Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon G: The Planetary Guardians ❯ Venus's Brightness Shines Anew. Kariudo the Lancer Appears! ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: BSSM belongs to Takeuchi-sama. The idea of the
Planetary Guardians, and the original characters and villains belong to
me.

{} = Thoughts
{""} = Telepathic communication
<> = Flashback
[] = English

Sailor Moon G: Venus's Brightness Shines Anew. Kariudo the Lancer
Appears!
By Dyne

"IT'S NOT FAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!!!" Aino Minako wailed as
she threw herself onto her stuffed animal-ridden bed. The news that
she had been dreading for the past week had finally reached her ears;
she was no longer allowed to attend Juuban Jr. High because her grades
had dropped too far. Minako had been enjoying the time she was
spending with Usagi, Ami, Makoto, and recently Debe, all under the
same school roof and how they would always be able to talk at lunch
and meet right away after school to go to the arcade or other fun things.
However, it was the last test she had taken during the previous week
that had killed her chances of staying with her friends. While she had
overcome the challenge of getting a better score than Usagi (and thus
winning a bet to earn a date), the score was not high enough to bring
her grades back to what they had been before her transfer. But with her
date being too chicken to actually take her to the planned dance, and a
youma attack severely injuring Makoto and her friend, Shinozaki, the
news she received upon returning home that night was the third and
final blow. Her parents had waited until after the dance to deliver the
bad news because they didn't want her to feel down during the activity,
but Umino had taken care of that. Minako didn't know if she wanted to
cry or beat something up out of frustration.
Her guardian cat, Artemis, knew better than to get too close at
that moment, so he stayed laying on her dresser.
"Mina," he consoled, "at least this way you won't be distracted
so much and come time to enroll in high school, you'll be able to go
back to being with the other girls." Her response was simply to throw a
pillow right between his eyes. After a hard landing, he simply picked
himself up from off of the floor, jumped onto her bed (out of kicking
range), and continued, "I know how much you like being with your
friends, but Ami will agree with me that getting a good education will
be better for you in the long run." He dodged another projectile aimed
at him. "You know I'm here to help you, but I don't want people to put
you in the punch line of the dumb blonde jokes I hear all the time."
Artemis's joking nature picked a very bad time to surface, "I can hear
them now: 'If you looked in a dictionary under 'Dumb Blonde,' you'd
see Aino Minako's picture next to- URK!'" and his words were cut
short as he felt Minako's ribbon, which she'd undone and used like her
Venus Love Me Chain, wrap around his neck.
"Artemisssss..." her glare would have been enough to easily
frighten even the most dreaded of demons as her head seemed to
increase to nearly three times its normal size. But the white cat was
helpless as he was pulled towards the angry girl and became the target
of her frustrations.

The wailings of the poor feline could be heard for blocks.


The next morning was a very welcome Sunday for Makoto as
she and her three companions entered her apartment. The night had
been both extremely long and unusual, but in her opinion, rewarding.
She and her friends had also had their plans on going to the school
dance interrupted as a youma, clearly insane and bent on destroying
anything around it, appeared out of nowhere and became the catalyst
for her most recent life-changing experience. Debe was the only one of
the four in her group that was able to do any fighting without a
transformation, so he held the youma at bay while Shinozaki took her
and Ami to safety. Makoto didn't know exactly what happened, but she
too joined the fight after Guardian Mercury took a hit. Her anger had
exceeded its capacity when she saw the youma become the cause of an
accident that had her assuming Shinozaki was crushed under a pile of
rubble. However, her anger backfired as the youma's own rage at
seeing her become Sailor Jupiter powered it enough to nearly kill her
by draining her life energy within a hair of empty then slowly killing
her in ways she didn't want to know about. Her salvation came in the
form of her own Guardian's memory awakening and destroying the
youma with the help of Sailor Mercury. Debe had proposed to her that
Shinozaki was her Guardian, and he had been right. His memories
were partially awakened upon seeing her transform and they were fully
restored later that night while she was in a coma. Shinozaki enlisted
Debe and Mamoru's help to defeat the other two youma that they had
seen when the first arrived, and they were glad to be of assistance. In
her comatose state, Makoto sensed the battle across town, witnessed a
vision that returned her strength, and arrived in time to help finish the
two youma that had fused into one. After a tearful reunion with
Shinozaki, Jupiter's Violin, the royal instrument of her home planet,
appeared from her body. Once things had calmed down, Sailor Jupiter
returned to the hospital to get her clothes, sign out, and invited the three
men for breakfast at her place. Sailor Pluto had also arrived to help
with the battle, even becoming the one to turn the tide in their favor,
but she declined the invitation and returned to the Realm of Time,
promising to further assist if she was needed.
"You guys have got to be tired," Makoto noticed the black
rings under the men's eyes for the first time, "were you up all night
looking for that thing?"
"Yeah," Debe answered with a yawn as since the adrenaline of
battle had worn off, exhaustion caught up to him, "but knowing your
cooking, sleep can wait." Shinozaki immediately agreed with that one.
"You guys are the best," Makoto wrapped one arm around
each of them into a group hug. Had Mamoru been in the hug as well,
he would have known the pain that stood alongside the loud cracking
noises coming from the two younger boys. When she did let them go
and walked into the kitchen to start breakfast, they immediately held
their ribs in pain.
"How'd you survive watching over her for so long?" Debe
joked as he stretched his arm and popped his shoulder, possibly back
into place.

Once breakfast was ready and everyone gathered to feast on
Mako's specially prepared rice and miso soup, the conversation soon
turned to matters of the utmost importance.
"Two of the Guardians have surfaced," Mamoru took the lead
of the discussion, "but we're the only ones who know about Jupiter."
"That's right," Shinozaki said, "Debe didn't say anything to
anyone about what happened to me when Mako-chan got hurt."
"Actually,' the grey-eyed youth corrected, "I told Ami-chan
but not Usagi, Rei, or Minako because, knowing them, had your
memories not come back while you were out cold, Shino, they'd
probably be asking you things you couldn't remember. If you found
yourself being asked questions on 'What was Mako like 1,000 years
ago?' or 'What was life like on Jupiter?' I have no idea what kind of
chaos would have resulted."
"Debe-kun," Makoto asked, "what do you mean?"
"Think of it this way," he explained, "if the events in his
memory were presented to him before he was ready to learn about
them, he might never have accepted his former role as Guardian
Jupiter, thus not accepting it in the present. That probably would have
ruined all chances of him fully awakening."
"I know what you're saying," Shinozaki looked at the violin at
his side, "kind of like in a class where they give you a test on material
that was never mentioned in class," he picked up the shining instrument
by the neck in one hand, extended his free fist, and a long bow made of
solid but enchanted wood appeared inside of it, "but now that I know
who I was, I've accepted my duty and-" he stopped and looked
questioningly at the food in front of him.
"Is something wrong, does it taste bad?" Makoto inquired.
"No," he shook his head; "it's strange. I was starving a
moment ago, but now I feel full."
"Double check what's in your hands," Debe informed.
As Shinozaki examined his hands, realization hit his head and
the bow vanished, "Forgot about that."
"Forgot about what?" Mamoru and Makoto asked at the same
time.
"He held both of the royal treasures," Debe explained yet
again, "remember how I explained that while I was in possession of
Mercury's Sword and Ocarina, my aging process stopped?"
The brown-haired girl and black-haired man nodded.
"The two royal treasures of Jupiter have a similar effect, only
in that while they are held, the bearer never gets hungry or thirsty."
"That's why he felt full," Mamoru concluded.
"Yeah," Shinozaki confirmed, "but now I'm hungry again."
"The effects last only while you're holding both," Debe
continued, "but I would be careful not to hold them for too long
otherwise as soon as you separate them, you'd die of thirst or starvation
if you hadn't been eating or drinking."
"So there are drawbacks," Mamoru stated, "abusing their
power and not correcting for it could be fatal. What are the effects of
Mars and Venus?"
"I'm not too sure," Debe looked down, "I can't quite
remember. I just know that the instrument of Mars is a war drum and
Venus is a golden trumpet." He looked at Shinozaki.
"You remember more than I do," he simply said, "I haven't
been awakened as long."
"Wait a minute," Makoto realized, "Debe-kun, how long did
you hold Mercury's treasures?"
He thought for a second and responded, "Eight years. Six
before being put in suspended animation and two before meeting with
Ami-chan again."
"Then shouldn't you be eight years older now?" She and the
other two men looked at him as he shook his head.
"I don't know," he answered, "I don't know."
"There's something else I want to know," Mamoru spoke
again, "Debe is able to use some degree of power even when he's not
transformed. Shinozaki, are you able to do something similar?"
"I can't answer that yet since I haven't had time to
experiment," he said, "but with a little training I should be able to find
something," he looked to Debe and nodded.
"It's good to have you here with us," Mamoru diverted,
"especially since we don't know exactly what we're up against."
"All I know is that our enemy is some dark lord named
Amethyst who came from another system, or possibly galaxy," Debe
summarized, "I'm going to ask Rei to call a meeting at the Hikawa
shrine after school tomorrow so we can plan out a way to start
gathering info, maybe even have her do a fire reading."
"We'll worry about all of that later," Makoto said, "but for
now, who's going to tell the rest of the girls that Shinozaki-kun is
Guardian Jupiter?"

The newly awakened Guardian wouldn't have to spend too
much time with the group before he learned why Debe and Mamoru's
faces suddenly paled beyond belief.

Not long after finishing their breakfast, Makoto sent the three
boys home so they could get some sleep. Debe greeted it with open
arms as he trudged into his apartment, two floors above hers. With all
of the time he had spent being awake and the energy he used up in
using his new attack, which he named Parting the Water, he was
arguably the most exhausted of the three. He had just walked in and
collapsed onto his bed when the phone rang.
{I'll let the machine get it,} he thought as he closed his eyes
and let it ring four more times. He was just about to enter the world of
sleep when whoever called could be heard leaving the message. It was
the sound of Ami's voice that caused him to forget his thought and snap
awake.
"Good morning, Debe," she said happily, "I assume you're out
on your run. After you get home can you please call me? I'll talk-"
Not wanting to make the girl he loved wait longer than
necessary, he immediately picked up the receiver and greeted, "I'm
here, Ami-chan."
"Oh, you startled me," she slightly gasped. "Did you just
wake up?"
"Technically, yes," he grinned. "What can I do for you?"
"I received a call from my mother just a minute go and she
told me that Mako-chan disappeared from her room a few hours ago.
Do you have any idea what happened to her?"
"Believe it or not, Ami-chan, she's fully recovered and back at
home."
"That's hard to believe, she was in a coma," the blue-haired
girl was musing. "How did she recover?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he shrugged and failed to
notice how his lack of sleep was about to affect their conversation, "she
just showed up and helped us win the battle against those last two
youma."
"You went after them alone?" Ami asked both in surprise and
in sternness.
"N-no," he quickly assured her, "Mamoru-san and Shinozaki
came with me," and briefly explained how his memory had returned as
he lay in the hospital. "It was actually his idea and, even though it took
us all night, we defeated them before they could hurt anyone else."
"Oh, I understand. You just got home and was going to bed
when I called?" Amy figured, "I'm so sorry. I'll let you get some sleep.
I'll call everyone else and tell then that Mako-chan is okay and what
happened."
"Thank you, Ami-chan," he yawned.
"You're welcome, but get some sleep. It's not healthy to be
awake all night. Bye."
He nodded and, as soon as he hung up, feeling very relieved
that he wouldn't be the messenger and also appreciative that Ami was
concerned about his well-being, fell asleep before his head hit the
pillow.


Topaz slowly opened his eyes as he awoke to the sounds of
clinking glass and beeping machines. He didn't have to double-check
the other half of the bed to know that Garnet had already gotten up and
gotten to work. As soon as he cleaned himself up and changed into his
uniform, he stepped into the Realm's laboratory and, indeed, found
Garnet once again busily working on the formula she had been working
on for the past two months, only one of three of her major projects that
needed to be finished. He sighed, knowing that she was overworking
herself as it had taken him nearly an hour to convince her to go to sleep
the previous night. He also wanted to be able to help her with those
projects, but her expertise in the subjects outweighed his knowledge
1000:1.
"You're just in time," she said, sounding relieved but not
turning around, "I've just finished it."
"Congratulations," he stood next to her to watch as the
formula she had mixed sat in a large beaker.
"It has to cool for about 30 hours," she explained, "otherwise it
will be too unstable to inject into humans."
"Hmm," Topaz thought aloud as he watched the emerald green
compound in front of him bubble, "that will work out for the better.
It'll take me at least a day to find out about those two guinea pigs I
promised you."
"That reminds me," Garnet literally snapped her fingers in
remembrance, "Lord Amethyst contacted me this morning."
"I see. What did he have to say?"
"'The first phase has been implemented,'" she quoted verbatim.
"'Continue your research and be ready to execute Operation Dark
Realm when I return.' His estimate in gathering youma for his army is
about a month."
"That doesn't give us much time to execute the Operation. But
you can take a break for today, you've earned it." Topaz turned and
headed for a more open part of the room.
"Where are you going?" Garnet asked.
"Back to Tokyo," he replied as he motioned his hand to open a
Gate. "Those two girls who fought over me and nearly pulled my arms
out both looked to be teenagers, so I'll check the schools in that district
and try to find some records on them." Without another word, he
stepped into the black wormhole that linked the Realm Fortress to
Earth's crust.
"Don't be gone too long," he heard Garnet speak after him.


"Yuichirou!" Rei shouted from the entrance of the shrine's
house. She didn't bother to wait for him as she stepped back into the
living room and sighed; the condition of the room had become the
victim of the earthquake that had been centered on the shrine. Plants
had fallen over, furniture was overturned, books had fallen from the
shelves, and so on. Even though an earthquake hadn't actually been
what had caused the damaged, it may as well have been. The truth
behind the chaos was Usagi having come over to borrow more of her
manga. Once Rei had given her permission to borrow them (after a
long argument of course), rather than leave immediately, the blonde
plopped down onto Rei's bed and decided to read them there.
However, it was her constant and loud laughing that began to scare the
visitors to the shrine outside, who were buying charms or praying. The
high-pitched yowls frightened all of the customers away and, as they
left, she heard them muttering about how an evil spirit had come to
haunt the shrine and they'd tell all of their family and friends to never
come here. Thus, because Usagi was responsible for the shrine's losing
a lot of business, Rei spent at least ten minutes chasing her through the
house with her broom until the odango girl finally left.
"Yes, Rei-san?" Yuichirou appeared behind her as he had
heeded her call.
"Help me clean this up, will you?" she asked as she began to
pick up some of the books. Luckily, none of the vases had been
broken, mostly due to the fact that ever since she had met Usagi, she
starting laying down extra matting around the pedestals containing
breakable objects. She didn't listen to Yuichirou's rambling on how
grateful he was that she had asked for his assistance as she continued
working.
Rei had only gotten a full stack of books into her arms when
the phone rang.
"Grandpa, can you get that?" she asked loudly.
"He left to go shopping," Yuichirou informed her, his voice
straining to signify that he was carrying something heavy.
Rei muttered something under her breath about what he really
meant by "shopping" before saying, "Fine, hold these," and dumping
her stack into his already full arms.

The crash came just as she picked up the receiver.

"Hikawa Shrine," she greeted.
"Hello, Rei," came Debe's voice from the other end.
"Ah, Debe-san," she answered. "What's going on?"
"I just woke up and I need to ask a favor."
Rei checked the clock. {It's already after noon. Why would he
sleep in so late?} she thought, but decided not to question.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"I'm calling a meeting for everyone at the shrine tomorrow
after school."
"That's no problem, we always meet here."
"I know, but I also would like you to perform a fire reading so
we can try and find out more about our enemy."
"Sounds good. I'll do my best."
"Thanks, Rei," he concluded, "see you tomorrow. Bye."
"Bye," with that, she hung up the phone and turned back to the
living room. "Yuichirou! Quit lying around and help me finish
cleaning up! I've got to go meditate when we're done."
Yuichirou, still caught under the enormous pile, simply said,
"Yes, Rei-san..."


The next morning, Minako sighed as she placed her Juuban Jr.
High uniform on its hangar after holding it up to herself in the mirror
for the last time before her mother would return it for her. Her
Shibakouen Jr. High uniform lay on her bed next to a still bruised and
battered Artemis. Whereas the night before she started at Juuban had
been restless due to excitement, the previous night had been so for the
opposite reason.
"Mina," the white cat asked quietly as he held his paws over
his eyes, "have you gotten dressed yet?" He knew he would only be in
more pain if she saw him looking at her in her underwear.
"No, not yet, Artemis," she answered surprisingly calmly.
definitely showing her depression.
"Cheer up, it's not like you're leaving Usagi and the others
forever. Keep your grades up and you'll be able to go to high school
with them."
"Yeah..." she whispered and began to slip the uniform on.
"And you'll still have your old friends."
{They were never really my friends,} she thought,
remembering how they would be nice to her at school only because of
her Volleyball skills. It was never hard to overhear them whispering
rumors and other things about her behind her back. But she only
sighed and again said, "Yeah..." She continued to think about the times
she had spent with Usagi, Ami, and Makoto over at Juuban and how
their laughter during lunches had been genuine. The happy
conversations, the good food, the meetings right after school, they were
now gone all because she had neglected her studies too long.
By the time, the blonde girl had fully dressed and stood up,
saying, "I'm going to I won't be late," and walked out of the room
without another word. Artemis quickly followed after her, just in case.

When Minako finally arrived, after having walked as slowly
as possible the whole way, she stood just inside the gate of Shibakouen
and looked around.
{Nothing's changed about it in the past couple of months,} she
mouthed as she thought quietly, then shook her head and began to come
to grips with herself. {It's not like I've ever been here before,} the
depression immediately surfaced again as she continued, {I'll bet
nobody even noticed I was transferred.} Her silent statements of self-
defeat were vanquished by a loud, excited voice that called to her from
behind.

"Minako-chan!"

Minako turned around in time to see two of her former
classmates, Megumi and Shinobu, run up and fall in step with her as
she began walking again.
"Hi guys," she greeted quietly.
"Welcome back, Minako-chan," Shinobu returned, smiling,
"you were transferred so suddenly that we didn't even get to wish you
luck. But now you're back and we can at least say hello."
"We missed you," Megumi continued, "classes just weren't the
same with you not there. Even when you were in England it was like
that. But this time it was worse because we didn't think you'd be
coming back.
"Really?" Minako looked at them. They both nodded.
"And you couldn't have come back at a better time," Shinobu
grinned sheepishly, "a new guy transferred here last week and he is to
die for!"
Minako began to listen more intently and asked, "What's he
like?"
"An absolute dream," both girls sighed as their heads entered
Cloud 9.
Shinobu then continued, "His name's Paito Kariudo and he's
everything a girl could ever want: Tall, strong, handsome, funny, and
nice."
"More, tell me more," by now, Minako's eyes had become
hearts and she was on the verge of drooling. She entered into an
internal struggle equal to the conflict found in a world war as, while
they described this new guy, she debated on if she should go to the
office to find out her class assignment and complete her registration, or
wait outside to meet him and possibly be late. By a margin finer than a
human hair, the office won out as she didn't want to have him see her
being punished. But once she found out that she was staying in Class
4, the same as before, and not in the same class as Kariudo, she wished
she'd run the risk of being late.
From his vantage point in one of the trees, Artemis smiled. It
had been worth the effort to find the phone numbers of Minako's old
friends and "anonymously" tip them off to let them know that she was
returning. Feeling that she would be find for the rest of the day, he
leapt out of the large plant and outside the school fence, only to be
kicked into it and then stepped on by a large blur that was running
towards the gate shouting, "I'm not going to be late if it kills me!"
As the white cat lay sprawled on the sidewalk with a large
footprint on his back, he simply moaned, "I thought only Minako could
hit that hard..." He could only see that same figure turn around and
scoop down to pick him up, asking, "Hey, are you okay?" before he lost
consciousness.

Over at Juuban, lunchtime had arrived and Usagi, Ami and
Makoto had all met outside for possibly the last time in a while. The
late autumn weather had begun to set in and temperatures around the
country were beginning to drop. Despite the occasionally cold wind
that blew through the area, being outside was still quite enjoyable.
Plus, the beauty of the changing leaves rivaled those of the sakura
blossoms at spring.
"It won't be long before we have to change to our winter
uniforms," Makoto commented, then sighed as it really made no
difference to her as the school still had yet to get a uniform her size.
"Don't worry, Mako-chan," Usagi chimed while scarfing down
her food, "the uniform doesn't matter. You'll always be one of us just
like Minako-chan and Rei-chan."
"It really does feel different without Minako-chan here," Ami
observed, "but then again it also felt different when she transferred
here. But that shows how we can adapt to changes at any time."
"Speaking of transfer students and changes," Usagi nudged her
blue-headed friend in the ribs, "why doesn't Debe-kun ever eat with us?
Half the time I don't even see him at all during school."
"He's been very busy," Ami sighed, "he's doing everything he
can to realize his full fighting potential and find the other Guardians.
I'm worried that he's overdoing it and will only exhaust himself."
Makoto scooted over on the other side of her, "Ami-chan, you
do know what you have to do, don't you?"
"Huh?" the sandwiched girl looked back and forth between her
friends.
"Ask him out on a formal date," Mako grinned, "someplace
where the two of you can be alone."
"Yeah, yeah," Usagi agreed, "a candlelight dinner and
dancing."
"B-b-but I can't do that," Ami's face turned its predictable
shade of red, "I mean, I can't afford to a-and he only lives on the
interest generated from his savings. I don't think he could afford it
either."
"Ami-chan," Makoto shook her head, "you're only making
excuses again. Your mother's a doctor, Debe-kun as over 2 billion yen
in the bank. Both of you could easily afford some formal dates. Where
do you think he gets the money for those gifts he gave you?"
"B-but Mako-chan-"
Both girls opened their mouths to say something, but were
interrupted by another burst of cold wind that carried a new sound; the
sound of music. Only this wasn't the normal sound of Debe's ocarina,
but a slightly higher pitch than what they were used to hearing
whenever he played.
"Is that Debe-kun," Usagi asked, "or did they come back?"
There was no need to explain who "they" were. The tone of Usagi's
voice rose as she did and began to get overly excited.
"Calm down, Usagi-chan," Ami said as she turned towards the
source, "that's not the tune Ail plays. But it does sound like what Debe
does. I think he might be playing a different instrument."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Usagi took the lead and
marched around the corner to where Debe, whose hair was wet, as if
he'd just showered, sat under his usual tree. As Ami had predicted, he
was not playing the small ocarina that he bought after giving Mercury's
back to her, but a long, brightly polished, silver flute was the creator of
his song. He obviously sensed their arrival as he stopped his tune in
the middle of a measure.
"This sounds better, doesn't it?" he asked them with his now-
trademark half-grin and gestured for them to sit with him.
"It's beautiful," Makoto complimented as the three girls all
took their seats on the ground, "but why did you get a new instrument?"
"That's easy," he answered as he placed it in it's case, "the
ocarina I bought isn't anywhere near as beautiful sounding as
Mercury's. I got the flute because it has a greater range of notes,
sounds better, and comes much closer to sounding like Mercury's
Ocarina. Also, it's always been my favorite instrument. It's a little
bigger than an ocarina, but still worth it."
"When did you buy it?" Ami asked.
"Saturday afternoon before the dance. But yesterday was the
first time I got to play it."
"Debe-kun you sound like you've played it for years!" Usagi
exclaimed.
"Maybe I have," he just smiled, then his face returned to its
normal, serious look, "but, sad to say, there hasn't been a lot of time for
fun lately."
"Yes," Ami nodded in agreement while the other two
developed sweatdrops. "This is the first time we've heard you play at
lunch in a while. What have you been doing? Have you even been
eating lunch?" she obviously knew that his wet hair meant something.
"Okay Ami-chan, you got me," he confessed, "I've been using
the lunch hour to get some more training in. Usually there's not much
time to even eat by the time I finish showering." That was more than
he needed to say. Ami spent the rest of the lunch period giving him a
long talk on the importance of not overexerting himself and also the
necessity of eating three square meals a day. Usagi and Makoto only
watched and smiled as he sweatdropped and laughed nervously.

By this time, back at Shibakouen, Artemis was finally
beginning to awaken after his morning-long bout with
unconsciousness. It was the light of the noon sun pouring into his eyes
that fully roused his rational thinking process.
"Ow, it still hurts," he muttered as he softly touched the large
bump that had appeared just above his crescent moon, then looked
around. "Where am I?" A brief glance around the room he was inside
of quickly answered that question. The sight of several mats, balls,
bats, sticks, and other sports equipment labeled it as the PE storage
building. In fact, he had been lying on one of the mats. However, there
was no visible escape route present.
Artemis had just begun to search for a way out as the door to
the shed began to open and a large silhouette stood in its frame.
"Good, you're awake," a male voice spoke, "I thought I'd hit
you harder than I did."
The white cat immediately recognized the voice as the same as
the person who's kicked him against the outer wall. His instinctive
reaction was to crouch low and hiss.
"Hey, I'm a good guy. I'm not going to hurt you, so you don't
have to be afraid," the young man slowly stepped closer. "I brought
you something," and stooped down, holding out a full-sized shrimp.
Artemis decided to continue to act like a normal cat, slowly
inched his way towards the particularly tantalizing fish before him,
sniffed it a few times, then scarfed it down in one bite.
"Wow," the guy was impressed, "you're a hungry one."
As Artemis chewed his large morsel, he was finally able to get
a clear look at his new friend. Had he been fully upright he would have
stood taller than anyone his age. He had short, light brown nearly
dirty-blonde hair with a medium shade of blue eyes. He had the profile
of a star athlete, even seen through his uniform. By this time, Artemis
had swallowed.
"Still hungry?" the boy asked. "I snuck out and got you this,"
he produced a small box full of several more of those large, succulent
shrimp. The cat meowed in appreciation and immediately began to pig
out while thinking, {This guy isn't so bad after all.}

Later on, when school had ended, Minako had said good-bye
to her friends and was heading over to the gym. She was still interested
in Kariudo, but she also wanted to say hi to one of her former
teammates, Asai. Her mood had greatly improved since that morning
as many students and teachers genuinely welcomed her back. She
never thought that she had been so popular and, forgetting her earlier
thought that it had all been because of her Volleyball skills, her ego
began to be filled at an alarming, practically dangerous rate.
Fortunately for anyone in the vicinity, she was distracted from the
conceited soliloquy she was going to give when she saw something
unusual: a guy she didn't know was coming around the corner from
behind the school with Artemis following him. She quickly jumped
behind a nearby tree and only watched the cat as the two of them
walked by and listened.
"Why'd you stay in the shed the whole afternoon?" the guy
asked. "I left the door open for you. Your owner's probably wondering
where you are."
"More like what he's doing!" Minako practically barked at the
cat as she whipped around from her hiding place, grabbed him by the
hair on his back, and lifted him up to the level of her glare. Artemis
just gave her a wide, satisfied smile.
"Hey, he's a nice enough guy and didn't do anything wrong. I
just fed him some lunch. What's his name?"
"Artemis..." Minako turned to look at him, then practically
threw the feline aside as her eyes fell on the guy who he'd been with.
{Wow! He's absolutely gorgeous!} "Who are you?"
"Kariudo..." he seemed to be as mesmerized by her as she was
of him, "Paito Kariudo."
"Aino Minako..." the words barely escaped her mouth as he
began to open his again.
{Yes,} she thought, {he's been so captivated by my beauty
that he's going to ask me out right now! Though I'd love to see him in-
}

"You're hot!" he spoke loudly. "I'd love to see you in a
swimsuit!"

This time, Minako did throw Artemis aside as she lifted her
hand and slapped Kariudo dead on the cheek before forgetting about
the gym and storming off towards the main gate. Megumi, who had
caught Artemis and seen and heard the incident, quickly ran up to the
blonde.
"Minako-chan, wait!" she called. "Kariudo-kun was only
joking!"
{If he was joking then how come he said exactly what I was
thinking!} She wanted to strangle Artemis again because his quiet
snickering from the other girl's arms told her that he knew that fact as
well.

About an hour later, everybody began to arrive at the Hikawa
Shrine for the meeting that Debe had requested. As usual, he was
already waiting when everyone else, except for Rei, began to arrive.
"Why didn't you tell us that Shinozaki-kun was Guardian
Jupiter?" the black-haired girl asked sternly as she continued to sweep
the walk. Debe was keeping an eye on her, in case she'd start sweeping
at him, while the other eye looked at the hilt in his hand.
"It was his idea," he answered, "he wanted the two of us and
Tuxedo Kamen to fight those last two youma because Sailor Jupiter
was down. Ironically, she was the one who finished them off."
"That's why you asked to meet?" she asked. "To talk about
those new youma?"
"Yes," he stood up and formed the blade of his sword. "I want
to know who this enemy is and what his motives are," raising the
weapon he studied its blade, "the Sailor Senshi were re-awakened to
fight Metallia and the Dark Kingdom. But now there's something
happening that's serious enough for the Guardians to be awakened too."
"The earth is in danger," a male voice stated as Shinozaki and
Makoto reached the top of the stairs, "and I wish to know why our
memories weren't restored sooner."
Debe put his weapon away and shook his head, "If only we
knew."
"And there are only two of you," Mako stepped in, "and Debe-
kun, you told us there are two more. Do you think they'll show up
soon?"
"Fate seems to go the all-or-nothing route," he answered, "so
they'll be awakened eventually."
"Let's just hope they'll be in time," Ami, who had just arrived
behind the other two, said quietly.
"We're going to do the best we can, no matter what happens,"
Makoto grinned. "Even with just Shinozaki-kun and Debe-kun, our
combined powers have already increased big time."
"Don't give us too much praise," the grey-eyed man sighed,
"we have our weaknesses too."
"What do you mean?" the three girls asked in unison.
"Despite your elemental affiliations, all of the Senshi are able
to combine their attacks, right?"
They nodded.
"I learned the hard way that the Guardians can't. We can only
combine our attacks with our respective Senshi."
"How did you figure it out?" Ami asked.
"I really don't want to say..." Debe's voice tapered off as he
moved his eyes away from the group. The night before, he had taken
Shinozaki for a brief training session just to see if he knew any
different abilities than just his Thunder Arrow. He soon got the idea to
try an experiment and see if by combining Guardian Jupiter's Thunder
Arrow with his own Parting the Water, his attack would become
inundated with lightning and deliver a much more powerful blow. He
didn't know how it happened, but the lightning backfired and gave
Guardian Mercury a pretty nasty shock. They wisely decided not to try
that again.
"Hi everyone!" Usagi chirped as she finished the climb. The
only reason she'd been on time was because she'd come with Mamoru.
"Usagi-chan," Makoto commented, "you're full of energy this
afternoon."
"Probably because she slept through all of her classes after
lunch," Rei commented without lifting her head.
"Rei-chan, why are you always so mean?" Usagi asked, her
good mood crumbling as the stream of tears again shot out of her eyes.
"Do these arguments break out often?" Shinozaki asked.
"This has been happening every day lately," Ami sighed as she
placed her hand on her forehead.
"Ami-chan is right," Makoto agreed, also sighing.
"It's getting ridiculous," Debe continued, "if it's not those two
it's something else. Usually because of that, these meetings never last
long."
Fortunately, the fight between the two didn't last more than a
minute as Mamoru was easily able to comfort his Usa-ko while Ami
scolded Rei on her inappropriate comment.
"Now, where's Minako?" Debe asked, as she was the only one
not there.
"Coming!" her voice fumed and everyone swore there was
smoke coming out of her head as she walked along the stone path.
"Minako-chan," Usagi asked, "what happened?"
"There's a guy who just transferred to my school and-"
"New guy?" Rei and Makoto zipped over to the blonde.
"What's he like?"
Although Minako was still angry, she described Kariudo to
them in every detail. She didn't say what her experience with him had
been and she refused to admit why she was angry.
"Hmph," Usagi didn't listen, "why should I want to hear about
other men when I have Mamo-chan?" She hugged his arm tightly.
"Usa-ko," he smiled, but requested, "I do need blood to get to
there," as he sweatdropped.
"He sounds just like my old boyfriend," Makoto soon
commented, which was expected.
"Mako-chan isn't going to change anytime soon," Shinozaki
grinned.
{"Debe, I don't understand,"} Ami asked him via their
telepathic link, {"Mako-chan knows that Shinozaki-kun is her
Guardian, but she still chases after other boys."}
{"Because someone was a Guardian doesn't necessarily mean
they were going to marry the princess,"} he answered. {"While Shino
is Makoto's best friend, she hasn't seen him as a boyfriend. And if I
remember right, there have been a few women Guardians in the history
of the Solar System."}
"They'll be at this for a while," Debe spoke. He knew exactly
what to do and withdrew a deck of cards from his pocket. "There's
more than enough time to teach you this game I learned in the States."
As he dealt the cards and explained the rules to the other two men and
two girls while the rest continued to fish for every piece of information
on Kariudo, down to the atomic level, they could from Minako.

A good half-hour passed before the meeting finally began,
then ended another full hour later. The group had discussed the
possible connection between Rad and his Capsule Monsters with the
recent youma. Rei had performed a fire reading as she had promised to
do so, but could see nothing. Her explanation to that was that their
subjects weren't anywhere on the planet. Despite the theories presented
by everyone, they didn't leave much smarter than when they arrived.
"Why did Debe-kun keep us there for so long?" Minako
sighed to herself as she walked home, having forgotten that the grey-
eyed Mercurian's time had been partially robbed by her. But as she
walked, she recounted his final warning to be wary of suspicious
people before they all left.
<"There's a distinct reason why Shino and I had our memories
restored and powers awakened," he had said. "Something really big is
about to happen and the incidents with my father, Rad, and those
youma were only the beginning. All we know about our enemy is that
his name is Amethyst and he is the true ruler of the Dark Kingdom.
That's also assuming that Rad was telling the truth when he told us that.
But as for anything else, we know nothing. Luna and Artemis are
already out scouting for information, but I want all of us to keep our
eyes open for anything suspicious.">
Minako had listened closely to his advice as he seemed to
have taken the position of leadership for this battle. When she fought
alone as Sailor V, she know how it felt to be alone with such a heavy
burden. With only Artemis as her confidant before she began working
with Katarina, she was isolated from everyone else. But meeting Usagi
and the incident with Fiore and the Kisenian flower only a month
before the Death Phantom's defeat and Guardian Mercury's revival had
reminded her that she wasn't alone and that her friend would never
abandon her.
Minako's mindset was suddenly changed as she began to
round a corner and was suddenly knocked aside by a fast-moving
person.
"Ow!" the blonde yipped as she landed hard on her rear.
"Why don't you-" she didn't get to finish as she was interrupted by the
person who'd run into her, which was unusual because she expected
him to keep running. But who it was caused her to facevault and also
to quickly cover her legs with her skirt.
"Hey, sorry about that," Kariudo extended his hand to help her
up, "I was trying to beat the light."
Minako didn't say anything as she was lifted onto her feet and
asked that "Are you okay?" questions. The incident after school
returned to her mind and a stern look appeared on her face.
"Don't touch me, pervert!" she snapped her hand out of his and
began to walk away.
"You're the Aino Minako that everyone at school's told me
about," he stated without asking.
The blonde stopped, "You've heard of me?"
"Sure, the guys on the Volleyball team keep telling me about
how good you are and the girls told me how you're always full of
energy." Kariudo then continued without hesitating, "But they said
nothing about how cute you are."

{C-cute?} Minako thought as she felt a tiny red tinge appear
on her face, {maybe he is a nice guy despite the fact that he's a-}
"And you are a pretty nice girl," he was still talking, "despite
the fact that you're an arrogant loud-mouthed girl."
Even though he clamped his hands over his mouth to shut
himself up, it was too late.

SLAP!

{That jerk! That pervert! THAT PERVERTED JERK!!!}
The words repeated inside her mind again and again as she stormed
down the sidewalk. How did he know exactly what she was thinking...
twice! Was he able to read her mind? Smoke continued to pour out of
her ears until a sports car pulled up onto the curb next to her. The man
inside was someone she recognized.
"Hey, Minako-chan," the man, who was really Topaz, waved
from the driver's seat, "nice to see you again." The hearts in her eyes
came before he could blink.
"Hi!" Minako rushed to the side of the car. "You remembered
my name!"
"Sorry about the other day, I was in a hurry."
"Oh that's all right. But you never told me your name."
"Tsujimoto Junichirou," he quickly replied. "Did you still
want that date?"
"Sure, Jun-kun."
Topaz smirked, "Get in."
Minako, expecting an enjoyable date, immediately entered the
car. {Oh, it's such a sin to be so beau-} she didn't get to finish as the
second she sat in the passenger seat, a puff of sleeping gas blew from
the vents of the car and into her face. Minako didn't even remember
passing out.

"That was almost too easy," Topaz commented as he withdrew
his communicator and reported, "I've got the first one."
"What about the other girl you had mentioned?" Garnet's voice
asked from the other end.
"She's a Shinto priestess, so sneaking up on her without her
sensing my energy won't be nearly as easy."
"I understand, one will be enough for now. I'm opening the
Gate." With that, Garnet closed the channel.
Chuckling to himself, Topaz floored the accelerator to quickly
turn around and reach the forming Gate just across the intersection.

"Ow," Kariudo rubbed the red hand mark that still stung on his
cheek, "she didn't have to hit me that hard." As he stepped back
towards the corner to wait for the crossing signal to give him the OK.
However, a revving noise caught his attention just as the light turned
blue. He quickly turned around in time to see and react to a sports car
speeding along the sidewalk heading straight for him! Kariudo's
instincts kicked in and he quickly leapt and rolled aside.
"Jerk! Watch where you're-" he started to shout as he stood up,
but he stopped as he saw an older man driving it and Minako was in the
passenger seat with her head slumped to the side!
"Minako-kun!" he shouted and dashed to follow the car. He
didn't even give a second thought when he saw the vehicle enter a
mysterious black hole that had appeared out of nowhere on the other
side of the street. With an enormous leap, Kariudo dove into the portal
just as it finished its closure. During the whole time he was enveloped
in darkness, the young man had absolutely no idea as to what
compelled him to run after that car, or rather the girl he barely knew.
He could no longer think as the darkness completely overtook him and
he lost consciousness.


Later that night, Artemis was returning to the Aino household
after a full afternoon of continual investigation. However, his and
Luna's observations on the locations of the previous encounters with
both the youma and Capsule Monsters had yielded nothing. There
appeared to be no connection to the events at all other than the
possibility of the name they had been given and how Amethyst was
declared the true leader of the Dark Kingdom.
When the white cat returned to his dwelling, he was greeting
by the sound of a slightly hysteric Aino Junko, Minako's mother,
speaking on the phone.
"So you haven't seen Minako since then, Usagi-chan?"
Artemis's keen hearing allowed him to hear the odango atama
girl on the other end.
"Sorry, I haven't seen Minako-chan since after school. Did
something happen?"
"She hasn't come home yet and she always calls if she's going
to be this late!"
As Artemis had lost track of time, a glance at the clock
informed him that it was nearing 1:00 AM. No wonder Junko was
worried. Because of Minako's strong sense of duty, unless she was
being influenced by chasing a handsome man, she did try to not worry
her parents much, despite the difficulty of being a Sailor Senshi and
keeping that fact hidden from them. He didn't bother to listen to the
rest of the conversation but chose to stealthily make his way up the
stairs and into Minako's closet where he could contact Luna in privacy.
{Debe's prediction in something happening came true a lot
sooner than anyone could've guessed,} he thought.

Across the district, Luna was busy tossing and turning. She
had been startled awake by Usagi's mother when she'd banged on a pan
with a wooden spoon to get her daughter to wake up when she received
the emergency phone call from Minako's mother. The black cat wasn't
awake enough to be able to listen to the conversation, but when Usagi
came back into the room, she was given no choice.
"Luna...!" she called in a loud whisper. "Luna, are you
awake?"
"Usagi-chan..." Luna yawned and kept her eyes somewhat
closed, "what's wrong?"
"I just talked to Aino-san, Minako-chan is missing!"
"Missing?" the cat's eyes finished opening in a blink.
"Yes, she didn't go home after our meeting at Rei-chan's."
"Did you try using your communicator?"
"Oh, right," Usagi reached over for her watch communicator
and opened the channel to call Minako, only to have to cover her ears
to block the sound of scratching static that came from the other end.
"Kyaa! What is that?" Usagi yelped.
"That can only mean one of two things," Luna concluded, "her
communicator was destroyed or she's out of range. But the second isn't
likely because their range can cover the whole world."
"Like the fire reading," the human girl spoke softly, "Rei-chan
couldn't see a thing..." Just as she closed the channel, another call came
in.
"Artemis!" Luna and Usagi exclaimed at the same time when
they saw the white cat with his headset phone on the other end.
"Where have you been?" the black feline questioned.
"I just got home from looking for more information on the
enemy," he answered. "But that's not important, Minako is missing."
"We know."
"Her mother's been calling all of her friends just to make sure
she didn't stay with one of them tonight. But I think she might've been
kidnapped by the enemy."
"What are we doing to do?"
"Start looking for clues. I'm heading for the Hikawa Shrine
now."
"I'll meet you there," as Luna began to turn to leap from the
bed, she saw the other girl in the process of getting dressed. "Usagi-
chan?"
"I can't sleep knowing Minako-chan could be in trouble," she
said firmly, pulling on a sweater and not taking time to put her hair into
her trademark buns. Even though Luna knew that, because of this, she
would fall asleep in school that day, she couldn't help but smile at
Usagi.

"Hey, baka Usagi, keep it do-" Shingo shouted as he threw
open the door to his sister's room, only to find it empty. He failed to
notice that the window was open and that the wind was blowing
through the curtains.


Minako had no idea where she was or how long she'd been
asleep for, but the last thing she remembered was getting ready to go on
a date with Junichirou before her mind quit. Her current surroundings
were a white room on all sides except for a barred door on one end.
That door and the fact that nothing else was in the room at all told her
she was in a prison cell.
"Hey!" she shouted as she pulled herself up from the floor and
heard her echo repeat as it traveled down the hall. "What do you think
you're doing! Let me out of here right now!" But her shouts didn't
reach anyone, or anyone who cared.
"Hmph," she turned back to the other wall, "I know how to
deal with this." She quickly willed her pen from her dimensional
pocket into her hand, "The Crescent Beam can easily get me out of
here." She raised it into the air.

"VENUS STAR POWER! MAKE-UP!!!"

Only nothing happened...

"What the..." Minako growled as she took a look.

Her pen had a deep crack running along the side and the
symbol of Venus was no longer present.

"Not good," she muttered as she also checked her watch. Her
efforts in trying to call anyone were also in vain as only static appeared
on the other end. She had no other choice but to slump against the wall
and sulk.
{If only I could transform, I could get out of here,} she
thought. {It looks like I'm going to have to wait it out and plan a
different strategy before whoever caught me comes back.} She also
couldn't help but giggle as she realized that Ami would have been
proud of her for using her head.

At some other point in the Realm, another person was just
beginning to awaken after the unexpected drain on his energy due to
travelling through the strange black hole, leaving Kariudo completely
dry. As he shook his head to clear his vision, he found himself
amongst large rows of crates marked in a strange language that he
obviously didn't recognize.
"How the hell did I get here?" he asked himself as he waited
for his eyes to adjust further. A small investigation of the aisle he stood
him brought him to the car that had nearly run him down. The distance
between his landing point and where the car stood was definitely the
space it had required to slow down and stop, leaving him out of sight
from the driver's point of view in the darkness.
{Whoever took Minako-kun probably carried her out but
luckily didn't see me. What a sicko! I'm not going to let him do
anything to her!} He didn't know who he was up against or how many
there would be, but Kariudo wasn't leaving without the only girl he'd
ever called cute and sincerely meant it.


"Something happened here," Luna observed as she, Usagi, and
Artemis reached an intersection hear the Hikawa shrine. There were
barriers and police lines set up at one corner were a fresh set of tire
tracks was prevalent. Sadly however, there were no officers present to
ask about the incident.
"This is where she disappeared," Artemis sniffed the air, "I'm
sure of it."
"But that doesn't tell us where Minako-chan is," Usagi
complained. "How are we going to find her?"
"We look the hard way," Luna informed her, "we get everyone
to search the whole district, maybe all of Tokyo if we have to."
"No way..." Usagi fell to her knees.


"Hey you, wake up!"
Minako slowly began to stir as she felt a small object hit her
back. It hadn't been easy to pretend to fall asleep on the hard floor, but
the hours of waiting had actually caused her to fall into a slumber. But
now she had the advantage of surprise. She immediately stood up and
proceeded to rush the person who'd called to her through the cell bars.
She turned around, only to stop when she saw who had called her.
"Jun-kun!" she exclaimed in shock. The man now wore a
strange military style uniform but looked nothing like the uniforms that
Beryl's generals had donned.
"Annoying girl, my name is Topaz," he spoke coldly, "and I
suppose I should congratulate you. Because of your attempt on me last
week you've been chosen as one of our guinea pigs."
"Guinea pig!" Minako asked, then turned to a sweet tone.
"What would you want to do to such a lovely and helpless girl as
myself?"
"To you? You'll regret that statement if I answer it," Topaz
stated bluntly. "As a Sailor Senshi I think you've had some combat
training so I doubt you'd be able to consider yourself 'helpless.'"
"Huh?" she pretended to be confused. "What's a Sailor
Senshi?"
"Don't play dumb with me, annoying girl. Your attempt to
transform when you first awoke only added to the proof. Too bad for
you I figured out how to destroy it before you could wake up after I
finished searching you."
The blonde girl again looked at her cracked pen, "You were
searching me?" Minako covered her chest and stepped back while
glaring at him and wondering at the same time how he'd found her pen
as it wasn't on her body. "Pervert!"
"Hmph, I'm not interested in your ugly body anyway. You're
an ape compared to Garnet."
As anyone who was acquainted with Minako would know, she
did NOT take comments against her looks or age very well. Her mind
began to plot a plan to pay him back as slowly and painfully as possible
instead of figuring a way to escape. Had Topaz been looking closely,
he would have seen the horns appear on the top of her head as the
devilish plan began to unfold. But this was bad for Minako as her
thoughts were too occupied for her to realize that the lieutenant was
revealing his entire plan to her. He said that it didn't matter if he told
her his plan or not as, once he finished with her, she would forget
everything. The blonde was so out of it that she didn't feel the small
dart shoot into her arm or the hardness of the floor as she collapsed.

"Where am I now?" Kariudo asked himself as he entered
another strange room filled with what looked to be a large Chemistry
set. To say he was lost was an understatement as this strange place was
enormous, though "enormous" was also too light of a word to use.
As he approached and examined he bubbling green liquid, his
eyes caught the light of a nearby monitor containing Minako's picture.
Whatever textual information there was on the screen, he couldn't
understand it at all as it was in the same language as the crates in the
storage area. This hadn't been the first room of this unusual nature that
he'd stumbled upon. One room contained an unusual kind of throne
surrounded by a console that looked like something from a Sci-fi
movie. Another room was filled with racks containing hundreds,
maybe thousands of sealed test tubes that held a sickly brown liquid.
The final unusual room contained a large holographic map of an area
he'd never seen before. While he stored these places into his memory,
his objective was to find Minako and find a way to get out of there.
Kariudo was about to turn and leave when he heard the sounds
of footsteps approaching the room. The young man wasn't dumb, he
quickly dove behind the desk containing the lab and waited.
"So the first injection is complete?" a female voice asked.
"Yes," a male voice answered, "she's unconscious for now.
Her body will soon crave more and more as she becomes addicted to
the formula." Kariudo guessed that the voice belonged to the man who
had abducted Minako. He continued, "But Garnet, I want to know
something."
"What is it?"
"Before Rad's demise, he practically turned into a Capsule
Monster simply by drinking the compound for one. Why not just inject
that into that annoying blonde girl?"
{'Annoying blonde girl?'} Kariudo thought. {He's gotta be
talking about Minako-kun.}
"Ingesting the compound only gives a person the power of a
Capsule Monster, and temporarily. It doesn't affect his personal control
at all. Not only that, it's very unstable. This formula works differently;
the addictive nature of it slowly eats away at a person's ability for self-
control. Also, the three injections allow the stability to remain high as
it doesn't just give the human the power of the monster, it turns him
into one that is much stronger than a normal one. If the experiment
with the girl succeeds, the other guinea pig will be used to fuse with a
youma when Lord Amethyst returns with his army. As she spoke,
Kariudo could hear her working at the table.
{Another guinea pig? Are there two girls captured in here?}
"I understand now. When will she receive the next injection?"
"In two hours, the third being an hour after that." She gave
him something from the table.
{I've only got three hours,} Kariudo thought again as he
listened to them leave. {Minako-kun, where are you?} Another
question came to his mind, {And what time is it?}


Kariudo's question would have easily been answered had he
been able to see the world at the surface of the planet. Back in Tokyo,
school had just ended and everyone had split up to begin their search
for Minako. It had been suggested that everyone search either alone or
in groups of two to cover more ground in shorter time. Some had opted
to go in groups while others went alone. While they had no idea as to
where to look for clues related to the disappearance, they each all
sought out their own ideas: Usagi and Mamoru searched the Crown
arcade and fruit parlor along with other recreational areas that she was
known to hang out at. Ami went solo and checked out Juuban hospital
and the local police station and boxes in case someone had found her
and turned her in. Shinozaki and Makoto worked together in searching
date spots and parks. Rei's assignment was to check the local shrines
and temples in case somebody had taken her there like she and Makoto
had taken Debe to the Hikawa Shrine after his loss against Blade.
While Debe had desired to go with Ami, he decided to split off
and ask around at her school and other local schools in the district. He
was able to find and speak with Megumi, but she told him that she
wouldn't be of much help as the last time she'd seen Minako was after
school the day before. But she was the first to mention her encounter
with Kariudo and the fact that he hadn't been at school that day either.
"Is Kariudo the one who she was angry at yesterday?" Debe
asked.
"She did get mad at something he said to her," Megumi
answered, "but Kariudo-kun apologized right away, even if she didn't
hear him. I don't know why she slapped him though, that kind of
comment was actually something I'd expect Minako-chan to say."
"Something you'd expect Minako to say? You're sounding
like he was able to read her mind."
"That's what it sounded like, Ohara-kun."
Debe immediately knew what was going on as he pieced the
puzzle together and silently whispered, "The Lancer..."
"Huh?" Megumi blinked.
"Never mind, my mind was elsewhere. Megumi-kun, thank
you for your help." Debe quickly bowed and moved on, thinking, {I
don't know why, but I have the feeling that they're in the same place.
Wherever that is.} Despite the new theory he'd just formed, he couldn't
bring it out into the open until he had more evidence. For now, he
would continue his search while he contacted Artemis and asked him to
find out all he could about Paito Kariudo.
The young Mercurian's next location was that of a high
school, which he didn't intend to stay at for too long as his new
information partially ruled out the idea that she'd found an older man to
"learn" about. However, his attention was caught by a small
commotion on one side of the building. He decided to check the
situation out, which led him to the school's track where either practice
or a meet was taking place for the Track Team. This was one of Debe's
weaknesses as he enjoyed watching a good track meet as it was his
dream to join that team in high school and possibly compete in the
Olympics.
"Okay!" the man who was obviously the coach shouted,
"We're going to run a time trial! If you want to try to break a personal
record, do it now!"
"Sensei," a dark-skinned but purple-haired girl called to him,
"one of our timekeepers isn't here!"
"Hmm," the coach looked around and found Debe. "Hey, you!
Help us out for a moment!"
"Sure," Debe hadn't even answered before the coach tossed a
stopwatch to him. He asked as he approach the starting line, "Who will
I be timing?"
"Tenou," he pointed at the tallest girl he'd ever seen in his life.
Her short blonde hair could have made her look like a man if she also
wore the right clothes.
"Tenou Haruka," she bluntly greeted.
"Have a good race," Debe replied.
Once the coach reminded the timekeepers how to properly
track the run, the team positioned themselves at the starting line. The
gun was fired and the race began. As Debe watched the runners move
along the track, the purple-haired girl took an early lead, but he was
amazed to see Haruka quickly pull and stay ahead for the remainder of
the race. Her speed was unlike anything he'd ever seen. She was like
the wind. No. She WAS the wind. Once the race was over, Debe
could have sworn that he'd just seen the making of a new world record.
"Tenou," the coach called, "how'd you do?"
"Ask my timekeeper," she gestured to Debe as she grabbed a
towel to wipe the sweat from her brow, not really seeming to care to
want to know how she did. Debe immediately informed the coach of
her time.
"Great job, Tenou!" he cupped her shoulder. "You and Grey
will win the National Championship for this school easily!"
"The race is everything," Haruka simply responded almost in
contradiction as she began to walk towards the locker room to shower
and get changed.
Debe simply wanted to thank the coach for the opportunity to
help and be on his way, but something held him back. He wanted to
talk to Haruka more, to find out what her motivation was. She didn't
even look surprised when she exited the locker room, now dressed in a
riding uniform, and saw him waiting.
"Yo," she greeted again.
"Tenou-san," Debe spoke, "I want to ask you something."
"Hmph," she smirked, "come with me." Haruka lead the way
and spoke with him as they made their way to her motorcycle. "Go
ahead."
"Your running skills are nothing short of impressive, Tenou-
san-"
"Haruka," she invited.
"Sorry, Haruka-san. I hope to compete once I enter high
school and I'd like to know how you do it."
"If I knew then I would tell you. I take each race one step at a
time, one meter at a time, becoming one with the win. I can only tell
you to run hard, run fast, and lose yourself in the race."
"You do realize that one day we may run together or against
each other," Debe gave his half-grin.
"I'll look forward to it," as they reached her bike, she suddenly
pulled out another helmet. "Need a ride anywhere?"
"No thanks, I'm not really headed anywhere in particular."
"Well, good luck and I'll see you again, maybe in the race."
Haruka gave him a type of salute as she revved her bike and rode off.
{She reminds me of someone,} Debe thought as the wind of
her departure blew through his clothes and hair.


"Hey, it's too cold in here!" Minako shouted in another of her
calls to drive Topaz crazy. She'd woken up after sleeping for a half
hour and had been calling him for various, almost trivial reasons every
minute or so just to drive him insane as part of her fiendish plan. He'd
filled her request for food and water as he had to keep her health up so
the formula would have as strong an effect as possible. But she would
always call him back just as he was about gone.
{Soon,} he thought clenching his fists, {soon the drug will
take effect and she won't bother me anymore!}
"Hey!" Minako called again, "There's no bathroom in here!"
"Use the corner!" Topaz shouted back as he appeared and
immediately withdrew a small type of gun and fired a second dart into
her arm.
"Ow! That's no way to treat a lady!"
"Be glad I haven't done anything more," Topaz immediately
turned and walked away.
Back in her cell, Minako laughed devilishly as the horns again
appeared on her head. But she couldn't laugh for long as, suddenly, her
insides felt like they'd been clamped shut by a vice and she fell to her
knees for not the first time.
"What's... what's happening to me?" she asked weakly as her
strength fled her body. "I want... I want something..." As the cravings
began to kick in, she suddenly stopped caring about everything else.

"I should've followed him," Kariudo muttered under his breath
as his wanderings continued. "Whatever that drug is, it'll turn Minako-
kun into a monster if she gets those last two doses." Unfortunately for
him, two hours had passed and Minako had received the second
injection, with the third to come shortly.
Kariudo was about to continue his trek towards possibly the
final area of the huge place when one of the doors next to him opened
and he saw the woman whose voice he'd heard earlier standing in the
frame.
"Who are youmph!" she didn't get to finish her sentence as
Kariudo quickly clamped his hand over her mouth before she could be
too loud.
"Where is Minako-kun?" he demanded.
The woman motioned with her eyes down the hall in the
direction he'd already been heading.
"Get back in there and don't come out for fifteen minutes," he
ordered then shoved her back inside before taking off in a full sprint.

"How did he get in here?" Garnet asked the air as she rushed
over to a comm. panel inside of that room and opened a channel. She
could have taken him but he had the advantage with the element of
surprise.
"Topaz here, what's going on?" Topaz greeted.
"There's an intruder in the Realm looking for that blonde girl!
He's heading for your position now!"
"Do you want me to take care of him?"
"No. Administer the drug to her right now and get her back to
the surface so she can deal with him herself."
"Right, fighting in here could damage our equipment."

Minako was only a shell of herself in person. She was now
laying on the floor only twitching occasionally. She wanted, needed
something, but didn't know what it was. She was barely even able to
lift her head when she heard someone approaching.
"Time for your last dose, annoying girl," Topaz informed her
as he raised the small gun that contained the drug.
"Hold it!" another voice shouted and a different man, though
much younger, suddenly tackled him, causing him to drop the gun.
"Ka... Ka..." Minako couldn't even speak more than that.
"Bastard, what'd you do to Minako-kun!" Kariudo shouted as
he grabbed Topaz's shirt and pinned him down.
"So you're the intruder Garnet warned me about," Topaz
snickered, "for a rat I have to admit you're quick. How'd you get in
here?"
"The kappa who talks to me in my sleep forewarned me,"
Kariudo's sarcasm could have easily been tangible.
"Idiot!" Topaz retorted as he used his foot to flip Kariudo over
him and into the wall before quickly scrambling back over to the gun.
As Kariudo quickly got back onto his feet, he noticed a thin
pipe running along the wall. With an impressive display of strength, he
tore a length of it that was the length of a good staff from its place and
threw it like a javelin to knock the gun further out of reach.
"You're not a half-bad fighter," Topaz legitimately
complimented as he picked up the pipe and swung it, only to have it
caught and his balance lost as Kariudo quickly followed through with a
quick foot sweep.
"You're dealing with the heir of my father's school of martial
arts," he declared, revealing his lifelong study of fighting, and pointed
the end of his weapon at Topaz's neck. "Give me the antidote, Minako-
kun, and tell me how to get out of here."
"Ha! I hate to tell you this, but there is no antidote. And if
she isn't given the third dose, her addiction and craving will kill her."
"You're bluffing!" Kariudo wasn't shaken, even though Topaz
was telling the truth.
"If you want to believe that," he quickly pushed Kariudo's
weapon into his ribs, though the edge wasn't jagged enough to pierce
the skin, it was strong enough the push him back far enough for Topaz
to roll aside and grab the gun.
"No!" Kariudo, expecting him to fire immediately, leapt
between him and Minako.

But his timing was off.

"Again, you're an idiot," Topaz taunted as he had waited to
fire until after the young man had landed back onto the ground on his
side.

Topaz didn't miss.

"Garnet!" Topaz shouted into his communicator, "Open the
doors and the Gate!"
Kariudo was about to attack the lieutenant again when the
door to Minako's cell opened at the same time another black hold
appeared and consumed the blonde.
"Minako-kun!" Kariudo shouted again as he, still holding his
weapon, jumped in after her.

Still in the Realm, Garnet responded to Topaz's request,
"They'll be deposited in Juuban Park. Her transformation will be
complete in less than two minutes. If all succeeds, I'll report to Lord
Amethyst immediately."
"Excellent," Topaz replied. "When you're able, send me to a
place nearby to observe directly. But just to be safe, create the
departing gate from the Capsule Monster storage room."
As Garnet began entering the coordinates she, at the same
time, began to prepare her report to Amethyst AND prepared to take
any notes on flaws in the formula.

Kariudo had become adjusted to the strange method of
travelling and didn't pass out this time. He was able to see that he and
Minako, who was out cold ahead of him, seemed to be shooting
through a vacuum tube surrounded by blackness, with the only light
being the growing dot at the end of the shaft, being obviously the exit.
As they traveled, Minako's skin was starting to become as gold as her
hair as it and her clothes seemed to meld with her body. The only thing
that wasn't assimilating with her was a strange pen that dropped aside
and Kariudo was able to catch as he passed by it. If the sudden jolt he
felt from grabbing that pen hadn't already nearly knocked him out, his
hard landing on the ground would have.


In Juuban Park, Makoto and Shinozaki had just met back
together after having looked over half of the area each.
"Any luck?" Mako asked as they reunited on a trail that ran
through a small cluster of trees.
"Nothing," Shinozaki shrugged, "Aino-kun isn't here either
and-" something moving caught his attention, "what was that?"
"Huh?" Makoto turned around and saw what she thought he'd
seen. "It's just a few squirrels chasing each other, Shinozaki-kun-" As
she turned around to face him again, he'd suddenly vanished!
"Mako-chan, what's wrong?" his voice asked from the same
place he'd just been standing!
"Y-y-y-you're not there!" she stammered.
"Huh? Mako-chan I didn't go anywhere at all."
"Wait..." Makoto thought of something as she looked at the
trees behind him, "come over here," then walked back over onto the
open path. As soon as the young man was no longer against the
background of the trees, he immediately became visible again.
"I knew it!" Mako exclaimed.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I remember Debe-kun telling us about how you Guardians
are able to use some of your powers all the time. Because you're from
Jupiter, I think you can camouflage yourself against a forested
background."
"Hmm, I didn't know. Sorry for startling you, Mako-chan.
But it does make sense."
"I don't think you know how to control it," she observed.
"I haven't had a lot of time to train since the other day."
"Don't worry about it," Makoto patted his back, "Debe-kun
will start working on you right after we find Minako-chan."
"Thanks, Mako-chan," Shinozaki smiled.
The tall brunette was about to speak more but she was cut off
by a piercing cry of, "Kyaa! Monster!" from the direction which
Shinozaki had gestured to only a moment before.
"This things have got the worst timing!" Makoto growled as
she pulled out her pen. "Are you ready?"
The bow was already in Shinozaki's hands, "Let's do it!"
Two teens entered the midst of the trees and only a few
seconds passed before Sailor and Guardian Jupiter emerged.
"What the hell is that thing?" Sailor Jupiter wondered aloud as
they could see the creature that had sparked such a reaction from the
nearby people. The monster was completely gold, looking to have
somewhat of a lion's mane but looked almost entirely else like a
human. It reminded her of the Cardian that had attacked Shinozaki
nearly half a year ago now.
"A youma?" Guardian Jupiter asked.
"No," Sailor Jupiter replied, "youma are able to talk. This is a
Capsule Monster!"
"Capsule Monster?"
"Damn! Why now?"
"I'll distract it while you call everyone else," Guardian Jupiter
was already running in to use his arrows to steer the monster away from
the people.
"Everyone!" Sailor Jupiter called into her watch, "The enemy's
shown up again! This time at Juuban Park!"
She didn't even wait for responses when bolts of lightning
began crackling between her hands.

"SPARKLING-"

Guardian Jupiter was doing a good job of keeping its attention
away from her as she readied her attack.

"WIDE-"

{This thing won't know what hit it,} she thought as she
smirked.

"PRESSURE!!!"

The lightning ball left her hands and sailed to hit its target
dead on.

"WAIT!!!"

Both Jupiters could only watch as a young man, wearing a
boys' school uniform from Minako's school and holding a thin object,
as he ran in from nowhere, leapt into the air, and intercepted the attack
with his body!

Kariudo's body could only watch as Minako's transformation
complete itself. He was too drained from the sudden jolt from the pen
to do anything. He could only watch as she lost all of her will and
became a monster. He could only watch as she mindlessly tried to
attack a small number of civilians. He could only watch as one of the
Sailor Senshi and someone else showed up. But as the Senshi prepared
an attack, he could no longer only watch as he summoned the strength
he didn't have to stop the attack before it could kill Minako. With the
last of his energy, he took the attack, knowing it could come close to
killing him. The split second between the attack hitting him and it
hurting him became years as Kariudo's eyes were overloaded when the
bright light hit him.

"It is time," an almost haunting voice declared.

"What?" Kariudo was surprised he hadn't been destroyed, but
looked around to see that he was still in front of the lightning ball, but
at the same time he was seeing it happen from where he'd landed upon
exiting that portal! He looked normal, he was still wearing his uniform,
and he felt fine. The only difference was that he no longer held his
makeshift weapon.
"What's going on?" he was able to effortlessly stand up and
walk up to himself. "Did time stop or something?"
"Time doesn't exist here," the voice came again.
"What're you talking about?"
"It's simple, you are in the space between life and death. Your
spirit remained when your body ran to save Minako."
"So I'm dead?"
"No, but unless you do exactly as I say, you will die the
second you return to your body."
"Wait a minute! Why should I trust you?"
"Do you really believe that you have a choice in this matter?"
Kariudo pondered for a moment, "Well, if it'll keep me from
getting killed... I might as well."
"Good, now listen carefully," as the voice spoke, the day
suddenly became night and the stars began to appear. But one began to
outshine them all.
"Go to that star," the voice directed.
"Go to it?" Kariudo's jaw nearly hit the ground. "How the hell
do I do that?"
"You can go anywhere in your spirit form if you simply will
it."
"Okay, if I just will it," he took a deep breath, then thought
about travelling to that brightest star and was nothing less than shocked
at his speed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" he shouted, despite
the fact that he didn't feel any movement, as he completely left earth's
atmosphere and headed towards not a large ball of gas, but earth's next-
door neighbor; the planet Venus.
As Kariudo's spirit broke through the clouds and into the
heated, acidic surface of the planet, he became convinced of being
outside his body as he not only didn't feel the heat of the burning of the
acid and the crushing pressure of the atmosphere, but he also felt
nothing as he slammed into the ground.
"This isn't the way this place used to look," he said almost
unknowingly as he got onto his feet and surveyed the area. His
statement felt accurate to him despite all of what he'd learned about the
planet in school. Then he realized what he'd said.
"Wait a minute, I've never been here before. Nobody has!"
"At least not for 1,000 years," the same female voice he'd
heard on earth informed him.
"Okay, I'm here! What the heck do I have to do now?"
"Watch, and remember."
"Huh?" Kariudo shielded his eyes as he was enveloped in a
cosmic light.

Flicker...

The entire landscape glowed a stunning gold as the barren
landscape of the planet transformed into a majestic palace surrounded
by a grand city. Kariudo's point of view zoomed into one particular
house that wasn't too far from the palace itself. There, he could get a
closer view of the streets, which held the same aura of golden light as
everything else. But inside the courtyard of the large house, he saw a
little boy in training with a spear. The boy had dirty blonde hair and
sky blue eyes and was working with his weapon remarkably well for
someone his age. He had no trouble in wielding the weapon with the
same skill as the much older man next to him, whose pattern he was
following. When the routine was finished, the older man spoke.
"Excellent job, Kariudo," he praised.
{Kariudo?}
"In all my years I've never seen anyone your age do so well
with any weapon," the man continued. "This proves that you are my
son."
"Thanks, Dad," the young Kariudo grinned as he spun the
spear over his head and thrust the blunt end into the ground as a type of
victory pose.
{This is getting weird.}
"Lord Darius!" a messenger suddenly came running into the
courtyard. "A visitor!"
"Send him in!" Darius acknowledged.
"But my Lord, it's the queen!"
"Regardless of if it's the queen or no, we do not return until
our training session is finished. Ask her to meet with me at the gate, I
will speak with her there." He then turned to his son, "Kariudo, wait
here."
As Darius left, he should have realized that his son wasn't
going to pass up an opportunity to see the Queen, so Kariudo followed
silently behind his father and hid behind the wall of the estate as the
Queen of Venus stepped from her carriage with a young girl following
at her side. From his spying point, Kariudo suddenly didn't care about
seeing the older monarch anymore as the younger girl's long blonde
hair and red bow caught, and kept, his attention. He didn't know how
long his father and Queen Venus were speaking, but before he knew it,
he was being addressed.
"Kariudo," Darius spoke sternly.
"Y-yes?" he suddenly stood at attention.
"You didn't have to hide, you could have come out and met
the princess if you wanted to. If I'd known she was here as well I
wouldn't have asked you to stay behind."
"Huh?" the boy turned to see that the carriage was just
rounding the corner.
"Never mind now. Let's resume our training," Darius began to
walk back to the other end of the yard.
"Okay Dad," Kariudo followed willingly but still turned his
head back to look. From that day on, he always tried to seize an
opportunity to sneak any kind of glance at the princess whenever she
would pass by.

Flicker...

Several years later...
"Hey, Kariudo!" the young teenage boy's neighbor, Koji,
called up to him from the street. "Are you watching out for the
princess again?"
"Leave me alone!" Kariudo shouted back at him from his
standing point on the wall of his father's estate. He'd really been
getting on his nerves.
{That's what I would have said. So that guy really is me...}
"You're up there every day to get a look at the princess!
You're only wasting your time as she'll never notice you!"
"At least with me being up here she's more likely to see me
and not a ground-dwelling loser who she'd intentionally try to run
down," his sarcasm was again almost tangible.
Koji was getting irritated as he had a very short temper, "Just
because your father is a high-ranking officer in the army doesn't mean
you can bully me around!"
"I'm not bullying," Kariudo stately bluntly, "I'm only stating
the truth."
"You jerk!" the other boy picked up a rock and chucked it at
the one on the wall.
Kariudo easily caught it nonchalantly and continued his
sarcastic assault, "It might help if you open your eyes when you
throw."
"I'll get you!" Koji leapt onto the wall and launched an attack
at him on the narrow ledge. The two of them had been trained how to
fight and were thus able to keep their balance as Kariudo's blocking and
dodging eventually took them into a large tree next to the wall. Their
spat prevented Kariudo from noticing that the princess's carriage was
passing by along the road next to them. Either by Fate or by Luck, the
two boys' quarrel had brought them to the edge of a limb, where it
could no longer support their weight. A loud CRACK caught their
attention.
"Huh?" they both asked in unison just as their platform broke.
When the two of them fell, they both landed on their feet and
only continued their fight in the middle of the street, not knowing they
had an audience.
"What's going on here?" a young female voice soon
demanded. Kariudo took a split second to see who was getting
involved.

It was the princess!

"You've got no busy here, girl!" Koji shouted, apparently not
seeing who was there.
"'Girl?!'" both the princess and Kariudo asked in irritation.
"You take that back!" Kariudo immediately ordered and
affirmed that order by going on the offensive and connecting a punch to
the other's jaw, flooring him.
"Okay, okay, you win! I'm sorry!" he didn't even look at him
as he got up and simply walked away.
"That guy never learns," Kariudo huffed as he watched Koji
leave.
"Umm... thank you for standing up for me," the princess was
smiling when he turned back to her.
As his cheeks took on a shade of red, Kariudo responded, "I
couldn't let him insult your beauty like that, Princess." Was he
dreaming? He didn't dare pinch himself to find out.
The blonde girl, her ego fed, laughed and took Kariudo's arm,
prompting no small nervous reaction from him.
"I like you," she grinned, "come back to the palace with me.
Mother will certainly want to meet anyone who would defend me so
readily."
Kariudo smirked at the irony, he would soon realize that he
would need to thank that annoying neighbor of his.

Flicker...

"Ah, you're the son of Darius," Queen Venus realized as
Kariudo introduced himself, "you have earned quite a reputation as a
strong warrior from your father's training."
"He has trained me from the day I could hold a weapon,
Queen Venus," Kariudo answered confidently, still bowing.
"And you seem to have an attraction to my daughter."
Kariudo couldn't help but to look up as he stammered, "Um...
I..."
"Be honest."
"Yes, my queen. From the day I first saw her, I've thought
your daughter is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."
"Did you tell her that before she brought you here?"
"Sort of."
The queen mused, "No wonder she brought you back so
easily."
"My queen?"
"Never mind that. You see, young Kariudo, my daughter is
ready to become the next Sailor Venus, but she hasn't chosen a
Guardian to fight to protect the planet when she takes on the mission to
protect Princess Serenity."
Kariudo felt a lump in his throat as he asked, "May I speak
freely?"
"Yes."
"My queen, I thought that the princess would have several
people offering to take on the training to become her Guardian."
"That is the problem, young Kariudo. She has too many and,
at the same time, she wants to choose them all because they
compliment her on her beauty."
Realization his Kariudo's mind, especially after his incident, "I
understand."
"But young Kariudo, I wish to know why you've never offered
to take the training. You've always wanted to meet the princess since
you first saw her and that is the easiest way."
"Well, to be honest it would be a dream come true, but I've
devoted my life and training to follow in my father's footsteps and
inherit his school of fighting. I would gladly accept being Guardian
Venus, but I may not be worthy."
"I see," the queen pondered for a moment before asking,
"What do you consider your specialty?"
"I'm most proficient with spears, my queen."
"Just as he told me..." Queen Venus whispered to herself, then
spoke up again. "That is perfect, wait here for a few minutes please."
The queen stood up, stepped out of the room, and returned a
few minutes later with a light spear, with the craftsmanship and sheen
of it exceeding even his own, which his father had commissioned the
greatest weaponsmith on the planet to forge. It held the mysterious
glow of purely refined gold.
"Take it," she offered, "I'd like to see a demonstration of your
skills."
"Y-yes my queen," Kariudo intended to run through the
hardest katas he knew, but the moment he took ahold of the weapon, a
pillar of light immediately arose around him, then converged on his
body. The light took on the shape of a full suit of heavy golden armor
with a dark blue cape. Kariudo's confusion could have been read by
anyone.
"W-what just happened?" he asked, looking over himself.
"I knew it," Queen Venus confirmed, "your father was correct.
The Planet has decreed you worthy." What she said next shocked him
beyond belief.

"Guardian Venus."

{WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!}

Flicker...

Princess Venus, whose name was Minako, just like the
Minako Kariudo had met at school, was just as surprised to find out she
had a Guardian when she hadn't even chosen him. The queen
explained to her in a straightforward manner that her fickle nature and
waiting too long to choose had left the decision solely to the Planet
instead of simply deeming her choice worthy. But Kariudo and
Minako didn't have time to really get to know each other for very long,
as only a few months passed from the time he took the oath as
Guardian Venus, she became Sailor Venus, and the fateful trip to the
Moon.

Flicker...

"It's nice to see that you have finally chosen a Guardian,
Princess Venus," Queen Serenity smiled at the two of them.
"Thank you," Minako returned the smile and hugged Kariudo's
arm. "We haven't known each other for long, but we've been getting
along very well."
"That's the way it should be," Serenity continued. "Guardian
Venus, I hope you enjoy your time here tonight."
"I don't doubt it," he was about to bow, but a sudden CRASH
against the palace nearly caused him to lose his balance.
"What was that?" all three asked.

Their answer came in the form of the cry, "We're under
attack!"

Flicker...

"I can't hold on any longer," Guardian Venus strained to say a
his Cloud Barrier defensive attack began to break under the force of the
enormous blast that had taken everyone else out. He was just barely
able to form the shield around himself and sadly, had no chance no
form it around any of his allies. His hope to block the attack until it
died failed as the pressure buildup against his shield destroyed it and
killed him instantly.

Flicker...

Kariudo's spirit blinked as he suddenly found himself back on
the surface of present-day Venus.
"Do you remember now?" the haunting female voice asked.
"No wonder I wanted to learn Martial Arts when I was a kid,"
he said to himself, "it's because I was a warrior in my previous life."
"You are only partially correct. You were reborn, not
reincarnated. Your personality and traits are exactly the same now as
they were then."
"So Minako-kun is that same Minako..."
"Yes, and you're the same Kariudo who was taken to the
queen that day."
"I'm Guardian Venus..." he looked at his hands, then back up.
"What about the other Sailor Senshi and Guardians? I know that the
Jupiters are there."
"There is no longer any time for this. Return to Earth and do
what you must in order to avoid death."
"Wait!" he shouted. "What about my spear? I can't transform
without it!"
"Observe your physical body when you return."
"I'd better get a full explanation behind all this after it's over!"
Kariudo declared as he willed himself to return to Juuban Park.

Back on Earth's surface. Kariudo saw that everything in the
scene hadn't changed at all, with one small exception: the pipe he had
been using as his weapon was now Venus's Spear!
"When did that happen?" he asked aloud.
"When you touched Sailor Venus's pen," the voice again
explained, "the spear, which was inside of your body, reacted to it and
emerged. No go!"
As the young man leapt back into himself, he silently
promised, "Minako-kun I swear I'll find a way to turn you back into the
beautiful girl you are!"

From her vantage point in front of the Door of Time, Sailor
Pluto sighed after finishing with Kariudo.
"He'll never believe that the actual time he spent between
leaving and returning to earth was less than a nanosecond in the realm
of the living. But he barely even had that much time."

Sailor Jupiter was, simply put, freaked out when she saw her
attack about to kill an innocent civilian! She could only watch in
horror as the Sparkling Wide Pressure came into contact with the young
man. But she could also only watch as a sudden flash of golden light
blocked and dissipated her attack! Once the brilliance subsided, she
stared at the young man, who now wore heavy armor shining with
golden light and wielded an equally golden spear.
"Just as the light of the sun cannot penetrate the clouds that
cover my planet, nothing can break through my Cloud Barrier," he
explained confidentially.
"Who are you?" Sailor Jupiter demanded.
"Wait," Guardian Jupiter stepped forward, then blinked,
"Kariudo?"
"You know each other?" the girl asked.
"Yes."
"Did you go to the same school?"
"No, he's Guardian Venus."
"Huh?" Sailor Jupiter looked back and forth between the two.
"He's right," the other guy responded. "I'm Guardian Venus,
the Lancer. It's been a long time."
Sailor Jupiter hadn't noticed this until that moment, but since
the light around Guardian Venus shone, the Capsule Monster had been
completely stunned by it.
"Why did you just protect that monster?" she asked.
"Because that monster is Minako-kun!" Guardian Venus
answered, "The enemy turned her into it!"
"What?" both Jupiters asked.
"I don't have time to explain," he turned back to it, "is there
any way to heal her?"
"Sailor Moon can," Sailor Jupiter assured him.
"But she's not here yet," her Guardian commented.

"Somebody call me?"

The other three looked over to see an odangoed shadow
standing atop a streetlight in the waning daylight. Nobody had to guess
twice as to who it was, especially once she began her speech.
"Attacking and scaring innocent people for a purpose that is in
no way good is evil! Even if the Head of Park Services should forgive
you, I will not! I am the pretty sailor suited soldier of love and justice,
Sailor Moon!" With the usual hand motion, she finished, "In the name
of the Moon, I'll punish you!"
"Does she say something stupid like that in every battle?"
Guardian Venus asked, sweatdropping.
"I wouldn't know, this is the first time I've fought with her,"
Guardian Jupiter replied.
Sailor Jupiter ignored them. "Sailor Moon! Don't attack this
monster, it's really Minako-chan!"
"Minako-chan?" Sailor Moon's surprise was enough to cause
her to lose her balance and fall. Luckily, only to be caught by the one
she'd been searching with.
"Also here to fight side-by-side with the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo
Kamen!" he declared as he set her back on her feet, "Frightening people
and destroying this beautiful landscape only demean the park's
reputation. It is a place of peace and beauty, I won't let you harm it any
more!"
"This is a real waste of time to give speeches to only one
monster that's stunned," Guardian Venus mused.
"Remember Prince Endymion of earth?" Guardian Jupiter
asked. "That's him."
"Sheesh, he looked better with his armor."
"Though I have to ask who you are," Tuxedo Kamen motioned
to the new guy.
"Guardian Venus," he replied, "I saw Minako-kun being
turned into that thing," he gestured back to the paralyzed golden
lioness.
"Sailor Moon, you know what to do," he turned to her as he
said that, but then back to Guardian Venus, "I'll believe you and trust
you if this monster truly is Minako-chan."
"Right!" Sailor Moon raised her brooch.

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER!!!"

The white light of the Ginzuishou washed over the prone body
of the monster to bathe and purify it. Within seconds, it emitted a cry
of "Gorgeous!" and Minako, back in her human form and school
uniform, lay on the ground.
"Minako-chan!" Sailor Moon was now definitely convinced
on what Guardian Venus had said and immediately rushed over to her
friend's side as she began to moan and push herself up.
"Sailor Moon..." she spoke softly, "what happened? How did
I get here? I don't remember anything."
"You were turned into a monster," Tuxedo Kamen explained.
"But Minako-chan," Sailor Jupiter informed her, "you have
your Guardian to thank for telling us that that monster was you." She
shuddered at the thought of what would have happened had he not been
there to stop her attack.
"My Guardian?" Minako's energy was renewed instantly as
she leapt onto her feet, asking, "Where? Where?"
"He's right over here," Guardian Jupiter gestured.
Minako's good mood shattered when she recognized the man
in the golden armor, "Kariudo?!"
Guardian Venus laughed and scratched the back of his head as
he sweatdropped, "Yeah, I was pretty surprised too." He then realized
something, "Oh yeah, here's your pen," he withdrew it and offered it to
her.
"Thanks," she admittedly accepted and noticed, "hey! How
did it get fixed?"
"It was broken?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Yeah, and I couldn't transform."
"Maybe Kariudo's transformation repaired it," Guardian
Jupiter guessed.
"That may be true," Tuxedo Kamen said thoughtfully, "but
who did this to you?"
"There was a man who Usagi-chan, Rei-chan, and I met last
week. I ran into him again yesterday-"
"Aww," Sailor Jupiter interrupted, "why didn't you ever tell
me about him?"
"But it turns out he's with the enemy," the blonde finished.
Everyone else in the group blinked as they asked, "What was
his name?"

"I'll tell you myself!"

Everyone turned to see that Topaz had arrived on the scene.
"It's you!" Minako and Guardian Venus shouted.
"Hmph, I never would have guessed that the Sailor Senshi and
Guardians had the ability to heal," he muttered. "As for who I am, my
name is Topaz, one of Lord Amethyst's right-hand men."
"You're pretty stupid to attack us knowing you're outnumbered
5-to-1!" Sailor Jupiter shouted.
Topaz only laughed, "Would I have achieved my rank if I did
that? Unlike Rad I don't rely on brute force." He reached into his
uniform and withdrew eight vials between all of his fingers. "My
strategy deals with the use of numbers. Now the odds are 9-to-5!" He
then threw all one of them to surround the group. Upon breaking,
various Capsule Monsters began to emerge and take form.
"We're surrounded!" Sailor Moon cried.
"Stay back-to-back," Guardian Venus advised.
"Can the five of you take on two each?" Topaz asked.
"A piece of cake!" Sailor Jupiter retorted confidently.
"Especially since you forgot about me!" Minako, who was in
the center of the group and didn't want to be left out, raised her pen.
"Like they say, 'It takes one to make a free-for-all!'"
"Umm, don't you mean, 'All for one and one for all?'"
Guardian Jupiter corrected.
"It sounds the same to me," Minako shrugged.

"VENUS STAR POWER! MAKE-UP!!!"

After her transformation was complete, Sailor Venus noticed
that her Guardian had fallen to the ground and blood was pouring from
his nose. "What happened to him?"
"He watched you transform," Sailor Moon said softly, with a
large sweatdrop on her head and her face in a "shush-shush" position.
Sailor Venus simply pulled him back up by his cape as she
shouted to Topaz, "You might like to trick beautiful girls, but I'm going
to fight back! Now it's 9-to-6, that's only one-and-a-fourth for each of
us!"
"One-and-a-half!" Guardian Venus corrected.
"Everyone, let's work together!" Tuxedo Kamen shouted and
they prepared to hold their position as the monsters closed in.

Guardian Jupiter and Tuxedo Kamen were the first to take one
of the Capsule Monsters down with a well-shot arrow and rose to the
eyes of a type of bird creature. Sailor Venus took down a strange rat
with a scorpion tail with her Crescent Beam. Sailor Jupiter and
Guardian Venus teamed up as she took down a large crab that had
snuck up behind him while he dispatched a cat creature with his spear.
Sailor Moon's Moon Princess Halation eliminated a one with the body
of a squid but had human legs, much like the one the Senshi had fought
in their very first encounter with Capsule Monsters at Blade's mansion.
That left one more, a strange beetle with dozens of legs. It seemed to
be much faster than the others and was able to dodge their attacks
easily. Luckily, it was also too busy dodging to counter their attacks.
But everyone had forgotten about the last two, two more birds, each
with only one eye. Their mission wasn't to attack, but to retrieve.
Their aim carried them diving down at Sailors Jupiter and Venus, but
the one aiming at the brunette wasn't about to know what hit it.

"BURNING MANDALA!!!"

Three of Sailor Mars's rings burned through the first bird,
melting it down into the sickly brown sludge that Capsule Monsters
were made of and what they were reduced to upon being destroyed.
Unfortunately for Sailor Jupiter, the remains continued to speed
towards her and landed right on her!
"Blech!" she spat, "Not again!"
"Sorry I'm late," Sailor Mars finished running to join the
group.
"Come anytime," Guardian Venus smirked.
"Huh? Who are you?"
"He's my Guardian," Sailor Venus beamed.
"Ah, Venus you're so lucky," Mars sighed.
"Shouldn't we worry about the enemy," Guardian Jupiter
asked, holding an arrow nocked at the beetle.
The second bird, meanwhile, had avoided the other half of the
Senshi of fire's attack and was renewing it's assault towards the red-
bowed blonde, this time undetected.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Sailor Venus shouted as
the Monster slammed into her back and came through the other end.

"Venus!" Sailor Moon ran to her comrade, who'd fallen to her
knees and was holding her stomach. "Venus, hang in there!"
"Let me see!" Guardian Venus rushed to her other side to try
and examine the wound on her back. Strangely enough there was no
hole, and no blood. "What the-?"
"Did you forget that something important was in her body
also?" Topaz asked as he returned everyone's attention to him. Just as
their eyes fell on him, they saw the bird dropping a golden trumpet into
the lieutenant's hand. He didn't seem to care as his final bird was shot
down by another one of Tuxedo Kamen's roses.
"Bastard! That belongs to my home planet!" Guardian Venus
shouted as he tried to rush towards Topaz, but was intercepted by the
beetle, which also distracted it.
"This thing's just in the way," Sailor Mars looked down at the
insect and, as it scuttled by her before it reached the Lancer, she simply
stepped on it, HARD.
"Ouch!" Sailor Moon almost felt sorry for it as there is
obviously no greater pain then being stepped on by a woman in high
heels.
Surprisingly enough, Mars's heel only wounded it, but slowed
it down considerably and also cracked its shell open to expose a weak
point.
"This one's mine!" Guardian Venus raised his spear and
pointed the tip at its flesh.

"BRIGHTEST STAR!!!"

A small sphere of energy gathered at the tip of his weapon,
then fired, looking exactly like the Crescent Beam, but only much more
powerful. It was more than enough to finish the hard-shelled Capsule
Monster.
"Now," Tuxedo Kamen spoke as the group advanced on
Topaz, "what are your reasons for being here?"
"Did I say I was beaten?" Topaz responded harshly and
withdrew one more vial. "Answer me this: Which is more powerful, a
group of people that can take on a single powerful foe or a single
powerful person who can take on a group of foes?"
"Um," Sailor Moon guessed, raising her finger to her chin,
"the first one?"
"Find your answer in this!" Topaz tossed the vial against the
ground between them. The monster that emerged was three times the
size of all the others that consisted of the first group and it could have
easily been considered a Venus flytrap with several large vines growing
from its body below its enormous mouth. It shot out several vines that
dug into the ground as it spewed a foul colored breath at the entire
group. Everybody tried to avoid it, but the noxious fumes caught up
and overpowered them, causing them to begin choking and coughing.
The vines that were under the ground shot back up and wrapped around
everyone in the group to trap them.
"Sorry," Topaz shrugged and shook his head, "but your answer
was incorrect." He turned to his monster. "Kill all of them except the
black-haired girl. We need her to lure the last one out."

Sailor Mars, along with everyone else could only begin to
wonder why he wanted her when the vines began to drain their energy.
She couldn't position her hands to use her Fire Soul so things didn't
look good, until several small blue blurs flashed by the monster and cut
them loose. Not only that, Topaz suddenly yelped and dropped Venus's
Trumpet as the back of his hand was also cut.

"Hiding behind your monsters again?" Guardian Mercury
declared as he leapt down and retrieved the instrument and pointed his
blade at the officer. "Drop your cowardice and fight me directly!"
"Ha!" Topaz laughed as he held the wound on his hand. "You
ambushed me when I'm unarmed and you call me the coward?" The
taunt didn't faze Guardian Mercury at all, but it distracted him long
enough for the plant to shoot a burst of acid at him. Still, he wasn't
worried.

"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!!!"

Sailor Mercury's freezing bubbles intercepted the acid,
dissipating it, and continued to freeze the monster’s mouth shut, giving
Guardian Mercury time to fall back to the group, still holding the royal
treasure of Venus.
"Are they okay?" he asked.
"Their energy's been drained but they'll be fine," the blue-
haired girl assured him.
"Even with only the two of you, you still can't win," Topaz
remarked.
"Don't declare victory while your army is busy raising the flag
of surrender at the same time," Guardian Mercury raised his sword into
the air. {"Mercury, aim for my sword."}
Sailor Mercury's face retained its battle expression as she
raised her hands.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!"

The Guardian's weapon absorbed the entirety of the stream
and began to glow a much more fierce shade of blue. The young man
followed up with his attack by slashing downward until he hit the
ground.

"AQUA CUT!!!"

The Shine Aqua illusion, combined with Parting the Water,
washed over the planet, encasing it in and turning it completely into
ice. Guardian Mercury, with his ability to manipulate water only had
one word for it now.

"Shatter."

The plant immediately fell apart into pieces as if it had
literally been put into an enormous ice crusher.
"Damn you!" Topaz suddenly drew a sword and charged in at
Guardian Mercury. But once again, him being left-handed distracted
Topaz as, while they dueled for a few moments, he was soon able to
fake him out and succeeded in stabbing him through the shoulder,
running the blade through entirely.
"[Crap, I didn't want to go that far in!]" Guardian Mercury
lamented in English and immediately willed the blade of his sword to
vanish.
"Augh!" Topaz grabbed his wound and fell back a few steps as
blood began to soak his uniform.
"Tell us what you're doing here," Guardian Mercury
demanded as he began to tear off part of his cape to make a bandage.
"Ha, you think you've won," Topaz taunted as a Gate appeared
behind him and he fell backwards into it. "But you're only helping us.
As soon as the last Guardian awakens, our plan will be fully put into
motion!"
Guardian Mercury would have tried to follow him had Topaz's
statement not added to the enormous confusion that already filled his
mind about their objectives.
"He got away," Sailor Mercury commented as she ran up to
him.
"What... what do they want?" he asked nobody as he clenched
his fists, then shouted into the air, switching languages again, "[Damn
you Amethyst! If you can hear me! I'm not going to let you do what
you want by attacking innocent people!]"
"Damn, man," Guardian Venus complained as he began to get
onto his feet, "you really know how to wake the half-dead."
Guardian Mercury only sweatdropped.


"You're wounded!" Garnet exclaimed the moment Topaz
emerged from the Gate, holding his shoulder. The brown-haired
woman immediately supported his walking, "You need to get into a
healing pod right away."
"The formula worked," Topaz reported calmly as he leaned on
her, "but giving three doses may take too long. We might have to make
it powerful enough to change humans into Capsule Monsters after only
one dose."
"I'll report it to Amethyst for you," Garnet offered, but her
voice fell on closed ears.
{Where have I seen that style of sword fighting before?} the
blonde man asked in his mind over and over.


"It's good to have you with us again, Kariudo," Debe
acknowledged as he cupped his comrade's shoulder. "You couldn't
have been awakened at a better time."
"It definitely explained how I suddenly said strange things
around Minako-kun," Kariudo laughed, "that must've been what she
was thinking about me."
"Three of us are here," Shinozaki commented, "there's only
one left."
"He'll show up when he's ready to receive his memories,"
Mamoru concluded, "let's just hope that he won't be too late."
Somewhere else in the city, another young man sneezed.

A few meters away, the girls were also talking.
"Ami-chan," Usagi smiled, "it's a good thing you were late this
time."
"Not necessarily," the blue-haired one shook her head, "if was
had arrived sooner then maybe none of you would have had your
energy drained."
"That's right," Makoto realized, "you two got here at the same
time. Were you out on a date?"
Ami's blush came before the word "date" had been fully
spoken, "N-no. We were looking for Minako-chan and were at the
other end of the district. We were working separately when we got the
call from Mako-chan and happened to meet up not far from the
entrance of the park."
"Well, don't let Usagi's bad habit of always being late rub off
on you," Rei teased.
Usagi was about to shout, "Rei-chan is mean!" and attack her,
but was interrupted by a VERY flat sounding “BLAT!” sound that
came from nearby, causing everyone to cover their ears.
"I guess I need more practice," Minako laughed and
sweatdropped as she lowered Venus's Trumpet.


"If you can improve on the formula then do so," Amethyst
said to the holographic image of Garnet. "What about the progress of
converting the Realm into a habitable place for youma and the fusion
formula?"
"Both are ready for testing," the scientist answered, "I simply
need some youma."
"That presents a problem," Amethyst mused, "unless there's a
way to connect the Realm and Dark Kingdom without having to travel
to earth's surface first."
"I'll begin working on it right away."
"No, keep the transformation drug at top priority and tell
Topaz to let his wound heal before he begins and kind of special
training."
"I understand and will begin immediately," Garnet bowed as
her image immediately fazed out.
"Ryoko!" Amethyst called.
"Yes, sir!" the youma general immediately stood behind him.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Excellent, thank you. Inform everyone that we move out at
dawn tomorrow."
"Right away," Ryoko returned in the direction from which
she'd come.
"My exile is over," Amethyst said to himself as, now alone, he
withdrew a slip of paper similar to a photograph that contained a
picture of an exquisitely beautiful woman in a flowing white dress and
having matching crystalline blue eyes and long hair. A jewel encrusted
circlet adorned her head.

"Soon... I'll return home soon..." Nobody would have been
able to see as a tear landed in the middle of the picture.


"Um... Mina?" Artemis began to ask again for the fourth time.
"Stop complaining and keep taking the pictures when I tell
you," Minako shot him down for also the fourth time.
The white cat sighed and again clicked the shutter. He didn't
get it; she had hated Kariudo when they first met and had even slapped
him when he made that comment about wanting to see her in a
swimsuit. But now that she'd learned he was Guardian Venus, she
suddenly had a change of attitude towards him. This was overly
emphasized at this moment by the fact that she was forcing him to take
pictures of her in her purple and white striped suit, claiming to be for
her portfolio when she became a teen idol. But Artemis knew better.
"Why are you doing this?" he was able to ask quickly.
"Kariudo must have undergone great hardships to beat
everyone else who wanted to be my Guardian," star-filled hearts began
to appear in her eyes. "Especially with my unrivaled beauty attracting
so many candidates back then. I can only begin to repay him by letting
him appreciate it. Oh, it's such a sin to be so beautiful."
As she began to laugh with an annoyance that directly rivaled
Esmeraude's, Artemis had to cover his ears and wait it out as the lights
from neighboring houses clicked on, the phone began to ring, and
before much longer, the police knocked on the front door of the Aino
household.


End of Sailor Moon G 4


Author's Notes:
Ah yes, 4 down, 6 to go.
Amethyst and his followers live in the Realm Fortress, or
simply the Realm, deep within earth's mantle.
At last, you know the reason why Minako was sent to Juuban
at the beginning of the series. But everything's back to normal now.
Minako's Volleyball talent and Asai are all talked about in one
episode of S.
The fake name Topaz used was just pulled out at random.
In Japan, the traffic lights are red, yellow, and blue.
My theory as to how the Senshi keep their transformation pens
hidden is they keep them in the anime "self-subspace" and can will it
into their hands at any time. That's also how Guardians Jupiter and
Venus store their weapons.
If you've seen the original Japanese SM, any person turned
into a youma cries, "Refresh!" when healed and a phage, "Beautiful!"
The "Gorgeous!" is for people turned into Capsule Monsters.
Think of Topaz's last CM as something similar to a Malboro
from the Final Fantasy series and there it is.
If you haven't noticed yet, when Debe swears, it's always in
English.
We learn a LOT more about Amethyst and his plans in Part 5,
which is coming along nicely.