Sailor Moon: Millennials

by PMSmiles

This is a fan repost of all available 33 chapters of The Judge's abandoned work. An epic length and very ambitions fic involving an amnesiac Pluto and a pregnant Usagi. Time and space travel abound in an effort to right wrongs and overcome evil.

2. Chapter 2-

DISCLAIMER: Hello. Before I go any further I want to publicly state that this work of fan fiction is NOT of my own creation. I am simply a fan of this piece and after strenuously searching the internet to read it again after 20 years I have decided to upload it here for anyone else who wants to read it. The real author (The Judge) never finished this work, or at least never updated past chapter 33 (even though it is obvious that the ambitious plot of this story should continue much past this point). So please don't come after me for more updates. There won't be any. Rather enjoy this incomplete fan fiction for what it is and please forgive me for any formatting errors, some of the text files had to be manually edited and I did my best.

_…_…_…_…_…_…_

SAILOR MOON: MILLENNIALS

Chapter 2

Messages, Mystery, and Mayhem; Season's Greetings, Senshi Style

Usagi closed the door quietly as she and Ami stepped out of the room where Pluto now lay in a deep and, hopefully, dreamless sleep on Ami's donated bed. They walked along the hall in silence, returning to the den where the other Senshi and their guardian cats waited quietly. Minako was the first to speak as Ami and Usagi entered the room.

"How is she?"

"Asleep," Ami replied. "Beyond that, who knows?"

"Did she say anything else?" Luna asked. Usagi shook her head.

"Luna, I don't think she even remembers her own name. It was almost all we could do to get her to stop crying, and after that she was too tired to stay awake." Usagi settled herself on the couch next to Minako, sighing. Her eyes were still tinted red from her own tears.

"There's not much we can do right now except let her sleep," Ami said, taking a seat next to Rei on the other couch, "but we should make some plans."

"Do we have any ideas about what could have done this to her?" Makoto asked from her place near the balcony door.

"Only that it almost has to be something supernatural," Luna replied, "and likely an intelligent something."

"Why do you say that?" Usagi asked.

"There are a lot of things in the world that can lead to amnesia of one kind or another," Luna explained. "Physical trauma or emotional shock are the most common, but Pluto is a Senshi, and all of you have a certain degree of protection from your powers against ordinary injuries. In the case of memory, it's sort of like the back-up files on a computer. Everything you see and hear becomes a part of you, a part of your powers; when your bodies or minds are affected in such a way that you would normally lose part of your memories, your power reacts and allows you to hold on to them instead. The process is automatic, unless a stronger power interferes with your own. That was why I had to restore you after you fought Beryl. The ginzuishou restored you to life by sending you back in time, but it sent you to a point before you had learned how to harness your powers, so it blanked out your memories of the whole year in the process."

"Luna," Makoto said, looking confused, "you and Artemis didn't remember who Usagi was until the ginzuishou was put back together, right? So if you got sent back to a point before it restored your memories, how could either of you know who we were to restore us?"

"Well," Luna said. "Artemis and I were able to remember because we've had our abilities all our lives. Everything we remembered because of the ginzuishou was imprinted on our own back-up file, if that's what you want to call it, and since it couldn't send us back to a time when we didn'thave our skills, we were able to remember."

"I guess that makes sense," Makoto said dubiously.

"What about Ryo-kun?" Ami asked suddenly. "How is it that he was able to remember me... I mean, us... I mean..." Ami blushed when the others looked at her, most of them with knowing smiles. "Does it have something to do with the fact that he carried one of the Rainbow Crystals?" she asked, pronouncing each word very carefully.

"It might," Luna admitted. "It's entirely possible that Urawa's powers gave him the same kind of memory-preservation as you girls have, so if the point in time to which the ginzuishou reset everything was after he'd acquired his ability, he would have retained his previous memories. I think. Then again, none of the others seem to remember the whole business."

"We don't know for sure that they can't remember," Makoto said. "Most of 'em were sort of dazed after Usagi-chan changed them back to normal, so they probably just dismissed the whole thing as a bad dream." She frowned again. "But if that happened before we went back, then they should be able to recall the entire year, and then... this is giving me a headache," she growled.

"Ryo-kun did say once that he'd been able to predict things since he was little," Ami said. "He just got better at it with practice."

"And Joe's still a legend at the arcade," Usagi added. "Whether he's still using that mind trick he showed Mako-chan, I don't know. Reika's still a biologist, that priest we met is still preaching, Yumemi still paints, and Rei's grandfather is still... uh..."

"Twisted and hyperactive?" Rei said wryly. "Don't forget that cat who had a crush on Luna," she added. "I saw him a few months back, and he's still the size of a small army."

"What cat?" Artemis asked curiously.

"Oh, no one in particular," Luna said hastily, suddenly even more red- faced than Ami had been—which was a neat trick through her fur. "He sort of saved me from an army of alley cats before Zoicite turned him into a youma. Anyway," she continued hurriedly, ignoring Artemis, "we've gotten off track here. Usagi wanted to know why I thought Pluto's memory loss was the work of a supernatural force, and not just the result of hitting her head."

"Right," Usagi said. "Do you think you might be able to restore her memories the same way you did ours?"

"Ordinarily, I'd say yes, but Pluto seems to have lost a lot more of her memories than any of you did. That might only mean it'll take longer to restore her, but it might also mean that I won't be able to help her. In either case, I'd like to wait until after she's rested before I try anything."

"I think we can wait until tomorrow," Ami said, "but we'd better think up a story in case Mother starts asking more questions—and just in case it doesn't work."

"Don't say things like that!" Usagi insisted. "It has to work!"

"Usagi," Rei said, "we all want it to work, but Ami's right. We have to be ready for the possibility that whatever is wrong with Pluto is something we can't fix right away, or maybe even something that we can't fix at all. If Luna can get her back to normal, fine, but if it doesn't work, we need to know what to do."

"Beyond making her comfortable and seeing to it that she has somewhere to stay," Minako said glumly, "is there anything else we can do if Pluto doesn't get her memory back?"

"We might try calling the Outers," Makoto said after a moment of thought. "Pluto never said very much about herself to any of us,but she lived with them for a while. They might be able to tell her something about herself that could shake the rest loose."

"What about that staff?" Usagi asked. "I got my memories back the first time when the ginzuishou was put back together, so maybe if Pluto got her staff back..."

"That's assuming, of course, that we had any idea where or even when the blasted thing went," Rei pointed out.

"And whose fault was then?" Usagi muttered.

"Don't try to blame this on me, odango-atama!" Rei shot back.

"You're the one who made it disappear!" Usagi shouted.

"Both of you, stop it!" Luna snapped. "This isn't..." *the time for more of your childish bickering* was what she had been going to say, but at that moment, they heard an awful scream from down the hall, followed immediately by the sound of shattering glass.

Even four months pregnant, Usagi was out of the room before the others could do more than get to their feet.

_…_…_

She awoke suddenly, alone in a bed and a dark room that she did not recognize. Her body felt drained and weak; her back in particular felt bruised, though she had no idea why, and her face was sticky with dried tears.

*I... cried? Do I do that?*

There was no response from the emptiness in her mind. There wasn't much of anything in her mind, she realized. Some hazy memories of waking up surrounded by strangers, panicking, crying—*I guess I do cry*—being led away by someone with gentle eyes and strong arms... but before all that, nothing. A wall beyond which her consciousness could not pass.

She rose and stepped out of the bed, noticing as she did that her feet were bare, the floor was carpeted, and a pair of boots were tucked against the side of the bed, with long-backed gloves folded and laid neatly across the feet. There was a little light coming in through the half-closed door on the other side of the room, enough to guide her towards another door and the bathroom beyond. She blinked once when her hand found the light switch, and then again when she noticed the mirror set into the wall above the sink.

*What do I look like?* she wondered, turning to face the reflection.

The face looking back at her was that of a young woman, older than what she had expected after waking up with a group of teenaged girls gathered around her, but not greatly so. Her hair was dark green and very long, though a bit tangled, and her eyes were deep red. All in all, despite the damage done by her tears, she thought it was a rather attractive face.

*Or maybe that's just my ego talking,* she thought with a wry smile. That smile shifted into a puzzled frown as her eyes drifted down to regard what else the mirror had to show her. That is not to say that she was displeased with what she saw. She was actually quite satisfied with her figure—even a bit smug that it was in such good shape—but she couldn't understand why she was dressed like she was.

*Maybe I was at a costume party or something,* she thought, taking in the form-fitting fuku with its wide collar, ribbons, and miniskirt. *At least I hope I was at a costume party,* she added nervously, realizing just how much of her legs the short skirt revealed. They were nice legs, but...

After checking the unusual outfit for pockets and the possibility of an ID card—*how do I know what that is?*—and finding neither, she decided to ignore the clothes for now and clean up.

Once the tear stains had been washed away, the face in the mirror looked much better. She looked at it for a long time, hoping—praying—that the image before her would jar something loose in her head.

It didn't. Not even a name.

She felt like crying again, but even more than that, she felt angry. At herself for not being able to remember. At the world in general for doing this to her. At the mirror for not showing her what she wanted to know. Her hands clenched on the rim of the counter as the fury built.

"Who am I?" she asked aloud. Even the sound of her own voice was still new and unfamiliar, and it too failed to set off any signal of recognition. The feeling of sick fury grew until her entire body shook with the effort of suppressing it, and finally, she could contain it no longer; with a howl of rage, she lashed out at the nearest target.

After the pieces of the broken mirror stopped falling, she pulled her hand back slowly. Where she expected to see slashed and bleeding knuckles, there was not even a bruise. The blow had been guided by nothing but rage, and yet her body seemed to know instinctively how to reposition itself for maximum effect and minimal personal harm. A useful piece of knowledge, that.

*Am I an athlete of some sort? A fighter? Or something worse?*

She heard footsteps in the hall and was turning to face the door almost before she realized it. The light in the bedroom flickered on as the five girls she recalled from before entered. The one in the lead was the blue-eyed blonde with the peculiar hairstyle, the one that had almost seemed familiar. She looked at the empty bed before noticing the light in the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, stepping slowly into the bathroom. "We heard the crash, and we weren't sure what..."

"Who are you people? Where am I?"

"First thing's first," the short-haired girl said firmly. "Do you know who you are?"

"No. Do... do you know who I am?"

"Not completely." The blonde girl sighed. "Why don't we sit down? This may take some time to explain." She looked closely at the taller girl, slowly extending her right hand. "Please, don't be afraid. We're your friends."

"Why should I believe you?" The blonde girl's hand stopped and then withdrew. She actually seemed to be hurt by the question.

"Because it's the truth?" she replied hesitantly.

"You're going to have to do better than that."

"I can't." The girl was silent for a moment. "I know you're scared, and I know you can't remember us. Anything I could try to use to prove we're your friends is gone. All I can do is promise that we want to help, and ask that you trust us. Just a little. Okay?" Maybe it was that flash of almost-memory, but something made the girl sound sincere.

"All right." She followed them back into the bedroom, sitting up on the bed with her back to the wall. With some help from the dark-haired girl, the blonde sat down on the end of the bed. The girl with short hair settled down on the bed between the other two occupants, and the dark-haired one knelt on the floor at the foot of the bed. The tall brunette leaned against the wall near the door, arms crossed, while the second blonde took a seat on a wooden chest next to her. Two cats were in the room as well, the black one sitting on the bed, the white one curled up in the lap of the second blonde girl.

The was a moment of silence as the blonde girl played with a ring she wore -*Is she married?*—apparently thinking about where to start.

"What do you want to know first? Who you are, where you are, or who we are?"

"I want to know all of it, but... it might be easier to ask questions if I knew your names first." The blonde smiled.

"All right then." She turned to the blue-haired girl. "This is Mizuno Ami. This," she said, pointing to the dark-haired girl, "is Hino Rei. The girl by the door is Kino Makoto, and the one on the chest is Aino Minako. This," she went on, patting the black cat next to her, "is Luna, and that self-absorbed furball in Mina-chan's lap is called Artemis. It's a he, by the way, and he hates being teased about the name, so feel free to."

"Hush," Minako giggled, covering her furry friend's face with one hand as he started to retort.

"And you?"

"Tsukino Usagi," the blonde replied. "Both of us," she added somewhat oddly, indicating her belly and smiling.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you." Usagi smiled again. "Now that you know who we are, I'll try to explain who you are. Your name is Meiou Setsuna."

"Se... Setsuna...?" *I... I like it.*

"Now," Usagi said, "it gets kind of complicated." She looked at Setsuna, thinking about how to proceed. "Do you know why you're dressed like that?" she asked at last.

"No," Setsuna—*Yes. Setsuna. I am Setsuna.*—replied.

"Well, it has to do with who you are. Or maybe what you are. It depends on how you look at it." Usagi frowned, tugging at the locket attached to her shirt. "This might go better with a visual aid. I'll..."

"Usagi," Rei said warningly.

"Rei, I know we agreed I wouldn't do this except in an emergency, but I think this qualifies, don't you?"

"You're not thinking, Usagi. There are five of us, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry." She released the locket, blushing. "I just..."

"I know," Rei sighed.

"What are you talking about?" *What does a locket have to do with how I'm dressed?* "And what did you mean, 'visual aid?'" The girls looked at each other.

"I've got it," Makoto said, stepping away from the door and pulling a small, green and gold pen from a pocket in her slacks. Something in Setsuna's mind pushed forward at the sight of the odd little symbol on the tip of the pen.

"That's the symbol for Jupiter, isn't it? Why would you be carrying something like that around?" Makoto smiled.

"This is why. JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"Wha..." Setsuna's words cut off as a bright flash of light swallowed Makoto. When it faded, someone else was standing in her place. *That outfit is almost the same as mine,* Setsuna realized.

"Meet Sailor Jupiter," Usagi told Setsuna.

"What happened to Makoto? Where is she?"

"Look a little closer," the new arrival suggested. Setsuna frowned; the other girls were silent, watching her as if waiting for something, so she did as she was told and took a second look at the tall stranger. Something about her face was familiar. And the voice. It was almost as if... Setsuna blinked.

"You... Makoto?"

"Got it in one." Jupiter grinned. Her gaze grew momentarily distant, as if she were looking inwards rather than outwards, and her uniform disintegrated in a burst of dancing ribbons and electric sparks, leaving Makoto behind, as she had been before.

"Can... can you all do that?"

"Yes," Usagi replied. "Ami, Rei, and Minako become Sailors Mercury, Mars, and Venus, respectively. I become Sailor Moon. Although," she added, making a face, "these busybodies haven't let me transform since they found out I was pregnant."

"We put it to a vote, odango-atama," Rei stated flatly, "and you agreed with the rest of us that it might not be safe. It was your call, so quit complaining."

"I'm allowed to change my mind, aren't I?"

"Sure," Rei agreed. "You can change it as often as you like. We're still not going to let you take stupid risks."

"Stupid?!" Usagi protested. "Are you calling me stupid?!"

"No, I'm not!" Rei hollered back at her. "And quit screeching in my ear!"

"SCREECHING?!" Usagi screeched.

"STOP IT!" Luna roared—or maybe growled. She was really too small to generate a true lion-scale roar, but she could earn points for effort. "Honestly, you two pick the worst times for these... oops." Luna turned her head to look at Setsuna, who was staring at her, and then covered her eyes with one paw. "Oh dear."

"You can talk?"

"Nice going, Luna." Artemis commented, still curled up in Minako's lap. "What's one more shock to her system going to matter?" He opened one eye to glance at Setsuna. "Well, you might as well go for the whole nine yards," he suggested.

"You might be right," Luna admitted. She padded across the bed and sat down in front of Setsuna. "Scared?" she asked.

"Yes." *Am I going to go insane now, too?*

"Well, you have a right to be afraid. And no," Luna added in a long- suffering tone, recognizing the look, "you're not going crazy, and this is not a dream. Artemis and I can talk, and Makoto didjust turn into someone else. The only thing wrong with your mind is that a lot of it seems to have been closed off." She looked at Setsuna closely. "Exactly how much can you remember?"

"I'm not sure. The first memoryI have is waking up in the other room, but there are all sorts of bits of information floating around." She closed her eyes, and when she spoke again, it was in a recitory manner. "'Hark, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the dawn, and fair Juliet is the east.' The square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the other two sides squared. The speed of light is approximately 295,000 kilometers per second. What's a henway? About two pounds." Setsuna opened her eyes again. "Right now, I could give you the value of pi out to ten million decimal places, recite every word in the dictionaries of at least ten languages, or write down the recipe for duck flambé. I have no idea where any of it is coming from, and I can't get it to stop."

"That's a start, at least." Luna paused. "There is a way that I might be able to restore your memory," she suggested hesitantly. "Do you trust me?"

"I'm not sure. I think so. What are you going to do?"

Luna responded with a beam of light, linking their foreheads together. Setsuna's eyes widened as the jumble information in her mind began to rapidly rearrange itself; Luna frowned and then fixed her face into an expression of extreme concentration. The Senshi watched as the dark red sign of Pluto flickered into existence on Setsuna's forehead, then just as quickly faded out. The sign appeared again, shone brightly, and then faded a second time.

"This isn't how it's supposed to work," Artemis said suddenly. "Luna! Let her go! Get out of her mind!"

The beam remained in place.

"Usagi!" Artemis barked, all traces of humor gone. "Something's wrong! Get Luna away from Pluto! Break the link! Now!"

"How? What do I do?"

"Just move her! Hurry!"

Usagi reached for Luna, but Ami was closer. As soon as Luna had been moved aside, the mindlink flickered out of existence, and Setsuna slumped back against the wall, sweating. In Ami's arms, Luna went limp.

"Are you okay?" Usagi asked, leaning forward to lay a gentle hand on Setsuna's shoulder. The elder Senshi scrunched her eyes tightly shut and took a deep breath, nodding mutely in response. Usagi looked over to where Luna was slowly lifting her head. "Luna?"

"I'm fine, Usagi. Just a bit of a headache." She looked up at Setsuna. "Did it work? Can you remember anything?"

"No. The jumble seems to have sorted itself out, but beyond that..." Setsuna winced. "Is it supposed to hurt that much?"

"No," Luna replied with a wince of her own. "It's not supposed to hurt at all."

"What went wrong?" Artemis asked. "It's not like you haven't done this before."

"I couldn't find the memories," Luna explained. "Pluto's head is full of all kinds of information, but it's all just a bunch of random facts. There's no trace of anything even remotely connected to her own life or the Senshi."

"Like what Beryl did to Mamoru?" Rei guessed.

"Not even close," Luna disagreed. "Beryl was almost as careless as she was powerful. When she blanked out Mamoru's memories, she either didn't or couldn't confine the effect to just part of his mind, and she left little bits and pieces of memory behind, which allowed Usagi to break the spell. Whatever happened to Pluto is a lot more precise. It's limited to just a few memories rather than everything she knew, but whoever did this makes Beryl look like an amateur. They didn't leave anythingbehind that I could see."

"Pluto?" Setsuna asked.

"That's you," Usagi said. "But don't tell anyone. Secret identity and all that."

"I see." She looked down at the fuku. "How do I change back?"

"It's pretty automatic," Ami explained. "Just concentrate on changing, and it'll happen."

"It helps if you get a mental picture of yourself as you normally look fixed in your mind," Minako added.

Pluto closed her eyes, trying to recall the image from the mirror, and take away the tiara, the earrings, the collar... Somewhere in the middle of building the image, she felt a curious shift, and then a great surge of dizziness. When it had passed, she could tell that she was wearing something else. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, the fuku had been replaced by a purple jumper and white blouse. The boots beside the bed had altered as well; the heels were lower and thicker than before, and the tops were now lined with a thick ring of insulation. A long winter overcoat in the same color as the jumper was neatly folded on the bed next to her, with not one but twopairs of soft gloves—one thick, the other extremely fine—tucked through the belt alongside a furry, purple-dyed hat and an emerald green scarf made of what might even have been silk. Setsuna looked herself over, noting that her transformation had not been nearly as obvious as Makoto's. At least, not where her body was concerned.

"Is there... does anyone have a mirror?"

"Here," Ami said, handing Setsuna a small, blue-rimmed hand mirror from her bedside dresser. She smiled. "Just be nicer to it than you were to the other one."

"Oh," Setsuna said, blushing faintly. "Yes. Sorry about that." She looked at her reflection, tracing the lines of her face with one hand. "I don't lookany different."

"Well," Usagi said, "you're a little older than we are. When one of us transforms, we seem to age a couple of years. I'm not really sure why."

"It's to protect you," Luna said.

"From our enemies?" Minako asked.

"And from your own powers," Luna added. "Why do you think Artemis and I keep having you conduct all those training exercises?"

"I thought it was because you got some twisted enjoyment out of seeing Rei use my butt for practicing drop kicks," Usagi muttered.

"No, Usagi." Luna sighed. "The training is to help you build up your strength and endurance so you can use your abilities without hurting yourselves. The traditional training period of a Senshi usually started when the girl was thirteen, and she wouldn't be assigned to active duty until her nineteenth birthday." Luna looked at the Senshi with an apologetic expression. "In your cases, though, we didn't have much choice except to accelerate the training as much as possible. If we were back in the Moon Kingdom, none of you girls would have been put through the kind of experiences you've had to endure for at least another two or three years, and you would have taken up your duties with the powers you command now, instead of the ones you had when I first located you."

"It's okay, Luna," Usagi told her feline friend. "We don't blame you for any of it."

"Yeah," Makoto grinned. "We blame the monsters—and then we dust 'em."

"But that doesn't explain why we age," Rei noted.

"It's a precaution built into the power of the transformation," Artemis explained. "The power of the Senshi evolved naturally over the course of thousands of years, but at first, it was just like natural growth, with the powers manifesting very early in a Senshi's childhood and then developing along with the rest of her during adolescence. It could take decades for the powers to grow to fighting strength that way, so the transformation magic was developed to accelerate the process, *and* to give the Senshi a measure of anonymity while they were still young. The henshin wands grant even a very young Senshi the strength to defend herself, without revealing her to the world at large. The enchantments which keep people from recognizing the similarities between your two forms were originally developed to protect a Senshi from being recognized and tracked down by her opponents, but you've seen how useful they are when the secret needs to be kept from society, as well."

"'Thousands of years?'" Ami repeated. "How many, exactly?"

"A lot," Artemis said. "The oldest surviving records in the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millennium were about ten thousand years old, and they described kingdoms on Earth that were even older. Even we didn't know much about those realms, though, except that they were there once. Paper—or even papyrus— hadn't been invented yet, and writing on stone doesn't work too well when there's a war every other decade and people keep breaking down your walls. Then there was that last Ice Age." He shook his head. "There are—or were—ruins on the Moon, Mars, and some of the moons in the outer system at least fifty thousand years old, but whatever civilization created them was wiped off the face of this planet by a few hundred centuries of ice, long before the Moon Kingdom even got started. And we found something floating in space one time that was definitely artificial, but well over a million years old."

"Excuse me." Setsuna interjected. "'Moon Kingdom?'"

"Oh yeah," Usagi exclaimed. "You don't remember."

"We'd better do something about that right now," Ami decided, "before anything else drops in on us. We might not have the time later."

"Good point," Usagi agreed. She looked at Setsuna. "You may want to make yourself comfortable," she suggested. "This could take a while, and it gets pretty weird at times."

"Weirder than talking cats and people who change clothes in bursts of light?" Setsuna asked, smiling faintly.

"That's just the drip of the iceberg," Minako proclaimed ominously.

"That's 'tip,' Mina-chan," Ami corrected. "Not drip."

"Oh. I knew that."

It only took them about an hour to explain the history of the Moon Kingdom and the adventures of the modern Senshi to Setsuna, and that included a five- minute tongue war between Rei and Usagi. Setsuna, for her part, listened attentively, only interrupting once or twice at particularly confusing parts of the story. Most of the real interruptions came from the Senshi, who constantly disagreed with Usagi's retelling of certain events:

"I did not ambush Mamoru! And it wasn't a serious relationship, anyway!"

"I'm not thatmuch of a klutz! I was just trying to help! And you're a fine one to talk about being clumsy! The cat calling the kettle black!"

"I do not fall in love with every guy that walks past! Just the ones that remind me of my senpai..."

"I am NOT dating Yuuichirou, odango-atama!"

When it was finally over, Setsuna was looking at her face in the mirror again.

"I'm HOW old?"

"Going on two thousand," Artemis replied. "I think. But that's only because you're here, now, in the time stream. You don't age in the in-between place where the Time Gate is. You were born right around the beginning of the Silver Millennium, but you've only spent about twenty or so years in real time. The rest of it, you've been keeping guard on the Gate and watching events in the real world."

"I suppose that would explain where all this information in my head came from," Setsuna mused. "And why I can't remember where I learned any of it." She tried to smile. "At least I'm well-preserved." Then she put the mirror aside and took a deep breath. "So. Assuming for the moment that I'm not going insane and that I believe your story; what happens to me now?"

"Well," Usagi began. The doorbell rang, and the Senshi froze. It rang again after a few seconds, and then a third time. Ami glanced at her friends and then rose slowly. "Mako-chan," Usagi said, "go with her. Just in case."

"Right." The others waited in silence for several minutes, Rei and Minako with their transformation pens in hand, until Ami and Makoto returned, looking rather confused and carrying several pieces of luggage and a black purse between them.

"What's this?" Luna demanded.

"It was just sitting on the doorstep," Ami responded. "There was no one in sight, no footprints in the yard, and no sign of a car or truck. I scanned all of this with my computer twice, and the yard as well. No sign of anything except ordinary luggage."

"And this," Makoto added, pulling a small envelope out as she and Ami set the suitcases down. "It's addressed to you," she said, handing the letter to Setsuna.

It was, too. Just her name, 'Meiou Setsuna,' written across the front in beautiful calligraphy, with the sign of Pluto inscribed beneath. Setsuna turned the envelope over; it was sealed with a circle of red wax, on which another strange symbol had been impressed. It looked like a one-way arrow with two heads, one pointing left, the other right. Not surprisingly, she didn't recognize it. Finally, Setsuna opened the envelope and removed the contents, a letter and a small brass key, which obviously went with the locked luggage. She read the letter carefully for a few moments and then looked up.

"What time is it?" Minako raised her right hand and looked at her watch.

"I have 1:22, but this watch is a bit slow. Why?" Setsuna did not respond, but began reading the letter again, her face going white before she screamed, crumpled the paper into a ball, and threw it as far away as she could. The Senshi looked at her and then at each other. Then Ami recovered the letter, unfolding it carefully and sitting back down on the edge of the bed before beginning to read out loud:

Dear Setsuna,

Some of us apologize for what has been done to you. Others do not. Believe us when we say it is not something done on a cruel whim, but as a necessity. The contents of this letter are, likewise, not given as a comfort, but as necessity. Rest assured that the story you have just been told is true, as far as the Senshi know it to be. You _are_ Pluto, the Guardian of Time, and the five girls before you _are_ your friends. You can trust them, even if you do not know them any longer. You will want proof, of course. So be it. You will finish reading this paragraph and ask what time it is. Aino Minako, Sailor Venus, will look at the watch on her right hand and say that it is 1:22, but that her watch is a bit slow. You have just re-read the previous lines, thinking it must be coincidence or a carefully planned trick. It is not. The number you are thinking of is forty-two, and the first thing you thought when you woke up in this room was to wonder whether or not you cried. Mizuno Ami, Sailor Mercury, you are now reading this letter aloud, after Setsuna has crumpled it and thrown it away. You are thinking to yourself that there is a perfectly logical explanation for the contents; you are correct. You are also worrying that Setsuna will suffer a nervous breakdown; this will not happen. Even devoid of her memories, she is strong enough to survive this. The suitcases left on your doorstep contain items for Setsuna, as her stay in your time will be extended. There is nothing supernatural or dangerous about either the luggage itself or any of the contents, except when Usagi drops the medium case on her right foot two weeks from now. Everything was selected based on Setsuna's own tastes and requirements. The driver's license and other identification in her purse are part of the identity she assumed in your previous encounters, and they are in fact quite accurate, so long as you employ a certain degree of fourth-dimensional thinking. And no, Aino Minako, we are NOT providing Setsuna with a car. We are not a rental service. Hino Rei, Sailor Mars, you did not in any way damage Sailor Pluto's staff. It is quite safe, and will remain so until Setsuna is ready to reclaim it. Luna and Artemis, there is no danger to the Time Gate while Setsuna remains in your part of the continuum. WE are guarding it. It will only be used four times in the course of this year, and one of those uses was Sailor Pluto's arrival. You will find out about the second in a few days, and the others in due course. Incidentally, some of us are a little sorry about that crash-landing. Tsukino Usagi, Sailor Moon, Princess and Neo-Queen Serenity, it was nothing personal. We were actually aiming for the bed in Ami's room, but someone thought it might be funny to alter the trajectory at the last second. Take care of Setsuna. You will need her almost as much as she needs you.

Ami lowered the letter.

"Well, of all the nerve!" Usagi huffed indignantly. "As if I'm going to go anywhere near that luggage, now!" She glared at Ami, who was biting back a smile. "What's so funny?"

Ami raised the letter again. "'P.S.: You ARE going to drop the suitcase on your right foot, odango-atama. Get over it.'"

"GIVE ME THAT!" Usagi roared, tearing the letter out of Ami's hands and reading it over. Sure enough, that irritating nickname was there, written in the same flowing hand as the rest of the letter. Somehow, that only made Usagi's teeth grind harder.

"So," Ami asked the others. "Was it accurate?"

"Yes," Rei admitted. "I was worrying about Pluto's staff."

"And I was concerned about the Time Gate," Luna said.

"Same here," Artemis added. "Minako?"

"Never. Mind."

"Sounds like a 'yes' to me," Makoto observed. Minako glared at her, to find Makoto innocently examining her fingernails, apparently indifferent to the world. The glare intensified.

"Who wrote that?" Setsuna demanded in a shaken voice.

"I'd like to know that myself," Usagi muttered darkly, examining the broken seal and the top of the letter, where the same double-arrow symbol was repeated. "Does anyone recognize this sign? Luna? Artemis? Ami-chan?" All three shook their heads.

"Maybe there's something in these suitcases that might help," Rei suggested, tugging the nearest one over. She glanced back at Setsuna. "That is, unless you'd rather not have us going through your things?"

"Actually," Setsuna replied, "I was going to ask you to hand me the purse."

"Good," Rei grinned. "Now where's that key?"

As the letter had suggested, the contents of the suitcases were in no way supernatural. The largest contained several carefully pressed and folded outfits in varying shades of purple or dark green, undergarments—some of which earned Setsuna some VERY curious looks from the younger Senshi—and a mix of more informal clothing which was presided over by one incredibly thrashed old pair of blue jeans. There was even a bathing suit tucked away among everything else, and an umbrella strapped to the outside of the case. Of the three medium-sized pieces, which had been mounted in a wheeled carryall, one contained a couple of hairbrushes, several vials of perfume locked in a protective coffer, various other toiletries, and a pale maroon nightgown; the second piece, a briefcase, held a thick binder, several folders stuffed with loose sheets, a few computer discs, and assorted office supplies. The last of the three cases turned out to be a small sewing machine, one with the contents of an entire sewing kit tucked away in various places. The final, smallest piece of luggage was the carrying case for a laptop.

"Well," Rei said at last, "I'd say whoever sent this stuff wanted to cover all options. And that they know your measurements down to the last stitch." She held up a slim green dress to emphasize the point. "This is really very nice." Rei draped the slightly overlarge dress in front of her own body and smoothed out some of the wrinkles. "I wonder if I could find it a little smaller. And in red. Hmm..."

"Put it away, Rei-chan," Minako teased. "Your grandfather wouldn't let you buy it anyway." Rei frowned, and then sighed, knowing Minako was right. They started re-packing Setsuna's things, but no matter how carefully they folded or repositioned things, they couldn't seem to get it all back in the cases.

Makoto turned to Setsuna while Rei and Minako waged their losing battle with the obstinate luggage.

"Having any better luck with the purse?"

"Hmm?" Setsuna looked up from the tattered jeans. "Did you ask me something?"

"I asked if you found anything useful in the purse."

"License, travel visa, a map of the city, pager, cellphone, a list of numbers and addresses—yours." Setsuna listed off the items. "A few pens and pencils, a calculator, and about five hundred thousand yen." She looked at the ID papers. "Born October 29, 1975, in Taiwan. Single. No next of kin. Japanese, Taiwanese, French, German, Swiss, English, and American citizenship," she added in a slightly surprised voice. "I seem to get around." She looked at the jeans again. "Apparently, these have been with me for most of the trip. Why in the world am I still carrying around something so ratty?" she wondered.

"Can you actually speak all those languages?" Minako said curiously from where she was struggling to zip up a dangerously overloaded suitcase. "I had enough trouble just learning English."

"I think I can," Setsuna replied, running the fingers of her mind through page after page of a half-dozen different languages. She looked at the date and place of her birth again. "This can't be right, though. Not if I'm as old as you say I am."

"The letter said to think fourth-dimensionally," Ami noted. She had, of course, repacked the laptop perfectly on the first try. "You probably really were born on the island we call Taiwan on the twenty-ninth of October, but..."

"...but it was two thousand years ago," Setsuna finished, nodding sadly. "That would make the 'no next of kin' part pretty accurate."

"You've got us," Usagi said, hugging her. "And the Outer Senshi. You know," she went on, "I think we should call them. She did live with Haruka and Michiru for a while when they were looking after Hotaru. They could at least tell her more about herself."

"That's not a bad idea," Rei agreed. "I'm surprised you thought of it. Oh, that's right. Mako-chan suggested it earlier. I should have remembered that."

"Ha ha ha." Usagi stuck out her tongue. "Do any of you know where they are right now?"

"Italy," Ami replied immediately. "I've been keeping track of the concert tour Michiru was asked to perform in. The last part of it went through Rome, and I think the final performance was scheduled for tonight at ten."

"They're probably asleep by now, then," Usagi sighed. "I guess we can call them tomorrow."

"Actually," Ami disagreed, "they've probably just finished dinner."

"Ami, it's almost two in the morning!"

"Here, yes. But they're in Rome, Usagi-chan. We're eight hours ahead of them."

"Huh?"

"You studied geography last term," Luna growled slowly. "Do you remember things called 'time zones?'"

"Are you getting silly in your old age, Luna? What does geography have to do with time?" Luna hung her head.

"Just call them, Usagi."

"If you say so." Usagi found her communicator. As the device sent out its signal, she grinned at her friends. "It's a good thing we don't have to use the phones, isn't it?"

_…_…_

Haruka slid the door to Hotaru's room open slightly, looking in on the girl while she caught up on her sleep so she could attend tonight's concert. Haruka doubted that Hotaru really cared for orchestra all that much, but it was a chance to see Michiru on stage, and it would have taken something on the scale of a world war to make the youngest Senshi miss that.

*Hard to believe,* Haruka thought, closing the door with a slightly sad smile. *A little over a year ago, we were ready to kill this little angel, and now she's become the most important thing in our lives. I guess Setsuna and Usagi were right.*

She sighed and walked softly down the hall to avoid waking Hotaru. Haruka wasn't really that much older than Hotaru, but there was something almost perpetually childlike about the little Senshi. Maybe it was her small size, or the pet names 'papa' and 'mama' she customarily tacked on when addressing Haruka and Michiru; regardless, Haruka felt more like a parent than an older sister, and she was fairly certain that Michiru—who was in the shower now, getting ready to get ready for this last concert—felt the same way.

Oddly enough, Haruka found that she didn't mind feeling older than she was. The presence of the sweet little Hotaru had slowly taught her to understand what it really meant to be a Senshi, a caring protector of human life against all odds, rather than the cold, watchful guardian she had been before, ready to sacrifice almost any individual to protect the greater whole.

Before being entrusted with the care of a supernaturally reborn infant, Haruka had only really understood three kinds of love. One was the bond of souls she shared with Michiru, a love far too intense and private to be applied to anyone else; the second was the love for humanity which allowed her to carry out even the most difficult of her duties as Uranus, a thing too generalized to enable her to connect with her charges as individuals; the last was her personal passion for racing cars, unquestioning things of steel and plastic and fuel, with no emotions of their own to confuse her.

None of these helped her to understand how the Inner Senshi—in particular, Usagi—could be so willing to risk their lives and everything they fought for to save one life, often a life they knew only distantly, if at all. But after having looked after a quiet, dark-eyed infant, after having experienced moments of sheer, terrified panic to protect that child from the dangers of the world, be they mundane or mystical...

Everyone was someone's son or daughter; everyone had been a child, once. And everyone had someone, somewhere, who would feel that same icy fear if they were in danger, who would grieve when they were lost. Knowing that, knowing Hotaru, had allowed Haruka to begin to appreciate and understand the real importance of her duties.

In the kitchen of their suite, the noise of the shower was a little louder, and Haruka chuckled to herself, thankful that Michiru didn't have the time for one of her insanely long baths. Haruka wasn't sure if it was a personal quirk about cleanliness or just Michiru's affinity for water, but she could soak in a tub for hours on end with perfect contentment, and somehow manage to not have her skin prune up in the process. The only reason she wasn't enjoying one of those hours-long immersions was because she needed to prepare and practice before the concert.

*Well, she can come back after the concert and soak for a week if she wants. Or she can sleep. Or do both. I might even join her.* The last few months had been hectic, and it was good to know that they could go home soon. Haruka didn't begrudge Michiru getting recognition for her talent with the violin, but being dragged halfway around the world for close to six months was just too much. The fans in particular could be a pain; high-class concert-goers were better-dressed and certainly far more polite and refined than the screaming teenage fans who mobbed pop stars, but they could be every bit as annoying. And the bloodsucking reporters... ugh.

On cue, the phone rang.

*That'll be one of the bloodsucking reporters now,* Haruka thought, *trying to get an interview. Or maybe another one of Michiru's star-struck admirers with a wedding proposal. What does that make now, five?* She chuckled again.

"Hello?" There was no one on the line, just a dial tone. And when the ringing went off again, Haruka realized that she recognized the sound. *I must be getting old,* she thought in embarrassment, hanging up the receiver and hunting around the room for her communicator, which continued to beep. By about the fifteenth time, she finally found the thing tucked in the inside pocket of the suit she'd be wearing tonight. *Right where I left it, of course. First place you think of is always the last place you look.* "Hello?"

"Haruka? Is that you?"

"No," she replied flippantly, "it's Mimete. Of course it's me, Usagi. What are you calling about?"

"Well, Happy New Year's, for one thing." Usagi's face grinned.

"You're six hours early, kid, but thanks. I'll pass that on to the others. Now was there something else?"

"Actually... yes. Um... we're at Ami's. We were having a New Year's Eve party of our own and, well... Pluto fell through the ceiling."

"Why is Setsuna there? What do you mean, 'fell through the ceiling?'"

"One of those portals opened up in the ceiling, and she fell out. We're not sure why she's here, though. You see, she's sort of lost her memory."

"What?" Usagi quickly summed up the night's events. When she got to a description of the mysterious letter, Haruka vaguely remembered the old wisdom about being careful what you wished for.

"All right," she said at last, interrupting Usagi's flow of chatter. *That girl can talk forever. She's going to make a good politician.* "Let me get this straight. Setsuna's in Tokyo. None of you have any idea how she got there. She's lost her memory. And someone or something which can predict the future sent her a letter."

"And a half-dozen suitcases," Usagi added. "When do you think you'll be able to get back?"

"I'm not sure," Haruka admitted, running one frustrated hand through her hair. "Michiru's last performance is tonight, but we can't just up and disappear immediately afterwards without everyone wondering about it. We've got plane tickets reserved for the eighth, but with all the people who travel at this time of year, there could be any number of delays. And that's not even considering what the panic over this Y2K foolishness could cause."

"Yeah, we caught some of that over here. Most of the phone lines are out for no apparent reason." Usagi sighed. "A week or more, then? All right. I guess there's nothing we can do about it." Her head turned away from the communicator. "Did you want to...? No? Okay."

"Who was that?"

"Setsuna. She said she'd rather talk to you in person when you get back."

"Will she be staying at the house?"

"No," Usagi replied firmly. "That place is empty without the three of you, and we're not taking the chance that something which knows about her memory loss might try to catch her by herself. We're going to find some place where she won't be alone."

"Nice to see you can think straight," Haruka applauded. "There might be hope for you after all."

"I'm so glad you approve. We'll be in touch, Haruka." Haruka sighed after the signal ended.

"I've got to learn to keep my mouth shut."

"Well, that was a lot of help."

"Don't get snippy, Rei," Usagi asserted defensively. "It was a good idea. It's nobody's fault that they can't do anything to help until they get home, is it?"

"No," Rei admitted.

"Glad to hear it. Now," Usagi continued, turning to Setsuna, "we need to figure out where you're going to stay."

"There's plenty of room here for all of us," Ami said. "At least for tonight. But I think mother might start asking questions about a long-term houseguest, and I'm not really very good at lying to her."

"I think we can rule out hotels," Minako noted. "They'll all be booked solid with tourists and conventions for the next two weeks at least."

"What about if she stays with me?" Makoto suggested. "I've got room, and since I live alone, there wouldn't be anyone to ask questions. Or she could stay at the temple with Rei."

"We have school," Ami reminded her. "The whole idea is to find Setsuna a place where she won't be alone."

"But not too un-alone, either," Rei added. "I don't think I trust Grandpa to behave himself when I'm at school." *Or Yuuichirou,* she thought.

"Good point," Makoto admitted.

"That probably rules out my place, too," Minako sighed. "Nobody except Artemis is home during the day, and mother would make an absolute pest of herself the rest of the time."

"Too bad we can't just take you to school with us," Usagi joked.

"I think I might be a little too old for that," Setsuna replied.

"Hang on," Usagi said suddenly. "That might actually work. Luna, do you happen to remember where I put that transformation pen?"

"It's in the drawer in your nightstand," Luna told her. "I can see where you're going with this, Usagi. It's a good idea, but it won't work."

"Why not? Setsuna can use the pen, can't she?"

"Anyone can use the pen, but that's not the point. It's only meant to operate for short periods of time. It can go as long as eight hours in a pinch, but Setsuna would have to stay transformed almost around the clock. The pen would burn itself out after a few days of that."

"Oh. Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"You never asked." Luna glanced at the clock. "Look, it's getting late, and we'd all be able to think clearer if we got some sleep."

"Most of us would," Rei muttered, poking Usagi's leg.

"I'll ignore that. All in favor of crashing for the night?" Usagi asked. The show of hands was universal. "Okay. Next order of business; who gets the bed?"

_…_…_

The room where the six telecommunications workers hung, suspended in coils of a material that looked partly alive and partly mechanical, was dark now. Many of the lights had been shattered when the entity that had invaded the computers had reacted to stop the workers from escaping to spread word of its presence, and most of those that were left were either too far apart or too heavily hidden behind the network of wires to provide any real illumination.

But that was all right.

The entity did not need light to see. It didn't need to see at all. That wasn't its purpose. The five men and one woman hung unmoving in the entity's snares. They were alive, but not out of any sense of mercy or cruelty on the part of their captor. As with the being's indifference to light and vision, random killing was not its purpose. Its purpose was to seek, to remain hidden, to learn. To find.

Infecting the computers had been an unconscious sort of action. The entity did not understand machines, nor did it misunderstand them. Again, understanding had not been deemed necessary to its purpose. It had ability, and a certain degree of awareness with which to guide that ability, and certain rules to guide the awareness, but that was all. The rules said to find. The awareness said that the phone network, extending as it did throughout much of the city, was an ideal means of finding. The ability fused the entity with the computers controlling that network, slowly spreading its awareness out into Tokyo, allowing it to seek out the traces of its quarry.

When the awareness realized it had been discovered, the rules told it to stop those who knew, but not to reveal itself in doing so. So it held them. The awareness then used its ability to do something to the computers, creating a false record on the surveillance videos so no one would come looking for the missing workers in that room, at least not for some time. Then it returned to its search.

There. The awareness extended itself in a certain direction. There were traces of the quarry in that direction. It had been there, and recently. The entity's ability did something else, sending a signal. Another would be dispatched now, to scout and, if possible, capture. If it succeeded, the entity's job would be finished. If not, it would continue to seek for as long as necessary. It would call others to scout, to capture, to divert, to destroy. It would seek and call until either it was found and destroyed, or its quarry was.

That was its purpose.

It would not fail.

_…_…_

The Senshi had insisted that, given her condition, Usagi take Ami's bed, and she was smart enough not to argue about a good thing when she got it. The others gave Setsuna the largest couch, then staked claims to the others; Rei ended up getting the floor.

Usagi had to pester her about that, of course, and she did so right up until the point where she came back from the washroom, to find Rei setting out a makeshift mattress of pillows on the floor in Ami's room.

"What are you doing?" Usagi asked.

"What does it look like, odango-atama?"

"I meant, why are you in here?"

"It's my night to keep an eye on you," Rei said. "Get used to it."

"But you snore!"

"I do not!"

"You do too!"

"No, I don't! And who are you to talk about snoring, anyway? You sound like a rusty chainsaw in a lumber mill!"

"I do not snore!"

"I've been listening to it every other night for the last four months!"

"I've been listening to it nightly for the last three years," Luna muttered.

"You stay out of this, Luna!"

"Both of you, KNOCK IT OFF!" Makoto yelled from down the hall. Rei and Usagi glared in Makoto's general direction, stuck out their tongues at her, then tried to go to sleep.

"Pain in the butt," Rei muttered as she settled down.

"Brat," Usagi retorted drowsily.

"Crybaby."

"Wallflower."

"Cow."

"Brat."

"You said that already."

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"SHUT UP!" Makoto hollered. Usagi grumbled, rolled over so her back was to Rei, and tried to go to sleep. In the living room downstairs, Setsuna looked over at Ami.

"Are they always like this?"

"Perpetually." She smiled. "I wouldn't change them for the world." Ami closed her eyes. She opened them again a moment later when something crashed upstairs. "Well, maybe a little," she amended.

"Artemis!" Minako shouted from the den.

"Sorry! It's dark up here!"

"You're a cat!"

"He's a klutz," Luna said from Ami's room.

"I heard that, Luna!"

"QUIET!" Makoto roared. Downstairs, Setsuna tried to keep from laughing.

"There's one good thing," she observed to Ami.

"And that is?"

"If I'm going crazy, at least I'm in the right company for it." They both started giggling. It was the first real laugh Setsuna could remember. It was... good, and she felt much better for it. Ami looked at her curiously.

"How do you feel? About all of this, I mean."

"Scared," Setsuna admitted. "And confused. So much of this doesn't make any sense, and the idea that I'm supposed to be some sort of mystical superhero..."

"It's a lot to take in, I know. We all had to go through it, but then, none of us had amnesia at the time. I'm surprised you're holding up so well."

"Didn't you read the letter?" Setsuna tried to laugh. "I may be scared out of my wits, but I'm not going to have a complete nervous breakdown. Even as much as I might want to."

"We'll all be here for you, you know."

"I know." The frustrated fear that had been lurking in the back of her emptied mind was still there, but between the laughter and the sense of knowing that at least she was not alone, Setsuna could fight it off, now, maybe even enough to sleep. "Good night, Ami. And... thank you." Ami smiled.

"Good night, Setsuna."

Then something exploded.

"USAGI!"

"ARTEMIS!"

"It wasn't me!"

"It wasn't me either!"

Then they heard screams. From outside.

Downstairs, Ami and Setsuna got up from their respective couches and ran to the window. In Ami's room, Usagi, Rei, and Luna pressed against each other in their attempts to see outside. In the den, Minako was halfway off her couch and headed for the door while Makoto buried her head under her pillow and began swearing slow, painful retribution on whoever was responsible for this.

Outside, a car was burning. The house directly across the street had a lot of lights on for so late at night—or early in the morning, depending on how one looked at it. After a moment of observation, the Senshi realized that there was only one light in that house, a sickly tinge of green, and it was moving.

Someone ran out through the front door—literally, since the door itself hung from the frame in splinters. Ami recognized Mr. and Mrs. Kiseru, the owners of the house. She didn't know them all that well, but she didn't think that running around in the snow in their nightclothes at two in the morning was something they'd be interested in. At least, not without a pretty good reason.

The reason exploded out through the wall of the house, sending the Kiserus flying in a shower of debris and kicked-up snow. It was neither pretty nor good; it was big, ugly, and obviously unfriendly. It looked a bit like a huge, mobile mass of stringy green fungus compressed into a vaguely human shape, but there were also bits and pieces of metal and plastic sticking out from its body. At this distance, none of the watching Senshi could tell what those bits and pieces might be. The thing was also glowing a bright green.

"Stay here," Ami and Rei said at the same time. Upstairs, Usagi pouted but did as she was told; in the living room, Setsuna just stared at the creature outside and nodded dumbly. So much for feeling better.

Ami ran into Minako and Rei on the stairs.

"Wrong way, Ami-chan!"

"We're not using the front door," Ami replied. "Somebody might see us. We can go out by the balcony off the den."

"Okay," Minako said. "About time!" She turned sharply in a vaguely military manner.

"It's 'face,' not time," Rei muttered, following her back up the stairs.

"There might be a physics equation in there," Ami remarked. "You know, face and time?" Rei groaned.

"Don't you start."

The three Senshi trooped into the den, transforming as they crossed the room. Mercury went for the door while Venus and Mars tried to get Makoto up.

"Go away," she growled.

"No can do," Venus replied. "Up and at 'em, girl. We've got a monster to mash."

"Have fun. I'm trying to sleep."

"Come on, Mako-chan," Mars insisted. "We have a job to do."

"You can take that job, and shitthat'scold!" Mercury had finally gotten the door open, letting an icy gust of winter into the den. Makoto was on her feet and then behind the couch in a flash of green flannel and fluffy blankets. "Close the door!"

"Just hurry up and transform," Venus ordered her. "We're wearing less than you are, and you don't see mecomplaining about the cold, do you?" She prayed that Makoto didn't notice the faint chatter of her teeth. Whatever magical backups this transformation had been given with regards to environment, a miniskirt was still not the best thing to wear in the middle of winter.

Her prayer was answered, it seemed. It took some doing for Makoto to find her transformation pen among all the blankets she was carrying, but a moment later, Jupiter joined her friends as they stepped out onto the balcony.

"Okay," Mercury said as they leapt up to the roof and surveyed the situation. The creature was standing a short distance away from the two humans, its green glow reduced to a few fast-fading sparkles, the misshapen head turning about slowly as if it were trying to find something. "Venus, Mars, you attack and draw that thing away from the Kiserus. Don't get too close, but keep its attention on you. Jupiter, you get Mr. Kiseru; I'll get his wife."

"Right," the others responded. Mars and Venus lifted off, touching down a short distance from the green creature.

"Hey, stringbean!" The ugly head turned around. "Yeah you, the walking fungus farm! Didn't anyone ever tell you it's impolite to... whoa!" Venus cut off her speech in a hurry as something—two somethings, actually—thin and glowing shot out of a metal object lodged in the creature's right shoulder. The projectiles sailed past both her and Mars to sink deep into a snowbank, sending up a hissing cloud of steam and melting half of the piled snow in a matter of seconds.

"You want to play rough?" Mars asked. "Fine by me. Mars Flame Sniper!"

The fiery arrow took the creature straight in the head, knocking it over backwards into the snow. Beyond the toppling green goon, Mars could see that Jupiter and Mercury had already gotten the two homeowners out of harm's way.

"It's toast," Venus reported from somewhere behind Mars.

"Not entirely," Mars disagreed, watching the creature twitch in the snow. "It's not going anywhere just yet, but I think it's still got some fight left in it."

"Not that," Venus told her, coming up from the melted snowbank with something in her hand. "Those things it shot at us were pieces of toast!"

"Toast? As in, twice-baked bread, peanut butter and jelly, the only thing Usagi ever seems to eat for breakfast? That kind of toast?"

"Burnt to a crisp," Venus affirmed, holding up a charred slice of what was indeed toast, black as coal, still steaming after its impact in the snow.

"That gets my vote for weirdest attack of the year," Mars muttered, turning back to the rising monster. Now that she could see it more closely, the metal thing in the creature's arm was easily identifiable as a garden-variety two-slice toaster. There were a lot of household appliances wedged into the shifting organic mass that made up the rest of this unusual enemy's body. Mars could identify a blender and an electric eggbeater on the end of the left arm, and a microwave in the thing's belly. Then the toaster fired again, and she and Venus had to step out of the way of the deadly, edible barrage.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

The creature half-turned before staggering under the electric assault. It fired off another volley of toast, missing completely as Jupiter and Mercury leapt over and around to rejoin their friends.

"That wasn't what I think it was, was it?" Jupiter asked.

"Nuclear toast," Venus confirmed. "Or something like that. Mercury, what isthis thing?"

"I don't know," Mercury admitted, calling up her visor. "Its organic composition is very strange, but it doesn't seem to have any of the usual negative energies. It doesn't have much of anything, for that matter, not even in the way of a brain, and what it does have appears to be... decentralized. No major internal organs, no obvious controlling mechanism like the Black Moon droids; it's all spread out over the entire body."

"Which means we have to take out most of or all of the body to stop it, right?"

"I think so."

"Then I've got something it should like," Jupiter grinned. "Interrupt MY sleep, will you? SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" And she let the attack fly.

The creature watched the crackling energy sizzle its way through the air. Right before impact, the door of the microwave imbedded in the thing's chest popped open; Jupiter's attack hissed straight into the cavity beyond, and the door swung shut behind it. There was a bright flare, and lights on the appliances all over the thing's body lit up. It raised its left hand towards the Senshi, the blades in the base of the blender whirring madly before a huge funnel of wind leapt out from the glass, throwing snow and four girls in miniskirts halfway down the street.

Jupiter looked up at the others from the remains of the snowman that had broken her fall.

"Right. Electrical appliances. Silly me." She glanced over at Venus. "Your turn."

"Let me think, let me think. Something to hit the whole body... Okay. VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

The eggbeaters beneath the blender started up as the attack got near. The creature plunged its hand directly into the energy, and Venus watched in dismay as the spinning metal dispersed her attack into a hundred separate pieces, none of which went anywhere near the monster itself.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

The blender began whirring again, and the blazing rings vanished in a veritable blizzard.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

The toaster unloaded a rapid-fire barrage of white-hot bread, boiling away the geyser of sub-zero liquid in mid-flight.

"Hoookay," Venus said. "The usual stuff doesn't seem to be working."

"I almost wish we'd let Usagi transform," Rei admitted. "She's a ditz and a half, but she's probably stronger than any two of us put together."

"We'd better figure out how to stop this thing quick," Mercury replied, "or you may get your wish." She pointed at the living room window, where Usagi had joined Setsuna to watch the battle's progress, or the lack thereof. The expression on Usagi's face clearly said that she wasn't liking what she was seeing, and pregnant or not, she wasn't going to sit by and let her friends get trounced by someone's reject science experiment for much longer.

The Senshi weren't the only ones who looked where Mercury was pointing. The creature's head twisted around as well, and a large, high-wattage lightbulb fused into the back of its head lit up immediately. The rest of the body swung around, and energy began to build up in front of the toaster.

Inside the living room, Setsuna and Usagi stared apprehensively at that growing green glow. The idea of being shot at by a toaster would have been laughable, except that this was not your everyday breakfast appliance. This was an Evil Toaster, an Appliance of Death, and right now, it was looking very scary indeed.

"No!" Mercury shouted. "MERCURY AQUA..."

Too late. With an earsplitting roar, the toaster disgorged a green surge nearly as tall as the entity it was attached to, driving the stringy mass backwards through the snow from the sheer force of the blast. A wall of roiling energy ploughed through the air towards the window, lighting up the sky as clear as the sun at noon.

In the moment between the thunderous firing of the attack and its impact with the window, something clicked in Setsuna's head. She turned, lifted Usagi, and jumped to one side as hard as she could. They had just barely cleared the edge of the window when the entire frame and a goodly chunk of the wall it was attached to blew apart.

Usagi screamed.

"Venus." Mercury spoke in a flat voice that felt colder than the snow. In the wake of the severe damage just inflicted on her grandparentsÆ house, her face was expressionless, her right hand clenched into a quivering fist.

"Y-yes?"

"We need to coordinate to stop this thing. Use your Beam Shower and aim for the weapons; I'll do the same with my Aqua Rhapsody." She glanced at Mars and Jupiter. "After we've busted its weapons, you two follow up. Mars, your Flame Sniper seemed to hurt it before, so use it again. Jupiter, use your Thunder Dragon so it can't harness the energy like last time."

"Right," Jupiter agreed quickly. Mars nodded in silence, breathing a sigh of relief when Mercury's eyes turned back to their enemy. Explosive anger was something Mars could deal with, but Mercury's icy rage scared her.

"Go," Mercury said flatly. *My house.* "MERCURY..." *My friends.* "...AQUA..." *Damn you.* "...RHAPSODY!"

"CRESCENT BEAM SHOWER!"

The entity turned as what looked like half a hundred glowing jets of molten gold streaked towards it. Its shoulder weapon responded with the same rapid-fire technique it had used to dispel Mercury's Aqua Illusion, but as the water boiled off, the energy beams Venus had launched continued on. The creature didn't have enough time to launch a second counterattack as the beams drove home, shattering bits and pieces of its conglomerate body. The toaster crumpled in on itself and exploded; the blender shattered; the lightbulb on its head burst; the door of the microwave cracked.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

"SUPREME THUNDER DRAGON!"

The creature, still staggering from the first wave, flew backwards as Mars sent a second burning arrow into its head. It fell to a hand and one knee, looking up as the incandescent mass of the dragon approached, far too large and generalized an energy source for it to absorb. In a desperate move, the entity raised its last functioning weapon, the eggbeater.

Big mistake.

The dragon funneled straight into the metal of the appliance and vanished. The remaining lights on the creature's body flared, and for a moment, it looked as if it had successfully absorbed this attack as well. Then the entire stringy green mass exploded outwards on a wall of lightning.

_…_…_

Elsewhere, the entity infesting the phone company computers calmly noted the destruction of its counterpart. Its response was to send out a signal, different than the one which had summoned its ill-fated ally. The loss of the scout was not a possibility that had been included in the watcher's simple guidelines; it would need new orders before it knew how to proceed.

The orders were not long in arriving.

The scout had successfully located the quarry, but had been destroyed before it could secure the target. Additional individual scouts would likely only be destroyed as well, and neither was sending a group an option, for by the time such a force could be raised, the quarry would no longer be in the area where it had been detected. Finding the quarry in the future would require a different means than those the watcher had employed before, a means that, as yet, did not exist.

Therefore, the new order was to create observation centers throughout the city. Once prepared, a scout would be called to each. Whatever force had destroyed the first scout would undoubtedly respond to the appearance of others. The watcher's task was to observe and transmit all possible data on this hostile force to assist in the formulation of new plans.

The new rules were in place. The awareness studied them. Its ability set to work.

_…_…_

Mercury watched impassively as the electrified fragments of the destroyed creature fell before leading the others back inside. She used the door. She was really just too angry to care if anyone noticed later that the Senshi had gone inside and not come out.

The picture window, part of the wall, the living room, and everything in it had been pulverized. The glass that had made up the window was now a layer of fine, dusty powder along the floor and far wall, and the furniture had been blown into mulch and a blizzard of tiny fabric strands. The plaster walls and ceiling were cracked, the floor gouged deeply in the middle of the room where the beam had smashed forward. Anything even remotely breakable was broken, leaving behind only a few bits of disjointed metal, bent and twisted out of their original shapes.

The path of destruction continued right through the length of the house, a trail of annihilated rooms which ended with an outward-bulging hole in the opposite wall. Nor was the damage confined to that part of the house; just about everything made of glass was cracked or completely shattered as a result of the deafening explosion.

*Mother is not going to be amused,* Mercury thought with a sick feeling in her stomach. The things sheÆd hidden away in the basement to keep safe from Usagi might still be all right, but that hadnÆt saved any number of other keepsakes. She resolved that when the Senshi finally tracked down whatever had sent that thing, she was going to let it know just how unhappy she was by cutting the cost of those items and the repairs of the house out of whatever it had in the way of a hide. Slowly. And close to the bone.

Usagi and Setsuna were leaning against the wall before the stairs, both of them lightly dusted with the aftermath of the blast. All thoughts of practicing her vivisection skills vanished as Mercury saw them.

"Hi guys," Usagi greeted her friends wearily. "Having fun without me?"

"Very funny, odango-atama," Mars growled, detransforming and kneeling beside her friend. The look on her face made it hard to tell whether Rei wanted to hug Usagi or hit her. Knowing Rei, she would probably settle for doing both.

"It depends on your definition of fun," Venus replied, stretching slowly with both hands on the small of her back. "Getting thrown through a snowbank in the middle of winter wearing this-" she indicated her dripping fuku with a wave "-is not my idea of a good time." Venus frowned at the puddle growing on the floor and shimmered back into Minako.

"Better?" Usagi asked.

"It's a start. At least I'm dry, now. How about you two?"

"I'm okay. Dusty and a bit bruised, but nothing a bath and a good night's sleep won't fix." Usagi glanced at Setsuna. "But I think Mercury should take a look at Setsuna."

"I'm fine," Setsuna disagreed, shifting with a pained expression.

"I'll be the judge of that," Mercury told her, recalling her visor. "There's a lot of bruising along your back and right side. How did that happen?"

"Setsuna grabbed me and jumped us both clear right before that thing blew up the living room," Usagi explained. "She was between me and the blast, and I think she caught the tip of it. How bad is it?"

"Just a minute." Mercury pressed gently against Setsuna's right shoulder, and the older girl winced. "Sorry," Mercury apologized. Setsuna smiled weakly.

"Do that again," she said in a voice that would have been menacing if it were stronger, "and I'll give you what I gave your mirror." She almost laughed, then breathed sharply.

"Not with that arm," Mercury told her. "Your right shoulder's broken, and two of your ribs on that side are pretty close to joining it. Nothing else internal seems to be damaged, but you've got a mild concussion right back here." Her fingers brushed very lightly against the lower right side of Setsuna's skull.

"Just what I need," Setsuna remarked wryly. "One more blow to the head."

"Actually," Mercury said thoughtfully, "this might work in our favor."

"What do you mean?" Jupiter asked.

"I'll explain it later," Mercury replied, reverting to her normal self. Ami looked absolutely wrecked. "For now, we'd better see if the phones are working. Setsuna needs to get to a hospital, and I think we should send Usagi- chan along for a quick examination, too."

"Hey! I'm not the one who got hit by..."

"It's not you I'm worried about," Ami told Usagi with a direct look at her belly.

"Oh."

"I'll try the phone upstairs," Makoto said as Jupiter vanished in a cloud of energy.

"And I'll see if Setsuna's cellular has any better luck," Minako added, following her up the stairs.

"Are you thinking what I think you are?" Rei asked Ami. "About Setsuna, I mean."

"It gives us an excuse that might actually work," Ami replied, sitting down to Setsuna's right with a tired sigh.

"Long night, huh?" Usagi yawned.

"And a busy one," Rei added.

"If it's any help," Setsuna said, "next time something like this happens, I'll try to drop in on you at a more reasonable hour."

"'Next' time?" Ami asked. They all laughed softly, stopping when they heard tires squealing out on the street. Ami frowned as a car door slammed shut and footsteps came up the front steps. "I hope that's not who I think..."

The door swung open to reveal Mrs. Mizuno, still wearing that killer dress. She looked at the four young ladies sitting by the stairs in their nightclothes, the massive hole in the front wall of her family's house, the tunnel of obliteration that had been a living room and several other rooms besides, and then back at her daughter. She did not speak, but the expression on her face said plenty.

"You'd better say something fast," Usagi whispered under her breath.

For once, though, Ami's command of the language deserted her, and the greeting she stammered out could have been one Usagi would have used.

"Um... hi, Mom. How was the rest of the party?"

_…_…_

SAILOR SAYS:

Makoto: Ami-chan's a bit busy with her mother right now, but she left some notes, so I guess I get to fill in for her. Today, we learned that...

(Usagi pops up in front of her)

Usagi: I know! I know! Ooh, ooh, ooh! Me! Pick me! (Waves her hand around like she was in class, then gets up and recites)'Never stand in front of a loaded toaster.'

Makoto (sweatdrops): Um... well, I guess we _did_ sort of learn that... (Thinks to herself: Man, now I know how Haruna-sensei must have felt...)

Rei (leaning in from screen left): That sounds suspiciously like something Mina-chan would have said, odango-atama. Have you been stealing her lines?

Minako (leaning in from screen right): Excuse me? (Best DeNiro voice) Are you talking about me?

Rei: Never mind.

Usagi (pushing both of them out of her way): Get out of here, you two. This is MY segment, remember?

(Rei pushes back on screen)

Rei: Since when is it just your segment? It's called 'Sailor Says,' not 'Usagi Says' or 'Sailor Moon Says' or 'Odango-Atama Says.'

(Minako pushes back on screen as well)

Minako: Yeah, since when? You know what they say: 'Cher and Sharon Stone.' (The others look at her)

Artemis(poking his head down from the top of the screen): I'm fluent in Minakorisms. Allow me to translate: 'Share and share alike.'

Minako: Get out of here, Artemis! (Kicks him into Usagi's face) Oops.

Usagi: Ouch! That hurt!

Artemis (weakly): No kidding.

Usagi: Take this, traitor! (Throws Artemis back at Minako, hitting Rei instead)

Rei: Ouch! Why, you little... (Jumps Usagi in one of those little dust-ups. Minako gets dragged in, and a lot of unprintables start shooting out. Someone's hand takes hold of the camera and slides it to the left, revealing Makoto again.)

Makoto: Okay. What we _really_ learned today was that hosting a slumber party for the Senshi is almost guaranteed to get your house demolished. (Looks at the card) Not much of a moral, Ami-chan...

(Ami pops up)

Ami: Sorry, but what did you expect? My house got gutted, for Kami's sake!

Mrs. Mizuno (voice only): Ami! Get back here!

Ami (blanching): Oh, dear. Coming, Mother! (She slides back off screen, leaving Makoto to shake her head and wonder)

(Chibi Daniel Jackson wanders on screen)

Chibi Jackson (speaking in English): Excuse me, but could you tell me where the nearest Stargate is?

Makoto: Um, sorry, my English isn't very good. (Thinks to herself: He's kinda cute. Looks a little like my senpai...)

Chibi Jackson (switching to Japanese): Sorry. I asked if you could direct me to the nearest Stargate.

Makoto: I'm not sure I know what that is. (Latches on to his arm)Maybe you could explain it to me? (Bats her eyelashes)

Chibi Jackson (sweatdrops): Uh...

(Usagi sticks her head on screen)

Usagi: What are YOU still doing here? I thought I got rid of you and the rest last time!

Makoto: Shut up, odango-atama. (Extends a foot and kicks Usagi off screen) Now, where were we? (Smiles at Chibi Jackson right before Agumon appears) Aaaahh! What's that!

Agumon: I think I'm lost. Did either of you see a boy with goggles and goofy hair around here?

Makoto (from behind Chibi Jackson): A talking... lizard?

(Usagi pops up again)

Usagi: All right, who's letting you interlopers in here?

(Cut to a shot of the writer standing next to the stage door. He blinks and grins weakly when he realizes Usagi is looking at him.)

the Judge: Er... hi.

Usagi (ominously): We need to talk.

the Judge (sweating): Uh, yeah. Um... look over there! (As soon as Usagi's head is turned, dives out the door and slams it shut behind him)

Usagi: Hey! (Hammering on the door) Get back here!

05/01/00 (Revised, 15/08/02)

Now that I've dodged the wrath of the Rabbit of the Moon for another day...

Some of you may be wondering if I'm going to do a day-by-day, play-by-play for the entire year. Believe me, I'm not. I can compress time and space when I have to; the only reason New Year's got two whole episodes is because it's fairly important. Time should skip ahead a little quicker next time.

Speaking of next time, expect to see:
-More appliance-wielding fungus creatures.
-A few more threads from the web the Court has woven around Setsuna.
-And a few surprises—which probably won't be THAT surprising.

This installment should have been up sooner than it was, but with the holidays and everything... well, you know how it is.

Until next time, then.