Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ "Interludes and Examinations" ( Chapter 21 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fragility of Time
BOOK TWO: "Falling Towards Apotheosis"
Chapter 21 "Interludes and Examinations"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 5/18/01

Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others. However, the unique circumstances
of the story are mine. If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.
___________________________

Sending the little kids back on their way back to the school, Sailor
Venus, while releasing her transformation headed back to where Ami
now stood. A cry of "Daddy" grabbed the attention of the two girls,
especially when they realized that the cry had to come from the
kitten in front of Artemis. No longer looking where she was walking,
Minako plowed into Ami.

Blushing a bit, the two girls stood back up and headed over to where
the two cats stood to get answers. Minako did not question the
existence of the talking kitten. Instead, she immediately rounded on
Artemis and accused him of double timing. An utterly confused Artemis
just blubbered and was unable to mount any defense.

"Now, now Minako, I am sure that there is a perfect explanation for
this." Ami suggested.

"Thank you, Ami-chan." Artemis replied

Bending down to get a closer look at the kitten who was busy rubbing
up against Artemis, she added "Though she does have a crescent moon
mark on her forehead and she does speak. So there is a good chance
that she is your child."

At that remark, Artemis's features dropped. He knew that he had not
fathered any kitten. Heck, he wasn't even sure if he could father a
kitten with another Earth cat. Unfortunately, while Ami would see
this as a mystery to solve, Minako on the other hand would be
"teasing" him about it for the rest of the day. And then there was
the slight issue of what Luna would do to him when she heard Minako's
story. Sighing he dropped his head a bit more while walking back over
towards the basket.

While he was lifting up the kitten that had followed him and placing
her in the basket, Minako finally remembered that they were supposed
to be somewhere. "Ekk, we are late for being at the school." she
cried out. Grabbing Ami by one arm, she dashed over to the basket and
picked it up, not loosing any time. After walking for a few steps,
she opened the top of the basket and asked the kitten. "By the way
what is your name?"

"Diana."


* * * * * * * *

Having brought Hotaru home from school, Eudial was now walking back
to the Academy. With the mysterious destruction of the samples two
nights ago, they were now back to square one in creating daimon eggs.
That name sent shivers through her body, but she was willing to
suppress them if it meant finally finding a cure for the sickness
that had plagued Hotaru ever since that accident.

She would follow the professor into fire, doing anything he asked of
her, her loyalty was that strong. Even still, some part of her deep
down kept screaming at her to speak out about their plans. Why did
they still need to use those eggs to create demons, and why were they
now making stronger ones by merging them with Rubeus's droid
crystals. She wanted to suggest they ask the Sailor Senshi for help,
for surely they would be able to help them open the portal.

But while those thoughts might always be flying around in the back of
her mind, she would never seriously consider speaking them. The
professor was always right and she would listen to him, even if she
thought Rubeus was using him. At times she wanted to smack herself
for not listening to those voices, but it was no use there was no way
she would ever listen to them.

Arriving at her office, she put on her lab coat and grabbed her
notebook before heading down to the lab. Entering the lab, she saw the two twins playing catch
with energy balls. She did not want to even think about what would
happen to the lab if one of them missed the catch. Instead, she
headed straight over to the test tubes. Looking at them, they looked
to be doing okay, and a check of the logbook showed everything to
still be on schedule.

Thanking the Kami for minor miracles, she hurried on out of the room,
not wanting to be around any of the Witches 5 anymore than she had
to. Arriving back at her desk, she noticed that a folder had been
left on it. Opening it up, she found a report from the geology
department of the sample she had given them.

The summery included a lengthy section on the pain staking work
whoever had created this pile of dust would have had to have gone
through to so accurately recreate what one would expect to find on
the moon. The dust was unfortunately too fine for their equipment to
be able to do an individual particle analysis, so the report's author
had just assumed that the right minerals in the right proportions had
been added to create the dust.

Now that the eggs were through their
first 24 hours, the chance of loosing the batch was greatly reduced,
which meant if nothing else dramatic happened they would be ready for
use in six months. Making the necessary entries in her notebook, she
closed up shop and headed home to prepare dinner.


* * * * * * * *

Up at the board, the professor using practically with the wave of his
hand pulled out some complex transformations drastically simplifying
the surface integral. The class looked on with amazement, wondering
how they were supposed to come up with something like that on their
next prelim. And then with another line he came up with the answer,
one. thought Mamoru sarcastically,

To the delight of the students in the class, the time ran out for the
day's lecture. With the sound of students moving in the hallways, the
professor put down the chalk while reminding them about their problem
set due at the end of the week. Mamoru like most of the rest of the
class were still a board behind the professor, and spent the next few
minutes rapidly copying down the equations. And then with his notes
complete, Mamoru closed up his notebook and placed it in his bag. As
he lifted it up on his shoulder and walked out of the room he
wondered what Usagi would be doing now.

Yesterday she had spent her entire day at home, since the presence of
those wings made things a bit difficult. He had headed over to her
place following the end of classes yesterday to see how she was
doing. And was quite surprised that she was taking her new condition
so well. He knew that if he were in her place, waking up with a
different hair color not to mention now having wings, he would have
freaked.

But according to Luna, who had paid him a surprise visit during
lunch, she had discovered how to use her magic to disguise herself as
a regular teenager, though with the slight problem of the wrong hair
color. So that meant she was able to attend school today, and would
mean that she was most likely at the Crown Video Arcade right now.
Most likely she was giving the Sailor V game a beating, poor Motoki
for having to watch both her and Minako be so rough with that game
machine.

Thinking about his love always made him happy, and he was glad that
she was perfectly content with now being Serenity. Of course Usagi
was a whole lot better with handling all these sudden changes. She
had taken finding out ChibiUsa was her daughter apparently quite
well. He on the other hand was still having troubling accepting that
he was a tuxedo-clad warrior. And even if he got over that part of
his life, he still had to deal with the issues that being the reborn
prince of the Earth brought up.

He guessed part of his problem stemmed from the amnesia that had
swallowed his childhood. Ever since he had awaken in that hospital
bed he had struggled to piece together an identity for himself, never
sure if this was who he really was. And now he had a past life to
handle as well. A simple fundamental question for anyone is "Who are
you?" but he did not have an answer.

At least Usagi could look back through her current life and realize
that her past did not change who she was. That instead the traits she
had in her past she still had, maybe not in the same proportions but
they were still there, and hence nothing had changed about her. He,
however, did not have that luxury.

He probably could have reconciled given time the Tuxedo-kamen aspect
of his life. That job did not bring the past with it and did not
require him to take a responsibility that he did not know when he
would ever be ready for. As Tuxedo-kamen, he only needed to throw a
few roses to help the Senshi out of tight spots and then give them an
inspirational speech. The thought of those "speeches" made his
stomach turn a bit. He always knew that he could never be a poet, but
why did he have that urge to go and make that point clear to the rest
of the world? Smiling a bit, he shook his head to return his thoughts
from the tangent.

Instead, he focused on what he guessed to be the real heart of the
matter, his discomfort with being the Earth Prince. Whatever nobility
characteristics he had had in his previous life must have been lost
with his death, he did not feel like he was qualified to be
considered a prince in the same light that the Senshi were princesses
of their planets. Whereas Usagi was always going out to make other
people's lives better, all he did was to torment hers before fate and
ChibiUsa brought them together. It disgusted him when he would think
about some of the things he would say to her and what was worse is
that he knew that he would have continued right on along until
something drastic knocked some sense into him.

No, he didn't have what it took to be a prince, much less the prince
of the entire Earth. How was he supposed unite today's nation-states
under his rule. He would need to convince those who treasured
democracy, to give it up, for those that yearned for conquest to be
conquered, and for those that were locked in mortal struggles to set
aside their feuds. And, then of course his queen would be a super
powerful alien, as if the internal xenophobic tendencies of his
people were not going to be enough to deal with. At least her angelic
appearance might have some of those religious nuts falling to their
knees, but what about the nationalistic ones, the ones with military
might and nuclear weapons. Where ever he announced his attentions
would become ground zero for Word War Three.

Before he realized it, he was back at his apartment. Opening the
door, he entered. Passing through his living room, he tossed his
satchel onto the couch before continuing into the bathroom. Grabbing
a washcloth, he ran it under the water. As he washed his face with
it, he thought back to that final battle in the Artic.

During the battle, he had felt a great energy at his disposal, one
that would respond to his very command. He had a feeling that it was
a familiar sensation to the Senshi, but without the requisite
knowledge, he had generally been unable to make use of it. Closing
his eyes, he tried to touch that energy again, but was not surprised
when he could not feel it.

With his mind focused on his powers, he realized that he could feel
his love's presence, much like he would if she was in battle.
Intrigued he focused in on his connection and after a moment
concluded that, she was indeed at the arcade like he had earlier
suspected. A ripple of excitement quickly followed by one of
disappointment flowing across the connection told him that she was
playing that Sailor V game again, and had probably just had her
character killed. Smiling at being able to sense his love so
strongly, he realized that he was now able to feel her presence even
when she was not Sailor Moon (he was sure that she was not running
around town in her Senshi form). But he wandered why the change.

When the explanation came to his mind a few moments later, he felt
like whacking his head on something, of course she wasn't running
around in her Senshi form, but for all attempts and purposes she was
running around henshin. Usagi, the normal junior high teenager, no
longer existed. Instead, Serenity now existed, she might be able to
disguise herself like the old Usagi, but she was still Serenity. And
Sailor Moon was just the fighting form of his love, using her magic
to form the protective Senshi uniform. And since he had somehow in
the past become connected to Serenity, when Usagi before now had
henshin and awakened her power he would feel his connection come
alive. But, now with her power always awaken his connection was
always alive.

Leaving the bathroom, he decided he wanted to stretch out on the bed
a bit before he started on his problem sets. Sitting in lectures all
day tended to cramp up his legs some and just splaying out for five
minutes on the bed could do wonders. As he plopped himself down on
the bed he found his thoughts returning to the earlier
dissatisfaction with being the Earth prince. Finding himself
surprisingly tired, he began to drift off to sleep while feeling that
his past self would probably find him a joke for all that doubts he
had.


* * * * * * * *

"Endymion what has you so glum?" asked a worried Kunzite.

The young prince looked up from where he was leaning against a tree
looking out over the valley. "Father keeps telling me that I am the
Earth prince. But he is not the Earth king, our kingdom is
insignificant next to its neighbors and like father, I do not believe
in conquest. Yet he keeps preparing me for leading not just our
people, but all those of the Earth."

Understanding the confusion of his prince, Kunzite asked, "My prince
let me ask you this, how old do you think I am?"

The simple question posed by Kunzite quickly became very hard to
answer, as Endymion realized he had no idea of the age of the captain
of his guard. He would guess young twenties, but Kunzite had been the
captain of his guard since his birth, and he himself was twenty.

Seeing no answer forth coming from the prince, Kunzite continued,
"Would it surprise you to learn that I turned fifty this past year? I
have aged at only half to a third the normal rate, and that is the
same with Nephrite, Zoisite, and Jadeite. Like the others, I was
drawn here, not knowing why and arrived to serve your king soon after
your birth."

The young prince looked up in surprise, he had always known that
there was something different about his guard. But, had never
realized exactly what those differences were.

Seeing the effects of his statements, Kunzite continued,
"Additionally while each of us are soldiers, our skill with the sword
unmatched, we are also mages. We are the only known mage-soldiers
EVER, having a power that is not learnt but innate. Each of us could
have been a king in our own right, yet we were pulled here to find
our calling as the bodyguards and trainers of a young prince."

"But how do you know that I am that prince, that something else did
not call you here?"

Jadeite who had been drawn to the two, gave a laugh in response.
"That part is very simple: Beryl"

"What does that witch have to do with anything?" snapped the prince,
not disguising one bit the contempt he felt for the woman.

Laughing again, Jadeite continued, "Why it is the exact same reason
that you dislike her. She is attracted to power like a moth to light
and she obviously lusts after you. With her power and your
birthright, she could become empress of this entire planet. Why do
you think she has humbly offered her services to your father when
previous monarchs the world across would have to pay her a small
fortune for a simple request."

"Anyways your own powers also prove it." Added Zoisite as he joined
the group. "Your mind is always in tune with the people. I have seen
you diffuse situations that I thought to be hopeless. Plus you have
the power to give and strengthen life-forces around you."

Nephrite who had arrived with Zoisite added a warning. "But you know
that with your power comes responsibility, the reason why Beryl can
never be allowed to have the same. Use your birthright in vane and it
will be lost. The people are not ready for a single ruler. Your birth
means that the time when the people of this planet will be ready to
be united under a single ruler is fast approaching. However, the
stars also provide a warning, a great fire also lies in your path."


* * * * * * * *

The king looked out the window and watched his son with a young lady
by his side enjoy the setting of the sun. She truly did hover around
him like the Moon did the Earth. The few times he had the privilege
of being in her presence she had radiated warmth, love, and utter
innocence. He had trouble imaging her as the same "devil" princess
that Beryl would describe her as. Not to mention some of the things
she had babbled about were utterly ludicrous, an empire stretching
over the rest of the solar system with immense magical power and the
secret of immortality.

But the oracle had returned and with her fantasy had become reality.
Once before the oracle had appeared to tell them of the destiny that
lay before the child that his wife was carrying; a child that neither
he nor her knew she was carrying. While he had trained his son to
ascend and be the king of the Earth, he had never thought that the
reason why this position was his and his alone was because his son
was the physical manifestation of the soul of the planet.

The old lady had confirmed for him the essence of Beryl's stories,
though of course Beryl with her hunger for power had cast the people
of the Silver Millennium as the devil incarnate. He had known that
red haired devil of a woman to be trouble from the first day she had
entered his court, but she was also by far the best mage known. He
would have been remiss if he had not taken her up on her offer to
instruct his son. He had been glad when he saw that his son did not
fall for her charms, her way was not their way.

He had not thought too much of her mood change when Endymion fell in
love with a strange silver haired girl who had begun showing up on
the castle grounds. He had not recognized her, but had assumed that
she was one of the peasants. Unlike his fellow monarchs, his family
never held to the supposition that nobles were above the rest; his
own wife had been only a peasant as well. Though now the prophet had
confirmed some of Beryl's more far-fetched rants, that Endymion's
love was the princess of a kingdom on the Moon.

According to the prophet, the loss of Endymion to this Moon princess
had pushed Beryl over the edge. And washed in despair and anger she
had summoned demon's to fulfill her desire to rule the Earth, by
taking it by force. But she wanted to be unrivaled in her power, and
was afraid that the people of the Silver Millennium may steal away
what she perceived to be her destiny again. Hence, she would soon
launch a simultaneous attack on the planets of the Silver Millennium.

Turning back to the prophet, he asked her, "Is there anyway to stop
this bloodshed. The people of the Silver Millennium do not deserve to
become collateral damage in this war."

"I am afraid not. As much as I would like to spare them the, I
cannot. For the sake of the future it most occur." This she said
while looking out over the balcony and then turning to the king she
continued, "Now that the Four Kings of the Heavens have been
enchanted by Beryl, they are her generals. There is nothing you nor
Endymion can do." Lifting up her knarled staff she strove to the
center of the room and then with the flick of her wrist, her
appearance changed to that of an athletically built young woman and
her staff also changed to reveal a metallic key design topped with a
glowing orb. With a wave of the staff, a portal opened and she walked
to it. Stopping for a moment, she turned and spoke. "One final thing
my good king. Before the night is out, there will be a coup and you
will die. I am sorry, but you will be remembered well" And then she
was gone.


* * * * * * * *

The king was then left alone with only his thoughts to keep him
company.

So lost was he in his thought that he did not notice the passing of
time. The next thing he became aware of was his son standing in front
of him looking worried. At first, he thought the worry on his son'
face to be indicative that the end had already started, but that
thought quickly passed as he realized the worry to be no more than
worry over his own state.

"You must forgive me son, but I have had a visitor who brought me
some most unsettling news."

"Its Beryl isn't it?" the young princes guessed.

"Your intuition is right as always. I am afraid there will be war
soon between her forces and the people of your love."

The last bit caused Endymion to pale a bit, as he was certain he had
not told his father anything about Serenity, betraying her trust.

"Don't worry lad, you did not let anything slip. My guest today told
me all about your love and her people." After which, he proceeded to
tell him all about the meeting with the prophet and his own thoughts.

"I can't believe that they could be turned, they would rather die
than serve her."

"I know my son, but they have and she will soon be coming for you.
And she will also attack the moon in an attempt to kill Serenity. She
has gone mad; she may not be in full control of all her faculties any
more."

"What am I to do?" asked the prince.

"Leave here, the sooner the better. If you can, try to get word to
Serenity. I am afraid that the people of the Earth have betrayed you.
Now go my son, I feel that time is growing short."

The king ushered his son into a secrete escape tunnel and then
triggered embedded explosives, sealing up the palace entrance to the
tunnel. The explosions still ringing in his ears, Endymion raced down
the passage leaving behind his father and the life he had known.
Feeling the cold rock beneath his feet as he ran, he wished he had
had time to swing by the armory and pick up his armor and sword. As
it was, he felt naked being clothed only in his prince robes. Hoping
for some anonymity, he shed his crown and the outer layer of robes on
the floor of the tunnel.

Turning down more passages, he passed through a magically enchanted
rock face into a forest. Making a decision, he turned west towards a
small village on the outskirts of his kingdom. Walking through the
night, he arrived shortly after sunrise at the village outskirts.
Entering the village a massive wave of uneasiness hit him; he could
feel the anger and other dark emotions radiating from the people of
this village. Walking in further he noticed most of the population to
be preparing pole arms.

Endymion had come here hoping to get some food and shelter while he
figured out what to do. But he now knew that he would not find any
friends here. He knew of Beryl's obsession with him, and was sure
that as soon as she realized that he was not in the castle, she would
send out search parties to find him. Staying to the sides of
buildings, he turned a corner into an alley, hoping to find a cloak
that he might be able to use to disguise himself with. Instead of
finding a cloak, he found what could only be described as a monster.

From his lessons with Beryl, he had heard her describe such beasts,
but he had never seen one of these demons before. Fear welled up as
the creature's gaze came to regard him. Walking backwards briskly, he
tried to get himself away from it, but instead tripped over some
barrels. Falling unceremoniously to the ground, he realized that
whereas if he had not reacted, he might have gotten past that
creature without alerting it, now that creature's limited intellect
would definitely see him as a target.

Rolling quickly to the side, and ignoring the pain in his arm as he
came to an abrupt stop against the wall he narrowly avoided a jet of
something extremely acidic that the creature had shot at him. Letting
his training take over, he quickly got to his feet and dodged out of
the way of the punch from the creature. A punch which managed to put
a hole in the side of the building.

Staying nimble on his feet, he tried to keep the distance between him
and the creature short, while he came up with a plan. He did not know
what he was going to do, but felt he had a better chance in dodging
its punches and kicks than the acid it would spew if he got too far
away. Plus at least this way he would minimize the threat that it
might get some of his people with collateral damage.

After five minutes of this dodging, he was no closer to finding a
solution. Wanting to end this now, his right arm fell on its own from
its defensive position to where his sword would normally be. Just as
his hand began closing around where his sword's hilt would be if he
had been able to retrieve it before departing the castle, he realized
what he was doing and felt foolish.

However, as the hand finished its grab, he felt it close around the
coldness of metal. Not thinking about what he was doing, his other
arm dropped, so that the hand could grab the sheath. Suddenly feeling
energy begin to build in his body he pulled forth on the hilt, and
with a miracle pulled out his sword. A golden shine reflected off the
first glimpse of the sword's blade as it left the invisible sheath
and then golden bolts of energy shot out into his hands and from
their it embraced his body before fading faded away to reveal his
armor and sword.

The change in its opponent caused the youma to pause, unsure of what
to make of this development. Seizing the opportunity Endymion moved
in to take the offensive. Bringing his sword around, he swung at the
demon. But, it brought its armored arms into to its chest, block the
sword. Ducking under a punch thrown by the creature, he quickly moved
to the side, looking for an opening.

His eyes widening in horror, he saw it unleash one of its acid
attacks. Unable to leap out of the way fast enough, he brought his
free arm up to shield his face and closed his eyes. When the sting of
the acid did not come, he opened his eyes to see that a shield had
formed on his left forearm. Again not questioning his good luck, he
gathered his strength and attempted to leap over the creature. With a
summersault, he easily passed over it and landed back to back with
it. The two warriors spun, to be the first to face and attack their
opponent. But, Endymion's lighter frame proved to turn faster, and
the youma looked down in surprise as it found its opponent's now
glowing sword impaled in its side.

A simple injury like this would normally not worry it, but for some
reason it still felt fear. And, then with a howl of pain, its body
exploded in a shower of rose petals. Watching on in amazement,
Endymion watched as the red petals slowly fell, each one vanishing as
it touched the ground. Shrugging his shoulders, he holstered his
sword. While the rose was his favorite flower, this was just a bit
unnecessary to the point of bordering on being sissy (not that he
really had to worry about people teasing the prince of being a sissy,
well except for his guard).

Thinking about his guard brought him back to the present. Looking at
where the demon had been moments before, he now felt a lot more
comfortable with facing this threat. He would not let Beryl spread
her dark magic over his people. For once, he actually felt
comfortable with being the Earth prince, for he was their protector.
And some how he knew it was the Earth itself, which had helped him in
this battle.

Moving his gaze upwards, he looked back in front of him.
Instinctively, he once again grabbed the sheath of his sword with
what he saw. Not a monster this time, but an army: an army of
peasants. They were moving his way, and turning his head, he realized
they were coming from all directions. And unfortunately, it was not
the sight of happy peasants coming to thank him for freeing them of
that demon. No, it was an army of peasants ready to turn him into the
ex-prince of the Earth.

Looking around again, he realized that he had already lost his war.
Metalia's evil had fully consumed his people entrapping them in
spells beyond anything he could free them from. Before he even took
his place as the rightful prince of all his people, his tenure as the
Earth Prince was over. But, he was not going to let her get Serenity
as well. On the power of his planet, he swore that he would always
protect her from harm. And maybe if her people survived this war,
they might find it in their hearts to forgive his people and help him
free them from the darkness.

That still left the problem of reaching her. He had no way of
contacting her nor traveling to the moon. But that did not concern
him, nor the fact that the mob was only moments from reaching him.
Instead, he looked up and gazed towards the moon and tried to search
for his love. As he closed his eyes, the golden energy of the Earth
began building around his body, causing the mob to pause in its
advance. And then as it reached a crescendo, he opened his eyes
again, smiled and in a bolt of golden light, he was gone.

Arriving on the moon, he was surprised both by its tranquility and
its elegance. Seeing some approaching guards, he leapt over a wall
knowing it wouldn't due to be caught, especially if they did have an
inkling of Beryl's pending attack. Glancing at the Earth he knew that
the attack would come soon, the blackness had almost fully covered
its surface. He needed to find Serenity, there was not much time
left.


* * * * * * * *

The ringing of the phone drew Mamoru back from slumber. Shaking his
head to try and clear it, he picked up the phone.

"Moshi, Moshi"

"Hai, be right there."

"Ja"

He could already feel her moving towards the shrine. Getting
up from his bed, he stretched to work out the stiffness from his
unplanned nap. Stopping in the bathroom for a moment, he took his
comb and smoother out his hair. As he did, memories from the dream
played out in his mind.

He was not sure what to make of all of them. Though they did give him
some insight into his current doubts and thoughts. And yep he was
right in his guess of his connection being with Serenity, and he had
a feeling that he would still be able to tell when she went into
battle. Though, now it would require him to pay a little more
attention to feelings that came across the link. Before it was an all
or nothing, but now he would have to listen for the feeling of his
love entering a battle.

Leaving his apartment, he was buoyed by the remembered memory that
his past self was not comfortable with being the Earth prince either.





* * * * * * * *

Seven Planetary Soldiers, two princesses, a prince, and one cat
arranged themselves in the room. Minako and Ami, being the ones who
had called this meeting sat to one side of the room, smiles on their
faces and a basket between them.

"Ok, we are now all here, including Mamoru, what is it?" questioned a
very impatient Rei. Neither Ami nor Minako had said anything about
why they had called this meeting to order until everyone was there.
Of course, that meant a ten-minute wait while they awoke Mamoru from
his nap by phone and then for him to get there. The two had smartly
kept Artemis in the basket, since one of the others would surely be
able to pry the info out of that cat.

"Well for one thing there was a monster attack today." Ami stated.

Usagi was about to ask, why they hadn't called the rest of them when
Minako spoke, "But that is not the most important thing that
happened."

"Huh?" was all the others could say, not knowing what could be more
important than a monster attack.

"We found out that Artemis has been double timing Luna." Minako
stated with a broad smile on her face.

A "Have not!" was heard from the basket.

"You know Luna, you should have been more receptive to Artemis."
Usagi stated. To which, Luna tried to tell her she had no feelings
for that worthless fur-ball. However, as Ami pulled a small gray
kitten from the basket, all talk in the room stopped. The little
kitten with the crescent moon mark stunned every one into silence,
everyone that is except for ChibiUsa, who suddenly got a big smile on
her face.

"Small Lady!" Diana cried as she launched her self over to her ward.
"I have been so worried since I arrived here. I thought Pluto-san
would drop me close to you, but I have been traveling for many days.
When I heard of the increasing severity of the demon attacks I was
worried that something might happen to you."

ChibiUsa caught the kitten and after rubbing its belly a bit to calm
it, she placed it on top of her head, in between her Odangos.
Chuckling she decided to help out Artemis who was getting some less
than complimentarily comments from Makoto and Haruka, and looking
very fearful of Luna who was now stalking him. "This is Diana, my
guardian. She is the daughter of Artemis and Luna." Then to Diana she
added, "I did not know that you were coming back here."

"You were gone so long, and I missed you, so Pluto-san agreed that I
could join you in the past for you training." Then hopping down, she
bowed before each Usagi and Mamoru and greeting them. "Konnichiwa
Serenity-sama and Endymion-sama."

And the traditional, "Ah, don't bow before me." was Usagi's response.
"Just call me Usagi-chan."

To which the little kitten hesitantly replied, "Hai, Usagi-chan."
Earning a smile from Usagi, who promptly picked up the little kitten
and began petting her while Ami returned the meeting to Senshi
business.

"Minna, the reason we didn't call you during this demon attack, was
that the two of us were easily able to handle it. We didn't have time
to alert you, before we engaged the creature, and then we were
quickly able to vanquish it." Ami started.

"Wow, a demon that finally doesn't wreck half the city before we are
able to deal with it." Commented Makoto.

"Unfortunately I do have some bad news. The energy signature of the
creature does not match those of Rubeus's droids nor any of the Dark
Kingdom youma we faced."

"Then we were right." Stated Uranus, "An enemy from outside the solar
system has come.

"Hai, unfortunately that seems to be the case. I believe this first
demon was weak, only because they did not expect any resistance, the
next ones are going to be tougher." Ami continued. And then taking a
deep breath, she decided she had to tell them about her readings from
the crash site, and just hoped that she could get them to see them
for the threat they were. "There is one other thing, I was able to
make some estimates on the energy reserves the aliens must have had
upon landing the other night. I believe they are almost devoid of any
energy, and that they just barely made it to our planet."

"Then this enemy should be a since to take out." Makoto
enthusiastically stated.

"Hai!" agreed Rei and Minako.

"Iie!" Usagi stated forcibly. And then when she had everyone's
attention, she continued. "If Ami's estimate is in fact the case,
then these aliens are going to be far deadlier than Beryl or Rubeus."
Seeing the blank looks on the others, except for Ami's faces, she
continued. "They are not fighting to conquer now, they are fighting
for their very existence. Push them too much and they will lash out
more deadly than they would normally. Be careful if you ever face
them, they might not run like our previous enemies, they may instead
stand and fight even if they cannot win. And I will not accept any of
you being seriously hurt again."

The others felt their enthusiasm from a moment ago drain quickly out
of their bodies, and they slumped back to the ground, now with a very
different view of the situation. Now able to look at the situation
rationally they began discussing strategy. Excluding Usagi though,
instead she laid back into Mamoru's arms letting her thoughts drift
back to these mysterious alien visitors. While her speech to the
Senshi left no doubt that these aliens were indeed enemies, and would
continue to drain energy from the people even once they recovered
their energy reserves, she was starting to subconsciously doubt that
assessment.

Mamoru sensing the unease coming over his love, wrapped his arms
around her. The action quickly had the desired effect, as her
attention drifted to just enjoying being in his embrace. Now fully
content he closed his eyes while the others continued their strategy
discussions.

Rei looked up from the table at her princess in the corner. Suddenly
the memories from the previous day's vision came to her mind. As the
images rapidly assaulted her mind, constantly repeating themselves,
she let out a scream. Practically jumping to her feet while clutching
her head with her hands, she knocked over the table.

The others all looked on worriedly, unsure of what to do. Usagi,
however, was instantly at her side, her glamour dropped. Sitting down
on the ground, she pulled Rei down with her, and then further pulled
Rei's head into her lap. All the while, Serenity rubbed her hands
along Rei's backs while trying to calm Rei with her voice. Her wings
had also folded in on the two of them, shutting them off from the
rest of the world.

A few minutes later, Rei was able to open her eyes again and lift her
head to look up at Serenity. "Arigatoo, Usagi." she said.

"Don't worry about it Rei. What did you see?" she asked "that is if
you can tell us without being hurt again."

"Its okay, I'm fine now, thanks to you." Serenity, folded her wings
up back behind her while she let the glamour reapply itself. Rei, now
feeling better sat back up, but did not leave Serenity's side,
instead she let Serenity pull her back to her chest and felt her best
friend's arms snake around her chest holding her much the way Mamoru
had held Usagi only moments ago. Thankful for the support Rei began
to tell them of her vision from the other day.

"My guess would be that your vision deals with Rubeus." Luna stated,
to which Rei nodded. "Rubeus is from the future, during the time of
Crystal Tokyo. He must be getting ready to move soon, we already know
that his target is going to be ChibiUsa and the Ginzuishou."

The others nodded their heads in agreement. But for Rei, the
explanation did not seem right, yet she could not really explain why
or offer a better one. She was just going to have to hope that the
Great Fire would be willing to give her more insight. Though she also
hoped that it would not be quite so distressing as that last vision.

Very quickly after the discussion on Rei's vision, the Senshi meeting
broke up. Leaving the meeting, Ami thought back on what Luna had said
about Rei's vision. Thinking about those
attacks and useful Artemis's kitty com pack had proved to be, she
realized that creating those upgraded communicators to be an
immediate priority.

Changing her path from one that would end at the library, she instead
headed towards the Crown Arcade. But she was still no closer to
figuring out how to make the large communicator design she had come
up with to be small enough for them to wear. The task amounted to
being as difficult as hiding those wings of Usagi's not just from
sight, but also from existence.

Reaching the arcade, she walked in and said hi to Motoki before
walking over to the Sailor V game. A quick glance to be sure no one
was looking in her direction and she placed her hand down on the
hidden palm scanner and gave the access codes. A sudden drop and she
was down in Central Control. Picking herself up off the floor, she thought while heading
over to the computers.

Sitting down at one of the terminals, she began pulling up diagrams
and descriptions of their current communicator design. Finished with
that information she began pulling up generalized documentation on
Silver Millennium communication equipment. Then pausing for a moment,
she launched some external interface programs.

Activated, these magical mini programs were transmitted out over the
worldwide communication network. Each one was a sophisticated
scavenging program, capable of breaking through even the most complex
non-magical encryption, and even some magical encryption. Ten minutes
later, the programs returned, bloated with all their classified data.
Smiling she added the military codes and channels they had captured
into the communication matrix she was building.

Humming a to herself the hours began to pass by, as she built up the
new matrix. Three hours after she had started, she leaned back in her
chair taking in the glory of the coding that was the matrix. Now she
only had to figure out how to build the communicator to house it.

"It looks beautiful Ami-chan." said a voice from behind her.

Jumping, not having noticed the arrival of anyone else, Ami turned
around to look at her guest. "Princess, I did not hear you come in."

Frowning she replied, "Quit calling me that, its Usagi-chan." Then
continuing with a smile, the reprimand forgotten, "And, yeah, I guess
it's not like me to be able to enter a room with out making a lot of
noise. Though, of course part of that is due to my wings, since they
allow me to have just a nice gentle landing after coming down the
entrance tube. I take it you are working on new communicator
designs?"

"Yep, thought it might be a good idea to have some improved
communicators before Rubeus decides to attack again."

"Your right. I take it you still have a few more hours worth of work
left."

"Yeah," replied Ami with a hint of some slight exhaustion and lots of
eagerness in her voice.

"Well before I let you get back to work, let me leave these
sandwiches with you. Can't let you forget to feed yourself." To which
Ami blushed a bit, knowing that if Serenity hadn't come by with any
food she would have worked through dinner.

"Arigatoo, Serenity." Ami said while tearing into the first sandwich,
suddenly realizing how hungry she really was.

"No problem." The silver haired princess replied as she walked back
out towards the exit. And then stopping, she turned around and told
Ami one final thing. "By the way I have told your mother that you
would be working in the library till late tonight on a project." And
then she was gone.

Ami sat at her chair eating some of her dinner and just reflecting on
her princess's visit. More resolved than ever before to finish this
project so that they could better protect her princess, she returned
to the computer monitor and began designing the physical
communicator.


* * * * * * * *

Pluto, under the guise of Setsuna, normally patronized the more
upscale eating establishments here in Tokyo. But not tonight,
currently disgusted with what she would have to do in a few hours,
the amenities of those places revolted her. Instead, tonight found
her in a darker noisier eating establishment. Poking at her bowl of
noodles, she kept going back over the threads of time in her mind,
trying to find that she had read them wrong. But every time she
looked back over them, she came to the same conclusion. Finishing her
meal, she paid her bill and left. Walking aimlessly down the streets
she whittled away the hours before she would have to act.


* * * * * * * *

As night set in to stay, Ami once again pushed away from the console,
finished. Before her, on the holographic display lay the
communicator. Checking the center's stored energy levels, she gave
the commands to fabricate the prototype. Leaning back in her chair,
she watched what appeared to be an oversized digital watch
materialize off to one side of the room. Being disguised as a watch
would allow them to always be able to wear it, and as an additional
plus, the communicator call to others would appear to be nothing more
than a watch alarm.

To the non-mage, the watch was nothing more than it appeared to be.
Only by dismantling would they find an indication that it was
something more, due to the myriad of various sophisticated components
it would contain. Though it would require a very determined effort to
open it, since this watch was designed for combat wear, and
consequently was enchanted with very powerful protective magic. Even
another magical user would be unable to discover anything more about
the watch, other than it was heavily enchanted. However, for the
Senshi their planetary energy funneled into simple touch spells would
unlock its secrets

Of course, one problem did remain with the prototype, its size. It
was a wee bit too bulky to pass as a woman's watch. But that was
simple to solve. Putting the watch on, she cast a glamour spell
changing it to appropriately match her outfit. The glamour spells
would also allow them to wear the watch even when wearing one was not
appropriate. Usagi's use of glamour magic the other day had been the
break through Ami needed in making the watch small enough, as she no
longer had to make it quite as small as she thought she would.


* * * * * * * *

Knowing her duty, Pluto stood outside the main entrance to the most
renowned high school in the region. A simple spell and time in the
building stopped. Walking briskly, she entered, her unique powers as
Guardian of Time allowing her to interact normally with this frozen
world.

A quick check of the school's directory sent her down some stairs.
Finding what she was looking for she opened the laboratory door, its
lock not denying her entrance. The lab did not look that imposing,
but there in front of her lay an army. For now, it consisted of just
thousands of test tubes filled with a purplish broth, but in a few
months, each tube would give rise to a demon. If she wanted to, she
could very easily lay waste to the entire Death Buster's army. But
that would be too simple; no fate required her to do something else
entirely.

Raising her staff, the Garnet Orb began to pulse with energy. The
time between pulses to her eye decreased, till they were nothing but
a blur. But to an observer in the lab the time between each pulse
remained the same, for their time sped up. Times passage in the
laboratory quickly became a blur as months passed by in only a few
hours. And then the pulsing slowed back down and time in the lab once
again stood at a standstill.

Her mission accomplished, but disgusted that she had to do it, Pluto
turned and left the lab. Pausing when she left the complex, she
unfroze the stand still of time, allowing it to speed up momentarily
to recover the lost hours. Nothing however, could be done to hide the
extra months in the lab. Satisfied that except for the strange
happenings in the lab, no evidence of her presence remained, she
left.

Walking away, she braced herself for the imminent punishment from the
cosmos for violating the rules once again, but it never came. Grumbling at the unfairness of it, she heads home.

End Notes:

-Well finally got this chapter finished. And yes, I know my pace this
year has really fallen off. Unfortunately, it will probably remain
slow for a while, but hopefully I can get the pace up to a chapter a
month. Which will get a bit easier as the plot begins to pick up
again.

-Hope for the Mamoru fans, this chapter makes up a bit for my
neglecting of his character. Problem is that there are just way too
many characters to deal with and all keep straight. And, for those of
you who are wondering, Father Morgan will finally return in the next
chapter.

-If you have a handheld, whether Palm OS or Pocket PC, check out my
collection of eBooks that I have converted for them.
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle I have converted some of my
favorite Sailor Moon fanfics: Bill Harris's Sailor Trek series and
soon Highlander Moon, Sailor Moon Millenials by the Judge, and others
and more always coming. If you have a suggestion for me to convert,
or have some already converted just drop me an email.