FicWad

There was light--light so blinding that Tokimo had to shield her eyes.

Then the light dimmed; a white garden spread out before her. The castle of a strange kingdom sparkled dazzlingly against apainfully bright sky. Was it the Moon Kingdom? No--it wasn't like the pictures she had seen before...this castle was taller, and its spires cut majestically into the sky. Long, fragile arches spread out on either side of the castle's walls like the legs of a spider. The flowers in the garden were the most peculiar Tokimo had ever seen: arainbow of flower-shaped crystals that rested lightly on green stems. Each one looked like a brightly colored version of the Silver Crystal.

And then, the castle exploded. The crystals shattered as turbulent winds ripped through them. A black castle, its walls covered in a swirling, inky texture, replaced the brilliant spires of the white one. The strange new castle rose up in daggers of darkened, putridly colored quartz. It was a gross parody of Crystal Tokyo. Was this the work of Black Moon Family? She shuddered at the bizarre, fang-like spires that loomed from the now-barren soil.

Though I hold a mysterious destiny,
I'm still wondering to where I will struggle on,
being led by the moon

Listening to a gentle lullaby, I think just a little of the past
It's full of mistakes and sorrow, but since
You are here, I won't regret it

Though I'm under the pink moon,
I need an even stronger comfort
Even if I make only mistakes,
Say, "I love you," okay?

Tsuki ni michibikarete doko ni tadoritsuku to mada kangaete iru
Yasashige na lullaby kiite kako wo sukoshi dake omou
Machigai mo hiai mo ippai dakedo anata ga iru kara
Koukai-shinai

Pink-iro no tsuki no shita ni iru kedo
Motto tsuyoi nagusame ga iru no
Tatoe ayamachi dake shitemo
I love you tte itte ne
Though I hold a mysterious destiny,
I'm still wondering to where I will struggle on,
being led by the moon

Moon Senshi: Unmei no Kodomo

Episode One:

"A Long Awaited Nightmare"

Tokimo woke up with a jump. What kind of a nightmare was that? No matter. It was her first day of school in Crystal Tokyo, and no freaky dream was going to ruin it. This was the chance to finally get away from the crowded, ocean-locked streets of Shiwaumi and into afreely spreading city on the land. She had been stuck out in the middle of the Pacific on a floating island, where there was no one especially interesting to talk to and certainly nowhere interesting to go--unless you liked hanging out with sharks. Thank god all that had finally changed with her father's transfer. Crystal Tokyo, the city of opportunity! It was the coolest place to be in 3014; only natural, since it was Queen Serenity's home town. City. Whatever.

Tokimo yawned lazily as she got up. Excitedly thinking of the day ahead, she peeled off her pajamas and took her shower; then she brushed her long, silky black hair--her mommy told her it was the prettiest in Shiwaumi--with her purple sparkly hairbrush. When she had finished all this, she glanced nonchalantly at the clock. School started at eight o'clock, and it was seven forty-five right now....

"CRAP!" she cried, gaping at the clock, "I'm gonna be late!" This wasn't a good way to start off her first day of school, Tokimo knew--but it was okay; If she ran most of the way, she'd probably still be there in plenty of time. It was a good thing she kept in good shape on her healthy breakfast of strawberry Pop-tarts. She ate the non-frosted kind, she thought proudly.

For most girls, the first day of high school was something both exciting and scary. Seeing as Tokimo wasn't afraid of much of anything, it was just exciting for her. She couldn't help but grin when she saw that her school was conveniently located across the street from a line of cool little stores; the plush animal shop was especially hard to resist taking a detour for. But what good was shopping without someone to shop with? She looked towards the group of students ahead of her, hoping to find a friendly-looking face.

Peering ahead of her, one hand shading her eyes, Tokimo saw aconspicuous group of five girls and a guy. One girl was extremely short with bright, sugar pink hair tied up in two bunny ears. Tokimo noticed how similar it was to the Crown Princess's hair; she wasn't sure whether that meant she was a big fan or Sailor Pinkmoon in disguise. She hoped it was Sailor Pinkmoon; imagine going to school with a celebrity! The four other girls had green, pink, red and light blue hair--practically a rainbow. The boy, who was incredibly short--almost girly-looking, too--had white hair and red eyes. These royal look-alikes were a bit much to be a coincidence, Tokimo decided; but then, there must be some kind of stupid law against sending the Crown Princess to an ordinary high school. She wanted to investigate this further, but felt it was better saved for an hour or two later when she had already made three or four friends to investigate with.

So Tokimo looked on--and soon she saw the most peculiar thing yet. A girl with dark hair was walking ahead; instead of the usual knee socks, she wore long, black tights. She walked all alone, mournfully moving toward school step by step. Her head was bowed and her stance was melancholy and bent over. If she was lonely, Tokimo thought, why wasn't she talking to anyone? There were all these people about--there was no reason to just stand all alone. Tokimo shrugged and ran ahead; she wouldn't be alone for long.

"Hello!" Tokimo said cheerfully, hoping to liven up the strange girl.

"Hello," said the girl quietly. Glancing uncomfortably in Tokimo's direction, she absentmindedly brushed her fingers through one of the two long strips of hair that fell down in front of her ears. These strips were longer than the rest of the girl's hair--apparently the hairdresser had missed a spot, Tokimo surmised.

"My name's Tokimo Joshi!" Tokimo continued happily, "And I'm a freshman. But I'm new in Crystal Tokyo, you see. I don't know anyone. Mind if I tag along?"

"No," the girl said indifferently. Tokimo looked at her, as if expecting something. The girl looked back at her, an expression of puzzlement on her face.

A few seconds later, comprehension dawned. "Oh! I'm, err, Yamiko. Yamiko Hoshino. I'm a freshman, too..." she replied, her nearly white complexion contrasting sharply against her now pink cheeks.

"Hey, look over there, Yami." Tokimo pointed towards the girl with the sugar pink hair.

"Don't call me Yami," Yamiko replied in annoyance. Tokimo shrugged.

"Anyway, Yamiko, look over there. Doesn't that look a bit odd?"

"A bit odd?" Yamiko replied, her cold blue eyes staring blankly in confusion. "Well, it's a lot of people with brightly colored hair, if that's what you mean..."

"No, no, not just that! I mean, look. The head one's got pink hair, and the other five--red, pink, blue, green. And then the boy. What do they remind you of, Yamiko?" Tokimo said, trying to sound suspenseful.

"Umm... clowns?" Yamiko suggested.

"No, no, no! They look like The Crown Princess and her posse, don't they?" Tokimo explained excitedly.

Yamiko looked at the group and raised her eyebrows in surprise."You have a point," she conceded. But why--" She stopped mid-sentence and shook her head in bewilderment. Then, turning her face away from Tokimo, she resumed her stern demeanor.

"Hmm?" Tokimo said.

"Okay, what do you want?" Yamiko said, looking at her with suspicion.

"Well..." Tokimo looked down at the ground and furrowed her brows in concentration. "Let's see. I'd like the next volume of Margaret comic anthology... you know, the big one they put out every week? And then I could use the next graphic novel of Peaches and Cream, and I'd like a new plushie--one of a bunny. I love bunnies. What's your favorite animal?"

Yamiko just stared in bewilderment. Tokimo stared back for amoment before continuing. "But, then, I don't think you want to buy me anything yet, do you? I mean, we just became friends, and my birthday isn't for another eight months." Tokimo had thought Yamiko's question was strange, but then, she had heard that Japanese people were really polite and very organized. Maybe they liked to know these things ahead of time.

"Your birthday?"

"Yeah. November 4th, 3000. When's yours?" Tokimo asked.

"November 4th, 2998." Yamiko mumbled. Her expression was so blank that she seemed almost zombie-like.

"Wow, what a weird coincidence! Our birthday is on the same day!" Tokimo replied excitedly.

"What?" Yamiko replied, snapped out of her daze by Tokimo's enthusiastic response.

"You know... November 4th. We've got the same birthday," Tokimo repeated, frowning unhappily. "Well, I thought it was cool, anyway."

Yamiko frowned and turned her head down toward the sidewalk."That's weird," she half-mumbled. "You're not like aScorpio at all. You're more of a Gemini..."

Tokimo blinked. There was an awkward pause.

"Oh!" she cried out as comprehension dawned on her face."My zodiac! Yeah... I guess. So, would you like to go shopping after school today?" Maybe Yamiko just needed to feel included in something. She certainly wasn't warming up to her so far.

"Umm..." Yamiko turned away again; she seemed uncomfortable at the suggestion.

"Ahh, that's too bad," Tokimo replied. Maybe she didn't like shopping? "Well, we could go to my house. I have a ton of graphic novels! Er, maybe you don't like comics, either? My dad has some normal books..."

Yamiko sighed in resignation. "Okay. I guess reading sounds all right....you obviously aren't going to leave me alone until Iagree to participate in something."

Yamiko's first class was English. She always thought that it was odd that everyone still learned English when Japanese was the official language of the world. But when she was young, her mother had told her that English was the standard second language before the queen's reign, and so--along with Japanese--everyone in the world still learned it now. The queen, in fact, was one of the few people who hadn't properly learned to speak it. Yamiko had to wonder at the competency of a ruler who wasn't even bilingual.

Tokimo grinned at her from across the room. Yamiko smiled weakly back; she wasn't yet sure whether Tokimo's attention was a blessing or a curse, and her half-hearted smile reflected her half-hearted enthusiasm.

Tokimo's concentration, however, was quickly distracted. Apparently, the young, pink-haired girl who Tokimo had sworn was the Crown Princess was in their English class. Yamiko could feel herself turn bright red as Tokimo glared at the girl and her five friends in the most conspicuous manner possible.

"Look, He--Hiroshi," the girl said to the white-haired boy, "Don't worry about my going to high school. I already have plenty of experience--remember, I used to hang out with high schoolers all the time when I was little. Besides, if Usagi made it through high school, I certainly can."

"I suppose you have a point--even if I ignore your lack of respect for your mother in her youth--but I can't help thinking we all look a bit... conspicuous, you know? Someone might notice, Usako."

"Tch," the girl with red hair replied, "We're disguised perfectly. Why would anyone notice?"

Tokimo couldn't help giggling. One of the Sailor Quartet had quite loudly and openly admitted to being in disguise! Tokimo's suspicions had been right.

"Not so loud, Akiko!" Hiroshi scolded. "And anyway, I have an ominous feeling. I think there's... well, I'll tell you about it later. Someone might be eavesdropping."

Hiroshi glanced over at Tokimo, whose heart promptly skipped abeat. The look hadn't been friendly; did he know she was spying on them? Tokimo paused and regained her cool. There's no way he could have noticed, she decided. No one would ever notice Tokimo Joshi, master spy.

Tokimo soon ran out of time to ponder her possible predicament, however, as the door to the classroom abruptly opened and their teacher stepped through. Looking down at her watch, Tokimo just now realized that their teacher had been almost ten minutes late; the students around Tokimo abruptly stopped murmuring and looked up at their teacher.

He was huge. He was easily the tallest guy that Tokimo had ever seen, and she had seen a lot of guys before. He wasn't Japanese or Shiwaumian, either; he had pale skin and black hair, and his eyes, though brown, were definitely western. Most intimidating of all about the teacher, however, was the huge scar that ran from the top of his forehead to the side of his cheek. The students looked nervously at each other, then back toward their new teacher.

"Good afternoon," he told the class in a deep, baritone voice. His accent was strange. "Welcome to Freshman English. My name is Erik vonDarkmoor. Please, call me Erik. Seeing as all of you are--at least according to your middle school curriculum's'requirements--already fluent in English, we will be examining literary classics of the language. Please pass along a syllabus." He took a huge stack of papers and handed them to a student at the head of the rightmost row of seats. "Before I begin, are there any questions?"

Tokimo's hand immediately shot up.

"Yes?" he asked apathetically.

"Where are you from?" Tokimo asked eagerly. This guy was some obviously some kind of weirdo, and Tokimo was determined to find out what kind.

"I'm from Germany. Any other questions?" He replied. The class began whispering again; Germany was an unusual place to emigrate from. Most foreigners were either from an English-speaking country or a poor, developing nation.

One of Usako's companions raised their hand; the girl with fuchsia hair. Erik nodded for her to continue.

"You don't have the textbook listed on the syllabus." She told him matter-of-factly, seeming to revel in his oversight.

"We don't use a textbook in this class. As I told you earlier, we'll be learning advanced English through the texts we read." He responded. The girl seemed miffed that she had been wrong. Erik just frowned back disapprovingly.

After that, the lesson continued on more or less uneventfully. Tokimo, who had previously been so excited, began to become a little disappointed; schools in Crystal Tokyo weren't any more interesting than schools on the ocean, except that they evidently had cold, dark and brooding teachers. She yawned. Maybe things would turn up at lunch, when she would launch her ingenious spy plan.

Helios was having difficulty adjusting to the whole concept of'school'. Lady Serenity seemed excited enough about it; she kept talking about all these weird things, like ice cream shops and malls. But adjusting was a small sacrifice to pay to spend every day with her; he had spent a thousand years waiting on Elysion for the day when he could meet Lady Serenity again, and dealing with the oddities of his new life on Earth were a insignificant price to pay.

Now it was time for lunch. Helios hadn't eaten very much on Elysion; it was unusual for him to eat at all, because he was usually praying or conversing with Maenads, the shrine maidens of Elysion. He wasn't quite sure what to expect.

"Come on, Hiroshi," Usako said to him, taking his hand and calling him by his code name, "We'll sit down by this tree; see, it's in the shade. That way your skin won't get burned."

"My skin won't get burned, anyway," he said defensively, blushing.

"I think your skin is already burning, even under the shade," The girl with green hair replied. She was Sailor Juno, but at school, she was known as Natsuko.

"Ah, see, it's already turned red," Akiko--also known as Sailor Vesta--replied.

Tokimo watched all of this exchange with great interest from the side of a flowerbed a few feet away. Yamiko had somehow managed to get suckered into eating lunch with her and going on this "spy mission", something which still irked her.

"Why are we spying on these people?" Yamiko asked in annoyance. Tokimo giggled and smirked mischievously at her.

"Because that's the princess! And see, there's Helios," she said, beginning to point, "and Sailor Vesta, Juno, Pallas and Ceres."

"Why do we care if they are? Is it really any of our business?"

"Of course it is," Tokimo said with certainty.

"And how do you figure that?" Yamiko snapped.

"Because I want to know what they're up to."

Yamiko sighed in frustration. The six people that Tokimo had honed in on like some kind of trained falcon seemed like ordinary teenagers to Yamiko--with the exception, of course, of their oddly colored hair.

"But anyway," Usako said, taking a bite of her sticky rice ball, "What was all that about an ominous feeling? And someone eavesdropping?"

"Yeah," The girl with light blue hair replied. Sailor Pallas was calling herself Fuyuko. "Why would anyone be interested in us?"

Hiroshi shrugged. "I'm not sure anyone would. But..." he looked around. Was that odd girl still spying? She was still hanging around--he could see her sitting by a flowerbed--but she seemed to be more interested in her lunch and her conversation with another black-haired girl from class.

"But...?" The girl with fuchsia hair repeated. She was Sailor Ceres; her code name was Haruko. She was looking anxiously toward Hiroshi.

"Well... I'm getting weird auras nearby. Those of a sailor senshi." Hiroshi told them anxiously.

"A Sailor Senshi?" Akiko responded skeptically. "Aren't you just feeling our auras?"

"No, I could tell if it was us. Different senshi give off different auras; these are something foreign." He informed her.

"Could it be someone from another star system, like the Starlights'?" Haruko suggested.

"I don't think so...they generally feel different if they aren't from around here."

Usako sighed. "It's probably just one of the planetary senshi. Mama was probably being overanxious and sent Minako to school to keep an eye on us or something. I bet you anything she's floating around disguised as a teacher."

"Maybe..." Hiroshi replied, apprehensive.

Tokimo turned excitedly to Yamiko; she was eating pickles absent-mindedly with a pair of long, black, Chinese-style chopsticks.

"Guess what I just found out," Tokimo whispered animatedly.

"Yes...?" Yamiko said, sighing as she placed another pickle in her mouth.

"There's a new Senshi somewhere!" she continued happily.

"A new Senshi...?" Yamiko raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah! I heard those guys talking, and Helios--the one calling himself Hiroshi--he said that he could feel a new aura. Not one of the normal Senshi! And all the Asteroids and Sailor Pinkmoon, they seemed really excited to hear that. And I figure, if we can find the new Senshi first, we'll be heroes, and the queen will--"

Yamiko had heard enough. Tokimo was inevitably going to use Yamiko as part of this apparently ingenious plan to become famous. And as nice as Tokimo seemed, Yamiko wasn't interested. She just wanted to be left alone; to be able to sit somewhere where she could lose herself in her thoughts and forget what had happened. Yamiko purposefully packed up her lunch, stood up, and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Tokimo asked, anxious and confused.

"I'm leaving. This is nuts. I should be in the library or something, looking for a new recipe... I don't know. But frankly, Idon't care about the Sailor Senshi or the queen. I just want to be left alone," Yamiko said, her back still turned to Tokimo.

"A recipe?" Tokimo replied, ignoring most of what Yamiko had said. "What for?"

"Huh? Well... I don't know. I like cooking, so I was thinking of going to the library this afternoon and taking out a cookbook on some kind of ethnic food..." Yamiko replied, caught off guard by the sudden question.

"Wow! That's amazing. My family has never been able to cook. They always make instant food. Instant curry, instant ramen, instant udon...." Tokimo touched the tips of her fingers as she listed them. "Sometimes my mom can bake stuff, but that's pretty rare. Anyway, you could teach me how to cook. You could come cook at my house! My parents would love you. Maybe you could even teach them how to cook better," she said enthusiastically, grabbing Yamiko's hand and heading toward the library.

"Uhh... sure." Yamiko replied, helpless as Tokimo pulled her along.

When Tokimo got out of school and began walking home with Yamiko, she felt like the day had been a successful one. Now she had a quest to go on; she could find out who this mysterious new Senshi was and hang out with the important people at the palace. And Yamiko, though kinda grumpy, seemed pretty nice. She walked sullenly alongside Tokimo and stared apathetically at the sparkling sidewalk of ground crystal.

"Hey!" Tokimo shouted. Yamiko flinched and looked up at Tokimo. "I just thought of something. Do your parents know you're coming to my house? Is that okay with them?"

Yamiko looked a little taken aback by the question. Then she just looked sheepishly down at the pavement. "Don't worry, it's not aproblem," she mumbled.

"You sure? 'Cause if I were them, I might be worried..."

"They won't be worried."

"Huh? Why not?" Tokimo persisted.

"Because--er--because they're on an extended business trip. Year-long," Yamiko lied. Hopefully, she would be able to get rid of Tokimo before a year went by.

"Oh. Well, that's taken care of, then," Tokimo replied happily. "But who are you living with right now?"

"Myself," Yamiko replied, "Though my sister comes up to see me on her school vacations."

"Your sister? What's her name?"

"Sayoko. She goes to college in Osaka."

"Cool. Well, I'll have to meet your sister sometime, too. Can she cook, too?"

Yamiko tried to surpress a giggle. Sayoko was probably the worst cook in the world; her repertoire consisted of instant ramen and coffee, which was most of what she lived off of in college. "No," she responded, "Sayoko is a horrible cook."

"Just like me!" Tokimo said cheerfully. Yamiko did notice some similarities between Tokimo and her sister; they were both bouncy, friendly, and exceedingly obnoxious. Sayoko, however, had a lot more common sense.

"So, Yamiko, what are we going to cook when we go to my house?"

"I don't know," Yamiko said, pausing to think."Maybe--huh?"

Yamiko stopped speaking abruptly as she looked ahead in wonder. Curious to see what Yamiko was looking at, Tokimo scooted over towards the left and stood directly in front of Yamiko, imitating her gaze as closely as possible. And then she saw it; some fuzzy animal, long and tan and skinny. Tokimo stepped back aside and looked at Yamiko, befuddled.

"What is that?" Tokimo inquired, pointing at the creature. "It looks like a fuzzy hot dog."

Yamiko couldn’t help but laugh at this; Tokimo smiled victoriously. She had already gotten this gloomy girl to laugh twice in the past five minutes, and her smile count was going up all the time.

"No, no, I think it's some kind of weasel....We'll have to go up and see."

The two walked towards the fuzzy creature, which didn't show any indication that it was going to run away. And the closer they got, the more peculiar the creature seemed; it had a sort of prismatic disc on its forehead, not unlike those of Queen Serenitys' feline advisors. Even more strangely, perhaps, was the large piece of paper spread out on the ground that it seemed to be looking down at intently.

Approaching the creature, Tokimo looked at the strange piece of paper. It looked like a digital map, only on a piece of paper; the sight confused her. Tokimo looked at Yamiko in the hope of an explanation.

"It's a map," Yamiko replied, "Of Tokyo. They used to make them on paper, you know. Sometimes they still do."

Tokimo's face suddenly lit up; it was as though she had finally comprehended some philosophical musing.

"Umm... Tokimo..." Yamiko said to her, an uneasy look on her face, "what exactly are you--"

Tokimo didn't wait for her to finish. She jumped up to the poor terrified creature and it's map and planted herself Indian-style on the sidewalk. Then she pulled her face down so it was even with the little creature. Yamiko just looked on in bewilderment.

"Hey," Tokimo said to the creature, "What'cha looking for?"

The poor thing almost died of a heart attack. After breathing for a moment, it glared back at Tokimo indignantly and pointed an angry claw in her direction. "For the sake of Sol!" The animal replied, "I've been looking for you all day! These stupid maps, they're next to impossible to read, and so hard to find, and Icertainly can't use those little computers--I don't have fingers! And just when I've almost had enough of looking for you all, you just pop up in front of my face--literally--as if you knew I was here all along!"

Tokimo's nonchalant expression was all that kept Yamiko from being uttely convinced that she gone completely insane.

"Hey," Tokimo continued, ignoring the creature's response, "I know where the new senshi is!"

The ferret looked at Tokimo with an exasperated expression. "Are you joking?"

"No," Tokimo began, "Because I heard Helios talking at my school, and he said he felt senshi nearby! So I figure they've got to be around here somewhere."

The creature shook his head in frustration. "What are your names?" he asked, looking at the two girls.

"My name's Tokimo Joshi. I'm 14 years old, and my blood type is... well, I don't know it. I think my Zodiac is Scorpio, or at least, that's what Yamiko told me. And I like muffins. Especially blueberry muffins."

"Umm... I'm Yamiko. Yamiko Hoshino."

"Right," the creature replied, "Well, telling me you know where a senshi is is like a bad joke."

"Why?" Tokimo asked.

"Because, Tokimo, you and Yamiko are senshi. And I've been looking all day for you," he explained, folding up the paper map awkwardly.

Upon hearing the creature's news, Tokimo jumped about three feet in the air and held up an arm up in victory. "I'm gonna be asen-shi! I'm gonna be a sen-shi! I'm gonna be a--"

"I'm going to be sick..." Yamiko interjected, her face pale and her voice hollow.

"So what are you, anyway, little furry hot-dog creature?" Tokimo asked jubilantly, kneeling downward and placing her hands on her knees.

"Hot dog creature?" the animal repeated, full of disdain, "I am not a hot dog creature! I'm a ferret!"

"Oh, okay. Whatever. So what's your name?" Tokimo asked.

"It's... ummm..." the ferret paused. "Well, to be honest, I haven't got one."

"You haven't? Er, don't? But all mascots need a name! It can be... let's see... I know, we'll call you Kouken!"

"Kouken?" Yamiko raised an eyebrow. "You're just calling him 'guardian?' Can't you think of a real name?"

"Well, it sounds cute, doesn't it?"

"Er--I guess so..." Yamiko replied.

"Then it's settled. So what kind of powers do we get?" Tokimo asked.

Kouken cleared his throat at this point. The streets and buildings around Tokimo and Yamiko began to vanish; they blurred and dissipated until it appeared that the girls were standing on nothing, looking into the darkness of a starless space. Yamiko turned around and gazed in fear and wonder; it was a miracle that she didn't faint outright.

In front of Yamiko, a glimmering circle began to take shape. It was a brooch; the same design as the queen's very first transformation brooch, except that it was black and silver instead of gold and pink. Tokimo's followed the same pattern, save for the fact that hers was purple and black.

"These are your brooches," the voice of Kouken began; his body was not visible. "Your transformation phrase is your moon, followed by 'prism power, make up.' Your attacks will come to you when the time is right."

"When the time is right?" Yamiko asked, puzzled. The black, vacuum-like space disappeared and they were back on the sidewalk; people continued to walk by them nonchalantly as though they had never disappeared, but the brooches were still there in their hands.

Tokimo was completely immersed in the novelty of the situation. She turned her brooch over and over, admiring the shining black, purple and burgundy gems that circled the perimeter of the brooch. After inspecting it, she looked down at Kouken, who was equally immersed in inspecting his nails.

"Hey, Kouken," she began, "What Senshi are we, anyway?"

"Errr..." Kouken mumbled, looking to the side sheepishly, "Well, I don't know, exactly. I imagine you'll know once you transform."

Yamiko raised an eyebrow. "You don't know? What kind of aguardian are you, anyway? How are we supposed to transform when we don't know what we belong to?" she asked skeptically.

"Well, I do know this with much with certainty; you belong to a moon somewhere in this solar system."

"A moon?" Tokimo repeated. "Like Sailor Moon? Is that why we have brooches in the same design as Sailor Moon's?"

"Sailor Moon?" Kouken frowned; he looked confused. "How can there be a Sailor Moon? All the moons have proper names. Charon, Titan, Ganymede, Luna..." Kouken's expression changed to one of distaste as he uttered the last of the names.

"Luna?" Yamiko said. Luna...That was the Latin name for the Moon. But that was thousands of years ago; even during the Silver Millenium, the Moon was not known as Luna. And Yamiko knew that no other moon was known by that name.

"Maybe he means Sailor Moon's guardian...that cat thing." Tokimo offered helpfully.

"Luna is the Latin word for the Moon. The earth's moon, that is. But no one calls it that anymore." Yamiko informed Tokimo.

"What, has that woman taken to calling Luna 'the Moon?'" Kouken asked. "How conceited. But it doesn't surprise me; much else cannot be expected of someone so corrupt."

Tokimo and Yamiko looked at each other in confusion. He couldn't mean Serenity, the great savior and the Messiah?

"What do you mean?" Yamiko asked, looking around to see if anyone was listening in. While the Queen herself guaranteed free speech, the Queen was extremely popular--quite literally worshiped by many--and Yamiko did not want to be at the wrong end of a religious fanatic's fury.

"Queen Diana, of Luna. The tyrant who destroyed the Rainbow Millennium."

"The Rainbow Millennium?" Tokimo and Yamiko asked, perplexed.

"It seems that things have changed since then even more than I expected. It may have been 4,000 years ago, but there should still be some records."

Tokimo raised her eyebrows. 4,000 years ago! She was getting herself in deep. She grinned in excitement.

"But if you've never heard of it, that must mean that everything was destroyed. Bad news indeed; though, on the bright side, your reincarnation will come as even more of a surprise. That, at least, we can use to our advantage."

"Okay," Yamiko interjected, a bit annoyed, "Could you please explain what the hell is going on? What is the Rainbow Millennium? Who is Queen Diana? And why are you calling the Moon Luna?"

Kouken sighed. "Well, this all happened 4,000 years ago. During this time there was an era known as the Rainbow Millennium; it was a time of great prosperity and power. You see, even now this solar system--or Sol, as it is often called--is the most powerful in the universe, at least that anyone knows of. And the reason it is so strong is because of the three powers."

"Aren't the three powers Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask, and Helios of the holy land Elysion?" Yamiko asked.

"I suppose, if Luna has gone to calling itself the Moon--but those are only the three powers of Earth. During the Rainbow Millennium, however, every planet had three powers. There was apriest and his holy land, a senshi for the planet, and then there were the many senshi of the moons. Each senshi also had a crystal, just like Sailor Moon's Silver Crystal."

"They all had crystals?" Yamiko exclaimed. "But the Silver Crystal is massively powerful! It can blow away an entire solar system! If each moon in the solar system had a crystal--and that must be over 70--then...."

"That's right. No one touched us; we were invincible. We were known as the Rainbow Millennium because of our crystals, which included almost every color, tint and shade in the spectrum."

"But if we could blow up the universe," Tokimo asked,"then how come all the moons are gone now?"

"Ah, you see, this is where Luna comes in." Kouken told Tokimo. "Because Queen Diana's oracle, Neherenia, made aprophecy."

"Neherenia....haven't I heard that name before?" Tokimo asked Yamiko, who put her hand on her forehead in exasperation.

"Neherenia was the leader of the Dead Moon Circus, who predicted the downfall of the Silver Millennium at the time of Neo Queen Serenity's birth. She was a sort of criminal that Serenity banished to the dark side of the Moon--the side facing away from the Earth, that is."

"Wow, you know a lot of history, Yamiko," Tokimo said in wonder. "Where did you learn all that?"

"Sixth grade history, Tokimo," Yamiko said with a sigh.

"Oh. Okay. Anyway, keep going, Kouken."

"Anyway," Kouken continued on, "Neherenia made the prophecy that Luna would be the only moon left in power in the solar system, and that Diana would rule over all the planets. Most importantly, Neherenia prophesied that anyone who opposed Diana would perish. The Planets, fearing what would happen to them, joined Luna; Neherenia was the most powerful oracle in the solar system, and the planets knew that nothing she had predicted had failed to come true. But the other moons, valuing their independence from Diana above the safety of their homes, refused to join her. Of course, as you already know, breaking up the three powers renders the crystals useless. The moons stood no chance. Diana destroyed them all."

"What about the priests?" Yamiko asked.

"No one knows what happened to them. They just disappeared, around the time of the war," Kouken replied.

Tokimo could feel a headache coming on. There was so much that it was hard to take in all at once...a psycho Queen Serenity and a war, a bunch of priests like Helios...but it looked like she played a part in this, so she decided that she'd at least try to understand it. She looked at the glimmering brooch again; there was a thin seam on the side. Prying it open with her fingernails, Tokimo noticed that she could open up her senshi brooch in the same way that Sailor Moon could. Inside of this locket-like opening there was a large, empty hole and a complex design of swirling ribbons. "Hey," Tokimo said, pointing to the hole, "What's this for?"

"That's where your crystal would go, if you still had one." Kouken responded.

"Oo! When are we gonna get 'em?"

"Never, presumably," Kouken irritably informed her,"Seeing as your priests are gone, and you certainly won't be getting along with the planetary Senshi."

Yamiko grabbed the edges of her sleeves nervously as she felt ashiver snake down her spine. She thought she knew where this was headed. "Why not?"

"Because you'll be fighting them, of course. That's the whole objective; you're going to kill Sailor Moon."

"Huh?" Tokimo shouted. Yamiko glanced at Tokimo warningly. "But I thought Sailor Moon was the good guy," Tokimo continued, this time more quietly."why are we trying to kill her?"

"Well, there are multiple reasons. The first reason, of course, is for revenge. She killed you, not to mention your family, your lovers, and your friends. That may not affect you right now, as you don't remember any of those people, but you will; and when you do, you will hate her with a passion. Killing her will seem appealing."

Yamiko cringed. She didn't know the queen, but she had kept them alive and safe from all the threat of Chaos and united the Sailor Senshi against a common cause. She was the Messiah, for Serenity's sake! And she had the Silver Crystal. Yamiko's stomach turned with the thought of trying to kill her.

"What are the other reasons?" Tokimo asked.

"Ah, you see, Diana knew she wasn't going to be a very popular queen. People were already pressuring her to have a daughter, and she knew it was because they wanted her off the throne and out of commission. Eventually, she gave into the pressure, and had adaughter--Queen Serenity, Neo Queen Serenity's mother. Then Queen had Neherenia place a curse on the Silver Crystal. Every fourth generation, her consciousness will be reborn in Sailor Moon," Kouken explained.

"Huh?" Tokimo asked, her face blank.

"Errr.. how can I explain this so it's clearer? Well... Queen Diana had a daughter, Queen Serenity. Then Queen Serenity had adaughter, Neo Queen Serenity. Neo Queen Serenity had Usagi Small Lady Serenity. And Usagi Small Lady Serenity..."

"...Will have Queen Diana." Yamiko interjected, finishing Kouken's sentence.

"But... I thought Queen Diana died a long time ago. How can Lady Serenity have her as a kid?"

"Because it won't be Queen Diana herself. It will just be her consciousness, her memories. Queen Diana's memories will awaken in Lady Serenity's daughter, and the next Sailor Moon will inherit the personality of Diana. With Diana once again on the throne, another reign of oppression and hatred will begin," Kouken clarified.

"So in other words," Yamiko said dejectedly, "We have to kill Sailor Moon, or rather, Sailor Pinkmoon, so that Diana won't become queen again."

"Yes," Kouken replied authoritatively. "But you make it sound like that's a bad thing. You're only doing what you have to do--no, you're doing what's right. You're protecting the world from Queen Diana and restoring honor to the names of your kindred."

Tokimo, grinning enthusiastically, held out a sign of victory with her fingers. "This is so cool!" she said, dropping her hand. "Just like a story out of my comics. We're going to be Sailor Senshi, fight evil, and restore honor to our kindred! This is gonna be awesome! Right, Yamiko?" she turned to Yamiko, her eyes practically glittering.

Yamiko was silent. She didn't know what to think. Tokimo might have looked at this as one big adventure, as fighting to do the right thing, but Yamiko saw it for what it really was: murder. They were going to be the worst murderers of the century. And worse yet, they were fighting against the only Senshi left with a crystal. How could they possibly hope to win when Sailor Pinkmoon could blow away an entire planet in the blink of an eye?

No; Yamiko wasn't stupid enough to go on a fool's errand."Kouken...I can't do this."

"Hm?" Kouken responded somewhat sleepily.

"I can't kill Sailor Pinkmoon. It's crazy. We don't stand achance, and it's not right, anyway. I quit. Keep your locket." Yamiko said firmly, throwing her locket to the ferret's feet. Then she turned around and walked away.

Tokimo and Kouken just stood there for a moment before turning toward each other. Kouken gave Tokimo an expectant look; Tokimo could tell he wanted her to go after Yamiko and convince her to fight. And Kouken's view was only logical; after all, Tokimo thought to herself, being a Senshi isn't like being in the military. You don't sign up or quit. You don't have a choice. It was one of those destiny things they told you about in cartoons.

Tokimo started running after Yamiko, waving her arms and calling her name. Yamiko didn't stop or even look behind her--she just kept walking. Before long, however, Tokimo caught up to her. Grabbing her wrist to keep her from moving, Tokimo panted for a few minutes to regain her breath; Yamiko's eyes widened in surprise as she struggled against Tokimo's strong grip. Despite Yamiko's attempts to get away and Tokimo's own battle to regain her composure, Yamiko wasn't able to wrench herself from Tokimo's hand.

"Wait... up," Tokimo gasped.

"What do you want? Leave me alone," she said angrily, struggling. "Don't you take a hint? I want you to leave me alone!" she cried, continuing to tug against Tokimo's hold.

"No," Tokimo continued, catching her breath. "No, Idon't take a hint, and I'm not leaving you alone. You're a Senshi now, Yamiko. You don't get a choice. You can't quit. I don't know if you've read history or whatever, or comic books, or seen any cartoons...but if you have, you know, like Sailor Moon, that you have a destiny to follow. You can't fight it."

Yamiko stopped struggling. She looked down at Tokimo; Tokimo was almost a foot shorter than her. But even though she was much taller and much smarter than Tokimo, Tokimo was projected an aura of strength and determination that momentarily dwarfed her. Where was the giggling fool? Now Yamiko felt foolish.

"I don't want to be a Senshi." Yamiko replied dully.

"Well, that's okay," Tokimo responded, more cheerfully this time, "Usagi didn't want to be a Senshi, either. But in the end, she didn't regret it. After all, in Galaxy Cauldron, she had the choice to start over. And she didn't. Instead, she kept her memories and continued being Eternal Sailor Moon."

"I thought you didn't pay attention in history." Yamiko replied.

"Well, my seventh grade teacher was better than my sixth," she smiled, taking Yamiko's other wrist. "So come on, Yamiko, let's go my house and you'll teach me how to cook! It'll be great!" she started shaking Yamiko's wrists vigorously;Yamiko just gave her an annoyed look back. "And then, when we've finished cooking, you can sleep over, and we can tell stories about...umm...stuff. And tomorrow, we can kill Sailor Pinkmoon during lunch; we have to, you know, so we might as well get it over with. And then we can find someone really villainous to fight. We'll be the heroes!" Tokimo shouted. Yamiko just shook her head.

"Whatever you say, Tokimo..." she replied soothingly. Before, Tokimo's spastic attitude had merely been annoying. Now it began to take a darker, more twisted turn; her carefree attitude about killing Sailor Pinkmoon was unsettling. It was almost as if she thought she really was in a comic book.

Tokimo started walking back toward Kouken, who was looking expectantly toward them. Together, they all set off for Tokimo's house, a mere block and a half away. As they set off, Yamiko was filled with a growing sense of dread.

It was going to be an interesting day tomorrow.

"--steria..." a voice called out in darkness."Asteria..."

Queen Nikkal looked lovingly down at her daughter. Princess Asteria was only five now--the darkness of Phoebe hadn't even touched her brilliant smile. But she was growing fast.

"Yes, mother?" she asked, looking happily up at her.

"I want you to have this. It's your brooch, so that you can turn into Sailor Phoebe. Use it well, Asteria. I believe you will become a great queen someday."

The image of Nikkal... screaming behind metal bars. Screaming, pounding, her fist smeared with blood...

"Someday..."

A light. Silence. A soldier in purple. Aglaive....Water...water, everywhere...

"...day..."

Yamiko's eyes flashed open and basked in the sight of Tokimo's brightly illuminated room. She was alive....It was just a nightmare. Just a nightmare. She shivered slightly as she felt her hair, still damp.

--But that had happened in the dream....! She looked around and saw a smiling Tokimo with a large metal bucket in her hands.

"You're finally awake! I thought you'd never get up. Me and Kouken had to dump water over your head." Tokimo smiled; Kouken was seated indignantly on her shoulder.

"You have no sense of responsibility, you know," he told Yamiko matter-of-factly, "Sleeping in like this. Tokimo woke up right away."

Yamiko sighed. Kouken was chastising the wrong person as far as responsibility was concerned.

"He just likes me better because I gave him cucumber slices," Tokimo said with a grin. He cleared his throat authoritatively as he tried to maintain his serious expression. Yamiko smiled weakly.

"Anyway," Tokimo continued, "You don't look so good. Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yeah... a really weird one. I wish you hadn't poured that bucket on my head, though, because I was drowning in my dream."

"Why were you drowning?" Kouken asked with interest.

"I'm not sure... someone was drowning me. I don't remember who it was. The second part of the dream was really confusing. The first part was bad enough."

"Oh?" Kouken replied, prompting Yamiko for more information.

"Yeah," Yamiko responded in annoyance as she turned to Tokimo. "Would you mind if I used your shower?"

"Nope," Tokimo said aimably, "go right ahead."

Yamiko pulled the sheets back from the now sopping-wet guest bed and stood up. Then she grabbed the hanger with her pink and blue school uniform on it as she walked anxiously out the door and into the shower.

"What about you, Tokimo? Did you have any weird dreams?" Kouken asked.

"Me? No. I always sleep like a rock," she said, walking out of the room. Kouken stayed behind; he raised his eyebrows in concern. Tokimo looked happy enough; she could probably handle being a Sailor Senshi. But Yamiko...things would not go so smoothly for her.

Yamiko was practically shaking as she walked into school that day. Tokimo couldn't honestly have meant what she said yesterday, could she? Yamiko wasn't exactly happy about being a senshi, and jumping head first into something like killing Sailor Pinkmoon wasn't an idea that thrilled her. Yamiko was glad that Erik had made English that day a 'silent reading' class; she wasn't really in the mood to participate. She was having a hard enough time focusing on her reading as it was.

Yamiko jumped in surprise as a large, pale hand grabbed her book out of her hands. It was Erik; he looked down at her with concerned eyes that contrasted bizarrely with his sternly frowning mouth. The contradictory expression was both confusing and intimidating; Yamiko sat down a little lower in her seat.

"Miss Hoshino," he said quietly, looking down at her,"Could I speak with you outside for just a moment?"

Yamiko could feel the blood draining from her cheeks, but she followed Erik outside and into the hall. The other students glanced up but didn't think much of it; Tokimo was looking up towards the door over her book.

"What's going on?" Kouken whispered from Tokimo's purple backpack. "Who is that?"

"What, the girl? That's Yamiko. She's a senshi. We found her yesterday, remember?" Tokimo whispered back. "Why?"

"No, you idiot," Kouken hissed, "The man. Who's the man?"

"Oooh. The maaaann. He's umm..." Tokimo paused for amoment, thinking to herself. "Erik vonDarkmoor. Our English teacher. Pretty tall, black hair. Why?"

"Because I'm getting a weird feeling from him." Kouken whispered in response.

"What, you mean he's a Sailor Senshi? Now that's just weird. I can't see him in the uniform..." Tokimo said in confusion.

"No, no! He's not a Sailor Senshi. I'm not sure what he is. But I'm getting a weird aura from him." Kouken replied.

Tokimo just shrugged and continued to read.

Yamiko looked around nervously as she pulled at the ends of her sleeves. Why did Erik suddenly want to talk to her? Erik had been abit suspicious from the beginning, after all; he was from a foreign country, he wanted to go by his first name...she was suddenly very glad that she had a brooch--If he tried to lay one hand on her--

"You looked a little pale during class. Are you feeling okay?Maybe you should go to the nurse." Even though his words were thoughtful, his voice was apathetic.

"I'm fine," Yamiko replied defensively.

"Sure you are. With that attitude, I'm guessing you aren't sick--that much is the truth. Something's bothering you, then? You can go home, if you like. It's not like you're going to concentrate when your mind is somewhere else."

Yamiko had been wishing that the rest of her was somewhere else, too; and here was Erik, offering her her freedom. This was her shining opportunity to not even have to think about Sailor Pinkmoon--she could just go home and tell Tokimo that she was sick. Perfect.

Of course, if her sister were here, this is the point where she would go on some spiel about how she was just chickening out. In fact, if Sayoko knew Tokimo, she would probably start off by saying that the girl was a total lunatic, and that someone had to stick around to make sure she didn't do something too stupid. And then she'd say that Yamiko was probably going to get caught up in this one way or another, and she might as well deal with it now.

Besides, there was still that pesky ferret to worry about. Yamiko grimaced. However, she wasn't going let something like her conscience or a fuzzy weasel get in the way of a perfect escape.

"I think I better do that," Yamiko replied sincerely,"If you don't mind, Mr. vonDarkmoor."

"Erik, please. Now off with you," he said in the same somewhat apathetic tone, indicating the exit. This was such a perfect turn of events that she almost wanted to smile. She waltzed out the door and onto the street, heading towards home.

Tokimo kept looking toward the door all through English. Kouken stayed quiet; he couldn't see the classroom door, so there was no way for him to know that something was up. But Tokimo knew something was up. Oh, Tokimo knew.

So when the bell rang, signaling the end of English, the first thing Tokimo did was walk right up to Erik.

"Mr. Erik....I have a question."

Erik raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What is it, Tokimo?"

"Where did Yamiko go? She just kinda...disappeared after you talked to her. Do you know what happened to her?" Tokimo asked innocently.

"Yes. She couldn't focus; I sent her home. I thought maybe she'd feel better after she rested a little."

"Ah," Tokimo replied. "Well, that was a very interesting lesson, Erik. I, uh....have to go. Thanks." Tokimo headed briskly toward the door, intent on her purpose; as she left, Erik glanced toward her and quizzically raised an eyebrow.

Tokimo was walking quickly down the sidewalk. She didn't know exactly where she was going, since Yamiko had never told her where she lived, but she wasn't going to let her bail out on their mission. And besides, she didn't want to skip out of class for nothing.

"Honestly, I knew that girl had issues the moment I saw her," Kouken said grumpily, sticking his head out of Tokimo's purple backpack. "First she tries to quit, now she runs off right when we're about to make our first move. Really."

"Uhh...Kouken?" Tokimo glanced behind her; her voice wavered.

"Hm? Yes?" Kouken responded.

"Do you know where Yamiko's house is?"

Kouken sighed in expaseration. "No, I don't know where her house is! Isn't she your friend, Tokimo?"

"Well...actually, the day you showed up was the first day Imet her. So I hadn't figured out where she lived yet. But I guess Icould look in the student handbook. That would give her phone number, anyway. It gives her address, too, but I can't make any sense of those--well, unless I'm sending a letter."

"Oh yeah...I forgot to give these to you two," Kouken said. He shuffled around in the backpack and handed two watch-like bracelets with crescent moon emblems on them to Tokimo. There was one in black and silver; the other was purple and black.

"You'll probably need these communicators," he explained to Tokimo, who grinned excitedly and took them. She opened up the inside, which revealed a myriad of gem-like buttons and a small LCD screen. This was the coolest watch ever.

"I didn't see these in my backpack his morning!" She said to Kouken enthusiastically.

"Tokimo...I brought them out just now--magically. They weren't in your backpack this morning."

"Oh, okay. Sooo... Can I use it to call Yami?" Tokimo asked happily.

"Err--no, because Yamiko doesn't have hers. You're holding it in your other hand. You'll have to call her this time."

"Aaah. That sucks. Oh, well." Tokimo pulled out ametallic purple cell phone along with the student handbook. Flipping disinterestedly through the pages, she found Yamiko's phone number and punched it into her cell phone.

Tokimo waited impatiently as the phone rang five or six times. Eventually, Tokimo heard someone pick up. "Look, I'm not coming back," Yamiko snapped into the phone, "so you can just hang up now. I just got sick of hearing the phone ring."

Tokimo coughed a couple of times. "But...errr...I'm not Tokimo," she said, distorting her voice to make it sound petite and feminine, "I'm Sayoko. I heard from Erik about your skipping out on class, and I don't--"

"Spare me, Tokimo," Yamiko sighed, "I know it's you."

"Damn," Tokimo responded, reverting back to her normal voice. "Anyway, we want to know where you live."

"I'm not telling you where I live. Now go away."

"But how are we supposed to fulfill our mission if you keep running away like this?" Tokimo asked Yamiko, her voice full of disappointment.

"Explain to me again why I have to be a part of this?" Yamiko said irritably.

Kouken leaned down toward the receiving end of the phone; he spoke unnecessarily loud, even given that his head wasn't against the receiver. "Look, I don't care how big of a coward you are. You haven't got a choice. Now get yourself over here now, or I'll make you regret it. You've got a job to do."

"I'm not going to listen to some rat," Yamiko retorted, ready to hang up.

Tokimo pushed Kouken's face away from the phone and held the phone closer to her own face. "Don't listen to him, Yami...uh...ko. But please do come. Please? I don't think I'll be able to take out Sailor Pinkmoon alone. And if we don't do it, who will?"

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe killing the Crown Princess isn't such a good idea?" Yamiko said angrily, "I mean, you seem to think that murder is just another adventure. Do you realize what could happen to us if we try to kill Lady Serenity?"

"It doesn't matter what happens to us," Tokimo responded fervently, "What matters is what happens to other people. And if Lady Serenity has a child, which I'm sure she will, everyone will suffer. And if I have to suffer to save everyone else from the kind of oppression Kouken told us about, then that's a small sacrifice to make."

Yamiko was a bit taken aback; she had assumed Tokimo's enthusiasm was driven purely by the desire for excitement, but she seemed to mean what she said. "...I'm not coming today, Tokimo. But Iguess I could think about it." Yamiko replied sullenly. Then she hung up the phone.

Tokimo heard the click and listened briefly to the silence on the other end before she hung up herself. Then she turned around and dejectedly headed back toward school.

"I take it that it didn't go over too well, huh?" Kouken said, disappointed. Tokimo nodded.

"We'll just have to fight Sailor Pinkmoon alone, Kouken," Tokimo replied, "and show Yamiko that what we're doing is right. She said she'd think about it, and I'm determined to make her come around."

Kouken nodded in approval. "Now," he said, "We should make our move soon, so we'll surprise her. We don't want her finding out about us somehow before we have our chance. I think you had a good idea when you suggested attacking at lunch."

Tokimo nodded. She put Yamiko's communicator back in her backpack, promising herself to give it to her later. Then she held her hand high above her head.

She paused for a moment; she never did find out what her moon was. So, for lack of a better idea, she just picked the only name she could remember of the ones Kouken had mentioned earlier; Charon.

"Charon prism power, make up!" She shouted as a blur of purple and black surrounded her and she transformed into Sailor Charon. As her transformation ended, she held her naginata horizontally in front of her; the black and purple polearm matched her uniform, which had black bows and roman criss-cross sandals with straps that twisted up to her knees. The outfit was accented by her golden tiara and black and purple brooch, which sat on her front bow.

"Well then," Kouken said to Sailor Charon, "Let's go."

Sailor Charon made her way back to school as inconspicuously as possible; not an easy feat, as the lunch bell seemed to have rung in the time that she was gone. Now the yard was full of students eating their meals and talking innocently. Charon frowned as she suddenly realized she hadn't really come up with much of a plan; maybe, she thought, she would know better what to do when she saw Usako.

Making her way toward the wall surrounding the perimeter of the school, she jumped upwards and alighted on it with surprising ease--this senshi business evidentially came with some benefits. Many students looked up in surprise at the unfamiliar face; others ran away, feeling that where there was a Sailor Senshi, there was amonster not too far behind. But in the middle of the schoolyard, Usako stood up and gazed blankly at Sailor Charon. Hiroshi, Haruko, Fuyuko, Akiko and Natsuko followed her gaze--and her expression.

Usako glanced nervously to either side; this strange senshi was standing calmly front of her, looking at her like an ant she was poised to step on. Usako looked worriedly towards Hiroshi, who took her hand comfortingly and looked back at the unfamiliar senshi with acold gaze. The four other girls stepped protectively in front of Usako.

By now, virtually no one besides Usako and her friends were left in the lunch yard. Nobody dared to guess what was going to happen, and only a few chunks of students were still around; they made their way hurriedly back into the school, their faces covered with expressions of panic.

Sailor Charon jumped down in front of the group of untransformed senshi. Kouken soon followed after her and stood at her side. As if in rebuttal, a small, mouse-gray cat struggled out of a pink bunny bag and stood protectively next to Usako. With the appearance of the cat, any last doubts about Usako's true nature were dispelled; the cat had a perfectly symmetrical crescent moon bald-spot on its forehead. It glinted strangely in the sunlight.

It was silent like this for a moment. Then, Sailor Charon pulled out her naginata and pointed it at the throat of Haruko, who stood at the lead.

"Representing the moon of Charon, the soldier of time and chaos is here," Sailor Charon said. If you're going to be ahero, Charon thought, you have to make a dramatic entrance. "I came here to see Sailor Pinkmoon. I have a mission."

"What makes you think I'm Sailor Pinkmoon?" Usako said kindly, trying to not to let her voice quaver.

Sailor Charon smiled. "You couldn't fool a master spy like me," she said proudly, "Not with your hair, or your traveling companions, or your pet cat." She looked down toward the cat, who hissed warningly.

"Are you here to join our team?" Usako said a bit timidly.

"No," Sailor Charon replied, "I'm here because Ihave to kill you."

They stared at her, their faces a mix of shock and anger. Hiroshi held on to Usako protectively. "Why would you want to kill the Princess?" he asked. "What has she ever done to you?"

"You ought to know," Kouken said fiercely.

Usako looked at Hiroshi for explanation; Hiroshi, puzzled, only shook his head."I have no more idea than you, Usako," He said to her, "But I think you'd better be prepared to attack--if only to defend yourself."

Usako looked at him with a face that was half disappointed, half chiding; Usako, after all, had seen no small share of hostile Sailor Senshi turn to the side of good, and it has always been the royal family's policy to try to win over their enemies to the path of righteousness--without hurting them, even in self-defense. "Please, Usako?" he continued, pleading this time. "You have to save yourself before you can save your enemies."

Usako shook her head in resignation and held up her right hand."Pink crystal moon power, make up!" she cried, transforming in a glittering flurry of pink.

Haruko, Akiko, Natsuko and Fuyuko looked at each other and nodded. Protecting the princess was their duty--from Chaos or from fellow senshi.

"Juno..."

"Vesta..."

"Pallas..."

"Ceres..."

"Power, make up!" They shouted in unison as they transformed into the Sailor Asteroids in a blur of color.

Hiroshi looked toward Sailor Pinkmoon expectantly. She nodded and held a glass bell high above her head.

"Twinkle yell!" she cried; Hiroshi became obscured and re-appeared as Helios, Priest of Elysion.

Sailor Charon didn't wait another moment. She held her naginata high above her as purple and black electricity swirled into a small sphere around its tip.

"Space time blast!" She shouted. The ball launched itself at Sailor Moon and her companions; it expanded into a large globe, surrounding them completely. They knelt down on the ground, trying to recover as an intensely queasy sensation swept over them. Usako began to vomit.

"I thought time distortions didn't affect Senshi..." Sailor Vesta gasped as she struggled not to retch.

"She must be affecting space as well," Ceres said weakly, "so her attack is still effective."

Sailor Charon launched herself toward Sailor Pinkmoon, past the Asteroids gathered meekly in front of her on the ground. She frowned as she tried to banish her second thoughts; she knew that what she was doing was right. She had to do it. But even though she knew her actions were justified, Charon couldn't help feeling a little guilty. Maybe being a Sailor Senshi wasn't as great as she dreamed it was.

Sailor Charon gasped. A dark object hit her Naginata, jolting it from her hand and sending it sliding across the ground. Her body, too, had be jolted awkwardly by the impact of the flying object on her metal polearm; she had barely managed to maintain her balance. Readjusting her stance, Charon's distracted attention caused her attack to dissolve as well, leaving the Sailor Senshi once again free to move. Charon turned around to investigate the object--a single iron disc lay stuck in the ground. She frowned.

The Sailor Senshi, still queasy from Sailor Charon's attack, stood up shakily. Sailor Pinkmoon put her arm around Helios. The Sailor Asteroids reassumed their defensive positions.

Sailor Charon looked around her, hoping to find the attacker. When she finally identified who was responsible, she froze in shock. Because standing in front of her--steadily holding a katana of iron--was a tall and grim figure.

He must have been must have been over six and a half feet tall. His dark, unkempt hair stuck out in several directions, obscuring his ears; an iron mask covered his face completely in black. The mask was molded in the shape of a sternly frowning face, and dark brown eyes stared out from two narrow eye slits. He wore armor, the same black iron as his mask, but it was only visible because of the hand that still held out his long, dark katana. Normally, it would have been completely obscured beneath his flowing black cloak. The only hint of color in all of his clothing was the dark red underside of the cloak.

"Who are you?" Charon asked, trying to hide her fear of the man.

"I am the Crimson Eagle," he replied emotionlessly, "And I will not allow you to touch Sailor Moon."

"Why didn't you let me kill Sailor Pinkmoon?" Sailor Charon replied huffily. "I had almost gotten it over with. I was going to be the hero!"

"Because," the Crimson Eagle replied, "I am aknight. And my duty is to protect Sailor Senshi. Sailor Moon, whatever her history, is a Sailor Senshi."

Sailor Charon looked toward Kouken for guidance. Kouken's grave face nearly matched the iron mask of the Crimson Eagle; he shook his head.

"The duty of knights is dead, as you can see," he told the Crimson Eagle, "Tuxedo Mask himself protects Sailor Moon above the other senshi. You should stop hanging on to the old ways and help us destroy Sailor Moon--otherwise, Diana will return."

"I believe there is another way," the Knight replied. "I believe we can find a solution in which no one is sacrificed."

Kouken just stared angrily back at The Crimson Eagle. Sailor Charon glanced back and forth between them in confusion; she didn't know what Kouken meant by the 'duty of knights', but if there was away to solve the problem of Diana without killing anyone, she was willing to hear the strange man out. She held out her hand; her naginata materialized faithfully in front of it, and she gripped it firmly once again. She may have been willing to listen to the Crimson Eagle, but if his solution wasn't going to work, Charon was prepared to do what she had to. That was what heroes did.

"What solution do you think we can find?" Sailor Charon asked him.

"I do not know. But I am determined to find one," he responded.

Charon frowned. "Who knows how long that'll take, and if it'll even work?" she said. "We can't count on your hopes. We have to be brave and act! Now move aside, so I can finish what Icame for!"

"If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me first. Iwill not die dishonorably once more." he said, holding his katana in front of him.

Once more? What did that mean? At this point, Charon decided, it didn't matter. He obviously wasn't going to move, and heroes didn't kill innocent people who weren't threatening world peace. Moreover, if she tried to run past him and attack Pinkmoon, he'd probably just throw another disc and send her naginata flying across the yard again. She sighed in resignation. "I'll just have to try another day, I guess," she said in annoyance. All this effort, and her plan had been messed up so easily.

She turned around and walked out of the schoolyard, only half paying attention to that announcement that school had been called off for the day. Kouken followed behind her, a stern look on his face as he glanced behind him at the Crimson Eagle one last time. The Crimson Eagle watched them leave; when Sailor Charon disappeared from sight, he left as quickly and abruptly as he had appeared.

Pinkmoon turned towards Helios as they stood alongside the Asteroids in the empty schoolyard. Usako de-transformed; the Asteroids followed her example. She sat down and looked dejectedly toward the ground. Helios sat down beside her and hugged her comfortingly.

"What's going on?" she asked, half to herself. "Who were they? What did they want?"

"It looks like they all have something to do with you, Usako," Haruko said, looking down at her, "And nothing to do with us. You sure you don't know them?"

"Positive," she said, looking back up at Haruko, "and Mama never told me anything about these people, either. But that senshi--Sailor Charon--she and her guardian seemed to think they had a good reason for attacking. Have I done something wrong?"

"No, you haven't," Helios said, tightening his grip around her a little, "you've done nothing wrong."

"Maybe it was something she did unintentionally," Fuyuko suggested, "Something she did without realizing it."

"But there's nothing she's done that's hurt anyone," Natsuko responded. "The attack is random. We don't even know who these senshi are, if they're senshi at all."

"They're definitely senshi," Diana said, jumping up on Haruko's shoulder, "I could feel it in Sailor Charon's aura. And The Crimson Eagle gives off similar feelings to those of Tuxedo Mask. And the fact that they're senshi makes the situation even more frustrating; they should be fighting with us, not against us!"

"In any case, we should tell the Queen," Akiko said decisively. "If anyone knows what to do, she will."

"Artemis and Luna, too," Diana added. "There might be something in the history of the Silver Millenium about these senshi."

Usako shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" Helios asked, confused.

Usako gently broke off from Helios and stood up as authoritatively as she could muster. "Because," she explained, "I don't want to live in Mama's shadow anymore. All of this time, even when she sent me off to the past, she was always--in one form or another--safely leading me along, ready to intervene when things took a bad turn. But Mama didn't have that luxury when she was Sailor Moon. Then, she was the leader, and she had to handle things on her own. True, she had a team just like you guys to help her and Luna to give her advice. But she didn't have someone bigger and more powerful to intercede when things got dangerous. So I'm going to be the same way. I'm not going to ask Mama for help any more. And we aren't going to tell her anything's wrong. When we go home tonight, we're going to act like nothing out of the ordinary has happened."

"It's true that the queen's mother was not alive to help her," Haruko told Usako, concern in her voice, "but at the same time, she never had to deal with something like this. She never had Sailor Senshi who were turned against her."

"No, that's not true," Helios disagreed.

"It's not?" Fuyuko asked, confused.

"Sailor Moon and the Outers used to be enemies; they had different motives and often came into conflict. Galaxia's henchmen were also Sailor Senshi of sorts. Salior Moon made it through both of those dilemmas; the Outers in particular went on to become valuable allies and good friends of the queen's. Even though it may be hard, Ibelieve that we should stand by Usako's decision and face this problem alone. After all, the Sailor Quartet are Sailor Pinkmoon's personal guardians," Helios said, glancing meaningfully at Haruko. "And I feel obligated to stand beside her for...personal reasons. Moreover, I think the queen would respect her decision. Am Iright?"

The Sailor Asteroids looked nervously at each other, Helios, and Usako. Eventually, they met each other's gazes once more and nodded. This was Usako's fight. She was Sailor Moon now; and the responsibility of that position was hers and hers alone.

~EPISODE ONE: FIN~

Softly mumbling, "Don't cry," to myself,
I cry under the distant moon rising on the horizon

Even if I wish on that Moon, my wish won't be realized, will it?

I’m not at fault, right? It's everyone else's fault, right?
If you think so too, if you'll believe in me,
I’ll be so happy, because I want only that happiness, because I absolutely hate this destiny

Lulululu..........

Naicha dame yo to jibun ni sotto tsubuyaite
Chiheisen ni noboru tooi tsuki no shita ni naiteru no

Sono o-tsuki-sama ni negattemo nozomi ga kanaenai ne

Watashi ga waruku nai deshou ne hoka no hito no sei na no ne
Anata mo sou omoeba watashi ni shinjite kureba
Totemo ureshiku naru sono shiawase dake hoshii kara kono unmei zettai iya kara

Lulululu..........

NEXT EPISODE

Yamiko: After learning about our destinies and our pasts, awhole new set of problems rises before us. How will we deal with the knowledge that Sailor Moon is responsible for our deaths?

Tokimo: Yamiko may not be willing to extend her friendship, but I don't need it--I have a new friend. With a personality caught between kindness and cruelty, her motives are as mysterious as her personality....

The Crimson Eagle: The duty of knights is never over, and If forced to do so, I will continue my quest to the death.

Yamiko: When straightforward problems arise, they are easily resolved. But when love and emotions combine with this fight, answers are seldom obvious....

Next time on MOON SENSHI: UNMEI NO KODOMO--

"The Sea and the Undertow"

Seisui: Evil returns to those who create it.





A Quick Note:





For those of you who have been following this fanfiction on fanfiction.net, you will notice that I do not have a new episode up and have re-uploaded the first. What you are/have been reading is anew, revised version of the first episode. I am currently working my way through the entire arc and will be bringing all of the episodes up-to-date in my more current, more enjoyable style. I hope you enjoy this "new" episode one and the episodes that follow. As always, feel free to e-mail me with comments. Also, upon completion of the edit of the first arc, it is my hope that I will be able to bring out a print-on-demand doujinshi of the first arc. Wish me luck!- K.R.I.