One word: finals.

Chapter Four: Moonrise

21 days until the arrival of Walpurgisnacht

Stepping out into the empty hallway, Homura's peripheral vision caught a brief scarlet flash as Kyoko transformed. The red-haired magical girl soon joined her new companion in the narrow space. "So what now?" she breathed. "I'm not insane enough to attack them while they're sitting in the front row!"

"Of course not," Homura replied. "We wait them out. The longest the concert can last is two and a half hours. Once it's done, they'll seperate. If your theory is correct, I expect some will go backstage while the others will wait outside. We'll split them in half, making our job easier. If they are enemy magical girls, two against three or four is better odds than two against nine."

"Yeah, but I still know how to do math. I'm all for doing something other than sitting around and watching, but that's kinda hopeful thinking, isn't it? If we luck out, they're all rookies who can barely tell a Soul Gem from a Grief Seed. But if they're actual veterans, we're in trouble, and I'm not risking my hide if things get dicey."

Homura gritted her teeth and winced at Kyoko's choice of words. If she only knew. If only everyone knew. Turning to her companion, Homura explained, "Regardless of their experience, it will be easier to take care of them if we manage to split them up. To do that, I need you to create a diversion." She allowed herself a tiny smirk. "You seem like the type of person who's good at causing a spectacle."

Kyoko smiled mischievously, her eyes gleaming maliciously in the crimson light of her Soul Gem. "Should I bang some heads together, or just raise a fuss?"

"Do whatever you feel is necessary. Simply be sure that the safety of the audience members is never jeopardized." Homura knew it was a risk to give a magical girl like Kyoko Sakura such open instructions, but then, her red-haired partner didn't seem to enjoy following orders anyway.

Kyoko summoned her spear in a quick red flash, gave it an experimental twirl, and took the quicker way to the bottom floor by simply vaulting over the fifth-floor railing. Homura knew better than to be concerned; Kyoko's healing magic was actually quite stronger than most magical girls would have guessed on a first examination. However, the purple-eyed girl preferred to stay to the darkness. After ensuring the coast was clear, she made her way to the second-floor dressing rooms, found one that was unoccupied, and began to wait.


Sayaka splashed some water on her face, the cold providing a welcome distraction. She had been hiding in the restroom for almost twenty minutes now. How long can the violin section take? Is every performer playing some five-minute-long ballad? She looked up, wincing at her reflection. There goes all the fuss Mom made over my makeup. Ugh, I look like an owl.

Ripping paper towels out of a nearby dispenser, she began furiously wiping her face, hoping to remove the worst of the blue and black mask that had formed around her eyes. If someone walks in on me like this, they'll think I got mugged. As if on cue, a slightly older girl limped into the restroom, muttering something about shoes. Hoisting herself onto the counter opposite from Sayaka, she began pulling off one of her (admittedly rather uncomfortable looking) heels. "I swear, I'm never letting Usagi pick anything out for me again!" she was grumbling.

Sayaka took the opportunity to scan the girl over. Even with the red ribbon holding it back, her blonde hair still fell to her waist. She wore a sleeveless dress in a blinding shade of topaz yellow and clutched one orange shoe in her hand, the other currently being undone by its disgruntled owner. Sayaka was torn between offering to help and wanting to leave before she was noticed. The girl looked up, her mouth forming a slight 'O' in surprise. "What happened to you?"

Her eyes widened, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Eee, sorry, sorry! It's just, you look kind of..." She trailed off, clearly thinking she had offended this stranger.

"Like I got into a fistfight?" Sayaka offered. She gave a weak laugh. "Nah, I just splashed a little too much water on my face. I tried to wipe it off, but I obviously made it worse-" Before she could finish, the girl was on her in a flash, attacking her with numerous objects that were being pulled from a small gold handbag. All Sayaka could do was let out a cry of surprise before her face was roughly assaulted by foundation and blush. The girl took a step back, examining her work.

"Better," was her final judgement. "Although maybe some eye-" Although what the girl would have done to Sayaka's eyes, Sayaka would never know. At that moment, both girls flinched at the sound of high-pitched wailing and a sudden pulse of red lights. Sayaka recognized the alarm from school, although by the look of panic in the other girl's eyes, she didn't. Holding out her hand, Sayaka shouted, "There's an armed intruder in the building! If this is done the same way it is at my school, they're going to evacuate the auditorium and place the building under lockdown!"

The other girl looked around wildly, then mouthed something that looked like, "Sorry!" And then Sayaka was curled up on the cold tile floor, reeling from a sideways blow to the head. When she leaped up, the strange girl was gone.

Sheesh! Talk about every man for themselves! Stumbling out of the restroom, she was nearly trampled by the stampede of panicked concert-goers shoving their way towards the exits. She heard a voice call out, "Sayaka-chan! Where are you?". Whipping around, she was relieved to see her mother, whose facial expression was a mixture of fury and terror.

"Mom!" Sayaka cried. Her mother turned towards her, only to be blocked from view by a large group. Sayaka's head was starting to pound, the flashing lights not helping matters. And then she started hearing voices.

Sayaka!

Her head snapped up, her eyes wide with newfound fear. "Hello?" she nervously croaked.

Sayaka! You have to help your friend! She's in trouble!

"Wha...?" Under normal circumstances, the sheer slowness in her voice would have been enough to send her into hysterical giggles. However, the current situation was unreal enough. "You mean Madoka?"

Yes! She's about to become involved in something she has no business participating in! But you could save her!

"Save...her...?"

Make a contract with me now! It's the only way to save Madoka Kaname from being killed!

"Contract?" If this was some prankster's idea of a joke, it had gone entirely too far. But no, sitting atop one of the ticket counters was - why hadn't Sayaka noticed it before? - a strange white cat. Time seemed to slow to a halt. The screeching of the emergency sirens and the cries of spectators faded, as though someone was talking to her while she was wearing headphones.

I know the wish in your heart. I could make it so that, when he wakes up tomorrow morning, Kyosuke Kamijo will be perfectly healed. He could be playing the violin again within two days time. The whole world could see him from this very stage. The creature blinked. That is, of course, if you're willing to become a magical girl and fight to defend that wish.

Sayaka couldn't believe what she was hearing. What was she in, a shoujo anime? Then again, the idea had such a powerful allure to it... surely something that could call up such strong feelings had to be at least partially truthful?

She nodded. "Alright. I don't know what's happening, but if it gets everyone out safe, I'll do it."

A flash of brilliant blue light. A cool feeling, like being completely submerged in water washed over her. Sayaka Miki, your desire has given birth to a Soul Gem and overcome entropy. Now go, magical girl, and fight for your wish.


The initial commotion in the front rows hadn't caused panic for everyone. Hotaru Tomoe was in her element now, calling out orders with a maturity that made her seem much older than twelve. "Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto! Find Minako and go outside! Transform if you think it's necessary, but only if there are signs of trouble!" The designated girls nodded, each also reaching for the henshin sticks that they wore around their necks. Turning to her teammates, Hotaru briefly met eyes with Haruka, nodding. "We're going backstage to find Michiru. Do either of you know which dressing room she's in?" Both Haruka and Setsuna shook their heads. "Alright then. I don't like the idea, but we'll have to split up. Haruka, search dressing rooms 1 through 10. I'll take 11 through 20. Setsuna, 21 through 30."

Nobody really noticed three teenage girls in dark dresses running into the wings, and even if they did, their minds wouldn't have registered it until hours later. Once backstage, they transformed and left for their designated hallways. Hotaru kept running straight ahead, silently thankful for the dimly glowing directory signs that lined the walls every ten feet. She checked rooms 11, 12, and 13, finding them all either unoccupied or already evacuated. Opening the fourth door, she conducted a quick scan of the room. Nothing. She turned around, ready to move on, when she heard a small clicking noise.

Whipping around, she found herself face-to-face with a girl who couldn't be much older than she, yet she was holding a handgun with a cold, merciless glare in her eyes. "I don't want to hurt you," she said in a quiet voice. "But I will if I must."

Hotaru quickly weighed her options. Her best choice would be to buy time until Haruka and Setsuna found Michiru. They would realize something had happened if she didn't meet them at the rendezvous point. Holding out her hand, her Silence Glaive melted out of thin air. The girl fired off six shots, all of which were deflected in a silver blur. "What are you doing back here?" Hotaru said, a warning now in her voice. "I don't suppose you're the armed intruder that caused this whole mess?"

"No." She was trying to hide it, but she was scanning the room. Hotaru had her in a stalemate, and she knew it.

"My goal was to get one of you alone."

Hotaru's blood ran cold as she realized her earlier movement to block the bullets had backed her up against the wall. The girl hadn't been trying to find a way out. She had been calculating the best method to incapacitate her opponent. Hotaru raised her glaive to attack, but in that moment, the girl vanished. Hotaru stumbled forward, whipped around, and was hit square in the chest by a purple blast from the girl's hand. Sliding to the floor, the last thing Hotaru registered before blacking out was a violet-colored diamond glowing on the back of the girl's hand.


"Mars Crystal Power, Make Up!" Rei's call echoed that of her companions. Having found Minako already transformed and waiting in an alley off the side of the building, she had been quick to fill them in on the situation.

"It's a girl we want," she told them. "She's wearing a red coat, and she has an enormous spear! I don't know what her deal is, but I feel like she's not messing around. It was almost like she was looking for someone."

"What do you think we should do?" Usagi asked. "Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are still in there. What if she wants one of them?"

"I thought the same thing," Minako replied. She paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, here's what we'll do. Sailor Moon, Mars, and I will go around the building and look for the girl. Mercury and Jupiter will stay here and wait for everyone still inside the building. Whatever happens, don't separate from your partner. This may be just one girl, but she was twirling that spear like she knew how to use it."

The three girls fell into a line with Rei at the back and Minako at the front, so that if push came to shove, Usagi would be least likely to be attacked. Even though Usagi protested it, Minako's response was always the same: "We're still your guardians. Even if we're all friends, your safety as our future queen has to come first."

Climbing their way up to the roof, Rei leaned against one of the glass panes to peer inside, hearing a quiet ping as Minako jumped onto one of the twisted metal bars that both supported and jutted out from the building. They're almost arranged like a platform. It's certainly an odd design choice. "What are you looking at?" Usagi softly asked.

"I'm not positive, but it looks like we're directly above the stage." Gesturing for the yellow-haired girl to come forward, she inched aside so Usagi could kneel down beside her. "See? I don't know as much as Neptune would, but that looks like one of the rafters that the lights would be controlled from. If we go a little farther up, we should be able to find the backstage area. I don't know how we would get in though."

Usagi giggled. "You could always burn a hole in the ceiling, like in one of those spy movies."

Rei couldn't help but laugh at the bizarre image of her and the rest of the Senshi dropping down into an unsuspecting performer's dressing room. They would probably all wind up in one enormous pile. "Shh!" Minako hissed from above them. "This is still reconnaissance!" She smiled. "Although I would love to see Mars try that sometime."

At that moment, something moved at the corner of Rei's vision. Springing to her feet, she pulled Usagi with her, just as a series of red chains sprung out of thin air. If I'd been a second too late, that would have trapped both of us! "We're under attack!" she shouted, hoping it would carry down to Ami and Makoto. Minako sprang down, her Love Whip already in hand. Scolding herself for her delayed reaction, Rei called up her Mars Arrow. In similar fashion, Usagi had her hand clenched around her brooch, ready to use the Legendary Silver Crystal's power.

Their attacker was standing in the shadows, although Rei could make out the glint of a wickedly sharp-looking spearhead. "Mars Flame Sniper!" The figure jumped into the air, and Rei's flaming arrow skidded across the glass ceiling.

"Venus Love And Beauty Shock!" she heard her companion shout. Their opponent's spear split into segments, coiling around the whip and rendering it useless, jerking it out of Minako's hands for good measure. Minako froze, staring at her now empty hands in shock. In that moment, more red links grew from under her feet, forming a cage around her.

"Venus!" Rei heard Usagi scream. She saw her remaining teammate run towards Minako, only to recoil in fright as the barrier tried to wrap itself around her arm.

"Leave me be!" Minako ordered. "Focus on her!" Rei whipped around, relieved to see their assailant now illuminated by a pale crescent of moonlight. It was a teenage girl with wild red hair, wearing a ruffled red coat and pink skirt. She had in her mouth what looked to be ... a taiyaki?

Swallowing the last of the cake, the girl smirked. "Sheesh, is that seriously all you got? You must really be amateurs to not even know how to regenerate your weapons." Rei didn't know what was going on, but the sheer condescending tone of the other girl's voice was enough to let her know that she should probably feel offended. As she opened her mouth to retort, two things happened.

The first was that Usagi chose that moment to open her brooch and use her ultimate attack. A blinding silver light bathed the rooftop, as a vague winged silhouette called, "Silver Moon Crystal Eternal Power!" In that moment, Usagi's forms as Sailor Moon and Neo-Queen Serenity became one, forming an all-powerful goddess. Rei heard a cry of alarm from the other girl, although she didn't seem to be that badly affected by it. So she's not a monster? Then why was she attacking us?

The second was that once the light cleared and Rei rushed forward to help Usagi, who was now staggering from the energy required for the attack, a sky blue blur came from the alleyway where Ami and Makoto were supposed to be stationed, followed by the sound of rushing water. "Help!" a voice she recognized as Mercury's echoed from below. "We were caught off guard and Jupiter is hurt!"

"Wha - there's more of you?" Rei now turned to the girl in red.

"Well, yeah! But her magic is purple, not blue! Isn't that one of yours?"

Rei wasn't sure she could handle any more new surprises in one night. First Michiru talking about meeting some strange magical girl in an alleyway, now being confronted by an insane, spear-swinging - Wait. "You! You're a magical girl, aren't you?"

Her (fellow?) magical girl raised one eyebrow, her eyes conveying even more sarcasm than her voice. "Really? You're just now figuring that out?"

Forget the Mars Arrow. I'm ready to slap her. "Since you and whoever else is with you clearly hold the advantage, could you at least let my friend go?" (Minako let out a cry of protest at this request, but Rei ignored it)

"Why would I do th-" The same alleyway where Ami and Makoto were supposed to be (although Rei was now highly doubtful they were there anymore) was suddenly lit with a golden explosion, followed by the unmistakable sound of many guns all being fired at once. Red Girl groaned. "Great! Just who I was looking for!" Turning to Rei, she laughed, "Looks like you newbies are off the hook for tonight. Though if you don't leave town, we'll be seeing each other again."

Usagi, who was just now coming to, moaned something that sounded like, "Lunaidontwannagotoschool." Her transformation failed, and her white dress reappeared in place of her sailor fuku. Mamoru chose this exact moment to appear on the rooftop in his Tuxedo Mask garb.

"Fine timing you have!" Rei snapped. "We were just attacked by another strange magical girl! This city is apparently full of them!"

Mamoru held up his hands in a defensive position. "If you're done yelling at me, I have some bad news on my end, too. Mercury is fine, but Jupiter has a nasty cut on her leg. It almost looks like a sword wound. And Pluto and Neptune are waiting by the emergency exit in the back of the stage. Someone ambushed Uranus and Saturn, so they're both out cold and need to be gotten out of there before the entire Mitakihara Police Department is here. There's already five cars by the main entrance."

"I'll handle some of them," Minako volunteered. "I'll change back into civilian dress and pretend to be some drunk and confused tourist. At least that girl was nice enough to let me out, eh?" With a smile, she turned and slid down the fire escape.

"You do that," Rei sighed. As ready as she was to go back to their hotel room and pray this had all been a strange dream, there was still Senshi business to be attended to. She turned to Mamoru, who was now helping Usagi up. "Where are Mercury and Jupiter?"

"Already with the others. Last I saw, Neptune had transformed back and was wrapping something around Jupiter's leg. Pluto's standing guard in case anyone tries to come back for Round Two."

"Good. I'll go down and help bring Uranus and Saturn around. Meet up with us once Usagi's able to stand." She sneaked a glance at the alleyway where the magical girl had vanished. It was silent and dark now, the fight had most likely been taken elsewhere.

This isn't over. I don't care who you are. The next time I see you, I'll be putting an arrow in your back.