The Fragility of Time

BOOK TWO: "Falling Towards Apotheosis"

Chapter 23: "Signs and Portents"

Author: etj4Eagle

Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com

http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle

La sted Edited: 1/5/02

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.

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Shadows began to stretch onward to infinity as the sun slowly fell below the horizon. Grandpa Hino took note of evening's arrival and ended his meditations. For the past few hours, he had been in meditation with the fire trying to find out why once again it had faltered. But like before, the fire held its mystery. Leaving the fire room, he walked outside the building.

Breathing in some of the refreshing evening air, he noticed that Rei's chores lay undone. <Where has that child gotten off to, it's not like her to not do her chores. Even when she has her friends over she finishes up her chores first. Better see where she has gotten herself off to.> However, a quick search of the shrine and living quarters did not reveal Rei. He considered that she might still be out with her friends, but dismissed that option. Instead, he entered the woods behind the shrine to continue his search. As the trees fully enclosed him, he began to hear voices in the distance and headed off in that direction.

One of the voices was obviously his granddaughter's; the other unmistakably belonged to Tsukino Usagi's. Though neither the tone nor inflection she currently used seemed suited to that bubbly-headed girl. No, this voice had a seriousness and commanding quality to it that no child could speak with. Though he could not yet make out what she was saying, he could tell that however her voice still carried a sub-message of absolute carrying and love. The warmth of that sub-message was so great, that it couldn't be anybody but Usagi.

Trying to catch at least some of the conversation, not that it was much of one as Usagi was doing all the talking, Grandpa Hino moved closer. As he crept up, he guessed that Usagi had to be reprimanding Rei for something, and obviously not accepting any of the hot spirited girl's excuses. <Odd, never would imagine anyone would be able to do that to Rei. I would expect her to be yelling back, not accepting her reprimand.>

Finally, close enough to make out some words, he heard Usagi mention something about being "…seriously hurt…", "…possibly killed…", and "…won't allow that, no matter what…". Unfortunately, the conversation broke up at that point. Seeing Rei walk his way obviously fuming, he slipped off the trail to hide in the darkness. Now would not be a good time for her to find him spying on her. Her fiery nature was likely seething just below the surface waiting to be unleashed. Anyways, Yuuichirou's singing had been getting a little too frequent lately.

Once his granddaughter had disappeared out of sight, he turned to look up the path the other direction, looking for Usagi. However he did not see her, <strange would have thought she would have begun leaving by now.>

"You know it's a good thing that Rei-chan did not see you." came a voice from behind.

<Well I guess that answer's where Usagi got off to.> he thought as he turned. Though he did wonder how she had found him and furthermore how she had managed to make it behind him unnoticed. Bowing in shame, he fumbled for words.

"Don't worry about it. You were just doing your duty, as she was." Usagi said as she walked past him. He remained where she had found him, as he watched her disappear down the trail. Then just before the darkness of night swallowed her up, she turned and spoke, "I don't know what you heard, but know this. I give you my word that Rei-chan will be fine."

With those words, she vanished into the night. Pondering that final statement he began to walk out of the woods as well. He realized that they applied to those speech fragments that he had overheard. Reaching the open grounds of the shrine and the lights, he noticed that Usagi was nowhere in sight. She had not been that far ahead of him, yet another mystery for his mind to ponder.

A scream and scampering though prevented him from pondering that mystery too much. Turning he saw Yuuichirou rush around the outside of their house, quickly followed by a broom wielding Rei. <Well at least she is letting her steam blow off.>

In a warehouse along the waterfront, three men nervously waited. They may have just pulled off the most daring heist of the centaury, but that did not make them feel any safer. It was not crooks they were afraid of nor was it the police neither bothered them. Rubeus had trained them into soldiers. No, they were scared by what their recent heist's support was. Like many in Tokyo, they had quickly fooled themselves into thinking that the monster attacks were over in the aftermath of Serenity's defeat of Metalia.

But today's events had shattered that illusion. The monsters were back and worse Rubeus apparently was associated with them. They had always known, that Rubeus was more than he appeared. But as long as it remained just suspicions that was okay, but now things were different.

Takeo looked down at his watch. "He's late"

"Actually I'm right on time." Came a voice from behind the three. Turning the three saw nothing. Looking up, their jaws dropped as they saw a red headed figure wearing a brown vest floating in mid air. Dropping to the ground, he approached them. Reaching out a hand, he took the limply offered briefcase. Briefly opening it to check its contents, Rubeus smiled. Jumping back up into the air, he gave one of his trademark evil smiles before vanishing.

Reappearing in the air above the warehouse, Rubeus smiled internally. The day had been a very successful one. The pesky Sailor Soldiers had gotten a nice beating, and he had the gems. Soon the assault on Crystal Tokyo would begin here in the past, and the Sailor Senshi would be defenseless to prevent the destruction of this world.

He looked forward with glee to when he would be able to introduce those warriors to his new and improved hybrid droids. Today's events showed that they were barely able to handle a regular one; the new ones would easily overpower them. Though, Serenity was a problem. She might still be able to easily destroy them; well that was nothing more than a complication. Anyways the Wiseman had mentioned that there might be a way around that as well; something about removing a home field advantage.

A millennium ago, a wave of energy erupted outwards from the moon fueled by its Queen's life energy. Grasping the princess, her love, and the planetary souls in its wake, it sent them into the future to be reborn. And in so doing, it began the final act for the birth of a soul, a star seed unlike any other. Metalia's two attacks on the moon, far from preventing that which Chaos feared, were necessary to bring it about.

One final act still needed to be played out. The soul still needed to be nourished before it could awaken. For that it needed energy, however Metalia's attacks had destroyed the energy web that had sustained the Silver Millennium. However, even if it had not, that energy web would have been of no use, for a soul cannot feed on its own energy. Its nourishment would instead come from that which made Tokyo so attractive to attackers.

The Ginzuishou, waking for the first time ever when Queen Serenity fed it her life force, had collected all the magic energy of the Earth and shifted the manna pools to lie beneath the future city of Tokyo. There the magic would be able to help its other half, and give its fragmented self the energy it would need to contain the Shadow Warrior souls.

Scattered around Tokyo lay a few dozen "Crystal Points," focal points of the vast manna that lay beneath the city. Much as waking the system's planets and tying their energy together in the Ginzuishou created the Moon Kingdom of the past, these Crystal Points would give rise to Crystal Tokyo. Polluting these points with dark energy would not only prevent the formation of Crystal Tokyo, they might even starve the soul of its nourishment, killing it.

Wrapped in the mists of time and space, the Death Phantom contemplated his predicament. The isolation gave him plenty of time to meditate and plan for his return. At least now, he no longer had to worry about putting up a façade for Prince Diamond. At least that imbecile had been easily manipulated.

One problem remained however, the Messiah. He was easily able to feel her presence by the residual energy that she had left on Rubeus. But she was also not yet awake, that was clear by Rubeus's continued existence. If she had been awake during the battle with Metalia, his tool would be no more. Unfortunately, he did not know how much longer he had. The awakening process had begun, and every moment and every battle brought her closer to awakening to her true powers. He had to slow her down.

A plan forming in his mind, he began searching for the mind of Rubeus on the dream plane. At the same time, he turned his thoughts to the other problem, the professor. Tomoe was just a tad bit too idealistic, but that would not be hard to take care of, a little persuasion and energy boost would take care of that.

Closing the door behind himself, Tomoe removed his hat and hung it on the coat rack. His coat soon followed the hat and then he bent down to remove his shoes. Standing back up he moved only a few feet before being thrown back towards the door by an energetic bundle of energy.

"Papa!" Hotaru cried as she threw herself into his arms.

Looking down at his daughter, the professor smiled, "I take it you had a good day at school."

"Hai!" replied the youngster, "Especially since I now get to see ChibiUsa-chan everyday."

"Oh? ChibiUsa-chan also goes to your school? That's a wonderful stroke of good luck." The professor replied as he put his daughter down on the ground and began walking to the dinning room. "You are not having any troubles are you?"

Hotaru vigorously shook her head no. "Nope, haven't had any of my illness since that one day at the amusement park. I have also been keeping my strength up."

"That last part is definitely true. She has been a ball of energy these past few days." Eudial added as she brought out the dinner for the professor. Then turning to Hotaru she continued, "Hotaru you can talk with your dad for a bit but then it is up to bed."

"Hai." Was the little girl's reply.

"So tell me what you are learning at school." Tomoe suggested to his daughter.

Hotaru had stayed down to talk with her father for ten minutes before giving into her need for sleep and heading off to bed. An hour later found the professor putting down his book and following suit. He was glad that he was able to make it home early enough tonight to see his daughter before she headed off to bed. It was one aspect of his chosen career that he did not care for, the long nights, which often kept him from his daughter. That of course was the reason why she had been in the lab during the accident in the first place. Eudial did keep him updated with how Hotaru was doing, but it was not the same as actually being there for her and at least being able to tuck her into bed at night.

But as much as he wished that he did not have to spend all these late nights, they now were directly for her benefit. Only by finishing the project would Hotaru finally be free of the demon that had possessed her on the day of the accident. He remembered picking up her broken lifeless body and holding it in his arms. Tears running down his eyes for the loss, he should have known better than to have let her be in the lab while he was running his experiments. But in a foolish attempt to see more of his daughter, he had been in the habit of selfishly bringing her to his lab.

He remembered how happy he was when he had discovered that his daughter was still clinging onto a sliver of life. Somehow, she had managed to find enough strength to open her eyes and give a silent cry of "Papa" and wrap her arms around his neck. Later after she was released from the hospital, he created a set of mechanized braces to augment her fragile body. Amazingly, her body had healed at an incredible rate, the doctors had been doubtful that she would ever walk again, but she was up on her feet within a week.

She no longer needed those original braces, her bones and muscles having their full strength back. But, they had not yet recovered their stamina. As such, she still wore a more discreet set, which she further hid by her choice of garments, to avoid tiring out so quickly. This set was in some ways a pride of joy of his, as it was able to adjust from providing no aid to near complete support just by sensing how her muscles were doing.

Unfortunately, other symptoms had begun to manifest themselves soon after she was healthy enough to return to school. She started developing spasms that would severely rack her body and soon after that, she began having blackouts and their accompanying moments of dark personality. Shortly after that, he had to remove her from school, as the rest of the children were deathly scared of her. He still remembered the horror he felt that day when he was told she had broken the arm and collarbone of one of the boys in her class. But now, that man Rubeus offered a possible way to remove those incidents from happening ever again, a way to undo his mistake. With those thoughts in his mind professor Tomoe dropped off to sleep.

The Death Phantom crackled from where he drifted in his prison. Summoning some of his energy, he had pried into the world to look in on the professor. And things were far better than he could have asked for. It would be no problem to take care of the fool's inhibitions. Summoning more of his black magic, the demon sought the sleeping mind of the professor while at the same time creating some appropriate scenery for his "guest."

Professor Tomoe gradually became aware of his surroundings. Glancing around he found himself to be standing on a cliff over looking the Pacific Ocean, the waves playing against the base. Turning around he found a figured cloaked in a robe. The man, whom he assumed to be quite aged, sat floating half a meter off the ground and held a dark crystal ball in front of his body.

"Who are you?" Tomoe asked.

"You know me as the Wiseman." The robed figure replied. Then lifting his head to catch the eyes of his guest, the Death Phantom continued. "I am but a servant, a being providing support to freedom fighters, allowing them to fight a war that they would otherwise loose.

"The mechanical-magical creatures that they use are a necessity due to their small number. In your lifetime your world order will be turned on its head as a monarch comes to rule the entire planet." The Death Phantom paused as Tomoe regarded him doubtfully. "Trust me it will happen, and even if your nation-states had tried to oppose her, there would be nothing they could do, her warriors easily outclass them."

"You are talking of the Sailor Senshi" Tomoe concluded.

"Yes, their princess will soon reclaim her lost throne. However, the rule will be forever, for she will not age nor die. At first humanity will prosper under her rule, and it will bring the end of wars. But after a few centuries, things will begin to stagnant, and after a thousand years, she will still be on the throne. A thousand years of stagnation can doom a race.

"With the world yearning for change, a group of freedom fighters will take up the challenge. But they will fail and for their actions they will be banished to the far fringes of the solar system, finding refuge on a Kuiper Belt object. There I will find them and then preceded to train and provided them with powers that they would need to face her warriors. However, even that will be/was insufficient. Not even the creation of the Droid crystals could give them victory. Only one thing could bring about the revolution, the change that the people of Earth so desperately yearned for, the queen's own daughter.

"If we could open the eyes of the child, then the people of the earth would have a chance. However, the queen banished her own daughter to the past. In the past, the child's powers would wither out and isolated from the Ginzuishou she would age and die as normal and thereby pose no threat to the queen. But thankfully, I was still able to find the child. Here in the past the child has seen all that she needs to see, just by being here her eyes have opened. Now we just need to find her and return her to the future to allow her powers to awaken."

Having finished his little speech, the Death Phantom allowed Tomoe's mind return to the dream plane. Smiling to himself, he knew that they would no longer have to worry about the professor's loyalties. He would know understand why they had to use monsters to carry out their operations, and would understand that dark times lay for humanity's future if they did not free the Wiseman. Of course, the dark energy that he had been channeling into the professor during the conversation would keep the fool from puzzling out the inconsistencies in the story.

Now there was but one task left, a complication that needed to be taken care of, Serenity. But he had a theory on how he could eliminate her as a threat. Crystal Tokyo was a mere manifestation of her powers. Hence, what posed a threat to one should be a threat to the other, especially in her current state, which had to be drawing a lot of power. It looked like Rubeus was going to be searching out those Crystal Points after all.

Mamoru slowly ate his lunch while thinking about the battle the previous day. He had not arrived in time to save his love from getting seriously hurt by that creature. Of course there was no way he could have known that another demon would pull a surprise attack on the Senshi as they were traveling towards the art gallery. It was mere coincidence that Usagi happened to be in the same place as that droid.

He just wished that he understood these attacks of Rubeus. Every one seemed to be unrelated with the others. The only common factor was that the droids appeared to be attempting to create as much damage as possible. He had talk to Ami a few times about the situation, and she hadn't been able to figure out anything either with her analysis. They knew Rubeus was looking for the Ginzuishou and ChibiUsa, however that warrior did not make his presence known when he attacked, a very different tactic than those of the Dark Kingdom's generals.

Finishing up his lunch, he left the café.

Enjoying her Saturday, Natsumi walked down the street. She was on her way to spend the afternoon at the mall. She might be an alien, but in some ways, she was quickly finding herself going native. If asked to give a reason, she would have to say that it was the same energy that had drawn the two of them here. While its intensity had dropped off significantly since they arrived, it was still there in the background, just at the right level to make her feel warm and loved by this planet.

Smelling something delicious, Natsumi stopped at a sidewalk vender to get a snack, even though all her nourishment came from the tree. Paying for the treat, she stood a few meters away while she ate her snack. Reveling in the flavors and textures that assaulted her senses, she let her eyes wonder up and down the street. For one of the few times not searching for targets, but instead just enjoying the planet she found herself on.

A man wearing a green jacket drew her attention and for some reason held it as he walked past. Then without thought she began to follow him down the street. She had to admit that he did have good looks and if she did not have Ail, she might have even considered chasing after this earthling. Even still, she could not break herself off from him and still followed.

There was something else about him that she felt as well. Something that made her feel safe, that made her forget her troubles. If she had him, then she would not have to worry about the Tree of Life. Focused as she was on his very attributes, she did not notice when he stopped walking and instead ran into him.

Picking herself off the ground, "Gomen-nasai, I guess I was not paying attention to where I was walking." Natsumi offered. And then quickly moving to pounce on her target she added, "I am Ginga Natsumi, what's your name?"

A cry of "Mamo-chan!" prevented Mamoru from answering. To Ann's disgust, that same girl she had seen Ail with the other day appeared from out of the crowd and proceeded to latch herself onto the green-jacketed man.

As Usagi became attached to Mamoru's arm, she sent him a look that told him he had some explaining to do. Feeling the insecurity begin to radiate across their bond he proceeded to head it off. One major advantage of their soul bond he had to admit was its ability to keep him from being too much of a dunce. "Usako this is Ginga Natsumi, with the streets as busy as they are she ended up accidentally bumping into me."

The insecurity reassured Usagi's attitude took a 180. Letting go of Mamoru, she stepped towards the other girl and greeted her warmly. "Natsumi you must be Seijuurou's sister. I am glad to meet you and hope that you are finding your move to Tokyo to be of your liking. I am Tsukino Usagi, but you can just call me Usagi-chan."

Having introduced herself, her mind once again jumped tracks and Usagi began pulling Mamoru away. As Mamoru found himself being dragged down the street, he managed to partially turn around to say bye to Natsumi before disappearing into the crowds.

<Wow what a hunk.> was Natsumi's first thought. Her second thought was much darker. That little minx not only has Mamoru, but also is going after her Ail. Deciding to continue her trip down the street, Ann's thoughts alternated between needing to keep Usagi away from her love and ways in which she could pry Chiba-san away from that girl.

Rubeus left the offices of a well-kept office building in the heart of the business district. His meeting had gone well, his "superiors" were quite surprised when he gave them the case of gems. All of the necessary equipment was now lined up and paid for. In but a few weeks the Wiseman would be released from his prison, and the mayhem could begin again.

Passing by the shops on the road, he suddenly felt a chill go through his body. Stopping he walked back to where he had felt the chill to investigate. Examining the area he smiled, he had stumbled upon a Crystal Point. This was just what he needed to weaken Serenity. Pulling out one of the crystals, he remembered his meeting with the Wiseman on the dream plane the previous night.

While Serenity was quite a formidable foe with the immense powers she had recently acquired, they also severely handicapped her. Those powers were a sever drain on her system and she consequently needed to draw vast amounts of energy to sustain herself. Pollute those sources and she would falter, and as an added bonus, they would be able to use that energy themselves.

Taking the crystal, he dropped it to the ground. The area around where it hit glowed black for a few moments before returning to normal. The crystal would release its energy later, all of the sites activating at once. The sudden energy drain might even be enough to kill that witch.

Getting ready to leave, his desire to cause some mayhem gave him an idea. Pulling out a perfectly fine droid crystal, he left a parting gift. Moving up to the rooftop, Rubeus found himself a good seat to watch the pending festivities. The droid crystal activated releasing a demon that kind of resembled a baker. However, within moments, its form had change to be no different than any human baker. Now disguised the droid walked into the bakery. There inside it found the real baker and upon neutralizing her, took her place. Now in control of the bakery, it began making special versions of the day's treats, one's that would pollute the energy of any who ate them, thereby capturing this point for the Dark Moon.

Humming to herself, Makoto walked down the street doing her best to ignore her two companions. As was their norm, Usagi and Rei were deeply involved in an argument, one that had been going strong for the past few city blocks. Shaking her head, she did have to admit that while it might not look like it, those two had matured a lot in the past few months, Usagi especially.

Unlike when those two first met, these matches no longer ended in hurt feelings. Oh, Usagi would still wail about "Rei being so mean to her," but that was more for show than anything else. In some ways, she supposed those two argued to let the other know how much they cared for each other. In which case today's fight was to let each other know that things were still okay between them after last night's reprimand.

Looking ahead, Makoto noticed a sign in the window of one of the shops. Looking down she asked her companion, "ChibiUsa-chan, you up for some cookies." while pointing out the shop ahead.

"Hai!" the other girl replied. Not that the answer to that question was ever in doubt. Walking a few more steps she asked, "Mako-chan do you think we should tell them about it."

Makoto thought about that for a moment before replying. "Iie, I don't think so. If they are too lost in their little argument to notice us going into the bakery, it's their loss. Anyways we could probably do with a little quiet time."

ChibiUsa replied only with a knowing smile. And so, the two girls left the street to go to try some of the free cookie samples. What they found inside amazed Makoto, she was expecting a tray with one or maybe two different cookie lines on it. Instead, a couple of tables were set up with massive amounts of treats on them. Looking past them, Makoto further saw the store employees bringing out more trays of goodies. <Well this is definitely not, what I expected. Don't see how they can expect to make any money if they are just giving away the food. They must have a new head baker who wants to let everyone see how his recipes differed from the previous one.> Satisfied with her reasoning, Makoto looked at the offerings and selected a brownie to try.

Seeing some other treats she would also like to try, Makoto placed them on her plate as well. Sighting ChibiUsa who had already found a place at one of the tables, she went to join her. Sitting down she had to sigh as saw the massive plate of goodies that ChibiUsa had with her and then another one after sighting a second plate, which was already empty. "ChibiUsa-chan you do know that you need to leave room for dinner tonight."

"Hai," the other girl replied as she continued to wolf through her food. Makoto could only shake her head.

"What do you think you are doing spore, hogging all these goodies for yourself!" came an irate yell from behind Makoto.

"Well sweats should only be for someone who is sweat like me, not a ditz like you." ChibiUsa replied.

"You're not sweat, you're just an annoying spore." Usagi replied while grabbing a handful of cookies off ChibiUsa's plate.

"Hey those are mine!" ChibiUsa yelled as Usagi swiped her treats.

"Watch it Odango-atama, try to keep your crumbs off the rest of us." Rei added to the brewing fight.

Makoto just hung her head and quietly tried to make her way away from those three. <Guess I was a bit premature in saying that they had matured. Give them an opportunity and they will let their IQ drop to that of a two year old.> But then after thinking about it a bit more, Makoto decided that she much preferred this to the way those three, and the rest of them were a few weeks ago, at least now they were sufficiently at ease with everything again that they could act like two year olds.

Noticing a freshly baked batch of cookies being laid out, Makoto went to grab one. She had not yet had the opportunity to try any of them yet, as she had still been in shock over how quickly ChibiUsa had devoured her first plate of goodies when that argument had started up. ChibiUsa and Usagi had metabolisms that were the envy of every woman on the planet, able to burn through any amount of food.

Taking a bite of the cookie, her face turned sour. <Bleh, this tastes like a cheap discount cookie, not a high quality bakery cookie. Maybe it was just from a bad batch.> After tossing the remains of her first cookie, Makoto decided to try some of the other ones. However, each one had the same off taste to her. Looking around she realized she was the only one who could tell that something was wrong with the cookie. Even that food critic there in the corner seemed to enjoying the desserts.

Not knowing why she didn't like the cookies, Makoto decided to get some water to wash that foul taste out of her mouth. In the back of the store was a water cooler, and so she headed there. Grabbing a paper cup of water, she refilled it three times before she had sufficiently rinsed out her mouth. <I must just have a rare sensitivity to something this new baker uses. Probably the same ingredient, which has apparently hooked everyone else here.>

Noticing the kitchen door to be ajar, Makoto decided to take a peak in. Maybe she could get the baker to tell her what he had added to the cookies. Even though she didn't want to know for her own use, it would be good to know so that she could avoid it if she ever came across it in a recipe.

"Hello?" the auburn girl called as she stepped into kitchen. Taking in the kitchen, her gaze came up short when she saw a person tied up with rope lying on the floor. "Huh?" she wondered.

"What a shame now I am going to have to kill you." Came a voice from behind her.

Quickly spinning while jumping backwards, Makoto came face to face with the baker's double. However, this one radiated darkness, a darkness that each of the Senshi had come to associate with the demons they faced. The association was unfortunately proven correct when the form in front of her blurred and became a nasty looking demon. One of the demon's arms was a rolling pin, while the other was a very long chef's knife.

<Show time.> the soldier of Jupiter thought. "I think you might be mistaken about, which one is not going to be walking out of here at the end. Jupiter Star Power, Make-Up!" she cried out as her the energy of her planet awoke in her and exploded outward.

"Sweats are supposed to bring smiles to people's faces, not drain their energy. For perverting this wonderful gift that we call cookies I will punish you. I am Sailor Moon and in the name of the moon, I will punish you." A voice called from the door.

Looking past the demon, Jupiter saw Mars and ChibiMoon flanking Serenity. In response to the questioning look that Jupiter threw them, Mars added, "Everyone outside just passed out from a sudden energy drain."

<Well time to take out this trash.> thought Jupiter as threw a ball of lighting into the creature, blowing it a nice distance backwards. Unfortunately, it recovered quickly and retaliated by sending out large clumps of dough. Jupiter managed to dodge most of that dough. Unfortunately, the small clump that managed to snag her wrist yanked her off her feet. A wall abruptly ended her flight backwards. Recovering her wits, Jupiter attempted to leave the wall. However, she found that clump of dough to be holding her arm fast to the wall. The dough had upon hitting the wall instantly hardened into a cookie restraint. <Just great done in by food.> the Thunder Senshi thought to herself.

Though on how the others were doing, she did have to admit she had gotten off lucky. Usagi was by far worse off, those wings were not meant for dodging something as sloppy as cookie dough. While it didn't look like any actually got on the Moon Senshi, her wings were utterly covered in it, consequently she was cocooned.

For the moment, Mars and ChibiMoon had remained dessert free. Some quick fireballs from Mars had burnt that cookie dough to a crisp, and ChibiMoon was using her mother as a very convenient shield. From her hiding place, ChibiMoon managed to get an attack with her wand to work, and like every other time that it actually worked the demon's complete attention was now utterly focused on that child.

Which gave Mars just the opportunity she needed. Without hesitation, the raven-haired warrior unleashed a Burning Mandela attack. The rings of fire arced in on their target, and then suddenly were batted out of the way by the rolling pin. While very crude thoughts ran through the priestess's mind, the droid advanced on her. Backing up she thought about trying another fireball, or maybe one of her wards.

A series of explosions behind her, threw Rei to the ground. Rolling and quickly getting up to her knees she saw a red haired warrior floating in mid air. "Rubeus." She guessed.

"Very good Sailor Mars. Now be a good Senshi and die." With that, he released another wave of his black energy spheres. Leaping to the side, Mars dodged the attack, and was quickly back on her feet. Sizing up the situation, she realized that she was in quite a bit of trouble. The odds were not with her right now it was two against one. That last attack had caught ChibiMoon and she was out of it. She might be able to hold off against either Rubeus or that demon until the others could get here, but there was no way she could hold out against both of them at the same time.

Rubeus smiled from where he floated. He could easily eliminate Sailor Mars right now, but he had no illusions of living if he did that. While Serenity was good and trapped right now, the anger over the loss of her friend would magnify her strength many fold. No instead, he could only play with Sailor Mars for now. Silently he wondered when that clown Tuxedo-Kamen would arrive.

The droid advanced on Mars, its sword arm now in an attack position. Mars gulped a bit when she saw the blade. However, a flash of red and a shriek of pain signaled the arrival of help.

"Two against one, those are not fair odds. How about I even things up a bit." Tuxedo-Kamen stated from where he stood a top a stove.

Mars gave him a smile of thanks as she watched two more roses fly from his hands. Turning back to her two threats she saw the reason for the shriek of pain. The first rose had shattered that extra large chef knife the droid had for an arm.

With Serenity now released from her trap, Rubeus decided that now might be a very good time to leave. "You may have won this round Sailors, but Tokyo of the past like Crystal Tokyo will fall to us. We will have the rabbit." Rubeus taunted before vanishing.

Freed from her prison, Jupiter caught the eye Mars. No one made threats at their princess or ChibiUsa. Taking their anger out on the only element of the Dark Moon remaining, the two unleashed simultaneous attacks: Mars a fire phoenix and Jupiter her thunder dragon. Quickly flying across the small space of the kitchen the two elementals beasts slammed into the demon, ramming it back into a wall and then through it.

"Oops," was all the two Senshi could say, as they gasped at the hole they had made in the wall. However, the spells were not finished, instead the two creatures began preparing for a second pass. This time as the Thunder Dragon approached, it raised its claws while its massive mouth opened to take a bite out of the droid. Not to be out done, the Fire Phoenix had also brought its talons up into an attack position.

From the sidelines, Serenity dropped her hands down to cover the eyes of ChibiMoon as the two elemental creatures viscously tore into the demon. In a matter of moments, only a pile of dust remained. Both Jupiter and Mars wore stunned expressions, as nothing like that had ever happened before. Their elemental creatures were just a magic spell, just an attack that happened to take the form of a creature. They weren't alive were they? But before either could ponder those questions for much time, they both passed out.

"Mako-chan, Rei-chan!" Serenity cried out as she raced to her fallen comrades. As the two Senshi fell, their protective Senshi magic gave way to their civilian forms. Catching them both, she held them in her arms.

"Mamma what's wrong with them? Are they going to be okay?" asked the child warrior, as she came up by Sailor Moon.

Serenity closed her eyes while she let her senses touch each of the two fallen Senshi in term. Opening her eyes, with a relieved expression, she answered her daughter's question, "They will be fine. They are just drained. Whatever they did with that last attack, they aren't ready for." Sailor Moon replied as she laid the two warriors down on the ground. Placing a hand on each one's chest, she concentrated for a moment, allowing some of her energy to flow into them. Making a decision she placed blocks over the memory of that last spell. It was far too dangerous for either of them to use at this time. They were lucky that the droid was relatively weak, having been hurt by Tuxedo-Kamen. They would have been seriously hurt if their beasts had needed to take a third pass at the droid. As a final act, she recreated the protective magic that took the form of their Senshi uniform.

Sitting back from having been leaning over them, she watched as their eyes opened a moment later. "Ow, did any one get the number of that truck?" Jupiter groggily asked as she attempted to sit up.

"No time for that." Serenity replied, "We need to get going, before they start asking us questions about those holes in the wall."

The two recovering soldiers looked at one of the holes she was talking about and vaguely remembered their final attack knocking the creature through it. "Guess those attacks were a bit much." The two replied with slightly red cheeks. And with that, the warriors left the bakery, never knowing that they had missed something.

Later as the weekend day became night, Rubeus returned to the battle site. Looking at the store, he saw the hole that his droid had left when Mars and Jupiter had knocked it through the wall. The shop's owner had hung a sheet of plastic up over the hole to protect the inside from any foul weather. But he was not interested in any sight seeing.

Moving down to the ground he walked up to the building. Kneeling down on the ground he checked on the other crystal he had left. Satisfied that it was still in one piece he left. <Soon we will have all the energy that we need.>

Shortly after Rubeus left the streets of Tokyo, another figure walked out into the night from nowhere. <It looks like they were able to handle this threat with not too much trouble. Feels like it was a regular droid, but I probably should check to make sure. Something here does not feel right. I know that I have felt that energy before, but the fog of being in the timestream is hiding it from me.>

Summoning her time staff, she called upon her powers of time. With the Garnet Orb shining bright, she began casting a spell, a spell that did not always worked. It would work if she was meant to know that which she seeked. With a final glow, the energy finished building and the light of the orb became steady. The orb shone a violet glow over the area, but what it illuminated was not the present but the past.

Walking inside of the deserted shop, she watched the battle as it had occurred. <So that is how that hole in the wall got there.> she thought as she watched Mars and Jupiter knock the droid through the wall with their attacks. However, her mood turned sour as she saw that the elemental attacks had not dissipated after the attack. But instead were coming around for a second pass.

Knowledge coming to her mind, Pluto abruptly spun on her heals, the spell breaking. With deliberate but quick steps she left the site of the battle. Shifting from her Senshi form to her Setsuna guise, the Guardian of time knew where she had to head. While never at a run, the pace of the ever-proper warrior was quite fast.

The sound of someone knocking at the door caused Ikuko to look up from where she was wiping down the kitchen counters. <Hmm, I wonder who that could be at this time of night?> Quickly rinsing off her hands she went to answer the door.

"Sorry for disturbing you at this time of night Tsukino-san, but I must speak with the princess. It is of utmost importance."

"Hai, Setsuna-san. Usagi is up in her room doing her homework." When Setsuna gave her an unbelieving look, Ikuko added "Well that is what she is supposed to be doing. Who knows what exactly she is doing."

The green haired lady smiled at that, knowing how much Serenity hated doing work in either of her lives. Instead, the princess had a very carefree heart and in many ways was the complete opposite of commander Serenity who had founded the colony, which would in time become the Silver Millennium. But that was of course why the first Serenity was only the basis from which the Ginzuishou worked and not the final product as this Serenity was.

Thanking Ikuko, Setsuna headed up the stairs to the second floor. Finding, Usagi's room she knocked and then entered. There at her desk Usagi sat doodling, the school books of course stacked neatly and untouched to one side. ChibiUsa lay on the bed reading.

"Princess I need to speak with you about today's battle." Pluto said while letting her form shift back.

"ChibiUsa could you read downstairs with my dad for a while?" Usagi asked her daughter.

ChibiUsa looked up to complain, but a look at her mother's eyes and seeing Pluto in her Senshi Fuku made her decide otherwise. Realizing the seriousness of whatever Pluto needed to talk to her mother about, ChibiUsa nodded her add in assent while saying, "Hai."

"That's a good girl." Usagi replied while giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead before showing the child out of the room. Then turning the Moon Princess addressed her visitor. "It is about Mars and Jupiter isn't it?"

"How did you know?" the startled Pluto asked. <This is not good. If she knows, then they might know as well and then...> Pluto shuddered at that final thought.

"The final spell those two cast was different this time. They both cast their creature spells, but this time they were not one shot deals. The two spirits knocked the droid through the wall, severely hurting it. Then they came around for another pass before finally disappearing with it as they killed it.

"Both of them were badly drained by casting those spells. If the droid had not already been weakened, they would have died. My Senshi may be nearly immortal, but that is only because the energy of their planet sustains them. Drain it by taking too lethal of a blow or by casting too powerful of a spell and the result is the same, they die as there is no energy left to feed their soul. It is what happened to my mother at the end of the Silver Millennium when she used the power of the Ginzuishou, as the spell took all of her energy to cast and unlike the Senshi, she did not have a planet providing her with an energy supply.

"As it was, the only reason they were able to walk away from the battle was because I gave them some of my energy. Otherwise, they would have been in a coma like state for a couple of days. I placed a memory block to make the memories of what happened fuzzy and I told ChibiMoon and Tuxedo-Kamen to never mention what they saw."

<Well that is at least some good news. Only she really knows what happened, well her, Small Lady, and Endymion. The Senshi don't, and that is what matters the most.> Pluto thought. "When the Senshi truly become one with the planet each of them will be able to create an Elemental Familiar. The creature will be energy, created by magic, summoned into existence and then disappeared. But the creature will also be living; it will be a reflection of the true nature of its Senshi.

"However, that level of power will not be needed by your warriors for a long time. Your reign as monarch of Crystal Tokyo will begin and then be passed onto your daughter before an evil comes that requires that power. Till it is needed, do not allow the Senshi to awaken their familiars."

Having said what needed to be said, Pluto made to leave the room. Usagi nodded in agreement, accepting the guidance of the one who knew all time. However, her curiosity was peaked. What could scare Pluto enough, that she did not want these familiars awakened? Oh, Pluto tried to hide it, but Usagi could easily sense how frightened that warrior was. "Pluto if I may ask, why?"

"Minako." was all that Pluto said before leaving the room.

<What does Minako have to do with anything? She is just cheery and at times a bit hyper, even during the Silver Millennium she was the same. Though she might actually have been a bit more extreme in being a little off that way.> Usagi thought trying to puzzle out the riddle of Pluto's answer. <"…it will be a reflection of the true nature of the its Senshi."> Usagi remembered one of Pluto's statements and then suddenly everything became clear. Her face went white as she realized the horror that would be unleashed on them when this happened, now beginning to understand the depths of Pluto's fright.-End Chapter 23

End Notes: -Yeah another chapter done, unfortunately I won't be able to promise anything better than probably a chapter every six weeks. While when the muse does favor me, I can write quite a bit at a time, it still takes a while to edit that all into a good story (the one disadvantage of long chapters) -For Pluto's sanity you won't be seeing the elemental familiars in this book, could you imagine the horror that would befall the world should a creature of pure concentrated Minako be unleashed. :) -While I have always been available for messaging on AIM (etj4eagle) I have now changed clients to Trillian. This means nothing for those using AIM, but means that if you use Yahoo, MSN, and soon ICQ (once I dig out my member number), you can message me as well. For Yahoo I am also etj4Eagle and MSN it is etj4Eagle@yahoo.com Finally there is a IM client out there that with one interface works with all the various messaging services.