She was beginning to feel worried. She had come here to take her mind off recent losses. The only thing about this seminar that could be associated with her presence was that it was a test. Like all tests she took, she had passed easily. Now she and the other potential princesses who passed the princess seminar were walking into the drawing room to receive certificates from the Countess. But there was nothing in the room, save for several wax models of teenage girls, no two of them identical. Suddenly, the Countess Rose emerged from seemingly nowhere.

"Look at these waxworks. Aren't they lovely?", enquired the Countess. "They're not waxworks. They're young ladies who managed to pass my class. Just like you." Suddenly, the European woman's eyes glowed red, there was a flash and she was replaced by a blue-skinned woman, with hair and a dress made of oysters. "My name is Polite Society. It's a pleasure to meet you girls." Amy moved to the back through the others who passed. While the monster from the Nega-Verse was spraying the girl's with mucus from her hands, which turned them into more waxworks. She took advantage of this distraction to transform "Mercury Power!" But when she engaged the figure that was the Countess Rose, her attacks proved horribly ineffective. It didn't take long for Sailor Mercury to go down, reduced to just another statue.

It was dead.

Everything at the Cherry Hill Temple was dead. The water in the fountain was contaminated and the ground, which had once been home to trees before the war, was now lifeless and irradiated. The only sign of any life was a tramp sitting in a chair. But he was unimportant to the two soldiers. Baker and Gimmerson had to get back to base before curfew, or they'd suffer a horrible fate. While dashing for cover, Gimmerson nearly tripped on a corpse. It was the shrine maiden, before what had happened to her over a year ago. He screamed.

"I can't believe you" said Baker in her heavy accent. "We've been living through events like this for over two years. Yet you still bawl like a big baby." Her cohort put his hands up defensively.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It's just I've heard strange stories about this place. They say that the old man became one of the monsters patrolling sector 1. And they say that this girl's death is what led to the takeover of Sector 2 by the Sovereign of Silence."

"Honestly", replied Baker. "You'd think people like us would be just your average high school students, disregarding this sort of thing as as silly children's stories. But in today's world, where you could be energy drained, heart snatched, or turned into a Remless drone at any time, its more real than anything else."

As she said this, a nearby Vacuum Cleaner converted itself into something else. The resulting creature resembled a woman, but with blue skin and a bizarre elephant hat. It reached out towards Gimmerson, sucking a crystal from his body. He screamed and collapsed on the floor. With his final breath, he managed to say "I'm sorry, Molly" before he knew no more.

"Melvin" cried Molly in shock. Quickly, she took out her rifle and tried to shoot the monster dead. But since it's body was composed of plastic, the heart snatcher felt nothing. Then the water in the fountain underwent a similar transformation to that of the vacuum a few seconds ago. This monster was amphibious in appearance and wore your average swimming gear; a pair of goggles, a snorkel, a female swimsuit and an inflatable ring. This creature managed to remove Molly's heart crystal, before the tramp decided to attack with a flamethrower.

"Stop that or I'll melt you to mush, you monsters", he said in a dramatic voice. Taking the message, the two monsters departed with their spoils, leaving two new corpses next to the pre-existing one.

The two creatures returned to the lair of their mistress, the Sovereign of Silence. She had been their leader since she betrayed their ultimate master, Pharaoh 90 and taken command of their forces. She had been content to conquer merely part of Tokyo, only attacking victims for sustenance. As the two creatures walked through the fortress that had once served as the mansion of Dr. Tomoe, the field leader for their human servants, the Bureau of Bad Behaviour, they saw two heads mounted on spikes. One was Kaorinite, Tomoe's former former assistant who had abused the Sovereign's human host, Hotaru Tomoe. The other was Tomoe himself, still marked with the symbol of Germatroid, the Pharaoh's other servant. They came to the throne room of Mistress 9, guarded by her two elite heart snatchers, Mikusi, once the Shrines wishing tree, and Cenicienta, once a glass slipper. Seeing the prize the underlings had brought, the two guards granted them access. Inside the room, which was filled with children's toys such as Serpenterra and Megatron(the tank, not the gun). The one thing that stood out (besides the throne at the end of the room) was a grotesque creature. It was misshapen, bearing little resemblance to any living creature, save perhaps for its black eyes and jagged fang-like teeth. Though the Sovereign never called it anything herself, others, such as the members of the Witches 5 division (the last survivors of the human collaborators) had taken to referring to it as "the pet". Ignoring the beast, the two new minions, now calling themselves Dovlin and Osojii, presented their trophies to Mistress 9, who devoured them in mere moments.

"Excellent" said their master. "You shall both be rewarded for your service."

In the Neutral Zone, where neither of the three rulers (Metalia, Mistress 9 or Nehelenia) had any control over citizens, a soldier went running into the OSA.P jewellery store. Once it had been a nice place, famed for infrequent attacks by monsters from the Nega-Verse. Now it was abandoned, used as a base for the small resistance force. The soldier ran upstairs to meet her leader, Anderson in what was once the owner's bedroom.

"What is it, Amara?", enquired Anderson, or as she was known to the majority of the people in the neutral zone, Sailor Mercury (Amy to her friends).

"It's not good Amy" replied Amara, or as the crowd knew her, Sailor Uranus. She was working not just to free the city from the tyrants that threatened to destroy the world at any time, but to find her Michelle, a distant cousin that she considered more than a platonic friend. The two had worked together for years as the sailor scouts for Uranus and Neptune. But since the second apocalypse that had allowed Mistress 9 to gain a foothold, Michelle had vanished in a solo assassination attempt that had obviously failed. She knew she was still alive, due to a feeling deep inside her heart and her soul. Amara continued "Molly and Melvin failed to make it back in time for the curfews to kick in. They were killed by two Heart Snatchers. Our sources have named them Osojii and Dovlin." Amy looked sad. The two had been friends of hers after she had transferred to Crossroad Junior High from Brighton Academy. However, there was no time to mourn them now. The mission... and finding the missing Serena... was top priority.

"Make sure to send a squad out to search for any stragglers", she commanded. "We won't lose any other valuable assets to the cause."

Chiba-Usa awoke in the middle of a street. It resembled the one she had departed the present from, only more ruined. She assumed she must have arrived during the time of ice. Acting upon this assumption, she decided to pay Usagi's house a visit. But when she got there, the place was boarded up and the windows had been smashed. She also realised she hadn't seen anyone since she had come here. At first, the Small Lady assumed that some cataclysm had occurred due to her absence.

Deciding to search for survivors, she prepared to transform into her Sailor Chibi-Moon form. She cried out "Moon Crisis Power, Make Up!" She felt her whole body shaking, being altered all over. Words could not describe the joy that the sensation brought about. Within seconds, the magic trick was complete. The little girl was gone, replaced by a guardian of love and justice. It was at this point that the Small Lady finally saw what appeared to be another human being. She was a policewoman, Chibi-Usa immediately realised (They didn't need law enforcement in Crystal Tokyo). The uniform clearly suggested she was within a few years of the era she had departed from. But she didn't remember any cataclysms within the late 20th/early 21st century.

"You shouldn't be out here little girl" said the policewoman.

Suddenly, the woman began to change into something else. She now had yellow, reptile like skin, a shorter, messier hairstyle and a very revealing black dress. The Small Lady recognised it as a youma, one of the demonic servants of the Dark Kingdom. But she knew that the Dark Kingdom had been destroyed before her arrival. Could this one straggler have escaped and wreaked all this havoc? Before she had time to further think about this question, two people, covered head to toe in combat gear (helmets, goggles, barraclavas etc) swung in. With their weapons, they gunned the creature down in a few seconds. Chibi-Usa turned in shock at her sudden saviours.

"You shouldn't be here, kid", said the one who had fired the shot. Then he noticed something "that uniform."

"Who are you?", enquired the little girl.

"You're coming with us.", stated the soldier.