Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ Chapter 33: A Race Through Visions ( Chapter 33 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fragility of Time BOOK TWO: "Falling Towards
Apotheosis"
Chapter 33: "A Race Through Visions"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
Lasted Edited: 11/7/04

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.
_______________________________________

"Usagi-chan how are you feeling?" Naru asked still worried about her best friend
even though Usagi seemed to be moving around fine.

"Better now, I can feel my strength returning."

"So exactly what happened? How did Usagi-hime go from dieing just a moment ago
to now being full of energy again?" Haruka asked, with a harsh tone. Her harsh
tone was not really directed at Luna, it was just frustration from almost
loosing Usagi.

Looking up from where she and Artemis were plugging away at Ami's computer, Luna
spoke. "Our original hypothesis as to Usagi's condition proved to be true."

"Guess." Mamoru added quietly to Usagi when she looked confused at Luna's use of
the word "hypothesis."

"Ah." Usagi replied. Then thinking about Luna's pending explanation, she knew
that she probably would not be able follow it nor was she going to like what she
could follow and so she stood up and walk over to where her love was sitting.
While her balance was not fully back, she did make it over there without much
trouble and for her reward she laid back against Mamoru's chest and began to
relax against his warm body.

"However, what we had not expected was how deeply connected Usagi would be to
this power nexus here in Tokyo. The four of us had all thought that what Usagi
was experiencing at her aunt's was a case of withdrawal symptoms and that the
only real effect was an inability to cast any spells. An inability that was
caused by nothing more than being away from the source of power that she used
for casting those spells. Unfortunately, what we did not realize was that this
power nexus is also sustaining Usagi's very life." The state immediately grabbed
the attention of everyone present causing them to focus in on her even more.

"Since the battle in the artic, Usagi's body has undergone many changes. One
result is that not only is she not human, she is not quite Lunarian anymore
either. She is now a magical creature in much the way unicorns, when they
existed, were and Sailor Senshi are. A natural consequence of her transformation
is a need to nourish her soul with more energy. Unfortunately for Usagi her body
can't yet supply sufficient nourishment. As long as she stays herein Tokyo with
its power nexus she is fine. But..."Luna did not need to finish that statement
as they all got the meaning.

Moving on past Usagi almost dieing, Luna continued. "While Ami some time back
stated that Usagi is not a Sailor Senshi, I now believe that she is only half
right." Luna explained

"Nani-ka." came the startled response from all present even Artemis, who even
though he was looking at the same data had not made the connection that Luna had
made.

"Ami based her declaration on the fact that Usagi and ChibiUsa are not connected
to a planet like the rest of you, and that does include you Mamoru-san - you are
connected to the Earth. And at least initially, Usagi didn't have any strength
outside of what the spell she unknowingly cast when she used her transformation
broach gave her. However, now she is a magical being and like you she has
enhanced constitutions and physical abilities. The only difference is that she
doesn't have a heavenly body providing the extra nourishment her soul needs. And
to be able to use her Eternal Tier in the future she'll need a connection to a
heavenly body.

Those of the group who were still standing, decided to finally take a seat so
that they could digest Luna's explanation. For Naru it was a near lost cause -
not having been present for the other theoretical discussions on the girl's
powers. Ryo, for his part, was making sure to memorize all that Luna had said
and was trying to think of any question that Ami might have asked, knowing that
she would be very disappointed to hear that she had missed this discussion.

"So that must be what Pu meant when she said that mamma was coming into her
powers." ChibiUsa finally said breaking the silence that had descended on the
group.

"Hai, at some point in the distant future a new Sailor Senshi must awaken, but
for which planet I have no idea." Luna agreed.

"Maybe not a planet, but a star - Sailor Sun?" Urawa asked.

Luna dismissed that idea immediately with a shake of her head. "No, I had
already thought about that, but for some reason it just doesn't seem right. I
just wish I could remember why I know that that shouldn't be the case."

Everyone just sat there for a few minutes thinking over what else she could be a
Sailor Senshi of, not that knowing the answer would make one ounce of difference
with the current problem. A few minutes later another related question entered
Urawa's mind. "What about ChibiUsa. Will this transformation of Usagi have any
effect on her?"

"But I was fine at Auntie Misaki's place." ChibiUsa replied both hoping that she
could be a real Sailor Senshi, learning that Sailor Moon was only a fake Sailor
Senshi had been a big blow to the little girl's ego - though she had hidden it
from everyone else, and at the same time hoping that it wasn't the case as she
was scared of going through what her mother was currently going through.

"As you should have been." Artemis replied "Your Sailor powers are not
hereditary. When you die the next female child within the realm of your planet
is imbued with the soul of a Sailor Senshi. Your long lives would pose problems
if your powers were hereditary, as we could very easily end up with a half dozen
or more Sailor Venus's." The dig at his charge at the end was in response to the
last bath that she had given him.

"But then why is ChibiUsa Sailor Moon?" Michiru asked.

"Because Sailor Moon is not a real Sailor Senshi, and the power of the Moon is
hereditary." Luna replied

"Ah that makes sense." Michiru said, realizing that if she had thought about her
question for a moment before asking she would have seen the answer herself.

<Guess that makes up for Sailor Moon being just a fake Sailor. At least this way
I can still be one of them.> ChibiUsa thought to herself more happy with
situation now.

Having had enough theory on Sailor power for one night, Haruka decide it was
time to head home. The others probably would not be returning for many hours and
she wanted to be snuggled in bed with Michiru long before then. "As much as I
would like to continue this discussion on the theory behind our powers, I think
it is time for me to give everyone a lift home. I'm awake now, but I don't know
how much longer that will last."

"Hai that is a good idea." Luna agreed

* * * * * *

As the warm rays of the early morning sun began to shine on her body, Ami slowly
began to drift back from the depths of sleep. For the moment she was content to
linger in that warm safe state that existed in the transition between sleep and
awake. This morning she was more content than normal to lay like this, she had
no desire to finish waking up and to begin her morning studying. Subconsciously
noting movement beside herself, Ami whimpered slightly and wrapped her arms more
tightly against the one she was laying next to, pulling that body in tighter.

Her companion smiled contently at Ami's attempts to keep her from getting up.
Giving into what Ami desired, she tightened her hold on the other girl and laid
her head against Ami's chest. As she lay there, she realized that her soul had
never been more at peace than it was now - not even being held by Usagi had the
same effect. Rei did not know why that was, but she was sure that Usagi would
know. Usagi instinctively knew everything about the heart.

Adjusting her position so that she could look up into Ami's face, Rei watched as
the other girl slept. Ami had such an innocent and serene expression on her face
and the dawn sun framed her body just right. Rei just watched Ami's face as she
slept for a few minutes before snuggling in close to the other girl and thinking
about last night.

After they had returned from America, Ami had stayed behind at the shrine as the
other three left. The two girls had stared awkwardly at each other for many
minutes before Rei had finally spoken. "Ami-chan if it is not too much trouble
could you spend the night here, I don't think I want to be left alone tonight."
Of course Rei did have Yuuichirou and her Grandpa there as well, Ami knew that
Rei meant she wanted someone there who knew the demons that Rei was facing.
Furthermore Ami for the very same reason did not want to be alone that night
either. And so the two girls had retired to Rei's room after Ami had called home
to tell her mother that she would be spending that night at Rei's.

Rei had rummaged through her closet to find some sleeping clothes that to a
degree fitted Ami, while the other girl bathed. Then while Ami changed, Rei had
gone to soak in the furo herself. Neither of them had taken long soaks in the
furo - not believing that they deserved the warmth and relaxation it offered.
When Rei returned to her room, the two girls had gone about setting a pair of
futons down on the floor and had drifted off to sleep. However sometime during
the night they had drifted from their original sleeping positions and Rei had
ended up wrapped up in Ami's arms as the other girl had curled around her. The
position was quite an intimate one, yet at the same time Rei knew that there
were no such overtones with it and that it instead was another step in their
healing and indication of the full forgiveness both ways.

Craning her neck up, Rei placed a light kiss on Ami's right cheek before pushing
herself up from the futon. Again Ami gave a whimper of displeasure at having to
let go of Rei, however this time Rei did not give in and continued pushing away
from Ami's body. After realizing that she was not going to win, Ami's let go of
Rei and opened her eyes. Looking down into those blue eyes as she knelt beside
the smaller girl, Rei smiled.

"Go back to sleep some more Ami-chan. I normally get up at this hour for my
chore, but there is no reason why you should as well. Now sleep some more." Rei
said in a gentle voice as she lightly grasped one of Ami's hands. Then leaning
down, she kissed Ami on her forehead before standing and heading towards her
dresser.

Feeling the kiss on her forehead, Ami closed her and pulled the covers in closer
around her body and tried to drift back off to sleep. She lay there for quite a
while feeling very content and relaxed. But sleep did not return to her,
stretching and yawning she decided that it was time to get up. As she got up she
said a silent prayer of thanks to Kami-sama for this night of healing.

* * * * * *

Barely able to sleep the night before, Ryo was up as the sun's rays just began
to crest the horizon. Dressing and eating a light breakfast he left his parents
a note on the table before he quietly left the house. Walking down the street
his mind continued to puzzle over the strange visions he had received the
previous night. As he had thought, one of the first visions had been a vision of
the vision he received during the teleport attempt to America. He shook his head
at that thought, <who would ever have thought of the idea of having a vision of
a vision you are going to have. Talk about meaning being hidden.>

He was sure as to the meaning of the final vision - a warning of a pending
battle between the Sailor Senshi and their enemy and that this Rubeus character
had an ace up his sleeve. He did not know what this ace was and just hoped that
Rei would be able to decipher it, as he also had a very bad feeling that they
did not have much time, maybe only a few days before Rubeus made his move. The
other vision he still was not able to make heads or tails of. It sounded like
one Rei's visions that Ami had described to him, yet he was not sure what it
meant. But he also knew that it was vitally important that they unravel its
meaning.

Walking up the steps of the Hikawa shrine, Ryo had not once given thought to the
early hour or the likelihood that Rei might still be in bed asleep - most of the
city still was. Cresting the top of the stairs he saw Grandpa Hino sweeping out
the main courtyard.

"Hello" Grandpa Hino called out as he saw Ami's friend come into view. "What
brings you to our humble shrine so early in the morning?"

Ryo did not know how to respond to Grandpa Hino's question, for anything he said
he feared would give away too much.

"I can see that something is troubling you my boy." Grandpa Hino said for Ryo.

"Hai." Ryo replied.

"You probably don't want to discuss the worries of a young man's heart to an old
fool like me. Rei should be in the fire room tending to the sacred fire."

"Arigato" Ryo said before heading off that way.

Hino watched as the young boy headed to meet with his granddaughter. While he
had implied that Ryo's problem was that of his love life with Mizuno Ami, the
old priest knew better. A great burden rested on the shoulders of that young
man. Though the priest also knew that young was not really an adapt description
of Ryo, there was a very ancient aspect to that boy. His granddaughter had sure
found an interesting array of friends. He had known that there was something
special about his granddaughter from when he had first seen her, just minutes
after her birth. He had immediately taken to training her in the use of her
spiritual powers when she was of age- a training that became more extensive
following the death of her mother.

And then a few months ago, she had been befriended by that other enigma, Tsukino
Usagi and her friend Ami. While he had no idea what the future held for Usagi,
he knew she was destined to play a pivotal role in the future of the world.
Since her arrival in their lives, his meditations more often than not focused
around her being a nexus.

At times he wondered what his daughter had become involved in. He knew that
something was going on with those girls and it was directly connected to the
future the world was going to take in the next few years. Each day he could
sense that their fates and the fate of the world itself lay in the same line. He
wished that he could provide them with his own wisdom, but that was not what the
Kami had in mind. Instead he was relegated to sitting on the sideline and
silently watching events on fold. Oh he could easily go visit Usagi and ask her
to let him walk the path and he knew she would not hesitate to accept him. But
he also knew that was not the right approach to take, instead it was time for
the torch of this shrine to be passed onto Rei. Her skills with the Sacred Fire
had surpassed his a long time ago and she was quickly gaining the wisdom needed
to provide guidance to those who needed it. The only hurdle left in ascension to
become the rightful priestess of this shrine was her temper. But even that
hurdle had nearly been crossed, as he saw this morning and last night.

He did not know what had happened between Ami and his granddaughter. But he had
silently watched from the shadows as the two of them had stood in the courtyard
last night, guilt on both their faces. He had known instantly that Rei had lost
control of her temper. But for the first time he could see in his
granddaughter's face the realization that her temper was a liability. He had
only hoped that night that she would be able to conquer that demon. But this
morning when he had peaked in on the two girls after getting up an hour before
sunrise he had smiled as he realized that he did not need to worry. The sight of
the two girls wrapped up in each others arms and legs, lying chest to chest on
their sides had told him all that he needed to know.

Looking out at the morning sky and the rising sun, Grandpa Hino thought of what
needed to be done next. Even though Rei was just fourteen years of age, it was
time for the torch to be passed on. She already in many ways ran much of the
shrine and she was the one that visitors often came to see. This trial that Rei
now faced would be the test that would determine if she was worthy of taking the
shrine. There was no doubt in his mind that she would pass the test, she had
strong friends that were part of the quest and Usagi of course would make sure
that Rei triumphed. And so it was time for him to take begin making
preparations. Her fifteenth birthday would be the perfect time to present her
with the spoils of her quest.

* * * * * *

Walking into the room which housed the Sacred Flame, Ryo found Rei seated before
it slowly stroking its embers as she fed it new wood. Hearing the light foot
steps of someone other than her grandfather or Youricho, Rei at first thought
that it was Ami. She was about to chastise the other girl for getting out of bed
and to tell her to go back to sleep, but the shiver that passed through her body
told her that it was not her. "Ryo-kun what brings you here this morning?" For a
moment she feared that he had heard what she almost did to Ami and was not going
to be as forgiving.

"Rei, following both of the teleports yesterday I had visions - visions which I
need your help deciphering. I don't know why, but something tells me that we
only have a few days at most to decipher them before the events they foretell
will come to pass."

Turning 180° around, Rei gestured for Ryo to take a seat in front of her. "Tell
me about these visions. The fire this morning has been restless."

"Following your first teleport attempt I had two visions." Ryo said, deciding to
leave out the vision that was simply the warning of "Do Not Touch." "In one of
them, I saw the Ginzuishou being used in a battle against some powerful force.
As the two energies pushed against each other cracks began to appear in the
crystal and with each passing moment they became larger and more numerous.
Eventually the crystal simply shattered into a million fragments and was swept
away by the opposing force."

Rei took a few moments to think about this vision and whether it related to her
visions. "While I have had a series of visions that did involve shattering
centered around Usagi, I don't think it is related in anyway to that vision of
yours. This is not a good sign as it appears to suggest that the enemy that we
face is going to be too powerful for Usagi. Though at the same time she is
stronger now than when she fought the Dark Moon in ChibiUsa's original timeline,
which is not in accordance with your vision." Pausing for a moment to collect
her thoughts, Rei continued. "I fear this must mean that we are facing another
threat, one which has yet to reveal itself and is likely associated with the
hunting for certain pure heart crystals. ChibiUsa does not remember anything
like that from before. The Sacred Fire has yet to reveal anything to me with
regards to this new element of the threat, but maybe with your vision as a basis
I will be able to see something. You said there was second vision?"

"Hai, the second vision I got was of a map of the Tokyo with various points of
lights glowing. This vision I believe is connected to the vision I got after
Usagi returned the second time." Ryo then proceeded to best describe the various
out of place elements of that vision. If he hadn't been so sure that it was
indeed a vision, he probably would have just assumed he had dreamed those
scenes. "... the one thing I am sure of is that Usagi will die when that battle
comes to pass unless we uncover Rubeus's trump card and we only have a few days
at most before he will make his move."

Rei just stared dumbstruck at Ryo as he finished his description suddenly
feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders and having no clue as to how to
go about saving her love's life. Love, Rei had never really thought about Usagi
that way before, but she knew as soon as she thought the word that it was the
right word. It wasn't a romantic love, but she also wouldn't be adverse to
switching bodies with Mamoru so that it could come to include the romantic
element as well. Part of her mind wandered if she would ever be able to find
someone to love romantically or if her love for Usagi would force her to walk a
path of solitude - not that she would mine, just being able to feel Usagi return
a fraction of the love she held for that silver haired girl would be enough for
her.

Feeling a soft touch on her shoulder, Rei looked up and into the eyes of Ami.
Seeing the question in Rei's face, Ami answered it. "I couldn't sleep anymore.
Thanks for letting me stay last night, I don't think I have ever felt so
rested." Rei knew that Ami was not referring to being just physically rested but
spiritually rested as well. "Morning Ryo-kun. I guess from what you have been
telling Rei that you did not sleep as peacefully as we did last night."

"Iie, unfortunately not. The visions I had yesterday kept me from sleeping last
night. I did not share them with you last night as I knew there was not much
anyone could do without some sleep first and I did not want anyone else to have
to shoulder the burden of the visions instead of getting all the rest they could
for I am sure that we are all going to need it." Ryo said before repeating the
elements of the vision that Ami had missed.

As he spoke, Ami, who was dressed in a miko outfit sat down beside Rei and
leaned in against the other girl. Rei instinctively wrapped an arm around her as
the two sat and all three pondered Ryo's last vision. Ryo felt a bit jealous of
Rei as he saw how she was holding Ami, but the ancient part of his soul warned
his younger self to ignore what he saw. The ancient self did not know what had
transpired between the two, but knew that the tenderness they were showing was
not of something to be jealous of, but was instead the love resulting from
reconciliation. That part of his soul chuckled to itself realizing that this
world did not seem to accept this most effective method of reconciliation,
instead attaching unwarranted innuendos to it instead.

Some time later Ami spoke, "From what ChibiUsa has told us, Rubeus is an enemy
from the 30th century who has come back in time here to the past to disrupt the
correct flow of time. Apparently he has or had a spaceship that allowed him to
travel in time without using the Gate of Spacetime. I say had, as it is possible
that the disruption which sent ChibiUsa back here may have destroyed his ship or
more likely picked him off the ship and deposited him back here. If we're lucky
the time disruption destroyed the enemy's ability to travel through time. If
not, based on what ChibiUsa has told us of the original timeline, Rubeus may
have reinforcements arriving soon.

"From your vision, Ryo-kun it looks like Rubeus still has the ability to effect
time. Whether or not he still retains the ability to time travel, it looks like
he does have the ability to cause items from the past and future to converge on
the present. Which while much better than the danger we would face if he could
apply the effects directly to ourselves..." Ami said thinking back to one of the
battles when it was just her and Usagi and they came across that Youma who could
make them younger or older at will. "it still poses a significant threat, as
items brought across time can be dangerous in themselves."

"Setsuna is not going to like this development." Rei said stating the obvious.

"Hai" the other two agreed.

"Ryo-san could you give the Tsukino household a call and ask them to send
ChibiUsa over here?" Rei asked. "I think ChibiUsa might hold the key to
unlocking the other element of this second vision of yours, there is something I
vaguely remember her mentioning that I want her to describe again and in full
detail."

"Hai," replied Ryo. "Though you know it is going to be very hard to get her
moving, it is after all before 7."

"I know." Rei said as Ami smirked. "But it is very important and can't wait,
tell whoever answers the phone to tell her that it has to deal with her mother's
wellbeing."

"Hai." Ryo said as he turned and left the room, knowing that that bait was sure
to get ChibiUsa moving instantly no matter how much she might want to stay in
bed and sleep some more.

As Ryo left the room, Rei released her arm from around Ami so that she could
turn to face the Sacred Fire again. "Come its time that we did some fire
readings on Ryo's visions. If we are lucky we might be able to see something
that will help us decipher them by the time ChibiUsa gets here and provides us
with some more pieces to the puzzle."

"Are you sure you that want me to stay here while you do that. I don't know how
much help I can be." Ami said with a tone full of her lack of confidence.

"Hai of course I want you here." Rei said as she reached an arm around Ami's
shoulder and pulled her in close. <I have really shattered her confidence with
my stunt yesterday. Her guilt may be mostly be healed, but her confidence is
going to take longer to heal. And this is one task that I have to do myself. No
matter how much she would like to help, Usagi won't be able to repair the damage
that I have done. Only with my approval can Ami regain what I have destroyed.>
"Here let me show you how to call upon the power of the fire yourself." Rei said
as she began to instruct her first student.

* * * * * *

An hour later Grandpa Hino looked up from his morning cup of tea as he heard the
footsteps of some more morning visitors. Walking outside he saw that it was
Usagi's mother and her younger cousin. "Good morning Tsukino-san what has you up
so early this Saturday morning?" he asked.

"Morning Hino-san. Ryo-san gave ChibiUsa a call this morning asking her to come
here, something to do about Usagi. Given the early hour, I decided it best to
bring her here myself."

Seeing Ryo walk up to them, Grandpa Hino said to ChibiUsa, "Well it looks like
Ryo is here for you." And then turning speaking to Ikuko he continued, "While
the children occupy themselves, why don't you join me for a cup of tea."

"Hai that sounds like a good idea."

While the two of them headed off to the living quarters, Ryo walked over to the
shrine building with ChibiUsa in tow. Walking into the shrine he was surprised
by what he saw. Instead of Rei kneeling before the fire chanting it was his
girlfriend. Rei was still there of course, but off to the side watching Ami. Rei
looked up as Ryo and ChibiUsa came in and gestured for them to take a seat
behind Ami. The two of them took a seat as directed and watched on as Ami
continued her meditations. Sometime later Ami finished her chanting and broke
her gaze on the fire and became aware of the others in the room.

Getting up from where she had been sitting, Rei walked over towards where Ami
was kneeling. "How did your meditations go?" Rei asked.

"I'm not sure." Ami replied "I didn't really see anything just have some
feelings that I am not sure about."

"Ami you did quite good for your first time. It took me many tries before I was
able to sense anything from the Sacred Fire. Most people never get more than
feelings from the fire. My connection to Mars allows me to see as well as I do."
Rei said as she gave Ami a gentle pat on her back.

"So why am I up?" ChibiUsa asked finding it hard to remain awake.

"Ryo-kun tell ChibiUsa about the map you saw in your vision." Ami said.

"Hai." Ryo replied before turning to ChibiUsa and continuing. "ChibiUsa in my
vision I see a may of Tokyo with various points glowing with energy. I can't
remember the arrangement of the symbols, but I believe I saw both a pentacle and
a hexagon in the arrangement. The points glowed with white energy arcing up into
the sky as pillars."

"The Crystal Points." ChibiUsa said silently in recognition.

"What was that?" Ami asked

"The Crystal Points are what power the magic of the Crystal Palace. Rubeus came
here to the past to capture them so that the shield protecting the palace would
be removed." ChibiUsa explained what little she had been able to understand from
her conversations with Mars, Mercury, and her parents regarding them.

"That makes sense." Ami said starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"The Crystal Points must make up the individual points of the manna nexus that
is giving Usagi all of her powers. In the original timeline, we must have
harnessed this power in building the palace and used it to augment its
defenses."

"And as Usagi can't live without the supplemental energy she draws from Tokyo..."
Ryo said making the connection with Luna's assessment of Usagi's condition last
night.

"Which means if Rubeus can corrupt that energy into the dark energy of the
Nemesis he will rob Usagi of the extra energy that she needed to live." Ami said
finishing Ryo's statement.

"Wait but we have beat every attempt Rubeus has made to install those corrupting
energy collectors." Rei said.

The four lapsed into silence while they thought over that, it was Ami who broke
the silence. "That is what the Fire was telling me." she said, then as the
others looked at her she continued, "It was giving a sense of deception. Those
attempts to collect energy and pollute the local energy pool were just decoys.
He must have used them to disguise his placement of a real energy collector,
ones that he is just waiting for the right moment to activate."

"Are you sure Ami-chan?" Rei asked, Ami's analysis was mostly based on
conjuncture after all.

"Hai, I am. Come one of the battle sites is close by here. We can go search it
and see if we can detect anything."

* * * * * *

As the group raced down the city streets, Rei had a moment to wonder why her
grandpa did not see the need to ask them any questions as to why they were
heading out to do something so early in the morning and what it had to do with
ChibiUsa. She had expected him to make some kind of comment, as it was not
exactly normal to call up the Tsukino household and have Ikuko bring over
ChibiUsa early on a Saturday morning so that they could then go run out into the
city. But yet he just nodded his head with some sort of knowing look on his
face. Rei just hoped he hadn't figured out their secret, but he hadn't acted
this way before today. <Well I guess I will just have to wait for him to explain
himself. Knowing him he won't be able to keep whatever it is that he knows from
me for long.>

The few pedestrians they passed on the road at that time in the morning probably
wondered what they were feeding junior high school kids these days. Though none
of the three realized it, each were running far faster than a normal human being
could. Rei and Ami were running with the enhanced speed that being a Sailor
Senshi afforded them, speed which was normally restrained by their civilian
glamor magic. ChibiUsa herself was not running as she would not have been able
to keep up with the other three, instead Ryo was carrying her. Of course one
would have to either very sophisticate sensors or a sense of the supernatural to
know that, as Ryo had reverted to his other self to gain its enhanced speed and
endurance and hence neither he nor ChibiUsa were visible. Unlike the girls, his
human form was completely normal.

Before long, the group arrived at the construction site, which had been set up
near what had once been a park. A park that three demons turned into had turned
into a war zone and where people had died, not just been drained of their
energy. And then not too long ago, Rubeus had unleashed one of his own demons
there. None of them had been very happy having to fight a battle there with the
memory of those who did not survive the first battle. And now it appeared that
Rubeus was even crueler and was disgracing those who had lost there lives a
second time.

Jumping over the fence and into the construction site proper, the three girls
henshin while Ryo returned to his human form. Once in their Sailor forms,
Mercury and Mars began searching the grounds for a hidden demon. Initially
Mercury tried searching the same location where they had found the cracked
crystal that the previous demon had been using to collect energy, but found no
trace of a hidden demon. From there she began searching an ever larger area.

However, after fifteen minutes she still had not found anything. "I don't
understand it. I am sure there should be something here, yet I can't find
anything with my computer."

Rei was also feeling frustrated over having not found the demon, however instead
of letting her frustration get the best of her she tried to comfort Ami, "You're
right Ami-chan, I'm sure there is something here as well. I am getting a general
sense of something not being right. Remember the Sacred Fire does not lie to
you; you have to trust its guidance. As long as you listen to the guidance with
an open and true heart, your interpretation will always lead you to the truth."

"Arigato Rei-chan," Ami replied, thankful for the little pep talk.

Unfortunately a pep talk was not an answer and Ami was soon finding her patience
straining again. <Where is that demon? It has to be here some where.> Sensing
that his girlfriend was beginning to let the unsolvable problem get to her, Ryo
came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. The one thing that could
cut through Ami's gentle demeanor was a problem that she could not solve, so
used she was to being able to solve anything.

"Have faith Ami-chan, I know you'll solve this." Ryo softly said to her.

Ami smiled and felt herself blushing a bit, but then refocused herself on her
task. <I'm just not getting anywhere. There has to be a better way to do this.
But what is it?> As she tried to think of a better way, Ami stopped searching
for the moment, letting her computer drop. <First things first, I need to regain
my focus so that I can concentrate and think straight again.> And with that
thought, Ami closed her eyes and began to try some of the meditation exercises
that Rei had taught her earlier that morning in preparation to for seeking the
Fire's guidance.

As she repeated the exercises, she felt the world around her body disappear, all
except for Ryo who she felt close at hand, his strength giving her guidance. So
oblivious she was becoming to the outside world, she did not notice when she
dropped her computer. No one else seemed to notice either for it just flickered
out of existence as it fell to the ground. Instead, the others had their
attention drawn to the faint pale blue glow that began to be emitted from within
Ami's body. Ryo and ChibiMoon had no idea what to make of it, however somehow
they knew that they should not interfere. Mars could feel the spiritual power
that was present in the aura that Mercury was emitting, but she had no better
idea as to why Ami was emitting it.

As Ami finished her meditations, she opened her eyes to find herself floating in
a pool of pristine spring water. She knew instinctively that the water that
surrounded her was absolutely pure water, for that was the focus of her powers -
fresh water. A distant part of her mind was still routed in reality and sent up
a warning flag over the absolutely pure water, but she also knew that as it was
her element it could not harm her.

Ami remained floating in the body of pure water for many moments just enjoying
the feeling of it as it caressed across her body. However, slowly bit by bit she
started to become more aware of her surroundings. The first thing she felt was a
strong power pulsing from within her body. <That must be my connection to
Mercury> She thought. Letting her hand drift into her chest, she grabbed a hold
of that power and brought it out. Looking down, Ami saw a blue glowing sphere of
energy with some kind of harp contained within it. While she was not one with
much musical talent, she suddenly had a desire to play that harp and she
wondered if it would be possible to remove it from the sphere.

However, she did not get long to ponder how she could extract the harp from her
source of power without disrupting it when she felt something else that grabbed
her attention. Somewhere off in the distance she felt a darkness, something that
did not belong in the water. Reaching out her right hand, she closed it around
some of the water and as she thought about this foreign pollutant in her
pristine water, she realized that the source of the pollutant was 15 degrees off
to her left. Focusing down that direction she could now see the increasing
gradient of pollutant. <Now I've got you.> She thought to herself with a smile
as her world suddenly snapped back to reality. Not showing the usual
disorientation that is associated with transiting from the mind's world to the
real world, Mercury took a step forward.

"Find something Mercury-chan?" Mars asked.

"Hai, the demon is over this way." Mercury replied as she once again summoned
her computer and began scanning as she walked. A minute later the group was
standing over a tree a block away from where the previous demon attack had
occurred.

"Well now that we have found it what should we do?" Ryo asked.

"First we need to check all of the other sites and find the other hidden demons.
Now that I know what I am looking for, I have configured my scanner and the
others should be much easier to find." Mercury said.

"We're not going to destroy this one?" ChibiMoon asked.

"Iie, not yet. We don't know what kind of fail safes Rubeus has built in. If we
destroy one, we might end up activating the rest of the network. In that case
Rubeus will still win. No, what we need to do is take down the whole network at
once. But before we do that we have to find the other demons." Mercury
explained.

"Hai I guess that makes sense." Mars replied. And with that the foursome began
their investigation of all the recent demon attacks.

* * * * * *

A few hours later the group finished revisiting every demon battle since
ChibiUsa had shown up. As Ami had feared, they had found a hidden demon at every
battle, which had involved energy collection since Rubeus and Kaolinite began
acting up. They had investigated every demon attack since ChibiUsa's arrival,
but thankfully only the the smaller subset of attacks had the hidden demons.
Once they had completed their investigation they had called up the others and
told them to come the shrine.

Even though it was still relatively early in the morning and some had to be
woken up, the others quickly arrived at the shrine. Just like with ChibiUsa,
telling that the meeting was a matter of life or death for Usagi instantly
brought them to full alertness and motivated them to quickly come over.

"What is it Ami-chan? I thought we all ready knew the cause of Usagi's illness
conclusively now." Haruka asked, once everyone had arrived and taken a seat.
While the winds whispered to her that there was something more, she tried to
cling to the hope that this was nothing more than Ami puzzling out what Luna had
explained to the smaller group last night.

"Yes that is true, which is why the vision that Ryo-kun explained to me and Rei
this morning is so troubling. As a result of her transformation, Usagi is no
longer able to live without the supplemental energy provided by the energy nexus
that is centered here in Tokyo. It would appear that Rubeus also knows this and
is planning on using this against Usagi."

"How?" Luna asked.

"Those energy collecting attacks over the past weeks were actually decoys for
his real agenda. Along with the demons we fought off, Rubeus was placing a
second dormant energy collector nearby to each of those battle sites. Based on
Ryo's vision he is going to activate them all at once sometime in the next
couple of days." <After a really strange battle.> Ami thought to herself.

"And when the nexus's energy is suddenly contaminated with the energy of Nemesis
and diverted away, the effect will be the same as when you teleported to
America. Except this time you won't have the option of teleporting back."
Setsuna stated, gravely worried about this turn of events, very glad now that
she had not seen an inkling of the danger posed by that teleport to America.

"Hai. If we don't destroy these energy collectors before Rubeus activates them,
then Usagi is dead." Ami stated, while turning to look at Usagi with an
apologetic look. "Gomen nasai Usagi-hime." Ami said softly to Usagi.

The others except for Rei, ChibiUsa, and Ryo all stared at her in shock and then
turned to look at Usagi unsure of what to say or do.

Usagi was not doing much better herself. She was feeling the same jitters that
she had felt the first time she had become Sailor Moon and fought her first
demon and then later when she faced off solo against Jadeite. It was the jitters
that came with knowing that you were about to die and at the same time not
having a strong desire pushing you to be willing to make that ultimate sacrifice
with no regrets. "But now... that you know... you can... you can prevent it... can't
you?" Usagi asked in an uncertain tone.

"Hai, I think we can." Ami replied as Rei moved up beside Usagi who was now
leaning back in Mamoru's arms and placing a comforting arm on the silver haired
girl's shoulder. "The four of us have located each of these hidden energy
collectors. All we need to do is go and take them out."

"Then lets go smash them." Makoto said standing up while summoning her
transformation wand.

"Iie, not yet." Minako replied.

"And why not?" Haruka asked, not happy with being told to wait. She also was all
up for following Makoto on out and doing a little urban renewal at select
locations.

"Rubeus if he was smart would have these tied together so that if we take out
one a fail safe will activate the others. We need to try to take out as many as
possible at once. Ami-chan how many did you say there were." Minako explained.

"Seven."

"In that case we will break into teams of two. Makoto and I will be one team,
Haruka and Michiru will of course be one other, Setsuna and Ami will be the
third and I want Rei, Usagi, ChibiUsa, Urawa and Mamoru to be the fourth team."
The others all looked at her with questioning looks when she listed the final
team, which was definitely not a twosome and furthermore included Usagi. Given
that they were racing to save Usagi's life, the others had each just assumed
that she would remain behind. Seeing the questioning looks on the faces of the
others, Minako elaborated on her final team assignment. "The best place for
Usagi if something should go wrong would be at one of these nexus points, as the
energy she needs to live should be strongest there and hopefully it will be
enough to keep her alive should something go wrong. And I am sure Rei and Urawa
will be able to handle any trap that might be there.

"I guess that does make sense." Rei muttered not quite happy about having Usagi
in a possible battle situation given her condition, but also at the same time
glad that she would be by the side of the silver haired girl the entire time.

<Well at least when it counts it seems she is running on all cylinders.> Haruka
thought, not having been overly impressed with Minako's mental state previously
given her tendency to be a blond ditz. Though Haruka would have agreed that
Minako did at least have a good battle sense and it was more of everyday
situations that were an issue with regard to her mental capacity.

Of course Artemis and Setsuna had expected Minako to come up with a well thought
out plan like this on the fly. For Artemis it was because of his experience with
her as Sailor V, when she didn't have the luxury of relaxing for even just a
moment. In Setsuna's case, it was because of her knowledge of how Venus was back
during the days of the Moon Kingdom and the various military strategies that
Venus would come up with. During those days one of her favorite past times was
to watch the young Sailor Venus engage Mercury in a game of wits with a very
complex military strategy game in which the two were experts. Of course she was
probably one of the few people who could describe those matches as fun to watch
as both players would sometimes spend a week or more planning their next move,
but then when you live for eternity that does not seem like a long time.

And one nice thing that Pluto had discovered to her liking was that each time
through the timeline the strategy the two used would differ slightly resulting
in very different games. Pluto still had not been able to fathom how the
strategy that the two women used in those games would be so sensitive to the
minute fluctuations in the time stream from timeline to timeline, more so than
anything else. In many ways the game was a reverse butterfly effect. Thinking
back to the match the two had finished this time just days before the fall of
the Moon Kingdom, Pluto remembered a gambit that Venus had undertaken, a gambit
that that was utterly different from anything she had done in any previous
timeline. Pluto had seen what Venus was trying to achieve with that gambit and
it was a risky move for a moderate payoff. However when all was said and
resolved, Mercury found her forces completely devastated and was forced to
resign two turns later. That was the first time that particular match had ever
been completed, normally the two players were in a dead heat during the fall or
occasionally Mercury was in a position of strength. But never did Venus ever
hold any real position of strength. Thinking back over that game, Pluto now
realized that she should have seen the omen for what it was - a sever
disturbance in the timeline, the one that she was now trying to smooth out.

"Well then let's get going." Makoto exclaimed moments before her henshin into
Sailor Jupiter, breaking Setsuna out of her thoughts. Seeing the other soldiers
had already summoned their powers, Setsuna did the same and joined them in the
race across town.

* * * * * *

Walking over to the oven, Sakai took a tray of cookies out of the oven. Putting
it down on the counter to cool he glanced up at the clock. Still plenty of time
to finish the rush job on the morning's expedited special order. Heading over
to the cupboards, he took a couple of blocks of chocolate out of them and
returned to his working area. Lighting the stove he placed the two blocks into a
pot, planning on melting them together to get the right mixture of sweetness for
his creation.

Once the chocolate reached the right consistency he took the pot of the flame,
bringing to the work area. Picking up a wooden spoon he began ladling the melted
chocolate over his creation. With the first layer on, he returned the pot to the
stove. Then went over to a small fridge to remove a tray of fruit he had chopped
up earlier. Taking the tray over to the counter, he began placing the fruit in
the still soft chocolate.

Just as he was placing the last strawberry, he heard the door to his shop open.
He wondered what this customer had come to buy, as he did whenever a customer
came in. But he rarely got to meet them, as he was normally back here preparing
custom orders during the day. Not that he minded too much, creating these
deserts was his heart's desire, he just wished there was also time to meet with
the customers more.

This time was to be different though, as this latest customer was apparently
causing some kind of commotion amongst the others currently in his bakery.
Deciding to see what the commotion was about, Sakai turned off the heat on the
stove and left the kitchen. What he saw caused him to stop in his tracks, there
in his bakery were two of those Sailor Senshi. He had seen them on TV and had a
police report that describe an incident that occurred at this bakery shortly
after his opening, though he had no memories of anything that happened that
afternoon (though, the wall that had to be replaced did prove that something had
happened). Seeing that his counter clerks were too stunned to do anything, Sakai
walked out into the lobby area of his bakery and approached the two girls.

"I am Sakai Hiroyuki the owner of this bakery, may I be of assistance to your?"

"I'm Sailor Jupiter and this is Sailor Venus." The warrior outfitted in green
said. "We recently discovered that the enemy who attacked your bakery a while
back left a booby trap in the area. Once the rest of our teammates are in
position we will take it out. Hopefully it won't cause any more trouble for
you."

Sakai did not want a second demon event at his bakery, knowing something like
that would be certain to gives his bakery a haunted reputation. "Of course take
your time and let me take this opportunity to formally give you my thanks for
taking care of that demon attack." Sakai said while bowing deeply to both Sailor
Jupiter and Sailor Venus.

"You're welcome Sakai-san; Sailor Jupiter is a bit of a chef of her own and
under no circumstances would she allow anyone to defile a wonderful bakery such
as yours." Venus said causing both Jupiter and Sakai to blush slightly.

"You know I never got a chance to try any of your work after that incident. I
had been meaning to come in here before that day." Jupiter said as she produced
some bills, deciding that a snack would be a good way to wait while they waited
for every one else to be in position.

"Then let me get you some on the house." Sakai said as he swept behind the
counter. "It is the least I can do after what you two have done for me."

"Arigatoo," Jupiter said as she accepted a couple of cookies and some slices of
bread. Satisfied that they had explained their presence to the last of the shop
owners (the two wanted to reduce, even if just slightly, the chance of
pandemonium erupting), the two headed back outside. Leaning up against the side
of the store front, the two soldiers decided to pass the time by partaking in
their bounty.

Six minutes later the final "all set" message came over their communicators. And
of course it was sent by Sailor Moon's group.

"Minna-chan, I have just set my computer to emit a beep in 2 minutes. When it
does, I want everyone to attack the droid crystal with their strongest attack.
Sailor Moon you probably should start casting your spell now."

"Hai", came the response from all but Sailor Moon who was in the process of
using her scepter.

For Jupiter and Venus, the two of them took up positions on either side of the
large "X" that Mercury had drawn over the hidden droid crystal earlier and began
to let the power of their planets flow into their bodies. In what seemed far
less than two minutes, the high pitched squeal of Mercury's computer came across
their links and the two warriors unleashed their attacks. For Venus it was a
Crescent Beam, which she put all that she had into. For Jupiter her attack was
her Thunder Dragon, which roared as it took form. Eying Venus's Crescent Beam,
it flapped it wings hard and soared over the target to grasp a hold of that
energy beam with its claws, somehow managing to hold onto it as if it were a
solid spear. Then with another mighty flap of its wings, it arced around so that
it was once again facing the ground. Then with a powerful swoosh of its wings,
it pulled them in tight and dived to the ground as the Crescent Beam glowed with
energy before dissolving away to become one with the electricity that made up
the Thunder Dragon. The now golden-blue dragon continued its dive on through
pavement, not stopping till it reached the demon energy and when it did the
energy of the dragon detonated.

To Jupiter and Venus there was but a couple of seconds when their attacks
appeared to have done nothing before a shock wave erupted from under the
pavement. Blown backwards the two landed hard on the ground and were pelted by
debris. Both soldiers just laid on the ground for a few moments trying to figure
out what just happened. Once Jupiter finally began to pick herself up off the
ground, she said, "Now that's different."

"Hai, though didn't Sailor Moon say something similar happened the last time you
and Mars fought here? Maybe there is something special about this place." Venus
said. "But hey, no pain no floss right?" she as she began running to their next
target.

"Yeah, you're right..." Jupiter began to say to Venus's statement, as she took off
after Venus and then just shook her head.

* * * * * *

Across town in a elementary school courtyard, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon,
ChibiMoon, and Tuxedo-Kamen unleashed their own attacks. Ryo stood a distance
away in the shadows, invisible to the naked eye prepared to attack should it
prove to be needed. However, he had no need, as even though ChibiMoon's and
Tuxedo-Kamen's attacks were of no consequence (not even good enough to get
through the floor boards), the spells of Sailor Moon and Mars were sufficient.
As happened with Jupiter, the warded fire phoenix that Mars summoned ignored its
caster's directions and took flight towards Sailor Moon.

The phoenix circled Sailor Moon once as the girl continued her spell and then
with a squawk, it made a sharp turn and plunged into her chest. Mars yelped out
in surprise and fear as she saw her spell change targets and attack Sailor Moon.
But before she focus on the guilt, her attention was drawn by Sailor Moon's
wings suddenly turned red as they ignited in flame and her blue eyes becoming
orange-red balls of flame. Through all this Sailor Moon did not falter in her
motions, apparently oblivious to having been hit by Mars's attack. As she
completed her spell and held her scepter out towards the floorboards, the fire
which was consuming her body lept forward flowing down her arm into her hand and
finally into the wand.

Just as the first crescent moon of her attack was formed at the end of the
scepter, the phoenix flew out of the scepter. Opening its beak, it swollen the
crescent moon. Then as the phoenix continued to be escape from the scepter, Mars
could see that its body was now adorned with crescent moons. Fully released
again, the phoenix this time followed its master's original command and dove
into the ground, instantly incinerating the floor boards in its way. Unable to
withstand the heat of the phoenix and the purifying Moon energy, the droid
crystal was sublimated into nothingness.

"Sailor Moon! Are you okay?" Mars asked in near hysterics.

Even before Sailor Moon had begun to slump to the ground, the faint outline of
Ryo was at her side catching her and then transferring her over to Tuxedo-Kamen.

Opening her eyes as soon as she felt the warmth of Tuxedo-Kamen's arms, Sailor
Moon stood up on her own. Giving a quick smile to the others, she took a few
moments to cough out the smoke which had somehow gotten into her lungs . Then
giving her wings a shake, the ash fell off them revealing them to be okay.
"Watch where you cast that phoenix pyro, you almost roasted me there." She
yelled at Mars, but not in anger.

Realizing that her friend was not hurt and was not upset, Rei responded in her
usual manner. "Well if someone wasn't such a fire magnet, maybe there wouldn't
have been a problem. How was I supposed to know that my phoenix was going to
prefer snacking on you than that droid crystal? Maybe if you weren't such an
odango-atama it wouldn't have thought you were a worse threat than the crystal."

* * * * * *

In another part of town Sailor Neptune and Uranus also faced off against their
target unleashing two large spheres of energy which combined into a single
massive ball of energy before exploding and sending produce everywhere. However,
the droid crystal was also destroyed and the store manager calmed down when
Neptune showed him proof that a demon attack was immanent. Though he did still
mutter under his breath about Sailor Senshi being bad for business and having no
manners.

* * * * * *

A similar seen was replayed for Sailor Mercury and Pluto, though with no
collateral damage. As opposed to Neptune and Uranus, Mercury and Pluto focused
their attacks down to a point so as to avoid damaging any of the merchandise.
And as soon as Mercury was able to confirm that the crystal was destroyed they
were on their way.

Activating her communicator as they ran, she contacted Sailor Moon. "Sailor
Moon, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine Mercury-chan. I only feel the normal drain that I get after
using one of my attacks." Sailor Moon said, hoping that Mercury would stick
with the plan and knowing that it was a good thing that Venus had paired Mars
with her, since Mars would have ended up with her one way or the other.

"Okay then, Minna-chan lets hurry and hit the second round of targets. Don't
wait when you get there, just take it out as soon as you can. It doesn't look
like Rubeus has any kind of safety net set with them, but the sooner they are
destroyed the better."

"Hai." Came the response.

* * * * * *

Mimete walking down a hall, was thinking about Kaolinite and how she was given
the mission of finding the talismans, something that she was far more deserving
of. Kaolinite subsequent failure and death was only further evidence of that
fact. She had expected that once Kaolinite had been eliminated that Rubeus would
have immediately selected her and given her the same enhanced powers that he had
given that worthless Kaolinite. But he had not, and the rumors were that Eudial
was next in line for the mission, who was even less deserving than Kaolinite.

But she tried to put that annoyance out of her mind. She had a plan, a surefire
plan that would show both the professor and Rubeus how valuable she was and
would be sure to get them to notice her. The problem with Kaolinite was that she
just used the Crystal Daimons that the professor supplied her. She never learned
why they failed in combat. However Mimete had reflected on Kaolinite's losses
and realized why the Daimons did not survive. Most of the bounded objects were
not chosen specifically for their ability to kill the Sailor Senshi, heck one of
them was a vacuum cleaner. Nor did the professor try bounding multiple objects.

She on the other hand had thought long and hard on what the needed attributes a
Sailor Senshi exterminator needed to have. The creature would need to be fast,
powerful from both a distance and close and of course smart. To that goal she
had collected a class IV laser, Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," a sheet of titanium,
roller blades, and a martial arts black belt. Now she just needed one more item,
which would be delivered Monday morning, a sniper's outfit, complete with rifle.

Not much longer now and Rubeus and the professor would have to admit to her
genius. Her creature would be perfect in every way. Now in a happy mood, she
continued down the hallway whistling happily, which allowed her thoughts to move
onto the golden key which hung from a simple chain around her neck. She had no
idea what it was, but she did know it was some kind of magical artifact. The
power that the key emitted could be explained no other way.

* * * * * *

<Now that is something that Jean Luc should be studying, not mapping nebula. A
paradox is the way to expand the imagination and there is no better paradox than
a temporal one.> Q thought to himself as he observed the fate of a certain mini
black hole.

"Chibi-Chibi?" asked a voice, starting the omniscient being and causing him to
jump into the air. Landing back on the ground with a racing heart, or what goes
for one for him, Q found a child only a few years old with pink hair standing
before him. "Chibi-Chibi?" the child repeated.

Smiling, Q spoke, "And what brings you here Cosmos? Come to watch the great
Pluto face a future where events don't follow a pre-laid out path?"

In the blink of an eye the child was replaced by a grown woman dressed in a
Sailor Fuku. Her fuku was white except for some yellow at the shoulders and thin
stripes of color along the front of the skirt, though the most noticeable
feature was her white hair and large wings. "Would I really do something like
that?" she asked sweetly

"Yes. Plus you have a bag of popcorn with you." Q replied.

Cosmos had the decency to blush at Q's pointing out the popcorn and said, "You
know me too well Q-chan. By the way how is Diamond's soul doing?"

"The last I heard they transferred his soul into a data cube that would
continuously run the program, a good thing too since Jean Luc managed to wreck
his ship. But don't worry he has a new one that I can play with."

Being reassured that Diamond's soul was still alive, Cosmos smiled. "I would
have hate to have had anything happen to his soul. He was my enemy once, but he
was never really evil. He was just misled by the Death Phantom. At least now he
will get a second chance at life with a different set of memories."

Turning back to the gates, Cosmos observed them for a few moments. "Well the
show is just about get interesting, time for me to go find my seat." Cosmos said
before summoning her staff. Then walking up to the gates, she tapped the base of
the staff into the ground and the gates swung open.

"Mind giving me a hint of the show?" Q asked, wondering what was about to happen
that had drawn Cosmos's attention.

"Sorry you know the rules." Cosmos said. "But I will make sure to tell you all
about it next time I visit. I am sure there is another good story for the
Enterprise crew to act out. Oh, by the way, quack." Cosmos said before
disappearing into the gate.

<Quack? What does she mean by that?> Q asked himself. <Maybe she wants to create
some kind of duck creature. After all it was she who dreamed up the tribbles. Or
maybe a I should curse someone to turn into a duck when they are splashed by
cold water.> The creation of the tribbles was Cosmos's first foray into
meddling, at least that Q knew of. If one thought about it, there was only one
being who could have been their creator, since only she or her daughter could
have conceived of such a creature in the first place and then for even a moment
think that it would be a good idea to bring them into existence, never stopping
to consider the consequences of their rapid rate of proliferation. And since her
daughter did not have the power, it had to be Sailor Cosmos.

While Q was thinking about the tribbles, a second thought crossed his mind.
There was a second meaning to duck and given that Cosmos had just admitted that
things were about to get very interesting for Pluto, well that second meaning
was probably quite important. Shrinking his body to the size of a speck of dust
with a bright flash of light he was just in time to avoid being fried a second
time as the gates swung open to release a massive build up of temporal energy.

Returning to his feet he strode forward to the gate and look into the swirls of
the time stream looking for the source of the temporal discharge. Finding it he
cringed and the kaleidoscope of temporal energy that was swirling around the
point and found that it had enveloped the mini black hole that he had been
observing earlier. <Pluto is really not going to like this.> He thought to
himself. And in an action that some might think to be out of character for him
he thought about contacting Pluto to warn her of the pending issue. However,
that was not an option. With Cosmos in the past in her adult form, she was now
the Time Guardian, not Pluto and hence he could only talk to her. <Well I guess
I will just have to watch the show then.>



End Chapter

Well another chapter concluded. And as seems to be par for the course, the
chapter was primarily written many months ago and then it sat unedited for many
months before I returned to it and finished it. Bad author, bad author, no
biscuit. :) But at least it is now finished. And now I get to write a fun one,
just hope that the muses are with me. And yes you will get to see the final time
traveler next time.
And while you are patiently waiting for my next chapter here are a couple of
very good Sailor Moon Ranma crossovers. "Sailor Ranko" by Fire, then be sure to
read the sequel "Twice in a Millennium" by khammel and the further sequels by
burgerbill including "Tunnel Vision," which makes use of the Terminator
situation (don't be scared off by the cross over). Another very good one is
"Destiny's Child" (which includes some Slayers spells and elements from 3x3
eyes) by Fire as well and for laughs a pure Sailor Moon story is "Red Moon" also
by Fire.
If any of you are perplexed by why a part of Ami's mind was concerned about
perfectly pure water, the reason is that absolutely pure water is extremely
corrosive. Water apparently wants to have a some minimum level of dissolved
containments. If it doesn't have them, then it will strip them off its
container.
Those who have seen the later seasons will recognize the harp that Ami saw as
belonging to her crystal level transformation.
For those who have read the Stars manga, I am using some of its elements with
regard to ChibiChibi. However, the future is not quite as depressing for Cosmos
as it is in the manga.
Sakai is a reference to Hiroyuki Sakai of the show "Iron Chef." He is the French
Iron Chef and also happens to get all the special desert battles, hence why I
choose him to play the chef (though he doesn't really like desert battles).