In the last chapter, we saw Darien encounter several people who will be major parts of this story and/or its related series of stories, and many of them will be present when certain major events take place in either. Just how they will, exactly, remains to be seen, of course, but they most definitely will, folks, I promise you all this, as the story and/or its related series continues here well enough.

Now, seeing as we have not yet really seen much from the Negaverse so far in this story, other than there having been two heroes-foiled energy-gathering plans of theirs so far in it, we therefore will be starting the next chapter somewhere in the Negaverse before the next fight or fights take place in this chapter. To this particular point in time, Negaverse General Jadeite has only made one actual physical appearance at the location of a Negaverse attack, and that was back in Chapter Two, during the fashion show earlier. He most definitely will appear again in the field, so to speak, in this chapter, but just when he will, you will all just have to wait and see, of course, folks.

We will get to know at least a little bit more about the Negaverse in this chapter before the next attack, but we certainly will not yet see all four or five of the Negaverse's current Generals in the story, for sure. For it's not yet time for them to appear, even if I were to stick closer to established canon versions of Sailor Moon, I believe, in this story here. Queen Beryl and General Jadeite, at least, among those in the Negaverse, will certainly appear, and possibly Nephlyte may appear briefly as well. But neither of the two Zoisite siblings nor Malachite AKA Kunzite will, most definitely, for it's still much too early to show them in this story here.

The Negaverse that will be seen periodically in this particular story series will most likely have a not-inconsiderable mixture of already-known details from established Sailor Moon canon versions, and perhaps even some from at least Codename: Sailor V. If not also certain canon versions of other source materials of all kinds, as well. But not all the related details I will ultimately come include for it will necessarily be from just one version of Sailor Moon's related canons, in any case at all, for sure, folks. I may even mix in some original elements and perhaps even some elements inspired by other fandoms and/or other things, for that matter, just so you know. Rest quite assured, though, the Negaverse that the heroes will be battling will be a very difficult one for them to combat here, if I can possibly have it be so, of course. But it still won't necessarily be invincible, for obvious enough reasons, ultimately.

Okay, with all that said here and now, I'll close this introduction here, and take you all to the Negaverse from which most, if not all, of the danger related to it will originate from, in very short order, once I have also included a few blurbs about the new characters who will play significant enough parts over the rest of this current story, at least, if not other related stories as well here. Hope you all like this chapter, of course, once you read it, folks, and will periodically review it, or comment on it, too, quite obviously enough, even privately, if you wish, that is TUS out.

Queen Beryl - Secondary leader of the Negaverse, subject only to Queen Metallia in terms of leading it in its efforts to take over as much of the known Universe as it possibly somehow can, is an woman of yet-unknown age but who looks like she's perhaps in at least her thirties or forties by normal standards of human appearances, has two horn-like projections of some yet-unknown sort almost always coming visibly out of her arms near her shoulders whenever she's seen, or out of her shoulders, if not out of her arms, fiery red very long and very wavy red hair, orange eyes, and there is still much more to be revealed about her later, when and where possible and necessary and appropriate enough. (Birthdate unknown)

Nephlyte - Second General of the Negaverse, appears to be anywhere between his early twenties to his late twenties, by normal standards of human appearances, has wavy dark brown hair falling roughly to just past his shoulders, medium green eyes, often dresses somewhat casually, but also somewhat business-like and/or professional, in terms of his usual wardrobe choices, and there is still much more to be revealed about him later, including just what role or roles he will eventually play in future events for this story, et cetera, when and where possible and necessary and appropriate enough. (Birthdate unknown)

A Destined Discovery?

After the Negaverse's last attack, Jadeite and Queen Beryl were conferring with each other about what Jadeite might then do for his next attempt to gain more human life energy for the Negaverse. His two previous energy-gathering schemes had both failed to turn out as well as expected for both him and the Negaverse, so Queen Beryl was somewhat displeased at the present time.

"Jadeite, what is your next plan to gather human life energy from the inhabitants of Earth?" asked Queen Beryl, as she then sat on her rather ghoulish-looking stone throne in some sort of large cavern area. That cavern area was rather dark in most places except for quite near her three-step throne and in several nearby tunnels to her throne room. Jagged rock projections were quite common, and many skulls of all shapes and sizes and colors were also in her throne room or nearby areas, along with thousands, if not millions, of bones from countless beings who had previously somehow ever angered her sufficiently enough in their lives. A double-ended clawed staff with a hovering darkly-glowing sphere over the top claw for the staff also somehow levitated in front of her about two feet above the step immediately in front of her on her throne.

"We first need to establish a base of operations somewhere on Earth that those who oppose us will not be able to keep us from getting well enough, and my scouts seem to have found an excellent location for that base in the Tokyo area of Japan. They do not believe that our likely enemies are aware of this location, but if they are, they believe that we can capture it and control it as a potential base of operations for future Negaverse operations in Japan, especially from the Tokyo area of it, sufficiently well," answered Jadeite, even as he kept his right fist over the left side of his chest and his head slightly down as if looking at the floor just in front of him, in a deferential posture to Queen Beryl. He was now just about 25 feet or so in front of her as she then sat on her ancient-looking stony throne.

"What do you know of Earth Knight, AKA Tuxedo Mask, at this point in time, or his two animal allies, Jadeite? Please tell me you have at least some useful information about him, at least, if not others as well, that we may be able to utilize in our further attempts to gain human life energy for Queen Metallia's later use."

"He appears to be about 20 or so human years of age, but our attempts to gain sufficient amounts of reliable information about him have proved, to this point, somewhat unfruitful. However, there are reports that seem to suggest that he may be behind some of the recent break-ins at a good-sized number of jewelry shops all over Japan, at the very least. We are still trying to ascertain the veracity of those many reports, but it still seems that either he, or someone who may look quite like him, may now be trying to acquire certain jewels for yet-unknown reasons."

"And what of the two animals you saw when you and a number of our monsters last engaged him at that design studio you targeted earlier? Supposedly, from what I have now learned from certain other sources, his two current animal allies are what the humans may call a peacock and a hedgehog. What do you actually happen to know of them somehow, by any chance?" She then asked those two questions in a somewhat inquisitive, yet also somewhat menacing, tone here, as she also telepathically manipulated the staff levitating just in front of her on her throne.

"They are quite hard to keep track of at this point in time, Your Majesty. We are, however, considering ways to somehow attach trackers of some sort to them in ways they won't be able to prevent, detect, and/or remove sufficiently well. We are also going to try to gain further information about them, so as to better learn their habits, et cetera, before we either try to incapacitate or kill them in time, or at least make it impossible for them to provide any future additional assistance to our likely enemies," Jadeite said, not yet fully looking up, for Queen Beryl had not yet given him permission to do so in the current conference of theirs here.

"I see, and what if more of our likely enemies start to appear, then, Jadeite? How do you plan to deal with them, seeing as we unexpectedly found opposition from Earth Knight and his two current animal allies when you sent two Anidoas to wreak havoc in and around a jewelry shop in Tokyo not too long ago?"

"Then we'll take them out as well, after we find out who they are, and how, I'm sure, Your Majesty," said Jadeite, "One way or another, I'm sure we will, ultimately, and then the Negaverse will prevail."

Just then, another voice was heard from somewhere in the darkness behind Jadeite. The voice was rather masculine-sounding, even though its owner was still quite deep within the quite-present darkness elsewhere in Beryl's throne room. And it sounded like that person was quite skeptical about Jadeite's claims that he and the monsters under his control could somehow handle Earth Knight and any other actual or potential allies of his sufficiently well in the near future. That voice said, "You and your minions haven't done too well, so far, against the humans you sent to gather energy from earlier, Blondie. Methinks you and your minions may be trying to take energy from too many people at once, at the present time, instead of focusing your collection schemes on gathering it from just one or two people at most at a particular time, like we've suggested a number of times before to Queen Beryl."

"Shut up, Nephlyte! What do you know, you stargazer, about gathering human life energy, so far, compared to me?"

"I know you've swung and missed in both your previous schemes to capture and hold it for us, Jadeite," laughed Nephlyte, in very short order, while still being quite shrouded in darkness here.

"And just what is that supposed to mean, perhaps, Nephlyte?"

"Haven't you ever heard of the human sport of baseball?"

"No, what's that?"

"A sport where teams of humans try to outscore each other for fun or for profit, and if one person on such a team gets three strikes against them, they're out."

"Out of what?"

"Out of the game until they have to defend against those on the other team or get to bat again in it."

"You've lost me."

"You have two strikes against you now, and if you get a third, will Beryl let you come up to bat again, so to speak, for us against the humans?"

"Of course, Nephlyte, for I'm her best General in the field to this point!"

"Sure doesn't look like it yet, and you surely seem proud of yourself, considering you've now failed twice here, Blondie. Is it true what the humans say often about those with blonde hair? Meaning is it true that they're often brainless twits, so to speak?"

"At least I'm willing to try again, you lost-in-space red dwarf Chimpanzee!"

"Oh, is that the best your puny little mind can think of at the moment, in terms of a comeback at me? Surely you can do better than that, now, can't you? Or are you as brainless as a lemon?"

The two Negaverse Generals then argued between themselves for a little while, before Queen Beryl suddenly silenced them both with quick waves of both her hands in their directions. That done, she soon said, "Jadeite, I hope this next plan of yours proves much more successful than your previous attempts to gain substantial amounts of human life energy for us have already been. Nephlyte, your mission now is to seek out potential human allies for our cause as secretly as possible, and you are to try your best to make sure that any possible recruits you may gather to help us are not stolen somehow from us by our likely enemies. Our enemies from before had numerous beings on their side of our war with them, and we must rebuild our own forces, just in case they are planning to do the same for theirs."

"And what am I to do, if I am able to find those human allies as recruits to our cause, then, Queen Beryl?" asked Nephlyte.

"If they are somehow sufficiently willing to aid us, or manifest abilities of whatever possible kinds that might help us in the future, et cetera, then start gathering such allies, and begin making them fighters for our side of this matter, somehow. Supposing you can do just that at all, of course, Nephlyte."

"As you wish, Queen Beryl. Just keep Blondie as far away from me as possible, so that his goof-ups don't mess with my own plans here, and your orders to me just as now, please, if you don't mind too much?"

"As you wish, as long as you perform sufficiently well, with your assigned tasks or your plans, to satisfy me with useful results that will help us in our war against those on Earth, I will keep Jadeite as far as I can away from you. In return, you will not interfere with his own plans any more than you have to, while he is still attempting to execute his own energy-gathering schemes for us on Earth. Is that clear?"

Nephlyte soon answered, "Yes, Queen Beryl, it is."

"Then both of you are dismissed. Do not fail me again, Jadeite, in terms of sufficient enough success at something that will help us do what we want and need to do on Earth. Even if it's only in the area of gathering intelligence that we may possibly be able to use well enough in the future, for instance. Got it?"

"Yes, Queen Beryl, I will soon show you that I can be a better General at carrying out missions assigned to me than this red dwarf stargazing Chimpanzee, one way or another, somehow."

"I look forward to it, then, if and when you somehow succeed well enough. Now leave me, you two, for I must contemplate all the newest information that you have now given me, Jadeite, so I can decide how we should best proceed soon enough."

The two Negaverse Generals soon departed to their respective rooms elsewhere in the cavern system, and began plotting further missions of theirs against the inhabitants of Earth, but not without first shooting each other with at least angry-looking glares, if not even more expressive ones, at that. And several monsters, mostly human-sized, more or less, at least occasionally were soon congregating with either of them as they then did so in their own rooms.

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, Darien was hanging out just after his college classes had ended the day after his meeting with Hitomi, and he was at the Crown Arcade having some coffee and a piece of cherry pie with whipped cream on top even while studying from his chemistry textbook again here. He was wearing his usual black motorcycle jacket over a pair of nice khaki pants and a white long-sleeved shirt, and black shoes were on his feet.

It was now just after 4, and Darien had been in the Crown Arcade for about half an hour or so when Serena and several others soon entered it as well. Those others included Keitaro Urashima and Usagi Tsukino, to name just a few of them, in fact. Sylvia and Rolando were there as well, having been invited there by other classmates of theirs at their school.

Sylvia and Rolando, among others then in the arcade, were wearing their school uniforms from their school in SEST, and that school was called, in English, "Chrysanthemum Trekker Academy." In Sylvia's case, she was wearing a mostly white blouse, a knee-length navy blue skirt, a mostly bright red sailor-style collar, a navy blue bow in the front, and navy blue strapped pumps. In Rolando's case, he was wearing a mostly navy blue uniform jacket, mostly navy blue trousers, and black business-style shoes. Several others in the arcade also were similarly dressed, but not all school-aged people in it were dressed like Sylvia and Rolando each were, for there were teenagers from at least four different Tokyo-area schools now in the arcade, in fact.

As for Serena and Usagi, they were currently wearing uniforms that marked them as students at Crossroads Junior High School which was located not very far at all from the arcade in Azabu Juuban. Those uniforms of theirs consisted of a white long-sleeved blouse, a blue knee-length pleated skirt, a blue collar, a red bow, and black loafers with crossing straps in the front for each of them. And they came straight to the arcade from school after having had detention that day for being late to class that morning, but not together.

As for Keitaro, he was there to get some food and beverages at the request of several of his tenants at the Hinata Apartments and of Shinobu, on his way home from his own college classes on the current day at Toudai, also known often as Tokyo University or as the University of Tokyo by many in Japan. He hadn't yet come here before, but whenever he and certain others might meet each other after their college classes, they might eventually come to meet each other at least every once in a while at the Crown Arcade in the future.

He soon took a seat near Darien, and ordered some food and various beverages from Motoki. Not just for himself, but for nine other people, in fact. For they had requested him to do so before he'd caught his morning train to Tokyo so that he could attend his college classes that day, seeing as the rest of them wouldn't likely be able to get the items they wanted to get themselves on that day, for various reasons.

As Keitaro waited for the food and drink items to be provided to him, he soon caught himself looking Darien's way for a few moments. He studied Darien for a few seconds, at least, before Darien noticed him doing so right next to him, and then Keitaro asked, in Japanese, "Have we met, sir? You seem at least a little familiar to me, for some reason I can't quite fathom just yet."

Darien soon turned to Keitaro, and studied him as well for at least a few seconds, before replying, also in Japanese, "I really don't think so, stranger. You seem to be college-aged, though, if I don't miss my guess too much here."

"I am. I attend Toudai. Do you?" asked Keitaro, as he then took a sketchbook and a pen out of a backpack then on the floor near him, and turned to an empty page for that sketchbook.

"No, I attend Keio. I am studying to be a doctor," said Darien.

"I see. And is your coursework fairly tough, then?"

"It's hard, but I do well in my classes, still, though. May I ask who you are, then?"

"I am Keitaro Urashima, sir."

"Pleased to meet you, whether or not we've actually met before in our lives somehow. My name is Darien Shields, Urashima-san."

"The feeling is mutual, Shields-san." Keitaro soon began randomly sketching in his sketchbook for a little while, once certain areas of it caught his attention well enough at the current time, and/or certain people in it at that time.

Just then, Motoki brought several small boxes to Keitaro, and a few beverage containers, containing the various items he'd just ordered here, or at least some of those things, anyway. On his way there, he soon saw both Usagi and Serena, and said, "Ladies, I'll be with you shortly, as quickly as I can. We've got a fuller house than usual this afternoon, it seems. So you'll have to wait a little longer than usual, it seems, today, before I can take your orders well enough.

"Okay, Motoki-kun, take your time, then," called Usagi. "Moon-san and I can wait a bit longer, perhaps, if we have to." Both Usagi and Serena now had their medium blonde hair in buns and tails as was normally the case for them in their lives, with two tails for both of them, one on each side. And those tails were more or less floor-length as they trailed behind them and their backs, as well.

"Just don't wait too long, for it seems we have two Odango Atamas who are very hungry here, Motoki," said Mamoru, as he suddenly entered the arcade not too long after both Serena and Usagi had earlier entered it.

"Can it, Mophead #2!" shouted Serena, just as soon as she realized Mamoru was now in the arcade as well. "You shouldn't make fun of our beautiful hairstyle here, you conceited baboonish jerk!"

"Pasta and Odangos for hair does not a beautiful hairstyle make, Odango Atamas," laughed Mamoru.

"Do you even know who you now are dealing with right here at all, Chiba?" asked Usagi, starting to get really upset at Mamoru, seeing as he was now evidently thinking that it was all right to tease girls just because of how their hair might look for them in their lives.

"I'm dealing with two very hungry girls now, it seems. Can't you take a joke, you two?" asked Mamoru, in very short order.

"Not when it comes to our hair, at least, Mophead #2!" shouted Serena.

"Oh, cute, cue the childish insult reel, why don't we?" teased Mamoru.

"You started it!" yelled Usagi.

Mamoru then took a seat on the other side of Keitaro from Darien, and soon ordered a few things from Motoki's red-haired sister Unazuki for himself, before ultimately taking out a few of his own textbooks here. "You're so teasable, Odango Atamas."

"We are not Odango Atamas, Mamoru-baka!" shouted Usagi, getting increasingly upset here, as she began to quickly clench and unclench her fists a few times at the present time, out of increasing frustration here with him in the arcade.

"I see another failed test sticking out of your backpack, Odango Tsukino, so something must have not stuck from your teacher's related lesson or lessons, it seems," said Mamoru, somewhat smugly.

"You're impossible, Chiba!" shouted Usagi, now thoroughly frustrated even more with him here than she had been just seconds before.

"Why thank you, Odango Atama! Nice to know that you both apparently think I'm cool."

"You are not cool, you pompous twit! And neither is your lookalike over there near you, that clueless Mophead who's apparently trying to hide a smirk he now seems to suddenly be developing here, from what I can currently tell well enough somehow at this angle," said Serena, as she and Usagi neared Darien, Keitaro, and Mamoru's respective stools at the counter, in very short order.

Keitaro quietly observed the arguing between the girls and Mamoru, and soon asked, "Does this happen often, Shields-san?"

"Not yet, but it has begun to happen somewhat within the last few days, perhaps, it seems to me. You see the other guy who looks like me?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, those girls have started to interact with both him and me, and we have started to find ourselves meeting more often than we might yet expect. And seeing as we're boys, and they're girls, we don't always see eye to eye on everything, for obvious reasons, of course, Urashima-san."

"Isn't that just the way of things sometimes when people haven't likely known each other for very long, perhaps, Shields-san?" He began to sketch in some more detailed work for the sketch that he was then working on here.

"I suppose so. Why do you ask, if I may ask?"

"Because a few of my tenants and I didn't really get off to good starts with each other when I came to the Hinata Apartments that I now manage with the help of my wife, Shields-san. I was usually accused falsely of any number of things, without being able to tell my side of the related stories, and hit, among other things, by a number of my tenants, in fact, without just cause many times."

Keitaro then looked at Serena and Usagi, and commented, "A number of my tenants used to yell at me quite often, in fact, before we really got to know each other well enough in our lives."

"Ah, I see. Girls jumping on guys without cause often, perhaps?" asked Darien.

"Yes, all my tenants were girls at the time I came there, as a teenager, and at least two of them actually did often think that they had the right to try to kick me out of my family's property that my grandmother made me the manager of, you see, just because they were girls. A number of them even claimed that males shouldn't be present at an all-girls dormitory, which my grandmother had forgotten to tell me she'd turned that property into before I arrived there once I'd received a summons to it. Either that, or she'd chosen not to tell me, I believe, at that."

"Girls like these two, for instance, perhaps?"

"I don't know, but these two are sure yelling a lot, it seems," said Keitaro, as he continued to sketch certain details for a sketch he'd just started here. He continued to sketch for a little while longer, until Motoki came back with several more food and drink items that he'd also earlier ordered when he'd ordered the first items that had already been brought to him. Once all the food and drink items that Keitaro had earlier ordered were brought to him as needed, Keitaro then gathered up all his things, and put them into a cart near the front door of the arcade, along with all the things that he'd earlier ordered from Motoki here.

As he was in the process of doing so, Serena and Usagi said, "Oh, my. That's quite a lot of food and drink items here, it seems."

"You would both know, wouldn't you, Meatball Heads?" asked Darien.

"What's that supposed to mean, Mophead?" said Serena, with a bit of fire still simmering in her eyes from her still-unended argument with Mamoru here

"Your appetites around here are already legendary, it seems," laughed Darien.

"No, they're not, you conceited jerk!" exclaimed Serena. "And what business is it of yours, anyway, if we girls want to eat a lot due to the fact that we're still growing girls in our lives?"

"Bet you don't often have much of your allowances left once you come here and pig out for a while many times, then," said Darien, with a wide grin on his face at the present time.

"So what if we don't, Shields-san? At least we're welcome to come here at any time possible, I'm quite sure. Right, Onii-chan?" asked Usagi.

"That's right, Usagi-chan. That you both are," said Motoki, as he passed by on his way to attend to another two customers at the arcade, both wearing school uniforms from a school called the Infinity Academy, another Tokyo-area school, sitting in the arcade's attached restaurant area.

"See, Furuhata-san likes us, it seems, quite a bit, in fact, Mophead. So, there! Take that, if you're man enough to, somehow!" crowed Serena.

"You couldn't handle a man like me, Meatball Head, I'm quite sure," said Darien, in a semi-serious manner, all of a sudden.

"Oh, yeah? You're not so tough when you get knocked down, are you? Or have you already forgotten about me bonking you like I did earlier when we first met?"

"No, I haven't. How could I forget that, when you threw it so hard like you did at me, Meatball Head?"

Just then, Keitaro heard a cellphone-like device ringing on his belt with an Ode to Joy ringtone, and he soon reached for it, and said, as he was putting the last of the previously-ordered items into his cart, "On my way, Narusegawa. Just leaving the Crown Arcade now, in fact. Should be back within half an hour to an hour, if I'm somehow lucky enough, I think. Tell Shinobu to keep Kaolla settled down by giving her bananas to eat until we get there. I'll have a lot of stuff on my motorcycle, and I'll probably need some help unloading it so that she doesn't raid it before it's all taken care of well enough."

He waited for at least a few more seconds before speaking again, as he exited the arcade long enough to load the necessary items onto his motorcycle as needed, then re-entered it just long enough to return his cart to the proper place near the front of the arcade prior to his departure from it for at least the rest of the night, if not even longer than that.

The four arguers briefly paused in their arguing to watch him leave, for some yet-unknown reason, but not for very long, in fact. Serena was the first of them to speak again, when she said, "I'm not a Meatball Head at anything, Mophead."

"My name is Darien, not Mophead. A fact you seem to have quite conveniently forgotten here, Meatball Head. Do you often forget people's names, by any chance at all?"

"No, of course not, Mophead. I certainly don't forget my own name, of course. I am Serena, not Meatball Head!"

"If your name is Serena, why are you then being anything but serene, then?" questioned Darien, while also sticking his tongue out at her and his thumbs in his ears.

"Because I'm now having to deal with a baboon like you, that's why! Ugh!" shouted Serena, with a very frustrated and very annoyed look on her face at the present time.

"He's not a baboon, just as I'm not one either, Odango Atama #2," piped in Mamoru, in very short order.

"You are both clueless, Mophead #2, it seems to me here and now. You don't know much, if anything, about how girls are, I think!" Serena yelled, as she also shot him a very serious glare that possibly promised retribution in some way if he didn't just shut up here very soon, in fact.

"Well, if that's true, you girls, or should I say babies, don't seem to really know all that much, if anything about how boys are, either, come to think of it," said Mamoru.

"We're not babies, we're girls!" said Usagi.

"Babies, girls, same thing, perhaps, in essence. Both often cry too much, maybe, when they don't need to, even, in their lives," said Mamoru.

"You boys are impossible, quite often, I think, when it comes to dealing with girls. It makes me wonder often why some girls might even want to put up with you guys so often in this world of ours," said Serena.

"Because you need us to do your dirty work, when you're afraid to do it yourselves, perhaps, Odango Atama #2, that's why, I think. Or when you girls can't, because you're often too weak or too small to do it yourselves, perhaps, even."

"Fine, be brats if you both want to, punks. Just you wait, you two, for someday, someone might want to get after you for your male chauvinistic egos, or whatnot, I'm quite sure, most likely." said Usagi, as she also looked at a nearby wall clock, and saw it was now nearly 4:30 pm local time.

Serena called out to Motoki, "Are our usual items ready by now, by any chance, somehow, Furuhata-san? I think Tsukino-san and I are going to want to consume them elsewhere now, seeing as these two brats are now evidently picking on us here, of course."

"Sure thing, ladies. Follow me."

The girls soon followed him to the counter, but stayed as far away from both Mamoru and Darien here as they then could, while Motoki then proceeded to give them their things that they'd normally order whenever they'd come to the arcade for a while at least a few times a week, on average. Once they received those items, they both soon left the arcade behind again as they then saw fit, of course, not wanting to stay any longer at it while the boys they didn't like much were both still there, for that matter.

Those boys watched them both go, and then Darien said, "Do you think we were a little too hard on them just now, Mamoru-san?"

"They need to toughen up, and understand that the real world out there isn't always one of a fairytale-like nature, I think, Darien-san. They still have families of their own that they can go deal with, no doubt, but we no longer do, as you know, seeing as we're both orphans, after all."

"I see. And you think that if we pick on them, they might learn that better?"

"Maybe, but I'm not entirely sure about that just yet, for some yet-unknown reason or reasons in my life, I think, Darien-san."

"I hope you know what you're doing, then, if you're mainly going to try to toughen up Tsukino-san, at least, of course."

"You primarily deal with Moon-san, and I'll do the same with Tsukino-san, and we'll see what happens, in time, I'm quite sure," said Mamoru.

"Fine, Mamoru-san, but I still get this feeling somehow, that there may possibly be a much better way to do so well enough, in time. Although I don't really know just why I'm getting such a feeling periodically in my own life now, by the way. Anyway, I suppose I'd best be going, for I just remembered some things I have to attend to here before it starts getting too dark around here tonight, if memory serves."

"Very well, then. I'll see you again later, then, perhaps, Darien-san?"

"Hope so, of course."

Darien soon left the arcade, and Mamoru left it himself several minutes later, for various reasons related to either or both of them, in fact. Motoki watched them both leave, while also beginning to wipe down several tables in the arcade's restaurant area for a while. As he did so, Sylvia, while sitting at a nearby table to where he was then, with Rolando, soon asked him, "Furuhata-san, how long have you known those four, if I might ask, perhaps?" In front of each of them were mostly-eaten slices of pie, with hers being a banana cream pie slice, and his being a blueberry pie slice, and tall glasses of mostly-consumed chocolate milk.

"I've known the boys for a few years, or at least Chiba-san, personally. I don't yet know all that much about Shields-san, for he's an American, but have known of him for at least a few years through Chiba-san, for they spent a number of years being penpals before Shields-san came to Japan for college, Wakefield-san," said Motoki, while continuing to wipe down a table three tables away from her and Rolando at the present time.

"I see. And?" asked Sylvia, as she then finished the rest of her pie and drained the rest of her milk

"From what I know of either of them, both are often quite serious in their respective lives, for various reasons, not to mention the fact that they both live on their own, for reasons I'm not at liberty to divulge to you at the present time, at least, Wakefield-san."

Rolando then asked, while taking a bite of his still-remaining pie in front of him, "What about the girls? What do you know of either of them?"

"I know more about Tsukino-san than I do about Moon-san, for I've known Tsukino-san now, I believe, for about eight years, if I'm not too mistaken here. As for Moon-san, she and her family have only been here in Japan for about two years, more or less, and she and her family's other members came to Japan from the United States some time ago, Volois-san."

"I see. Okay, thank you for the information, then, Furuhata-san. We both have this very strange and very unexplainable suspicion currently that they will often be seeing each other, and that we will often see each other at times in our lives, for reasons we most likely aren't aware of well enough at present, in truth. We don't know why, just yet, if we ever will, but we both still think both we and they will often be meeting each other in the future, somehow, just the same," said Rolando, as he then finished the rest of his own pie and milk here.

"I don't understand, Volois-san."

"Nor do we, unfortunately, as of the current time. But we both still have this feeling that they all will play key parts in certain yet-unknown future events, somehow, just the same. In the meantime, though, I think that Wakefield-san and I now both need to be off here, for we both need to be at our respective residences again by 6 pm, at the very latest, for sure. Hopefully we'll be able to come back here again at some later point, of course, then."

"Safe journeys, then, you two."

"Thank you, Furuhata-san." Without another word, then, both Sylvia and Rolando quickly gathered up their respective things, in very short order, and left the arcade behind as well, for at least the rest of the current night, even if they might have actually wanted to stay there at least a little bit longer on the current day.

The arcade eventually closed for the night, of course, and Motoki was the last one there when it did so, quite naturally enough. He soon went to his own rooms above the arcade, and stayed in them the rest of the night, seeing as Reika was otherwise occupied during it, for that matter.

The following day, somewhere back in the Negaverse, Jadeite was then with a very large number of monsters, and in the process of finalizing the necessary details for his next attempt to gather energy for the Negaverse. Many of those monsters were small gliding coyote/pig-like quadrupeds, and most of the other monsters currently present were more balloon-like in their natures. The quadrupedal monsters were called Sconds, and the balloon-like ones were called Jilurals.

His scouts had gathered much information for him about the location where he'd be sending a number of monsters to on the following night, and it was a location that was roughly 250 feet by roughly 250 feet in size, more or less. Two buildings were joined in the middle of that area, one of them being an abandoned warehouse, and the other being an old factory, by three huge garage-sized rooms. Overall, the buildings and their connected areas were in the middle of the aforementioned location, and from each corner to their adjacent corners, the distance was exactly 216 feet. The warehouse part of the complex was directly north of the factory part of it and the connecting rooms that joined it to the factory part of it.

Each main building on the complex was 216 feet long and 84 feet wide. The connecting areas that joined them together were each 48 feet by 48 feet in size, and there were two areas between each of them that were 36 feet long and 48 feet wide, so as to perhaps allow movement between each of the connecting areas on foot, for instance, without having to first go through either main area. Or between the two main buildings without using the connecting areas themselves, even.

Inside the complex, there were many things of all kinds laying around, or otherwise present, in various conditions of existence, including many pieces of equipment in various orientations and statuses of being. A great number of them were in serious need of repair or replacement, for instance, even.

But the complex basically hadn't been used for a number of years, after still-recent natural disasters or certain economic factors had driven their previous occupants out of the area in question here to a sufficient enough degree. Hence the several years-long absence of many people from the immediate area of the complex at the present time, at least.

As it was in a somewhat run-down condition, not many businesses or people were currently known to hang around with each other in the immediate area of the complex. So this was just one reason of several why the Negaverse was currently interested in it as a potential location for a Earth-based base of operations in the Tokyo area of Japan. They thought that if they could somehow gain sufficient enough control over it and the immediately surrounding area, they might then be able to strike much easier at humanity in their quests for energy, for instance. But what they didn't know for sure was that at least two other groups in the Tokyo area would not just let them have the location all to themselves somehow without at least some fighting for it from them, if not more than just two other groups, for it was well within reach of many other locations anywhere at all in the Tokyo area of Japan, at least. Or at least they didn't yet know that, if they ever would, anyway.

Jadeite continued to finalize his mission plans while also periodically talking to the many monsters then with him in his rooms somewhere in the Negaverse, and even provided a number of devices to a good number of them for later use when they would invade that area the following night. A number of them asked what they should do if they encountered any resistance of any kind, to which, Jadeite soon said, "If they are human, try to drain their life energy, if at all possible, somehow, at the very least. If animal, try to kill or capture them. Of course, you are authorized to try and defend yourselves against them, if needed and if possible, everyone, as best as you each somehow can."

"And if we youma are somehow actually not able to kill or capture them, supposing they definitely are trying to help out humans fighting against us, then what, General Jadeite?" asked one of the Jilurals.

"Then at least try to put tracers or something on each of them, if at all possible, so that we may then perhaps be able to track them well enough somehow in the future, and hopefully learn more of their habits, et cetera, than they may actually want or expect us to know about them and any humans they may then be with at any possible time or times, of course, Xiatlaajaki," said Jadeite to the Jilural who'd just asked him a question here and now.

Jadeite and his currently-assembled monsters spent most of the current Earth day planning their attack on the following Earth night, with Jadeite periodically teleporting to Earth while doing so to check in every so often to get updated reports on the area in question from his scouts in it. After doing so several times prior to local midnight in the Tokyo area of Japan, he then went to bed, with his hope being he could get at least enough rest for himself before the upcoming battle in the somewhat deserted warehouse/factory complex's immediate area, and had his monsters who also needed to rest before then do the same. While others didn't, for various reasons, at least some of which might or might possibly not be so obvious to any number of sufficiently sentient beings anywhere at all in the known Universe or in the Negaverse.

After Jadeite and a number of his monsters went to bed, Nephlyte decided to do a little prowling around himself on Earth, in hopes of being able to find certain people he could perhaps draft as potential allies or fighters for the Negaverse, due to the orders that Queen Beryl had earlier given him when Jadeite had been arguing with him in her presence.

He soon found himself in Accra, Ghana, after teleporting to Earth intent on starting to seek out potential allies for the Negaverse to periodically use in the future against those who would oppose the Negaverse and its various plans in it. He teleported himself near a store selling clothes in the middle of Accra, and waited in an alley near there until he felt it was safe enough for him to come out, seeing as many were near where he had exited his portal to Accra. He had to wait a few minutes, though, for the area to clear out enough, before he found the back door to the aforementioned store not far from where he was then hiding temporarily. He then slowly opened that door, once he was quite certain that he wasn't being seen or watched or detected by anyone or anything. That back door led to a storeroom of some sort, in very short order. Keeping an eye and an ear out for possible trouble, then, Nephlyte quickly ducked into that storeroom, while also constantly scanning the area for possible surveillance cameras and other electronic devices that might be around anywhere in the store that he was now in. Minutes later, at most, after quickly going through several of the available clothing items by sight, at least, if not also by touch and/or smell, et cetera, he swiped a number of them for his later potential use, before then leaving the storeroom behind just as quickly as he'd earlier entered it. That done, he quickly went back to where he'd just appeared after teleporting to Accra from the Negaverse, before withdrawing deeper into the alley now in question here.

Mere moments later, after a brief period of hiding inside shadows now in the alley, he came out of the less-well-lit areas of it wearing one of the new business casual-style outfits he'd just swiped from the nearby store. It was a medium gray three-piece outfit, but no tie was included, with him wearing a light gray blazer, a button-up-style white shirt, and a pair of matching trousers to the blazer, over a pair of business-style shoes. He had the blazer unbuttoned, and the top two buttons to his shirt were unbuttoned, as well, at present. On his left wrist, there was a normal-looking watch that he'd also swiped minutes before.

Then he went for a walk to a nearby street-level open-air cafe that he'd just overheard talking about as if he belonged in Accra as a businessman of some sort, finding some Ghanaian money on the way there in various places that was apparently lost or abandoned by those who were strangers to him at the present time, if they wouldn't always be. After a while, he arrived there, and ordered himself a bit of lunch, seeing as it was apparently early in the afternoon, local time. He soon asked for information about Accra, claiming that it was the first time that he'd ever been in its area, after only just hearing about it within the last day or so, at most.

Most around him now were skeptical, at least to a degree, about him, but a few gave him the benefit of the doubt at the current time, and told him about various often popular things in the local area. Especially after he said he was into sports like tennis and soccer, for example. One of them even told him where several well-known schools were in it, and he soon thanked them all for whatever information they told him about Accra and its local area. Not long after that, he left the cafe, and began scoping out the local area as he then saw fit, where and when he could, to the best of his ability at the present time.

Some time later, he came to where his first potential ally was just about to leave his school's campus for the rest of the current day. Seeing as the young man was currently dribbling a soccer ball towards the front gates of his school's grounds, Nephlyte soon said, once the dark-skinned young man was in range of his voice, and nobody else's near himself, "I know a place where you can practice all you want for as long as you can, at any possible time, young man, better than anywhere you've been before."

That young man said, "I doubt that, stranger."

"Follow me, and I can show you. Your associates don't think you're the best athlete at your school it seems, from what I was able to overhear of them as you were leaving your school's main building for the rest of the day."

"I'm the best athlete in the whole school, and they know that," challenged the roughly 16½-year-old boy, as he now got a bit fancy with his dribbling of the soccer ball near him.

Nephlyte waved his right hand as if he thought the boy was trying to fool him, while the other was hiding temporarily in a pocket, secretly fingering a device of some sort hidden there, before somehow seeming to project a series of images out of his now-visible hand in a yet-unknown manner that would hopefully trick Cricket into believing him here onto nearby wooden, stone, and/or metallic walls or various projections. Even if those images weren't actually being projected out of Nephlyte's now-visible hand, in truth.

Cricket soon viewed those images, in considerable numbers and for a long enough time, before Nephlyte suddenly moved within a few yards, at most, of him. And it wasn't too much later, then, when Nephlyte suddenly did some rather fancy footwork of his own, and knocked the soccer ball away from Cricket.

Nephlyte then proceeded to draw Cricket away from his school and various other nearby buildings to it by periodically playing keep-away with his ball until they were both quite alone with each other somewhere else in the local area. After they were, Nephlyte then suddenly snapped his fingers, and secretly enclosed Cricket within an invisible dome of some sort, before then kicking the ball back to him much to Cricket's great surprise here. Seconds later, at most, then, it seemed that they were now on a practice field, and among several other people. Although Cricket didn't yet know that they weren't actually people, but Negaverse creations, more often than not, at the present time.

It wasn't long before Nephlyte tricked Cricket into believing that he'd be the captain of a new sports organization consisting of people from all over the world, or at least one of them. In truth, Nephlyte currently had other plans for him in the near future, but Cricket didn't yet know that, if he ever would, in his own life.

Those plans of Nephlyte's would ideally lead to Cricket and others ultimately becoming major nemeses of those on Darien's side of things in Japan and elsewhere. That was only supposing, though, that all, or at least enough, went sufficiently according to plan, of course, for the Negaverse and those in it and attempting to aid and protect it from any and and all possible harm.

In time, Nephlyte had to release Cricket from the area in which they were both now located, so as not to potentially arouse any and all possible suspicion about any number of things that might relate in any possible to Cricket or those around him at any time. But he had now begun to work on Cricket's mind, et cetera, just the same, hoping that Cricket wouldn't try to do anything that Nephlyte and others around him at any possible time, or at least not for a very long will, most likely not want him to do at any such time or times, for sure.

That done, after Cricket left the area in which he had secretly been contained for a while, Nephlyte soon left Accra and its local area behind again, so as to then continue seeking out even more potential allies for the Negaverse to use in the future as best as possible. After Accra, he went to Tel Aviv, having detected another potential ally for the Negaverse, and began the process of recruiting Dawn Gabriel as part of his mission to recruit potential allies. She didn't commit to definitely helping him out, but she still was at least somewhat interested in perhaps causing mischief for any number of other people, whether she knew them yet or not in her life.

After Tel Aviv, Nephlyte then detected a third potential ally in Aberdeen, Scotland. One hour after that, Alexander Soltini had been found and the process of recruiting him to help the Negaverse had begun, courtesy of Nephlyte and a number of secret Negaverse monsters who disguised themselves as humans for the time being, at least.

Finally, before Nephlyte and several of his monsters ultimately called it a night, so to speak, they located a fourth potential ally, on the streets of Los Angeles, during a short lunch break from her school somewhere in downtown Los Angeles, who was quite willing to see what she could do to actually help Nephlyte cause trouble in any number of places, whether in the United States or not. Her name was Alicia Edison, and Nephlyte gladly promised her that she'd have plenty of chances, most likely, to do just that for herself in many places all over the world. Which then pleased her quite considerably. For she really didn't like often being told what to do by many other people in her life, not even her parents or teachers, for instance, at that, if she didn't actually have to be by them, or even if she had to be by them. She happily accepted his then-coming offer to try and train her as a better fighter, at least, if not as anything else as well. Or at least she did so for the time being, anyway. And by logical extension, even though she didn't yet know of Queens Beryl or Metallia, nor of the other Negaverse Generals, or of her potential future teammates, she also accepted that both Queens would still rank over her, at least for now, by allying herself now with Nephlyte.

With the process of recruiting potential allies to the Negaverse's side now begun, Nephlyte finally teleported back to the Negaverse, and retired to his rooms for several hours, not to rise again until at least 10 in the morning of Thursday, September 13, 1990, Tokyo time. Several of his youma remained awake and stood guard nearby as he slept, so as to protect him from those who might be allied with one of the other four Negaverse Generals besides Nephlyte in the Negaverse.

Hours later, after everyone still of school age had gone to and left school for the day, Jadeite and his monsters teleported into the vicinity of the building complex that he and his allies would try to capture for the Negaverse as a potential future base of operations for it. Assuming human appearances where needed, and when needed, prior to the scheduled time of the attack, if they weren't already human in actual nature, they all soon appeared in the area, and waited a while for potential energy sources to show up there in time.

As the day started turning to night, the area around the building complex became considerably more active, even if it wasn't in parts of it immediately surrounding that complex. Sensing that activity was then picking up, several youma soon notified Jadeite, and he said, "Not yet. We need at least 200 or so people within a quarter mile of here who seem suitable enough for our purposes. Especially when our enemies may be trying to find us now, for that matter. Stay in your disguises until I say otherwise."

So the youma stayed in them for a while longer, waiting. As they were waiting, Wanderer was unexpectedly seen flying around the area, and two youma spotted him. They sent word to Jadeite, but he said, "Wait. See if the hedgehog shows up nearby as well, or our known human opponent." So they let Wanderer be, at least for now, and continued to wait, hoping that the hedgehog and/or Earth Knight might eventually show up, as well, in short order.

However, Seeker was elsewhere, but still somewhere near the building complex where none of Jadeite's youma had yet detected him, at the moment. And he was hoping they'd not detect him for a while longer yet, because he didn't want to potentially get caught by them before he could relay what he knew to either Darien or Wanderer, if not both, about anything relevant at the current time.

As for Darien, he was currently driving a truck full of supplies he'd just procured to the building location, as Darien, and not as Earth Knight. The nearby assembled youma let him pass by and enter it, not yet knowing that he was actually himself Earth Knight now. And they waited, after first notifying Jadeite of that human's arrival at the building complex. Darien then proceeded to unload the truck over the next twenty or so minutes, before departing the complex again, but only temporarily. A number of the things he had just unloaded were youma-detectors that a number of Hitomi's unknown associates had begun developing and creating, in fact, for instance. Once he was far enough away to not be detected very easily, if at all, by any likely nearby youma or Jadeite, he secretly summoned both Wanderer and Seeker back to him, and then patiently waited to see what would happen next.

He didn't have to wait more than another forty minutes before Jadeite finally sprung his trap, and took hundreds of people captive in a nearby building, before whisking them all to the building complex that Darien had just left behind not long before. Once Darien and his animal allies realized this, and once it was safe enough for Darien to transform, Darien then became Earth Knight yet again, just before letting Hitomi know Jadeite had just sprung his next trap where it had been expected to be laid.

Earth Knight and his allies began trying to aid those in the warehouse section first, which was north of the factory section of the building complex they were now in. Jilurals that they were first having to face often had many venomous spines, for instance, on themselves, so they were also having to try and avoid them from time to time during the fight they were now fighting. Especially with several of them around all three of them at the same time, at that. They each took some hits from the Jilurals and a certain number of Sconds when trying to avoid various tentacles of the Jilurals that weren't already in the process of trying to drain life energy from a number of human captives of theirs. Ultimately, though, after more than an hour and a half of fighting, which was often quite fierce in its nature, Earth Knight and his two animal allies somehow still managed to clear the warehouse part of the building complex and free those being held there easily enough. Although they were all quite tired from the battle they were still in the midst of here, they still pressed on, even while trying to deal with the still-lasting effects of battling the monsters they'd just disposed of so far.

Wanderer, Seeker, and Earth Knight then moved to the other part of the building complex through the three connecting areas, each of them passing through one of those areas, to it, so that they'd all not be attacked at the same time while passing through them. Wanderer took the west one, Earth Knight the center one, and then Seeker took the east one.

When they got there, most of their youma opponents that were left were Sconds, with the remainder being surviving or still-unfought Jilurals that Jadeite had left to work with here. Not more than a few moments later, though, they were all suddenly attacked by several Sconds, who even began to emit stench-like smells quite often towards them and/or their current captives. Not even a number of launched roses from Earth Knight was able to block out the smells entirely that they were now emitting periodically in the fight.

He often tried to shield himself and his face from those smells with his cape, when and where possible, but was not entirely successful, seeing as those smells were coming from multiple directions at once. So he and his animal allies tried to avoid them as much as possible, while still fighting here. It took quite a while for the three of them to gain major ground in the factory part of the complex, but eventually, when they were somehow able to rescue a number of additional captives and get them out of the immediate fighting area enough, they began to do so. Sconds and what were left of the Jilurals soon began to fall and/or panic to a degree, as Earth Knight and his allies began to whittle into their numbers and rescue more captives. Especially after Hitomi showed up in some sort of disguise, along with several others, and joined the fight. Although Earth Knight didn't know that just yet here, and likely wouldn't for some time.

Eventually, though, all the Sconds and Jilurals had either been destroyed, killed, or forced to withdraw, much to Jadeite's quite considerable displeasure, at least. Not only that, but the corpses of a number of them were unexpectedly still left behind well enough in conditions that might potentially allow Hitomi and others with her to study them and/or do things with them in the future, so as to perhaps be better able to develop defenses against them in it, if they ever showed up again at various fights in it. Jadeite and his surviving youma tried to not leave any of their fellow youma behind for others to find easily enough, if at all, but little did they know that another group of youma had prevented them from doing so. Most specifically, a number of them who were especially loyal to Nephlyte now.

Once Queen Beryl learned that Jadeite had unintentionally left a number of youma behind while escaping to fight another day, she was quite understandably furious with him, and soon chewed him out quite extensively. The youma who told on Jadeite about that sort of thing were secretly in alliance with Nephlyte, for they had all been ordered not to divulge their true allegiance to him around most other known Negaverse-affiliated youma, not even to certain others currently in league and supporting him publicly, or to either Beryl or Metallia, at least for the time being, for various reasons only known to Nephlyte himself now.

As for all those people that the various youma had earlier taken captive, they all eventually regained their stolen life energy, at least to a degree, and returned home to their respective residences, no matter where they were in the Tokyo area. Once they were all seen to as needed and as appropriate, if necessary, and had cleared the area well enough, Earth Knight and his animal allies then powered down, and returned to their non-combat appearances, with Jadeite and many others none the wiser.

Shortly thereafter, Darien encountered Hitomi, also no longer disguised, in the company of a number of her friends, and she secretly passed him a few slips of paper with notes and other information on them that she thought he'd need to know from now on. He took those slips of paper from her silently, and hid them all on his person at first, then in his subspace pocket moments later. Their encounter lasted only a few seconds at most, and then it was over, with her having passed by his position in a very fast manner, at a run, along with those then with her.

He only retrieved the slips of paper from his pocket after he and his two animal companions were safely alone again in his apartment behind locked doors and windows and closed curtains, et cetera. After they'd all read them at considerable length and discussed the contents of them for quite a while, even while having supper with each other, Darien then put those slips of paper back into his subspace pocket, where they would then stay until such time as they would again need to be re-viewed by him and/or others then around him at any time.

Hours later, at most, Darien retired for the night. While Wanderer and Seeker were soon let out to patrol the local area for a while, once it was safe enough for them to be let out of his apartment again through his balcony, even while Darien was still sleeping in his own bed there.

End of Chapter Four

Sorry for the rather long delay in the posting of this chapter, folks. I am planning to get back to posting more content for this story soon, but am still working through a number of other things at the present time. And it may be a while longer still before I don't have to work on them, if I won't actually have to work on them for the rest of my life instead.

So now Nephlyte has begun working on his mission, and he doesn't get along well with Jadeite. It will be interesting to see what might happen if and when Jadeite ever learns that some youma allied with Nephlyte made sure that some of his own youma were left behind after the fight at the building complex, for instance, don't you think, folks? We'll have to see how things continue to develop between Jadeite and Nephlyte, and between the youma under the control of either of them, or between the youma with allegiances to other Generals in the Negaverse, won't we?

Don't expect to often see much of Cricket and Nephlyte's other potential recruits, though, until after Darien gets his first known teammates, people, at the very earliest. There are going to be at least three more fights before Nephlyte starts sending out Cricket and others on missions, and he'll probably not do that until Beryl is tired of Jadeite's failures in battle, I think.

Well, that's perhaps enough for now, at least. I'll return to this story again as soon as I can, Lord willing, people, I expect. Shalom. TUS out.