Standard Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to me. It belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Kodansha, Toei Ltd., and tons of other people. Thank you very much for creating such a wonderful story and please don't sue me. ^_^;;; However . . . the events of this story and some of these characters are MY property. No stealing! This is a long episode and one long in coming. Sorry 'bout that! I haven't posted a new episode since the end of last August! ^^;;;;; Ten months . . . *makes face* WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!!!! Anyway, here it is, so, be happy, minna. ^_^ In a time of peace . . . In a time of war . . . Two kingdoms lived side by side . . . Two hearts cried out for one another . . . And thus was a legend born. SAILOR MOON IN ANOTHER LIFE: THE LEGEND'S BEGINNING by Fushigi Kismet The Tree seemed withered, almost dead. Sagging, it seemed more like some twisted caricature than a living being. Ann ran her hand over some oddly shaped scrapes in the trunk and felt the vibrations of the Tree trembling beneath her. Her hand glowed faintly as she tried to channel some of her energy to the plant, but the glow faded immediately. She hung her head in despair, tears spilling forth from her eyes. "Ann?" a voice asked, his hand touching her shoulder. She refused to look at him. "Ailan, we have *got* to do something! I mean, how much longer can the Doom Tree sustain us with the shape it's in now?" "I don't know, Ann. I just don't know." "Ahem." Ann and Ailan whirled about. "YOU!" Ann snarled. "Perhaps I can be of some help?" Fiore said, bowing gracefully and smirking at the expression on Ann's face. "I *don't* think so." Ann and Ailan held hands and the fierce burst of energy that rushed forth from their bodies flung Fiore's surprised and undefended body across the "room" that they were in. After his limp body had skidded across the ground for several hundred yards, he came to a stop and pushed himself to his feet. His eyes glowed an eerie red and a strange type of electricity began to crackle about his hands. "That was totally uncalled for!" he spat at the other two. "Not after what you did to the Doom Tree!" Ann screamed back, tears filling her angry eyes. "You and that damnable *weed* of yours!" Ailan added. "What the hell are you talking about?!" Fiore asked, not really caring. "It doesn't really matter now, does it?" Ailan hissed in a low voice, energy gathering about his clenched fist. "No," Fiore replied, his fist and flower glowing, "I guess it doesn't." Energy rose around all three of them, and then there was a fierce flash of light, as the energies created met in an explosion . . . The Three Who Meet aka And Scheme . . . Saturday "It has been announced that a Sailor V live-action movie is in the works. The current model of the Sailor V animation, video games, manga, and artwork may very well be starring in the new movie. This little known model and budding actress hails from Japan but has currently been living in England where the real Sailor V, herself, is said to live. The actress will more than likely return to her hometown of Tokyo where the movie will be filmed if she is indeed chosen for the role. Her name has not been released to the public, but photos of her *have* been obtained for the purpose of this report." A few pictures flashed on screen. "The model is a big fan of Sailor V. Here we see her with her white cat, which is also used as the basis for the renditions of Sailor V's *own* white cat. It is rumored that the cat's name is Artemis . . ." Luna stared at the photos of a smiling blue-eyed girl with light- blonde hair cuddling a white cat to her. The cat's blue eyes gleamed mischievously out at the television audience. "Artemis, you fool! What have you done?! The last thing we need is all of this *publicity* . . . Who knows who might be watching this and, inadvertently or not, discover the truth . . ." Kenneth stared at the news broadcast, his mouth curved in a slight smile. The VCR was taping the whole thing. "It's you," he murmured gently, more gently than anyone had ever heard him. "It's you. I know it is. Ever since that day in England . . . Don't think that I give up so easily. Or that you have many secrets left to hide from me. I'm here for a reason. After all, I knew . . . about your coming here. I knew it all in advance. I promised that we would meet again. I will find you again . . ." He opened his wallet and pulled out a tattered photograph worn from being looked at so often. Her smiling face looked up at him, blue eyes brilliant. He flipped it over and his eyes greedily read the words which seemed rather cramped on the small photo. Peggy, I loved modeling for you! That series of paintings you did for the company . . . They were so awesome! You'd think I *was* Sailor V, huh, Peggy? But I especially loved the one you did . . . of just me. I'll hang it in my room. Enjoy Tokyo. Paint lots of beautiful scenes and people. This movie deal may be just the thing to get me back home. Your message is still lingering in my mind. I promise I won't forget. You were a true friend to me. I'll miss you, Peggy-chan . . . Your friend always, Sailor V (Mina Love) He shut his eyes. A hand froze mid-brush stroke. The other hand brushed away some tears trailing down her face. She gazed at the painting before her and suppressed a sob. "Why?" she demanded of the empty room. "Why?" Grey eyes gazed back at her silently from the wet paint. Ailan slowly regained consciousness and getting his weak and battered body up on hands and knees, he crawled over to where Ann lay, several feet away. Her eyes were closed, and her chest rose and fell with her shallow breaths. Green blood trickled down from the side of her mouth and a gash on her cheek located under her right eye. He held her hand in his, knowing that he could do nothing until she awoke, then turned to take in his surroundings. Fiore was gone. This, he noticed immediately, being unable to sense the green- haired alien's presence, but he pushed aside the thought, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. The otherworldly space that they had created for the Tree was intact, but had it been more substantial, the energy that they had expended would have almost certainly leveled it. His eyes looked searchingly for the Tree. Nothing . . . all was dark. It was then that Ann took a breath. The Tree pulsed into being, glowing in the darkness. Ailan exhaled the breath that he had been holding and turned to her as though to speak . . . but she was beyond him, lost in the luminescence of the Tree. Her eyes flickered oddly, brightly, her skin began to glow in answer to the Tree. She spoke and the voice was the voice of a thousand Anns . . . "I come to thee, Mother." The tree pulsed in answer. "So that's the plan, ne?" Lita asked anxiously trying to keep her voice a whisper. "Right!" Molly agreed emphatically, also careful to keep her voice low. The two girls were hiding behind a large tree shielded by a few bushes in the park. A few feet away was a bench where *he* sat. Lita paused for a moment, hesitation plain on her face. "Are you sure what we're doing is okay?" "He's not happy with her! You can see that, can't you?" "Well . . . hai. But she's happy with him." "Who do you think he'd be happier with: Onee-I mean, Katie, or you?" "I don't know!" Lita cried out miserably, frustrated. "That's up to him." "Well, *I'm* sure who he'd be happier with!" Molly argued. "Trust me. Now, GO!" She pushed her forward and Lita stumbled through the bushes a little awkwardly. November looked up from his sketch pad. "Lita-san!" he said, surprised. "Er . . . Gomen nasai for disturbing you, November-san . . . I didn't mean to . . ." "Nonsense," he said, his smile widening. He gestured to the spot next to him on the bench. "Have a seat." Lita stared at the bench for an instant before coming to herself and stumbling forward, awkwardly seating herself next to him. "Um . . . what are you doing?" "Huh?" He looked confused. he addressed himself, "I . . . I mean here," Lita said, flustered. "I'm . . ." ". . . uh . . ." He grabbed his sketchpad tighter and showed it to Lita, almost desperately, it seemed to Molly, observing the scene with amusement. "Sketching." "Oh . . . uh . . . HAI! I should've seen that!" Lita said quickly, grabbing at the sketchpad. "Can I see?" "Um . . . sure . . ." he thought to himself, remembering what he had been sketching on the last page of that *particular* sketchpad. Lita was flipping through it, looking at sketches of plants and trees with interest. She stopped and stared at a silhouette of the Tokyo skyline. It looked almost as though he had climbed on top of a very high building to get that particular viewpoint. she chided herself. It was a beautiful sketch. "This one's really nice," she commented. "Do you think so? It's a view I'd like to share someday . . . with someone I care about," he said slowly, calming down as he stared down at her dark head and green eyes intent on the picture. His heart started to pound. "Honto?" she asked quietly, and his heart seemed to stop for an instant. That tone of voice, the sound . . . it seemed to be bringing back memories . . . He could almost grasp them, assailed by a wave of hazy recollections . . . He heard a voice saying: 'Really?' 'Yes,' his own voice replied, laughing. 'I'm really your one and only?' 'Yes!' he responded, a little more emphatic. 'Good. I'm glad . . . Because . . . because . . . you're the only man I've ever . . . really loved . . . ' Green eyes met his own for an instant, and his own, no, not quite his own . . . he was older in those eyes . . . reflection looked back at him from those shining eyes. 'Completely,' she finished. "Nev-kun?" Lita asked, waving a hand in front of his face. He snapped back to reality and looked over at her. Worried green eyes stared back at him. "Um . . . I must've wandered off. Gomen." She handed him back the sketchpad and he nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes, though, were hurt. "Gomen," she said slowly, "I didn't mean to force my company on you. I'm sure you have better things to do." She got to her feet. Bewildered at this change in events, he caught her wrist and as she turned to look at him, he said, "Iie, Lita-san. I enjoy your company . . . very much. I just have a lot on my mind. Forgive me for getting distracted? Onegai, I don't want you to be angry at me." Acutely conscious of their physical contact, she said a little breathily, her eyes softening toward his pleading eyes, "I shouldn't have made so much of it. Forgive me for being too sensitive?" "Only if you forgive me first." "All right. You're forgiven." She smiled. "Completely." 'Completely.' He let go of her wrist abruptly. She looked at him, wondering what she had done wrong now. He looked away. "Gomen nasai, Lita-san . . . what you said just now . . . reminded me of something . . . someone, rather." "Someone?" "Someone . . . very close to me . . ." She forced a smile. "Is that good or bad?" He looked back up at her from where he sat on the bench. His eyes were troubled. "I'm not . . . I'm not sure." She tried to laugh it off. "Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see, ne?" "Hai, I guess so. Lita-san," he spoke up suddenly, looking at her. "You're a very special person. Don't go too far away . . . all right?" Lita pulled back a little, coloring. "H . . . Hai!" Then she ran off down the path and he watched her go, admiring the fluid movement of her body . . . She was like the elements, beautiful and equally untamable. Untouchable. "Untouchable like your mind and spirit, Lita-chan," he whispered. He flipped open the pad to the last page . . . where Lita's face looked out at him, sketched in loving detail. "November-kun!" Katie cried, breaking his contemplation. He started and quickly shut the sketchbook. Getting up and waving less than enthusiastically at Katie, he sighed. It was going to be a LONG day. <'Don't go too far away?'> Lita wondered, her feet pounding down the path. She colored, ducking her head in an unconscious attempt to hide her embarrassment. "L-Lita-chan!" Molly panted. "Matte!" "Nani?" Lita ground to a stop and whirled around. "Ah! Molly- chan! Gomen! I kinda . . . forgot about you." Molly smirked, looking up from where she was bent over, panting. "I could tell. So how long d'you think it'll be before he asks you out, Miss "Special"?" Lita's face turned bright red. "Ano . . ." The red-head laughed. "Never mind! Gomen for listening! I won't next time. The two of you need some space . . . what with all those fireworks going off." Lita sobered, her face falling. "I was such an idiot!" "Hey, now." Molly smiled. "You made *him* nervous! I've never seen that before. You're getting to him." "Demo, he's got a *girlfriend*. And she's *Sandler Katie*! How am I ever going to compete against that?!" "Lita . . ." Molly began softly, "November never goes against his heart for long. This is what all of this is in the end . . . a battle of the heart. You're good for him, Lita. You make him happy. And in the end . . . his heart will win out. And he won't be the only winner." A small ghost of a smile appeared. Lita's green eyes shone. "Arigato, Molly-chan." People stopped to glance at the red-haired woman walking down the street. She was quite striking. However, they didn't stop and stare for long. Something about her warned them away, some hint of deadliness, of cruelty, of darkness perhaps . . . something that they could not stomach. Rill stopped and glanced into a store window. But no, the man inside was not who she was looking for. She smirked, her lips curving in a vicious smile. She would find him sooner or later . . . the object of her desires . . . Darien. He would be within her grasp soon - he and those Sailor Senshi. Her lust for him could only be overcome by her hatred for them. Yes, they would all be hers, one way or another. There was no escaping her. There was no escaping her, Nev thought despondently, half- listening to Katie's chatter as she clung to his arm. He wondered what had possessed him to start dating her again. Now that they were together all the old reasons for breaking up with her flooded back again. And there were *A LOT* of reasons. First of all, they had hardly anything in common. Second, she never seemed to mind that he wasn't listening to her when she was talking. Third, she never professed any interest in the things that he found interesting. It wasn't that she didn't care, it was just, if he didn't bring something up, she would be happy to talk about tennis forever. Fourth, he *hated* her taste in movies. Fifth, she couldn't cook and he usually ended up making food, which in itself wouldn't be so bad, but he only knew TWO recipes. Toast and boiled eggs. It was a wonder he had managed to survive whenever his parents had been at work too late to come home and make something. Oh yeah, now he remembered . . . he had gotten take out. Sixth, there were the pet names . . . The pet names he *hated* . . . Like now, for instance . . . "Honey-bunny," Katie said, smiling up at him, "do you want to go for a boat ride?" "Uh, sure," he said, wincing. She smiled happily. "Good! Boat rides are *so* romantic don't you think, November-wember?" He tried not to groan. "Yeah, Katie-Watie." Maybe she would get the hint . . . "Oh, that's so sweet!" Maybe not. *SWEATDROP* Fiore trudged along the street, carefully disguised as a human. His whole body hurt. Ailan and Ann were surprisingly formidable opponents despite their weakened states. He winced. He wouldn't underestimate them again. He turned to look at his Flower. The source of all his present troubles . . . . . . and the solution to all of his past ones. He had come to after the battle when the Flower had sent an infusion of energy through his body. Energy it should not have had. Energy that he and Ailan had stolen from the panicked human weaklings in their last scheme for power. Energy that they had presented to Ann and the Tree who had need of them. It was then that he had *known* why the other two had turned on him after they had seemed to be getting along - the Flower had stolen the energy from the Tree. He had verified this moments after he awoke when he had placed a hand on the darkened Tree. It had been almost completely drained of energy. Though his ties to it had long since been severed . . . the Tree had called out to him. It had wanted his help . . . He shut his eyes, blotting out the memory. Fiore had turned his back on it long ago - had left the ways of his people and had forsaken the Tree. All because he could no longer bear the pain that it had caused him. He admitted it now . . . his weakness had been his undoing. *She* would not be proud of him now. He was not worthy of her. Had she not . . . He stopped the thought, determined to stay in control. He could not think of her. Not now. He looked down at the Flower he wore at his chest. It had been his savior. It had saved him from death . . . had allowed him to be free from the Tree. From his past. He owed it everything. And yet . . . it had sent one of its children out . . . to steal the energy from the Tree in his absence. It had betrayed the trust that Ann and Ailan had shown him. It had betrayed his trust in *it*. He could not condone its actions but neither could he condemn them. They were both simply doing what they could to survive. And the Flower . . . it had promised him . . . the one thing he desired most. The only one left to him, now . . . It was not too late to remedy the past. Or, at least . . . some of it. Fiore stretched out a hand, felt the power he now possessed from the stolen energy (enough to protect himself from Ann and Ailan's energy combined), and laughed. He would find who he sought and all would be right with his life . . . at last. It was then that two high-heeled shoes appeared in his vision. He looked up, startled. Dark red eyes bored into his own. Her lips curved in nasty smile. "Hello . . . old friend." "Hello . . . Rill." "Um . . . Katie, could you *please* sit down? You're rocking the boat-" "Demo, honey, I think I see Etsuko-chan from the tennis club!" She waved exuberantly to her friend. "How can you tell?" November asked, squinting at the form on the shore. She looked like a dot. "I've got good eyesight," Katie replied promptly. Etsuko waved back from the shore, then cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted something. "NANI?!" Katie yelled back. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Etsuko tried again and Katie leaned forward in the boat, straining to hear. "Katie!" Nev shouted, alarmed. The boat was rocking *A LOT*. It was then that Katie fell into the lake. Nev sat still for a moment and sweatdropped. Then tossing the oars into the water he stood up, groaning. He leapt into the brink after her and moments later pulled her to the surface. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up and blown their rowboat seemingly halfway across the lake. He turned and began making his way to shore . . . half a mile away. Fiore stared for a long moment, his thoughts and emotions a jumble. Rill merely looked back at him, looking as though she couldn't decide whether to be amused or irritated by his behavior. Finally, he spoke again. "It's . . . been a while." "That's all you have to say?" she asked, idly. "Well-" She reached forward and grabbed him, her lips pressing against his with a wild animal lust. His eyes widened and he tried to pull away, but she wouldn't allow it. Finally, she broke away and looked at him, satisfied. "It's been more than a while," she said after a moment. He coughed, grateful for the air filling his lungs. The people walking the streets gave them a wide berth. It was unseemly to be seen kissing in public in Japan. "What the hell was that for?!" he demanded, irritated and humiliated. "Just a reminder," she purred, "of what you gave up last time . . . and a taste of what you'll never have." "Something that I'll never want! At least with you." "My, Fiore," she said, smiling, "I had expected better from you. Or perhaps not. You were always too weak-willed for my taste." The Flower pulsed. Rill looked at it, studied it for an instant, then burst into nearly hysterical laughter. "What are you doing!" Fiore hissed, looking around at the passersby who had stopped to stare from a safe distance. They hurriedly moved on when he caught their eye. Rill ceased her laughter. "That Flower . . . is controlling you." "Don't be ridiculous," Fiore replied, "it is doing nothing of the sort. We have a symbiotic relationship." "With it the dominant partner." She reached up and caressed his face, her long nails making small cuts which bled. "Oh, poor Fiore . . . Whatever shall I do with you?" He grabbed her hand and pulled it down and away. She let out a cry at the strength of his grip. The bones in her wrist felt like they were about to break in two. "Do not *think* to toy with me, Rill." A subtle green light pulsed around is body for a second and then vanished . . . as did the cuts. He tightened his grip on her wrist and Rill felt a bone snap. "Damn you, what do you want?!" she said harshly, no longer amused. If he could hurt her, with the Senshi strength that she possessed even in her mortal form, then he was more dangerous than she had supposed . . . perhaps even a match for herself. "I want you to be a good little girl, Rill," he whispered in her ear, "and come with me. Don't struggle or attract any attention. I have not forgotten your other self and I have need of the talents you possess while in your other form." She licked her lips. "I could demonstrate some talents in this form." He snapped another bone. "Rill, you would as soon kill me as the other. Don't think that I don't know that." "Fine," she snapped, "but I won't work simply for your convenience. What's in it for me?" She wasn't worried about her wrist. Senshi healed fast. "You'll live." "Not good enough." She lifted her other hand and he could see the glint of metal. She had hidden a dagger in her sleeve. "Very well." He released her, and she took a wary step back. "I seem to recall some very pesky young ladies that might be causing you problems. If nothing else, they're bound to get in the way and that's something *you* wouldn't like." Rill's eyes narrowed. She was thinking. He smiled. "Does "Senshi" mean anything to you?" A malevolent smile appeared. "And you have the means to dispose of them?" Fiore matched her smile with one of her own. "I have a plan that should rid us of those *annoyances*, once and for all!" November deposited Katie's limp body on the shore. Looking up, his eyes confronted two pairs of legs. Looking up further he saw who they belonged to. "Oh . . . hey, Molly-chan. Lita-san." "Need a hand?" Molly asked, trying to keep a wry smile from her face. "Um . . ." But he was cut off by Etsuko's shout. "Kami-sama!" she said, running up. She had dark brown hair which she wore in two ponytails and worried brown eyes. "Is she okay?!" "Yeah," November said, hefting up Katie's body again. "I think she's all right." "Maybe we should take her to a hospital!" Etsuko fretted. It was then that Katie's eyes fluttered open and she spat out some lake water. "Hi, Etsuko-chan," she said, smiling. "What were you trying to tell me?" "Oh, I . . ." Etsuko looked flustered. "It wasn't very important! Katie-chan, we've got to get you to a hospital!" "Me? Oh, I'm fine-" She fainted. Etsuko let out a scream and began panicking loudly. Molly ran to the nearest pay phone to call an ambulance while Lita checked Katie's pulse and vital signs. "She's all right . . . Just fainted," Lita said, looking up at November across Katie's limp body in his arms. "Domo arigato gozaimasu," he said, softly, so Etsuko couldn't hear. But the brunette was too busy freaking out to notice. "You're welcome," Lita replied, a shy smile warming Nev's heart. Molly ran back to the group. "The ambulance should be here any moment! How is she?" "She's all right," November said distantly, his eyes fixed on Lita. Lita blushed. Molly grinned. Serena walked into the park, early for once . . . earlier than usual. She sat down on a bench and stared vacantly off into the distance. Spring was slipping away into the long hazy days of summer. Fall would follow, and with it, Winter. The stone bench was warm, having soaked up so many rays of sunshine during the bright, sunny day. Looking down at her hands, which she had been unconsciously wringing, she sighed and forced herself to stop. She had gotten here early to think . . . about what had happened to the other Senshi and her powers, but more than that, and more importantly in her mind, about what had happened to her. She shut her eyes and thought about what had happened . . . the kiss that Darien and she had shared, that instant of magic, the presence of a feeling inside her that she had never before experienced to such a degree and had not known existed. Well, not for him. She had guessed, she had wondered, but she had never been sure. His kiss had swept away her doubts, the feeling of electricity that had coursed through them both, the absolute certainty that *this was right*. She knew now . . . and she was afraid. She had never truly been in love before. Everything was fresh and new and frightening. She had run from him. She did not know why. At the time she had rationalized that the Sailor Senshi were needed to defuse the bomb, but she knew that that was not the reason why she had run. She had been running . . . from herself. Yes, that was it. Running from the things that she could not face. Running from the rejection in his eyes, the knowledge that it had all been a mistake, that he did not love her, that he thought of her as nothing but a silly, stupid schoolgirl, that he was sorry for ever laying eyes on her. That was what she feared. That was what she had to face up to now. His eyes . . . and the truth shining in them. It would either break her heart or grant her the chance to hope, to dream . . . to love. She opened her eyes, only to find that she was in darkness. A shadow was cast over her. His shadow. She glanced over and saw him standing to one side, looking at her. His face was unreadable, his eyes dark with feelings that she could not understand, emotions that lived beyond the realm of her comprehension. She wanted to speak, to say his name, but found that she was unable to make a sound, so she simply sat, partly turned to face him, the breeze blowing her hair gently about her, her eyes wide in a strange, unreasoning fear of what he would say. He said nothing. Instead, he walked slowly over to her and sat down on the bench next to her, careful not to touch her at all. She wanted to reach out and take his hand, to hold it to her face and feel the warmth in his rough fingers . . . feel the heat surging through her body with just that small contact. She dared not. She feared that he would pull away. She looked at him steadily, waiting for him to speak, for him to be the one to break the silence that reigned between them. They sat like this for a time, easy, yet uneasy in the placid stillness that surrounded them. He said quietly, solemnly, in such a low voice that she had to strain her ears to hear him: "Serena." He did not look at her as he said her name, but she noticed, torn between her emotions, that his hands were trembling. He continued, his voice slightly rough, with fury or pain she could not discern, "I'm sorry about the other day. I'm sorry about what I did. It wasn't right. I shouldn't have-" "It's all right," she said softly. Now she turned away. "It's not all right!" he said in a sudden burst of anger. "I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that!" "Taken advantage of me?" her voice held a trace of strained laughter. "You didn't take advantage of me. I wanted you to kiss me." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I wanted it so much . . ." "It was wrong of me. Wrong of me to give in to my impulses. Serena, you're so young-" She jumped to her feet. "Since when did age have anything to do with it?!" "It should have," he said quietly, still sitting, his hands dangling uselessly at his sides. "But it didn't." She knelt down next to him in the grass, gazing up at his bowed head, earnestly, desperately. "It never has." "Why did you run?" he asked abruptly, suddenly having to know. "Were you afraid of me?" "Afraid? Of you? Is that what you think?" Tears came to her eyes. "How can you think such a thing! I could never be afraid of you." "You should have been, dammit!" He surged to his feet, and stood, not looking at her. "You are so naive." Slightly bewildered, she said, "You would never hurt me, Darien." "No. Not that way. But I am toying with you, Serena, with your emotions." She remained silent. He continued blindly on, "If not that, then why did you run?" "Because . . . I was afraid of myself. Afraid that I wasn't good enough for you." He got to his feet and walked a few feet away from her. "Not good enough for me? You are such a fool." She got to her feet. "You're always cruel to me. Why is that? Why am I such a fool?" "There, you see . . . I've hurt you again," he said. She walked over to him. "Why am I a fool?" "You don't think you're good enough for me? Serena . . . no one is good enough for *you*." She backed away a step, her eyes wide and soft with fear and hope. Refusing to look at her he said, angry at her and at himself. "You want to know why you're a fool? All right, I'll tell you. Because you've got a silly crush on me when you could do so much better." "It's not a crush." Her voice was quietly firm, her hands clasped together at her chest. He smiled gently and turned to look at her. "You are *still* so young." Two blue eyes gazed back at him unblinkingly. She stared at him and with a sinking heart discovered that she still could not read his face, his eyes. It was as though he was guarding himself against her. She wanted answers, but she knew that she would never get them. Not this way. "I believe we have a lesson?" she said calmly, hiding her inner turmoil, a plan forming in her mind. He seemed both disappointed and relieved, she noted, as he sat back down on the bench and she went to join him. "Yes, we do," he said softly. She smiled blandly, but secretly, secretly, she was promising herself that she would never give up . . . that she would *make* it so that he would grow to love her. Darien hid his expression of dismay and buried his emotions. he thought as calmly as he could. he demanded of himself angrily. Gazing at her, he could only think, She looked sweetly up at him and it was all he could do to restrain himself from crushing her to him and kissing her until they were both breathless. He gritted his teeth and shoved the notion to the back of his mind. he questioned himself. He pulled a textbook out of his bag. "I believe we have chemistry . . ." he said, keeping his tone as neutral as possible. Her eyes sparkled. "Hai, I believe we do. Please, continue . . ." He couldn't help smiling a little. "We'll have to take it slow. It's a difficult subject. After all, we don't want our chemical reactions to fizzle out before we have a chance to study them, now do we?" "No, of course not. Slowly then . . . but surely. A step at a time." They shared a secretive smile. It seemed that they had come to the same conclusion. After the ambulance came and took Katie to the hospital - a purely precautionary measure - Etsuko riding in the back, the three of them hung around for a while, sitting on a bench. November bought the two girls ice-cream cones from a vendor and they sat quietly, eating. Finally, Nev got to his feet and said, "Well, I'm off to retrieve the boat." "You're not going to go swimming, are you?" Lita asked, looking at him. His wet clothes stuck to his body, outlining his musculature . . . He sighed. "I don't know how else I'm going to-" "Get another boat," Lita said immediately, before swallowing her last bite of cone and ice-cream. "And once I get to the second one?" "Bring someone with you to get it back." "Like who?" Nev asked, eyebrow arched. "Are you volunteering?" Lita sprang to her feet, her eyes sparkling. "Sure, why not?" She turned to Molly. "You coming?" Molly remained sitting on the bench. "Naw, I think I've had enough excitement for one day . . . You two go and have fun." "You sure?" Lita asked. Nev pretended not to care but Molly could tell that he didn't want her to come. "Go ahead. Get the boat. I think Mama's expecting me back home anyway." Lita shrugged. "Okay, then." Nev offered his arm to Lita. "Shall we?" "Why, good sir, how gallant of you!" She took his arm and they strolled off together to rent another boat. Molly smiled. She would have smiled more fifteen minutes later had she stuck around long enough to see them racing each other back to shore in their rowboats . . . . . . only to reach the shore at precisely the same moment, mind and body fully attuned to one another. They shared a smile. Then Katie paged him and the moment was shattered . . . "How long do I have to stand like this?" Jed complained, attired in his golden armor. Zephyr ran a scanning device up and down him, typed something into his portable computer, and clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Eight more minutes. Why? Uncomfortable?" "Yeah. This thing isn't exactly *light*, you know." "Well, of course it is." Zephyr looked at him sharply. "It's much lighter than it has any right to be. You shouldn't be able to *stand* in that getup." "What've you discovered, Professor?" Kenneth asked lazily from his position sprawled on the sofa. "It's made up of some type of light alloy. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's very strong-" "And heavy," Jed panted. "*Very* heavy. Hurry up!" "Six minutes. Relax." "Easy for you to say!" "-and it's also very flexible," he continued, as though he had said nothing since that sentence. The door opened and November stepped in, and shut it with a growl. He flopped into a chair, grabbed a bag of pretzels from off of the table, and stared at Zephyr and Jed. "What're you guys *doing*?" "Have a nice date?" Zephyr asked, a hint of humor in his voice. "I don't want to talk about it!" "Oooh-kaaay." Zephyr rolled his eyes and went back to typing something on his computer. "What took you so long?!" Jed snapped. "If you'd gotten back sooner, *I* wouldn't have been roped into this!" "Sorry. Geez, what's the matter with you?" Kenneth coughed into his hand. "He's been in that armor for an hour and - How many minutes now, Zeph?" "Twenty-seven." "Three minutes," Jed muttered under his breath. "Then I am free to *kill* you." "Now, now." November finished a handful of pretzels. "Big deal. We've been in those things longer." "An hour and a half *without* moving?" "Uh . . . never mind. Hey, what's Zeph doing, anyway?" "He's taking pleasure in driving me crazy!" Jed said between gritted teeth. "I'm analyzing the armor, Jed's endurance, his vital signs, and if wearing the armor has any debilitating effect on his health. Later, I'll conduct some tests on his powers - yours too," he added. "Oh, and I *am* taking pleasure in driving him crazy." "I'm going to get you . . ." "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Zephyr-" Nev began hesitantly. "Yeah?" "Don't bother him! It'll take him longer." Jed glared. "Nonsense. Go ahead, Nev." The blonde smiled, pausing in his typing. Jed groaned. Nev smiled briefly. "How'd you crack the passwords? I know we went over all of this in debriefing but I found it kind of hard to believe that the two of you just kept *guessing* . . ." His eyes narrowed. "We didn't." "Zeph, here, has an IQ of 212. Didn't he tell you? He's also got an "extra" power that pops up now and then. Makes him useful . . . We call it "Machine-telepathy" or "Techepathy." He can work directly with machines . . . especially computers, with his mind. It's almost like if he's in the right frame of mind we can just plug him in and leave him running . . ." Keth grinned, taking a sip from his can of soda. Green eyes glinted. "Thanks ever so much for that *lovely* comparison. You make me sound like a vacuum cleaner!" "Whatever works. 'Sides, we all know how much you eat." Nev stared, brown eyes disbelieving. "No way? You can just . . . work with computers like that?" Zeph allowed himself a cautious smile. "Not that I let Ms. Mercury know. I just "image" things . . . You wouldn't understand unless you were doing it yourself. It's rather strange." "Plus, he has a tendency to crash." Keth frowned. "I really need a better model." "Oh, shut up!" "Are you done yet?!" Jed yelled. Zephyr turned his gaze back to the computer screen and instead of typing anything, he simply stared at it. His eyes grew lighter and lighter, the pupils dilating. Light flickered over them. Words appeared at a phenomenal rate on the screen and scrolled upward. Diagrams appeared, changed, shrank, disappeared, reappeared as new, different ones, and a complex array of symbols formed and finally the screen stayed still. Glowing on the screen was an image of a red phoenix in flight, curled around itself. Zephyr blinked, and his eyes came back to himself. "Okay, all done." Jed stretched his right arm out and concentrated . . . there was a brief flash of red light and then he stood, dressed in a black t- shirt and black jeans. "How . . . Goth," Nev commented. Jed ignored the comment, staring at his clothes in slight apprehension. Then he looked to his wrist and gazed anxiously at his watch. "Damn! I'm going to be late if I don't run for it." "Late for what?" Keth asked. "My job!" "Job? What job? You've got a job here." "I mean my *real* job. I can't just stay here and do nothing all the time. Something has to pay the bills." "I pay you. I pay all of my employees." "Look, it's not that I don't appreciate that . . . It's just that I've got my own life to lead - apart from all of this. Try to understand, I don't want to be Phoenix all the time. I'm Jed Raven and-" He checked his watch again. "-I've got to run!" He opened the door and dashed out. The other three looked after him. Zephyr was the first to speak. "Those clothes . . . That wasn't what he was wearing when we started! How is that possible?" He typed rapidly into the computer. "Shoot, I need more tests." He frowned and turned around. "Oh, Nev-" November took one look at the maniacal gleam in his eyes and bolted for the door. Jed ran past a shrine, checking his watch, and smashed into a smaller form. He reached out with his hands and grabbed her by the shoulders before she could fall, then looked down, repentant. "Er . . . Gomen! Gomen nasai!" He pulled away and bowed . . . all of the Japanese he knew but those two simple words, having flown out of his mind at the instant of the collision. Getting a good look at his watch again, he looked forward, continuing his apologies and ran as fast as he could by the person whom he had knocked into. Half- glimpsed long dark hair and violet eyes nearly stayed him in his course, but shaking off the feeling of familiarity washing over him, he continued on his way, promising himself that he would return to the shrine later and look around. Raye opened her eyes upon feeling two gentle hands bracing her arms and a warm feeling suffusing her body. She saw a blur of blue eyes and golden hair running past her. "Gomen!" the oddly pleasant male voice yelled. Turning to watch the blur speed away, she put one hand on her hips and shook her right fist after him. "Well, watch it next time!" she yelled. "Honestly," she whispered to herself, "you'd think he was the male version of Serena or something." She shook her head, an odd sense of deja vu and warmth surrounding her. Her senses were reacting strangely to the atmosphere. She didn't sense an evil force, but something with its power muted . . . Almost as though it was hidden . . . Walking back to the shrine, she contemplated. Afternoon, the next day . . . Sunday Zephyr, his hands deep in his pockets, walked down the street, his mind on things other than the shopping list in his right pocket. He fingered the list in his left pocket. He shook his head. He stopped short in front of a store. A dagger sparkled in the display case. Its handle was white . . . with a unicorn wrapped around it. He was almost tempted to move on. He didn't need anything else that reminded him of his alter-ego. The unicorn's eyes glittered at him. They were made of zoisite. "That tears it!" He went into the store. Five minutes later he walked out, dagger in hand. Well, dagger wrapped in cloth in the bag that was in his hand. He could just imagine how long it would take the police to apprehend him if he'd walked out of the store waving his dagger around. A police car drove by. He made a face. Nev's power had *better* not be rubbing off on him! He had enough to deal with at the moment. More than enough. He turned back towards the street and saw some girl walking towards him and waving. With that thought he strode forward. "Konnichi wa, Mist-san!" the girl called, smiling. "Konnichi wa," Zephyr responded with a smile, walking past. Amy stopped walking, noticing the identity of the man who had just walked past. She blinked. "Um, excuse me," she said, rather shyly to the girl. "Anderson Amy, ne?" the girl asked, perplexed as to why the girl genius was speaking to her. "I couldn't help seeing you and . . . Mist-san. Are you very close?" "Oh, him?" The girl shrugged. "Not really. We met at a party. I wouldn't mind being his girlfriend . . . then again, maybe it's better that I'm not. He's what you might call a ladies' man. Half a dozen girlfriends already and all exes now. And that's *just* since he moved here." Amy looked at her quietly, her heart sinking. "Really?" "Yeah." She laughed. It was a heartless, thoughtless sound to Amy. "Still, there are other guys, ne? No need to bother about just one . . ." "Sure," Amy said shortly. "Why bother with just one?" She turned and strode away, her head held high and her heart dragging. The girl watched her go and frowned. "What's the matter with her?" "Chiishi-san," the cashier reported to her boss who had seemingly materialized behind her, though she knew that she must have come in through the back door, "I just sold that dagger." "Really?" her boss asked, and the girl couldn't tell whether she was interested in the information or not. "To whom?" The girl knew that her employer took an inordinate amount of interest in her customers so she answered promptly, "Some man. He came in and asked about it. Average height, blonde hair, green eyes . . . Spoke like a gaijin." Chiishi tapped her bottom lip with one of her long fingers. "I don't suppose you got his name?" "No, ma'am." The girl looked chastened. "Credit card number?" "He paid in cash, ma'am." "Cash?" Chiishi's eyes narrowed. "How much did you sell that dagger for?" "The specified amount." "*Really* . . . and he paid with *CASH*? Well, no matter. I'm sure we'll be meeting again. Get back to work." "Hai, ma'am." The girl happily complied. Speaking with her employer always made her anxious . . . After all, what kind of a person had a name that meant "bloodstone"? Chiishi made her way to the back of the store, and shut the door behind her. "Interesting," she murmured under her breath, pulling out the hair pins that held up her long dark red hair. Her curly hair tumbled down about her shoulders. She picked up a long dark crystal and ran her finger along its edge. "Very interesting." A dark smile appeared and her violet eyes shone . . . "We *will* be meeting again, Guardian . . . and at the time that *I* ordain." "Mars POWER, MAKE-UP!" she screamed. But it was no use. Nothing happened. She pulled down her hand, clenched tightly around the henshin wand, in defeat. Staring at the pen which seemed to shimmer more and more dimly with each passing moment, she sighed. She sat down, drawing up her knees to rest under her chin. She started a moment later as two sneakered feet appeared in her line of vision, but, recognizing the shoes, she calmed somewhat as Serena sat down opposite her, face propped up on her hands. "You okay, Raye-chan?" "Iie." Raye glared at the ground. "Of course not, you Odango Atama! Why would I be? Not only can't I attack, but now I can't even henshin! I'm powerless!" "We've *all* lost our powers, but that doesn't make us powerless. We'll just have to work that much harder." "You talk big, but . . . never mind." "Nani?" "No, forget it." "Raye, what were you going to say?" Raye looked up, her eyes tear-filled and angry. "I just want to know if you're going to come through for us when we need you! 'Cause if you're not . . ." Serena met Raye's eyes with her own and Raye looked down. "Gomen nasai." The blonde sighed and looked up off at the blue sky. "Isn't it pretty out today? We should be out enjoying ourselves." "That's just what I mean! That's just it! You try to laugh everything off!" "That's just how I DEAL, okay?! Kami-sama, give me a break for once, Raye-chan." They glared at one another before Raye buried her face in her hands. "Why am I doing this to us?" she asked, her voice muffled. Straining to hear, Serena replied, "Because you're angry, upset, and frustrated . . . like I was the other night. Only, it's just really catching up to you now." "I thought for sure that my powers would be back by now, but . . ." "Patience is a virtue." "Since when did you become a book of quotations?!" "Since I started hanging around you!" Serena stood partway up and held out a hand to the other girl. "It'll be okay." Raye took the hand and smiled slowly. "Yeah, I know it will." Serena pulled her up, and they stood for a moment, just smiling, before Serena asked, "D'you wanna go shopping?" Raye face-faulted. Lita sat by the phone doodling on a piece of paper. she wondered, embarrassed. she answered herself, She stared down at the pad of paper she was doodling on. The words Nev & Lita, Mrs. November Light, and even more embarrassing, Nev + Lita = LOVE met her eyes. She picked up the phone and dialed Amy's number. "Moshi moshi?" a pleasant voice said at the other end. "Hi! May I speak to Amy, please?" "I'm sorry but Amy's at the library," the pleasant voice replied. "Might I ask who's calling?" "Yeah, this is Kino Lita." "Well, I'll be sure to let Amy know that you called." "Arigato." Lita hung up. Mrs. Mizuno hung up the phone, then stood for a moment, looking at it thoughtfully. She smiled. Mizuno Amy was *not* happy. He was in the library. Dammit, how *dare* he be in the library! Amy blinked for the second time that day. Had she actually just sworn in her mind? Oh, who cared! She pressed her back against the wall and stared blankly out at nothingness. She sucked in a deep breath, then pushed away from the wall like a swimmer pushing herself off of the wall of the pool for that important thrust through the water. She strode into the open area of the library where he sat at an empty table, reading a thick volume, stacks of books surrounding him. He did not look up as she sat noisily down. He did not look up as she grabbed a book from the top of the nearest pile. He did not look up as she flipped through it impatiently, scanning a line here and there. He only looked up when she brought the book down from its position blocking her face and said in the flattest voice she could, "I shouldn't have believed you." He looked at her, silent, seeming to urge her on, to rant and rave as much as she wished. So she continued: "I shouldn't have believed anything that you said. You're a horrid person." "Is that all?" he asked mildly, propping his head up with one hand and pulling off his reading glasses with the other in a way that, embarrassingly enough, Amy found *really* sexy. "Nothing else to say?" "Do you even know who I *am*?" she hissed, surpressing the odd desire to reach over and touch his hand. "Mizuno-Anderson Amy. Divorced parents, American father. Believes that knowledge is the most important thing. Wants to be a doctor. Does that about cover it, Mizuno-san?" "Do you memorize facts about all of your girlfriends that way?" she demanded. "You're not my girlfriend." His voice was calm. She wanted to shake him until his voice ceased to be so cool, until he became angry, because she felt herself getting angrier and angrier with each word they spoke to one another. "No . . . I'm not. Nor would I ever wish to suffer a fate so terrible." "Really." The droll manner in which he uttered the word made it perfectly plain that it wasn't a question. He smiled lazily at her. "No, I don't, Mizuno-san." "Pardon?" she asked, then felt like kicking herself for such an engrained politeness. He didn't deserve it. "Memorize facts about all of my girlfriends that way. Just about you." She felt her cheeks growing red and fought to squash the feeling of pleasure it gave her to hear him say that. "You're trying to flatter me-" "Yes." "-just like all the others. Tell me, am I just another conquest?" "You, my darling, are a challenge." "Y-you shouldn't address me in such a way!" "Of course not. That's why I am." She pushed against the table, her palms flat on the dark wood surface, and rose to a standing position. "We have nothing further to talk about!" "Yes, we do. Because, you see, Mizuno-Anderson Amy," he murmured softly, leaning forward as though to share a most profound secret with her, "I find you most desirable. In fact, I believe that I have begun falling for you. There are a great many things that I like about you. Most especially that angry expression of yours . . . ." "I hate you!" she cried, taking the book that was still in her hand and flinging at across the table at him. It struck him in the side of the face, the pages open and fluttering. He caught it before it could fall and put a hand up to his cheek. "Your kiss, milady?" "Oh! You're impossible!" "Wasn't that obvious from the first?" She stared at him for a moment longer, then stormed away, pushing her way past curious people who had stopped to stare at the uncharacteristically angry and loud girl. They all knew who she was . . . her reputation had preceded her and they thought of her as the princess of the library: shy, quiet, demure, studious, and perfectly behaved. Who would have thought that she could behave in such a manner? Little Amy-chan? Meanwhile, the man sitting at the table threw back his head and laughed. He had gotten a rise out of her. He had made her angry. How, he wasn't sure exactly, but he had invoked some emotion in her. That was to his benefit, for he had learned all about her long before she had discovered anything at all about him. He knew that he had made her mad and he was glad of it. Aloof little Mizuno Amy . . . fiery little Amy-chan . . . He smiled again to himself. She was, indeed, a challenge. And he would make damn sure that he rose to the occasion. For he had been as honest with himself as he had been with her . . . he *did* find her desirable, and he *was* falling for her. For now, that was enough for him. The other girls were no matter. None of them had stirred the feelings in him that she did. It was then that he noticed the bewildered stares of all of the other library patrons. "What?!" he asked, irritated. "I'm *trying* to read here. Don't you people have anything better to do?" Serena walked away from the shrine, looking down and sighing. "Serena-san," Darien said with a gentle smile. "What's keeping you down?" She looked up, startled to see him standing there. "N . . . nothing, Darien-kun. And . . . what's with the "-san" all of a sudden? Drop it, would you? It makes me feel too . . . formal." She said the last word in English and he grinned. "Not bad." "I . . . I've been practicing." She managed a smile for him. "Demo, not right now! If you're going to use an honorific, use the "-chan"!" "I don't feel right calling you Serena-chan . . ." "Usa-chan, then," she suggested. Darien made a wry face. "Weird, but workable. You'll have to call me Mamo-kun, then." She made a face in turn. "All right, if you say so! Anyway, I feel fine! Raye and I are going shopping later!" He sweatdropped. "Oh." But he still wasn't fooled. "Serena, you don't have to act around me." "It's just . . . have you ever *really* *REALLY* wanted to do something . . . something that you've always been able to do . . . but you seem to have lost your knack for it?" She looked up at him, pleadingly. "Uh . . . not really." Seeing her crestfallen face, he hastened to add, "But there've been things that I've *really* wanted to do but couldn't." "And what do you do then?" "Well, sometimes . . . sometimes . . . it just isn't possible. But other times . . . those times . . . you've got to try your hardest . . . with all your heart and soul . . . and then . . . It's achievable, Serena." She repeated his words to herself. "It's achievable . . . Domo arigato, Darien-kun!" She beamed, reaching up with one arm to pull him down so she could give him a hug about the neck and a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she ran off, cheeks flaming, embarrassed by her newest impulsive display of affection. She just couldn't seem to keep *all* of her emotions towards him bottled up all of the time. Darien watched her with a smile, the place where her lips had touched him still burning on his cheeks. Then he began whistling as he walked in the other direction. Raye quickly pulled back behind a tree as he walked by. As soon as he was gone, she began to laugh and ran up the steps into the temple grounds. Looking up at her two crows, she uttered another laugh, and began walking towards her room. "You can't tell me that there's nothing going on between 'Nii-chan and you, Serena! I've seen it with my own eyes now . . ." She sobered, her laughter dying away. Her breath caught in her throat, the beginnings of a sob forming. She slid open the door to her room and shut it behind her after she had entered. Sitting down on her bed, she stared at the wall, her arms wrapped about the legs drawn up against her body, her chin resting on her knees. Her gaze flickered downward, tears welling up in her eyes. Looking up, she saw the picture of the two of them together. He seemed to be looking coldly back at her, his arms wrapped idly around her laughing younger self. She shut her eyes in an attempt to block the image of him out. An image appeared before . . . that of the golden-haired man in her vision . . . He bore a resemblance to Kaidou-san, but the blazing eyes gave him away immediately. They were the color of blue flame. He was the one who had shouted out her name with such . . . torment . . . before . . . before . . . Flashes of the vision returned to her . . . Death. Red death. Blue eyes . . . The glint of a sword . . . Red blood spilling forth . . . His hand stretching out, trying to reach her, as he fell . . . his scream trailing off . . . Goddess, the blood . . . A whisper. "Rei." Tears . . . "Am I her?" she whispered dully. "Am I her?" 'He was my lover, and that makes no sense at all." "Maybe he was . . . in another life, Raye." 'Maybe he was.' Again she repeated the words, "Maybe he was. Kami-sama, why do I *remember* this *now*?!" But his eyes returned to haunt her. Bluer than a summer sky. Raye held the distant memory of his face, of the love in his eyes, close to her heart. She buried her face in her arms, and surrendered to her grief, the pain in her soul screaming for release. "I loved you once," she whispered in a voice hers and yet, not her own. "I would rather remember you . . . even at the end, then Kaidou-san. Because you loved me. You loved me. And I loved you. I don't remember when, or how, or why . . . Only . . . I loved you. Were we to meet again, I think . . . I still would. Would you?" "Aishiteru." Jed's concentration wavered for a minute and Kenneth took advantage of the lapse to disarm him. "So much for skill." When Jed continued to be distant, not even noticing that his weapon was halfway across the room, Kenneth peered into his face. "Hey, you feeling okay?" Jed blinked, coming back to himself. "What? Hey! Hell, how'd you disarm me?!" "You were more than a little bit out of it a second ago," Keth said, looking at him suspiciously. "Dang. Okay, sorry 'bout that. How 'bout we try that again?" "Will you stay *awake* longer this time?" the silver-haired man demanded to know. "Yeah. Now, toss me my staff already!" Zephyr stared at Phoenix's schematic. Hitting a button, he scrolled down, then typing quickly on the keyboard, he brought up several windows and checked his figures and the placement of additional information. "Everything checks out," he said, uneasily, chewing at the end of a pencil. Something was wrong with the way it looked. He wasn't sure *what*, but something was definitely not quite right. Then he let his consciousness directly affect the computer and another schematic appeared directly over the first one. Opening his eyes and seeing the results, he bolted up from his seat and did some fast calculations. The answers were *not* to his liking. "Shit." He hit save and went off to find the others. Jed and Kenneth were easily found. They were still sparring in the training room. As Zephyr entered, a spear or some type of stick (he was too busy to dwell on it) went sailing over his head and hit the wall, clattering to the ground. "Damn," Jed said, breathing heavily as he stared at Kenneth. "That's the fourth time! And I thought that *I* was in good shape." Keth smirked, easily twirling the wooden fighting staff that he held in his hand. "Face it - my skills are superior." "You wanna back that up?!" Jed demanded, getting back his wind and grabbing a matching staff from the rack on the wall. "Any time," Kenneth replied, his eyes sparkling with confidence. "You'll lose, of course . . . demo, there's always that one time in ten when we *might* get a draw . . ." Jed yelled something inarticulate and lunged at him with the staff. Kenneth moved aside easily, anticipating the move. What he didn't anticipate was Jed twisting mid-lunge and thrusting upward with the length of the staff, hitting him across the chest and knocking him over. Kenneth's staff skidded across the room. Posed over him, staff in hand, Jed's eyes shone brightly. "What were you saying?" he asked lightly. "That's ENOUGH!" Zeph yelled. Jed turned his head to look at him and as he did so, Keth grabbed the staff and yanked it, sweeping Jed's legs out from under him at the same time. Jed landed on his back with a curse, and Kenneth stood, dusting himself off, Jed's own staff pointed at his throat. "What were *you* saying?" the silver-haired man asked calmly. "That's not fair!" Jed complained, getting to his feet. "If it wasn't for Zeph . . ." "*AHEM*!" The two sparring partners once again turned to look at the man who stood in the doorway, making agitated flapping motions with his arms. "Yes, Zephyr, what is it?" Kenneth asked. "I've found something that the two of you might want to see." With that, he turned and left. "Trouble?" Jed asked Kenneth, his eyebrow raised. "We'd better go see." Amy didn't feel like going home after making that scene in the library. She needed time . . . to get madder and to mull over what he had said . . . 'I'm falling for you . . .' "Bah!" she said, out loud. "Falling for me? Well, I'm not falling for it! What does he think I am, some kind of idiot . . ." She looked at her reflection in a shop window. She was blushing furiously. Irritated, she ran her hands over her face. "That's it!" she shouted, not caring who heard. She passed by the arcade and noticed that it was closed early. But that gave her an idea . . . Ann opened her eyes. She was within the Tree . . . It was healing her. She felt stronger . . . not as strong as she had in the old days . . . but stronger. But the Tree was weaker . . . She felt its strength fading all around her. She reached out a hand and thrust it through the trunk. Outside, Ailan grabbed it and pulled her through. "Quickly, Ailan," she said urgently. "We must help it. It needs energy soon or it *will* die." "What do you recommend?" he asked. "Fiore's plan," she said quietly. "FIORE?! But he-" "Hush, my love. What's done is done . . . The plan was sound enough." "Then we will drain the energy of a company . . . Which one, my love?" She shut her eyes. They lacked the energy to call forth a Cardian but Ann still *knew* things. <> She smiled. <> Amy got into the command center through the secret side door. Busily typing away at the supercomputer, she ran through the records of activity on the night of the Amdale Tower fiasco . . . when they had all lost their powers. She was surprised at the wealth of information. It seemed that the computer network had some type of stealth satellites in space and one of them had luckily been focused on Amdale Tower at the time . . . "I wonder how?" Sailor Pluto muttered to herself, watching Amy work. "Geez, when is Luna going to give her that supercomputer?!" She glanced back at her stash of water balloons . . . and two new additions. Super-soakers. The Senshi smiled. "Oooh, cats *hate* water!" Amy frowned as she called up some information on the Guardians. There was quite a bit. There seemed to be less on the enemy. She briefly wondered why, then shook the thought away. No matter. She called up the data on the Senshi, forgetting to close the file on the Guardians . . . Then something happened that froze her in place. A few seconds later she had Luna on the communicator. "Call a Senshi meeting, now!" Seeing the look in her eyes, the cat didn't argue. "What's your plan?" Rill demanded, impatient. Fiore had disappeared last night without revealing his plans for ridding them of the Senshi. "Ann and Ailan will be attacking a company soon," he said, smiling, "in an attempt to drain the workers of their energy. The Senshi will doubtless show up to foil their plans. While they keep busy trying to stop Ailan and Ann, we'll eliminate them." "Do you have any method in mind?" she asked. "Use whatever you want," he said. Rill laughed, her wand flashing into her right hand. "Oh, I'll do that . . . and it'll be a pleasure." Fiore shielded his eyes as she shouted, "Earth . . . *Power*, MAKE-UP!" Moments later she was clad in her dark Senshi outfit. "I will have fun killing them," she murmured darkly, her eyes glinting. "What company will we be going to?" Fiore concentrated a moment, picking up an echo of Ann's thought. "Knight Corporation." "Even better . . . I have some old scores to settle with those classmates of mine." She smiled. She frowned. The Sailor Senshi (sort of) sat in the chairs at some of the computer terminals of the Command Center. Serena was disappointed. She'd had to cancel her shopping trip. Lita was disappointed. Nev hadn't called yet. Raye wasn't disappointed. She didn't want to go shopping and she certainly didn't want to sit by herself in her room crying all day. Now, some kind of problem . . . That was something she could concentrate on. Luna was quite simply worried. If *Amy* had found something that warranted a Senshi meeting as opposed to a *study* meeting, then something had to be seriously wrong. Amy's fingers flew across the keyboard of the supercomputer, calling up detailed schematics and analytical data. "While I can't get a full reading," she informed the others, "what I did get is *very* interesting." "Mind filling us in, Amy?" Raye asked dryly. "It seems that the Guardians are the ones blocking our powers." "I *knew* they were trouble!" Raye shouted. Lita pounded her fist into an open palm. "Well, they'll regret messing with us." "Matte!" Amy yelled. "Huh?" Lita asked, slightly intimidated. Ever since Amy had returned from the library . . . she had seemed more aggressive and the look in her eyes at times was downright scary. "The Guardians *are* blocking that, but they shouldn't be." "Well, we *know* that-" "Raye-chan, please! That's *not* what I meant." "Then what *do* you mean, Amy-chan?" Serena asked calmly for once. After doing a double take and briefly wondering if that was the *real* Serena or some kind of impostor, Amy continued speaking. "It seems that I was not making myself sufficiently clear. Let's try this again, and please . . . no interruptions." Lita and Raye shrank back under the hint of venom in her voice. Amy drew a deep breath. "We are on the planet earth, correct?" "Amy, we're *not* two-year olds," Raye griped. "Well, you SHOULD be! We are on Earth and Earth emits a certain type of magical energy. Let's call it Earth mana for now, to borrow the Hawaiian word for "spiritual energy" . . . Okay?" "Sure, fine, whatever you say, Amy-chan," Raye said hurriedly, a sweatdrop forming on her head. Amy smiled beautifically. "Fine. Now then, this "Earth mana" is very strong since we are ON the planet. Thus, Sailor Earth is very powerful because this is basically her home turf. We can only assume that she uses this "Earth mana." "*WE* on the other hand, use the mana of our *own* planets, and while I am sure that we would be *much* stronger were we actually on the planet, I do not believe that distance from the planet would change our power levels to any great degree. I would have to perform more tests, but for instance, I do not think that Mars would be any more or less stronger here than on Jupiter. However, were she on Mars . . . that is another story. The "Mars mana" would probably give her ten times the strength and power level, if not more, than any other place in the universe. Why the distance does not matter, I am not sure, but we'll just have to assume that it has something to do with the nature of the mana. "According to the readings I obtained on the Guardians, they are making use of "Earth mana." While none of them is as strong individually as Sailor Earth, at least, I do not believe so at this point in time, combined, their power is far greater than hers. That is why they were able to defeat her that time." "Then why couldn't they take care of those weird monsters easier?" Lita asked, then quickly covered her mouth. "It's all right, Lita-chan," Amy said kindly, "it was a pertinent question. The Guardians' power levels *are* very high, but they are neither making full use of them, nor, as far as I have seen, sufficiently trained to use them to a higher degree. Together, though, their close proximity might have bypassed those self restricted blocks and granted them fuller access to their powers." "Oh." "As for why their powers are blocking us, especially *now* while they weren't before . . . something has distorted their use and connection to the "Earth mana." The schematics I have show that their energy signatures are skewed almost beyond recognition. They still have access to their powers, and are probably not even aware of the discrepancy, but in this structure, their "mana" blocks *ours*. That should *not* be happening." "What is causing this, Amy-chan?" Luna asked. Amy frowned. "Only someone with a connection to the "Earth mana" can affect another's connection in this manner. It cannot be proven without a doubt, but the only person that we know who has this connection to the "Earth mana" is-" "Sailor Earth," the others finished, their expressions grim. "Yeah, Nev. We need you here. Zeph's kind of going psycho on us . . . What? It *seems* important. Think you can ditch your date? You don't have to be *that* enthusiastic! You'd think that the two of you weren't getting along . . . Ow, ow! Stop yelling! Okay, see you soon." Jed hung up the phone and sighed, rubbing at his ear. Kenneth stuck his head in the door. "Come ON!" "Coming!" <. . . Mother. Geez, it's like I never left home.> It was then that he paused, someone's faint echo of thought brushing his mind. He felt *power*. Raye stared at the others, her eyes distant, her thoughts disturbed. Sailor Earth . . . only someone with a connection to the Earth mana . . . Earth mana . . . Mars mana . . . no, no something else . . . surging powers . . . pain . . . red death . . . warm feeling . . . hidden power . . . Raye . . . Raye . . . *Rei* . . . blue eyes . . . the feather-light touch of another mind brushing her own . . . shared smiles . . . Jed looked up for an instant, a strange feeling playing over him. He had decided to keep the twinge of power he had felt a secret for the time being. He was certain that it had not been their prince. How, he was not certain, but he was convinced that it had had a definite feminine edge to it. Now, he knew. The power was feminine. His dark-haired goddess smiled in his memory and he smiled a little thinking of her. The memories of her that were ever with him . . . slightly beyond recollection, asserted themselves from time to time to gift him with a remembrance. Kenneth glanced over at his comrade-in-arms who was smiling like an idiot. "I don't think there's anything funny about this." He gestured at the computer screen. "Oh, neither do I!" Jed replied immediately, replacing the contented look on his face with a concerned one. Inside, though, he was still smiling despite the severity of the situation. He couldn't help it. Keth looked skyward. "Would *one* of you *please* pay attention?!" Zephyr snapped, an irritated expression crossing his face. They both snapped to attention. "Well, uh . . . What does it mean, Zeph?" Kenneth asked hastily. "Where's November?" he asked instead, ignoring his friend. "I called him on his car phone. He said he'd be here as soon as possible," Jed supplied. "Fine. We can't wait for him." Zephyr directed their attention to the computer schematics he had called up on a large digital screen on the wall. "This," he pointed at the original schematic, which was rotating slowly, "is a three-dimensional extrapolation of Phoenix's armor." His eyes glowed a little and another image appeared. "This is Dragon's armor." He overlaid the two schematics. "Notice the degree of discrepancy." "Can't that be accounted for by the differences in the armor and powers?" Jed asked. Zeph glared. "Do you think that I'm stupid enough to disregard *that*?!" He hit another button and the two overlaid schematics shrank off to one side and a larger schematic appeared. "This is the basic foundation armor that I have found based on the underlying energy structures of the armor itself. Each individual set of armor should have no more than 25% discrepancy at this stage. Later on, in more advanced forms, the armor may grow to have over 95% discrepancy. But in their current stages the armor already has 75% discrepancy in the energy patterns. The discrepancy is not natural. It is mana- induced." Jed looked at Zephyr in concern. "But how can it be mana- induced?" "That's a good question, Raye." Amy frowned. "As of now, the nature and extent of Sailor Earth's powers is unknown. With that being the case, I am unable to narrow down or even derive an explanation for it. We do not even know for certain that Sailor Earth is definitely responsible. It is a reasonable hypothesis, however." "So what do we *do,* Amy?" Lita asked. Amy sighed. "That's the problem. Unless the Guardians are capable of reversing the changes that Sailor Earth has made and are so inclined . . . there's nothing we *can* do." "Obviously, someone has been screwing around with our energy patterns. How he or she managed to do this, I don't know." Zephyr tapped his chin with a pencil. "How are we going to deal with this - get whoever it was to fix this mess?" Keth asked. Zephyr grinned. "That's the good news. We don't have to." "What?! Can't this cause problems . . . give whoever did this a hold over us?" Jed glared. Zephyr shrugged. "Yes, maybe. But that's what's *beautiful* about this whole thing . . ." He paused for dramatic effect. "If this person messes with us . . . we can mess with him just as easily. More so, for we are Four and he is One." He looked at the computer screen and the image shifted. "Also . . . we can fix this problem ourselves." <> <> Jed sent. Zephyr sent him the image . . . The phoenix seared itself into his brain . . . red fire, blazing, singing . . . He saw the structures, the lattices and magical "cells" that formed his armor . . . and he forced them to stop mutating, to devolve . . . back . . . back . . . into the red armor that he had been granted so long ago. Then the barrage of images and schematics grew to be too much for him . . . . Zephyr smiled. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" He turned to Kenneth. The sound of Jed, passed out, hitting the floor with a thud made him jump a little, but he pretended that he hadn't heard it. "Now, it's *your* turn and since you never let me scan you . . . I'm afraid you're gonna have to guess." "WHAT?!" Kenneth glared at his friend. It was one thing to know what you were doing and pass out, but to not even have that . . . The blonde rolled his eyes. "Just kidding! I made some extrapolations." He sent the image . . . A few seconds later Kenneth was stretched out on the ground, unconscious. Zephyr let out a side. Nev wasn't there yet so that meant that he had to go next . . . He wasn't looking forward to it. Mental overload was a state that he preferred *not* to be in. But, well, sacrifices have to be made in times of trouble. He sighed, then closed his eyes and focused on the watery blue image of the unicorn. It seemed *distorted* somehow . . . Clumsy, deformed almost . . . It swam into his mind . . . and proceeded to yell at him for being so difficult. Another sigh. Sometimes, his subconscious was just too smart for him. He focused on the image, the structure, the energy patterns flowing, twisting, turning, layer over layer. A twist here, a twist there, a hammer blow here and here . . . ah, the shape was forming itself into what he wished . . . A few seconds later he was unconscious . . . the blue unicorn still lecturing in his mind, dancing gracefully. "We go . . . Now!" Fiore said, his eyes narrowed. "Ann and Ailan are on their way to hit their target." Rill let a smile cross her face. "Finally." The two figures made their way into the night. The Senshi sat about, depressed. "Kami-sama," Raye said, "we can't just sit here. We have to-" A sudden beeping cut her off. The eyes of the Senshi turned towards one of the computer stations. Two blinking red dots appeared over a map of Tokyo. "What the hell is that, Amy-chan?" Lita demanded, looking at the screen without comprehension. Amy slid into the seat in front of the computer and hit a few buttons. The screen zoomed in on the section that the red dots were in. They were clearly labeled "enemy." Amy called up another window and some text scrolled across the screen. It was in an odd language that none of the Senshi knew, but vaguely recognized. The blue- haired girl hit another couple of buttons and the text manifested itself in Japanese. Reading quickly, she turned to look at the rest of the Sailor Team. "Two alien life forms just teleported themselves to the Knight Corporation building. The computer identifies them as enemies. One has a 99.785% probability of being that blue-haired male we've fought before and the other has a 27.63% probability of being the pink-haired female we've seen before." "Only 28%?" Serena asked, rounding quickly. "Shouldn't it be higher? It's not Sailor Earth, is it?" Amy checked. "No. There's no way it can be Sailor Earth. The percentage is so low it's not even worth considering." "Okay, well, let's go check it out," Serena said, looking at the map carefully. "Without our Senshi powers?" Lita asked, feeling prudent for once. "We'd get toasted!" Raye protested. "Though I'm all for trying to help if we can." "Raye and Lita are right," Luna said, jumping up next to the computer and staring at the specks of red. "This is too dangerous for the four of you to go out as you are." Serena's face grew red. "I don't care what anyone says! I'm going. People are going to get hurt if we don't and that's just not acceptable! We might not be able to henshin but we're still Sailor Senshi! If I've gotta chuck rocks at those aliens I'm gonna do it." "Serena's right," Amy said, standing up. "We've got to make ourselves useful. It's time those aliens learned that nothing can stop the Sailor Senshi . . ." She stormed out of the Command Center, Serena running after her. "Matte, Amy-chan! Geez . . . You can't leave *me* behind . . ." Raye and Lita exchanged a look. "D'you think something's going on with Amy?" Lita asked. Raye nodded. "Uh-huh." "The library," Lita muttered under her breath. "Come on, let's go catch up! Those fools are gonna need our help." "Yeah." The girls ran after the other two. Luna stood perfectly still for a moment, her mouth open. A slow smile spread across the cat's face. The black cat hopped down from the counter and looked about the empty command center. "I wish there was something I could do to help . . ." A computer turned on at one of the terminals. And spoke. In Lunar. "Hello, Luna." She turned to look. "Q-Queen Serenity?!" Luna found herself saying, staring at the image of the silver-haired Queen of the Silver Millennium . . . a time she could barely remember. "Luna . . . this program will only have been activated if the situation is desperate and the alternatives unthinkable. Punch in command code Luna-1 and activate voice override on this computer." In a shimmer of light Luna had transformed to her human form and was doing as told. "Activate voice override, Luna-Delta-B1-Gamma-6." "Voice override activated." "Now, Luna, access the technical and magical schematics of the Silver Millennium vaults using Queen-heiress code." "Open file on technical and magical schematics of the SM vaults." "Queen command clearance needed." "Serenity transfer command clearance Silver-Moon-mirror-8117." The cat-woman sucked in a breath then said the words that Queen Serenity had told her once and only once in her entire life. The words capable of unlocking the Kingdom's most dangerous secrets . . . "I love you, Ophion." The file opened. The Silver Millennium's greatest secrets were hers for the taking . . . but Luna was nothing if not loyal. "Now what, my queen?" she asked, quietly. "Open the defense file." Luna touched the icon on the screen. "Now the Senshi file. The Inner file." "Inner?" Luna asked, staring at the two sets . . . Inner and Outer. "Now is not the time, Luna," Serenity's voice said, sadly, soothingly. Luna complied and opened the file on the Inners. "Second level . . ." The woman's eyes widened as the schematics rolled across the screen. "The . . ." "Yes, Luna," Serenity's voice said calmly. "The star henshin wands." Kenneth, Jed, and Zephyr's eyes snapped open. The first thing that pervaded their consciousnesses was the ceiling that swam into focus above them. Then the sense of something amiss slammed into them with all the force and subtlety of a bullet train. "Damn," Keth said, a hand to his head. "What the hell did that modification DO?!" Zeph winced. "Sharpened our senses . . . We're back to normal, boys." "Yeah, right," Jed muttered. "Great. Hey, what *is* that?" "Dunno." Keth got to his feet. "Let's go check it out, whatever it is. It's trouble, one way or another." The two aliens floated outside the building, perplexed. Large waves of energy flowed out to Ann and as of yet, no one had appeared to stop them. That was strange. On the other hand, the building itself was odd. They could sense within the collapsed employees, their energy radiating out of their bodies and into Ann, who served as a vessel to channel some of it to the Tree, but their was a general wakefulness and awareness that was not normal. There was . . . something *different* about this building and the people within. "Whatever could they do here?" Ann wondered. "Nothing normal," Ailan replied, puzzled by the make-up of some of the energy they were receiving. The four girls had had a hard time getting to the Knight Corporation building. After all, without their powers, traveling across Tokyo was suddenly a lot harder than it had been. And then . . . they had been a little short on taxi fare and had been forced to use public . . . *slow* transportation. But they had *finally* arrived. And they didn't like what they saw. The two aliens were floating outside the building, near the top. Energy flowed out of the building, manifesting itself in physical form with a flow and a sensation that made the hair on the backs of the girlsŐ necks rise. Lita gritted her teeth. "Is this city made up of idiots? Why doesn't anybody *notice* that?!" "It's not like they could do anything about it, anyway," Amy said, staring at the sight. "Well, we can," Raye said. "We can try, anyway," Serena added. They ducked into a nearby alley between two warehouses and made sure that no one was about. "You ready?" Serena asked. The other girls nodded. "Moon Prism Power . . . MAKE-UP!" "Mars POWER, MAKE-UP!" "JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!" "Mercury Power, Make-UP!" There was a crackle and flash of energy, then . . . "There's something wrong," Moon said, looking down at her fuku. Everything seemed all right, and yet . . . Mercury and Mars were looking at themselves with looks of dissatisfaction on their faces as well. Lita simply looked confused since she hadn't changed at all. "Hey, uh . . . guys? What's wrong with me?" The other three looked up . . . and sweatdropped. "I guess this isn't going to be as easy as we thought," Moon said slowly. "And *when* did we think this was going to be easy?!" Mars demanded. Nev nearly skidded past the room, but caught himself on the door frame and propelled himself inside. "Apologies for being late! What's up?!" "No TIME for that *now*!" Zephyr hissed, digging through a pile of technical instruments. "Maybe you'll be more prompt to respond *next* time! Right now, we've got trouble!" "Uh . . . Hai!" November responded instantly, wincing at the scowl on the blonde's face. "Found it!" Zephyr declared, picking up what looked to be some kind of strange headphones with a visor and tiny microphone. "What in the world's that?!" Nev asked, staring at Zephyr as he put it on. Jed rolled his eyes. "It's a scanning device, fool!" Zeph snapped. "Henshin-yo!" Kenneth commanded, sternly, shooting all of them *looks*. They hastened to obey. But . . . once they had. "Wait, hang on," Unicorn (I *hate* that!-Zephyr) said, turning to Dragon. "You can't go out like that." "What do you mean?" "Unicorn's right," Griffin said with a sigh as the afore-mentioned Guardian twitched. "De-transform . . . Zephyr will fill you in and feed you the image while Phoenix and I go out to deal with the situation." "Hey!" the two sidelined Guardians protested. "I mean it! And make it quick! I have the feeling that we'll be needing both of you. C'mon, Phoenix." "Yessir!" Phoenix said, hurrying along behind as they left the room. "Oh, great," Zephyr snapped, glaring at Dragon as he de- transformed. "Do you know how much time this will take?! That's not even mentioning how long you'll be unconscious . . ." November blanched. "Unconscious?!" Zephyr laughed, almost amused in spite of himself, as he turned on the computer and called up November's armor specs. Moon tried an attack, aiming at the wall of the alley. "Moon Tiara Action!" The tiara fell lifelessly to the ground. "Oh, terrific, we can transform but it doesn't look like that'll be doing us any good anytime soon," she muttered. "I don't think you're missing anything, Lita." Lita made a face. "So *you* say." It was then that the black cat ran into the alley. She leapt into the air and did a backward flip. Three wands fell into the Senshi and Lita's hands. "New wands?" Mars asked. "New wands," Luna said, nodding. "What about me?!" Moon cried. "Gomen, I looked . . . but you don't have one." Already the memories of the Command Center were beginning to slip from her memory. When she had finished constructing the wands, Queen Serenity's image had uttered some type of trigger word in her mind so that she would forget the secrets that had been revealed to her. "NANI?!" Moon asked. "No wand?!" Luna ignored her. There just wasn't time. Zephyr dusted off his hands looking at November's prone body. "Well, that's done with. Now, it's time that I go." "Henshin-yo!" Luna commanded. "Add the "star" trigger word before power." The girls nodded, tossing their wands into the air. "Mars Star Power, Make-up!" "Jupiter Star Power, Make-up!" "Mercury Star Power, Make-up!" Moon crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." There were three large flares of light . . . Then three Sailor Senshi stood, illuminated by moonlight. "Now," Jupiter declared, "I'm back in business!" Ann and Ailan who had been attracted by the large burst of light floated over the alley. "Not for long!" Ann declared. Her hair flowed about her, and her whole body seemed to crackle with the amount of energy she had absorbed. Her eyes glowed. She let loose a burst of green energy at Jupiter. "Hey!" Jupiter cried, leaping out of the way at the last moment. "What?" Ann said. "Trapped in a corner, no where to go?" "We have you right where we want you!" Ailan laughed. "And soon . . . we'll be rid of you!" It was at that moment that Fiore and Sailor Earth arrived at the scene. "Damn!" Earth spat. "We seem to be a little late." "Iie," Fiore corrected her. "We're right on time. As you can see . . . the Senshi have no way out of their predicament." "So, shall we kill them now?" "Iie, let's watch and see how this progresses. If they rid us of Ailan and Ann, so much the better. We can eliminate the Senshi afterwards." The Flower at his chest glowed. <> the plant hissed. <> <> Sailor Earth did not notice the red light in his eyes. "Burning MANDALA!" Mars screamed. The rings of fire spun out towards Ailan and Ann. They held hands and a green wash of energy obliterated the attack, and struck Mars, knocking her to the ground with enough force to cause the pavement to break about. She cried out in pain. "Sparkling WIDE PRESSURE!" The electricity hit the two aliens, but despite the strength of the attack, it didn't seem to be having any affect on them. If anything, it seemed to revitalize them more than hurt them. Ann was smiling when she flicked her fingers at Jupiter. A ball of green lightning, a perfect imitation of Jupiter's attack, but for the color rolled out from her and struck the unsuspecting Senshi, lifting her into the air and slamming her against Mars's prone body. The two Senshi cried out as their bodies hit with enough force to crumble buildings. "But . . . I'm immune to lightning," Jupiter whispered, her body battered and aching. "Perhaps you're not as immune as you thought?" Ann said, sneering. "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" Now, that attack took them completely off guard, for they had only known Mercury to have a weak defensive attack before and had completely forgotten about her presence. The attack also did nothing to them. Rather, Ailan and Ann seemed to welcome the water that hit them with all the force of the ocean. "Do you think you can hurt us anymore?!" Ann shrieked, as she and Ailan directed another wave of energy at Mercury, flinging her across the alley. The three fallen Senshi tumbled about like dead leaves in the force of the blast. "We are life . . . We are all living things! We live on the energy of this world! Your attacks cannot stop us . . . It's too late!" "It's never too late," Moon said, seething. Luna was standing a little behind her. "Sailor Moon," the cat hissed, "you can't attack!" "Urusai!" Moon shouted. "We're waiting," Ailan said, lazily. "What've you got, Sailor Moon?" "Uh . . . um," Moon hedged. "We'll defeat you no matter what!" She took off her tiara, but as soon as she touched it she knew that she wouldn't be able to change it into the energy disk. Her transformation still seemed off, somehow. She couldn't gain access to her powers. "As I suspected . . . You're too weak to do anything on your own. You've been depending on the abilities of your friends too much!" Ailan jeered. "For that mistake, you shall DIE!" As the energy raced towards her, Sailor Moon searched her mind for something that would save her. <'you've got to try your hardest . . . with all your heart and soul . . .'> The energy struck. "There's *got* to be a way!" Moon said from between gritted teeth, ignoring the pain. She began to glow . . . silver and pink. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!" There was a fierce explosion of light and red ribbons seemed to reach up and entwine the Senshi. In seconds, she had transformed . . . and this time, there was a new light in her eyes. "All RIGHT! Now you twerps are gonna get it!" "You're still all alone, Sailor Moon," Ailan whispered. "Not really," Mars said, painfully getting to her feet. Jupiter and Mercury stiffly got up as well and the four Sailor Senshi stared at the two aliens defiantly. "Why don't you give up?" Ailan asked. "Why don't you go to Hell?" Jupiter replied sweetly. "I'll see you there!" Ailan declared. He and Ann raised their arms and an ENORMOUS ball of energy grew over their heads. The Senshi exchanged looks. "Let's get to it, then," Moon said. The energy flew towards them . . . "Moon Tiara ACTION!" "Burning Mandala!" "Sparkling Wide PRESSURE!" "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" "SOUL PHOENIX FIRE BURN!!!" "SPIRIT MIND UNICORN WATER PURIFY!" "POWER GRIFFIN ENERGY BLAST." The two blast canceled each other out and the girls turned and looked up to see the new arrivals. The Guardians flashed them grins from atop one of the buildings. "Aren't you missing one?" Jupiter asked. "It's only temporary," Unicorn assured her. "Oh. Uh . . . what's that you're wearing on your head?" "Never mind!" "Things don't seem to be going so well," Earth observed from Fiore and her position nearby. "I didn't come to watch, nature boy. I came to kill." She licked her lips. "Now that the gang's all here-" "Fine," Fiore cut her off. "Go and have your fun." "Do you think I need permission from you?" she asked. She let out a short laugh. "Think again." She leapt off of the building rooftop and made her way towards the scene of the battle. Fiore's eyes glowed red for a moment, then he ceased hovering in the air and began to fly after the murderous Senshi. Seething with anger the two aliens began preparing another blast but found their energy sources heavily depleted from the last attack they had launched. And now instead of dealing with four they were facing seven. "Shall we even the odds a little?" Fiore asked pleasantly, popping up behind them. The two aliens glared at him, their hatred evident. Even Ann, who had always treated him well. Oh well. Fiore shrugged. <> <> "Sailor Earth," the Senshi and Guardians said, looking up at the traitorous woman who stood before them. "My, my," she said, smiling, "I'm going to enjoy wiping you all out in one fell swoop. Wait a moment . . . Where's the other one?!" The Guardians remained stubbornly silent. "I don't know what you want, Sailor Earth," Moon yelled, "but we're not going to let you have it!" "What I want is very simple," she said, the dangerous edge to her voice even more evident, "I want all of you to die. Now. In the most painful way possible." "Well, you're not going to get that wish!" "Little girls . . . all of you Chibi-Senshi . . . Do you really think that you are capable of defeating *ALL* of us?" Fiore threw his head back and laughed. Ann and Ailan were to his right, directly opposite the Senshi, while Earth was opposite him. They had them surrounded from above on three sides. Unfortunately, they forgot to take into account the fourth. A figure cloaked in night made his way there unnoticed. Sailor Moon shut her eyes and opened them. They shone with determination. "If not us . . . then who? Ai to segai no sailor fuku bishoujo senshi, Sailormoon! Tsukini kawatte, oshiokyo!" Sailor Earth's eyes stared back at her, cold and filled with hate. "Prepare to die, Sailor Moon." A red rose flashed down in front of Rill. "Not today. Taunting Bishoujo Senshi ought to be a crime! These lovely young ladies will no doubt teach you all a lesson! Know this . . . evil cannot triumph over good as long as there are those willing to oppose it!" "Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" Sailor Moon whispered, hearts in her eyes. "Oh brother," Ann groaned, rolling hers. Moon ignored her. "Have you come to help us?" she asked. "Hai," he replied. "But you must stop this evil yourself. You have the power within you . . ." "The power? Demo . . . I don't." Tuxedo Kamen held her hand, squeezing it to reassure her. "Try . . . Sailor Moon!" She bit back her tears and nodded. "I will." She concentrated and a blast of pure white light exploded out from her. In that light something began to take form and in between their two clasped hands, a scepter appeared . . . gently shining. "Masaka." "You see? Belief is everything. Use your power, Sailor Moon," he urged her. She nodded. "Hai." "Moon princess halation!" The blast of energy spiraled towards the four enemies, splitting off in three different directions, its power seemingly undiminished. Sensing its power, Ailan and Fiore teleported, reappearing elsewhere, outside of its blast range. Sailor Earth dove out of the way at the last instant. Ann was too slow in teleporting and the blast hit her full on. She scowled menacingly at the Senshi. "You burned me, moon brat!" "You'll be more than burned if you don't leave us alone!" Sailor Moon declared. "That's right!" the Senshi chorused. "You pesky little brats!" Ann yelled, flinging out an open hand. A wave of green energy sped forth from her and engulfed the Senshi flinging them back several hundred yards. Their bodies skidded along the ground throwing up more pavement. The Guardians and Tuxedo Kamen caught them before they could be smashed against the alley's dead end brick wall. Griffin caught Luna. Ann stared for an instant at what she had done before she gasped and fell . . . . . . into Ailan's waiting arms. "My sweet . . . what have you done?!" The pink-haired alien let out an agonized scream as her body arched in pain and rainbow colors sped over her skin. Her eyes were wide and staring, a cold sweat broke out over her body and her hands trembled. "Ail . . . Ailan . . ." He held her close to him before hurling one final curse at the battered Senshi. "For this, you will *SUFFER*!!! That is a promise." Then their two forms vanished in a flash of green light. Sailor Moon weakly got to her feet as Tuxedo Kamen let her go. "I've suffered enough, thank you. Ow! Itai! Itai! Itai!!!" She turned around to thank Tuxedo Kamen and the Guardians but they were gone. There was also no sign of Fiore or Sailor Earth. The other Senshi looked just as dazed with what had just happened and Luna seemed unable to take in everything that had happened. Dragon leapt onto the rooftop near the other Guardians. "What's going on? What'd I miss?" "It's all over," Unicorn said absently, staring at the readings his visor had collected. "For now," Griffin corrected. Phoenix continued looking at the scene below, quiet. "Do you think they'll be all right?" Griffin clapped him on the shoulder. "They're soldiers, Phoenix. Never forget that. They may be a little battered and worse for wear, but in the end . . . they'll be fine." On the ground, Sailor Moon had given up looking for their mysterious men-in-arms. The first ramifications of the evening's battle were finally getting through to her. And they frightened her. "Luna . . ." Sailor Moon whispered, looking at her scepter. "Where did it come from?" "It . . . it came from you, Sailor Moon." "I . . . created it?" "You did - with the strength of your love." "H-How?" Mercury looked up from where she was tapping furiously away at some device she had taken from the Command Center. "Moon . . . *and* Earth mana." "Earth?" Moon repeated, confused. Luna's eyes widened. "Then that means-!" "Tuxedo Kamen can tap into the mana of Earth . . ." Mercury finished, eyes shining with realization. "But he can't be a Senshi! There's already a Sailor Earth!" Sailor Moon protested. "No. There are no male Senshi, Sailor Moon. With Sailor Earth an enemy and a threat to its existence . . . Earth has no Senshi. It only has defenders . . ." Luna's eyes were troubled. Far above them, the Guardians looked on. "No," Dragon began, "Earth's Senshi was never meant to be." Unicorn smirked, taking off his head gear. "From the beginning, the task of protecting Earth was always ours." "Earth has no Senshi," Phoenix continued, clenching his hand into a fist. "It only has Guardians." As one their gazes went to Griffin who stood still as a statue, the wind blowing against him, his cape flapping in the breeze. His eyes were almost silver in the moonlight as he looked towards the horizon. Then he let out a low laugh and turned to face them, the wind lifting his silver-white hair and letting it fall gently to his shoulders. His grey eyes were like steel, and the smile he wore was a dangerous one. "It only has princes." To be continued . . . Next time . . . the Guardians do a little planning, Rill stirs up *A LOT* of trouble, and things start to heat up *just a little* . . . I'm debating whether to turn most of it into a recap episode so I can write that one quick and get to episode ten which should be *much* juicier. What d'you think? Whew! Done at last!!!! Really, gomen nasai for this episode! I wrote 90% of it a year ago . . . but didn't get around to writing the other 10% until this week . . . and somehow it ended up being around 50-50. But, the fact that I didn't write it all at once really shows, I think, so hopefully the next episode will be more coherent and *together*. I couldn't get this episode to work out to be one day so I split it into two days . . . and I think that was *also* a bad move on my part. *Sigh* It's so *hard* to get back in the flow! ^^;;;; (November and Lita totally took over the *ENTIRE* first half of the episode! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!) Well, at least I changed the episode so the Senshi weren't fighting toasters. Why toasters, you ask? I have NO IDEA! My villains went temporarily insane and began playing with my mind. (They were pink toasters . . . with white bunnies on them! Serena was happy. She picked one up for free and . . . uh, never mind. ^^;;;;;) I do make you one promise, dear readers . . . you will *NOT* have to wait another ten months for the next episode! I fully expect to have a few episodes done by the end of this summer and some episodes of "IAL:TLB" will be trickling out soon . . . it's important that I finish *that* "season" (Season Zero) before this one because it deals with Sailor V's exploits in England and this "season" (Not to mention Season Two will get really confusing if I don't!). Oh, and um . . . I picked Etsuko's name before I knew what it meant. "Etsu" means "rat-tailed anchovy" and the "ko" can be translated as "little" or "child," so she's either a "little rat- tailed anchovy" or a "rat-tailed anchovy" child. ^^;;;;; Check my page for updates . . . I will be doing a *MAJOR* revamp soon (definitely by the end of the first week of July, maybe sooner) and remember, everything I write will be posted there *first* (if Geocities' FTP server ever starts to work again . . . *grumble grumble*)! Ja ne! ^_- Usa Serena/Tsukino Usagi Mamo Darien/Chiba Mamoru Anderson-Mizuno Amy/Mizuno Ami Hino Raye/Hino Rei Kino Lita/Kino Makoto Mist Zephyr/Zoisite Raven Jed/Jadeite Light November/Nephrite Knight Kenneth/Kunzite Luna/Luna A(i)lan Galaxy/Ail Ginga Ann Galaxy/Ann Ginga Fiore Et/Fiore Doom Tree/Makujii Bell Rill/Beryl Sailor Pluto/Sailor Pluto Baker Molly/Osaka Naru Sandler Katie/Saionji Rui Etsuko/ORIGINAL CHARACTER Chiishi/ORIGINAL CHARACTER Ai to segai no sailor fuku bishoujo senshi, Sailormoon!=For love and justice I am the sailor-suited pretty soldier, Sailor Moon! Tsukini kawatte, oshiokyo!=In the name of the moon, I'll punish you! Aishiteru=I love you Ano=Um Baka=Idiot Chibi=Little Demo=But Domo arigato=Thank you Domo arigato gozaimasu=Thank you very much Gaijin=foreigner (a bit derogatory) Gomen=I'm sorry Gomen nasai=I'm very sorry Hai!=Yes! Hana=Flower Henshin-yo!=Transform! Honto?=Really? Iie=No Itai!=It hurts! Kamen=mask Kami=God (Shinto religion) Kawaii=cute Konnichi wa=Good afternoon Masaka=It can't be or No way Matte=Wait Nani?=What? Odango Atama=Dumpling head Onegai=Please, I'm begging you Onii-chan=Big brother Urusai!=Shut up!