Usagi's Struggles: Revelations from the Future

by Serena530

Two surprises in one event; one of which forces Usagi's hand, which leads to far reaching changes. Changes no one could have anticipated, and revelations no one could have imagined. Sequel to Usagi's Struggles. Warning: Long chapters inside

7. Training and Preparations

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or her characters, and have no right to it except as a long time fan.

Training and Preparations

Wednesday: Day Ten continued...

Late Afternoon

Usagi and Mamoru appeared in the living room inside his apartment in a flash of gold light; still transformed with their arms around each other. They released their hold on each other and released their transformations before they returned to their seats on the couch.

The pair relaxed for a few minutes in silence before they returned to what they had been doing before the call came for the cardian attack.

Usagi returned to working on her homework. She was still getting the occasional worksheet pack from her teacher, and she had gotten one that day that was due on Friday.

Mamoru for his part went back to examining the communicator watch Usagi had made him. He was considering making some for his Shittenou as well. It was a practical device, and being a watch made it convenient to get to and use in public.

He took in its black color with the gold lining the circular cover, and the gold disc with the blue symbol for Earth inlaid in it and the tiny replica of his white mask.

He shifted it and looked at the silver buckles and the buttons on the side before he pressed the gold button and opened the communicator portion. He looked at the six small buttons with planetary symbols in a circle, and the black space on the inside of the cover.

He liked his watch and decided to fashion his Shittenou's after his but in their specific colors. The watch portion would be fine, and there was plenty of space in his communicator for four more buttons so that wouldn't be a problem.

Mamoru nodded to himself and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he focused on his golden crystal. It pulsed inside him warmly, and he got the sense of a question.

I want to create communicator watches for my Shittenou. He told it, and pictured his own as an example. He felt an understanding pulse inside him before warm power began to flow through him.

He decided to start with Zoisite's since he was the first to be awakened. He once again pictured his communicator in his mind and began to alter the picture, being meticulous and precise in the details he changed and what he added. When he was satisfied he pulled on his power and willed the device into existence.

Usagi looked up from the paragraph she was reading in one of her textbooks as she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye, and saw the air in front of her prince glowing until a small marble sized gold ball of light formed.

It grew slightly larger before it began to stretch and morph and gradually take form. After a long minute or two the glow stopped, and floating there was a watch. Her eyes widened slightly as she understood what he was doing. He was making a communicator watch.

Mamoru opened his eyes and gazed at the watch before he grasped it and began to looked it over to make sure it was exactly how he wanted it.

It was a dark green with silver buckles and gold lining the cover, and on the cover was a gold disc at the top with a blue Earth symbol, a circle with a cross on top, inlaid in it, and a tiny replica of his white mask beneath the disk just below the center of the watch. On the side of the watch were two small buttons; one a light green and the other a dark green.

He pressed the light green button and the cover eased open to reveal the watch face, and on the inside of the cover was a light green shade. He glanced to the clock on the wall and saw that the time in the communicator watch was the same.

Nodding lightly to himself he closed the cover and pressed the dark green button, and the cover again eased open to reveal a circle of ten small buttons.

Six of the buttons had planetary symbols and colors matching the one being contacted; green, red, blue, orange, white, and gold. The remaining four were solid colored buttons without symbols in black, red, gray, and blue.

On the inside of the cover was a black screen lined with dark green that he knew would show the image of the one who contacted the owner of the watch.

Closing the cover he nodded as he lay it across his thigh before he smiled at Usagi, and once again closed his eyes and focused on making the communicators for the rest of his Shittenou.

One after another he designed a communicator for Nephrite, Kunzite, and Jadeite that looked exactly like his except for the color.

When he was done he opened his eyes and arranged the wrist watches so they were resting across his thigh in a row. Then he held his hands over them and began to focus on his power. Gold light lit his hands, and moved to surround his communicator watch, before it shined down on the watches.

As the energy light rained down he concentrated on linking the four communicator watches to his own communicator watch and each other, so they were all connected and would actually work as communicators.

When he finished he released his power and began to examine each watch. He nodded slightly as he saw that each looked exactly as he wanted them to look with all the right buttons and colors.

He then began to test them, pressing the button that represented him on each, and was satisfied when his communicator went off each time showing the colored button of the specific shittenou flashing.

"They look nice." Usagi said.

"Thanks." Mamoru replied. "Can you help me connect them to yours? I'm going to have to find the time to connect them to the girls communicators." He added, and she hummed.

"We might be able to get it done by going through our own communicators. That way we can tap into the girls' without having to physically have their watches." She suggested.

"Okay. Let's give it a try." He said.

Usagi nodded and put her textbook on the coffee table and shifted until she was facing him on the couch. They both called on their power, their hands glowing gold and white respectively, and held them over the watches as they concentrated on exactly what they wanted to accomplish.

Their powers mixed into a single tanned light that not only bathed the four communicator watches but enveloped the ones on their wrists as well. When the powerful light moved away from their own watches they knew it was done and released their power.

Usagi immediately opened the communicator portion of her watch and saw the additional four buttons.

"It worked!" She said happily.

"Try one of the guys buttons." Mamoru said.

Usagi nodded and looked at the solid colored buttons, remembering what color belonged to which guy from the past, and pressed the gray button; idly realizing the select all button had switched from gray to black.

Immediately the dark gray watch began to go off and Mamoru opened it and pressed the white button with the gold crescent moon on it to answer, and then pressed it again to close the connection.

"The select all button has changed to black." She pointed out, and he checked his communicator and saw that she was right.

"I suppose that makes sense; that way there wouldn't be two gray buttons." Mamoru said.

Usagi nodded and then a thought occurred to her, and she pulled out the Mars communicator watch from her subspace pocket. She opened the communicator portion of the watch, and nodded as she saw the four additional buttons, and that the select all button was black as well.

She showed him and he nodded and pressed the solid blue button and listened as the dark blue watch began to go off. He opened it and pressed the flashing Mars button to stop it then pressed it again to close the connection.

"What do you plan on doing now?" She asked as she put the Mars communicator watch away.

"I want to make the guys transformation items." Mamoru said as he looked to her. "I only need a rose to transform, and probably don't need that if I focus, but I want them to have one after the whole ordeal with Rei. If something like that happened, where they willingly betrayed me, I want the ability to remove their power from them entirely."

"Smart idea." Usagi said as she nodded in complete understanding, and he smiled.

"I have no idea what the items will look like or be, so I'm going to focus on that." He added as he put the communicators away in his subspace pocket.

"Good luck." She said. "I'm right here if you get stuck and want to brainstorm."

"Thanks." He said and watched as she shifted around and grabbed her textbook and went back to reading.

Mamoru held in a sigh and closed his eyes as he relaxed into the couch cushions, and tried to think of what he wanted the guys transformation items to be.

As he told Usagi he used his rose, and the girls used a pen, and his princess used a brooch. He couldn't see the guys using flowers, and pens didn't seem like the right fit.

So brooches. He considered thoughtfully. His mind immediately pictured something feminine, but he knew brooches came in all kinds looks and forms.

He opened his eyes and glanced over to Usagi's large round brooch, and immediately decided that was too much. Only she could pull that off, and he wanted something smaller and subtle for the guys.

He considered each of the guys, and what they would be doing. They would be guarding and protecting him, the Earth's prince, and fighting in the process.

Maybe something to do with the Earth symbol. He thought, and then he considered how their names reminded him of the minerals found in the Earth. He knew there were gemstones made of those, so maybe that was what he would use.

Gemstones of their namesake and the Earth symbol combined somehow. He told himself.

He was going to have to get the gemstones, and he had no plans of buying them. Those would already be polished and refined by human hands. He wanted untouched unaltered materials directly from the Earth.

He was going to have to figure out how to get them and where since the minerals were all over the planet. Not to mention he was going to have to be careful when going to get them, so he didn't appear in the midst of people.

Mamoru closed his eyes and focused on his crystal. As he felt his crystal pulse warmly and the power begin to flow through him he concentrated on what he wanted and needed.

Almost immediately his crystal was giving him directions, and there was no doubt he would follow because he trusted it. It was a powerful object and had been around, on the Earth, for far longer than he could probably imagine. He fully accepted that it knew things he couldn't possibly know.

"I'll be back love." He said as he opened his eyes and stood up. Usagi looked up, and saw his eyes were a bright gold.

"Okay. Be careful." She said.

"I will." Mamoru said before he focused on his destination and willed himself there.

When the light cleared from around him he found himself standing in a forest with tall thick trees. He didn't know exactly where he was and didn't care, as long as he could get what he needed.

Following his crystal's silent instructions he began to walk, carefully stepping through and over bushes and fallen trees, until he reached what he thought was the side of a mountain. He knelt down on the ground and placed his hands on the grass and dirt and closed his eyes as he focused on the materials he needed.

The words kunzite, nephrite, jadeite, and zoisite flowed through his mind over and over again as his power began to sink into the ground and travel further. Beneath the ground tendrils of gold energy snaked through the dirt, rocks, and roots as it flowed and burrowed deeper and deeper on its search for what it was imbued to find.

Further and further it went burrowing and creeping deeper and deeper into the Earth until it came upon one nice sized gemstone. The energy wrapped itself around it, encasing it in a golden capsule, before it continued its search. As it moved it split itself again and began to snake off into different directions.

Mamoru breathed slowly and calmly as he felt his power moving through the Earth. He sensed when the first stone was found and was pleased with what he saw since he could see it as well.

Long minutes passed as his power searched, and as it reached the half an hour mark the other three gemstones had been found. Focusing intensely he carefully eased them through the Earth and upward to the surface; something that took a further ten minutes.

Once he had examined all four gemstones he put them in his subspace pocket and focused on returning to his apartment. He pictured the space and willed himself there, disappearing from the lush forest and reappearing in his living room in front of the TV and coffee table in a golden flash.

"Welcome back." Usagi said as she looked up.

"Thanks." He said as he moved around the table and joined her on the couch.

"That took quite a while." She commented.

"It took some time to get the materials I needed." He said.

"Well now I'm curious." She replied.

Mamoru smiled and gestured with his hand, and a rough green and red mixed gemstone appeared. He handed it to Usagi, who looked at it with wide eyes, and then gestured with his hand again for the next one. A rough purple gemstone appeared and he placed it in his lap.

Twice more he did this until a black gemstone with speckles of gold, and a gemstone of forest green joined the one in his lap.

"These are what you're going to use to make the transformation items?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Yes. I wanted to work with raw material instead of store bought." He said, and she nodded and placed the rough gemstone in his lap.

"I can't wait to see what you come up with." She said.

"You'll of course be the first to see them." He promised.

Usagi smiled and went back to her homework; leaving him to his work.

Mamoru looked back to the gemstones and took in a slow deep breath and let it out just as slowly. Each gem was a different size, but there was more than enough material for him to work with.

He focused on his crystal and called on his power as he picked up one of the rough stones. He closed his eyes and pictured exactly what he wanted from the size to the shape to the texture.

Immediately he felt his power working, and as it did he willed the extra material into his subspace pocket to deal with later. He just didn't want the messy debris in his lap and distracting him.

A few minutes passed and when the light cleared he was left with a smooth circle gemstone that was slightly bigger than the face of his communicator watch and took up half of his palm. It was flat on one side and slightly rounded on the other.

Satisfied with the way it came out he placed the flat side of it on his thigh, and picked up the next rough gemstone and began to repeat the process. Focusing on the size, shape, and texture the powerful energy of his crystal cut, carved, and molded the rough stone into what he wanted.

Twice more he did this until all four gemstones were lining his thigh and looking exactly as he had wanted them. He then picked up one and once again called on the power of his crystal, and closed his eyes as he focused and pictured what he wanted.

The golden light flared from his palms and surrounded the gemstone and brightened until it was blocked from view. Almost a minute passed before the light faded, and he opened his eyes and nodded at what had been produced.

The gem was now inlaid inside the circle of a gold Earth symbol, the cross on top just as gold, and on the gem itself inside the circle was a replica of the gold Earth symbol; a circle with a cross on top.

He turned it over and narrowed his eyes and watched as his hands glowed again and surrounded what was obviously a brooch, and when it cleared there was a strong gold pin attached to the back.

Nodding slightly he placed the brooch pin down and began to repeat the process with the other three smooth gemstones.

When he finished he took a steadying breath and held his hands over the four brooch pins, and called on his crystal as he focused on bringing out the natural powers of the gems and the powers they had gained from being in the Earth.

Golden light surrounded his hands and shined down on the brooches for long minutes until he got the sense that what he wanted had been accomplished. He then concentrated on connecting the items to him, so that he could retrieve them if he needed to since the guys were going to be his guardians and answer to him if they did wrong.

He was serious when he mentioned to Usagi that he wanted to have the ability to do what she had done with Rei. The brooches would be able to house the power that had been in their DNA, so he wouldn't have to deal with holding it and keeping it separate from his own power.

That had barely taken any time to do, and now that it was done he focused his concentration and will into making the items able to unlock the power in their DNA; something that hadn't been accessed while they had been with the Negaverse.

A few more long minutes passed before his power receded back inside him and he moved his hands away and saw that the brooch pins were glowing the color of the gem.

"I'm all done." Mamoru said with a sigh.

Usagi finished what she was writing and looked over, and gasped at the sight of the glowing items. She reached over and grabbed the glowing purple one seeing the gold Earth symbol on it and that it was an Earth symbol in and of itself. She turned it over and saw the pin and nodded.

"I kind of wish my brooch came with a pin, but it's probably too heavy for that." She said.

"True." He agreed as he nodded.

"I like them. I wish I could be there to see the guys when they first get them." She said.

"I'll watch carefully and show you the memory another time." Mamoru promised.

"Thanks." Usagi said with a smile before she put the brooch pin back on his leg. "What now?" She asked curiously as she watched him pick up the brooch pins and stored them away in his subspace pocket.

"I'll get some studying done, but first are you hungry because I feel like a snack." He said, and she nodded.

"I'm all for food since I haven't eaten since lunch." She said, and he nodded in return before he got up.

"I can't have my princess starving right in front of me." Mamoru said before he headed to the kitchen.

Mamoru & Zoisite's POV

Evening

Mamoru sat in his car outside the library where Zoisite worked waiting for him to get off, so he could go to his apartment with him and hopefully be there before Kunzite and Jadeite arrived.

Hopefully within half an hour Jadeite will remember who he is, and I'll have another of my Shittenou on board. He thought. Both Kunzite and Zoisite seemed confident that Jadeite and Nephrite would agree to once again be his guardians, but he couldn't believe it until it actually happened.

He was positive about one thing though. Both Zoisite and Kunzite would be getting their communicator watches and brooch pins this evening. He couldn't wait to see how they looked in their uniforms for the first time in this lifetime.

When will they get the chance to train? He wondered with a heavy sigh. They both had jobs. It was one thing to skip out on school, but skipping out on work was a whole different matter.

Clearly Kunzite and Zoisite got off work around the same time, and at least for Zoisite he must start work in the morning when the library opened. So they would have the time after they got off work and whatever off days they had in order to train.

Mamoru supposed in this instance he was lucky. If he had a job he would have a hard time keeping it with training and going off to fight with the girls.

And I definitely would have lost it back in the first months of being Tuxedo Kamen when I didn't know I was the mask man and was loosing time. He thought before he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

He looked over and watched Zoisite come out the door to the library, and head toward the car and open the passenger door.

"Good evening your highness." Zoisite said as he slipped inside.

"Good evening." He said as he watched him close the door. "How was work?" He asked as he started the engine.

"It was good. Nothing unusual happened." Zoisite answered. "Are you excited to see Jadeite?" He asked as they began to drive away.

"I am, but I'm more anxious to find out if he'll agree to be my guardian again." Mamoru said.

"He will. There's nothing to worry about." Zoisite said.

"I can't help it." He said with a sigh, and Zoisite just nodded.

"Do you know how you're going to handle Jadeite?" He asked.

"I think the same approach I used with Kunzite is a good way to go." Mamoru said.

Zoisite nodded thoughtfully in agreement. It was a direct and simple approach, and should get Jadeite to remember fairly quickly.

Hopefully it will happen so quickly that we can proceed with getting Nephrite to remember right after instead of waiting until tomorrow. He thought.

They drove along in silence for the few minutes it took to reach the apartment building before Mamoru parked in a space in front of the building. They got out of the car and Mamoru made sure the doors were locked before they entered the building, and made their way up to the third floor and to the door labeled 3B where Zoisite and Kunzite lived.

Zoisite pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, and they entered the dark apartment before Zoisite turned on the lights.

"Obviously we beat Kunzite and Jadeite here." He said as he closed the door.

"That's okay. It's actually what I was hoping for. This way we can make ourselves comfortable and relax a bit, and I can at least prepared myself." Mamoru said.

"Right." Zoisite said as he nodded; knowing his prince was worried about whether or not Jadeite would accept being his guardian again once he remembered. Only seeing and hearing it would convince his prince.

Mamoru went and made himself comfortable in the living room sitting in the same side chair he had sat in before, so he was once again out of view of the door.

"Do you want anything to drink or snack on?" Zoisite asked as he pulled off his jacket.

"No thank you." Mamoru answered as he shook his head. "I ate before I came to pick you up."

"Okay." He said as he went to put his jacket away before going to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of juice and planted himself on the couch before turning on the TV.

Mamoru idly watched as Zoisite surfed the channels as he sipped on his juice, but then he stopped and sat up in surprise. The channel was showing the news, and was clearly replaying the footage of their fight earlier with a cardian.

"Is this from today?" Zoisite asked.

"Yes. From late this afternoon." Mamoru answered.

This was the first time Zoisite had seen them in action since his time as a dark general. They had gotten better despite being down a senshi, especially Princess Serenity.

Usagi. He reminded himself. I have to get used to thinking her present name, and not just saying it. He thought before turning his attention to following Sailor Mercury's figure.

And what a nice figure it is. He thought quietly as he watched her running, dodging, and attacking the clown looking cardian.

Zoisite forced his eyes away from Mercury and toward the cardian; the enemy his prince and the Senshi were dealing with. Well, part of the enemy. The Cardians were like the youma he had sent out as a dark general. They were doing the same thing as well, gathering energy for their master.

Or masters in this case. He thought since he recalled his prince mentioning two beings making an appearance a few times, but not sticking around to fight.

Watching the fight and thinking about this strange enemy made him anxious to start training and see what he could do. He hadn't fought since his life as a dark general, which had apparently been a little more than a year ago.

And even then I was working with a different set of abilities than I did in the past. He thought. He remembered how to fight, remembered how to do the things he did in the past, but he needed to see if he could actually do those things in the here and now.

Before he could continue the thought he heard keys in the door and then the door opening. He quickly picked up the remote and turned the TV off, and looked to his prince.

"Here goes." Mamoru said before he took a deep breath.

They looked toward the area where the door was, and watched as Kunzite appeared and nodded to them and then Jadeite appeared behind him.

"Hey Akira!" Jadeite said cheerfully as he waved, but stopped as he caught sight of Mamoru. "Who's your friend?" He asked as he gazed at Mamoru curiously.

---

"Hey Tadaaki." Zoisite said, and then gestured to his prince. "This is Mamoru. Mamoru this is Tadaaki." He added as he looked to his prince.

"Pleased to meet you." Mamoru said calmly.

"Same here." Tadaaki replied before he sat down on the couch next to Akira.

Kunzite, meanwhile, went and leaned against the wall next to the TV, and looked to his prince wondering how he was going to get started with awakening Jadeite.

Mamoru, seeing both Kunzite and Zoisite looking at him expectantly and Jadeite curiously, decided to get things started right away.

"I've already spoken to both Kiyoshi and Akira, and they agreed that this was the best place to have this discussion with you." He said as he looked at Jadeite.

Tadaaki nodded even as he looked to Akira and Kiyoshi in slight confusion. Why did this guy want to have a discussion with him? When did they even meet this guy? Kiyoshi hadn't said anything about any of this when they were on their way here. He thought he was just stopping by to visit with them before heading up to his apartment.

"Do you know about the strange creatures attacking the in city, and the fighters who deal with them?" Mamoru asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah. Those sailor girls and that masked guy. They were the ones that took care of that creature that attacked Akira." Tadaaki said before he looked to his friend. "Right?"

"Yes." Zoisite said seriously as he nodded.

"They are the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, and I am actually Tuxedo Kamen." Mamoru said, and Tadaaki blinked.

"Yeah right!" He said as he laughed.

"He's serious." Zoisite said.

"There's no way that masked guy is sitting here with us." Tadaaki said incredulously.

"It's true." Kunzite said. "Mamoru already told me and Akira the same thing, which means he proved it to us."

Tadaaki frowned and looked back to Mamoru. Kiyoshi and Akira both thought this guy was Tuxedo Kamen, and claimed he had proved it to them. Maybe he needed to see the proof as well.

"I want to see it. I want proof you are who you claim to be." He said.

Mamoru nodded and Akira got up and closed the curtains. As soon as they were closed Mamoru stood up and began to glow with a bright light red light. It grew brighter and covered his entire body, and when it cleared he stood as Tuxedo Kamen.

Tadaaki blinked in wide eyed shock and his jaw dropped as he took in the black tuxedo, long cape, and top hat. This Mamoru guy really was Tuxedo Kamen. The proof was standing tall right in front of him like it was the most natural thing in the world.

But why was he being told? Wasn't this supposed to be a secret? And why did Akira and Kiyoshi know? Why were they told?

"Why am I being told?" He asked with a frown. "Why do Akira and Kiyoshi know?"

"I told them and I'm telling you because me and the Senshi were reincarnated." Mamoru said as he sat back down, took his hat off, and put it in his subspace pocket. "In our past I knew all three of you." He added as he gestured slightly to the three guys.

Tadaaki's eyes widened. Reincarnation, past lives, and being Tuxedo Kamen. This was all so much, and though surprising he didn't understand why he was being told. What did it matter if they had known each other in some past life?

He looked to his friends and saw them both watching him with serious expressions. They clearly believed this too, so Mamoru had likely proved it to them which meant it was likely true.

"I don't know if I believe that, but what does it matter if we knew each other in a past life?" He asked.

"It matters because I want you to remember that life, so we can once again know each other." Mamoru said.

Tadaaki blinked in surprise but frowned a moment later. He wanted him to remember just so they could, what, be friends? Why?

"You remember?" He asked as he looked to Akira and Kiyoshi, and watched them both nod.

"Not only do we remember that life we also remember our present life; who we were before waking up in the hospital and what happened to put us there." Kiyoshi said seriously.

Tadaaki gasped and his eyes widened. They remembered who they were? They knew what happened before waking up in the hospital?

"Seriously? You remember?!" He said.

"Every detail." Zoisite said firmly. "My name really is Akira, and my past name was Zoisite."

"My name's truly Kiyoshi, and my past name was Kunzite. We remember that life so clearly and firmly that we consider our past names our present names as well." Kunzite said seriously. "In fact, now that we remember it simply feels like a continuation of our past life."

Tadaaki was amazed.

"I assume you know your past name as well." He said as he looked to Mamoru, and watched him nod.

"My name was Endymion and I answer to it just as I do my present birth name." Mamoru said.

Tadaaki nodded slowly. That was very amazing and tempting. He didn't have any particular interest in his past life, but he wanted to know who he was and what had caused him to end up in the hospital with nothing but the basics to function in his memory bank.

"Did we know each other before we ended up in the hospital?" He asked thoughtfully.

"We did." Kunzite said. "The three of us...worked together you could say, and with Mamoru you knew of him but your interactions were minimal."

"We knew of Tuxedo Kamen and the Sailor Senshi as well; we were unfortunately fighting against them." Zoisite added.

"Then why...?" Tadaaki said in stunned surprise as his eyes widened.

"Because we weren't on opposing sides in the past." Kunzite answered before he could finish his question. "Our lives, our very minds, were changed without our permission; not just in the past but in the present as well."

Tadaaki understood, but there wasn't enough information being given to tell him exactly what he wanted to know in each of those events and occupancies. That made him want to know more, and more importantly to understand.

"I want to know." He said as he looked to Mamoru. "I want to know who I am and how you knew all of us, and I especially want to understand."

"Very well. In that case I will use my powers to help you remember all of it." Mamoru said.

As soon as he finished speaking he summoned his crystal and watched as it appeared above his gloved hands. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he focused on what he wanted, confident that his crystal would make it happen.

I want Jadeite to remember who he is, all of who he is; from being a guardian shittenou, to his present life, to his time as a dark general. He told his crystal.

Tadaaki blinked in surprise as a golden crystal, lightly glowing, appeared and hovered above Mamoru's hands. He looked to Kiyoshi and Akira and they nodded calmly.

"He did the same thing with us. Don't worry." Kiyoshi said calmly.

"Yeah. Just relax. It won't hurt at all; it's warm, comforting, and quick." Akira said.

Tadaaki nodded and looked back to Mamoru and watched as the glowing crystal pulsed and brightened. He squinted as the bright light flared and seemed to head directly for him. Instead of panicking he trusted his friends and closed his eyes and forced himself to relax.

Warmth suddenly surrounded him, and it was such a comforting sensation that he couldn't help relaxing completely. It seemed to circle and swirl around him before sinking into his skin like water being absorbed by a sponge.

Then the warmth began to move through his body, which was an odd yet not uncomfortable sensation. It flowed around his middle before moving down and along his legs to his feet before flowing back upward along his chest before spreading to his arms and down into his fingers even as it flowed up his neck and into his head.

It was clear to him that the warmth was searching and Tadaaki monitored its progress by the feel of the relaxing sensation. The warmth was relaxing him more and more, and just as his mind was about to start contemplating the merits of a nap information began to make itself known.

It was a subtle trickle at first, like a dripping faucet, before it gradually became a flood.

Strange sounds, unfamiliar words, old sounding names, numerous thoughts, and feelings rushed into his mind like a blast of wind. That was shocking enough, but more soon followed to add to the mix.

Images of places, locations, people, faces, and creatures blew around like a tornado. Flashing around, not remaining stationary long enough to completely register what he was seeing, before flying here and there.

It was chaotic and confusing and frustrating, but before he could react to any of those emotions the warmth flared, keeping him calm, and it all began to settle and make sense.

He frowned lightly as he looked at the images and listened to the names and phrases, and just like that the frown slipped from his face to be replaced by realization as it all truly began to make sense.

Not just make sense, but became memories. Became facts. Became real!

He was Tadaaki, was actually named that by his parents, but he was much more than that. He was Jadeite, nobleman and warrior, guardian shittenou to the heir to the throne of the Earth, Prince Endymion.

He could feel his face shift into horror as he raised his hands to the sides of his head as the realizations continued to make themselves known.

He had betrayed his prince in the past and helped bring war to the Moon Kingdom. He had been brainwashed to see the people of the Moon as his enemy, but it didn't matter. He had still betrayed his prince.

And then he had been found and brainwashed again in his next life; betraying his prince yet again! Even before meeting him! He had fought against him and the Guardian Senshi, and...

Jadeite's thought cut off with a horrified gasp as he realized Sailor Moon was not in the past, wasn't there because she had been Princess Serenity! He had been fighting against the woman his prince loved. Had been trying to kill her.

He opened his eyes and looked around as he lowered his hands from his head. Kiyoshi and Akira, his friends, were Kunzite and Zoisite. Mamoru, Tuxedo Kamen, was Endymion; his prince.

Kunzite was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and small smile, Zoisite was looking at him with a smirk, and Endymion was looking at him calmly but with excited eyes.

Jadeite closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame.

"I am so sorry for betraying you. Sorry isn't even enough for what I did." He told his prince. "Sorry I was weak to allow myself to be brainwashed and turned against you, and sorry for my part in the events that lead to the destruction of the Silver Millennium."

"There is just so much I'm sorry for that I can't begin to list them all." He said as he opened his eyes and looked to his prince.

Mamoru nodded, seeing that Jadeite obviously remembered everything.

"How about you make it up to me by being one of my guardians again. What do you say?" He asked.

"Seriously?" Jadeite said with a gasp as his eyes widened. "You would trust me again after what I did?"

"Seriously." Mamoru confirmed. "I want you back as one of my guardians. Trust and friendship can be built, but I'm sure the right guardians are hard to find; especially in this modern time that knows nothing of the far past."

"Then yes." Jadeite said as he nodded. "I would like to serve you again if you really want to accept me."

"Things are different now; even from when you were with the Negaverse." Mamoru said as he put his crystal away.

"I don't care. I'll learn, accept, and adjust accordingly. I was proud to be a shittenou and I will be so again regardless of what's different." Jadeite said.

"Then I happily accept you. Welcome back." Mamoru said.

"Good choice Jadeite." Kunzite said with a firm nod.

"Welcome back Jadeite." Zoisite said as he reached over and grasped his shoulder.

"Thanks." Jadeite said as he grinned. "Since Nephrite isn't here I assume he hasn't been told yet."

"You assume correctly." Kunzite said. "I was only told yesterday."

"I was only told the day before yesterday." Zoisite added, and Jadeite nodded.

"When will he be told?" He asked.

"I haven't decided yet; we were focused on getting you to remember first." Mamoru said.

"Nephrite should be told this evening since he's the only one left and there's time." Jadeite suggested after looking at his watch. "He should be home by now."

"I have no problem with that." Mamoru agreed. He certainly liked the chance to get his guardians complete before the day was done.

"Let's do it." Kunzite said. "Jadeite and Nephrite can hear the explanations together."

"Alright." Mamoru said, and released his transformation as he stood up.

Jadeite's on board. He said clearly through his bond with his princess as he followed Kunzite to the front door. We're currently headed to speak to Nephrite.

Oh wow. Usagi said. Congrats on getting Jadeite with you, and wow on wanting to get Nephrite in the same day.

It was Jadeite's suggestion. He replied as they left the apartment and walked down the hallway. I haven't even given him an overview of everything that's happened. I'm going to do that after Nephrite remembers who he is.

They're both going to get the explanations at the same time. She said.

Yes. He confirmed. I'm pretty confident that Nephrite will choose to once again be one of my guardians, so I'll try to figure out where his mind is when it comes to Naru and Makoto.

Thanks. Usagi said. Can you let me know when the subject comes up, so I can tune in and listen? That way you won't have to explain it to me later.

No problem love. Mamoru replied as they reached the fourth floor of the building.

The four young men walked down the hallway until they reached the door labeled 4A. Jadeite pulled out his keys and unlocked the door.

"Ready?" He said as he looked to the guys.

They all nodded firmly, and he opened the door wide as he stepped inside.

Shusuke's POV

Shusuke sat down on the couch in his living room and crossed one leg to rest over the other as he held a very warm bowl of food.

He had gotten off work earlier than expected, but he had expected Tadaaki back by now. He was either running late or he was down in Kiyoshi and Akira's apartment since he and Kiyoshi worked in the same place.

So since he was alone for the time being he clicked on the TV and began to eat as he watched a nature program about lions in the wild. He liked watching nature shows. He especially liked learning about the habits and instinctive behavior of lions and wolves.

They lived and functioned in prides and packs and he liked the idea of that. Family living altogether, blood or chosen, and helping and taking care of each other. Alphas and alpha pairs making sure everyone was safe, cared for, and well guided.

Shusuke supposed if he had to pick an alpha out of his friends he would say Kiyoshi had stepped into that role and without even trying. It was just the way his personality was.

He believed he himself had the ability to step into the role if he had to, but it wasn't his personality to be in charge or responsible for others.

Before he could continue with his train of thought he heard keys in the door and then the sound of it opening which let him know Tadaaki was home. He took a bite of his food and shifted his eyes away from the TV and toward the direction of the door.

---

Jadeite stepped further into the apartment he shared with Nephrite and saw his friend and roommate sitting on the couch. He had obviously changed from his work clothes because he was now wearing black sweat pants, a deep red tank top, and white socks with some of his hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Look who's here to visit." He announced as he walked further into the apartment.

"Hey." Zoisite said as he waved and walked behind Jadeite.

"We brought a guest to meet you." Kunzite said as he followed Zoisite and moved further in.

Mamoru made sure the door was secured closed behind him before he walked forward and set eyes on Nephrite for the first time outside his earth vision. He was looking at him curiously as he chewed on whatever he was eating.

"Shusuke this is Mamoru." Kunzite said, and then he gestured to his unaware fellow shittenou. "Mamoru this is Shusuke."

Shusuke waved since his mouth was still full.

"Pleased to meet you." Mamoru said as he bowed his head slightly.

"Here Mamoru." Jadeite said as he patted the back of a side chair.

"Thank you." Mamoru said as he stepped toward it, and sat calmly in the comfortable chair that faced with its back to the kitchen and apartment door.

Shusuke blinked as he watched and the first word to come to mind was alpha. This new guy was quiet, calm, and had this air about him. He was just sitting in an arm chair, but he made it look like something more without even trying. It was the strangest thing.

He blinked again and turned his attention to his friends and carefully watched their movements. Kiyoshi seemed to have decided to stand at the side of the chair the guy was sitting in, Akira was sitting on the far arm of the couch near them, and Tadaaki was passing by Akira before he joined him on the couch.

He glanced behind him since that was where Tadaaki had come from, and saw that he had closed the curtains.

Hmm... what's that about? He thought as he swallowed his food.

"I believe we should get started right away." Mamoru said as he looked around at everyone. "We have a lot to discuss and time is passing us by. I'm sure you all have work of some sort tomorrow, and I myself have school. Beyond that there is always the unexpected to deal with."

Kunzite, Jadeite, and Zoisite nodded seriously, and Shusuke frowned slightly as he put his bowl of food down on the little stand next to him at the end of the couch. What was he talking about? What was there to discuss with a guy he didn't know, and why were the others being so serious?

"Are you aware of the strange creatures attacking people in the city, and the ones who fight against them; the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen?" Mamoru asked, diving into the topic confidently.

Shusuke nodded. Of course he knew about them. He'd never forget what it was like to get that call when Akira was attacked and once again ended up in the hospital. And he'd heard about those fighters on the news occasionally that were supposed to deal with the creatures.

Although, he had wondered why they had to deal with them and not the police or military. Who appointed them as the designated fighters of those creatures?

"I am one of those fighters; I am Tuxedo Kamen." Mamoru said seriously.

"What?" Shusuke said in surprise. "You can't be serious." He added. He looked to the others and saw that they weren't surprised or shocked. They looked calm and serious.

"I'm very serious, and I'll prove it to you." Mamoru replied firmly before he stood up.

In the next moment he began to glow with a bright light red light. It grew brighter and concealed his entire body, and when it cleared he stood as Tuxedo Kamen.

Shusuke blinked in surprise as he stared at the now masked man in his living room. He looked just like he had seen briefly on the news. Full black tuxedo, long cape, white mask and gloves, and a top hat.

"Alright; you're Tuxedo Kamen." He said as he stared. There is no denying it. Then he looked to his friends. "You all knew?" He asked since they had no reaction to the guy's dramatic change.

All three guys nodded as Mamoru sat back down and removed his hat.

"He told us all and proved it just like he did with him." Kunzite said.

"Why?" Shusuke asked, frowning slightly as he looked back to Mamoru. "Why are you telling me? Why did you tell all of us? Isn't your identity something you should keep secret?"

"It is something that should be kept a secret, but I don't want to keep it a secret from you or any of the guys." Mamoru said. "As for why I'm telling you, the short of it is that me and the Sailor Senshi were reincarnated from a past long before what history currently tells us. A past where there was life on every planet of the solar system."

"In that past I knew you, all four of you guys, and I want to know you again." He said.

Shusuke blinked his eyes in surprise. This Mamoru guy who was Tuxedo Kamen was talking reincarnation, and having known them in some far off past. It was crazy and incredibly hard to believe, but his friends didn't look shocked or disbelieving.

"What does it matter if you knew us in this supposedly far off past?" He asked incredulously. "Why do you want to know us again?"

"Because we were good friends, and you all were important to me." Mamoru answered "I want us all to have that relationship again, but only if you chose it. And you can't choose if you don't know, don't remember."

"I want to help you remember that life." He said seriously.

Shusuke once again blinked in surprise. Remember? Remember! How was he suppose to help him remember this past life?

He looked to the others and they still looked just as calm as before, but they were nodding at him.

"He did the same for all three of us and we all remember the past he's referring to. So clearly that it's almost as if no time has passed between then and now." Zoisite informed him.

"And we remember more than that. We also remember our life before waking up in the hospital, and why we were there in the first place." Jadeite said seriously.

"Really?! You really remember?" Shusuke said in stunned surprise.

The past was the past to him, although he would admit to being curious about there being life on other planets, but remembering his life and identity before waking up in the hospital was very appealing.

"We remember everything, and we want you to remember too." Kunzite said seriously. "There is no longer any confusion about who and what we are or where we came from or how old we are. The knowledge is all here now."

Shusuke looked away from Kiyoshi and to Akira and Tadaaki, and saw them nodding seriously. Then he switched his eyes to Mamoru who had been sitting quietly and calmly.

"I know what it's like personally to not know who I am." Mamoru said in a calm serious tone. "The confusion and insecurity that goes along with it. I want to clear that up for you, because knowing really is freeing and will make you feel secure."

Shusuke nodded slowly. They were all so serious and sure, and he could admit that he was now curious. Beyond that he really wanted to remember who he was, and life before waking up in the hospital.

"How will you help me remember?" He asked Mamoru.

"I have a power, something I had in the past, that I will use to search out your memories and bring them to the surface." He answered readily.

"Okay." Shusuke said as he nodded. "My friends said they've been through it and now remember, and I trust them so I'd like to go forward and see if this can really happen. I want to know, need to know, and if you can make that happen then I want to try it."

Mamoru nodded and Shusuke watched as he lifted his hands in front of his chest, and what looked like a golden crystal appeared. It floated above his hands glowing softly before it began to pulse.

He watched him close his eyes and breathe deeply as the crystal pulsed almost rhythmically. He glanced around to his friends and saw that they were all calm and waiting, so he returned his eyes to Mamoru and the crystal and blinked as it began to brighten.

He squinted his eyes as it grew brighter and brighter before it flared, causing him to close his eyes. He breathed deeply himself to keep himself calm, and felt warmth coming from the light.

The sensation was calming and relaxing as it moved around him, and he got the sense that the light was surrounding him. It continued to move as if circling around him before he let it sink in through his clothes and into his skin.

Shusuke focused as the warm light began to seemingly move through his body, which would have been disconcerting if it wasn't warm and calming. It flowed along his limbs and blood stream before flowing upward and concentrating in his head.

Focusing on the warmth as he was he was almost so relaxed that he nearly missed the moment when something began to happen.

A trickle of information began to enter his mind. Slowly at first it came in the form of unfamiliar sounds, words, names, and thoughts. So many thoughts, distinguishable by the tone as they floated around his mind.

Feelings and emotions came next which added substance to the words and sounds he was hearing, and quicker than he thought pictures, images, began to accompany the rest. Unfamiliar locations, places, faces, figures of people, and creatures flashed slowly at first but faster and faster as the moments passed.

It was so much, so much information, that he almost couldn't make sense of it, but then the information began to find places in his mind and settle, which allowed him to understand. He listened to the names and phrases and analyzed the places and faces, and frowned as realization began to surface with the more information that settled in his mind.

It began to make sense; began to become memories instead of just random information.

He actually was Shusuke, his parents had named him that, but he was more than that. He was Nephrite, nobleman and warrior, guardian shittenou to the heir to the throne of the Earth, Prince Endymion.

His frowned deepened and he groaned lightly as more and more memories began to settle and he remembered more and more.

Being brainwashed in the past, unbelievably by his fellow shittenou Kunzite, being made to see the Moon as the enemy, betraying his prince and bringing war to the Moon Kingdom. Dying, somehow being found in his new life in the present and being brainwashed again, this time by Beryl, and becoming a dark general of the Negaverse.

Nephrite groaned louder as he realized he had betrayed his prince again in the present. It didn't matter that they had not met, he had still been part of the same group that had brought war to the Moon in the past. Beyond that he had fought against him in his Tuxedo Kamen persona.

He had even fought against some of the Sailor Guardians. Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Moon.

His breath caught as his thoughts came to a screeching halt. There had been no Sailor Moon as a guardian senshi in the past. His expression shifted into horror as he realized Sailor Moon was actually the princess of the Moon.

He had been fighting against Princess Serenity; tried very hard to figure out and expose her civilian identity.

He opened his eyes and blinked rapidly as he looked around. Tadaaki, Akira, and Kiyoshi were his friends and fellow shittenou Jadeite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. And Mamoru, who turned out to be Tuxedo Kamen, was Endymion; his prince.

Zoisite was looking at him smirking, Jadeite with a grin, Kunzite with a small smile, and his prince looked calm but his eyes were excited.

"I can't even think of the proper words to express how sorry I am for my unconscious betrayal of you. I am sorry I was so weak as to allow myself to be brainwashed and turned against you." Nephrite said as he bowed his head, unable to continue looking his prince in the eye. "I am so very sorry."

"I accept your apology." Mamoru said as he nodded. "Will you consider being one of my guardians again?"

"Are you serious?" Nephrite asked as he looked up, and watched his prince nod.

"Absolutely." Mamoru said firmly.

"Even after what I did you would trust me?" He asked.

"You were brainwashed. Your actions weren't voluntary." Mamoru said. "We'll have to build a friendship and trust, but I'm sure we can do it."

"Then I would be honored to once again be one of your guardians." Nephrite said.

"Things are different than what you recall from your time in the Negaverse." He said as he put his crystal away.

"Then I'll learn and adapt to whatever is different." Nephrite said firmly. "It will not stop me from doing my duty. The world may not know you are prince, but I'm sure that will change at some point in the future and I intend to be there to help keep you safe."

Mamoru nodded. "In that case I welcome you back as one of my shittenou." He said.

"Thank you." Nephrite said with a smile.

"Welcome back Nephrite." Zoisite said.

"Yeah welcome back." Jadeite said.

"You made the right choice." Kunzite said as he nodded.

"I would make it again and again in a heartbeat." Nephrite said confidently.

"I have something for all of you." Mamoru said as he released his transformation.

He then focused and gestured with his hand and a moment later he handed Kunzite the communicator watch and brooch pin he had made for him. He repeated the same for each of the young men in the room.

"The watch is a communicator as well as an actual watch." He said, and began to explain how it worked.

They each looked over the communicator watch that was clearly designed for them specifically, and pressed the appropriate button on the side to open the cover and reveal the watch section and then the communicator section respectively.

They understood at the sight of the buttons and their prince's words that they were connected to the communicator watches that the Senshi had, so they could contact each other as well as the girls.

They were duly impressed and liked that they would even be able to see each other on the small screen on the inside of the cover. They each secured them to their wrist, and listened as their prince turned his attention to the second item.

"Those are your transformation brooch pins." Mamoru said. "You can pin them to your shirts, keep them in your pockets, or if you have another way you wish to wear them you can tell me and I'll provide the means as long as you keep it on you like the watches."

"The brooches will unlock the power in your DNA as well as the power inherent in the gems themselves since I pulled them directly from the Earth." He explained.

The guys all looked at the brooches curiously and eagerly. For Kunzite it was a purple gem inlaid into a gold outer shell with the Earth symbol on it in gold. For Nephrite it was a black gem with gold speckles inlaid into a gold outer shell with the Earth symbol on it in gold.

Zoisite's brooch was a green and red mix gem inlaid into a gold outer shell with the Earth symbol on it in gold, and Jadeite's was a forest green gem inlaid into a gold outer shell with the Earth symbol on it in gold.

"All you have to do is want to transform and become the guardians you chose to be." Mamoru stated.

The four young men all looked around at each other before nodding and looking determined as those who were sitting stood up. They held the brooch pins firmly in their hands and focused on being the guardian shittenou they had been in the far past.

In no time each brooch glowed the color of its gem before spreading to the young man holding it for a moment before the glow changed color.

Nephrite glowed a black with gold twinkle-like stars before it pulsed and changed to red and covered his figure completely from view as it brightened.

When the light cleared away he stood wearing a light red top with dark turquoise lining cinched at the waist with a thin black leather belt, white pants, and tall black armored boots with an added front length to protect his knees. A white cape with a red inner lining was secured to his shoulders with gray and turquoise fastenings, and a dark brown leather crisscrossed sword belt sat around his lower waist and hips with an occupied black sheath attached.

Zoisite glowed a mix of green and red before it pulsed and changed to green and covered his figure completely from view as it brightened.

When the light cleared away he stood wearing a light green top with dark turquoise lining cinched at the waist with a thin black leather belt, white pants, and tall black armored boots with an added front length to protect his knees. A white cape with a red inner lining was secured to his shoulders with gray and turquoise fastenings, and a dark brown leather crisscrossed sword belt sat around his lower waist and hips with an occupied black sheath attached.

Jadeite glowed a forest green before it pulsed and changed to blue and covered his figure completely from view as it brightened.

When the light cleared away he stood wearing a light blue top with dark turquoise lining cinched at the waist with a thin black leather belt, white pants, and tall black armored boots with an added front length to protect his knees. A white cape with a red inner lining was secured to his shoulders with gray and turquoise fastenings, and a dark brown leather crisscrossed sword belt sat around his lower waist and hips with an occupied black sheath attached.

Kunzite glowed purple before it pulsed and changed to gray and covered his figure completely from view as it brightened.

When the light cleared away he stood wearing a light gray top with dark turquoise lining cinched at the waist with a thin black leather belt, white pants, and tall black armored boots with an added front length to protect his knees. A white cape with a red inner lining was secured to his shoulders with gray and turquoise fastenings, and a dark brown leather crisscrossed sword belt sat around his lower waist and hips with an occupied black sheath attached.

The guys looked at each other and then down at themselves as they ran their hands lightly over the uniform they hadn't worn since their last lifetime. The expressions on their faces varied since they had no idea they would feel so intensely about being back in these uniforms.

Mamoru looked at the guys with a small smile, pleased to see them together and looking like his guardians. He wondered if Usagi had felt this way at some point or if she had never gotten that chance what with the trust issues she had had with her Senshi.

Maybe when Naru joins she'll feel that way. He thought.

"Welcome back Guardian Shittenou." He said.

The young men thanked him before all of them but Kunzite resumed their seats, careful of their swords. Kunzite remained standing next to Mamoru's seat.

Mamoru felt a bit strange about that, but he also thought it was appropriate since Kunzite was the leader of his guardians.

"Have you all made any decisions about how to wear your brooch pins, do I need to make any additions?" He asked, and they all said they would either keep them in their pocket or in their subspace pocket if they didn't feel like pinning them to their shirts on any given day.

"Thank you for the items." Kunzite said. "And for giving us back our memories."

"Yes. Thank you. It's nice to be back in uniform and feeling like we belong." Zoisite agreed.

"Yeah. These items are great, and oddly enough I missed the uniform even though I've just remembered." Jadeite said.

"Thanks Endymion. Although, it's strange that we have to transform instead of just wearing the uniform as everyday clothes." Nephrite said.

"You're all welcome." Mamoru said as he nodded. "We need to figure out when we can all train together. You can and should train individually when you have time, but we need to get together to train as a group."

"Maybe we can go on a type of retreat away from the city." Jadeite suggested after a few quiet moments. "That way we can spend time together and really work on our abilities."

They all looked thoughtful as they considered that idea.

"It's a good idea, probably what we really need, but I don't think our work schedules will work with it. Not to mention Mamoru's school schedule." Zoisite said.

"Yes." Nephrite agreed. "We wouldn't all be able to go together for more than a day. That's not enough time for us to begin to build our friendship with our prince, bond, become used to each other, and work on our teamwork."

"That doesn't even include the time it would take to get to the location we would have picked." Kunzite added.

"We can go to Elysion until we can schedule a retreat." Mamoru suggested. "You remember hearing of that place yes?" He asked, and they all nodded.

"It will be the perfect place because time there is at a standstill, and we can take all the time we want there." He continued. "I brought my princess and Venus there to train, and it worked great for us to train together while still being able to have time to do our homework."

"That's a good idea, and the best I think for our situation." Kunzite said. "How exactly does it work?"

"As long as I bring you there willingly time will not pass there, so when you return it would be like you never left at all. For example, we can leave right now and stay in Elysion for hours and days, and when we return it would still be the exact same time we left." Mamoru explained.

"Sounds perfect for us at this point in time. We need unlimited time to form our foundation, our bond." Nephrite said.

They all nodded, but before they could continue on in that vain Zoisite spoke up.

"I'm curious." He said thoughtfully. "Are the Senshi dating?" He asked Mamoru.

His mind was on Sailor Mercury. They had got on very well in the past. According to her he had been the only male she had come across, and really talked to, that wasn't intimidated by her intelligence and could even match it.

Is she studious again in this life, and barely takes time to have fun? He wondered.

His question had the others remembering their time with the senshi they had chosen in the past, and each had a different reaction as they waited for their prince's reaction.

Kunzite's mind went to Sailor Venus and he thoughtfully wondered if she was once again serious, cheerful, and yet shy. He remembered discovering that shyness, and thoroughly enjoying it even as he made sure no one else would see it. He didn't want her strong leader persona tarnished in any way.

Jadeite grimaced at the thought of Sailor Mars. He had really liked her, loved her passion, but he had refused to be second in her mind and heart.

Nephrite groaned quietly. He remembered Sailor Jupiter and her passion, and how much he had loved it as well as how much they had in common. But that was then, and he also remembered a more recent past and a beautiful petite girl with reddish brown hair and teal eyes. A girl who was quiet yet passionate and extremely loyal. A girl who cried for him even knowing the truth about him being a bad guy.

"They aren't dating anyone, and the only one to remember anything significant from the past is Venus." Mamoru answered.

"So they don't remember us." Nephrite said.

"They don't; only Venus does." Mamoru answered. "They know about you all since I informed them that I intended to approach you and try and get you back as my guardians, but that's the extent of their knowledge." He explained, and the guys nodded.

"How about I update Jadeite and Nephrite on what's going on, and we can continue this topic when I finish?" He suggested.

They guys nodded again and they all listened, Jadeite and Nephrite especially since they were hearing it for the first time, as he started from the beginning when he first became Tuxedo Kamen and his princess became Sailor Moon.

He spoke of fighting against each of them and the time when his princess quit being a senshi because of Mercury, Jupiter, and especially Mars' behavior toward her as well as the behavior of the guardian feline Luna.

Discovering during her illness that his friend Usagi was Sailor Moon and revealing himself as Tuxedo Kamen to her, the start of their relationship, and the discovery of them being royalty and remembering their past.

The arrival of Venus and the feline guardian Artemis, learning about the DNA change for the Senshi and its ultimate effect on Usagi and what had to be done for her.

He relayed how they ultimately defeated Beryl, Materia, and the Negaverse. Revealing Usagi's secret to her parents, and their new enemy that showed up a couple of weeks ago.

Mamoru then began to relay Mars' civilian form having feelings for him and how that had escalated throughout the ordeal with the Negaverse, and even continued after she learned that he was Tuxedo Kamen and Prince Endymion and that both identities wanted his princess.

He continued on explaining how her feelings for him had turned into obsession, and that in combination to her regressing and continued behavior toward Usagi, as well as a recent serious injury, caused Usagi to finally remove her as one of her senshi.

He finished with the last revelation of Usagi having approached the reincarnation of the heiress of Mars to become the senshi of Mars, and that they were currently waiting for her answer but that he was sure she would accept and join the group.

The guys all reacted differently to the long tale. Zoisite and Kunzite took it in and understood it more after hearing it again, and Jadeite and Nephrite were surprised and shocked at what they heard.

The Sailor Mars they were familiar with from the past and even during their time with the Negaverse was no longer there. The rest of it was surprising, especially the princess of the Moon being a senshi and then quitting, but that had obviously been cleared up. Mars being removed was recent, and something that they were going to be dealing with.

Jadeite was particularly shocked at the news. Before the explanation he had been wondering how he was going to deal with being around her and having to work with her even if she didn't remember him and what they had been.

Now he didn't have to, and he was glad for it; especially since she had ended up once again infatuated with his prince.

"How are you dealing with the news about Mars?" Kunzite asked Jadeite. He wanted to know if it would effect his ability to fight and work with the Senshi considering he and Mars had been in a relationship in the past.

"It's shocking, but I'm glad." Jadeite said as he looked up from the floor where he had been gazing. "I may have just remembered my past and barely had time to think about it, but with this news I wasn't looking forward to the thought of having to watch her fawn over Endymion again."

"What do you mean 'again'?" Mamoru asked.

"Mars had feelings for you in the past that developed at some point during our relationship." He answered. "As soon as I realized it I ended our relationship."

All the guys listening looked on in surprise. None of them had known the two had broken up in the past, but it wasn't surprising since they had all been concerned with their own relationships and doing their duty. At least until Beryl had interfered.

"I was loyal to Mars and cared for her very much, but I began to notice the way she started eyeing Endymion whenever he was around. She had actually begun to develop feelings for him while she was with me. It was subtle until I really started watching her; she began wanting me to be more dignified, commanding, and royal." Jadeite elaborated.

"I was a noble, but I was not royal, and on top of that I was a warrior. I couldn't be what she wanted me to be, so I ended things between us rather then be a replacement for what and who she really wanted." He said.

"Serenity and Venus knew about Mars' feelings for me." Mamoru said. "She remembered overhearing Venus confronting Mars about her feelings and she eventually admitted it to her. She didn't say anything but after that Serenity watched the next time the two of them were in the same place, and she apparently saw love in Mars' eyes when she looked at me."

"How did Serenity feel about that?" Jadeite asked.

"She obviously hadn't liked it but she understood it; that there were other women that would have feelings for me or simply want me for themselves." He answered. "What really bothered her was how Mars' behavior toward her had deteriorated while her feelings were developing. She would snap at her and get angry for little things or for nothing at all, and sometimes she would be lax in her guardian duties or even not do them at all."

"Did the other senshi know about Mars' feelings?" Zoisite asked.

"I don't believe so." Mamoru said. "I also don't think they knew about the break up."

Everyone was quiet and thoughtful after that as they considered back to that time to try and see if they had seen anything out of the ordinary with Mars or remembered anyone saying anything about her feelings with Jadeite or Endymion.

Usako? Mamoru called through his bond with his princess. I'm about to ask Nephrite about Naru and Makoto.

Okay. I'm listening. Usagi replied.

"Nephrite." He said, gaining his attention. "You recall the girl you grew close to before your death."

Nephrite frowned and nodded, wondering how he knew about her.

"She's Usagi's best friend and the reincarnation of the princess of Mars." Mamoru said.

Nephrite's eyes widened and he sat up. "She's going to be the replacement." He said.

"Yes; if she agrees, which I am positive she will once she finishes thinking about it." Mamoru said as he nodded.

Nephrite was surprised and happy. He had no idea how it had happened with him being part of the Negaverse and so focused on gathering energy and trying to get rid of the Senshi, but he had come to care very much for her. So much so that he had given up his life for hers.

Well, he actually did remember how it happened. He had taken her energy and it had been so potent and impressed Beryl that he had continued to go for her energy. She had become infatuated with his alter ego, which made her energy so potent, and he had ended up developing feelings for her as he worked to cultivate her feelings to make her energy even more potent.

He sighed and leaned on his knees as he closed his eyes. Naru. He thought as he pictured her face. Does she look the same? Does she still care for me even though I was dead?

"I assume she's been told everything in order for her to decide if she wants to be Sailor Mars. Does she know about me?" He asked quietly.

"She doesn't know about you personally. I only referred to you all as my Guardian Shittenou. Usagi and I wanted to wait until you remembered before saying anything to her." Mamoru answered, and Nephrite nodded.

"It's also because of Naru and Makoto." Mamoru added.

Nephrite looked to him, and understood at seeing the look in his eyes.

Makoto was Sailor Jupiter, who he had been with in the past, and Naru was who he had developed feelings for while with the Negaverse. Both of them would be senshi, so he needed to decide who he wanted to be with.

Naru would remember him, but Makoto didn't yet remember the past and what they had. So did he want to get to know Jupiter in this life and wait for her to remember the past and what they had or did he want to see if he could pick up where he left off with Naru.

Just as he had thought earlier Sailor Jupiter had been passionate about the things she liked, as well as not having a problem voicing them, they had many things in common, and she had been beautiful and tall. He fully admitted that he liked all of those things. It was why he had been attracted to her and chosen her in the past.

With Naru she had been quiet but passionate in the things she liked, she had been calming and soothing to be around, loyal and unafraid, and petite and beautiful in her own right.

"Naru." He said firmly as he looked back to his prince. "The past is the past and while I remember it and who I was my personality, while now mixed, is a bit more toward my modern interests."

"Naru appeals to who I am now more, and if she can accept that I'm alive again then I hope to get to know her again and continue where we left off without any secrets in the way." He explained.

Mamoru nodded. Love? He said into his bond with his princess.

I heard and I'm actually happy. Makoto is great but her personality is different than it was in the past, and even I was able to tell that Nephrite genuinely came to care for Naru before his death. Usagi said.

And Naru is still mourning his death which proves that she still very much cares for him. Mamoru said.

Exactly. Now I can feel comfortable telling Naru about him being alive when she makes her decision. Usagi said, and he hummed.

"Do you want me and Usagi to arrange a meeting for you and Naru?" Mamoru asked Nephrite.

"Please." Nephrite said. "I would appreciate being able to see her again for the first time away from the public."

"Very well. I'll let you know as soon as we can arrange it." Mamoru said. We're going to have to figure out a place for the meeting. He said to his princess.

It'll probably have to be at your place since it will be both private and neutral ground. Usagi said.

True. He agreed.

Thanks for letting me listen in. Usagi said. I'm glad your Shittenou are complete.

Thanks. He said.

Good luck with the rest of the meeting. She said.

Thanks again. He said before he focused back on his Shittenou.

Kunzite, Jadeite, and Zoisite looked on and listened in curiosity as they came to understand that Naru was going to be the replacement Sailor Mars, was the reincarnation of the princess of Mars, and apparently had some type of romantic connection with Nephrite from his time in the Negaverse.

None of them remembered seeing her in the past as the princess of Mars, and wondered what she was like and what she looked like.

Zoisite remembered the girl with reddish brown hair and teal eyes that he had kidnapped when he learned of her connection to Nephrite when he was trying to level himself up in influence in Beryl's eyes.

He instantly felt guilty. He already felt guilty for being responsible for Nephrite's death, but now he felt guilty for kidnapping this young woman who was turning out to be important to Nephrite. He needed to apologize to the both of them.

"So do you all want to go to Elysion, and get a feel for your powers?" Mamoru asked, and the guys all nodded.

"Sure; especially since no time will pass. We won't have to worry about losing sleep." Zoisite answered for them.

"You'll be meeting someone when we arrive." Mamoru added as he stood up.

The guys were all curious about this mystery person, and followed Mamoru as he moved away from his seat and into the open space behind it.

"You need to be holding on to me or holding on to someone who is, so you won't get left behind." Mamoru said.

Kunzite firmly gripped Mamoru's upper arm and Zoisite did the same with his other arm, and Nephrite and Jadeite grabbed onto Kunzite and Zoisite.

Once they were all connected Mamoru focused on bringing them all to the sacred place that was Elysion. Within moments they disappeared from the apartment in a golden flash of light.

Thursday: Day Eleven

The morning started with the secret fighters known as the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen having an early morning training session as was dictated by their training schedule. It went well and everyone was satisfied with their overall progress before they split up and headed home to get cleaned up and changed to start their day.

They all headed to school and went about the rest of the morning taking notes, and listening to their teachers lecture on different topics. Eventually the lunch hour came around and Usagi, Makoto, Naru, and Ami headed toward their usual spot in one of the courtyards and settled in to eat.

Naru looked at the girls around her as they were talking and eating, and decided now was a good time to inform them of her decision.

"What's up?" Usagi said as she bumped their shoulders together after she took a swallow of her drink. "Why are you so quiet?"

Naru looked over at her and then back to the others to see them looking on curiously.

"I've made my decision." She said.

Ami and Makoto straightened and gazed at her intently, and Usagi simply looked a her calmly as she waited to hear her words.

"I'll join you. I would like to be one of you." Naru said firmly yet softly.

"Alright!" Makoto said excitedly.

"Welcome to the team." Ami said as she smiled.

"Welcome to the team. I'm glad you're joining." Usagi said with a smile. "Thank you for joining us and completing the team."

"Thanks." Naru said with a smile. "And you're welcome. I'm nervous and excited." She added before she took a deep breath and let it out. "What now?" She asked.

"Well now we're going to have a meeting to induct you onto the team." Usagi said. "I would have it at my house, but I don't know when my brother will be home and I don't want us all smushed up in my room."

"We can have it at my place. My mother won't be home." Ami said. Makoto nodded and Naru simply looked on, and Usagi nodded as well.

"I'll contact Minako to let her know." She said.

Usagi turned around and seeing that no one was behind her, and with Naru on one side blocking anyone from seeing her from that direction and Ami and Makoto on her other side she lifted her wrist so her communicator watch was visible.

Mamo? She called through their bond.

Yes love. He answered promptly.

Naru has agreed to be Sailor Mars, so we're going to have a meeting at Ami's place after school. She told him. Will Ami, Makoto, and Naru fit in your car? She asked as she opened the communicator portion of her watch.

They might be a bit squished, but they'll fit. He said.

Okay. I plan on contacting Minako right now to let her know the news, so I'll see you after I get out of school. She replied.

Alright. I'll be waiting for you all. Mamoru said.

Okay. Usagi said as she pressed the orange button for Venus and waited.

"Minako here." Came the answer after a few long moments.

"Naru has decided to join the team, so we're going to have a meeting at Ami's place after school." Usagi informed her second in command.

"Okay. I'll make my way there as soon as school lets out. Tell Naru I said welcome to the team." Minako replied.

"I will. Usagi out." She said before she ended the connection and turned back around. "Mamoru will drive us there, so we'll likely be waiting around for Minako to arrive." She told them, and they nodded.

"What about Luna and Artemis?" Ami asked.

"I'll go get them after we get to your place." Usagi answered.

Ami nodded and they all went back to eating and talking about things that had nothing to do with their secret life.

Hours later...

Ami led the way into her apartment building and Usagi, Mamoru, Naru, and Makoto followed her inside and up through the building until they reached her apartment. She unlocked the door and lead them all inside.

"Make yourselves comfortable. I'm going to make sure we're actually alone." Ami said.

They all began sit on the couch and chairs in the living room, and a few long moments later Ami returned.

"We're alone." She assured them.

"In that case I'll be right back." Usagi said as she stood up. She focused on Minako's house and her bedroom specifically, and disappeared in a flash of white light.

Naru blinked in surprise. "Is that what she meant earlier when she said she was going to get Artemis and Luna?" She asked.

"I guess so." Ami said.

"I thought Usagi could only go to the Moon like that." Makoto said thoughtfully. "Well, to the Moon and from there to any location."

All three girls looked to Mamoru curiously to see if he knew more.

"We recently discovered that we can teleport ourselves anywhere on the planet." He explained briefly, and the girls stared in surprise.

Meanwhile, Usagi appeared in her desired location to the surprised exclamations of her name from Artemis and Luna.

"What are you doing here?" Luna asked.

"Naru has agreed to join us, so we're going to have a meeting. I came pick you two up." Usagi informed them.

The felines nodded and she carefully picked them up in her arms and focused on Ami's living room near the apartment door, and they disappeared in a flash of white light only to reappear a moment later exactly where she had wanted to be.

She walked over toward the others, seeing the curtains had been closed, and placed Artemis and Luna on the coffee table before she resumed her seat in between Mamoru and Naru.

"Minako isn't here yet?" Artemis said as he looked around.

"No. She's likely still on her way from school." Makoto said.

He nodded and they all spent the time talking or listening to the others talk. Just over fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the door. Ami got up and went to the door and opened it find Minako standing there.

"Hi. Come on in." Ami said as she stepped aside.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Minako said as she waved cheerfully to everyone.

Everyone let her know it was no problem, and that they had been lucky enough to get a ride from Mamoru. Minako nodded and took a seat.

"Now that we're all here we can start. You've all now been informed that Naru has agreed to join us, so now is the time for her to do just that." Usagi said before she gestured lightly with her hand, and a moment later a red and white watch appeared.

"This is your communicator watch." She said as she handed the watch to her best friend. "With the two buttons on the side the light shade opens the watch portion, and the dark shade opens the communicator portion."

Naru hummed and pressed the buttons experimentally and when the communicator part was open she listened to Usagi explain the little screen on the inside of the cover, and then each button and how they worked.

She thought that was fairly simple since half of them were labeled, and the other's would easily be understood when she met Mamoru's guardians; whoever they were.

"I understand." Naru said with a nod as she began to put the watch on her left wrist. Usually if she was going to wear a watch it would be on her right wrist since she was right handed, but she would need that hand to press the buttons when she was using the communicator portion.

"Now for the interesting part." Usagi said. She gestured with her hand again and a moment later a glowing red and gold pen appeared in her palm.

"This is your transformation pen." She said as she held it out to her. "The glow is the senshi power of Mars. As soon as you touch it it will sink inside you and unlock the Mars DNA inside you. As soon as you transform the changes will start."

Naru nodded and took a steadying breath before she grasp the pen firmly. As soon as she touched it the red glow grew brighter and brighter and moved from the pen into her hand and up her arm and spread around her body from head to toe.

She gasped as she closed her eyes. She hadn't known what to expect with the glowing power, but what she felt was warmth, comfortable warmth and heat, and welcome as strange as that was.

As soon as she felt it settle and disappear inside her she opened her eyes and blinked rapidly as she shifted her mind away from the warm sensation.

"Well, how about giving it a try." Usagi said as she smiled.

Naru's eyes widened and she looked around at everyone to see them all smiling and nodding.

"Go on Naru. Let's see how you look as Mars." Minako said.

"Alright." Naru said before she stood up and moved away from the couch and coffee table so she could have room and everyone could see her. She looked at the red and gold pen, and somehow knew exactly what to say to make it work.

"Mars Power, Make Up!" She said as she held the pen tightly.

Red light and fire amazingly came flowing out of the top of the pen and swirled around her before surrounding her entirely, blocking her figure from the view of everyone watching. When it cleared she looked down at herself and blinked in surprise. She knew she was transforming into Sailor Mars, but it was still surprising to see herself suddenly dressed as a senshi.

She was wearing the exact same red and white senshi suit she had seen on the senshi of Mars before including the high heel pumps. She lifted her arms and looked at the long white gloves and touched her forehead only to feel what was obviously her tiara. Then she touched her ears and felt dangling earrings, and wondered what they looked like.

"Do you want to see yourself?" Ami asked.

"Yes." Naru said as she nodded.

"Come on." Ami said as she popped up and led the new senshi to her bedroom. She walked her over to the tall mirror that sat on its stand in a corner and stepped off to the side and watched.

Naru stepped in front of the mirror and stared at herself with wide eyes. She could now see that the earrings were five point stars, and she still wore the teal bow in her hair that matched her eyes.

She took in the vibrant red of her choker, skirt, shoes, and the rest and looked to her hair as she tried to imagine her hair becoming that vibrant color. It was such a vibrant color that she would definitely notice it. She twisted and turned, looking at the bow on her lower back and the back of the collar at her upper back as well as the back of her skirt.

"I didn't expect the skirt to be so short." She commented.

"I was uncomfortable with it as well until I got used to it." Ami said as she nodded. "And the snug fit of the entire outfit."

Naru nodded in agreement as she moved her hands over her stomach and sides, feeling how form fitting it was.

"How in the world am I supposed to run in high heels, let alone jump and fight." She said.

"Practice." Ami said simply. "It's a good thing you're going to train before being thrust into the fighting. My boots don't have such a high heel, but it was still enough that it had been hard to ignore even with a youma attacking."

Naru grimaced as she imagined running from a creature and tripping on her heels and being attacked.

"How do I return to my regular clothes?" She asked after sighing.

"Just will yourself to return to your regular appearance." Ami answered.

Naru did and watched through squinted eyes as she glowed a bright red before it disappeared leaving her back in her school uniform.

"Where did my transformation pen go?" She asked as she looked to Ami.

"It went into your subspace pocket. Just gesture slightly with your hand and think of wanting your pen." She explained.

Naru did and nodded as the red and gold pen appeared in the palm of her hand. Then she did the same only focusing on wanting to put it away and it disappeared.

Ami nodded. "I think you'll pick up this senshi business quickly." She said.

Naru smiled and they left the room and returned to the living room and their seats.

"What do you think? How do you feel?" Usagi asked her best friend.

"I feel...I don't know. Surprised at the short skirt, and scared of the high heels." Naru said, and everyone laughed.

"Other than that I feel fine. It was surprising to see myself dressed as a senshi and knowing it was real, but I think I just need to get used to it. Aside from that I wonder how I'm going to get on with moving in the heels, but I'm mostly anxious to start training and learning." She said, and everyone nodded.

"Maybe you can do some training today. We'll see after the meeting is over." Usagi said, and Naru nodded.

"Now that Naru is officially part of the team there are some things I want to address with you all." She continued. "First is that Minako as Sailor Venus is officially second in command, and leader when I am unable to lead. She was leader of my Guardian Senshi in the past, and this time around she continues to show the attributes of just why she held that position."

"If there are issues of any kind and I'm not around for whatever reason you should go to Minako. She will know what to do or be able to make a decision as the case may be." She added.

"Does everyone understand?" She asked, and they all nodded firmly, their expressions serious. "Second, I want to make it clear that you need to share important information with each other, and me especially since I have all my memories and will know when something is important or not. You all remember the deal with the fire."

Everyone but Naru nodded and frowned.

"The fire." Naru said in a questioning tone.

"I asked Rei to do a fire reading since she could meditate in front of the fire at her temple, and it would grant her knowledge and show her things that were important." Usagi explained.

"She was always able to do it fine as far as I knew, but the last time the fire had flared up so badly it threatened all of us. I found out then that something similar had happened twice before during the time I had quit being a senshi, but it was never mentioned." She continued.

"With my memories having returned I knew that the fire was doing that because it was refusing to work for her. Had I known I could have informed everyone why the fire was acting up. Of course at that time I wasn't interested in letting Rei know." She finished.

"Ah I understand." Naru said as she nodded, and Usagi nodded as well.

"Now onto the training schedule. Minako was kind enough to come up with a schedule for us after this new enemy appeared." Usagi said.

"We have group training twice during the school week, Tuesday and Thursday, and individual training the remaining days. Then every day on the weekends; Saturday late night and Sunday early morning to avoid being up late when we have school the next morning." She explained.

Naru nodded in understanding, making sure to memorize the schedule.

"It's our intention to have a sleepover every weekend if we can manage it with everyone taking a turn hosting. This weekend is my turn." She continued.

"So Saturday night at your house?" Naru said.

"Yes." Usagi confirmed. "I've been thinking lately, especially after parting ways from Rei, and I want the four of you to take some time together to train without me and Mamoru. I want the four of you to be able to function properly as a team. As my guardians you should be able to fight without me with no troubles, and I want you capable of that."

"So I want you to take one or both of our weekday group training days and only have the four of you use it." She stated clearly.

"We can do that." Minako said as she nodded. "I think one of our weekdays would be best, and we can switch between Tuesday and Thursday as the situation calls for. What do you all think?"

"I'm fine with it since I'm just starting." Naru said.

"It's fine with me too." Ami agreed.

"I'm all for it." Makoto said. "Maybe we should have it on Tuesday's to start with." She added and the others nodded.

"Then it's settled. Tuesday's after school." Minako said, and Naru, Ami, and Makoto nodded.

"Have I forgotten anything that Naru needs to know?" Usagi asked as she looked around at everyone.

"Senshi meeting locations." Minako said.

"An explanation of who my guardians are." Mamoru added, and she nodded.

"Then I'll leave those for the two of you to explain." Usagi said.

"We have meetings when important information needs to be relayed to everyone or something big happens, like a new enemy appearing or a new senshi joining the team." Minako began.

"When I arrived in the city and joined the group they had been having all of their meetings at Rei's house since I guess it was spacious enough for all of them and private enough for the secret matters they needed to talk about." She continued.

"Without her around we've been meeting at the most convenient place at the time the meeting needs to take place, so with that I think we should have the meetings at everyone's house to keep things equal if we can at all help it." She finished.

"I agree." Usagi said instantly. "I think always having our meetings at Rei's house was part of the problem with her. She began to think she was more important and had more say so than everyone else."

Everyone nodded, including Luna and Artemis, and looked thoughtful about that.

"I don't have a problem with that. My mom leaves the house after I leave for school and usually doesn't return until the store closes in the evening." Naru said.

"For me it would be just like today; my mom is usually at the hospital." Ami said.

Makoto and Mamoru both said they lived alone so it was no problem.

"I'm good to have meetings at my house; we would just have to be careful of my brother if he's home at the time." Usagi said.

"My mom is usually home, unless she goes shopping for whatever, so if we have them at my place it will have to be when I have the house to myself or have it in my room so we can't be overheard." Minako said, and everyone nodded.

Mamoru looked to Naru; taking his turn. "My guardians are like the Senshi are to Usagi. She had the Guardian Senshi in the past because of her royal status as heir to the Silver Millennium and future guardian of the silver crystal, and I had my Guardian Shittenou for similar reasons." He said.

"They are four young men and were only recently found and awakened, which is why you have never seen or heard any sign of them out fighting with the Senshi." He explained.

"When he says recent he really does mean it. We haven't even had a chance to meet the guys yet; that's how quick this all happened." Minako added.

"That's going to have to be planned for the most part since they all have full time jobs. In fact, having them out fighting is going to be hard for them because of that." Mamoru said, and everyone nodded, knowing they could get fired for running off the job.

Naru nodded in understanding at everything she was being told.

"That's something we'll have to worry about as well isn't it? Having to leave in the middle of class?" She asked as she frowned.

"Yes." Ami said seriously. "You probably saw me and Makoto run out in the middle of class last year."

Naru frowned thoughtfully and then her eyes widened as she recalled that.

"Yeah I remember that." She said, and held in a sigh. She supposed she was going to have to steel herself for the possibility of getting into trouble and making up excuses for such instances.

"Then that's it for this meeting. Although, I want to speak to you in private." Usagi said as she looked to Naru.

"Sure." Naru said as she nodded.

"What do you all plan on doing for the rest of the day?" Usagi asked everyone else.

"I've got homework, so I guess if Ami doesn't mind I'll stay here and get as much done as possible." Minako said.

"I might as well do that too, and maybe afterward I can do some training." Makoto replied.

"That's a good idea. I'll likely do that later." Usagi said before she stood up and stretched. "You two ready to go?" She asked as she looked to Naru and Mamoru.

They nodded and both of them stood up, and they said their goodbyes to everyone and headed for the door. They stepped out into the hallway and made their way down through the building and outside and to Mamoru's car. They piled in, putting on their seatbelts, and Mamoru began to drive.

There was no destination but he knew his princess just wanted the privacy of being in the car and not waiting until they got to anyone's home.

Usagi twisted in her seat as much as her seatbelt would allow so she could look at Naru.

"I wanted to have this conversation in private for your sake. The girls already know who the Shittenou are although they don't yet remember them from the past." She said.

Naru nodded in confusion. She still wasn't understanding why she had to be told privately.

Usagi sighed. "The reason you haven't seen the Shittenou before is because in this life they were brainwashed to believe they were part of the enemy, so before with our last enemy we were fighting against the guys." She explained, and Naru nodded again.

"Most of them were killed, but because of the way Mamoru and I fixed things after we defeated that enemy they ended up being brought back to life." She continued. "We didn't know before recently because the guys were brought back with amnesia. They remembered nothing about themselves before apparently waking up in the hospital."

"Okay." Naru said as she hummed thoughtfully.

"Nephrite is one of them." Usagi said calmly, and her best friend gasped loudly.

"What?! You're serious?! Nephrite is alive?!" Naru asked in shocked surprise.

"I'm very serious." Usagi said. "Nephrite is alive, and he remembers you. I'm telling you now because I didn't want it to be a surprise to you and just put you in front of him."

"I brought his memories to the surface and awakened him to his true identity just last evening, and he wants to meet you." Mamoru added.

Naru sat back in her seat and brought her hands up and covered everything below her eyes. She almost couldn't believe what she had been told. Nephrite was alive. Her dear Nephrite was alive, and he remembered her! He wanted to see her.

She could not help the tears that began to slip from her eyes. She had been mourning him for so many long months and missing him terribly, and now she wasn't sure what to do. He was alive and remembered her, but did he want to be with her? That wasn't the same thing as wanting to meet with her.

"Did he say when he wanted to meet with me?" She asked quietly.

"No, but I offered to arrange it. If you want you two can meet at my apartment this evening after he gets home from work." Mamoru said.

"I would like that. I can't see myself waiting around for days now that I know he's alive." Naru said.

"Then that's what we'll do. We can do our homework and talk to pass the time." Usagi said. I would suggest we get started on Naru's training, but I don't think Naru will be able to focus with Nephrite on her mind. She thought.

With that decision Mamoru began to head to his apartment so they could get comfortable and started on their homework.

Nephrite's POV

Evening

Nephrite unlocked and opened the door to his apartment and stepped inside before he closed the door. He turned on the lights and headed to his bedroom with a sigh. He was slightly tired, but it was more his mind than his body.

Work had been something to keep him busy and distracted, but every time things got slow his mind would remind him of the fact that he now knew exactly who he was and everything else he had learned.

He was Nephrite, once again guardian shittenou of his prince Endymion, the Moon Princess Serenity was a sailor senshi, and the girl he had grown to care for was going to become a senshi as well.

He had no doubt that Naru would agree to be a senshi. She had the right mentality the last time he had seen her face to face.

He closed his eyes briefly as he remembered her trying to pull out those energy sucking roots that had been lodged in his shoulder despite the pain her efforts had been causing her.

His prince hadn't said anything about her feelings for him specifically, but the fact that he had wanted him to make a choice between Naru and the reincarnation of Sailor Jupiter meant that she must still care about him; otherwise it wouldn't have mattered.

I wish I knew how much she cared; if she's still in love with me after all the time that's passed. He thought as he reached his bedroom.

He sighed as he turned the light on in his room. He was anxious about meeting her, seeing her face to face, but he still couldn't wait for their meeting to happen.

Nephrite pulled off his jacket and tossed it on his bed and placed his keys on the closest nightstand before he turned and left his room. Walking into the kitchen he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and opened it and took a long drink.

He forced his mind away from his pending meeting with Naru and toward the training he had participated in.

When his prince, Mamoru- he reminded himself, took them all to Elysion he and his fellow shittenou were introduced to Helios, guardian of Elysion. They had never met him or heard of him in the past, and they were surprised at his appearance.

He looked like a boy in his early teens, but his eyes and his voice gave away the truth of his advanced age. It was obvious he had been around since the Silver Millennium, and they had no idea how old he had been then.

Still, after that unexpected introduction they got down to testing out their abilities, stretching the power muscles they hadn't used since their last lifetime.

He and his fellow shittenou were elementals. Kunzite could control various forms of light, Jadeite could control air and the different forms it took, Zoisite was an ice elemental, and he himself was an earth elemental.

After being assured that their activities would not damage the roses that seemed to stretch out as far as the eye could see in every direction they each split up toward their own section and began to practice with their prince and Helios watching on.

Even with the assurance that their practice wouldn't damage the roses Nephrite was still hesitant because his powers would be mostly coming from the ground where the vibrant flowers were. So he proceeded slowly and cautiously.

He made vines slowly grow up from the ground around him, and wiggled them and had them sway back and forth like octopus tentacles. He knew he could make them grow rapidly, and use them to wrap around an opponent and trap them.

Then he made them sprout flowers up and down their lengths, roses since he had that inspiration literally all around him. He smelled them and was pleased with their fragrant scent.

He allowed those to flow back down into the ground and saw nothing wrong with the ground or roses, so he next tried something thicker that he knew would disrupt the flowers.

He made pillars of rock with the thickness of a basketball rise up in a spaced line in front of him in a row. They stretched up well pass his height before he stopped them and then made them descend back into the ground.

When they vanished beneath the ground he carefully inspected the areas where they had come from and saw that the ground and the roses were undisturbed as if the pillars hadn't burst through them at all.

Reassured from his own experimenting that the roses would be fine he began to step up his practice and do some of his bigger abilities.

He had stomped his foot on the ground and made a thick wall of rock rise up rapidly in front of him. He hadn't needed to stomp his foot, but it was how he had first learned to use his powers and figured he should start there with his practice.

Before he could continue with his reminiscing thoughts the phone rang. He blinked and moved toward it and answered it.

"Hello?" He said.

"It's Mamoru." His prince replied.

"Hey; what's up your highness." Nephrite said.

"I'm at my place with Usagi and we have Naru with us." Mamoru said. "She's ready to meet you, so if you're ready I can be there in a few moments to pick you up."

Nephrite breathed in a sharp breath. He could see Naru today; in the next few minutes. He could get the answers to all his questions concerning her before the day was done.

"I'm more than ready. I can't wait to see her." He said enthusiastically.

"Alright. I'll be right there." Mamoru said. "Where are you?"

"I'm standing in the kitchen." Nephrite answered.

"Okay. I'll see you soon." He replied.

"Right. Bye." Nephrite said.

"Bye." His prince said, and he hung up the phone.

Nephrite put the phone back in place and he took a drink of his water before he closed his bottle and waited. In the next moment he saw a bright flash of gold in the living room and when it cleared his prince stood there.

"Are you ready?" Mamoru asked as he smiled.

"Of course." Nephrite said as he walked forward, leaving his bottle on the counter, and stopped in front of him.

Mamoru placed his hand on his shoulder and focused on bringing them to the space behind his couch in his apartment. In the next moment they disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared inside his apartment in the space he had pictured.

Nephrite blinked as he looked around his prince's apartment curiously, but immediately stopped as his sight fell on the two young women sitting on the couch; specifically the young woman with reddish brown hair with a teal bow in it.

Naru and Usagi looked back over their shoulders, and while Usagi smiled Naru stared with a small gasp.

Usagi looked over to her friend and gently squeezed her shoulder before she got up and moved around the couch toward her prince. She took his hand and he nodded to her.

"We'll give you some privacy." Mamoru said before he walked with Usagi down the hallway back toward his bedroom.

---

Naru stood up and turned so she was facing Nephrite, and they both stood staring at each other seeing what was different and what wasn't.

Nephrite thought she looked the same, but more beautiful. She had definitely grown. She was a bit taller, and her hair was a bit longer. Where before it ended above her shoulders it now stretched halfway down her back. She wore the same school uniform and even through that he could see that her figure was more fuller than it had been the last time he had seen her.

Naru continued to stare at the young man before her. Here was her dear Nephrite in the flesh; very much alive and not hurt.

He was still tall, still had those dark blue eyes, and still had that thick long wavy brown hair. He was wearing causal clothes where before he wore expensive looking clothes, but he still looked so very handsome.

Her eyes teared up as she continued to look at him. He was really here, really standing here in front of her, alive and well.

Nephrite saw the tears in her eyes and decided they had stared at each other enough. He moved around the couch toward her, and watched as she turned to face him in front of the couch.

"Naru." He said as he gazed down at her.

"Nephrite." Naru replied as she blinked causing her tears to escape.

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his back and held him tightly. She cried quietly as she felt him wrap his arms around her just as tightly. He was solid and warm, which was a balm to her after watching and feeling him literally breakdown into nothing as he died in her arms.

"I missed you, so much." She said into his chest.

"I'm sure I would have missed you had I been aware. I certainly thought of you as soon as I remembered who I truly was." He replied as he moved his hand up to gently stroke her wavy hair. "I wondered if you had thought of me, missed me, after learning that over a year had passed. I especially wondered if you still cared for me."

"Of course I still care for you." Naru said as she looked up at him. "I've been grieving for you all this time. Constantly thinking of you, especially when something reminded me of you, and missing you so much that it hurt."

"I'm sorry I caused you such pain with my death, but I don't regret it since it saved your life. I was lucky to have been brought back to life, and I don't think you would have been so lucky so I wouldn't have had it any other way." Nephrite said.

Naru nodded and pressed her face back into his chest. He was right. A specific set of circumstances, that she wasn't entirely aware of, and luck had made it possible for him to be alive. That wouldn't have been the case for her.

"I'm just glad you're alive and here with me." She said.

"I'm glad to be alive and with you as well; glad that I remember myself and you." He replied.

When Naru's tears finally dried up and she was calm they sat down on the couch and really began to talk.

"What have you been doing since you found yourself alive again?" She asked.

Nephrite explained how they had all woke up in the hospital with no memory of themselves or anything but basic functions. Later they realized they remembered other things, but still nothing of who they were or where they had come from.

"So I eventually picked the name Shusuke, since we needed names, and was lucky enough to find a job with the planetarium since I figured out I was very interested in astronomy. Since then I've just been living my life hoping some memories would come to me of who I was." He said, and she nodded.

"And then Mamoru shows up." Naru said, and he nodded.

"Yes. He showed up telling me a tale about the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, and how he had known me in a past life. I wasn't too interested in what happened in a supposed past life, but then Mamoru said that he wanted to help me remember that life." Nephrite said.

"The others said they remembered it as well as what their life was before waking up in the hospital, and that was what convinced me; that they remembered life before waking in the hospital." He explained.

"Once Mamoru unlocked all my memories it was overwhelming but also great. I instantly learned that my name really had been Shusuke; of all the names I picked it was the one I had been named at birth." He said before he shook his head lightly.

"I remembered my time in the Negaverse, remembered my time with you, my life before the Negaverse got to me, and further I remembered my past life." He continued.

"Your life in the Silver Millennium." Naru said.

"Yes. I remember it all." Nephrite said, and then frowned as a thought occurred to him. "There's something I want to tell you. The others might mention it, and I don't want you to think I'm hiding it or there's anything to it."

"Okay." Naru said as she nodded.

"In the past I was in a relationship with Sailor Jupiter." He revealed, and listened as she gasped.

"Really?!" Naru said.

"Yes." He answered seriously.

"And you remember that and you're still..." She began. She didn't finish but he knew what she meant.

"Yes. I remember that relationship, remember Jupiter, and know she's around, but I still chose to be with you." Nephrite said firmly. "Maybe if I hadn't met you I would've had no problem continuing that relationship, just as Endymion and Serenity have, but I met you and I like you and I want to pick up where we left off."

"Really?" Naru asked.

"Yes." He said reassuringly. "I like what I know about you and want to continue to get to know you, and I'm not willing to pass up on that chance just to try and get to know this modern version of Jupiter and hope she remembers our past relationship."

"Thank you for telling me." She said. "I want to pick up where we left off as well."

"Then that's what we'll do." Nephrite said as he grasped her hand, and she smiled as she squeezed his hand. "So how do you like being a senshi? Have you done anything yet?"

"I only decided yesterday that I would accept being a senshi, and told everyone today about my decision and transformed for the first time." Naru explained.

"How do you like it?" He asked.

"It's interesting. I didn't realize how short the skirt would be and the high heels are more than a bit intimidating, but I like it overall. I just need to get used to it and start training." She answered.

"I'm glad you decided to become a senshi. I can't wait to see what you look like." Nephrite said.

"What about you? From the colors in my communicator watch I assume you and the guys have uniforms of some sort." Naru said, and he nodded and showed his communicator watch.

"I'm the dark red one. My uniform is light red and white, and I have a cape and a sword." Nephrite told her.

"Then we match." She said as she showed him her communicator watch. "We're the red ones; I can't wait to see you in your uniform."

"Let's hope it's before we fight together; I don't want you to be distracted by my good looks." He said.

Naru laughed and smiled; she was so happy. Her Nephrite was back and he wanted to be with her. He was glad that she was a senshi, and they would be able to spend more time together with them being part of the same fighting team.

With that she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and they exchanged phone numbers, so they could contact each other without using their communicators. Then they began to talk about the other guys, Jadeite, Kunzite, and Zoisite, and what his and their life had been like in the past in the Silver Millennium until Usagi and Mamoru rejoined them.

Friday: Day Twelve

Early Morning

The secret fighters that protected Tokyo, and the entire planet when necessary, raced through the cold morning air from their neighborhoods on their way to deal with a cardian.

Sailor Mercury had contacted all of them with the exception of the newly inducted Sailor Mars, and given them the directions to the cardian's location which had turned out to be a subway station.

They were all groggy and disgruntled at the early morning wake up call for a fight since they had all expected to be awakened by their alarm clocks, but it didn't stop them from transforming and heading out of their homes.

Now they were all running through the slightly empty streets and occasionally on rooftops converging on the station where the cardian was last reported to have been. They passed the entrance to other stations, and some of them considered going through those stations to get to the one they needed.

However, they each decided against it since they would have to run through the tunnels that the trains traveled through and that was beyond dangerous. They were dark narrow tunnels with train tracks that made it so their footing would be uneven.

They were fast on their feet, but the trains were faster and slower to stop. And on top of that they risked getting sprained ankles and possibly falling.

Sailor Mercury and Sailor Venus arrived nearly at the same time coming from opposite directions on the same side of the street. They waved at each other as Mercury slowed as she reached the partitioned stairs leading down to the station, but were distracted as people came running up the stairs scared and in a panic.

"You ready to go down there?" Venus asked Mercury after she dodged around the running people and came to a stop next to her.

"You don't want to wait for the others?" Mercury asked in return.

"As of right now the situation doesn't call for us to stand back and wait for back up. We need to get down there and not only see the situation, but help the people that are still down there." Venus replied seriously, and the blue scout nodded.

"Okay; let's go." Mercury said.

Venus nodded in return and they both began to head down the stairs, dodging around the stragglers that were still trying to escape. Once down there they rushed toward the fare gates and jumped over them before heading to the stairs going down to where the trains and platforms were.

The first thing they saw was people scattered around collapsed on the platform. They were all wearing some form of attire that spoke of them going to work with hand bags, briefcases, and backpacks on them or next to them.

They rushed forward, carefully stepping over and around the collapsed people, and moved further down the platform. In the distance, about halfway down the platform as far as they could tell, they spotted the cardian.

It was standing calmly with two tentacles growing out of its hair and wrapped around two people that were glowing lightly; clearly unconscious and having their energy stolen.

It had the form of a female like all the other cardian's with pointed elf-like ears, orange hair in the style of a crescent, light blue skin, and red eyes. It was wearing a pink strap mini dress with slits up the sides all the way to the hips with a dark navy blue band around the waist, large light green shoulder ornaments, and green crisscross straps around its forearms and matching lower leg straps connecting to green strap wedge high heel shoes.

They slowed to a stop when they grew closer and watched the cardian drop the people it had been holding and the tentacles flow back into its hair and disappear as it turned to them.

Venus and Mercury glanced at each other as they noted how calm and quiet the cardian was, and looked back to it and saw that coming up from behind it from the other end of the platform was Sailor Jupiter and Tuxedo Kamen.

The only one missing of those who had been called was Sailor Moon, but they knew she lived the furthest away from this station. They would just have to start without her, and hopefully they could have the cardian mostly defeated by the time she arrived.

The cardian glanced back to Tuxedo Kamen and Jupiter, and Venus took the chance to attack while its attention was elsewhere. She silently fired off her Crescent Beam, sending her light beam streaking toward the cardian.

The cardian leapt to the side, nimbly avoiding the attack and the people scattered on the ground, and lifted her hand. A solid green whip seemed to grow out of the palm of her hand before she flung it toward Venus and Mercury.

Both senshi leapt back and Jupiter launched her Supreme Thunder attack sending her lightning flying through the air toward the cardian.

The cardian ducked under the attack as it flew over her head and slammed harmlessly into a wall. Then it opened its mouth and spewed out a thin stream of orange liquid in the direction of Jupiter and Tuxedo Kamen.

They both dodged to the side away from each other and watched the liquid fall to the floor, and some onto an unlucky man, and begin to bubble and eat away at the floor and clothing of the man.

Clearly it was some type of acid, and they all made a mental note to be extra careful to avoid it at all cost.

.:xXx:.

Sailor Moon ran as fast as she could, trying to get to the subway station as quickly as possible, since she knew the others would be there before her. Sometimes it irritated her to be the one that lived further away.

She knew she could have teleported herself to the scene, but she also knew that that could be dangerous. She didn't know the layout of the subway station well enough to picture it in her mind, and beyond that she feared landing on someone or someone running into her on her arrival.

Not to mention being hit with an attack on arrival. Either from the cardian or friendly fire. She thought with a slight grimace.

That was the last thing she wanted, so she continued to run to her destination. A few minutes later she arrived and skipped down the stairs to the fare stations and hurried toward the fare gates, jumping over them, and hurrying down the stairs to the train platform where she could hear the sound of a fight in progress.

She saw people down on the large tile floor and carefully moved over and around them toward the fighting. Soon she was getting her first glimpse of the cardian, and saw that it was a female just as the previous ones had been and just as unique looking.

She lifted her hands and sent her Infinite Moonlight Illusion Beam at the cardian while its back was to her. The infinite repeating image of silver blue tinted crescent moons within a beam of white light streaked by Venus and Mercury, and slammed into the cardian's back.

---

The female cardian screamed as she flew forward. Tuxedo Kamen and Jupiter moved away and back toward Venus, Mercury, and the newly arrived Sailor Moon. She slammed onto the floor and skidded slightly before she rolled onto her feet and flung her whip back at them. They all dodged and began to attack.

Mercury Aqua Rhapsody. Mercury launched her attack, sending streams of water flowing quickly toward the cardian.

Supreme Thunder. Jupiter sent her attack at the cardian as well, and combined it with Mercury's water.

Crescent Beam. Venus thought as she launched her attack, sending her beam forward.

Burning Rose Illusion. Tuxedo Kamen said internally as he threw his fiery golden rose blossoms toward the cardian.

Infinite Moonlight Illusion Beam. Sailor Moon followed up, joining her white beam with a repeating image of silver blue tinted crescent moons with the other attacks.

The cardian nimbly leapt around, dodging each attack, and flicking her whip at one to stop it before rushing forward toward the fighters. She swung her whip around in a half circle at the fighters, and they all dodged. Some ducked under it and others jumped over it.

The cardian continued to run in their direction and spewed its orange acid at them not only to hurt them but to also keep them out of her way. As she passed by she rushed down the platform and toward the stairs and escalator.

Tuxedo Kamen and the Senshi followed the light blue skinned female as she left the subway platform, and headed up the stairs toward the fare gates. As they reached the top they saw the cardian heading up the stairs to the street, and they followed jumping over the fare gates and rushing toward the stairs.

They hurried up them and slowed cautiously as they reached the top since the cardian wasn't in their line of sight anymore, and looked around before they spotted the cardian heading across the street.

They immediately attacked as they spread out, careful of any cars that might be passing.

Tuxedo Kamen launched his Spinning Rose Evolution attack, Mercury launched her Mercury Ice Bubbles, Jupiter launched her Supreme Thunder attack, Venus launched her Crescent Beam, and Sailor Moon launched her Infinite Moonlight Illusion Beam.

Right after that Tuxedo Kamen quickly started launching his piercing roses at the cardian, hoping to hurt it further and keep it distracted so the attacks hit.

The cardian dodged the first and second attack, but was hit by the lightning when she was distracted by the flowers being thrown her way with the remainder of the attacks. She screamed but it was cut off abruptly as she was hit with the next two attacks, which blasted her back even as she was riddled with the flowers she had seen earlier.

She hit the ground with a pained cry before shouting in anger.

The fighters stopped moving and watched the angry cardian warily, idly becoming aware that this cardian didn't say anything so it either didn't have a name or didn't feel the need to reveal it, before they felt the ground shaking and heard rumbling beneath them.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen looked at each other, both thinking they shouldn't let the cardian do whatever it was doing.

He pulled out a hand full of roses, and watched them turn black, before he focused back on the monster.

Deadly Rose Petals. He thought as he threw them sharply, and watched as they shattered mid flight into black razor sharp rose petals as they flew toward the monster.

Sailor Moon summoned her scepter and pointed it at the cardian, hoping to finish it off before it could do anything else, but was thrown off balance as the ground shook harder and thick green roots began to burst through the asphalt.

She cried out in surprise as the ground beneath her buckled up, and she looked down to see an even larger root rising up quickly.

Tuxedo Kamen looked back to his princess and his eyes widened before he rushed toward her. He watched as she was almost pushed up into the air and began to fly backward toward the stairs headed down to the subway station.

He ducked under the root since it had rose that high from the ground in an arched position, and grabbed his princess' forearm and pulled her toward him as he twisted. Her momentum caused her to swing around back toward the direction she had come from, and he wrapped his free arm around her waist as he continued to pull her to him.

"Thanks." Sailor Moon said as she wrapped her free arm around his shoulders to keep herself steady as he lowered her to the ground.

"Anytime." He replied as he released her.

They both returned their attention to the cardian, who had managed to get to its feet, and watched as she ran along the roots swinging her whip at anyone who approached her.

Jupiter ran jumping over and swerving around roots as she fired off her Supreme Thunder attack at the cardian sending lightning streaking toward the female.

Mercury dodged a root that was bursting up from the ground and launched her Mercury Ice Bubbles in a continuous stream at the thick roots that were coming up out of the ground and that were waving high in the air.

Off to her side Venus launched her Crescent Beam sending the beam at the frozen roots, blasting them into bits and pieces so they were no longer a problem.

Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon rushed forward and added their attacks before more roots could burst up through the ground.

Sailor Moon pointed her scepter as she ran and sent her Infinite Moonlight Illusion Beam at the cardian; the white beam with the infinite repeating image of silver blue tinted crescent moons blasted through a frozen root and toward the female.

Tuxedo Kamen threw a handful of his piercing roses ahead of him at the cardian as he ran then pulled out two roses and launched his Deadly Rose Petals sending razor sharp black rose petals rapidly spinning toward the cardian.

The cardian managed to dodge the lightning coming her way and flicked her whip at the white beam that approached her, knocking it out of existence. Then she turned her attention to the flowers and flower petals streaking toward her.

She raised a thick root from the ground to block the attack and swung it outward at the fighters before raising more up through the ground.

Mercury ducked under a root as she once again launched her Mercury Ice Bubbles at the roots, freezing them where they came out of the ground to their tips.

Venus launched her Crescent Beam at the cardian, and Jupiter launched her Supreme Thunder attack right afterward.

The two attacks combined, the lightning circling the beam, as they flew toward the cardian.

Mercury quickly stopped her freezing bubbles and activated her visor, the thin transparent blue glass sliding into place over her eyes, and watched the cardian trying to predict its next movements.

She quickly saw what she needed and launched her Mercury Ice Bubbles again, this time low in the direction to the cardian's right.

The cardian flicked her whip at the now frozen roots to get them out of her way as she moved, and quickly spun to the side to dodge the combined beam and lightning, but cried out in surprise as she was suddenly hit with a cold attack that hit her legs.

Tuxedo Kamen launched his Spinning Rose Evolution attack at the cardian's frozen legs sending a red beam of rose petals flying through the air before it crashed into the frozen limps and shattered them.

The cardian screamed as it fell and Mercury launched her Mercury Aqua Rhapsody attack at it from where she stood.

Sailor Moon pointed her scepter at the cardian and launched her Moon Scepter Elimination attack at the creature wanting it to be defeated right now.

Not at all by design Mercury's swirls of water wrapped around Sailor Moon's swirl of pink and blue light with large white crescent moons and blue stars in the middle, and streak through the air before the combined attack slammed into the cardian's chest blasting it back.

The cardian screamed in agony and began to glow brighter and brighter, the remaining roots disappearing, before it stopped screaming abruptly and its glowing figure began to shrink.

The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen watched the cardian cautiously as it grew smaller and smaller. Finally it stopped shrinking and the glow disappeared leaving behind a familiar tarot sized card stuck upright in the asphalt. The cardian's tiny image on the card faded away as they watched leaving the card blank.

"Is everyone alright?" Sailor Moon asked as they all slowly gathered together, and watched everyone nod.

"We're fine; just a bit tired because of the early hour." Venus said for everyone, and everyone nodded again.

"Good." Sailor Moon said. "In that case we should get out of here before the authorities begin to show up."

"And so we can get our day started since I doubt any of us has time for a nap much less going back to sleep." Tuxedo Kamen added.

Everyone nodded and they all took off running, splitting up as they headed back home to get ready for school and the start of their day.

.:xXx:.

A light green skinned male with dark blue eyes stood at the edge of the roof of a tall building in the cool morning air. His long light blue hair flowed down his back, and his dark blue full bodysuit kept him warm as he kept his eyes on the cardian he and his companion had sent out.

His eyes and senses were open as he watched wanting to see it gather more energy and hopefully get away from the fighters.

He and his companion needed the energy it was currently carrying and whatever more it was able to gather. They had not gotten a good boost since their lion cardian had gotten away, so they had figured sending a cardian out in the early morning hours would work.

The only people out that early were those heading to work, and they had the energy to spare. Not that it mattered if they did or didn't.

He had kept his senses on the cardian while it had been down in the subway and saw from the running people that came up that it was succeeding even though some were getting away. It also meant he saw when those female fighters and masked man began to arrive, which he wasn't too happy about.

Long minutes passed as he waited to either sense if his cardian would fail or if it would emerge above ground victorious.

As he waited his mind drifted, as it often did these days, to the beauty he had introduced himself to at school. Her beautiful long hair, the unique style, her blue eyes, and her smiling face.

He still hadn't figured out how to get her to like him, but he was not going to give up. He just needed to figure out how to get her to talk to him. To really talk to him and not brief spots here and there that he went out of his way to start.

He needed to find a way to get her interested in him.

Suddenly he was pulled from his thoughts as he saw the cardian come running up to street level, and head across the street toward the tall building he was standing on. He looked back to the subway entrance and narrowed his eyes as he saw the fighters cautiously coming up.

Soon they were all attacking the cardian and she managed to avoid the first two attacks to head her way, but he frowned slightly as she was hit with each of the remaining attacks.

She shouted angrily and he nodded as she brought thick green roots up through the street to block and attack the fighters.

He thought for sure that this ability of the cardian would do the trick against the fighters, especially with the fighter with the extremely long hair having trouble, but much to his displeasure that wasn't what happened.

Once she was helped they all seemed to tackle the problem of the roots easily and continued to attack the cardian.

The cardian used her whip and managed to avoid the attacks, but not for as long as he expected or would have liked. She was hit by an attack from the female in blue and white, then by the masked man, and finally by a combined attack from the female with long hair and the female in blue and white.

He watched with an angry frown as the cardian he had hoped would bring back energy was defeated, and to his eyes it had happened fairly easily and quickly after the fighters arrived. Not even the early morning hour had helped in slowing down the fighters.

Clearly he and his companion would have to choose a stronger cardian to get the energy they needed. They couldn't choose Cardians at random anymore.

I need to hurry home. He thought as he shook his head slightly. Not only do I need to tell An what happened, but I need to get ready for school.

With that thought he teleported away.

Late Afternoon

Mamoru, Usagi, and Naru were in his car as he drove them toward Minako's school to pick her up. After Naru and Nephrite's reunion she, Usagi, and Mamoru had made plans to train in Elysion. They had contacted Minako and she had easily agreed to join them.

They hadn't told Makoto and Ami where they were training, since they didn't know about the place and Mamoru didn't trust them to know, only that Usagi had wanted to start Naru's training small with just her, Minako, and Mamoru.

"Do you like your parents knowing you're a senshi?" Naru asked her best friend as she looked away from the window.

"I do. It makes things easier when I have to suddenly run out to fight while I'm at home. I don't have to stress about what I'm going to encounter when I make it back home; if they'll have noticed I snuck out and if I'm going to be in trouble." Usagi said.

"Although, while I answer their questions and satisfy their curiosity I don't tell them everything." She added, and Mamoru smiled knowing where this was going.

"For example, just last weekend I told them I was going to have a sleepover with the girls when I really just wanted to spend the night with Mamoru." She explained.

Naru's eyes widened. She was certainly old enough to know that that hadn't been about just having a sleepover with Mamoru.

"You guys are at that level in your relationship?" She said in surprise.

"Yes," Usagi said as she smiled. "but in that instance we really had just gone to sleep together as soon as we changed out of our training clothes."

"The part of our relationship you're thinking about started because of my DNA changing. It was different for me than with the girls. Being guardian senshi made it so they could live on any planet in order to protect me, but I could only live on a planet other than the Moon if I bonded with someone from that planet." She explained.

"On top of that only bonding with my soulmate would allow me to continue using my powers without a problem." She continued.

Usagi went on to describe how her becoming sick the year before, when she missed all those days of school, had been the start, after that had been weakness, and last had been excruciating pain. In order for them to stop the pain she and Mamoru had to bind themselves together heart, body, and soul.

"And that's what we did, and I've been pain free ever since. Except for that brief time when Rei caused Mamoru to be captured. That whole solution to my DNA change aside, I don't tell my parents everything and don't intend to, but when it comes to my fighting and training I like that they know." She said.

"Okay." Naru said thoughtfully as she nodded before she turned her mind elsewhere. She recalled back to that morning when Usagi, Ami, and Makoto told her about the fight with the cardian they had been in earlier before they arrived at school.

"When will the guys start joining the fights?" She asked them.

"It depends on when the guys feel they're ready to join." Mamoru said. "It would be nice to have them out now and joining us right away, but I would rather have them trained and comfortable using their powers before they do so; just like with you."

"I'd also like them to at least have one training session with all of us, so we all can be used to fighting along side each other." Usagi added.

"I can understand that." Naru said. "It would hopefully mean none of us would be getting in each other's way, and we would know what the other was capable of."

"Exactly." Mamoru and Usagi said together.

"That's something that's going to be hard to do with the guys having to work. We might have to have a late nighttime training session for it to happen." Mamoru said.

"Hopefully nothing happens to force them to fight before then." Usagi said. "They're capable and can handle it just like the girls did when they first transformed, but I would rather have us all fighting along side each other for the first time in a controlled environment instead of during a random fight with a cardian."

"That makes sense. I hope that's able to happen." Naru said.

"Me too." Usagi said.

Before more could be said Mamoru turned a corner and pulled up to Minako's school. Looking around they spotted her standing to the side of the open gate to the entrance to the school.

Mamoru slowed the car to a stop and Usagi unbuckled her seatbelt, got out, and waved as she called Minako's name. Minako smiled and waved back before she hurried over to the car.

"Hey everyone." Minako said after she climbed into the backseat with Naru, and watched as Usagi sat back in her seat and closed the door.

They all greeted her before Mamoru began to drive away and head to his apartment.

.:xXx:.

Mamoru, Usagi, Minako, and Naru entered his quiet apartment before closing the door behind them. They moved further in and over behind the couch where there was more room.

"Hold on to each other so no one gets left behind." Mamoru told the young women.

Usagi grabbed hold of Naru's hand with one hand and Minako's hand in her other, and Minako and Naru held hands.

Mamoru wrapped his arms around his soulmate's shoulders and focused on bringing himself and the three young women to Elysion. In the next moment they disappeared in a flash of gold light and appeared in the sacred place to the fragrance of fresh roses.

"Welcome to Elysion Naru." Mamoru said.

"Wow." Naru said as she looked around.

She was awed and impressed at the practical sea of red roses that blanketed the ground. And she wondered what that white building was that wasn't very far from them.

"Before we start I think we should take some time to show Naru some of our previous fights. That way she can visually get used to seeing the type of action we deal with, and have an idea what to expect when she goes out to fight." Mamoru said.

"That's an excellent suggestion." Usagi said as she nodded. "I wish I could have had the benefit of that before I was thrown into my first fight."

"Me too." Minako agreed. "Even with my fighting instincts it was daunting to find myself suddenly this warrior and fighting strange beings."

"What do you think Naru?" Mamoru asked.

"I would definitely appreciate any help you all are willing to give, and if you think this is something that can help me then I'm all for it." Naru said. "I'm surprised something like this can be done, and I'm curious to see what it will be like."

"I'm curious too." Minako said since she had never seen them do something like that; didn't even know they could.

"Okay." Mamoru said and glanced to his side to see Helios approaching them as he usually did.

Usagi looked over and smiled as she spotted the young-looking man.

"Hello Helios." She said.

"Hey." Minako said with a smile and a cheerful wave as she turned to him.

Helios stopped near them and bowed.

"Greetings Prince Endymion, Princess Serenity, Sailor Venus." He said, and then looked to the remaining young woman curiously; sensing some essence of Mars within her.

"This is my best friend Naru. She's the reincarnation of the princess of Mars, and has agreed to become Sailor Mars." Usagi said. "Naru, this is Helios; Guardian of Elysion."

"Hi." Naru said as she smiled a little shyly.

"Greetings Sailor Mars." Helios replied.

"We're here to get started on Naru's training, but first we're going to show her some of our previous fights so she'll have an idea of what it's like." Mamoru explained.

"I understand." Helios said as he nodded.

"You're welcome to stay and watch if you wish." Mamoru told him.

"I would like to watch. Thank you for the opportunity." Helios replied.

"No problem." Mamoru said before he looked to his princess. "Do you have any specific fights you want to show her?" He asked.

"The fight at the ice skating rink is the first one to come to mind." Usagi said, and he nodded.

"It should be from your point of view since you went into the fight first." Mamoru said.

Usagi nodded as she raised her hands and summoned her crystal with barely a thought. It appeared floating just above her palms glowing softly. She focused on the memory of the fight from when she and Mamoru arrived and got their first look at what they were dealing with to the defeat of the youma couple.

Please project this memory from where I wish to start and where I want to stop; excluding any internal thoughts or conversation between me and my prince. She asked her crystal. She didn't want to go any further and have Naru seeing Kunzite and Zoisite attacking them.

Naru watched wide eyed as the glowing light around the silver crystal, obviously the crystal her best friend had told her about when she first revealed her secret life, pulsed gently before white light flooded outward and spread around them engulfing the immediate area.

She was blinded briefly and then the light cleared leaving the five of them standing behind the kneeling forms of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen.

She looked around wide eyed, hardly believing what she was seeing but knowing she was in fact seeing it and it was real, so she shook off her surprise and focused on what was happening in the memory.

Sailor's Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars were there fighting. Along with another senshi much to her surprise; wearing the senshi suit but in the color of purple, and looking similar to Sailor Moon with the hair style. She couldn't help wondering who that was and where they were now.

Her eyes skipped to the two youma they were fighting, a male and a female. They were pale skinned, snow white pale, and dramatically dressed, and were clearly very good at moving and fighting on the ice while wearing ice skates. And their eyes were so red; almost glowing in their vibrancy.

While Naru took in each individual youma Minako stared at the scene in fascination. It was strange to see a fight scene from a spectators point of view, and especially to see herself in action.

Strange but also good. It definitely gave her an idea, but she would have to ask Usagi and Mamoru if it was possible. If it was, then what she had in mind would emphasize Usagi's point of having her and the other's train without Usagi and Mamoru.

Helios for his part was extremely fascinated with what was happening. Seeing a fight that Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity had been involved in was something he never thought to see.

In fact, he had never been interested, but with constantly seeing them train their skills and abilities he had become interested. He had just never seen a way to do such since he could not know where and when a fight would happen.

"Who's the senshi in purple?" Naru asked.

"That's actually one of my shittenou, Zoisite, while he was still with the Negaverse." Mamoru answered. "He disguised himself as Sailor Moon during the time she had quit and wasn't out there fighting to try and lure me out to capture me."

Naru made a surprised understanding sound and nodded as she watched. That explained why the senshi looked similar to Sailor Moon, and he was doing a good job acting like he was one of them and belonged.

"This was my first fight back after quitting, and after getting the training I needed." Usagi added.

"Okay." Naru said as she nodded and watched the Senshi. All of them except Mercury were slipping and sliding on the ice but still managing to stay on their feet somehow. She couldn't imagine having to fight on ice like that.

She supposed Mercury wasn't having trouble because she was standing still typing into her minicomputer. And Zoisite wasn't having any trouble either, but she guessed that was because of whatever abilities he had from being part of the Negaverse.

She blinked and focused on Sailor Moon as she stood and moved onto the ice, and was surprised to see blades appear on the bottom of her boots.

"That's convenient." She said.

"I thought the same thing at the time." Usagi replied.

Naru continued to watch, her eyes flickering between Sailor Moon and the two youma, before she was surprised again as she along with Usagi, Minako, Mamoru, and Helios were suddenly moving along behind Sailor Moon.

She looked to Usagi for an explanation.

"It's the power of the crystal making it easier for us to follow the action surrounding my memory self." Usagi said.

Naru nodded in understanding and returned her focus to the scene. The male finally noticed Sailor Moon and began to head for her, his arm lifted with a sharp looking blade attached to his elbow or in that area.

He's fast, very fast. I wonder how this fight went with that kind of speed against her. She thought. She supposed she would find out since that was one of the points of watching the memory.

She watched Sailor Moon skate off to the side and spin away to avoid the blade, and then she began to skate back toward the male as he turned and began to skate back toward her.

She bent down and Naru was sure that she was preparing to jump up to avoid him since he wasn't attacking yet, but then the male lifted his leg as if to kick it at her or strike with the blade of his skate.

"Oh!" Naru and Minako said in surprise in the next moment as instead of jumping Sailor Moon ducked down and skated under his leg and punched him in the crotch as she passed by.

"Well that's one way to hurt the enemy." Minako said.

"Clearly it worked." Usagi said as she grinned.

Naru nodded as she listened to the male cry out his pain. She understood what wasn't said though. It didn't have to be an attack using her powers or conventional fighting. She could do something completely outside the box in attacking the enemy as long as it worked.

They were pulled along as Sailor Moon skated toward Sailor Mercury, and stopped next to them as she slowed to a stop.

"What have you learned about them so far?" She asked Mercury.

"They're incredibly fast. They use their blades, which are incredibly sharp, but more importantly they're humans, so we can't destroy them." Sailor Mercury said.

"Maybe they were counting on me not being here, and you all being unable to stop the youma without killing the humans locked inside." Sailor Moon suggested.

"That's likely." Mercury said before she put her minicomputer away.

The group then watched as Sailor's Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and the disguised Zoisite got the female youma inside the loose circle they had formed. Jupiter and Venus both attacked but they missed since the youma was moving so fast.

Suddenly Sailor Moon looked behind her, and they all looked to see the male youma speeding toward them.

"Come on! We have to move. Now." Sailor Moon said, and they watched her grab hold of Mercury's hand and begin to pull her as she began to skate away.

Unfortunately Mercury was having as much trouble as the others had been with slipping and sliding on the ice. It was clear that Sailor Moon was torn about what to do between Mercury's instability and the approaching threat.

Suddenly she released Mercury's hand and began to skate away, and as they helplessly followed they looked back to see Tuxedo Kamen sweep Mercury off her feet as he sped forward and joined Sailor Moon, clearly showing that he too had somehow gained blades on the bottom of his shoes that turned them into improvised ice skates.

He put her down and the three looked at the male youma speeding their way before Mercury acted.

"Mercury Ice Bubbles!" She said calmly and sent a stream of bubbles that turned into a fog toward the youma.

Naru watched as the fog seemed to expand wider but didn't seem to do anything. She thought it should have frozen the youma simply from its name, but it didn't so she looked closer since Mercury didn't appear frustrated or upset.

It didn't take her long to realize the male wasn't moving as fast as he had been. The attack may not have done what she thought it should, but it had obviously done enough.

From there she watched as Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon began to quickly skate toward the male, and to her surprise he grabbed Sailor Moon's hands and began to swing her around until the blades of her skates slammed into the male youma.

"Wow." She said in amazement to see that they had pulled that off perfectly. Sailor Moon hadn't looked scared or worried; just calm and confident.

"Yeah; that looked impressive." Minako said as she watched Tuxedo Kamen right Sailor Moon onto her skates and she skated around him to stop next to him.

They watched the youma skid across the ice until his head slammed into the wall lining the ice rink. Then Sailor Moon pulled out her wand, one Naru didn't think she had seen before, and they watched as light poured out of the crescent toward the male youma and then the female youma. Both looking as normal as any person once the light cleared away.

As soon as Naru could tell that the pair were unconscious the scene began to fade from around them until they were all once again standing among the fragrant roses in Elysion.

"Well, that was interesting and informative." Naru said.

"Good. I have another memory to show you." Usagi said, and Naru nodded.

Again Usagi focused on the memory she wanted and asked her crystal to project it for them to see without her internal thoughts or conversation with her prince. The crystal pulsed gently before its white light flooded out once again and engulfed the immediate area around the group.

Naru blinked as the light faded and she found herself and the others standing on a sidewalk at night. In the next moment she watched Usagi, as Sailor Moon, speed around a corner and sprint down the sidewalk pass them.

They followed, pulled along by the power of the crystal, and kept pace with her as she continued to run; her face serious and focused.

They turned another corner and Naru then realized that they were headed to her house, and then her eyes widened as she understood this must have been the attack on her when she was on the phone with Usagi.

She paid even closer attention, wanting to see what happened while she was unconscious, and watched as Venus entered her house through her open bedroom window. Then her eyes widened as her front door was blown off and Jupiter came flying back with it with the creature, the cardian, appearing right afterward in the doorway.

Her eyes flickered all over as she watched Sailor Moon protect herself from the cardian, and Mars attack followed by Venus.

The fighting happened quickly after that with the monster being defeated just as quickly and violently with its arm being shot off before it was destroyed.

She frowned as she saw its body shrink and be reduced to a card that quickly faded to a blank white surface.

"Hmm...so that's what happened while I was unconscious." Naru said as the scene faded away once again revealing the beautiful scenery of Elysion, and they all nodded.

"The defeat of the cardian restored your energy level, which is why you were fine so quickly." Mamoru said.

"Ah." She said in understanding. "What would have happened if it got away with my energy?"

"You would've had to rebuild your energy and likely would have been taken to a hospital and remained unconscious for at least a day." Minako answered, and Naru nodded in understanding.

"Is it possible to show one of my memories?" Minako asked as she looked to Usagi and Mamoru.

Usagi and Mamoru looked at each other and shrugged.

"We won't know until we try." Usagi said, and Minako nodded.

"What should I do?" She asked.

"Put your hands over mine," Usagi said since she still hand the crystal between her hands. "and focus on the memory you want us to see. And be specific; from where you want to start to where you want to stop, and if you want your thoughts included or not."

"You can actually include thoughts?" Minako asked in surprise.

"I don't know. Since the first time I tried showing a memory I've been specific about not including thoughts just in case since I was showing my parents." Usagi said. "You wouldn't think it but I had a lot of thoughts going through my mind during our fights with youma and even with Cardians that they absolutely didn't need to hear."

Mamoru nodded in agreement. Not to mention our internal conversations since our link evolved. Her parents definitely didn't need to hear any of that. He thought.

"Okay." Minako said as she lifted her hands and placed them right on top of Usagi's, and closed her eyes to better focus on the memory she had in mind and making sure her private thoughts weren't included.

Please project the memory that Minako is focusing on. Usagi asked her crystal as she focused on it.

It pulsed gently once and then again before white light flared and flooded out engulfing them all before spreading out and around the area. When the light cleared the small group found themselves moving through the air as Venus ran along top large containers that clearly meant they were at a port harbor.

"What you're about to see is an example of why Usagi wants us to train to fight without her and Mamoru, and why I agree whole heartedly." Minako told Naru. "This fight took place not many days after I arrived in the city while Usagi had still been away from the team."

"So it was just Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars fighting." Naru said.

"Yes." Minako said as she nodded.

Mamoru, Usagi, and Helios watched carefully as well. For Helios this was his chance to see how the Senshi had fought in their earlier days, and for Usagi and Mamoru this was their chance to see how the Senshi fought without either of them present.

It was not long before they heard the sounds of blasts, screams, and shouts. They reached a blue container where Artemis lay flat so as to clearly not be seen. Venus slowed and quickly knelt at his side.

"Did I miss much?" She asked as she looked over the scene.

"No. The youma has been attacking the port workers, ship crew, and destroying containers." They listened to Artemis answer as they looked out onto the scene as well. "Some of the workers jumped into the water to escape or took refuge on the closest ship. Others weren't so lucky."

They all took in the youma; Naru especially seeing how it was different than the Cardians she had seen so far. It was a female with skin as white as snow, dark purple eyes with no pupil, and had short white downy feathers for hair. It was wearing a white pillow case with no footwear.

They watched and listened as Mars loudly launched her fireball attack, which the youma avoided, then Jupiter launched her lightning attack just as loudly. The youma leapt into the air to avoid the attack and launched one of its own in the form of long white feathers that rained down on the Senshi.

Naru frowned as she wondered what kind of harm that was supposed to do, but then her eyes widened as they began to explode on contact with anything.

Usagi and Mamoru watched carefully noting how Mars and Jupiter had loudly announced their attacks. That was different and something that had thankfully been eliminated with training.

Once the attack stopped Mercury spread her fog around the area, likely to give them cover and time to reorient themselves, as the youma landed and settled on top of an orange container.

The youma looked incredibly confident, and just seemingly waited to see what the Senshi would do next. That was wrong, their enemy should never look that confident for long, and this youma had looked that way from the start.

They all watched as Jupiter and Mars moved slowly through the fog toward the youma from their positions before Mars made her move. She pulled a thin piece of paper out of nowhere and threw it at the youma.

"What's that paper for?" Naru asked in confusion.

"It's a sutra that will immobilize the being on contact." Usagi answered.

Naru made a sound of understanding and nodded, and then grimaced slightly as her predecessor shouted. Even she knew that the loud sound would alert the youma, and it did which made what she was trying to do useless.

She watched as Jupiter got close to the youma and engaged it in a physical fight, but the youma was perfectly able to defend itself and managed to get in some hits that looked particularly painful as they brought her down. And on top of that peppered her with its feathers.

Then Naru's eyes widened as she remembered those feathers had exploded earlier, but thankfully they appeared to just be the piercing kind. Still, she had them everywhere on her body. Her arms, stomach, chest, legs, and even her neck.

Jupiter was lucky the youma hadn't used the exploding ones or she would have been seriously injured if not worse. Clearly the youma had just been toying with her.

Mercury's fog eventually cleared and they saw her kneeling next to Jupiter while Mars attacked the youma in what was clearly anger. Her fireballs were flying at the youma again and again and again, but the youma was easily avoiding them and moving closer to Mars at the same time.

Naru shook her head. Mars was clearly letting her anger get the better of her since it didn't even look like she was registering that the youma was getting closer to her. If she did she would have moved back to keep her distance.

More quickly than Naru would have believed the youma flicked, almost threw, a feather at the ground at Mars' feet and it exploded and knocked Mars off her feet in the process. As she lay on her back the youma threw feathers down at her that pierced through her flesh and uniform to pin her to the ground and keep her there.

"Oh." Naru said quietly as she watched the youma clearly dismiss Mercury as a threat and walk away from her and the other two senshi she had incapacitated. Even she could see that was not good.

They had lost badly and the youma had gotten away on top of that. And it happened, in her opinion, because there were only three of them, Mercury hadn't helped fight, Jupiter hadn't anticipated that the youma could physically fight back, and Mars had let her anger get away from her instead of using it to better focus.

How would that fight have gone if Usagi, Minako, and Mamoru had fought with them? She wondered. Obviously Minako was there but she had clearly been there to watch and get a feel for how her fellow senshi fought; especially without Usagi and Mamoru.

Mercury she hadn't watched too closely, but she had been standing back and appearing to do nothing before and after spreading her fog. Clearly two senshi were not enough to fight the youma they had been dealing with after Usagi had quit the team.

The scene faded away again to reveal the small group standing amongst the roses in Eysion as the youma disappeared through a black portal.

"That was enlightening." Naru said, and Usagi nodded in agreement.

"Definitely." Mamoru said.

"At that point Mercury had nothing to use in a fight aside from her covering fog." Minako said. "Other than that the only thing she could contribute was to analyze the enemy for weaknesses. That was definitely important, but it wasn't a fire power to use against the youma."

"Furthermore, Jupiter was too arrogant about her physical fighting skills that she wasn't cautious enough, and as seen Mars let her anger get away from her and lost her focus." She added.

"I didn't know they had lost a fight while I was away from the team." Usagi said. "I'm definitely glad Ami has firepower now, and that Rei is no longer on the team."

"I'm not surprised that they lost." Mamoru said. "I have another example from before Minako arrived. If I remember correctly it was the last fight I was involved in before Usagi returned to the team."

The others nodded in understanding and he lifted his hands and silently summoned his golden crystal. It appeared floating between his palms, and he focused on the exact memory he had in mind. Where he wanted it to start and stop, and omitting any of his personal thoughts.

Can you project this memory along with the stipulations I want? He calmly asked his crystal.

His crystal pulsed gently before gold light flooded outward and surrounded them as it spread. When the light cleared they all blinked and found themselves moving through the night air alongside Tuxedo Kamen as he ran.

He soon reached his destination which turned out to be a playground, and perched high in a large tree at the edge of the park. They all hung weightlessly in the air next to him, and looked on the scene with him to see what was happening.

Again it was only Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars and they were fighting a youma that looked like it was made out of the materials for jungle gyms. From the sounds of it the red, yellow, and blue bars it consisted of were made up of metal bars.

The Senshi appeared to be doing fine...until the youma started to attack back. Metal bars were thrown and launched at them, and they had a hard time dodging considering the sandy surface of the playground they were standing on.

Tuxedo Kamen attacked the youma with one of his roses, which caused it to drop the bar it was about to throw, and jumped to the ground.

"Who? Who dares to hurt me? Jimbalina." The youma yelled in outrage.

"I do. Tuxedo Kamen. How dare you impersonate a child's play structure. A means to give children the opportunity for fun and lively exercise." He replied.

Usagi snorted in amusement.

"You made those speeches too!" Mamoru quickly said in response.

"Oh I know, and I don't know why we made those little speeches." She said with a light shrug.

"For me in this particular instance I was hoping to buy the Senshi some time." He said.

"Looking back my speeches were likely to boost my courage and buy myself some time before I had to actually fight the youma's." She said thoughtfully.

"That makes sense." He replied.

They tuned back into the memory and saw his masked self throwing his roses at the youma before he landed in the sand next to Jupiter.

They all listened to Jupiter thank him for the help as Mars attacked the youma with her fire, and his assurances as Mercury provided cover with her bubble fog that they were doing fine aside from their dodging.

"I'm a good fighter Tuxedo Kamen, but I know when I need help. Sailor Moon taught me that I didn't have to fight alone...that it was okay to ask for help, so thanks for helping and I hope you continue to help us." Jupiter said.

"Well that's nice to know. It certainly didn't seem that way when they weren't helping me, and writing me off as useless." Usagi said in a quiet bitter tone.

Makoto and Ami were steadily gaining her complete trust, but she still felt bitter about the fact that she had not gotten any help when she needed it, and instead was thought of as lazy and clumsy and not trying hard enough.

Mamoru leaned against her since he couldn't put his arms around her with his hands occupied with his crystal.

I understand, but don't dwell on it. He said through their bond. It's the past; things are different now. Ami and Makoto have learned their lessons and think differently now, and Rei is gone entirely so she is a nonissue. And Minako and Naru don't even have that type of mindset.

Naru frowned and grasped Usagi's hand silently as she continued to watch the memory seeing the fog clear up. Clearly her friend was still dealing with the emotional scars of what happened before she quit being a senshi despite the improved friendship between her and Ami and Makoto, and Rei's permanent absence.

Minako stepped over and behind Usagi and placed her hands on her shoulders in sympathy. She hated that her princess was still hurting over what happened with the girls before she arrived in the city.

And the events with Rei afterward that continued up until recently likely didn't help the matter. She thought. Thankfully with Ami and Makoto having gotten their act together and with Rei gone from their lives Usagi should really be able to heal from the way she had been treated and made to feel.

Usagi smiled around at her boyfriend and friends in appreciation before she focused back on the memory. The fight ended quickly from there. Jupiter electrocuted the youma and Tuxedo Kamen riddled it with his roses while Mars added her fire. The combination of attacks destroyed the youma, but it was clear the Senshi were exhausted.

The scene faded as it had with all the other memories leaving the group among the roses of Elysion, and Usagi and Mamoru put their crystals away.

"It's clear they were disadvantaged without you two there fighting with them." Naru said to Usagi and Mamoru.

"Yes." Minako agreed. "It's clear that they were having a hard time before you arrived, and I have no doubt that they would have lost if you hadn't shown up."

Mamoru and Usagi nodded in agreement. Despite saying that they had been doing fine besides dodging Mamoru thought it had only been his presence that caused the youma's defeat.

"That's why I want you and the others to be able to fight without me and Mamoru." Usagi said. "If something happened to us or if we simply can't get away from whatever we're doing, or even if there's more than one enemy to fight and we need to split up then I want you all to be capable of handling the enemy without a problem."

Helios stood off to the side of Prince Endymion watching and listening to the group. He had found the memories as interesting and enlightening as they did.

He thought it was an interesting and useful training method, and understood that it would indeed help the new Sailor Mars with what she would soon be facing.

He also understood Serenity's concern with having her Senshi capable of fighting without her and Endymion. After all, they were supposed to be her protectors. They should be able to handle the evil creatures they face without the princess if they truly planned on being her protective guardians.

"I understand. After all, what good is having guardians to protect you if we can't fight without you? That's like saying we need you in order to watch your own back, and if that's the case then we don't need to be there at all if you're just going to have to protect yourself." Naru said.

"Exactly." Usagi said as she nodded. "Alright. Let's transform. I want to start with sparring; this way Naru can start getting used to moving around in her high heels."

Everyone nodded and Helios moved back as the young women pulled out their transformation pens, and in Usagi's case her brooch.

"Mars Power, Make Up!" Naru said.

"Venus Power, Make Up!" Minako said.

"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!" Usagi said.

Mamoru was surrounded in bright light red light, Minako in bright orange light, Naru in bright red light, and Usagi in bright soft pink light. When the light cleared they stood as Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Venus.

Naru looked down at herself as she stood transformed for the second time. She pulled down on her skirt lightly, and looked up at the sound of Usagi's light laugh.

"It's going to take a little while to get used to the short skirt." Usagi said sympathetically. "I felt the same way. Even though I actually have skirts this short I don't go around fighting in them."

Naru nodded in agreement. It was the same for her; it was just being transformed in this skirt felt different.

"Try to ignore it for now, and eventually you'll forget and it won't bother you." Minako said.

Naru nodded and sighed as she moved her gloved hands away from the bright red skirt.

Usagi eased down into the roses and began to stretch out her legs, and the others followed suit. They stretched their arms along their legs, up into the air, and out to their sides. They moved their feet and ankles around, and twisted their upper bodies left and right to make sure they were completely stretched out and in no danger of pulling any muscles.

As she stretched Naru considered what she learned from the memories. The creatures she would be fighting could come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, be made of random materials, and even be regular people forced to transform into the creatures. They could be powerful, fast, weak, slow, or only have one attacking ability to rely on.

In terms of the Senshi, they worked better as a team, which they were supposed to, but each of them needed to be strong on their own to make their efforts as a team work better.

I'm going to have to figure out a place I can do my training when I'm not training with the group, so I can be the best I can be. She thought, and held in a sigh before she looked to Usagi and Minako, once again taking in their changed hair and eye color.

"Do you know when my hair and eye color will change?" She asked them.

"I can't be sure." Minako said. "It took over a year for me, but a few months for the others."

"I think it'll go quicker for you the more you transform and use your powers, but just keep an eye on your appearance. Check daily since the color will be very noticeable." Usagi told her. "As soon as you start seeing the red color let me know, so I can make you a concealment to hide the color." She added.

"I'll make sure to check daily." Naru said as she nodded. I'll likely check multiple times a day, so I don't miss the first sprout of color. She thought.

They all stood up and Usagi pulled Naru aside announcing that she wanted to start with her. Mamoru and Minako simply nodded and moved away and began to spar against each other.

"Okay first, just like what was done with me I'm going to teach you how to hit, block those hits, and to avoid getting hit." Usagi said.

Naru nodded and listened carefully as Usagi explained and demonstrated how to fold her hands into a fist so she didn't break her thumb or fingers when she went to hit.

"See how they move." Usagi said as she gestured over to Mamoru and Minako. "How they strike out hard and fast at each other. Your strikes cannot be weak, you cannot be afraid to hit, even during training, because it means risking your strikes not being strong enough to do damage."

"And in the case of training you can grow complacent, which would affect you when you go up against the enemy. Not to mention it will not help improve the one you are sparring against." She continued as Naru watched Minako and Mamoru.

"Beyond that you must be quick so that you can be ready to dodge out of the way of a retaliating strike or attack; not to mention your opponent could be fast so you need to be able to strike them before they can get away." She finished.

"I understand." Naru said as she nodded.

"Then let's get started and see how you do." Usagi said.

They faced each other and Usagi immediately swung a punch at her face. Naru flinched but brought her arm up to block it.

"When you block push the appendage away from you and move off to the side away from it for good measure just in case your attempt at blocking doesn't work." Usagi said instantly.

"Okay." Naru said, and since she was still blocking Usagi's attempted punch she pushed it away from her and moved away.

From there Naru attempted to keep what she had learned in mind as she blocked punches and kicks and made sure to move away and retaliate with a strong hit of her own. It was hard but by the look on Usagi's face, if she looked beyond the serious expression, she appeared to be doing fine.

And she thought she was actually doing pretty good for her first time. She had yet to trip on her intimidating high heels, she was blocking most of the strikes coming at her, and she was hitting as hard as she could. She found that if she couldn't block or dodge quick enough she got hit, and it hurt something fierce.

This went on for nearly half an hour before Usagi called a stop.

"You did good. You aren't hesitating in hitting and you're blocking, but you're having trouble dodging." She said. "We'll work on your dodging next before getting back to physical sparring."

"Okay." Naru said as she nodded. "How are we going to work on that exactly?"

"With this." Usagi said as she silently gestured with her hand and summoned her scepter. "I'll use a low powered version of my attack that will feel like a sting if you're hit."

Naru nodded and Usagi backed away from her as she lifted her scepter. She aimed it straight at Naru's chest and focused on sending her Moon Scepter Elimination attack at its lowest power.

Naru blinked at how fast the energy attack was headed her way, and moved to her right just before the pink and blue energy reached her. Before she could be pleased with having dodged that she saw another beam of pink and blue energy quickly headed her way.

She dodged to her left, alternating between watching her footing and the energy, but soon forgot about her footing in her high heels as the energy beams came one after the other. She dodged left and right, began to run back and forth, duck and even leap over the colorful energy beams that came low at her legs.

On and on this went, her best friend's face focused and serious every time she had the chance to look at her, and it made her focus harder to make sure she didn't even get clipped by the energy.

After all, this was to make sure she didn't get hit by an enemy attack when she finally joined them in fighting the enemy they were dealing with. Not to mention to build the instinct to dodge without even thinking about it.

After sending a last beam of energy Usagi put her scepter away and ran at Naru without a word intending to restart their physical spar.

Naru's eyes widened in surprise and then widened further as Usagi practically threw a punch straight at her face. She blocked it and pushed her arm aside as she took a step back, and then twisted away from a kick aimed at her hip.

Usagi aimed a back kick at her, not deterred by the previous blocked kick, and Naru dodged that one as well before she blocked a backhand coming toward her face.

She threw a punch forward and Usagi blocked it and pushed it away as she threw a punch in return. Naru stepped back to avoid the punch and kicked her foot forward and watched as Usagi spun away and swung a back kick at her in return, which Naru blocked with her leg before moving away.

This went on and on with them gradually moving faster and faster as Usagi upped the speed. Punches were thrown, swung, and snapped forward, and kicks were swung from the left, right, and back and snapped forward.

"Stop." Usagi called out after a few long minutes. "I think it's time to switch things up so you can get experience against a different fighting style and set of movements." She continued and Naru nodded.

"Minako!" Usagi called out causing her and Mamoru to stop and look her way. "Can you switch places with me?"

"Sure." Minako called back, and the two of them began to jog toward each other to do just that. "Alright let's do this?" She said as she reached Naru.

Naru nodded and waited for Minako to attack, but she didn't move an inch just stared at her.

"I want you to come at me. You need to get in the habit of attacking and not waiting to attack so you can control the flow of the fight you're in if possible." Minako said. "Of course you have to be smart about it and not just rush in thoughtlessly, but if you are confident in your skills and have a plan then there is no reason not to. If you are lucky doing so will end the fight before it can get started."

Naru nodded firmly in understanding and took in her relaxed stance. There was nothing she could tell from it except that she was confident in her skill. She could tell nothing else, but she realized that was the point.

She was supposed to learn to fight against a style she had never seen before. Of course Usagi's was still new to her, but she would recognize it now that she had seen it.

She took a breath and rushed forward and swung a kick at Minako with her right leg, and immediately Minako stepped closer to her and swung a punch at her.

Naru flinched but quickly blocked it and pushed her arm away as she backed up before she lashed out with her free arm to punch her.

Minako blocked it and pushed it away before she swung her free hand toward Naru's face to backhand her, but she blocked it before it could make contact and she nodded at the quick move. In response to that Minako struck out with her foot and kicked her in the stomach.

Naru cried out in pain as she felt the blow and then again as she flew backward.

"Roll with the motion until you have your feet under you to get back into a stable position." She heard Minako call out to her.

Hearing that she tried to do as she was instructed. As soon as her back hit the ground she rolled backward and when her feet and knees hit the ground she got her hands under her and pushed up and shifted until she was crouched. Once she was sure she wouldn't fall back from her dizziness she stood up and looked to Minako.

Minako nodded in approval. "Good. Remember that. If you're falling after being hit, roll with the motion and get back to your feet as quickly as possible, and to be on the safe side move away from the spot in case an attack is sent your way to try and take advantage of your distraction." She said.

"Okay." Naru said as she nodded before she began to run at her, and when she reached her she threw a punch at her face.

"Good, good." Minako said as she blocked the strike then struck out with her knee toward her stomach.

Naru blocked it and they struck out again and again, and blocked everything that came their way from every direction the other tried. Naru was really getting into it, and had the vague thought occasionally as she moved around that she was having no trouble in her high heels.

However, as soon as the thought surfaced it faded as she blocked a strike or struck out with one of her own.

"I want to start working on your dodging." Minako said as she blocked a punch and then twisted away from a kick.

"Right now?" Naru asked with slightly wide eyes.

"Right now." Minako confirmed. "While we're still close because I want you to experience dodging an attack coming from close by."

As soon as Minako finished twisting away from yet another kick she lifted her hand and quickly shot a low powered Crescent Beam from her pointed finger.

Naru's eyes widened at the orange-gold attack quickly coming her way, but she ducked under the beam and made sure to keep her eyes on Minako, which was a good thing since another beam came flying her way with the same quickness as the first.

She stepped back and to her right side then turned it into a twist to make sure she got away from the beam of light, but in the next moment found herself almost diving to her left as another beam came speeding at her.

She had just landed in the roses when another beam of light came her way, and she quickly rolled back and away before quickly climbing to her feet.

Maddeningly she found Minako had moved closer to her while she was getting to her feet and could see the orange-gold light of her beam just coming out of her finger toward her.

Naru shifted to her left and allowed the beam to pass by her while she quickly turned her eyes back to Minako instead of watching the light, and gasped in surprise to find her a bit closer and aiming directly at her again. She dodged quickly to her right and made sure to keep her eyes firmly on Minako this time.

On and on they went with Minako firing off her Crescent Beam and Naru continuously dodging and avoiding the orange-gold light beam.

"Naru! Move back and to your left!" Naru heard Usagi call to her suddenly.

She was curious about that but she followed her best friend's words without question and found herself dodging Minako's light beam and a red rose that almost disappeared among the roses surrounding her; only its height distinguishing it from the other's.

Naru looked over and saw Usagi running over to them, and then quickly returned her eyes to Minako only to find her looking at Usagi so she returned her eyes to her as well.

"It's time for us all to dodge now." Usagi said then turned her attention to Naru. "Make sure you aren't so focused on dodging the attacks coming at you from one enemy that you aren't aware of your surroundings. There is always the possibility of an attack coming from another enemy that arrived after the fact."

"You also have to be on the lookout for friendly fire." Minako added.

"Okay." Naru nodded to them both, and the three of them grouped together loosely, standing side by side, and watched Mamoru pull out a hand full of roses.

"Those are his piercing roses." Usagi told Naru. "They won't do any damage but they will hurt if we're hit."

Naru barely had time to nod her understanding before Mamoru threw the entire hand full of roses at them. Naru dodged to her right, Minako to the left, and Usagi jumped back. As soon as they were all settled they found more roses headed toward each of them.

Mamoru watched the girls as they began to dodge his second round of roses, and decided that even though this dodging exercise was for the benefit of all of them he was going to focus a bit more on Naru.

She was the one that needed to build the instinct and get used to attacks coming her way so she wouldn't flinch at the wrong time during a fight. They had all done that at some point, even him after he had become conscious of his identity as Tuxedo Kamen, and he hoped they could spare her that experience.

As he pulled out more roses he considered the energy attacks he had and if any of them would be good for this exercise.

His Deadly Rose Petals attack with its razor sharp black petals wouldn't work since it wasn't energy but actual petals from his roses. They were meant to be sharp and nothing else. His Spinning Rose Evolution attack might work since it was a beam of red energy rose petals.

Then there was his Burning Rose Illusion attack which was essentially a rose blossom bomb that looked like it was on fire. This one wouldn't work since he didn't want to risk hurting them by throwing bombs.

So the only one that would work was his Spinning Rose Evolution attack, but he hadn't practiced with it to get it to a lower power level since he had never used it for dodging practice.

I'll work on it the next time I have the chance, but for now I need to focus on the girls. He thought.

Mamoru threw one rose toward Minako's legs and then another to her left followed by one to her right in anticipation of her movements. Then he threw a hand full at his princess that flew toward her in a loose group.

After that he shifted his eyes to Naru and launched two at her legs and watched her body carefully, noting the way she shifted, before he threw three more roses to her left. He watched her gasp as she registered the new incoming roses and quickly reacted by letting herself fall.

He threw another rose where she lay on the ground before quickly pulling out more roses and throwing them at his princess in a way that made them rain down on her before launching another in Naru's direction when he saw that she had rolled away from the one that had been heading for her as she hit the ground.

Mamoru looked to Minako and pulled out two hand fulls of roses and threw one hand full toward her and the other toward Naru.

The three young women huffed, grunted, and gasped as they dodged quickly each and every time their masked friend threw his roses at them. They did not always move quickly enough or see all the flowers in time, so they were sporting pinprick punctures, scratches, and the occasional rose hanging from their skirt.

The minutes passed quickly yet slowly and before they knew it just over half an hour had passed, and Mamoru was calling a stop and no longer pulling out his roses.

"I think that's enough dodging." Mamoru said as he walked over to them. "I think you're all doing well, and Naru you're especially doing good and seem to have adjusted to your high heels very well. I didn't see one trip or fall since you transformed."

Naru blushed at the praise, especially since Usagi and Minako were nodding in agreement.

"Thank you. It helped when I stopped thinking about them and forgot about them entirely." She said.

"My heels aren't like yours but the same solution worked for me when I first became a senshi." Minako said.

"I think we should start working with our powers next." Mamoru said, and Minako and Usagi nodded in agreement while Naru looked on in curious excitement.

Usagi pulled her scepter out and smiled in readiness even as her eyes held a seriousness to them.

"Don't worry; we'll help you." She told Naru reassuringly.

Naru nodded and Usagi, Mamoru, and Minako turned to her and began to help her call on her power for the first time.

Wednesday: Day Seventeen

Unknown Location

A male with long light blue hair sat leaning back against a high large thick green root with one leg dangling off the side while the other was in a bent raised position. He rested his arm on his raised knee with his flute held loosely in his fingers.

As his dark blue eyes lazily roamed the massive room and lower roots his mind was on the problem of the lack of energy he and his companion were getting.

He fully admitted they had been growing more and more frustrated with the lack of energy they were getting to feed their tree, and therefore themselves. They had to resort to gathering energy secretly from individuals at their school one at a time.

This is very frustrating. He thought with a frown. We need a strong cardian to get us the energy we need. I don't want anything to happen to the tree since that means we'll be out of luck.

He sighed and turned his mind to something more pleasing yet almost equally frustrating. The beautiful girl at his school that wouldn't give him the time of day.

He was still unable to get Usagi to like him. He had been thinking he needed to get her alone, so she could spend time with him, but she was always with someone. Either one or more of her friends or she was with her boyfriend.

He always saw him picking her up after school. Seeing her with that guy made him angry. It should be him she was talking to, looking at, smiling at. Not that guy who had practically ignored him the one time they had been face to face.

I haven't even had a chance to run into her after school. He thought with a sigh. Why did I have to latch on to a girl that doesn't seem to want anything to do with me?

Meanwhile, the male's companion lay on the couch in their apartment daydreaming about the handsome guy she had seen with her classmate Usagi. She still wanted to know him even if he was the boyfriend of her classmate.

I could steal him away, get him to like me, if I only could spend time with him. She thought, but she barely saw him. Since seeing him at the VR theater she had only caught a glimpse of him here and there, and that was when he was picking up her classmate after school.

Still, even though she barely saw him he was still in her mind teasing her. Teasing her with his short dark hair and deep blue eyes. Not to mention his height. He was taller then her companion, which she seemed to like if her racing heart was anything to go by.

She sighed; she needed to see him and get to know him. She just had to figure out how to get to him.

She got up off the couch, absently straightening her blue and white sailor school uniform, and walked out of the living room and down the hallway to a large doorway with double doors that looked nothing like the other doors in the hallway.

As she paused to stand in front of the doorway the double doors slid open to the sides revealing a massive dark cavernous room with a massive tree that seemed to provide the only light in the room.

She stepped inside, her brown eyes beginning to glow a vibrant red, before her entire figure glowed and transformed between one step and the next until she was wearing a dark red full bodysuit with her hair a long light pink and her eyes dark hot pink.

"Ail." She called out to her companion gaining his attention as he looked toward her, and away from the canopy of reddish pink leaves.

Ail looked down to his companion, An, and his eyes softened slightly. She was beautiful, and always there. Looking at her always reminded him that he wasn't alone. He watched as she hopped from root to root until she landed in front of him and sat down.

"An." He said in greeting, and she smiled and then sighed.

"What are we going to do about getting energy? The Makaiju Tree needs it." An said quietly.

Ail looked up to the tree, seeing the leaves weren't as vibrant as they used to be, and sighed.

"We're going to pick a strong cardian and get the energy we need." He said before he shifted and pulled out a thin deck of tarot sized cards, and spread them on the root they sat on so they could see them clearly.

Looking at each one carefully they both frowned to see they didn't have many Cardians left to choose from. They both picked a different one, and then looked at each card and then each other thoughtfully.

"Yours is a good choice; it's strong. We'll use my choice next time." Ail said.

"Okay." An said as she nodded.

He put the remaining cards away and lifted his flute as he focused on the chosen card and began to play. A familiar soothing melody drifted out and echoed throughout the room.

The card began to float and glow, growing brighter and brighter, before it began to stretch and contort. Limbs pushed and stretched out of the rectangular shape until a fully formed figure floated where the card had been.

An gestured with her hand in a careless move, opening a round portal in the air off to the side of the cardian that showed day light and a blue sky.

"Go collect energy." Ail told the cardian after he stopped playing and lowered his flute from his mouth.

"Utonberino." The figure said in a slightly amused feminine tone before it moved through the portal.

Late Afternoon

Life was going as planned for the secret fighters so far. All five girls and Mamoru had the sleepover at Usagi's house Saturday night as planned and they had piled into Usagi's room.

Her parents were surprised at Mamoru's presence, but she told them she hadn't understood why. He was part of the fighters, and they had all agreed that he should join them.

During the sleepover Mamoru mentioned that Jadeite had the idea that the guys should go on a retreat, so they could train together for an extended amount of time and get to know each other, but they couldn't make it happen since they all had mostly different off days from work.

Then he suggested that the girls could do that to give Naru a chance to train in a different environment, and so that they could experiment with their powers in a way they might not feel comfortable in a city park.

The girls liked it and all agreed that it was a good idea, and agreed to make it a camping trip and do it that weekend and that Mamoru would of course be there.

Since then they had all told their parents and got permission, and began to get the things they would need together while looking for a location.

However, now it was the middle of the week and Naru was without her friends and happily on her way to where her Nephrite worked.

As she gazed out the window on the bus she was riding she remembered back to the group training she had done over the weekend and just yesterday. She had done well in both cases as far as she could tell and what the others had told her.

She found that she actually liked the physical fighting and especially liked using her powers. She was still getting used to even thinking of the fact that she had powers let alone saying it out loud, but she did have them and she liked using them.

---

The four young women had just finished stretching out their bodies after they finished sparring physically against each other and pulled out their transformation pens.

"Mercury Power, Make Up." Ami said.

"Jupiter Power, Make Up." Makoto said.

"Mars Power, Make Up." Naru said.

"Venus Power, Make Up." Minako said.

The familiar swirl of colors poured from their pens and moved around them, and transformed them in bright flashes of light. When the lights cleared they stood as the Sailor Senshi.

"Let's start by going running, not in the park, but along the sidewalks and rooftops to give Naru the opportunity to practice that and get used to it." Makoto suggested.

"I think that's a good idea." Naru said as she nodded. "I'm not quite used to running through the park and jumping into trees, but I at least know I can do it now. Now I need to know I can do what I've heard you all describe and seen you do."

"You can do it; even without the instincts like we have. Usagi's been doing it since she first became a senshi. She may not have done it her first few times out as a senshi, sticking to sidewalks at first, but she eventually did since it's the quickest way for us to travel over distances." Minako said. Naru nodded and Minako nodded in return.

"Okay, let's start off in a single file line with Ami in the lead, then me, then Naru, and Makoto picking up the rear." She continued. "Ami I want you to set the pace, pick a direction and pretend you're headed for the location of a cardian. It doesn't matter where we go; we just need Naru to have experience, and we need experience with her traveling with us in such a way."

Ami nodded and took off running through the trees and out of the park; Minako, Naru, and Makoto following right behind her in a line just as they had planned.

They ran along, ignoring the few people they came across who looked at them in amazement, as they raced along sidewalks, turned corners, and dashed across streets. Eventually they leapt onto fire escapes and balconies and made their way to a rooftop before racing along the dark surfaces to jump from one rooftop to the next.

The young women ran around for almost an hour straight before they eventually found themselves stopping outside what was obviously an abandoned amusement park.

"This is as good as any place to practice with our powers without the risk of civilians coming along and seeing us or getting in the way." Minako said as they all looked at each other.

The others agreed and they all carefully leapt over the gate and began to walk into the park.

"We of course wouldn't normally travel in a straight line as we did, but we did this time so you could see the movements ahead of you and someone could be behind you to help if something went wrong." Minako said as they walked passing run down food buildings and game stands.

"I understand." Naru said as she nodded. "Will we do the same on the way back?" She asked.

"We will, but I think we'll change the order surrounding you, and then maybe spread out half way through our route." Minako said.

Naru nodded, knowing that would give her a chance to see how she did without being supported from the front and back. She thought she would do well since she actually liked the running, leaping, and nearly climbing. She initially thought she would have problems with the heights and her high heels, but she didn't have any problems with what they had done.

"How about we spend a few minutes launching our attacks before we move on to work on combinations." Minako suggested as the four young women stopped next to an open building housing bumper cars.

Everyone agreed and spread out and picked a direction to aim at that wouldn't put any of their fellow senshi in the line of fire.

Naru sighed as she faced the bumper cars since that was the direction she had picked and focused internally on trying to feel her power. The first time she had used her new power the words had come to her instinctively, the only instinct she had, and the power had moved through her quickly.

She had felt it but it was fast, and every time afterward had felt the same. Still, she had done it enough times now that she had the feeling memorized and could feel the power when she wanted.

Now she had to get used to calling the power up at will and doing it as quickly as possible as well as try to launch her attack silently.

The warm heated feeling she was getting familiar with surged through her, taking away any chill she might have felt from the air, and she lifted her hands to the height of her chest and brought them together until her fore fingers were pressed together and pointed outward.

"Fire Soul." She said as she willed the heated feeling through her fingertips, and watched as a large ball of red fire burst out and shot through the air toward one of the cars in front of her. It hit but thankfully nothing happened since that would likely cause a fire to spread through the dilapidated park.

She continued to launch the attack again and again and again doing it faster and faster each time as well as quieter. For ten minutes this went on until she was able to launch her attack silently.

Now that she had accomplished doing it silently she began to work on the intensity because she had instantly noticed not only was it harder to launch but it was smaller than it had been. She needed to get it to the level it was when she spoke the words out loud.

After working for almost half an hour on their individual attacks the four young women came back together and began to work on combinations; combining two attacks at a time.

They worked on combining Minako's Crescent Beam with Makoto's Supreme Thunder, Ami's Mercury Aqua Rhapsody with Minako's Crescent Beam, and Makoto's Supreme Thunder with Ami's Mercury Aqua Rhapsody.

Then Naru joined after watching how the others combined their powers together. She stepped forward and launched her Fire Soulwith Makoto's Supreme Thunder and then launched her attack again to combine it with Minako's Crescent Beam.

"Can my fire work with Ami's water?" Naru wondered aloud.

"It should since Ami and Rei combined their powers before." Minako said as Ami hummed.

"I also believe so because our powers are energy first and foremost before they become the elements we use." Ami stated.

"Alright. Let's try it out." Naru said as she lifted her hands and launched her Fire Soul attack. Ami launched her Mercury Aqua Rhapsody a moment later and they all watched to see what would happen.

The two attacks streaked through the air at an angle before coming together. The streams of water wrapped around the ball of fire, and they moved forward as if they belonged together before crashing harmlessly into an old bumper car.

"Well, we have our answer." Makoto said. "It's good to know all of our powers work together."

"Yes. It's good that we can be confident in our combinations instead of worried about if they'll work or not during an encounter with our enemy." Minako said.

The others agreed and they continued to work on combining two of their attacks at once, making sure they combined more than they missed, before they switched to combining three of their attacks at once.

First they did Ami's Mercury Aqua Rhapsody, Minako's Crescent Beam, and Naru's Fire Soul, next Makoto's Supreme Thunder, Minako's Crescent Beam, and Naru's Fire Soul, then Minako's Crescent Beam, Ami's Mercury Aqua Rhapsody, and Makoto's Supreme Thunder, and lastly Naru's Fire Soul, Makoto's Supreme Thunder, and Ami's Mercury Aqua Rhapsody.

Once they had the combinations down they worked on their precision, making sure their attacks intersected and combined like they wanted to form one attack.

When they were satisfied with that they decided to move around the park, running and dodging imaginary enemies while they launched their attacks to combine and to simulate an actual enemy confrontation.

Naru was huffing and panting but she was focused and actually having fun with this. They were choosing random positions, high and low, to launch their attacks from and some of them were funny, but despite the fun she was having she was still taking it seriously because she knew when there was an actual enemy to deal with it wouldn't be fun.

When the four young women decided they had had enough of that exercise they moved on to combining all four of their attacks together to form one powerful attack. It was something that they felt was definitely something they needed to work on because they never knew when they would encounter an enemy strong enough to need it.

Minako, Ami, and Makoto even went so far as to explain to Naru what happened with their last enemy, the one that had also been in the past with them, and how it was so strong that their combined attack hadn't worked on it.

With that example in mind Naru and the others launched their attacks over and over trying to make sure they combined perfectly into one large stronger attack.

After almost ten minutes of this Minako suggested they turn their attention to using their powers on each other at low power to work on dodging actual attacks. They needed that practice since it was vital to make sure they could dodge enemy attacks flying at them.

---

Naru was satisfied with that training session. She had gotten a good workout on top of the training, and had actually had fun in the process. Plus, she had learned valuable information she needed to know as a guardian senshi.

When they combined their powers in such a way as a last resort it truly was a last resort because it would mean their death, which was apparently what happened with the last enemy. They were only alive because Mamoru used his crystal to bring them and everyone else that died as a result of the youma attacks back to life.

Which is also why my Nephrite and the other guys are alive. She admitted to herself.

The thought of having to do that, use her power in a way that would sacrifice her life, was scary, but it was what she had agreed to when she made the decision to be Sailor Mars.

She put the thought out of her mind since it would do no good to be afraid of something that hadn't taken place, and if it did come to such an instance then the circumstances would be full of danger and her life would be in danger anyway. So why not go out doing something helpful, useful?

After that training session had ended Naru had told them that she thought she was almost ready to start fighting, but wanted a bit more training. Thankfully they were understanding, and told her to only join them when she was ready.

She was pleased that they were understanding and willing to give her time; especially since she knew they were dealing with an enemy currently.

Naru blinked at her surroundings as she looked out the window and rang the bell for the next stop so she could get off the bus. Once she got off the bus she began to walk and head toward Nephrite's job. She wanted to be on time for his lunch break so they could have the entire time together before he got back to work.

Halfway there a store caught her eyes and she paused as she looked at the display of candles in the window before looking behind the display and realizing it was a candle store.

She decided to take it as a sign and an opportunity. Usagi had said as the senshi of Mars she could get guidance from fire through meditation, and unlike the previous Sailor Mars she didn't live on a shrine and have access to a constant burning fire.

Naru nodded to herself and entered the store deciding to buy some candles since she had enough time to make the sudden stop.

She hadn't tried doing the meditation yet, but she was going to try soon. If she could really get advice and guidance from fire then she felt she needed to try since it could help with the enemy they were dealing with. She could find out more about them since they barely knew anything that could help.

Maybe if she did it would be just the thing to lead them right to the enemy, so they could be dealt with for good and the fighting could stop.

She began to look around at the candles and after a few minutes of inspection she ultimately decided to get a few each of three types of candles; candles in round jars, candles in flat rectangle jars that had three wicks, and tall square pillar shaped free standing candles.

All of them with fragrances that passed her nose test for soothing and just smell good scents such as flowers and nature scents.

Aside from the pleasant fragrance she figured those shapes would be safe for the surfaces in her room. The last thing she wanted was to set her room on fire by accident.

As she moved toward the register she paused and decided on second thought to get square glass candle holders, that reminded her of cup coasters, for the pillar candles to be extra safe. Once she had those she went to the register and paid for the items, and once they were bagged she she left the store and continued on her way toward her boyfriend's job.

Meanwhile...

People were sitting and eating in a casual restaurant in the late afternoon and enjoying their meal. Everyone was talking and having good conversations and laughs and generally enjoying their time there.

Suddenly the talking and laughter quieted as people began to seemingly pass out on their plates and bowls. Those who hadn't passed out looked on in confusion and some began to panic and stand up.

Before they could do anything one person cried out as they suddenly jerked forward and fell to the ground. The person, a man, looked down at himself and saw that his chest and arms were wrapped in what looked like black seaweed.

A woman screamed at the sight and suddenly more people were jerking from the force of being hit and falling to the ground wrapped in black seaweed.

Screams began to fill the room, the people unconscious in their food not reacting to the noise, as the seaweed began to glow red before spreading to the people themselves. Within minutes the screams had slowed to a stop and all but one in the dining room was unconscious.

"Utonberino." Said the remaining individual in satisfaction as she looked around at her work.

She was supposed to collect energy and that was exactly what she did. She had gotten a lot too, but she thought she could get a bit more before she returned to her masters.

With her decision made she moved passed the unconscious humans and toward the glass door and pushed open the door before she stepped out. She looked around at the humans walking around without a care, and decided that they would do just fine.

She lifted her cannon arm and aimed it at the back of a man that had just walked passed her. A black object came shooting out of the cannon and slammed into the man jerking him forward and knocking him down as it wrapped him up in seaweed.

Someone screamed and she laughed as she launched another of her seaweed bombs at another human that was starting to run.

"Utonberino!" She cried out in surprised pain just as she was about to fire at another human as she was hit with something and went flying forward.

Sailor Venus lowered her arm after she finished firing off her Crescent Beam attack and looked at the cardian as it landed on the ground.

"Utonberino!" The cardian screamed in pain as she was hit with lightning from above before she could get up.

Venus glanced up and spotted Sailor Jupiter on the roof of the restaurant and they shared a nod before returning their attention to the cardian.

They watched from their positions as the cardian got to its feet and turned to face Venus in anger. They saw that it was female with pale white skin, red eyes, two toned hair; half red and half brownish gray that looked like a bushy mop, and she wore a black seaweed outfit.

The outfit consisted of a black wrap that covered her left leg from her ankle to mid thigh, a black wrap that covered her right lower leg, and a half black strapless wrap that was open on her left side and covered her chest down to her upper thighs, and was held closed by a brown strap.

On her left forearm was a black sleeve with an attached fingerless glove, on her right arm was a thin cream and red colored cylinder, and on her left shoulder was a large orange adornment of some kind.

Both of them noticed that the female didn't wear shoes, and wondered if that was something they could take advantage of, but not something they would focus on.

Jupiter decided to attack since the cardian was focused on Venus and didn't seem aware of her yet. She sent her Supreme Thunder down at it and blinked as streams of water joined her lightning. She looked over and saw Sailor Mercury running along the rooftops toward her.

Mercury ran yet carefully kept her eyes on the cardian to see if the combined attack would hit it, and nodded slightly as she reached Jupiter and saw the lightning and water hit the female square in the back.

"Utonberino!" The cardian screamed as she was shocked and jerked forward with the force of the attack.

Venus immediately fired off her Crescent Beam attack hitting the cardian in the chest and blasted it back and caused it to scream once again.

Mercury and Jupiter jumped down to the ground and joined Venus as they all faced the female and took in their surroundings.

People had run from the area thankfully and there was no sign of the two strange beings that were sending out the cardians. There was also no sign of Sailor Moon or Tuxedo Kamen yet.

Sailor Mars was not yet ready to join them, so they were going to have to treat this fight as if it was just the three of them and try to defeat the cardian on their own. If Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen joined them in time then so be it, and if not then they would at least know if they were making progress in getting used to fighting without the couple.

Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury shared a nod before they focused back on the cardian. The cardian lifted its right arm and launched a rope of black seaweed at each of the women facing her, but they all dodged and immediately launched their own attacks.

Venus lifted her arm and launched her Crescent Beam while Jupiter called on her thunder and launched her Supreme Thunder. Mercury followed up by sending her Mercury Aqua Rhapsody attack streaming toward the cardian.

"Utonberino." The cardian said as she dodged this way and that way as she avoided the orange-gold beam of light, streak of lightning, and streams of water until she was standing in the street.

Suddenly a horn blared and she looked over to her left and leapt up as a car came screeching to a stop. She landed on the roof of the car and looked down at it before looking to the three human females she was fighting.

"Keep going! Get out of here!" Venus shouted at the driver as she lifted her arm and launched her Crescent Beam attack again. Mercury launched her Mercury Aqua Rhapsody attack right after hoping to catch the cardian off guard.

The cardian ducked under the beam of light and the scared driver pressed on the gas to get out of there.

"Utonberino!" The cardian cried out as she lost her balance and fell onto the back of the car, causing Mercury's attack to miss, and then onto the street as the car sped away.

Supreme Thunder. Jupiter launched her attack while the cardian with a frown hoping to do some damage while it was distracted by its fall.

"Utonberino!" The cardian screamed as she was struck by the lightning and pushed back skidding across the asphalt. "Utonberino!" The cardian shouted in anger and nearly shot to her feet, and pointed her cannon at the fighters as she launched ropes of seaweed rapidly.

Venus quickly dived out of the way of the rope headed her way and rolled into a crouch behind the sturdy barrier of a parked car.

Mercury Aqua Rhapsody. Mercury thought as she threw her hands forward quickly, and watched the streams of water come streaking out and forward in time to collide with the seaweed rope and blast it to bits.

Jupiter leaned to the side to allow the black rope to pass before she shifted her feet until she was sanding straight and lifted her hands.

Supreme Thunder. She thought as she launched her attack in return.

The cardian ducked under the lightning and then dodged to her right to avoid the light beam headed her way before she aimed her arm toward the female in orange and white and launched a seaweed rope in her direction.

The seaweed rope had barely left her cannon arm before she quickly aimed toward the female in green and white, and then the one in blue and white before launching yet another seaweed rope toward the female in orange and white.

Mercury dodged the black rope headed her way before she carefully moved across the street so she would be behind the cardian. Jupiter jumped away from the attack toward her left and then moved until she was on top of a parked car.

She launched her Supreme Thunder attack nearly at the same time that Venus launched her Crescent Beam attack from the left front of the cardian.

"Utonberino." The cardian said before she jumped high to avoid the two attacks. "Utonberino!" She cried out as she was struck in the back and flung forward.

She slammed into the side of a building, just missing a window, and fell to the ground soaking wet from the attack Mercury sent her way from behind.

Jupiter lifted her arms and aimed her hands from her position on top of the car and sent her Supreme Thunder attack toward the downed cardian hoping to take advantage of its wet state.

Unfortunately the cardian seemed to sense the attack coming and quickly got up and moved aside while sending a ball of rope shooting toward Jupiter.

The attacks passed each other through the air but while Jupiter's attack missed the cardian's attack hit home colliding with Jupiter and sending her flying back with a cry.

Mercury ran over and positioned herself in front of Jupiter where she had landed in the street and sent her Mercury Aqua Rhapsody attack flying at the cardian.

The cardian moved out of the way of the streams of water, and Venus sent her Crescent Beam attack toward its new position nailing it in the side of its back.

"Utonberino!" The cardian cried out as she stumbled forward and off to the side and back into the street.

Suddenly a beam of red energy rose petals came flying pass Mercury from behind on her right and at the same time another beam, this one white with silver blue tinted crescent moons inside, came speeding pass on her left before they both struck the cardian.

"Utonberino!" The cardian screamed in pain as she flew forward further along the street before hitting the asphalt and skidding across the ground.

"Sorry we're late." Mercury heard Sailor Moon say and looked over as she reached her. Then she frowned slightly and looked back to see Tuxedo Kamen using his sword to cut Jupiter free.

"No problem." Mercury said as she looked back to the cardian. "So far the cardian has only shot out ropes of black seaweed from the cannon on its arm." She informed her princess.

"And getting hit would mean being trapped like Jupiter." Sailor Moon replied.

"Yes." Mercury said as she nodded. "As far as we have been able to see from what happened to Jupiter and the few people we saw when we first arrived."

"Right." Sailor Moon said with a sharp nod as she stared at the cardian.

"Utonberino." The cardian mumbled as she groaned and got to her feet. She looked around just barely registering the number of humans she was facing before she quickly dodged, leaping back, from a beam of light coming nearly from her left side.

She looked again, this time more clearly, and saw that not only had the female in green and white been freed, but the three females had now been joined by another as well as a human male.

She didn't like the odds she was facing; she still needed to get away with the energy she had collected and get to her masters.

The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen watched the cardian carefully, and blinked in surprise as it turned and began to run away down the street. They all took off after it, racing down the street and leaping onto and off moving and parked cars in their bid to keep up with it and not lose sight of it.

Venus carefully launched her Crescent Beam attack at the cardian, not wanting to hit a civilian but wanting to make sure the creature didn't disappear on them.

Tuxedo Kamen launched a hand full of his piercing roses, and Jupiter launched her Supreme Thunder attack causing the roses to be covered in lightning as they sped toward the cardian.

All but one of the charged roses missed and the cardian cried out and stumbled, but recovered quickly and continued on its way. It leapt up onto a delivery truck and jumped up onto a roof and the five fighters quickly followed.

They all ran and leapt rooftops for a few minutes, Tuxedo Kamen and the Senshi launching attack after attack sometimes with success sometimes without, until they reached a walking park that was reminiscent of the park they used to train as a group.

There were tall trees spread around and grouped together with grass blanketing the ground and walking paths weaving in different directions.

Before the cardian could reach the grouping, nearly a wall, of trees Tuxedo Kamen summoned a rose blossom to his hand that was immediately surrounded in gold fire and used his Burning Rose Illusion attack, sending the flaming flower blossom streaking toward the cardian as he threw it.

"Utonberino!" The cardian screamed as the attack slammed into her back as her skin and some of her black top were burned.

Crescent Beam! Venus thought as she launched her attack.

"Utonberino!" The cardian cried out as she was struck in the stomach knocking her back.

"We need to try and surround it so it can't get away." Sailor Moon said.

"I'll get behind it." Mercury said before she took off at a sprint while the cardian was still distracted by its pain.

Supreme Thunder. Jupiter thought as she launched her attack to help keep the cardian distracted as Mercury moved.

Tuxedo Kamen shifted his position as he gestured with his hands, making a rose appear in each hand, so he wouldn't hit Mercury when he attacked.

Spinning Rose Evolution. He thought as he focused on sending his attack.

The cardian recovered just in time to avoid the lightning and red beam before it lifted its arm with the cannon.

"Utonberino!" She cried out angrily as she rapidly fired off seaweed ropes in every direction.

Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes as she watched the black rope headed her way, and quickly summoned her sword before she shifted slightly to her side and sliced the seaweed and rushed forward.

She ran and immediately moved in a zigzag motion as more black rope came flying at her, obviously trying to stop her before she got closer, but she wouldn't let them touch her. She was going to get close and damage this creature.

As soon as she was close enough to swing her sword the cardian reached behind itself and pulled out what looked like a chopstick that was nearly as big as her sword, and stopped her swinging strike as if it was made of something much stronger than wood.

"Utonberino." The cardian said quietly as she looked at the female in front of her.

Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes before she kneed it in the stomach, and then struck it with a slight front kick to move it away without compromising herself.

The cardian stumbled back and she raised her arms and swung her sword down, but the cardian quickly blocked it and struck out in a jabbing motion.

Sailor Moon blocked it and pushed it away and swung her sword back toward the cardian, but before the blade could reach it it stepped out of the way and struck out. She ducked down into a crouch under the chopstick and swung upward, and managed to slice its leg and arm.

"Utonberino!" The cardian cried out before she jumped up high in the air, barely avoiding another swinging strike from the female's sword that would have bisected it, and floated as high as the branches of the trees around them.

.:xXx:.

In the cover of the branches and leaves of the trees two beings appeared out of thin air. The male stood on the thick branch and the female sat on it next to his feet as they watched their cardian in the air above the fighters. They could sense that she had energy for them, but obviously couldn't get away from the fighting.

They watched as the female in orange and white launched a beam of orange-gold light up at her from the side just as the female in blue and white launched streams of blue water from behind.

Both attacks struck her and she cried out as she fell from the air toward the ground. She struck the ground but was aware enough to roll away from the lightning headed her way before she got to her feet and began to attack.

"Do you think we can take her away, so we don't risk losing the energy she collected?" An asked.

"I think we can even though we have never tried before, but we would have to be careful not to catch one of those fighters and bring them back with us." Ail replied as he watched the fight.

An nodded seeing how that would be a problem. The last thing they needed was to bring one of them back to their place and reveal their location. Those fighters might have some way to track one another.

Plus, they were all moving around so fast because of the fighting it would be hard to get a lock on the cardian alone.

They watched the female in blue, red, and white with the long hair make the sword she was carrying disappear before she made some kind of scepter appear in the same hand. She pointed it at the cardian and a white beam with silver blue tinted crescent moons inside went shooting toward the cardian.

Their cardian dodged and from there the attacks went flying again from each of the fighters to the cardian and from her to the fighters; all the while everyone was ducking and dodging and sometimes jumping and diving away.

---

Tuxedo Kamen gestured slightly with his hands and a rose appeared in each hand and focused on his attack.

Spinning Rose Evolution. He thought sending a beam of glowing rose petals shooting toward the cardian.

Infinite Moonlight Illusion Beam. Sailor Moon thought as she lifted her scepter sending a white beam of light with the familiar image of silver blue tinted crescent moons inside at the cardian.

The cardian managed to dodge the quick moving red beam, but wasn't quick enough to react to the white beam that came from another angle.

"Utonberino!" The cardian cried out in pain.

An frowned at the sight of their cardian being hit and shifted onto her feet and stood on the branch, and Ail groaned lightly as he realized that their cardian was going to lose and they would lose all the energy she had collected.

Jupiter called on her thunder as she listened to the cardian cry out. Supreme Thunder. She thought as she sent her attack streaking at the distracted cardian.

Mercury shifted her position to keep herself behind the cardian and called on her water, and watched as a blue watery harp appearing in her hand.

Mercury Aqua Rhapsody. She thought as she played the harp sending streams of blue water almost whipping through the air toward the cardian.

"Utonberino!" The cardian cried out as it jerked and wreathed with each hit; clearly in too much pain to avoid the incoming attacks.

Venus lifted her hand to continue the advantage they had hoping their efforts would take it down before it could recover and get the fight really going again.

Crescent Beam. She said internally, sending a golden orange beam of light directly at the cardian.

Tuxedo Kamen pulled out a hand full of roses and willed them to turn black and watched the petals do just that before he looked to the cardian.

Deadly Rose Petals. He thought as he threw the flowers, and watched as they shattered in the air into black razor sharp rose petals and sped through the air toward the cardian.

Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes and raised her scepter as she listened to the cardian scream 'Utonberino' as the sharp rose petals sliced into it.

Moon Scepter Elimination. She said internally and watched as a swirl of pink and blue light streamed outward with a large white crescent moon and blue stars in the middle toward the screaming cardian.

As soon as her attack hit the cardian shrieked and began to glow brightly. Moments later the shrieking stopped and the cardian's figure began to shrink down before the glow stopped to reveal a tarot sized card stuck in the grass. The image of the cardian on the card faded away in the next seconds leaving a blank white card behind.

"Is everyone okay?" Sailor Moon asked as she lowered her scepter as everyone began to gather together.

"I am." Tuxedo Kamen said he reached her side, but before the others could respond they heard a male voice from the tree line.

"You should be more concerned about us." Ail said.

At the sound the senshi quickly moved to stand at Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon's sides in a loose line as they all looked to see the two beings that they believed to be sending out the Cardians.

"What do you want?" Sailor Moon asked firmly, hoping to get some information out of them before another fight started. She was just glad she still had her scepter out since she knew she would need its attack against those two.

"We want you to mind your own business and leave our Cardians to do their jobs!" An answered, her voice snapping.

"That's not going to happen!" Tuxedo Kamen replied immediately and firmly. "The people of this city let alone the planet are not here for your energy consumption."

"Leave our planet, and go back to where you came from or risk being destroyed." Sailor Moon added firmly.

"Ha! I would like to see you try; as if the likes of you can touch us." An said condescendingly.

Sailor Moon didn't even blink, her scepter came up like lightning and her Moon Scepter Elimination attack came out with barely a thought and streaked through the air toward her.

It happened so fast that the green tinted being with her pink hair didn't even have time to react after her bold yet rude words, and went flying back with a cry as the attack slammed into her chest.

"An!" Ail cried out and teleported quickly and caught her in his arms as he appeared behind her. He saw that she was barely conscious, and he knew it was from not just the pain of the attack but from low energy.

Jupiter and Mercury looked toward the beings and to Sailor Moon and back again in shock. They were surprised that she had attacked so quickly, but they exchanged a look and silently understood that it was further evidence that their friend and princess was not the easily forgiving girl she used to be. She was firm and strong.

Tuxedo Kamen and Venus were not at all surprised and were pleased to see her instant reaction. These beings were the enemy, feeding off people like they were their personal cattle. There was no need for further words after what they had said, and especially after the female's attitude.

Tuxedo Kamen was especially proud of his girl; his princess; his future queen. She was acting as exactly that.

Ail teleported back to the tree branch they had been standing in with his companion in his arms, and glared at the group, his eyes glowing, before he focused on Sailor Moon.

"You're going to pay for hurting her." He said angrily.

Tuxedo Kamen bristled internally at the implied threat to his princess and summoned a handful of roses. He willed them to turn black and threw them at the male.

Deadly Rose Petals. He thought angrily and watched as the sharp black rose petals sped through the air, but the male teleported away before they could hit him.

The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen looked around cautiously to make sure the beings didn't just move to another location to surprise them, and when they were satisfied they allowed themselves to relax.

"Clearly we need to get rid of those two beings in order to stop the Cardians for good and keep people safe." Venus said as she continued to look around.

"Yeah." Jupiter agreed. "It looks like the female is more volatile than the male, which likely means she's more prone to making mistakes or being distracted by her anger."

"As proven when she couldn't react to Sailor Moon's attack." Mercury added.

"We'll keep that in mind for the next time we see those two beings." Tuxedo Kamen said.

"Yes." Sailor Moon agreed. "In the meantime we should get out of here before anyone comes along to investigate the sounds from our fight."

Everyone agreed and dashed away as they began to leave the area.

Friday: Day Nineteen

Early Evening

Thursday passed by more quickly and quietly than expected for the secret Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen since there was no cardian attack of any kind.

Now today the afternoon had come and gone with a great deal of activity.

As soon as school let out they all headed straight home, Mamoru picking up Usagi as was their habit and taking her home before heading home himself, to change into comfortable clothes and get their things together and ready for when they left again.

Once they had their things gathered and secured they spent the rest of their free time doing their homework and studying so they would not have to worry about it over the weekend.

Their homework was important but their training was also important, and they needed these next few days to get in as much training as they could; both individually and together as well as time to bond so they could function as a cohesive team.

A few hours had passed as they all worked on their homework and studies, and when the agreed on time to meet up had arrived most had finished and those that hadn't only had a little left that could be finished when they returned.

Usagi put her textbooks and paper away on her floor desk, and sighed as she moved to check her duffel bag to make sure she had everything.

Clothes, check; essential toiletries, check; comb and brush, check. She listed internally. Of course she wouldn't have brought the last items, but with her hair being so long she needed them.

Aside from those things she was also bringing her English fiction book, Northanger Abbey, since she hadn't finished it yet, and thought it would be good for when she had breaks between training.

She looked over and saw that her sleeping bag was just as she had left it, rolled up and in its own carrying bag and ready to go.

Food and drink she didn't have to worry about since Makoto had been put in charge of bringing their food supplies and cooking. They would help when she wanted it, but she had practically insisted on handling that job.

With all her checking done Usagi grabbed a thick zip up hooded sweater from her closet and pulled it on before she zipped it up and pushed her hair behind her. She grabbed her duffel bag and swung the strap over her head and settled it on her lower back before she grabbed the strap of her sleeping bag.

She looked around her room once more and nodded as she saw that everything was in place, and she wasn't forgetting anything then left her room and closed her door behind her.

"Where are you going?" She heard a familiar voice ask, and she looked over to see her little brother, Shingo, paused on his way down the stairs looking back at her.

"I'm going camping with my friends for the weekend." Usagi answered as she walked toward him.

"The same friends that were over last weekend?" Shingo said as they walked down the stairs.

"Yes." Usagi replied.

"Even the guy? He's your boyfriend right?" Shingo asked.

"Yes he's my boyfriend, and he's going as well." She confirmed, and her little brother rolled his eyes.

"I still can't believe mom and dad let your boyfriend spend the night in your room." Shingo said.

"Why? It isn't like we were alone." Usagi said. "There were four other girls in the room with us."

"I'm still surprised." He said.

Usagi simply shrugged as they reached the bottom of the stairs. He went toward the kitchen and she went toward the living room.

"I'm going now." She said as she looked to her parents.

"Be careful and have fun." Her mother said.

"I hope you all are effective in what you want to do." Her father said.

"I'll be careful and have fun, and we'll definitely be effective." Usagi assured them. "I'll see you when I get back; bye."

"Goodbye." Her parents said, and she went to open the front door and left the house, closing the door securely behind her before starting toward her destination.

The day before they had all agreed to meet up at the park where they did their group training since that was a place everyone knew and it was secluded enough; especially at the time they had agreed on.

It was evening and looking up at the sky Usagi clearly saw that it was darkening but was still light out. Plenty of light to get to where she needed to be and hopefully to get to where they would be camping in time to set up their camp site.

She sighed as she focused back on the path she was walking. She couldn't wait for this makeshift retreat to start. She looked forward to spending time with Mamoru, having the girls see how close and comfortable they were together or at least Ami, Makoto, and Naru; Minako had seen them together enough to know how solid their relationship was.

She was also looking forward to bonding with the girls and increasing her trust in Makoto and Ami. Maybe after this trip she would trust them completely and no longer have the nagging distrust in the back of her mind.

Usagi also thought that she was glad the retreat would take her mind off at least one of her worries; specifically take her mind off the guy that had somehow become attracted to her and showed no sign of moving on.

Seijuro watched her from afar at school, but didn't approach her or try to speak to her. She wasn't sure what to make of it but she didn't like it. It was very uncomfortable to have a guy other than her prince continuously staring at her like that, and she knew her prince didn't like it either.

It was made even worse to know that he could possibly be their enemy. She had thought back on the two beings that had appeared at a couple of the fights, and tried to see similarities between him and the male but so far she wasn't seeing it.

Of course she knew that didn't exactly mean anything since if she was pictured with her senshi-self there would be no similarities to find to reveal that they were the same person.

Perhaps we need to do some reconnaissance on the brother and sister, and find out once and for all if they are our enemy or not. That way if they aren't then we won't have to waste our time on the siblings and can focus entirely on our enemy. She thought.

I also wouldn't have to worry about Seijuro aside from his feelings for me. She thought.

Twenty minutes later Usagi arrived at the park location and found that Naru and Ami were already there.

"Hey you two." She greeted them as she reached them, and a moment later Mamoru teleported in right beside her in a gold flash.

They all greeted him and he looked around seeing that they were just waiting on Minako and Makoto before they could leave.

I like the idea of doing reconnaissance on the siblings, particularly the brother since he's already showed a tendency of showing up where you happen to be. He told Usagi through their bond. Maybe I can get one of the guys to do it since they won't be recognized.

Sounds good; I'll leave it to you to set up. Usagi replied.

Alright. I'll take care of it. He said.

"Does everyone have everything?" Usagi asked since she was hoping no one would have to come back to get anything, and everyone assured her that they did have everything.

"Do you have everything?" Mamoru asked her.

"I do. I double checked just before I left the house." Usagi answered. "I'm looking forward to this trip."

"Me too." Mamoru said, and Naru and Ami agreed.

"I've never done anything like this before, and I'm excited to see what happens." Naru said.

"Hey you guys!" A familiar voice called out before anyone could say anything, and they turned to see Minako walking toward them and waving cheerfully.

"Hey!" Everyone greeted her and waved as she reached them.

"Do you have everything? You're not forgetting anything?" Usagi asked immediately.

"I have everything." Minako answered as she patted her backpack and her sleeping bag. "I double check before I left the house."

"Good." Mamoru said. "We were just talking about how we're all looking forward to the trip."

"I'm definitely looking forward to it." Minako said excitedly. "We'll get to train, without the worry of being observed by the curious, and we'll get to have a good time together. I'm looking forward to us all becoming closer friends with this trip."

It was something she knew would happen. With them all spending hours and hours together, relying on each other, there was no way it couldn't happen. The same thing had happened with herself, Usagi, and Mamoru with all the hours they had spent together in Elysion. It had also happened to a smaller extent with the three of them and Naru.

She had high hopes that this trip would do the same with the entire group, and hopefully they would be the close team and friends that she had hoped they would be when she had first come to them from England.

"Me too." Usagi agreed. "I hope we can be a much stronger team than we have been now that there's no tension in the group, no hidden or negative feelings, and everyone gets along with each other."

Naru understood along with everyone else exactly what she meant. Now that Rei was no longer on the team, displaying her negativity to everyone but focusing it on Usagi and trying poorly to hide her feelings for Mamoru, they would be much more efficient.

No one had to worry about what Rei might do or say, and how it would effect their teamwork or impact Usagi and Mamoru's relationship and bond.

"Hey!" They heard Makoto call out before another line of conversation could start, and they all turned to see her waving at them.

She was wearing a backpack so big it looked like she was going backpacking in the wilderness for weeks; clearly she had everything, but Usagi felt the need to ask anyway as soon as she reached them.

"Do you have everything you need?" She asked.

"Yup. Clothes, sleeping bag, and a small variety of food that will give us all the energy we need." Makoto answered.

"Thanks for being prepared to feed us all." Usagi said.

"No problem. You all know how much I love cooking, and I can't wait to cook on an open fire; it's been a long time since I've done that." Makoto said.

"I'm looking forward to tasting whatever you cook, and we're bound to be starving when it's time to eat, which is sure to make it taste even better." Minako said, and everyone nodded.

"Definitely; especially with how hard we're going to be training." Usagi said.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Mamoru asked, and everyone nodded.

How do you think we should bring everyone to the location? He asked as he looked to his princess.

How about you go ahead with half the girls and I'll come to you, following our link, with the other half. Usagi said thoughtfully.

Alright. He replied before he looked to the girls. "Naru, Minako take my hands and I'll bring you to our camp site." He told them.

Both girls nodded and stepped toward him and grasped a hand and waited. Mamoru focused, picturing the location he had scouted just a few days before, and disappeared in a golden flash with the two young women.

"Okay, take my hands and we'll be on our way." Usagi told Ami and Makoto as soon as the others left.

Once they had a firm grasp she focused her mind on her soulmate and brought herself and her friends directly to him in a white flash of light.

They all appeared in a quiet peaceful grassy natural clearing surrounded by tall thick trees. Looking around they could see a stream not far from them that sounded very calming, and off in the distance was steam and some of them wondered if it was a natural hot spring.

"Where are we?" Makoto asked.

"We're in a national park outside the city." Mamoru answered. "There are natural hot springs in the area, so we'll be able to relax any sore muscles we might gain." He added.

All the girls except Usagi, since she had already been told about them, brightened at the thought of a hot soak since places that had hot springs were expensive.

As Usagi began to walk around the perimeter of the clearing Mamoru knelt in the grass and felt it. He thought it was soft and would be enough cushion in addition to their sleeping bags to provide comfort, but he wanted to make sure of everyone else's opinion.

"Do you all want a platform of some sort instead of sleeping on the ground?" He asked out loud.

It doesn't matter either way. Usagi answered as she continued to walk.

The others knelt down and felt the grass themselves, and all decided that it wasn't necessary.

"Okay." Mamoru said as he nodded then finally let his things fall to the ground. "We might as well pick a spot to sleep." He said.

Usagi finished her walk and silently moved to the center of the clearing before she put her things in the grass at her feet. She then summoned her crystal and closed her eyes after it appeared floating between her hands.

Please place a barrier around our camp site, so our camp area cannot be seen, wild animals cannot get to our things or disturb them while we sleep, and our fire cannot be seen. She asked as she pictured the area around her. Please make sure my prince and Senshi can see through the barrier.

The silver crystal pulsed warmly and she sensed its understanding before the warmth spread.

Everyone watched her to see what she was doing since she had her silver crystal visible, and watched as white light flooded out of the crystal and spread outward and upward covering the entire area like a dome.

The dome of white light pulsed before it turned transparent and disappeared from their sight, and they all shifted their eyes back to Usagi for an explanation.

"I put up a barrier so our camp site will be safe from being detected by animals or in the unlikely event there are any people around." Usagi explained as she opened her eyes and put her crystal away.

"That was a good idea." Mamoru said before he went over and kissed her.

"Thanks." She said with a light blush before she bent over and grabbed her things and brought them next to his.

They both unroll their sleeping bags and lined them up next to each other while the girls began to do the same. It was in that moment that everyone realized that no one had brought a pillow, but they decided to just improvise and use the bags that had their clothes in it as makeshift pillows.

"I'm going to look for wood suitable for a fire." Makoto announced.

"I'll help." Naru offered as she stepped toward her.

Makoto grinned and they both walked off together with Makoto listing exactly what would be needed for a safe fire.

It didn't take them long to find what they needed and soon they were back and using small stones to make a circle in the middle of the clearing. Inside they put the wood they also found and soon had a low fire going that was bright enough to find their camp site but would be easy enough to build on later.

Everyone adjusted their sleeping bags until they were all in a loose circle around the camp fire. Usagi and Mamoru were still next to each other, Naru was next to Usagi, Minako was next to Mamoru, Makoto was next to Naru, and Ami was between Makoto and Minako.

Once they had shifted their bags close to their sleeping bags they looked around at each other and nodded seriously. Their camp site was set and there was still some daylight left so they decided to get started.

The girls took out their transform pens and Usagi her brooch and held them up slightly.

"Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!" Usagi said.

"Venus Power, Make Up!" Minako said.

"Mars Power, Make Up!" Naru said.

"Jupiter Power, Make Up!" Makoto said.

"Mercury Power, Make Up!" Ami said.

The five young women transformed in a swirl of colorful lights and elements after saying their phrases. Mamoru as usual didn't say or do anything physical; he was simply surrounded in a bright light red light.

Once they were all standing as the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen they took off running into the forest to start their exercises and begin their training.