The frenetic pulse of techno music made the ground under Usagi's feet vibrate as she made her way through the park. There was a miniature city of tents, souvenir booths, and stages sprawling across the grass, all set up to house the largest Dance-Dance Revolution tournament Crystal Tokyo had ever seen. Usagi was sporting a free promotional t-shirt, and had a brochure in one hand and a bundle of extra-large rainbow cotton candy in the other. Seresu was following her, staying as close as possible. Hotaru had been exhausted after a week of chaperoning their princess, so Seresu had offered to relieve her. After half a day, she understood why Hotaru was so worn out.
"My goodness!" Seresu muttered disdainfully, covering her ears as the passed close to a huge set of speakers.
"Is it bothering you?" Usagi shouted over the din.
"Perhaps a bit," Seresu replied. It was an understatement to say the least, but as much as the music was making Seresu's ears hurt, she could tell Usagi was enjoying herself and didn't want to ruin her fun. After all, Usagi hadn't had much free time recently between studying for final exams and fighting for love and justice as SailorMoon.
That thought brought a worried frown to her face. Seresu had just recently regained her memories, and she was still adjusting to the idea of being SailorCeres. She'd enjoyed living as a normal girl, and she would miss the peaceful life.
On the other hand, the revelation explained a lot of things: her remarkable affinity for flowers, her irrational fear of circuses, the odd dreams she'd been having, why she had felt so eager to travel to Japan (a notion which had repulsed her when her mother had first suggested it), and for that matter how she had managed to become fluent in the notoriously difficult language in only a few weeks. Seresu smiled to herself, remembering how her Japanese instructor had heralded her as a prodigy. She wondered what he would think if she told him it came easily because she'd spoken it in her past life.
Now, reunited with her princess again, Seresu had no regrets. But now she knew the danger they were in. Usagi had told her about how the Golden Crystal had been stolen. Seresu knew that crystal was nearly as powerful as the ginzuishou itself, and was well aware of what could happen if it were misused. But although it had been over a week since the theft, there was no sign that anyone had used the crystal, nor had anyone contacted them to demand ransom. There had been monster attacks, yes, but nothing near the magnitude of the disaster they'd been expecting.
The calm almost worried her more.
Just then they passed by one particularly excited group. At the center of the screaming knot of teenagers, a short, chubby girl with blue hair was putting on a flashy impromptu performance. The crowd cheered as she jumped, turned, and clapped in time to the music. She even did a backflip once.
Usagi paused to watch her. "Wow, that girl's really into it, isn't she?"
"That's Itokuri Atena," one of the fans told her. "She's kind of a local legend. If she trains hard she could have a shot at the championship in a few years!"
"Wow!"
By this time Atena had finished and was waving to the cheering crowd. "Thanks for your support, everyone! Atena is truly touched! Atena will do another performance after lunch, so remember to come back later!"
Seresu wrinkled her nose. Calling herself 'Atena?' She talks like a little kid!
At that moment Atena skipped by, and skidded to a halt when she saw Usagi's cotton candy. She stepped toward Usagi, mesmerized. "That looks so good..." she sighed dreamily, a bit of drool dripping from her mouth.
Usagi clutched the cotton candy protectively. But Atena looked so pathetic that after a moment she grudgingly offered her a small piece.
"Thank you so very much!" Atena exclaimed, shoving the wad of sugar in her mouth. Unexpectedly, she gave Usagi a big hug. "Atena is oh so grateful!" she said in between chewing on the candy.
Seresu cleared her throat. "You are aware that you're speaking to royalty, Itokuri-san?"
"Eeeee? Princess!?" Atena squeaked. She looked surprised for a moment, but rather than being embarassed she smiled. "Wow! I didn't know you were into DDR! Are you in the tournament!"
"No, just watching," Usagi laughed. Seresu smacked her forehead.
"It's okay, Garnier-san," Usagi told her. "Anyway, that was a great performance!"
"You liked it? That song was 'Impulsive Blue.' It's one of Atena's favorites."
"So is this part of the tournament?" Usagi asked. She looked around. "I don't see any judges..."
"Nah, I'm already out of the competition. Atena's just having fun! Nobody was using this machine, so I borrowed it," Atena explained.
Seresu's eyebrow shot up. "Are you allowed to do that?"
"Well..." Atena waffled. "They haven't stopped us yet, so it must be okay!"
The others stared at her.
"Er... well... anyway, I'm gonna go get lunch now!" Atena said quickly. "But hey, let's get together and hang out sometime!"
"Okay!" Usagi agreed. She and Seresu were both a bit overwhelmed trying to keep up with this girl.
"Gotta run!" Atena said. "Catch ya later!" She waved goodbye and quickly vanished into the crowd.
"Hmm," Seresu muttered as she watched her leave. Once Atena was out of earshot, she turned to Usagi and whispered, "Blue hair, a childish demeanor, and a habit of speaking in the third person. Do you suppose...?"
"Yeah," Usagi whispered back. "I was thinking that myself."
Seresu nodded. "Let's keep an eye on her."
Calomel was lounging in her quarters, flipping through an outdated fashion magazine, when someone yanked on her ponytail. She yelped and turned angrily to see that the intruder was her brother.
"That really hurt, Pyrolusite!" she whimpered.
He ignored her complaints. "So, whatever happened to that fabulous monster of yours?" he asked mockingly. "Maybe you've already eliminated the sailor senshi? After all, you seem to have plenty of spare time," he said with a glance at her magazines.
"I was just... taking a break to gather my thoughts!"
"Mmhm," Pyrolusite said sarcastically.
"And just what have you been doing, Pyrolusite?" a husky voice behind them demanded. A tall woman dressed in green was leaning against the door-frame, eyeing them contemptuously.
"Ripidolite! I didn't see you!" Pyrolusite sputtered, caught off guard. "I've been working on my strategy so I can take over when Calomel screws up," he finished with a smirk at his sister. She rewarded him with a murderous glare.
"And as for you," Ripidolite hissed, pointing at Calomel. "I expect to see some improvement, and I mean immediately. Our mother will be most displeased if you fail again."
Calomel's normally cheerful expression darkened with determination. "I understand."
"Ugh," Usagi moaned as she slumped against the wall. She and Hotaru were eating lunch out in the schoolyard. The cause for Usagi's chagrin was her recent language arts quiz, which as usual had gone less than perfectly.
"What am I going to do, Hotaru-chan?" she complained. "Papa said he would take me shopping if I got a B, but it turned out like this..." She held up her paper mournfully. It was marked "74."
"We understand one another, Usagi-sama!" a high-pitched voice squealed, making Usagi jump. She turned to see Atena, who was hanging upside-down from the railing.
"Itokuri-san!?"
She flipped down from the wall, landing next to them. "You said we could hang out some time!" she reminded Usagi.
Usagi just blinked. "Hold on, you go to our school?"
"Yup!" Atena said with a nod. "I'm a year below you, so you probably haven't noticed me. But as you can see..." Atena's shoulders drooped as she held out her own test, revealing that she had failed miserably. "We seem to have the same weakness."
"Ah, school is so difficult!" Usagi sighed a bit dramatically.
"Yup, very difficult."
Hotaru, who had done well, quickly hid her own test paper. She glanced at her the two ruefully, then sighed and went back to her lunch.
"Want to eat lunch with us?" Usagi offered, motioning for Atena to sit down.
"Sure thing!"
"Oh, and this is my best friend, Tomoe Hotaru. Hotaru, this is Itokuri Atena," Usagi introduced them as Atena made herself comfortable and took out a lunchbox.
Atena looked up long enough to give Hotaru a big smile. "Nice to meet you! You can call me Atena." Then she pounced on one of the rice balls in her lunch. "Mm-mm! There's nothing like a good lunch to cheer you up after a rough exam!"
Usagi, who had a dumpling in each hand and crumbs all over her face, nodded in agreement. Hotaru shook her head at them, but there was a hint of fondness in her expression.
"You two really do understand one another."
SailorVesta moaned and sat up, and her body complained with various aches. The sensation was unpleasantly familiar. Beside her, Juno was nursing an injured shoulder and looking equally dismayed.
"Just how many times did we get beaten up today?"
"The day's not over yet," Juno reminded her. She stood up and grimaced as her spine cracked. "But more importantly, where are we?"
They were lying in a ditch by the side of a crumbling highway. The sky was covered in angry, billowing clouds, and thick fog crept over the ground. The two climbed up to the road above and surveyed the area. All around lay the wreckage of a great city. It was not until they saw the shattered towers of a ruined palace in the distance that they realized what city it was.
"This is Crystal Tokyo!" Juno gasped.
"You mean it was Crystal Tokyo."
"That's impossible. Everything was fine a few minutes ago. What happened?"
Vesta froze, sensing movement in a nearby building. Moments later, two small children, a boy and a girl, emerged from within.
"Hey," Juno called to them. "Are you two lost? Where are your parents?"
The children didn't reply, only fixed their blank eyes on the pair and started to advance on them purposefully. Juno and Vesta drew back, sensing something was amiss.
Suddenly the children lunged at them. Both senshi crashed to the ground, pinned down by attackers half thier height. Their strength and speed would have been unnatural even for adults, and these two seemed barely old enough to tie their own shoes.
Vesta recovered first and kicked the boy off of her, then pulled the girl off of Juno. A flame sprang up between her hands as she called on her magic. "Ember--"
"Vesta, no!" Juno cried, holding out an arm to stop her. "We can't just attack humans!"
"There's no way those things are human!" Vesta protested.
"What if they're normal children being controlled by the enemy?"
That made Vesta hesitate. The little girl came flying at her and punched her hard in the stomach. She doubled over, winded from the force of the blow. Before she could recover her assailant had scrambled onto her back and was tearing at her hair, clutching at her throat, covering her eyes...
"Juno Double Bind!"
An arc of lightning shot out and ensnared the girl, forming a sparkling ring around her. A similar bolt caught the boy, and Juno's power locked around them in two glowing rings of white electricity. Vesta was still out of breath, but smiled gratefully at her.
Seeing that the children were immobilized, Juno approached them cautiously. As she drew nearer she noticed what seemed to be a flower petal stuck to his forehead. She reached out to touch it, and saw a flicker of animal terror in his eyes. Her frown deepened as she grasped the petal.
"Is this what's controlling you?" she asked, pulling it off.
Moments later he convulsed, clawing at the air. Juno took a step back in alarm as his skin began to curl and peel off in small bits, slowly at first and then faster. She realized that his body was completely hollow. Soon he had disintegrated into a pile of petals like the one in her hand.
"They're fakes!" she gasped. "Artificial beings!"
"I told you they weren't human!" Vesta gathered a blazing fireball in her hands. "Ember Strike!" she yelled, flinging the attack at the remaining child. It crumbled into ashes without uttering a sound.
Juno eyed her dubiously. "Was that really necessary?"
"Well, it sure made me feel a lot better."
Early the next morning, a letter arrived at the Crystal Palace, addressed to King Endymion. It read, in bold, elegant handwriting:
To His Majesty King Endymion,
No doubt you are worried over the disappearance of the Golden Crystal. Please rest assured that it is in a safe place and will be returned to you in due time. No harm will be done to the people of Crystal Tokyo. As for your daughter, it is unnecessary for her to keep fighting. I respectfully request that you keep her out of harm's way until this affair is over.
Sincerely,
Aether
The king's frown deepened with each line he read. Serenity and Usagi, who were gathered around him listening, looked indignant. He turned the paper over, searching for some sort of address or seal, but there was none. At last Endymion tucked the letter carefully back into the envelope and slipped it into his coat pocket.
"Judging by the handwriting, I would guess the writer is a man," he said, trying to garner what information he could from the letter itself. "This is expensive paper; he's probably of considerable wealth. And he also seems to be rather well-mannered, if a little arrogant."
"I don't understand," Serenity said. "Such a confident tone! Is he mocking us?"
"More likely it's some kind of trick," Endymion reasoned.
"Either way, we can't trust this Aether person."
"And I certainly don't intend to stop fighting while there are still monsters in the city!" Usagi declared.
Her parents nodded solemnly. "Usagi, I want you to be careful out there," Endymion warned her. "This Aether seems to know about your identity."
Usagi shuddered unconsciously. That's right, she realized. "It is unnecessary for her to keep fighting"... that means he knows I'm SailorMoon!
"Next!" Hotaru's teacher called, peering down at the class through his thick spectacles. "Who can tell me the answer to problem fourteen?" His eyes roved over the room, searching out a target. "Minazaki-san!"
A brown-haired girl in the back row jumped in her seat; she'd obviously been dozing off. "Eh? There was a problem fourteen?"
Their teacher glared at her. He had an uncanny talent for honing in on the least prepared student in the room. And more often than not, that was Minazaki Tomoe.
"Can anyone else tell me the answer?"
The class stared at him blankly. After a moment, Hotaru timidly raised her hand. She knew the solution, but she intensely disliked standing up in front of everyone. As one of the smartest students in the class, and the only one who consistently did her homework, Hotaru had quickly become one of their teacher's favorites. This in itself she would nothave minded--after all, having been home-schooled by Michiru, she had been accustomed to being the "teacher's pet"--but it had won her the instant hatred of most of the C-average crowd. She tried to tell herself they were just jealous, but that didn't make it any easier to walk up to the board between those long rows of resentful eyes.
But someone had to give the answer. I guess it can't be helped, she told herself resignedly.
"Tomoe-san again? All right, come up and show your classmates how it's done."
Hotaru was halfway across the room when theglass in the far window shattered. Students ducked and screamed as a woman in a short blue dress leapt into the room.
Everything about the girl bounced. The curls in her hair bounced, the sugar-pink baubles on her skirt bounced, and the blue silk ribbon she wore tied around her arm fluttered playfully in the breeze. Her smile was bright and cheerful, but there was a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"Surprise!" she cackled in an equally bright and bouncy voice. "Try answering this, class! What's the freezing temperature of the human soul?"
Minazaki raised her hand halfway, looking puzzled. "Umm... I don't think we've been over that lesson yet. Unless maybe I was asleep during it."
Calomel bent down to look her in the eye. Tomoe shuddered as she ran a slender white finger along her neck, lifting her chin until their faces were inches apart. She smiled brightly.
"Wrong!" she pronounced gleefully, clapping her hands. "Better pay more attention in Professor Calomel's class!" She flicked Tomoe's forehead with one long blue fingernail. Moments later, spidery fingers of frost began to sprout from the spot she had touched. It built up rapidly, hardening into ice over her face, muffling her shout of terror. It spread to cover her whole body, and soon the girl was encased in a jagged block of ice.
Needless to say, everyone started running and sceaming.
The woman laughed more and more as she pelted the panicking students with bolts of icy magic. The teacher was trying to herd them out the door, but he only succeeded in getting two through before he too was frozen, and the door with him. Now trapped, the rest of the class cowered against the wall.
Now what? I can't transform in front of everyone! Hotaru thought. It wasn't as if her attacker was giving her any chance, anyway--twice already she had barely escaped being frozen herself.
Satisfied with the pandemonium she'd created, Calomel snapped her fingers, and a silver liquid oozed up from the ground. It rose up and hardened to form a vaguely humanoid shape. With a low grunt, the thing whipped its head around, searching out a target. It found Hotaru.
"Have fun playing with them, Cobalt!" she instructed her creation as she hopped back up onto the windowsill. "Mommy's got something to do, but I'll be back in a little while! Be sure to freeze them all, okay?" She blew the monster a kiss, then jumped out the window and vanished. One final blast of ice sealed the window behind her, closing off Hotaru's final hope of escape.
Hotaru took a step back as Cobalt lumbered toward her. Never taking her eyes off the monster, she pressed a button on her wrist communicator. While it still seemed too far away, it raised its arm and swung at her. To her surprise, the arm liquefied and shot at her as a jet of scalding water. It hit her head on, knocking her back into the chalkboard. Hotaru barely had time to scream as Cobalt launched its other arm, this time made of ice. There was a brief instant of intense, painful cold, then numbness, and then the ice closed over her face and darkness descended...
Usagi was listening enviously as Ibuki Aya played yet another perfect violin solo when a small chime issued from her communicator. She snuck a glance at it and saw a single message from Hotaru. Enemy, was all it said.
In a flash she shot out of her chair. "Sorry, I'm not feeling well so I'm going to the nurse!" she announced, talking so fast her words were barely intelligible. Without even waiting for permission, she took off.
At the worst possible moment, Atena appeared across the hall. Usagi skidded to the side, trying not to make eye contact, but it was too late.
"Usagi-sama! Guess what?" Apparently she wasn't yet aware of the disturbance.
"Sorry, don't have time right now!" Usagi called over her shoulder as she ran past without stopping.
Atena looked wounded. With a dejected sigh, she started to leave. But then she began to wonder where Usagi had been going in such a hurry. Maybe she'd found out about something very exciting. Or maybe she just really had to go to the bathroom. But Atena figured she would never know unless she followed her. Her lips curled into a mischievous grin as she set off down the hall after her friend.
Usagi stopped short as she reached Hotaru's classroom. Several large, menacing spikes of ice jutted from the half-opened door.
"What the--?"
At that moment, she got a call from Diana. "Usagi-sama! Are you all right?" she asked. "We got an emergency signal from Saturn. No need to panic yet, though. Perhaps it shorted out..."
Usagi shook her head, eyeing the icicles protruding from the door. "I have reason to think otherwise."
"I see. Better transform," Diana advised.
"Right." Usagi looked around to make sure no one was in sight, then held up her brooch. "Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"
SailorMoon tugged at the frozen door in a vain effort to pry it open. Finally, she rolled her eyes and took a few steps back to get a running start. She aimed a flying kick at the center of the door. Fragments of ice and wood scattered everywhere as the door splintered, and SailorMoon landed hard in the center of a ring of icy spires that jutted from the floor.
It took her a moment to realize that the lumps of ice were, in fact, students. Their eyes were glazed over, their mouths opened in cries of shock and fear. Many of them had their hands raised as if they had tried to claw their way out of the ice before it had completely overtaken them.
"Hotaru-chan!" SailorMoon screamed in horror as she saw her friend among the frozen victims. She ran over to her friend and pounded on the glassy surface, but it was rock-solid.
A low vibration in the ground caught her attention. Something was behind her. She turned slowly and came face to face with a tall, bulky creature with silvery skin that flowed and gleamed like liquid metal. It had no discernible face, and yet malice was apparent in its movements as it made its way toward her. It stopped, planting its feet firmly, and raised both arms at her. As it did, its whole body hardened and sharpened into what looked like silver ice.
SailorMoon sensed an attack coming and leapt to the side moments before Cobalt's arm slammed into the place she had been standing. She turned a flip midair and landed on a desk behind it. Using her momentum to turn, she delivered a crushing kick to the back of its head... only to have her foot sink into it like it was made of water.
She lost her balance and tumbled to the floor, getting a nice bruise on her side in the process. Cobalt twisted its other arm around and was about to follow up with another ice blast, but SailorMoon grabbed a book that was laying nearby and unceremoniously smacked the monster in the face. It staggered back, giving her enough time to get to her feet and move out of range of its deadly arms.
"It has a rather simplistic attack pattern," Diana noted.
SailorMoon nodded. "It's strong, but slow." She pulled off her tiara. "Let's get this over with! Moon Tiara Boomerang!"
Cobalt made no effort to dodge the flying blade. Instead, it calmly raised a watery arm to block the blow. The tiara sank into the liquid and stopped harmlessly. "What?!" SailorMoon yelped. "That's not fair!"
Cobalt's arm hardened into ice again. Then it shattered, and with it her only weapon.
"First the wand, now the tiara. I can't take you anywhere!" Diana lamented.
SailorMoon took a step back as Cobalt swiveled its head to glare at her. She suddenly realized that she had backed herself into a corner. "All right, I'm open to suggestions..."
Standing over her, the monster raised its arms to strike again.
"Waaah! Look out!"
Suddenly, someone came tumbling across the ice and slammed into Cobalt, knocking it off its feet. SailorMoon looked up in surprise. Relief turned to dismay when she saw that her rescuer was Atena.
"Sorry 'bout that!" Atena apologized with a brief bow toward the monster. She looked around. "Hey, what's going on? Is this some kind of game you guys are playing? Love your costume," she added with a nod toward Cobalt.
"Itokuri-san, look out!"
SailorMoon's warning came too late as Cobalt hit her with a stream of cold water. Atena went sliding along the floor and smacked into a cabinet. As luck would have it, this knocked a large globe on top of the cabinet off of its stand. It fell and struck her squarely on the head, knocking her senseless.
Cobalt started toward Atena, intending to take revenge on the intruder. But SailorMoon blocked his path. "Leave her alone! I'm the one you should worry about!"
The monster was more than ready to oblige. It attacked with a flurry of tiny ice shards. SailorMoon stood her ground, protecting Atena. She held back a cry of pain as the sharp fragments dug into her chest and arms.
"Fragrant Cornucopia!"
A whirlwind of light blew away Cobalt's attack, and a soldier dressed in pink stepped in front of SailorMoon. "I must say, it was most bothersome to have to sneak out of school for this," Ceres complained. She glared at Cobalt. "I'll have you know that I am extremely displeased!"
"Ceres!" SailorMoon greeted her.
"At your service, Princess."
Behind them, Atena sat up. She was blinking rapidly and rubbing her head, but not from pain.
"I remember everything!" she gasped. She glanced down at the globe sitting next to her. Hmm, must have been the blow to the head that did it.
Then she saw the senshi standing in front of her, blocking Cobalt's attacks. Instinct took over and she jumped to her feet. A blue ball appeared in her hands, and a symbol started to glow on her forehead.
"That girl!" Diana realized. "Itokuri Atena is..."
Before she could even finish the thought, Atena held up her transformation orb and shouted "Pallas Star Power, Make Up!"
Ice, bubbles, and blue ribbons swirled around Atena, forming a blue sailor suit. The moment her transformation had finished, the newly awakened senshi stepped forward, taking her place beside SailorMoon.
"Pallas?!" Moon and Ceres gasped in unison.
The shorter senshi saluted them cheerfully. "That's me!"
Cobalt inturrupted the reunion with another blast of water, but this time Pallas was ready. "Blizzard Spear!" she shouted, and deflected the blow with her own projectile. Her attack hit Cobalt in the shoulder, but once again it turned into water and absorbed the blow. With so much ice flying around, the room was growing noticeably colder, and Ceres and Moon shivered.
"I get it! It changes form to defend itself," Pallas said, looking proud of herself for figuring it out.
"Perhaps we can use that to our advantage," Ceres suggested.
Pallas glanced around the room and spotted an old lamp sitting on the teacher's desk. "I have an idea," she whispered. "Distract it for me."
Ceres nodded in understanding. A glowing flower began to form in her outstretched hands. "Take this! Amazones Bouquet Twister!" The flower exploded outward in a spiral, striking Cobalt repeatedly with a storm of razor-sharp golden petals. As expected, it changed to liquid form. But it hadn't noticed Pallas sneaking up behind it with the desk lamp. She smashed the bulb on the floor and tossed the sparking appliance into Cobalt's back.
The monster dropped, writhing in pain as electricity coursed through its body. There was a loud popping sound, and the lights dimmed. When they came back on, all that remained of Cobalt was a steaming puddle of silvery liquid. As the senshi watched, it dried up and disappeared.
"Darn it!" Calomel muttered as she watched a replay of the latest battle--the part Cobalt had managed to record before being fried, anyway. "My poor Cobalt!"
A heavy hand on her shoulder startled her. She turned to see Ripidolite glaring down at her reproachfully.
"You attacked civilians without provocation," the older woman accused her.
You mean those kids? Oh, they'll be fine in a bit. I didn't take their energy or anything!" Calomel said, throwing up her hands in a defensive gesture. "I just did it to lure SailorMoon out!" she explained.
Ripidolite narrowed her eyes at her, then sighed and released the grip on her shoulder. "Well, it seems to have worked," she remarked drily.
Calomel started to tear up. Ripidolite sighed; she'd known this was coming. "What am I going to do? I can't face Mother like this!" the blue-haired girl wailed.
"You want to regain her favor? Then bring her the head of SailorMoon. Or if you really can't manage that, I'm sure one of her companions would do as well. Otherwise don't bother coming home."
Calomel stared at her feet for a good minute. When she finally looked up, a determined smile had returned to her face. Ripidolite smirked. Calomel was easy to read and even easier to motivate. All she needed was a little prodding sometimes.
"All right!" the shorter girl declared. "I'll show them! The sailor soldiers will regret the day they crossed Calomel of the Moriae!"
"Hotaru-chan! Hotaru-chan, wake up!" SailorMoon shook her friend lightly, but she was still unconscious. The other students, now thawed, were starting to stir.
"It seems Tomoe-san got burned by the monster's attack," Ceres observed. "And you've gotten cut too,SailorMoon! Perhaps we should call a doctor."
"I'm on it!" Pallas said immediately, springing to her feet.
"But it looks like her life force was also drained," Diana spoke up. "That's probably the reason she's not waking up."
Pallas paused with a puzzled frown. "Why just hers and no one else's?" she wondered out loud.
Moon bit her lip. "I wish there was something we could do for her." She clasped Hotaru's thin hand, willing her to awaken. "Hang in there, Hotaru-chan," she whispered.
Just then, her brooch started to glow with a warm pink light. The air shimmered, and a pearl wand topped with a golden crescent moon appeared before her. SailorMoon hesitated, then grasped the handle. It was warm in her hands. She felt power flowing through her as she touched it.
"That's your Pink Moon Stick, SailorMoon! The strength of your wish to help Hotaru-sama has given you power," Diana marveled.
SailorMoon held up the wand, and the whole room filled with light. "Moon Brilliant Revival!"
As the senshi watched, Hotaru's burns and scrapes healed. At the same time, Pallas noticed that the bruise on her head stopped hurting. After a few seconds the light faded, and SailorMoon dropped to her knees wearily.
To her relief, Hotaru opened her eyes and sat up. "Usa-- I mean, SailorMoon. What happened?" she asked in a dazed voice.
Usagi suddenly lunged forward and caught her in a tight hug. "Oh Hotaru-chan, I'm so glad you're okay!" she exclaimed. In spite of her, a few tears slid down her cheeks.
Hotaru smiled softly and patted her back. "I'm all right now, thanks to you. It's oka-- huh?" She stopped short mid-sentence. Her eyes flew open in surprise as she noticed the new senshi beside Ceres. "Pallas?"
Usagi dried her eyes, feeling a bit silly for the emotional display, and laughed. "We'll fill you in on the details later," she said with a wink.
The other students were starting to open their eyes now. Hotaru glanced around at the wrecked room and half-conscious people, then back at the senshi. "You guys might want to get out of here before everyone sees you," she cautioned. "Otherwise it'll be difficult to explain all this."
The three nodded. Without another word, they got up and slipped out of the room before anyone noticed them.
"Ugh... what's going on?"
"Huh? Did I fall asleep in class again?"
"Why is my textbook all wet?!"
"The window! Who is responsible for this?!"
Amidst the commotion, Hotaru stood lost in thought. That woman created a youma... she thought. Since their powers were similar, I'll bet those other monsters were her doing too. Is she the only one? Just a rogue criminal? Or... maybe she's connected to those two who stole the Golden Crystal! "Tomoe-san?"
Hotaru blinked at the sound of her name. Minazaki was waving a hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?" the brunette asked. "You were staring so hard, I thought you were in shock or something! Class let out five minutes ago."
Hotaru took a deep breath and put on a smile. "It's nothing, I was just distracted." She collected her things and hurried out of the room, eager to get the images of ice and wreckage out of her mind.
Seresu sighed and rubbed her forehead as she watched Atena chase butterflies back and forth across the park. She was soon joined by Hotaru. Her friend looked equally weary after having spent the past half hour running around the school searching for Usagi's favorite rabbit pen, which she had apparently dropped somewhere. They never did find the pen, but Hotaru had comforted her with a candy bar and a promise to go shopping for a new one.
"Even after a battle she still has this much energy..." Seresu moaned. Just watching Atena was making her tired.
"Usagi-chan too! I can't keep up."
Hotaru and Seresu looked at each other. Slowly a grin spread over both their faces.
"Itokuri-san!" Seresu called.
Atena paused to look at her, and made a small sound of disappointment when the insect she'd nearly cornered escaped. "Hmm?"
"I do believe it's your turn to keep an eye on Usagi-chan." Seresu caught her arm and led her over to Usagi. "It's quite simple, really. Just stay with her no matter what and make sure nothing bad happens to her."
Atena blinked. "That's all?"
"Yes, and call us if anything happens."
"Okay! Leave it to me!" she agreed, giving them a little salute. "This is gonna be fun! We can play together!" She tugged on Usagi's arm. "Hey, Usagi-chan, I'll race you around the school, and whoever loses has to buy the other person whatever they want at the soda shop! Ready, set, go!" With that, she took off running at top speed.
Hotaru looked at Seresu a bit skeptically. "Are you sure this is a good--"
"Heeey, no fair! You had a head start!" Usagi squealed, leaping after Atena.
Hotaru blinked as the two disappeared around the corner, only to reappear on the other side of the school about half a minute later. Usagi-chan's pretty agile when there's food involved... she thought with a smile.
"Well, that should keep them busy for a while. I'm taking a nap," Seresu announced.
Hotaru had to agree that a nap sounded like an excellent idea.
The night air was still and cool, and the waning moon cast an eerie haze over thin clouds streaked across the sky. Usagi stood on the balcony, absent-mindedly combing her long hair as she gazed out over the city. It was well past midnight, but she couldn't sleep. Her mind drifted back to the events of the past weeks. What in the world is going on? she wondered. Where are these new monsters coming from? And more than that, where are Juno and Vesta? I hope they're all right.
Then she recalled the battle at school the week before, when they'd found Ceres. An image of the mysterious man on the rooftop flashed through her mind. Who was he? He didn't seem like an enemy, and on top of that something about him was terribly familiar.
Her thoughts were inturrupted by a shimmering in the air beside her. Usagi drew back, watching closely as something began to materialize. A bright golden light glowed momentarily, and when it receded a magnificent white winged horse had appeared.
Usagi stepped forward cautiously, scarcely daring to believe her eyes. "Pegasus?" she whispered. Indeed, the stallion looked just like the mythic beast whose form Helios had once taken on.
"Hello, Princess," the pegasus replied. She imagined he was smiling at her, though his face remained expressionless. Usagi clutched her shoulders, suddenly self-conscious in her thin silk nightgown.
"Forgive my intrusion," he said, bowing his head slightly in apology. "I sensed your restlessness. It must be a sign of your maturing heart." Usagi blushed. "This world, too..." Pegasus added. "There are many changes coming in the days ahead."
At that Usagi frowned. "What do you mean?"
He didn't answer, but instead looked out over the cityscape. After a moment he glanced over at her. "Would you like to go for a ride?" he asked.
Usagi hesitated,wondering whether to trust him. At last she nodded. "All right."
She climbed onto his back and slid her arms around his neck. "Hang on tight," he warned her. With a few powerful wingbeats, they rose into the air, and soon they were soaring over Tokyo. Usagi's eyes were shining as she looked down at the sparkling lights, mirroring the stars above.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Pegasus said softly.
"Yes." Usagi sighed contentedly and leaned her head against his shoulders.
"Comfortable?" he asked in a teasing tone.
Usagi flushed with embarassment and sat up. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."
He chuckled. "That's all right."
"It's a little nostalgic," she murmered.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, nothing. It's just that flying like this reminds me of someone I met long ago."
"Someone you liked, I imagine. Maybe even someone you loved?"
She blushed again. "What makes you say that?"
"Just something in your voice."
She didn't say anything, and he let the conversation end there. They turned to the west. On the horizon, Usagi could see a dark area near the outskirts of the city. At the center a shadowy spire rose up, jagged against the indigo sky. It was too far away to see clearly, but for some reason looking at it sent chills down her spine.
"That tower appeared suddenly on what used to be the site of an abandoned factory," Pegasus told her. "Can you feel the darkness that surrounds it? That place is the home of a woman named Moros. She is your greatest enemy, SailorMoon!"
Usagi's eyes widened. "What did you say? You know that I'm SailorMoon?" she asked, frightened.
"It's all right," he reassured her. "I mean you no harm."
She relaxed a bit, but still looked uneasy. "How do you know so much about the enemy?" she asked.
"I have... connections." Pegasus turned away from the dark shape in the distance and headed back to the palace. "I'll take you home now."
Pegasus set Usagi down gently on the balcony.
"Thank you," she said. "I had a wonderful time."
"I'm glad to hear it."
Before her eyes, the winged horse glowed and changed shape. In his place stood a young man in a white tuxedo. She couldn't see his eyes beyond the golden mask that covered his face, but she noticed a few wisps of white hair peeking from beneath his silk hat.
"You're not Helios," she realized. "You're the man from before!"
He bowed rather dramatically. "I'll be watching over you, SailorMoon," he said with a wink, then leapt over the balcony and vanished.
Notes
"Impulsive Blue" is a parody of the real DDR song "Blue Impulse."
Seresu's last name has been changed from Saikachi to Garnier.