When the five of them had all gathered together at the Hikawa Shrine, under the guidance of that cat that Usagi and her brother – adopted, but clearly no less a member of her family for not being born into it – kept insisting on calling their teacher, oddly-fitting as such a title was in this case, Rei found herself with the chance that she had been looking for. No matter his status, Trevor Tsukino needed to be trained to use the psychic powers that had brought him to the attention of the Dark Kingdom in the first place. Even if he couldn't fight them off in the same way that she or any of her other new friends could, he'd at least be able to spot them in time to get away.
Well, with some refinement of his abilities, of course.
Still, the fact that he seemed to be some kind of a healer, as opposed to the possessing the foresight that she'd originally thought he possessed – the kind of foresight that Rei herself possessed, which would have made their sessions together a lot more simple for the both of them – had rendered more than a few of the plans that she'd had in mind useless, if not outright counterproductive. However, knowing everything she could about the powers that Trevor did have would at least make things between them easier than they could have been.
After everything that had happened, that was all Rei could really ask for, she knew.
"It's very encouraging to know that we now have three Sailor Guardians," Luna said, as the cat presided over the informal-ish meeting that they were all having in her room. "But, we can't afford to let our guard down. The real battle has just begun," the cat said, nodding seriously.
"Oh, you like Sailor V, too, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked, her attention clearly having wandered from the original point of the meeting they were all having.
Sure, it looked like Ami had her head in a book, too, but it least the one she was reading seemed to have some educational value.
"Yes, I do, but I haven't read that one yet, so would you mind putting it back?" she asked, trying to be as nice as she could about asking; Usagi was nice enough, but anyone could see that she wasn't taking things nearly as seriously as she should.
"Luna-sensei, you've been talking a lot about how we need to find the Moon Princess, but do you have any ideas where we might start looking?" Trevor asked, and Rei found herself approving of him all over again; it was clear that he took the situation they were facing seriously, for all that his adopted sister didn't.
"Well, I," Luna sighed. "I'm afraid I haven't managed to determine that, yet."
"I don't suppose there's any way for us to know her when we see her," Trevor said, sounding more than a little dejected.
"Yeah, she probably wouldn't go carrying around a big sign that says she's the Moon Princess, especially if she's trying to hide from the Dark Kingdom, the way we are," Rei said, folding her arms and feeling more than a little annoyed about everything they were having to go through.
"Well, since we seem to have hit a dead end, at least as far as finding the Moon Princess is concerned, we should focus on our other mission," Ami said, turning away from the book she'd been reading to look at them.
"You mean to protect everyone from the Dark Kingdom and their youma?" Trevor asked, though it sounded like he was asking more because he wanted confirmation than because he was confused.
"Yes," Ami said, sliding over the morning's newspaper. "Here, take a look at this."
"Oh, that's Dream Land!" Usagi exclaimed, looking as excited as a little kid; really, it was like she'd never grown up at all, she was so silly. "That new amusement park!"
"Has something been happening there, Ami-san?" Trevor asked, turning a worried expression on Ami, along with the rest of them.
"There have been reports of several people – at least fifty of them – disappearing inside Dream Land in just this last week," Ami said.
Trevor sighed. "That does sound like the Dark Kingdom's work."
"Yes, that's what I thought, too," Ami said. "And, if they truly is the case, then it's our duty to go and investigate."
"Trevor-nii, I think you should stay here," Usagi said, and Rei snapped her attention to the other girl.
Sure, she could understand why the other girl was worried, since given what she'd been told when she'd joined up with her fellow Sailor Guardians Trevor did tend to end up in more than his fair share of trouble when the Dark Kingdom would make their seemingly-random attacks, but there was another consideration. One that Usagi probably hadn't thought about, but one that Rei wasn't going to hesitate about bringing up.
"Trevor-kun, it would probably be best if you did come with us," she said, just after Usagi had finished speaking. "I could help you develop your talents as a medium, and if nothing else you'll be close enough for us to protect you if the Dark Kingdom did try to come after you again."
"Rei-chan!" Usagi exclaimed, turning to her with a betrayed look.
"I know it's not what you'd want for him, Usagi, but your brother is going to need to learn how to use his powers," she said, feeling all the more determined even as she and Usagi faced each other down over the issue. "Even if he isn't the same kind of medium that I am, he's still going to need to know how to defend himself with the kind of powers he does possess, whatever they turn out to be."
She didn't know if Usagi would quite understand what she was getting at, or if the other girl would be too focused on the fact that her brother's life was on the line against these creatures, but the simple fact remained that an untrained medium – as Trevor Tsukino clearly was, no matter what kind of psychic abilities he ultimately possessed – would be nothing more than bait for the Dark Kingdom or anyone else who wanted to use him for their own ends.
~SM~
Standing before Queen Beryl's throne, Jadeite glanced briefly at the enlarged forms of the Sailor Guardians – three of them now, gathered together in spite of all his efforts to defeat them. The pair of them, before the newcomer had joined up; before he'd been forced even farther from his goal of claiming energy for the Dark Kingdom, and also his goal of laying claim to that boy those Sailor Guardians seemed to be protecting.
"I never expected the appearance of a third Sailor Guardian," Queen Beryl said, seeming pensive for a breathless moment, before she turned her full attention to him. "Jadeite!"
"Yes, ma'am?" he asked, careful to raise only his eyes, so the Queen wouldn't think he was being disrespectful.
"I'm not going to give you many more chances to redeem yourself," the Queen said, sounding dangerously unimpressed with him.
"I've already begun a new plan to collect a large amount of human energy!" he exclaimed, tensing.
"Really? Will this new plan of yours also serve to bring that boy to us?"
"Yes, I've made accommodations for that," he said, nodding stiffly.
"See that you have," the Queen said. "Remember, you're still expendable."
Bowing deeply, Jadeite forced himself not to react in front of the Queen; he could hardly forget his precarious position, considering how eager she was to remind him of it.
~SM~
The four of them had been about to split up in pairs when Rei-sempai had decided that she was the best one to accompany him, since the pair of them had so much in common and he was her student. Usagi hadn't been particularly happy to hear it put like that, and so she'd insisted on coming along with the pair of them. That had left Ami-san to investigate on her own, and as he watched a bunch of curious reporters being manhandled by a single person, Trevor could only hope that Ami-san would be all right on her own when they did all split up.
"If the same number of people enter and exit, does that mean they're going missing on the way home?" Rei-sempai asked, though it kind of sounded like she was thinking out loud. "Trevor-kouhai, what do you think?"
"It is possible they're being attacked on their way home, Rei-sempai, but," he paused for a moment, nibbling his lower lip. "But this does seem a lot like the places they've used before," he continued, thinking back on all of the shops he'd seen the Dark Kingdom operating out of previously.
"Yes, there has been a pattern established, after so many attacks," Luna-sensei said, once they were far enough away from the bulk of the crowds for her to speak up without being noticed.
"Wait, where did Usagi go?" Ami-san asked, just as his sister came running back over to the four of them.
"Hah, here all of you are!" she exclaimed, cheerfully doling out the four cotton candies she'd been holding. "I got these at the concession stand! We can eat while we walk!" Usagi continued, giggling happily. "Whether we're at the fair or an amusement park, cotton candy is really the best!"
Thanking his sister, Trevor took the cotton candy from her.
"You shouldn't go running off like that," Rei-sempai said, not sounding at all pleased to have Usagi away from them for even as short a time as she had been. "We don't know how many enemies there are in this place."
"Rei-chan, don't be so serious all the time," Usagi said, munching cheerfully on her cotton candy as the four of them continued on their way into the Dream Land amusement park.
Rei-sempai led them to a nearby bench, allowing their small group to settle down for a bit of rest and discussion about what it was that they were going to do next. There were still potential enemies in this park, and none of them really knew where they might be.
"We should probably split up," Rei-sempai suggested, once the four of them had had a chance to rest their feet and eat their respective cotton candies. "We'll be able to cover more ground that way. Plus," she looked around, clearly cautious about just who might be listening in or watching, this close to a potential Dark Kingdom trap. "There's a better chance that at least some of us will manage to escape, if one group gets caught."
"That's a good plan, Rei-sempai," he said, after making sure for himself that no one was close enough to be listening in on their conversation.
"All right!" Usagi exclaimed, punching her right fist into her left palm as she shot back to her feet. "Let's see what's hiding in-"
She stopped for a long moment – they all did – as the lion that none of them had quite noticed coming towards them suddenly made its presence known with what was either a soft roar or a loud growl. All but throwing himself to his own feet, not sure what he'd actually be able to do in the face of an escaped zoo animal, but knowing that he had to do something to protect his sister and the people who had been so kind to the both of them, Trevor found himself almost startled off his feet when the lion in front of them offered the four of them a polite bow and a friendly "good afternoon".
The sound of light laughter drew his attention to a friendly-looking woman in a bright pink dress with blue trim, smiling at all of them.
"I hope you kids didn't get too scared," she said, a gentle smile on her face as she looked over their small group. "This is just an animatronic lion. He's harmless."
"Oh, wow! You're Princess Dream!" Usage exclaimed, before Trevor had regained his composure enough to talk; he did feel better that none of them had been in danger from the lion, at least. "I've always wanted to meet you!"
He chuckled. "My sister's talked about this place since the both of us were little," he said, offering a bow of his own in return for the hospitality they were all being shown at the moment. "Thank you for coming all this way to meet us in person, Hime-sama."
"It's no trouble," Princess Dream said, smiling her gentle smile. "Would you like for me to show you how all of the animatronic animals operate, young man?"
"I guess, if it wouldn't be too much trouble," he said, not quite sure how to refuse without disappointing Usagi or being rude, and not really wanting to do either.
"Wonderful!" Princess Dream exclaimed, laughing cheerfully. "You see, young man, all of these animals are controlled remotely, by this," Princess Dream said, holding up the shiny red apple – a fake apple, though you couldn't have told it by him – and sweeping her right hand over it.
Sure enough, more and more animatronic animals began poking their heads out from the surrounding bushes, making their way down the winding path to where he and Usagi were standing. The feel of that same lion from before nudging him brought Trevor's attention firmly back to the first of the animatronic animals that he, Usagi, and the rest of their friends had encountered.
"Young man, it's good to meet you," the lion said, bowing slightly.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Lion-san," he said, feeling more than a little odd to be talking to an animatronic lion, but hearing Usagi's delighted laughter made things better.
~SM~
Narrowing her eyes as she watched Usagi and her brother – who really should have known better after all the trouble he'd been in before, but on the other had he did spend entirely too much time catering to his sister's whims – played with the fake animals all around them, Rei kept as close an eye as she could on Princess Dream and all of the fake animals she seemed to be controlling.
"Something isn't right here," she said, as Trevor – her kohai, who she was going to be teaching to listen to his senses when they told him something was going wrong, no matter what his sister might try to say about it – and his sister played with the fake animals all around them.
"What do you mean?" Ami asked, turning a curious expression on her face.
She didn't have time to answer, however, before she caught sight of both Usagi and Trevor sitting up on the backs of that lion that they'd all spotted before, as well as a bear that had been one of the fake animals that Princess Dream had called over to her through some means that couldn't have honestly said she understood. Trevor, who was riding the lion, at least seemed like he'd been talked into it when he knew he shouldn't have been, and also seemed to be looking for a way to get off without disappointing Usagi.
It wasn't good, how much power Usagi seemed to have over him, or how little she seemed to respect the power she did have.
"Get off of that bear!" Rei said, having more than enough of Usagi's antics, and none of the reservations that Trevor seemed to have about confronting her. "Trevor, come on. We're leaving," she continued, as Trevor finally got his feet back on the ground and made his way over to where she and Usagi were standing.
Or sitting, really, since Usagi hadn't gotten up from the ground, forcing Rei to crouch if she wanted to talk to her fellow Sailor Senshi without the risk of their conversation being overheard by unfriendly ears; Princess Dream's in particular.
"What was that about, Rei-chan?!" Usagi demanded, clearly indignant and just as clearly failing to understand the seriousness of their current situation.
"Princess Dream is giving off some really bad vibes," she said, knowing that she was going to have to explain the concept in more depth to Trevor during the lessons she was going to teach him if he was ever going to be able to hone his talents as a medium.
"What do you mean by that, Rei-sempai?" Trevor asked, crouching down next to the pair of them so that he could speak with less risk of being overheard by Princess Dream, and whoever it was that she was working with.
Likely enough the Dark Kingdom, but there was also the chance that Princess Dream was working on her own on some nefarious scheme.
"There's an oppressive aura about this place, and it feels like it's centered on her," Rei said, narrowing her eyes as she turned to look toward Princess Dream again.
She had the feeling that the three of them weren't just looking at an actress or anything simple like that; she probably wouldn't ever be able to explain something like this to Usagi, and she'd really only be able to explain it to Trevor once he was more familiar with his psychic powers and the way things felt to him when he used them.
"Is this something to do with you being a psychic, Rei-sempai?" Trevor asked, genuine curiosity in his tone.
"It's something to do with what I'm going to be teaching you, yes," she said, pleased to know that he had been listening to what she said; it was a nice change from Usagi, at least.
"Oh. Thank you, then, Rei-sempai," Trevor said, dipping his head in as close to a bow as anyone could get when they were still crouching.
"Just make sure you do a better job listening to me than Usagi does," she said, not feeling at all impressed with her fellow Senshi or how childish she insisted on acting.
"In about an hour, there's going to be a show at the House of Sweets," Princess Dream said – Rei couldn't help but wonder what the woman's real name was, or if she even had one – smiling at the three of them in that strangely empty way Rei had noticed from the start. "I hope you can all come watch!"
"That sounds great!" Usagi shouted, yanking her brother up off of the ground so that the pair of them could stand up together again.
Looking in the direction that Princess Dream had gestured, Rei narrowed her eyes as she saw the castle that had been constructed to look as if it had actually been made out of various confections. It was definitely a place that Usagi would want to visit – if not live in, if it had been remotely possible – Rei grumbled deep in her throat. She knew where Usagi was going to want to go, but there was no way that Rei could let that happen.
Usagi would never be able to keep her mind on task while she was in a place like that.
~SM~
And you come right to me again, schoolboy, Jadeite reflected, finding himself both pleased and concerned at once. True, the schoolboy had come right to him, but he was also accompanied by those three girls, two of whom he had seen the last time he had encountered those troublesome Sailor Guardians. He didn't know if the three of them were the Sailor Guardians, or if they simply had some means of contacting them whenever they were in danger, somehow.
Still, he'd prepared this trap as well as any of the others, and the foolish humans who had been coming inside were already being gathered up for the Dark Kingdom's use of their energies. He could only hope to serve Queen Beryl well enough that she wouldn't seek to punish him for his failures. He could only hope to keep her ire from falling on him once more.
~SM~
At Luna-sensei's suggestion, the five of them had split up to better search Dream Land, with Ami and Luna-sensei heading off together, and him and Usagi staying with Rei-sempai. After a bit more searching, the three of them had settled down together on a planter, watching Princess Dream as she showed off the animatronic animals all around her to a group of small children.
"So, you really don't trust Princess Dream, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked, as the three of them sat on the circular planter watching her and the children.
"No," Rei-sempai said, narrowing her eyes and folding her arms tightly. "Trevor-kun, can you sense it? The evil aura around Princess Dream?"
Closing his eyes, Trevor tried for a few, long moments to sense what it was that Rei-sempai was so concerned about, but…
"I can't sense anything, Rei-sempai," he said, settling back down on the planter where the three of them were all gathered to watch Princess Dream as she interacted with all of the children gathered around her, looking down at his hands. "I don't know if my powers even work that way."
Rei-sempai turned to look at him, a curious look on her face. "You don't even know how your powers work?"
"I'm sorry to be so much trouble, Rei-sempai," he said, looking down at his hands.
Rei-sempai sighed. "Well, I guess you can't do anything about that. We'll have to find out what your powers can do, Trevor." Rei-sempai turned to look at Princess Dream and all of the children gathered around her, glaring at Princess Dream in particular. "We have to stop her."
"I don't think she would hurt any of those children in public like this," he said, looking from the children to Rei-sempai.
"Yeah, I guess it would be best if we concentrated on stopping her," Rei-sempai said, narrowing her eyes as she continued staring at the gathering of little kids around Princess Dream, before rising resolutely back to her feet. "Let's go."
~SM~
Riding on the small train through Dream Land, with Usagi right behind him and Rei-sempai right behind her, Trevor found himself sitting behind someone he thought might be familiar to him.
"Mamoru-sempai?" he asked, having recognized the familiar jacket and the shape of the body underneath it.
"Trevor-kohai?" Mamoru-sempai asked, turning to look back at him, a surprised look on his face. "What are you doing here?"
He smiled, knowing that while he couldn't tell Mamoru-sempai just what he, Usagi, and Rei-sempai were actually doing, there was still something he could say: "Usagi always wanted to come here."
"You came here for your sister, then?" Mamoru-sempai asked, a soft smile on his face. "You're a good brother, Trevor-kohai."
"Did you always want to come here when you were a little boy?" Usagi asked, and Trevor smiled as he heard the cheerful happiness in his little sister's voice. "That's so cute!"
Mamoru-sempai laughed, but Trevor thought the sound was more reflective than truly happy. He wondered why that was, but knew it would be rude to just go asking when the two of them didn't know each other that well. Before Trevor could think of anything else to say, he heard an announcement that the show Princess Dream had mentioned before was happening in the House of Sweets. Usagi tried to ask for the animatronic panda driving the little train to stop so that she could get off, but the panda said that that wasn't how the train worked.
~SM~
"Luna!" she called, spotting the kitty who had been helping all of them to fight the Dark Kingdom and all their scary Youma. "Wait, where's Ami-chan?" she asked, noticing that the kitty was all alone.
"She went inside," Luna-sensei said, pointing to the House of Sweets in front of them.
"Wha?! She went inside without us?!"
"She should have waited for the rest of us," Rei-chan said, looking angry at the House of Sweets as she frowned. "There's an evil aura around this place."
"We have to find a way to get inside," Trevor-nii said, looking up at the doors in front of them like they were a really hard math problem that he had to solve on his own. "Ami-san could be in danger."
Rei-chan went stiff, clenching a fist in front of her heart. "Something just happened in there!"
"We have to get inside!"
"I might be able to help," Trevor-nii said, biting his lip as he stepped in front of the big doors; the ones that looked like their edges were made of candy canes.
Watching as Trevor-nii held out his right hand, closing his eyes and pointing his thumb and first finger at the space just between the two doors, face scrunching up as some kind of golden glow came out of the tips of Trevor-nii's thumb and first finger. She didn't notice much after that, though, since Trevor-nii yelled, grabbing his right hand.
The tips of Trevor-nii's finger and thumb had both been burned!
"Both of you, transform right now!" Luna-sensei shouted, before Usagi could think too much about what had happened to Trevor-nii.
~SM~
"Trevor, get out of the way!"
Without a word, Trevor hopped sideways as Rei-sempai blasted the doors open with her Fire Soul. Curling his left hand around the burned fingers on his right hand, Trevor followed Usagi and Rei-sempai into the building. The three of them didn't make it very far before they were confronted by Princess Dream herself. Welcoming them to the House of Sweets, of all things.
"I've been expecting you three," she said, a wide, empty smile on her face.
Before any of them could react, Princess Dream blew out a stream of some kind gas from her mouth, and then everything went hazy…
Stumbling slightly, Trevor looked up as someone lightly grabbed his right arm to help steady him. "Mom?"
The woman smiled. "Why doesn't my good little boy take a nice nap?"
~SM~
Looking back at the youma – she had to be a youma, no one else would have been able to create these kinds of illusions; not with gas spat out of their mouth, and not so fast – Rei shuddered as she felt that same, evil aura settling over Trevor like some kind of horrible shroud.
"Let him go," she snarled, grinding her teeth as she watched the youma in she shape of Princess Dream – she wondered if the woman had ever existed in the first place, or if Dream Land had been a Dark Kingdom trap from the very beginning – pull Trevor along by his right arm, as though she planned to lead him away. "Right now!"
"Let go of him!" Usagi shouted, coming over to stand beside her, already starting to cry.
The youma only laughed in response, seeming to teleport farther away from them, Trevor's half-asleep form still standing next to her, eyes clouded and hazy from whatever she'd done to him.
Grabbing one of the ofuda she always carried with her, Rei narrowed her eyes as she focused on her target. "Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen! Evil spirit, be exorcised!"
Throwing the ofuda so that it would land on Trevor's forehead, Rei sighed in relief as the haze cleared from his eyes and he raised his head.
"Get out of here!" she shouted, once Trevor had come back to himself. "Run away, as fast as you can!"
~SM~
Nodding to Rei-sempai as she and Usagi-chan confronted the youma that had been placed in charge of Dream Land. It had probably been a trap from the start, he reflected, searching for Ami-san as he ran down the empty halls and corridors of what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. All of the rooms he checked seemed to be empty, no one and nothing inside them but empty walls with exposed infrastructure.
However, just as he was starting to wonder if he should search for the front doors that Rei-sempai had blown off of their hinges, he heard the sound of someone else making their way into the building. However, when he turned to see who it was, he could only remember that he'd made a promise…
~SM~
The scary youma who had attacked Trevor-nii, and then went on to introduce herself as Moorido, had trapped them in another one of her scary illusions, but then Tuxedo Kamen and another Tuxedo Kamen showed up to help them! It was so cool! Once they'd managed to find Ami-chan and all of the other people who'd been captured by that scary youma, Ami-chan found out that Moorido's apple was the thing that was draining their energy.
So, all three of them attacked her; with Ami-chan using her Bubble Spray to make it so that the youma couldn't see them, Rei-chan stopping it from getting away with the same kind of ofuda she'd used to free Trevor-nii, and then Rei-chan combining her Fire Soul with Usagi's own Moon Tiara Action so they could blast that scary youma away. Dream Land didn't even disappear!
The House of Sweets was gone, sure, but that was a Dark Kingdom trap, so that was probably a good thing.
When the three of them had gotten away from the remains of the House of Sweets, Usagi smiled as she caught up to Trevor-nii. Sure, Mamoru was right by him, but she was a lot more focused on her brother.
"Hi, Trevor-nii!" she called, grabbing his right arm and lightly tugging him away from where Mamoru was standing.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, you two," Mamoru said, though he and Trevor-nii shared a brief glance that she didn't quite understand.
Hugging Trevor-nii closer, as the pair of them joined up with Rei-chan and Ami-chan, all while Luna-sensei talked about how they should remember that they were all working together to protect the world and everyone on it from the Dark Kingdom and all of their scary youma. Still, as she licked the ice cream she'd bought for herself, walking around Dream Land with Trevor-nii, Rei-chan, and Ami-chan, Usagi smiled.
Sure, there was probably going to be a lot more danger from the Dark Kingdom and all of their scary youma, but as long as she had her friends and Trevor-nii by her side, Usagi knew that she would be able to handle anything that happened.