Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 3: Crystal City.
Act 1: Generations.
Episode 2: Strange is normal.
By Razor Knight
Last update: February 20, 2019
Ami typed a few commands into her glove and looked up. "It's ready to go."
Aiko nodded. "Shield deploying."
Yukiko saw the barrier appear in front of them. A translucent dome, surrounding the whole city. It was nearly invisible, making it look way weaker than it really was."It seems to be working."
Ami looked at her. "Care testing it?"
Yukiko nodded and shot a small energy blast, which was absorbed by the barrier. She tried a larger one, but that one was also absorbed. "Okay, how about this?" She said as she shot a third one.
Aiko saw the blast vanish and nodded. "Yeah, even something as strong as an Eternal Senshi attack can't get through."
"Okay, one last try!" The blast this time was smaller, but both Ami and Aiko had ways to 'see' how much power it had. "Eat this!"
The barrier did exactly that, but her two friends were impressed. "Yuki, that blast was close to a Holy Senshi attack."
She looked at Aiko. "Only 'close'? Damn, I still need to train."
"I can help with that," Aiko said.
Ami smiled. The barrier was finally working. It made it impossible to enter the city - or leave - without them knowing, both by physically moving through, or teleporting. It also stopped anything it deemed dangerous for its inhabitants, be it energy blasts, tank shells, or even nuclear warheads.
She looked to the side and shook her head. Aiko had also decided to test the wall, by punching and kicking it. "That won't work."
"Maybe we should call Mako," Yukiko said, "she's so freaking strong I'm scared she'll split the planet in half if she stomps too hard."
Ami chuckled. "She's not that strong."
Hours later, Ami was in Hotaru's house, and she was not sure she believed her scanner's data. "You're pregnant."
Hotaru smiled. "It finally worked."
"Finally?" Ami asked.
"Oh, mom didn't tell you about it?"
Ami looked at Chibiusa, who was unnervingly calm. "No."
"The Ginzuishou can do a lot of impossibles, this is just another one of them."
Chibiusa smiled at Hotaru. "I didn't plan it for you to be the one, but..."
"I guess my wish was granted."
Ami nodded. "Well, I see nothing wrong with the baby or you both, so I guess you'll just have to wait."
"So in a decade there will be a Younger Sailor Saturn around," Hotaru said.
"Or maybe Younger Younger Sailor Moon? Or both at the same time?"
Ami frowned. "I hate this part of my job." She looked at her two friends. "Even with two Senshi of the same planet, there is a chance that the offspring may have just the ability to use magic, but no Senshi powers. Or they could be normal humans."
Chibiusa gasped. "I never heard about that before."
Hotaru shrugged. "Even if our daughter ends up being normal, she will still be-"
"Why are you sure it's a girl?" Ami asked.
Chibiusa looked at her. "Well, two females, no Y chromosome around..."
Ami nodded at that. "But magic is involved. For all you know, the Ginzuishou could make the baby male at random, mimicking nature."
Hotaru decided to tell both her friends about a part of her powers they didn't know about. "Even though it's a skill I usually turn off, I can see souls, you already know that. But what you don't know is that, from looking at someone's soul, I can tell their gender. At least in a biological sense."
"Oh. Wow, that's..."
The pale woman looked at her lover. "I'm sorry for spoiling the surprise."
"I don't mind. It will make it easier to pick a name."
Hisako blinked at what she had just heard. She had just asked why Hotaru wasn't helping her train, but she got a lot more than she expected in return. "Wait, you... Hotaru is gonna have a baby?"
"Yeah."
"So you're going to be a dad?"
The woman shook her head at that. "Not the first one to tell me that."
"Well, it's true, isn't it?"
"Sure. Anyhow, I'm here to train you, not chat, so get ready."
Hisako nodded and transformed. She was used to it after one week, but at first it had been annoying, and a real show of their difference in power, that Chibiusa had never needed to transform to train her. "Here goes! Fire Rain!"
Chibiusa blocked the barrage of flame bolts. "You don't need to call your attacks."
"But isn't it fun to come up with names for them?"
"I guess." And the young girl had already shown she could attack without motion or words. As a result of their training to use magic, this new generation had an easier time using their Senshi powers. She knew Minako's daughter was almost ready, too, and the youngest members of this 'new generation' would be joining in soon enough. Even her own daughter...
Hisako saw ChibiUsa take a hit, but she didn't even flinch. "Hey, you okay?"
The older woman smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I... Guess my mind is elsewhere today."
Hisako stood there, unsure if she could say what she thought.
Chibiusa saw the girl wasn't moving to attack again "What is it?"
"Mom told me training when you're in a bad mood, or distracted, could be bad. Wanna stop for today?"
"You know, you're smart for your age. And kind. I bet your mom was like you at your age."
"You're smart and kind too. You'll be a good mom."
Hotaru saw her friend appear near her, and frowned. "Are you crying?"
Chibiusa sighed, rubbing the tears off her cheek. "Don't worry, they're happy tears."
Hotaru smiled. "So, training didn't go well?"
"Hisako noticed I was distracted, and told me she thought I would be a good mom."
"She's not wrong."
"Our girl will have two awesome moms, huh?"
"Yeah... Say, what do you think of the name 'Kyouko?'"
"I like it. Let's go with that."
"That was quick."
Chibiusa shrugged. "I was never good at coming up with names. You know, 'Pink Sugar Heart'?"
"Fair enough."
"I thought you would go for Keiko, though."
Hotaru looked at her. "That was mom's name... But I never told you-"
"I asked your dad one time I visited your old house."
"Oh. Anyhow, I like Kyouko better."
"Okay, I can't wait to have little Kyouko driving us mad."
"What if she's a well-behaved girl?"
"With a name like that?"
"Guess she'll have an awesome mom, and a silly one."
"Ouch."
"Taka is really smart for his age."
Terry looked at Aiko. "Technically, you were smart since the moment we created you."
"... Point taken."
Takamaru Mizuno was not paying attention to his parents and sister. Adults were boring, too boring.
"So, the younger Usagi is going to have a daughter?"
"Yeah." Terry smiled at her. "She told us their 'method' could be used by anyone."
"Even someone whose body is artificial?"
Ami smiled. "I asked her that, she said Gin can do it."
"Wow... You know, in this city, strange is normal."
Terry was surprised to not see the expected reaction from Aiko. "Yeah. So, you're not interested in-"
"I'll tell Yuki about it, but I think I lived with her long enough now. She doesn't really like kids."
"And you?"
"I never knew it was an option, but I'll let her decide."
"Nice way to dodge the real question."
Aiko looked at her mother and frowned. "Okay, yes. You two know I've wanted to be 'human' since the day I became sentient. And having children of my own is one thing I thought was impossible for me. I would love to try."
"You should tell Yuki that."
"I don't want to force-"
"It's your choice, but you may end up hurting her if you hide your feelings like that."
"I'll have to think this through. Thanks for telling me."
Rei wasn't angry, but she could still play the part well. "Hisa, did you get into a fight today?"
"That wasn't a fight, it was a joke."
"Hisako Hino, don't try to sarcasm your way out of-"
"Mom, I didn't hurt any of them. I didn't need to fight back. I just dodged until they ran out of stamina."
Rei blinked at that. Even against untrained foes, to be able to dodge them all... She was actually proud of her daughter. "Oh. Still, you could have teleported away."
"They would try again if I did that. But now... After they were done trying to hit me, some of them looked at me with awe, and others seemed scared."
Rei frowned. "I'm going to have a talk with the principal and the teachers. I want you to enjoy school, and... Those boys may try to target Hikaru next."
"Can I punch them if they try?"
Rei let out a long sigh. "Hisa..."
Hisako tried her best to stand her ground, but her mother's stare could be really frightening. "I promise I won't fight those bullies. I won't hit them. But I'll still protect Hikaru from them."
Rei sighed. Hisako was acting more and more like an 'older sister' to Hikaru. "I can agree to that. Anyhow, Chibi must already be waiting, you should go."
Next morning, after school, Hisako was not surprised to see one of the 'bullies' walking to her as she headed home. It was, however, surprising to see him without his sidekicks. "What do you want?"
The boy met her glare with a serious face. "I- We're sorry for bothering you before, Hino. It won't happen again."
"... l expected you to keep trying."
He looked at her and shook his head. "After the way you dodged us all yesterday? That made us realize something. You don't need an adult to protect you, you don't even need to fight to beat us. You're no freak, you're awesome."
"Uh, thanks. Mom was going to come to school today, but... I'll give your gang a chance."
"Thanks, Hino." The boy looked at her for a second and sighed.
"Anything else you needed?"
"You- You're already a Senshi, right?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see your suit?"
Hisako blinked at that. "A strange request, coming from someone who hates the Senshi."
"Uh, that was just... We said dumb things, I know, sorry about that. But I never saw a Senshi suit before, not in person. If you don't want to, that's fine."
Hisako closed her eyes and her uniform changed into her Senshi outfit. "There."
"You look cool, Hino. Sailor Mars, right?"
"Yeah. Younger Mars."
"Well, see you."
As the boy walked away, Hisako turned back to normal. Hopefully, that meant she would have a peaceful, boring life at school.
"Nice, you got your first fan."
She saw her mother there and smiled. "Fan?"
"I heard most of that," Rei said, answering the question her daughter was likely to ask. "He seems sincere, so I won't talk to anyone yet."
"So, why did you come here?"
"Can't your mom worry about you, Hisa?"
"... Yeah."
"Also, Chibi is busy today so I'm going to be your training partner this time."
"Oh. Cool, I'll get to fight the real Sailor Mars."
"Don't say that, you make it sound like you're fake. You already have more power than I did when I first got my powers. You would have toasted the evil youma from back then easily."
"I still can't believe youma were evil before. Mister Sayel doesn't look evil."
Rei smiled at that. Sayel was a math teacher in the school Hisako went to, and one of many youma that had decided to live amongst humans. Some hid their identities, so only the Senshi knew they were youma, but in rare cases, the youma weren't afraid to let others know. "Did he ever show your class his real face?"
"Yeah, he said he wanted us to know. He looks like a werewolf, but he's a nice person."
A few days later, a few Senshi were meeting in one of the palace's rooms. Aiko had called them in, but hadn't given them any other details. "I'll jump straight to the reason I called you all here for. Last night, a telescope in Europe was scanning a region of our galaxy, and this is one of the images it took."
Terry looked at the image. An orange 'cloud' of gas surrounding a planet. "So what is that exactly?"
Ami was staring at the image. "I remember reading about that. Well, my past self did. A World Eater."
"Yes, and after checking archives from many other sources, I calculated its trajectory. It's heading this way, right now."
Serenity looked at the screen. "World Eater... I remember hearing about them, in my past life. Everyone thought they were just legends."
Gin appeared and looked at the few people in the room. "Sorry, I need to correct an error about those things. The Senshi of the past fought a creature like this one, a 'World Eater,' and another one that they called 'Star Eater.' I don't think I need to explain what it does. But they're not different species. A World Eater is the 'baby' form, when it grows large enough it also starts eating stars."
Aiko looked at the image. "So this one..."
"From the size of that planet, the creature is large enough to be a Star Eater."
"How long until it gets here?"
"At its current speed, ten years."
"Ten years?" Yukiko had remained silent, but she couldn't stay quiet after hearing that. "You said this was an emergency."
Gin laughed at that. "A being like that one? Be glad you have ten years to get ready. Despite not being a sentient creature, it could take all of you to defeat it. These are very strong creatures."
"All the Senshi, you mean?"
Gin looked at Serenity. "She's still underestimating herself, huh?"
Serenity looked at the others. "Aiko, tell the rest of the team about this. We'll need to train, just like the Younger Senshi."
"A Star Eater, huh?" ChibiMoon said, looking up to the sky. "Our planet is an evil magnet."
"Thanks to Serenity, it should be in theory worse than before."
Hotaru was right, as Serenity had removed the spell blocking the mana wells, after creating Crystal Tokyo. Before, the Earth had been a mana desert, with only three areas (under Tokyo, New York and London,) where mana flowed, slowly, into the atmosphere. But nowadays, mana was flowing free, all around the world. It had some interesting side-effects, like enabling some of their non-Senshi allies to keep using spells almost as long as a Senshi could.
It also had some annoying side-effects. All over the world, for the past year, there had been hundreds of new mages appearing. Some tried to do good, by emulating the Guardians and hunting down criminals, while others chose the side of evil. Haruka and Michiru had rarely been to the city, as they were taking care of the evil humans that gave mages a bad reputation.
It was an era, as Chie had once said, of Sailor Your-Name-Here, as many teenagers (and even adults) who could now use magic, had decided to use suits like those the strongest beings in the world used, coming up with silly names like Sailor Starshine of Dragon Power. It was both flattering and annoying.
"Is Hisako's training going well?"
"Yes. She should be close to being a Twilight Senshi now."
"Twilight at the age of ten..."
"I was a Star Senshi at that age."
"Well, you were a Senshi at the age of six. I think that gave you a head start."
"I think I'll have to get used to not hearing my nickname, though."
"For me, you'll always be Chibi."
"Thanks."
"Having two Usagi around can get confusing, but it could be worse, we could call our daughter Usagi too..."
"No thanks, I'll pass."
A/N: Continuing the tradition of punny names, Kyouko means "doom child." Well, that and a few dozen other things, depending on the kanji used.
