her head due to her hands being chained. Theroom began to spin from the hit. She felt another hit, followed by another, and another, all on her head.

Duo was pulling back his fist.

"The next one will be through your skull. There's nothing wrong with what I've become. When I ask you a question, you'll answer it."

Mercury felt tears well in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Duo was brainwashed and very dangerous. Things were looking worse and worse as she realized their plan was falling apart. She and the others were captured. And when Pluto arrived with the last three pilots, they would call them on their communicators to make sure they were out. When they saw that they weren't out, they would have to come in after them- only to be captured as well.

"So where are they?"

Mercury understood the desperaton on their enemy's behalf. Pluto and the pilots could have been anywhere in the pilots demension- in time. They could easily reverse any changes done to Crystal Tokyo, and even destroy the enemy there before changing something that would destroy the enemy before they neared Earth. All of their work would be destroyed. They could even just be waiting for a surprise attack.

"Still not answering." It was more of a statement Duo made to himself, and she saw him swing his fist back before punching her as hard as he could in the stomach. Added to Duo's strength was the strength of the enemy, making it quite a blow. Mercury would have collapsed save for the chains holding her up, as she cried out, her legs giving out beneath her.

"Still don't know where they are?" His voice was low and dangerous.

Mercury groaned, looking up to meet his gaze.

"No."

A hard slap across the face was Duo's response.

Mercury recovered after a moment, looking back at him.

"Okay...a different question. Did Pluto take her time staff when she escaped from the building in your city."

Mercury had forgotten. The enemy may have been nervous that they had lost it, unsure of whether Pluto had taken it. Telling them Pluto took it opened up the possibility that they were traveling time, rather than just outside waiting to blow up the space center.

After a long pause, Mercury answered. "I don't know."

"Wrong again." Mercury awaited the punch or slap, but felt nothing. Duo had walked to the other side of the room, looking for something.

He returned with a knife.

"Since you don't respond to simple beatings..."

He stared at her a moment. "Your arms are chained up. I was going to use your arms. Oh well, the legs will hurt more."

He bent down, and raised the knife to her thigh. Slowly, he cut her deep, across her thigh, holding her leg steady when she gasped and tried to pull away.

"Got any answers for me?"

Again, Mercury shook her head, her eyes now clouded with tears that did not fall save for the edges.

"Alright then." Mercury screamed this time was he cut right beneath the second cut.

"Answer me," he threatened. She did not, and he proceeded to make a third cut, making this one a bit deeper and again just below the second as Mercury grew harder to hold still.

Duo's civility, if this even was being civil, had reached it's end. He began slashing at her leg viciously, her screams echoeing off of the walls as her thigh was covered in blood, the blood now dripping down her leg. Duo stood, satisfied, as she cried openly now.

"Going to tell me anything yet?"

Through her tears, she shook her head. Duo nodded, rasing the knife to cut her chained arms, just below the elbow on each side.

"Maxwell?"

Duo turned after cutting her last arm to the doorway. Mirvette stood in the doorway.

"Did you learn anything?

"No."

"Neither did the others." Mirvette entered, and nodded.

"The senshi are stubborn. Good job though. For a first timer, you did better than the others. Now, Master wants to see them, since this questioning is getting nowhere."

"Master?" Duo seemed impressed.

Mirvette nodded.

"Yes, bring her."

Duo nodded, pulling a key from his pocket as Mirvette left.

He reached up and undid her chains, Mercury falling to the ground. Even the chains, while holding her up, had cut into her wrists.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing her by her collar and forcing her to stand. Mercury was barely able to before the world began to spin. It must have been from all of those punches to the head, not to mention that she was now seeing white spots. Duo must have given her a concussion. He sighed and grabbed her arm, pulling her across the floor and dragging her carelessly out the door as she protested.

Jupiter was sprawled out in a large dark room. After being put through a grueling questioning with a beating included, she had been thrown in here. Venus was about 10 feet from her on her left side. She was struggling to get up as well, and Jupiter could hear a cracking sound when she put pressure on her left arm. It was undoubtably broken, and she heard Venus's shout follow.

Neptune and Uranus sat leaned up against a wall, supporting each other. Both were bruised from being beaten. Uranus had a black eye, and Neptune had a split lip.

Mars was to Jupiter's right, sitting up on her knees. She looked pissed. Besides physical injury, Jupiter understood why. Someone had cut a big chunk out of Mars' hair on the left side. She would probably kill that person.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were dragging themselves towards each other. Sailor Moon's ankle seemed to have been sprained from how she was moving. Tuxedo Mask had taken quite a beating himself.

"This sucks," Uranus commented. "Where did they put us?"

"God only knows," Venus said, managing to get up and now cradling her arm. Jupiter sat up, sliding towards Venus as Mars managed to stand and head towards Venus and Jupter.

"We should have already been out with the pilots," Moon said, now leaning against Tuxedo Mask. "And it's so dark in here, I can barely see."

The group suddenly heard the sound of arguement.

A big door in the wall opened, letting light in, and the scouts turned to see.

"I'll walk myself," Mercury was shouting as Duo continued to drag her from her arm. Not only was the remaining skin on her leg hurting from being dragged around, but her arm was going to pop out of it's socket any minute from how roughly he was dragging her.

"Shutup Ames. You're lucky I didn't kick you down the hall."

The group realized it was Duo bringing Mercury in.

Mercury turned away as she lay on the ground with a huff.

Duo crouched down on the ground next to her, the group barely able to make out his outline from the small amount of light from the doorway.

"Aww, not mad are we now Ames?" Duo lifted her chin, and she met his gaze. However, seeing that his eyes were simply filled with a devilish joy in seeing her angry, Mercury slapped his hand down, turning away again and hiding her tear-filled eyes.How could they change them back? They remembered everything.

He laughed and stood, walking out the doorway.

When the doorway swung shut, someone spoke.

"Mercury, is that you?"

She heard Mars' voice. She hadn't even realized that she wasn't alone in the darkness.

"Yeah," she responded quietly, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

Mars exchanged a look with Jupiter, whom crawled towards where she could see Mercury lying.

"Are you really hurt," Jupiter asked.

"Not more than you all are, from the way you sound," Mercury responded, not turning to look at Jupiter from where she lay on the ground.

Jupiter touched something wet near Mercury, and jumped.

"Mercury, are you bleeding badly?"

"It's just my leg," Mercury answered softly, still not looking at Jupiter and leaving her back to her.

"Well, let me see it."

"It doesn't matter anyways."

Silence reigned over the room, Jupiter not knowing how to respond.

"Things look bad now guys, but we'll figure something out," Venus said tensely, struggling to her feet and cradling her arm.

"Yeah," Uranus said, grasping the wall and standing. "Look around. They've left us alone. Let's just try to escape."

"I wouldn't count too much on that," an unfamiliar voice said.

Everyone began to look around wildly, and the lights in the large room began to go on, section by section, revealing where they were.

A large room, more of a dark throne room.

In the end of the room sat two people, a man and a woman looking to each be about thirty years old.

Their hands were linked, and the both wore magnifacent clothes in bright colors.

The man stood, and gestured with his arms open wide.

"Welcome to our humble abode scouts. Don't bother getting too comfortable."

Everyone tensed. The couple had been in the room the entire time.

"As you've probably figured out, we are Sanyu and Mirvette's superiors. We rule the people in this place. And soon, we will rule everyone on Earth as well." They all turned to the woman, whom had not bothered to get up. She had long, blonde hair, with bangs. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green, and she was wearing her hair down, framing her face.

"The Earth is already set for us. The darkness has spread to every corner. The people will be desperate, looking for guidance. Who better to provide?" The man was handsome as well. He had light brown hair, deep brown eyes, and a handsome smile. Too bad he was ready to kill them all.

"Who are you?" The man and woman turned to Sailor Moon.

"Ah yes, Sailor Moon. That is a simple and foolish question, however we will oblige. We were once lowly workers under the black moon, but they were foolish. They didn't understand that to beat an enemy, you had to know them. So we left. We created this magnifacent station, and many followed us, embracing science along with their magic to study Earth. We recruited workers..." The man paused, and he saw the scouts frown.

"You mean workers like Mackenzie," Jupiter stated viciously.

The man and woman laughed. "Yes yes," The woman said. "Nice girl, too bad she killed herself. She was useful for a while." Jupiter's hand was clenched at her side, but she said nothing.

"I believe another one of you know one of our human workers," the man said, as Mercury managed to stand like her friends, who were slowly rising. She glared.

"Nice boy, he was," the man said, stepping down off of his throne and approaching slowly, gazing at Mercury.

"A nice boy- but he fell for a pretty face much quicker than we had imagined."

"And then of course, we have our princess," the man said, turning away suddenly and gazing at a doorway near the throne. His wife was standing and at the doorway. She took someone's hand and walked her in.

Rob's always nervous sister walked in. Her hands trembled, as always, and she looked even paler and thinner than usual.

"I'm- I'm the princess," she repeated, looking at the two hopefully. The Queen nodded.

"Yes, we even have a crown for you," she said, babying the teen as if she were a five year old. She pulled a simple gold crown out from behind her back and placed it on Sarah's head.

"See, now wouldn't your brother be proud of you. You've become the princess."

Sarah was nodding, and the scouts were gaping. Something had seriously stopped Sarah from developing into a woman. Or even- sent her back. She was still stuck as a child, in a 16 year old's body. A violent one.

"Something is seriously wrong with that little family," Mars muttered to the group.

"And now Sarah, you're going to avenge your brother, right sweetie," the woman said again in her babying tone. Sarah nodded, her hair falling limply around her face when she moved her head.

"But wait ladies, this reunion is hardly over. Sanyu, Mirvette, Duo, and Quatre, please come forwards." On the other side of the room the other four entered, the man ushering. They bowed to him and his wife.

"My Lord," Mirvette said. He ushered for her to stand.

"I think we're missing someone. Someone who was definately involved in all of the fun in your cabin."

"Minako," a small voice said from behind Venus. She turned to glance behind her, before screaming at the top of her lungs and stumbling away, falling to the floor and backing up. All of the senshi around Venus dispersed immediately, and the 'King' and 'Queen' began to laugh.

The little boy once known as Jeff continued to approach, repeating the same line he said when he scared her that night in the cabin. "You may as well have killed me Minako! It's your faultI'm dead!"

Venus continued to slide away from him, using only heruninjured hand. She was pale and was shaking.

"Stop it!" Everyone turned to look at Sailor Moon.

"Jeff died! No one could have brought him back to life like this, because even if they did, he would never treat Venus this way! He was an innocent little boy, not a monster!"

The room was silent, and the enemy began to laugh.

"Right you are Moon brat," the man said. Jeff stepped away from Venus, and began to change, stretching & growing slightly in width too.

When the transformation was finished, a youma stood in his place.

It laughed. Venus' eyes hardened, and a growl escaped her lips. Before anyone could react, Venus was on her feet, before tackling the youma to the floor.

"Ooh," the self-proclaimed Queen said. "Now this is an unexpected turn of events."

The youma threw Venus off of it, and Uranus helped Venus stand.

It was going to attack, but the King raised his hand. "No. Not yet."

He turned to the scouts. "None of you helped her. Do you know why?"

He approached the group. "Because you know it's over."

That's it for now, I'll try and update sooner than last time.

Review and encourage me!