Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Brand New Destiny ❯ Aftermath ( Chapter 3 )

[ A - All Readers ]

Disclaimers: Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US.

Last Chapter: A few hours after arriving at their hotel in Tokyo, Serena takes off on her own to see the sights and find something to do, while the others relaxed, she runs into Darien on the streets. The two make their way to the Crown Arcade to join some friends of Darien's, when they ran into Andrew who was looking through a store window at a TV set, which was showing a news report talking about the battle the Inner Sailor Senshi were in, and were loosing. Darien leaves to go get the others to come help, while Serena was left behind with Andrew, but when Andrew turns around to speak to her, he finds her gone. At the battle, the Sailor Scouts were loosing the fight against the monsters, when a blond girl dressed in an all black Sailor Fuku appears, and destroys the youma in one shot.

E-mail me at: star_moon_strata@yahoo.com

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As Dreamer tried to process this information, just as she dodged another attack that came at her, seconds before the ones shooting at her appeared. Two figures dressed in Sailor Fuku's jumped down from the rooftop to land in front of her, taking fighting stances immediately after they land.

One of the figures is a young woman with short blond hair done up in a boy's hairstyle, her sailor fuku dark blue with a yellow bow on both her chest and a black one on her back. The senshi beside her had aquamarine hair that hung down loosely down her shoulders, wearing a matching fuku.

Sailor Uranus pulled out the Space Sword from subspace and held it in front of her as she pointed it towards Sailor Star Dreamer threateningly. "As protectors of the outer ring of this solar system, we *order* you to leave here now, and return to wherever you come from, or be destroyed."

"What do you two think your doing?!!" Sailor Jupiter demanded as she ran forward to stand between Sailor Star Dreamer and the two Outer Senshi. "Star Dreamer's not the enemy, she helped us against the Torok's."

"She may be as much of a threat as the Fei kingdom is." Neptune said, the look on her features turning stormy as she focused on Sailor Star Dreamer. "She is not from this part of the galaxy, and she along with the others she's mentioned don't belong here. For all we know they could be in league with them."

Star Dreamer returned Neptune's glare with one of her own as she spoke. "Don't get your hopes up, *Neptune*. And get a life!" she said coldly, her tone making the way she said Neptune's name sound insulting. "The Starlights have nothing to do with whatever the Fei kingdom have planned."

"Even if that is true, you Starlights are outsiders to this side of the galaxy, and any outside force is considered the enemy to the senshi!" Neptune said accusingly as she glanced over the blond's uniform with a condemning look. "As guardians of the Outer rings of this Solar System we can't allow that! No matter who they are."

"Neptune, Uranus, just stay out of this will ya? If she hadn't arrived when she did, the four of us would be dead by now, and all you can do is bitch about her not being one of us." Jupiter demanded as she started to move towards the two Sailor Senshi. "If I wasn't hurt right now, I'd..." she began only to be cut off as Star Dreamer glanced at her and shook her head.

"Just leave it, Jupiter." Star Dreamer said with a indifferent shrug of her shoulders. "I couldn't care one way or another about what they say. The reason we came to Earth is our business alone, and doesn't involve you guys messing things up." she said as she pointed a finger at the two older senshi. "Like the pyro over there said," she said jerking a thumb at a fuming Sailor Mars, "I'm a Sailor Senshi just like you guys. And I don't have time for this!" she shouted as she raised her hands over head, closing her eyes.

As everyone watched in horror, a small globe a light started to fill Star Dreamer's hands.

"Hey! Stop!" Uranus cried out as she started charging at Sailor Star Dreamer, believing that the other senshi was about to attack. Just as she was almost right in front of the blond senshi, and about to launch a punch at her, Star Dreamer launched her attack.

"STAR FLASH!!" Star Dreamer shouted, as she brought her hands downward, shooting the ball towards the ground, the ball hits the ground hard, creating a large flash of blinding bright white light, causing all of the senshi to back off, as they covered their eyes against the light.

As the light faded, the senshi uncovered their eyes, and stared in the spot where Star Dreamer had been standing, planning to get even with her for what she had just done, only to discover that she was gone.

"Mercury! Quick do a scan and see if you can find her before she vanishes!" Mars demanded as she searched the area with her own powers.

Sailor Jupiter also looks around the area, but sees nothing as the park starts to darken as night begins to fall, before she turns back to face Mercury. "Did your computer pick up anything yet?"

Mercury did a quick scan of the surrounding area using her computer, but wind up coming up with nothing on the readouts, shaking her head, she closed the computer. "Sorry guys. I'm not picking up anything. She's completely vanished or is out of the Mercury's computer's scanning range."

Sailor Jupiter bites back a curse, as she swung around to face Sailor Uranus and Neptune, her eyes blazing in anger. "I can't believe the two of you did that! She wasn't one of the enemy. Just what kept the two of you?!"

"You don't know for sure whether or not that Sailor Star Dreamer was really on our side." Uranus said, as she crossed her arms over her chest as she glared back at Jupiter, matching the brunette's dark glare with her own. "For all you know she may or may not might be part of a new threat to our system, just waiting to attack."

"As the guardians of the Outer rings of this solar system, our job is to make sure that no invading forces reach this system and keep them out." Neptune added as she came to stand beside Uranus, her gaze unwavering as she stared at the other senshi.

Just then, before any of the Inner senshi could respond, the sound of running footsteps head their way, caused all of them to look towards the right, in time to see the familiar outlines of the generals headed their way.

---

Star Dreamer ran across the rooftop buildings as she made her way as far as she could from the park before the other Senshi found out where she had gone and came after her.

"Those two... oh!!" she cursed angrily as she made another jump across a rooftop. _Those Inner Senshi have more manners than the Outers. At least Sailor Jupiter and Mercury were a lot more friendlier than Mars, Neptune and Uranus. The nerve of them treating me like I was one of the enemy._ she thought as she glanced back once more for a second to make absolutely sure she wasn't being followed before slowing down.

Looking back once more, she doesn't see the figure standing in front of her until its too late. Turning her head back around at the last minutes, she suddenly found herself running headlong into what seemed to be a wall that hadn't been there a moment ago, just as a pair of strong hands latch hold of her wrists, holding on tightly.

Reacting on instinct, she slammed her foot into her captors' leg, with enough force to cause it to buckle under the pressure, and causing her assailant to let go immediately as he almost falls over from the pain. As he hunches over, Star Dreamer lands a blow to the stomach with her foot that sends him flying backwards and hitting the rooftop floor with a loud thud.

Stumbling backwards, she faced whoever it was that was standing before her, as her eyes moved up and down her attackers form, as he sat on the ground gasping for air, and holding his injured knee, as he glared up at her. She saw that it was a man wearing a tuxedo, and a red- black cape. Covering his eyes was a white mask. Lying a few feet away from him was a top hat that had gone flying when its owner had been knocked off his feet.

The stranger in question was cursing up a stream of foul words, and inventing a few new ones as he goes as he finally manages to regain his breath, as he turned to give Star Dreamer a withering glare. "That was uncalled for." he said as he struggled to stand up, favoring his bruised leg.

"Sorry," Star Dreamer said, a note of sarcasm in her voice. Not relaxing her stance for a moment, she glared at the stranger menacingly, not looking at all apologetic. "What else did you expect me to do when you did that? Who the hell are you? What's the big idea of getting in my way like that and having the nerve to grab me?"

Tuxedo Mask had been in the lead of the generals, as they headed for the park, when his eyes had spotted Star Dreamers retreating form moving away from the battle scene. Thinking that whoever it was might be an enemy trying to escape, he had allowed the generals to go on ahead of him while he went after the figure. He had been chasing the figure for five minutes across the rooftops, before finally getting a good look at who it was. What he had seen was what looked like a Sailor Senshi, except she was dressed differently than the others.

Her fuku was completely black, and more revealing than the other senshi's, as strands of long blond hair flew behind her as she ran. Even after finally managing to get in front of her, and grabbing hold of her wrists, he had been completely unprepared for the attack she had launched at him to gain her release from his grip, followed by the kick to his left knee. Now all he could do was scowl at her as he slowly stood back up.

"I am Tuxedo Mask," Tuxedo Mask stated as he returned the dark look he was receiving. "I'm am the protector and friend of the Sailor Senshi. You are not going anywhere yet, until we get some answers to who you really are and the reason that you are here on Earth." he said, as he approached the blond once more.

"I'm Sailor Star Dreamer." Star Dreamer said casually. "And, not this tonight, I'm not." Star Dreamer stated calmly. "My first time in Tokyo, and I've got places to go, people to see. And I don't have time to be interrogated by a bunch of so called senshi in short multi-colored skirts who act more like bullies than protectors of justice." she said with a huff, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not interested in talking with them, not now, not ever!"

"Look, don't get such a bad idea of the scouts. It's only Neptune and Uranus who are like that, most of the time." Tuxedo Mask said, as he mentally made a note to have a talk with the two senshi in question later. "All we want to do is talk."

"And my answer is still the same. No." Star Dreamer said as she turned around to continue on her way.

"Wait a minute! If you think for a minute that you can just walk away like this," he began as he moved the last few steps towards Star Dreamer and he reaches out and grabs her hand to bring her to try and stop, only to have his words cut off in midsentence.

As their hands came into contact, the two immediately jerk their hands apart as they felt what could almost be described as an electric shock shoot through their joined hands, through their gloves. The jolt not really hurting the two heroes, only surprising them since it was not expected. (it's not a static shock)

Star Dreamer looked down at her hand in surprise as she turned to look at Tuxedo Mask with accusing eyes. "Just what was that, Tuxedo Mask? A trick?" she demanded as she took a step backwards away from him.

"I was about to ask the same question," Tuxedo Mask said as he stared at his own-gloved hand in surprise. "You didn't cause that shock to happen."

"No way! That's never happened to me before," Star Dreamer said as she frowned at him, as she noticed that he was no longer paying attention to her. _Might as well try take advantage of this. If he's not paying any attention to me, then he won't notice that I'm gone until it's too late._ Star Dreamer though as she took a few steps back, moving back the way she had come when she had run into Tuxedo Mask.

"That was a strange feeling that jolt gave me. It was completely different than anything else I've felt before. I wonder what it was, and what it meant. Oh damn!.." Tuxedo Mask thought to himself after a few moments, before finally turning his attention back to Star Dreamer, only to find her gone. Scanning the rooftop with his eyes, along with the other nearby rooftops, he didn't see Star Dreamer anywhere in sight.

---

After loosing Tuxedo Mask, Star Dreamer takes the opportunity to leap down into a deserted alley, where she detransforms back into her civilian form. A few moments later, after checking the streets for anyone passing by, Serena steps out of the alley.

Tired from that nights experience, she walk up to the curb she hails a taxi and climbs into the back seat. Giving the driver directions to her hotel, she soon takes off down the street in the cab, completely oblivious to a pair of eyes watching her.

---

Sailor Pluto stood in front of the Time Gate, watching the events in the normal world, as she watches the confrontation between Sailor Star Dreamer and the Outer Senshi. Frowning disapprovingly at the way Neptune and Uranus handled things involving the new scout, she watched as Sailor Star Dreamer released her last attack that blinded everyone around her, and used the diversion to make her escape before they could recover.

In the past few months, she had felt a change in the balance of time. And doing a thorough search through the time stream, the time gate showed her an image of five shooting stars streaking across the night sky over New York City. The image shows stars landing in Central park, and change form from bright pulsating balls of light, into more humanoid forms. As the transformation ended the figures were revealed to be 4 boys and a girl, who stood where the stars had been moments before.

The faces of the four boys were unknown to her, but when she caught sight of the face of the girl that had arrived with them, she was overjoyed with delight, as she recognized the girl. The girl was a dead ringer for Princess Serenity of the long dead Moon Kingdom. She could feel the familiar power that radiating from off of the girl, power that could only come from a member of the Royal family of the Moon.

"So she has finally returned after all these years." Pluto thought to herself as a slow smile spread over her features. If any of the other senshi had seen her smile they would have started worrying, since she hardly ever smiled when she was with them Watching the leather clad senshi make her way across the building rooftops.

Pluto had been expecting this day to come for the last 12 years after witnessing the murder that had taken the lives of the princess' present parents when the princess was still a toddler. If she hadn't arrived when she had at the last moment and used her powers to save the princess, the princess and her brother would have died in the crash with their parents.

What surprised her the most was when she first witnessed Serena transform into Sailor Star Dreamer, and the power she wielded against Raven and the Toroks. Then Uranus and Neptune's untimely arrival and attack. Then confrontation with Tuxedo Mask on the rooftops.

"The future has already been irrevocably changed due to what happened twelve years ago. Now, everything that happens now will depend on the decisions you make in the days ahead, princess. And what choice path you will take." Pluto said softly to no one in particular. As she stepped back from the gates, allowing the double doors to close behind her as she returns to her post..

---

Tuxedo Mask arrived back in the park, bruised, and not the worse of wear, just as the Sailor Senshi and generals were getting ready to leave.

Sailor Venus, who had just regained conscious a few minutes ago, was now leaning against Malachite who held was just barely holding her up with one arm and was getting ready to detransform so that, was the first to spot him as he re-entered the park.

Having heard about the new senshi from the others when she had woken up, she was now curious about her, and disappointed that she didn't see her with Tuxedo Mask. "Tuxedo Mask, did you catch up to her? Where is she?!" she called out, as she detransformed back into her civilian form.

The rest of the senshi and generals also detransformed as they turned towards Tuxedo Mask as they waited for his answer.

Alex and Michelle stood off silently to one side as they watched the other senshi tell the generals what happened during the battle, all the way right up until the Outers showed up to mess things up, when Darien returned from chasing Star Dreamer.

"Yes," Tuxedo Mask said solemnly as he changes back in Darien. "and no. She refused to come back to talk with you girls. And before I could stop her, she got away."

"Why wouldn't she come back?" Ami asked as she stepped forward to meet him. "Did she give an explanation, as to her reason?"

Darien shot a dark look at Alex and Michelle who had also detransformed, and were waiting expectantly for his explanation, before he spoke again. "Her exact words for why she wouldn't come back were 'I refuse to be interrogated by a bunch of so called senshi who act more like a bunch of bullies instead of warriors of justice.'" he said, slightly softening the exact words Star Dreamer had used to described the Inner and Outer senshi.

Darien's words caused everyone, except Sailor Mars, to turn and glare at Alex and Michelle.

Michelle winced slightly at Darien's words, knowing that he was right, but stood her ground, as she took hold of Alex's arm, and gave it a tight squeeze, as she glanced at her partner worriedly.

"This only proves our point," Alex said, unfazed by the looks she was receiving from the others. "She must have something to hide if she won't come back willingly to talk with us."

"And just *who* would want to come back to talk with us, after the way the two of you treated her! First by attacking her for absolutely no reason with your powers, then treating her like trash." Lita shouted. "I know I wouldn't have come back, especially with the mood she was probably in after she left."

Venus frowned at the two Outer senshi for a few moments, before shaking her head regretfully. "I think we need to hold a senshi meeting at Rei's shrine tomorrow, so we can let Luna and Artemis know what happened. We have to talk about what happened today and what we should do about these Starlight senshi. We're going to need to decide on whether or not their friends or foe."

"Right!" everyone agreed instantly.

---

~Elsewhere, Fey Kingdom, Avalon~

After escaping from the battle against the Sailor Senshi, Raven, still in bird form, used his magic to teleport himself back to the Fei Kingdom, where he then proceeded to fly into the open window that led to his chambers, where he instantly transformed back into his human form. Letting out a moan of pain from his aching muscles, and hoping that Titania wouldn't find out he was back just yet, he walked over to a nearby full length mirror that stood in one corner of the room to inspect the damage he had received from the battle, and his violet eyes narrowed in anger as he took in his appearance, and a round of curses, in both the human and elven language. emitted from his mouth.

His clothes were still slightly singed and smoking even after his narrow escape from Star Dreamer's attack, and now hung almost in tatters down along his frame. His face covered in dust and dirt As he felt hair, he could feel bits of the parts that were singed come off in his hands. Feeling a burning sensation coming from his ears, he brushed back the hair on top of his head, and saw that the tips of his ears were slightly burned also, causing him to wince in pain as he touched the burned tips.

_That... that... little BITCH!!_ he cursed silently to himself, as he examined each of the injuries he had sustained, wincing as his hands brush against some of the more painful burns.

_I was almost killed by that new scout! I'm just lucky to have gotten away with just this much injuries._ he thought angrily, as he dabbed at another burn wound on his arm, _If I hadn't acted as quickly as I had, I would have wound up in the same condition as the Torok's._

_Star will be on my case if I go to her like this for healing, unless I take care of the more serious burns, before going..._ Raven's thoughts were running through his mind that he didn't hear the creak of his door being pushed open, but turned with a start at the sound of someone letting out a gasp of shock.

"Who's there?!" he demanded as he frowned at the darkened doorway a few moments before he recognized the figure standing there. "Star??" he asked as his eyes stopped on the figure standing at the door.

Startica, or Star as she was known as around the Fey kingdom, a petite young half breed woman, in her late teens, and Raven's *personal* servant, strode into the room. She wore her dark silver hair in a ponytail that went just past her shoulders, and past the pale green, almost white evening gown she wore, as her violet eyes widen in horror at the condition her master was in.

Quickly making her way across the room towards Raven, before dropping into a curtsy a few feet from him. "Lord Raven, how badly are you hurt? Something told me that you had returned, and were in need of my healing touch."

"I'm fine, Star," Raven let out a sigh, as the angered look immediately disappeared at the sight of her, as he allowed Star to push him backwards onto the bed so that his back was leaning against the wall as she inspected his wounds. "It's just a few minor burns I received from one of those damn senshi brats earlier."

"Oh yeah, right, Raven." Star said, a reprimanding look on her features, as she frowned at him, her eyes narrowing as reached up at gave one of his burned ears a light tweak, immediately seeing him wince in pain at the touch, she raised an eyebrow in question, her eyes pointedly staring at the visible burns. "A few minor burns?" she asked playfully as she pulled on his ear again.

"OW!!" he cried out as he glared at her behind hooded eyes as she . "All right so it may be worse than what I said it was. OW! Stop that! You've made your point already!" he cried out as he grabbed her wrists and held them away from him, the scowl on his features darkening for a moment before being immediately disappearing and being replaced by a smile, as he stared up into her features, seeing the returned childish smile as she returned his gaze. "Can you just heal me already? Please?" he asked as he released her wrists and sat up, with his back placed against the wall.

"Alright," she said with an impish smile, before she moved to his left side, and placed her hands over the more serious burns. Her hands slowly began to glow with a dark green light, as the burns slowly faded from existence. "You're no fun today, Raven. What happened to you anyways?" Star complained, with a slight pout on her features, as she moved on to take care of the rest of the burns and injuries.

"I've had a bad day, alright? It didn't go as well as I had planned it to go," he said as he explained her everything that had happened that day.

"So what are you going to do now, in order to get back at the Star Dreamer person." Star asked after Raven finished his tale. "And can I be there when you let have it?"

"And Titania's not going to take it very well when I report in to her." Sitting up from his position, the dark look returned in full. "I plan to make that Sailor Star Dreamer pay in full for ruining my plans, and make her death a slow and painful one." he vowed, as he gingerly felt around for anything Star had missed. Satisfied at finding nothing wrong, he turned his attention back towards Star. "Thanks Star."

"Hmmm... That's all the thanks you're going to give me?" Star said, as she pouted seductively as she moved in closer to Raven, until she was almost right over him. "I can think of a few things that we could do to properly show your gratitude," she said as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Hm... maybe. Her highness could wait a few moments, since she doesn't know I've returned yet." he began just as he reached up to pull Star into his arms in order to take in the kiss, when all of a sudden a huge cold breeze filled the room, surrounding them, causing the two lovers to jerk backwards as the cold hits them.

Star shrieks at the cold as she looks down at her arms to see bits and pieces of ice now clinging to her clothes and skin, just as laughter fills the room.

Raven pulls Star out of the way as he turned to glare at the bedroom door which was now open, revealing two figures. "Frostbite! Puck! Don't the two ever knock?! What's the big idea?!" he demanded as the two figures came into the room.

"We did knock but it seemed that you guys were a little busy, so we let ourselves in, brother dear." Puck said. Puck was a tall blond haired young man with long shoulder length tied back into a ponytail, the tips of his ears sticking out from under his hair. On the tip of one of his ears, you can see a gold hoop earring hanging. He wore black, fingerless gloves. Wearing tight white pants and a sleeveless black vest with no shirt underneath, his green eyes shone playfully as he stared down at the glaring forms of Raven and Star. "As much as I would just *love* to watch the two of you make out before you discovered that I'm in the room, we're here for reason."

Frostbite was the first to come into full view. A young woman with pale skin, ice blue hair going down to her knees, and tied back with a white headband, with matching cobalt blue eyes. She wore a silk teal dress that barely went past her knees, and blue boots. The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees as she walked into the room.

Star scowled darkly at Puck. "What do you guys want? Can't you see that we're busy."

Frostbite waved a finger at Star as she frowned at the young girl. "We're only here to pass on a message, to Raven. Titania knows that you're back from your mission and she wishes an audience with you immediately. And not to keep her waiting or else." she said as she glared meaningfully at Star to make sure her point got through. "She knows you came back awhile ago, and is angry that you haven't immediately come to her to report in, which means playtime is over, even before it began"

Letting out a deep groan at the news, Raven sits up and swings his legs over the side of his bed and stands up, running his hands over his clothes to straighten them out as best as he could. "I was hoping that she wouldn't find out that I was back yet until I was more presentable, and cleaned off." he said, as he glanced around at the trio in his room.

"Whatever Raven. Like we'd really fall for that." Puck said with a sly smirk on his face. "The way the two of you were starting to go at it, I'd say it would have been awhile before you'd remember to report into Titania."

Frostbite doesn't say anything except just stand there with a matching grin on her features.

Star turns a lovely bright shade of red at the unsaid insinuations in Puck's words.

Raven lets out a dark threatening growl, before turning his back on Puck and Frostbite, and snapped out. "Let's go already! The empress won't stand for being kept waiting much longer." he said before he teleported out of the room.

---

~Throne Room~

Teleporting to the throne room, followed by the others, Raven walked calmly towards the throne where Empress Titania sat overlooking the room, ignoring the looks and whispers he received as he passed by the Empress' followers, before coming to a stop in front of the throne and kneeling before her.

Star, Frostbite and Puck immediately joined him as they made their bows, and knelt down on opposite sides of Raven as they waited for Titania to speak.

Even when she was sitting down, Empress Titania stood tall before her throne, long waves of violet hair flowing down the back of her head and down to the floor. Her pale blue skin seemed to give off a glow even in the light that lit up the throne room, as Her hands held a long silver scepter with a dark green orb perched on top. Her dress was a dark red dress that went past her ankles and almost dragged along the ground.

"Raven, why have you not immediately reported on your success in killing the Inner Senshi tonight? It was our express wish to hear the news on their deaths." Empress Titania demanded as she frowned down at him, a dark scowl spreading across her features.

"My liege, I am sorry. But I have failed to kill the Inner Senshi." Raven began, his tone filled with both fear and remorse at failing in his mission, as he gave Titania a full recounting over the events that had transpired earlier that day, only to be cut off in midsentence, as winced at Titania's reaction, involuntarily cringing back in fear, in the face of her wrath, then scowls as he heard snickers coming from Puck and Frostbite's directions.

"Raven you've failed me!" Titania's voice shouted out through the palace halls.

Around the throne room, the spectator's voices got louder, as a few snickers and chuckles could be heard all around.

"My empress, if you will only allow me to explain what happened..." Raven began only to be cut off immediately.

"There is nothing to explain, Raven." Titania said haughtily. "I thought better of you than this. Were not your orders to kill the Inner Senshi? And you return to the Fei court a failure in you mission?" she said, before stopping to think for a moment. "But since you have done so well in the last few battles against Our enemies You better give over a good explanation for your actions this day! Or else you know the penalty for failure."

Raven cringed, wincing from his unhealed injuries, at the thought of what would happen to him if Titania didn't believe what he told her, and quickly began his tale, "Yes, but Empress..." he began. "As expected, the Torok's we sent out today were much stronger than all of the previous ones thanks to the information we gathered on the Senshi, and they were winning the battle and..."

"And?!" Titania demanded imperiously as she frowned down at the raven-haired teenager that knelt before her.

"Just as I gave the order to the Toroks to finish the Inner Senshi, a new Sailor Senshi appeared." Raven finished. "She took out all of the Torok's in one attack, and almost got me killed in the process."

"A new senshi?" Titania questioned, her tone showing her surprise and interest. "I want you to explain that comment to me. And be snappy about it!"

"There was a blond Sailor Senshi dressed all in black leather, calling herself Sailor Star Dreamer. She just appeared out of nowhere just as I was about to finish off the Inner senshi." Raven began, taking a deep breath before continuing. "It would seemed that the Inner senshi know next to nothing about Star Dreamer, because from what I saw from their expressions, they were just as surprised at Star Dreamer's appearance as I was." he says.

"That is strange indeed." Titania said as she thought for a moment. Her eyes narrowed as she stared down once more at Raven's back. "You are very lucky, Raven, that I am in a forgiving mood at this moment. You do know the penalty for those who fail me, do you not?"

Raven shivered at her words, but resisted the urge to look up. "Yes I do, my liege." he said.

"Good. Right now for the time being, you are relieved of your duties." she said, a slight sneer on her features, as Raven glanced up at her with surprised eyes. "You are one of my best warriors so far in the kingdom, and I am not willing to lose you this soon. Since this is your first failure, I will be lenient this once. But don't think I will be so merciful next time you fail." she said as she stood up. "You will stay here in the kingdom while another shall do your job for you. The next time I give you an assignment for the human realm, and you fail once more, you *will* be given the full punishment fully. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Raven said as he backed up a few feet, lowering his head once more so his eyes were now staring at the stone floor.

Titania glanced down at Raven's three companions, accessing which one of the three she would choose, before her eyes settled on two. "Puck, Frostbite stand forward."

Puck and Frostbite both stood up from their kneeling positions next to Star, and both moved forward a few feet until he was almost at the foot of the steps that led up to the throne.

"Yes, Empress Titania?" they said instantly, as they both glanced upwards at her.

"You are now in charge of all attacks on the Tokyo as of now. You will both have sole responsibility of the destruction of the Sailor Senshi." Titania ordered. "Frostbite you will help Puck in any way possible, and bring back any information you can find on this new Sailor Senshi, Sailor Star Dreamer."

"Yes, my liege." the two said simultaneously.

---

~Later~

Serena arrived back at her hotel, and rode the elevator up to her floor, while avoiding being seen by the desk clerk. Letting out a groan of pain as she rubbed her aching muscles, knowing full well she might look a lot worse than, she arrives outside her hotel room, and slid the card key through the slot, and turned the knob as she heard the beep followed by the sound of the door unlocking. Pushing it open, her hopes of sneaking into the room without being seen are quickly dashed as she spots two figures sitting on the couch with their backs facing her, watching the TV set.

Sammy and Yaten were sitting in the small living room watching TV as she came into the room, their eyes glued to the set as they watched Slayers Try.

"I'm home." she said warily.

"Hi sis." Sammy said without looking up.

"So the prodigal daughter returns." Yaten called over without taking his attention off the TV set. "Where've you been? It's almost 7 o'clock, and we all thought you'd be back before now."

"I got a little sidetracked during my tour around the city." Serena said as she walked over to the hall closet to put her coat on a hanger. "Hey guys. Where's Seiya and Taiki?" Serena asked as she closed the door behind her and stepped further into the room.

"They rented a car and drove to the local high school to get some supplies and stuff we'd need for school. And they were also going back to the airport to pick up the rest of our gear, Sere." Yaten said distractedly glanced up as she came into the apartment, and his eyes widen in surprise at what he sees, and stands up and moves towards her. "Serena! What happened to you?!"

"Serena!" Sammy cried as his head jerked up at Yaten's outburst as he spots what Yaten had seen.

"It's not as bad as it looks, Yaten." Serena said sheepishly, trying to calm her friend down. "I just had a run in with this planet's Senshi, and things got out of hand when two of them decided to try using me as target practice." she said with an unconcerned shrug of her shoulders, as she plopped down on the couch. "Only one of them got a lucky hit off me, because I wasn't expecting the second attack."

"Look it wasn't like that, okay?" Serena demanded tensely. "Let me tell you about what happened..." she said as she began her story about what had happened earlier after leaving the hotel. But she left out the part about Darien.

"And they attacked you, just because you aren't from around this part galaxy?!" Both Yaten and Sammy shouted.

"Not so loud you guys." Serena complained as she glared at them as she made her way to the couch. "Don't worry so much about it. Besides it was only two of them who did the attacking. The other scouts seemed just as angry at what Uranus and Neptune were doing." Serena said as she brushed Yaten's outstretched hand away gently. "All they were trying to do was warn me off. OW!" she cried out involuntarily as Sammy touched one of the bruises on her face.

"I'm a fast healer, remember? They'll be gone by tomorrow, as you all know perfectly well." before turning around to sit down on the couch, she changed the subject. "So how long ago did Seiya and Taiki leave?" she asked.

"About an hour and a half ago." Sammy said reluctantly as he took a seat next to his sister. "They said they'd be back by 7:30, with some takeout food for dinner."

"Oh." Serena said as she glanced at a nearby wall clock to check the time, and sees that it was only a quarter to 7 before leaning back into the cushioned upholstery, leaning her head backwards so that it rested on, closing her eyes for a moment as she does so. "Which should give me plenty to time to take a long hot bath and relax until they come back." she said before standing back up and stretches.

"But Serena. We still need to talk about what happened tonight." Yaten said, his eyes narrowed in anger at what had happened. "We should tell Seiya and Taiki about the scouts that are in Tokyo are like."

"Look we'll tell them later, okay?" Serena snapped as she shot a glare at both of them, that immediately shut them both up. Seeing that they weren't going to push the subject by arguing further, she turned to head for her bedroom, before stopping and turned around and walked back towards the two boys, and swept them up into a group hug, with both her arms around their necks, as she lets out a tired sigh.

"I'm sorry about being such a grump, but as you know I've just had the worst day I could possibly have right now, which has me on edge." she said apologetically as she let them go. "Could You guys, I'm going to take a bath, and I'll be back out before they Seiya and Taiki arrive, ok?"

"Fine, hope your feeling better soon," Sammy grumbled as he ducked under Serena's arm, stopping for a moment to glance once more at the more visible bruises on his sisters body, before shaking his head and turning around to head back for the couch to watch TV. "Saber Marionette J to X is getting ready to start anyways."

Yaten moved away from Serena and heads towards the couch to join Sammy once more to watch anime, just as Serena turned around to head for her bedroom door, when Yaten called over to her again.

"Oh, and another thing." Yaten said as he glanced over at her. "Hera arrived a couple of hours ago. After the mistake the airport made, she finally arrived in Japan safe and sound."

Serena stopped dead in her tracks at Yaten's words. "Is she still here? Where is she?!" she demanded as she turned back around to face Yaten, a determined look on her features.

"The last time I saw her, she went into your room, to wait for you to come back. I peeked in on her and it looks like she's sound asleep and..." Yaten began only to stop as he realized that he was speaking to thin air, as Serena ran out of the living room with a enthusiastic cry as she heads for her bedroom.

---

Serena rushed into her bedroom, and flipped on the lights, as her eyes adjust to the lit room, she scans the room for any sign of life before stopping on a small round form laying in the middle of her bed. Moving slowly towards the bed, she sits down, careful not to jostle the bed. As she moves closer, the form is revealed to be a small brown cat.

Lying curled up into a ball, breathing lightly in deep slumber. Five long black stripes went down along its back and up its tail. Around its neck was a silver collar with a diamond in front. The one thing unusual about the cat was a strange white five-pointed star on its forehead.

"Time to wake up, Hera." Serena called.

The only reaction she received was a sleepy mumbling "Leave me... alone..."sound, followed by Hera turning over to face the other side.

_Hmmm... looks like we'll have to do this the hard way._ Serena thought as she reached forward to pet the cat to wake her up, she rubbed her hand down along the cats body, rubbing her in all the spots that Serena knew that Hera enjoyed, before finally eliciting a purring sound coming from Hera's body.

The minute that the purring began, Serena's fingers move across the cats body, tickling her, and causing Hera to squirm under the fingers onslaught, as laughter began to creep out of the cats mouth.

After a few moments of nonstop tickling, Hera finally gave in, and her eyes immediately shot open and she rolled away, giving Serena a violet-eyed glare as she looked up at her.

"Serena! What's the big idea?! I was having such a nice dream, when you woke me up!" Hera complained, a very humanlike frown (or what could have passed for one) spreading across her feline features. Her eyes narrowed on the girl in dismay, as she let out a yawn.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Hera." Serena said as she grinned at Hera. "How was the trip down here?" she asked, as she looked around the room, and spots Hera's pet carrier nearby.

"How do you think it was?" Hera asked grumpily. "Winding up in Texas instead of Tokyo was bad enough, but then I had to go through all that shuffling and transferences before they finally put me on another plane, in a cramped, stale aired baggage hold, headed for Tokyo was murder. Especially with the gear you guys need." she complained. "Next time we go traveling by air, I'm riding with you guys in the passengers seats, Sere."

Serena suppressed a giggle, not wanting her friend to get upset over her amusement at her misfortune. "You won't have to worry about that at the end of the month, Hera. Since we're heading back home then."

"Yeah," Hera said softly, her tone showing that she was greatly looking forward to the idea of heading home to Kinmoku after being gone all this time. "It would be good to go back, I guess." she said as she glanced up at her mistress, this time looking completely at her features.

"So what happened during the short time I wasn't here?" she asked bluntly. "Anything exciting?"

"Nothing much happened, today. Except that I wound up getting on the wrong side of this planets group of senshi." Serena said as she started removing first her jacket and sunglasses, then her shoes. Walking over to the bedroom closet she hung up her jacket on a hangar, and placed her shoes on the closet floor.

"Huh? What happened?" Hera demanded as she stood up, fully awake now, as she stared fully at Serena's form, her eyes taking in the makings of bruises on Serena's form. "Serena?!"

"Chill out, Hera. I'm fine. It's nothing that's serious anyways. I'll tell you what happened later. I'm going to take a hot bath to relax in." Serena said, grabbing a pair of pj's and a robe from the closet as she walks through the connecting bathroom door, closing it behind her, except for a crack she leaves in the doorway. a few minutes later the sound of running water could be heard coming through the partially opened door, followed by steam through the crack.

"Serena! Come back here!" Hera cried as she jumped off the bed and ran towards the bathroom door. Examining the door, she sees the opening. Sitting down on her back legs, she leaps up, putting her front paws on the wooden paneling, and pushes the open just wide enough for her to slip into the bathroom, without any problems. Once she was inside, she pushed the door closed all the way with her back legs.

============================
Author's Notes:
I know another cliffhanger. *avoids all of the rotten fruit and vegetables being thrown* I hope everyone likes this chapter. Now in response to some of the letters that I've been getting involving my stories. I can't believe it. This has to be my longest chapter yet, so be nice you guys when you comment about it, please?

1. I am **NOT** changing the names of the characters back to their original Japanese ones. I like the American names better than the Japanese ones anyways so they're staying. The only American name I didn't like was the one that they gave Uranus in the new Sailor Moon S dubb, so I changed it to Alex.