Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ "The Memory of War" ( Chapter 16 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fraglity of Time
Chapter 16: "The Memory of War"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 10/23/00

Revision Note: I have done a fair amount of text editing and revising since
the last version. The substance remains the same, but I think it reads a lot better
now. Was not happy with it when I first posted it. Seventeen should hopefully be
out in a week or 2 and 18 is half down now.

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

_______________________________________
After being "mugged," Kunzite headed over to the mage tower to begin planning his
next move. They still needed the Ginzuishou, which the Sailor Senshi currently held,
to revive their leader. After the recent fiascos he had expected Beryl to be consumed
by rage over the failures and that he would have joined his fellow generals in death.
However, she had been surprising relaxed in her handling of the bad news. He
postulated the cause to that new energy source she herself had acquired rather
recently, the one that was now supporting his more energy intensive attacks.

The source of this energy, he did not know. However, the magnitude and relative ease
that Beryl came to be in possession of it, humored Kunzite. Those fools Jadeite and
Nephrite died leading energy gathering missions, and now it turns out that their efforts
were completely in vain. This energy source proved sufficient for all their needs, and
furthermore it was larger than anything that either of those two buffoons would have
been able to acquire on a dozen successful missions. Plus it was a persistent source.

He chuckled at that thought. But it unfortunately brought up another not so pleasant
one, the death of Zoisite. Endymion and Serenity were going to pay for depriving him
of Zoisite. Endymion already had to die for turning traitor to his planet, but that would
have just been a quick death. Now he would have his vengeance against Endymion
first, before carrying out justice for the people of this planet.

Moving to the observation deck of the tower he looked over the city and spoke to
himself, "Soon the Dark Kingdom will rise again. And with it Queen Beryl and Queen
Metalia will guide my fellow Tehrans to a glorious and free future. Some of us will
unfortunately fall by the side in our revolution to free ourselves of our bondage to the
Silver Millennium. But they will not die in vain and I pray for all their souls."

Looking down from the top of the tower, he could make out the police tape that
surrounded this location. The tower as expected was crawling with various "experts"
trying to find an explanation for the transformation and what it meant. However, he
did not worry about them finding him. This was a mage tower and it responded to the
commands of its master, consequently today they would find no access to the
observation level. Moving back into the tower, he knelt down in the center of the
central room to meditate and contemplate.

While he might have taunted Nephrite about his insistent need to seek guidance from
the stars, as with any magic user he knew the benefit of occasional meditation. Only
in meditation, could one become in tune with the flow of magic and gain to position
for the next move. In the meditation trance time no longer had any meaning to him,
and it was nearly twenty-four hours later when arose again, with the knowledge of
what to do.

From ripples in the sea of magic, he had learned of the death of that creature he had
help to create, not that it surprised him. His combat with the Senshi told him that they
would not be defeated easily, and that only Metalia would be able to kill them,
particularly now that they had the Ginzuishou. Which of course made getting that
crystal a problem, but he now had a solution. The last attempt was the right idea, just
the wrong target. But the people of this city were the correct targets. Saying a prayer
for the souls of those about to die in the next act of the revolution, he summoned three
youma.

* * * * * * * *
Tsukino household: A little after 10 pm

Kenji headed towards the room shared by his daughter and granddaughter. The events
since ChibiUsa's arrival still seemed at times to be nothing more than a dream. Since
that time he had learned things about his daughter he would never have believed and
saw her mature in front of his very own eyes. While it was hard to believe that his
little fourteen-year-old daughter had a child of her own, he had to admit that
motherhood suited her very well. Though he still was not sure how he felt about the
other part of his daughter's life that came with that, her being a superhero.

Opening the door and looking in, he saw the slumbering figure of his daughter with
her own daughter curled up in her arms. Every night that he checked on her, she
always was wrapped protectively around ChibiUsa. He did not doubt that she made a
good mother, even though she herself was still only a child. He was about to close the
door when another figure caught his attention, there sleeping contently on the floor
was Hino Rei, the Senshi of Mars.

Because of his work, he did not know his daughter's friends that well. But seeing Rei
there somehow made him feel better about his daughter fighting as she did. He knew
that she did not have any other visitors than Michiru and Haruka-san tonight.
Therefore, this one must have come through the window. Somehow he knew that this
sleeping girl was not there out of obligation, but because she truly wanted to be here
beside her best friend.

Closing the door softly, he began to make his way back to his own room. He now
knew that whatever might happen, that his daughter had friends that were willing to
do everything to protect her. For once, he could sleep easily tonight and not wonder if
one day the Senshi would be brining back the lifeless broken body of their leader.
With the worries gone pride, for his daughter began for the first time to really surge
through his veins. Ikuko saw the changed expression on her husband as he came in the
room. A smile crossed her face as well, as she knew this would help strengthen Usagi
for the hardships that lay before her. As he joined her in the bed, she turned to him
and gave him a kiss with all the love and tenderness in her heart. And, for once he
new exactly what it was for.

* * * * * * * *
Aino household a little after midnight

Minako lay asleep is her bed with Artemis curled up next to her. Sleep was not a
problem that night for her normally hyper self. Quite the opposite, she had trouble
staying awake long enough not to worry her parents. Ami had told her to expect
something like this, as their bodies were using lots of energy to heal their wounds
from yesterday. And, then they had further stressed their bodies with today's battle.
Thankfully, the stitches had mostly held. But Ami did need to redo a couple of them.
She was just glad that she her further injuries from that battle only amounted to the
standard bumps and bruises, as she had no idea how she would be able to hide that
many injuries from her parents. They were already upset with her for not coming
home last night. Thankfully, they had been partially pacified when she told them
something happened to ChibiUsa and in being there for Usagi she had forgotten to
give them a call.

No matter how hard she was sleeping, the sound of multiple copters racing by barely
above the roof of her building was enough to awake her. "Huh? What's that noise?
Are we under attack?" she asked as the loud roaring noise continued to get louder.

It even awoke the heavy sleeper, Artemis, who at least had the sense to move to the
window to look for the source of the commotion. Looking up he saw the cause of the
noise. "Now why are there dozens of attack copters racing above us?"

"Did you say attack helicopters Artemis?" With his nod, Minako instantly knew what
was up and pulled out her communicator. While she was waiting for the others to
awake and pick up theirs, she heard noise from the hallway. "Uh oh, sounds like mom
and dad are awake. Artemis I am going to go stall them. Ask Mercury to scan for a
demon attack. Whatever scrambled those copters is probably Senshi business."

Throwing her communicator to Artemis who disappeared into her closet with it, she
opened her door and headed into the hall.

Bleary-eyed images of the others appeared on the screen. "Ok what is so important
that it can't wait till morning?" questioned a very irate Rei who had a still half asleep
Usagi and ChibiUsa looking on over her shoulder.

"Minna something may be up. A large number of heavily armed attack helicopters
just passed by low over us. Ami can you do a scan for demon activity?" replied
Artemis "And before you ask, Minako went to distract her parents so that they would
not come on in here."

"Hai" came Ami's reply as she pulled out her computer and began scanning. She
frowned as she looked at the display and decided that she needed the enhanced
display of her visor. A henshin later she had a model of Tokyo displayed on her visor
with various military units super imposed. A couple of commands quickly added
information gleaned from intercepted radio transmissions and other sensors. What she
saw did not strike her as good at all.

"Minna, Artemis is right. I am detecting at least three separate youma energy
signatures. The military has dispatched units to each of these attacks. One unit has
already engaged a youma, but does not appear to be making much headway."

As Ami finished giving her report Minako came back into the room, having assured
her parents that she was all right. Getting a quick lowdown of the situation from
Artemis, the two quickly came up with a plan. "Michiru, Haruka you two take one of
the youma. Rei, Ami, Usagi, and ChibiUsa will take another. Makoto and I will take
the final one. Usagi you will need to move quick, as you will need to actually dust
these things."

As everyone agreed to the plan, Ami began assigning the youma to the groups based
on everyone's starting location, and then they were on the move.

Venus and Artemis ran along the roofs to the site they were assigned to. Artemis at
first did not want to leave the room after Minako had placed the gear Ami had
developed for him on. However, he was not given much choice as Venus grabbed him
and threw him out the window. Once out he only grumbled a bit before following her.
The cause of his distress was a kitty backpack and headset that was the result of
Ami's first exploration with their Silver Millennium tech, one that Minako had also
added some "kawaii improvements" to.

The communication device that Artemis wore was born out of the need to be able to
coordinate with any military units present. This device was actually a stopgap device
till Ami could either create or modify their existing communicators. Ami had been
able to previously communicate on the encrypted military channels, as she had routed
her transmissions through her computer to carry out the encryption and decryption.
She wanted to modify their communicators to this themselves, however she currently
did not sufficiently understand the Silver Millennium tech to do this. However, with
what she did know, she was able to modify their communicators to act as amps for an
auxiliary communication device. Thereby allowing her to build a separate unit with
the necessary encryption equipment.

Artemis's military tactic training earned him the privilege of getting this device,
which Ami had finished putting together only a few nights ago. The result was a
lightweight backpack that housed the transmitter, receiving, data
encryption/decryption systems, and power cells with a headset. Due to its need to be
lightweight and not hinder Artemis's mobility it had an extremely limited range so,
Ami had designed it to work of the Senshi communicators. Their communicators
contained advanced receiving circuitry, which could easily receive and now with
Ami's minor modifications amplify and retransmit the very weak signals that
Artemis's communicator would emit.

While all the equipment was good, he grumbled about Minako's styling efforts. As,
she had painted it in a black camouflage. She also had placed some nice playful kitty
stickers on with Crazy Glue. But most of all, did she have to write on the pack in large
neon bold lettering "Kitty Commando?"

* * * * * * * *

Sailor Moon's team was assigned to the youma, which was also being engaged by the
initial group of gunships. Arriving at the scene, they quickly accessed the situation.
The youma appeared to be a cross between a cheetah and the contents of an armory.
Like the cheetah it semi-resembled, the youma heavily prized speed, allowing to
easily dodge the barrage of attacks being unleashed by the gunships.

While it could easily dodge the attacks, the near constant barrage of fire it was facing
prevented it from retaliating. Consequently, except for the initial set of attacks it had
been unable to hit any of the gunships. The pilot of the gunship the gunship that had
been hit had thankfully been able to at least partially dodge the attack, thereby
preventing the destruction of his craft. Though with the right side of the copter being
ripped off, he was forced to bring it down in a semi controlled landing in the street,
barely avoiding the buildings.

"How dare you interrupt our sleep. I am Sailor Moon, I fight for love and Justice and
in the name of the Moon I will punish you." Announced Sailor Moon as she arrived,
flanked by Mercury and Mars with ChibiMoon by her side.

Mars immediately launched a fireball at the creature, which it easily dodged. Mercury
activated her visor

"Minna we need to get that thing to stand still long enough so that Sailor Moon can
use her scepter on it." announced Mercury. As the other three Senshi moved to engage
the youma, Mercury realized that in this battle, she was even more useless than
ChibiMoon; at least ChibiMoon had an attack that could distract the creature. Her
only attack would cause trouble for their allies. Deciding her best option was to
observe and coordinate, she jumped up into a tree and pulled out her computer and
activated the alternate comm. link. "Mercury to allied forced, we need to pin down
that demon so that Sailor Moon can destroy it."

"Roger that, we will try to box it in." came a reply

thought Mercury as she noticed the attacks
of her companions continuously missing. The creature was just proving to be too fast
for them.

* * * * * * * *

Venus and Jupiter arrived at their target not long after Usagi and company arrived at
theirs.

"You think Kunzite has been watching a tad too many Godzilla movies?" asked
Jupiter as they came upon their target. In front of them were two miniature twenty
foot Godzilla like creatures, even breathing fire. The creatures very quickly spotted
the Senshi and each of them greeted the Senshi with a plume of fire.

Jumping out of the way, Venus replied "I was never a big fan for those movies. You
take the one on the left, I will get the one on the right."

"Hai" and then they were off running across what was left of a light industrial area.
Laser beams and balls of lighting flew at their targets, and were responded to by large
columns of fire. Jupiter rolling off to the side to avoid getting fried tried a new tactic.
Running up she attempted to punch it; unfortunately, all she managed to do was to
allow it to catch her in its hand.

When the Senshi had arrived, the creatures were in a destructive mood, but now that
they had playmates, they were in a playful mood, as Jupiter soon found out. Upon
being caught, she expected herself to be painfully thrown to the ground, ripped in
half, or munched on. Instead, she found herself being stuffed inside a clear plastic
ball.

Venus saw Jupiter try to engage the creature in hand-to-hand combat. She then smirked
as she saw what the creatures were doing with Jupiter, having totally forgotten about
her. The two "Godzillas" were now having a nice little game of catch. Which would
have actually been a good temporary solution to the problem, if it was not for the fact
that they were not careful where they were stepping and hence still causing a lot of
damage.

"Any ideas" came a voice.

Pulling out her communicator Venus replied, "Not yet, though if we do get that
Jupiter ball away from them, I should be able to set her free with my Crescent Beam."
Hearing a noise, she looked up and noticed the first wave of military forces arriving.
"Artemis see if you can coordinate an attack plan with our friends. I am going to see
what I can do about getting one of them to drop a pass."

However, Venus did not have to worry about that, as one of the creatures soon
decided that the Jupiter ball would make a good anti-aircraft weapon. Maybe if it had
some kind of aim and the gunships stayed put it might have hit one. Instead, it utterly
missed and the Jupiter ball rammed into a water tower where it rested for a moment
before the out flowing water pulled it along and it fell to the ground at the base. Venus
jogged over to release her partner whose only desire for the moment was for the world
to stop spinning.

* * * * * * * *

Uranus and Neptune stood on the airport terminal watching a winged youma practice
its landings on one of the runway, though it did occasionally mix in a strafing run.

"Any ideas?" asked Neptune.

"Not a clue, one thing is for certain we need to get that thing grounded." Replied
Uranus

"I think clipping its wings should work, we just need to get it on the ground for a
moment." A voice added from behind.

The two Senshi quickly turned to regard the voice's owner. What they found was a
black shadowy figure that seemed to shift back and forth, never quite letting them get
a good view. However, what was clear was the presence of a golden crescent moon
glowing brightly on its forehead and a sudden adverse reaction they felt to it in spite
of that mark of loyalty.

"Who are you!" challenged Uranus.

"Ah, the Soldiers of the Outer Planets, who stand guard, defending the Sol system
from attacks from without, I am glad that your abilities have not been dulled by time.
There is no need to worry, for I have sworn my allegiance to the princess. You can
call me Urawa." As he stated his name, he shifted his form to that of a young lad.

"Urawa? Hmm, now where have I heard that name before?" wondered Uranus as she
looked over the boy in front of her. "Wait a moment you must be that Urawa-san that
Mercury is dating." She declared remembering the morning's breakfast when the girls
had decided to tease Ami a bit about her boyfriend.

"Yes, Ami-chan is my girlfriend. Now if you don't mind, Neptune why don't you hit
that thing with one of your attacks. The water should force it to remain on the ground
long for me to clip its wings."

"Hai" replied Neptune, who unconsciously shuddered as Urawa returned to his true
form.

The two Senshi blinked for a moment when Urawa suddenly vanished. But his
clearing of his throat brought them back to the task. "Uranus, dear, I am going to need
a little distraction." Neptune said while looking expectantly at Uranus, who after a
little grumbling nodded and jumped down to the ground.

Looking up Uranus saw
the creature do a slow flyby of the runway before preparing for another landing. "Hey
ugly, bet you can't hit a moving target."

Uranus's attempt to get the youma's attention succeeded and she soon found herself
running while it fired various projectile like thingies at her. she thought while the goop it was now firing splashed all around
her

From up on the roof Neptune watched the creature follow Uranus. As the two of them
passed by the terminal that she was standing on, she released a Deep Submerge. The
youma was taken off guard and collapsed to the ground under the weight of its wet
feathers. As it struggled to get up, a figured phased into the visible in front of it.
Moving quickly, it slashed at the closest wing before withdrawing.

"Why you." Called the creature as it attempted to take to the air again. However, it
quickly found that its left wing could no longer support weight and instead rolled to
the left and crashed back into the ground.

"My turn." Uranus announced with a large grin. Raising her hand into the air, she
unleashed a World Shaking at the downed youma while Neptune unleashed another of
her attacks. As the two attacks combined and struck the youma, it unleashed a howl of
pain before turning into dust.

* * * * * * * *

To the average person, Tokyo of today was no different than the one of only a month
ago. However, the people of earth no longer had the ability to detect the flow of
manna. While even during the Silver Millennium most humans were blind to this
form of energy, at least some did have the ability. The few highly skilled mages were
valuable commodities to the nations, earning them great respect and power. Following
Beryl's rise to power, she had recruited every magic user, killing those who would not
join. Unfortunately, that meant that when the dust settled from the war, the magic
sensitive bloodlines had all but been removed from humanity.

However, after a thousand years some magic sensitive bloodlines were once again
entering the human gene pool. The mages of the Silver Millennium had never been
able to figure out what gave a bloodline the ability to use magic, or the ability to
predict when a new bloodline would be created. In the Silver Millennium, it was
considered a moot point as all of its citizens were to some part sensitive to magic
energies. But earth traditionally was a planet devoid of magic users.

While there were now those in the Tokyo area who were sensitive to magic energies,
none of them had sufficient training or sufficiently clear memories to understand what
they were feeling. The Senshi and cats had on more than one occasion discovered a
Dark Kingdom plot because of its associated build up of negative energy. They had
learned to associate the feeling that negative energy caused with the Dark Kingdom,
however they did not know what to make of the build up of its associated manna
throughout Tokyo. Since the feeling was universal, they had all dismissed it as it just
being their nerves with heightened problems they now faced with the disaster that
brought ChibiUsa.

One other individual felt the build up of negative energy. While she felt a general
uneasiness like her sister warriors, she also felt something else. Negative energy is
often associated with destruction and so gives rise to black manna as well. Still asleep,
she could not yet garner energy from her planet, but she could absorb the now
ambient black manna, giving her strength in both body and spirit.

Magic users draw upon their manna reserves to cast spells. Normally by absorbing
various manna from the environment, a mage recharges these reserves. However
blood magic with its use of crystallized pure hearts and Sailor Crystals provide
another route. Sailor Crystals continuously draw magic energy directly from their
planet providing the Sailor Senshi with a constant stream of manna. But for the
average mage who does not practice blood magic, recharging reserves requires
finding manna pools, locations where manna is sufficiently concentrated that it can be
absorbed. The blanket of negative energy that now covered Tokyo meant that Tokyo
itself was a large manna pool for the various associated manna.

Two of the techno-magical creatures known as droids had remained inactive in their
crystals. A consequence of the creation of the manna pool was that both of these were
now at full power, additionally by fighting in the area of the manna pool they would
be constantly recharged during battle. For these two crystals, all they required was a
command to activate, unlike the others they had not prematurely activated.

The battle in the park about a month previous had only resulted in the destruction of
the three Warrior Droids, with the Control Droid and its Collector Droids surviving.
Feedback from the destruction of its Warrior Droids had damaged the Control Droid's
ability to handle the energy flows. One result was the leakage of negative energy
creating this manna pool. The other more serious effect for it was that it was unable to
direct any of the energy its Collector gathered into its own reserves, preventing it
from being able to repair itself and slowly running out of energy. Following the battle,
it went into a passive mode collecting and analyzing data for when other Control
Droids arrived. Once again, it now detected skirmishes, though this time it noticed
that there were three concurrent skirmishes involving the Senshi. Its tactics circuitry
decided that this would be the perfect time to attack with the enemy preoccupied and
split.

Using the last of its energy it sent out a universal attack request, in case there were
hidden units that it did not know about. Now with its energy reserves drained, it
collapsed to the ground as its self-detonation device activated, putting a nice sized
hole in a parking lot. The two remaining inactive droids received the attack orders and
activated.

* * * * * * * *

Running, the cheetah-like youma turned slightly to its left to avoid attacks and headed
towards the large open parking lot of the mall. Chasing behind it were Mars, Mercury,
ChibiMoon, and Sailor Moon. Flying low above them were four attack copters, with
two more slightly ahead and to each side to help herd the demon. As the creature
reached the center of the top deck of the parking garage, reinforcing gunships from all
sides rose above the deck of the garage, from where they had been hiding below.

The youma came to a stop as it realized that it had been herded into a trap. Hoping to
still escape it started to move forward, but was stopped by the impact of gattling guns
against its chest. Starting with the gunships in front and moving around the circle, the
Cobras opened fire, pinning the creature.

Sailor Moon saw her chance and summoning her scepter released her attack. The
scepter's energy very quickly blasted the youma apart into moon dust. With its death,
the weapons' fire, no longer hitting a target, began to rain at the feet of the Senshi
causing the Senshi to jump back. While the continued rain was the understandable
result of the pilots not expecting the youma to be destroyed so quickly, it still caused
Mars to complain about them being baka.

Mercury chuckled for a moment before bringing everybody's attention back to
matters. Looking down at her computer she noticed that Uranus and Neptune had
taken care of their target. she thought.
"Minna we better go help Jupiter and Venus." As the others nodded their agreement,
they began their trek over to the light industrial area, with a dozen gunships escorting
them from above.

As they ran across the rooftops, a black flash suddenly appeared and intercepted
Sailor Moon, causing the others to stop. Looking at the black flash, they saw it to be
Tuxedo-kamen now holding Sailor Moon, and then looking back at where she had
been only moments before they noticed a gaping hole in the building's roof.
thought Mars. However, she did not get much time to wonder what had happened as
another blast quickly joined the first, forcing them to leap out of the way.

Quickly dropped her visor, Mercury began to search for this new threat. Two
buildings over she found it and frowned as her computer classified it as a droid.
"Minna we have a droid over there."

"What is this, destroy Tokyo week? Get 50% off your subsequent monster attacks?"
Mars complained as she took up a position by Mercury in preparation to attack the
creature.

The gunships saw the two attacks impact the buildings and then based on the stance
the Sailor Senshi took began to array their craft. Unleashing a series of small
explosive projectiles, the youma made its position known to all. The gunships
attempted to dodge out of the way, but unfortunately, a couple were hit and enveloped
in a ball of fire.

"No," screamed Mars. "You will pay for that. Fire Soul." Her fireball arced across the
night and scored a direct hit on the demon, however it was not fazed.

"We have a problem, the attack was not strong enough to hurt it." Explained Mercury
as she interpreted her readouts "And we are going to have to weaken it before Sailor
Moon can use her scepter."

"Just great." complained an annoyed Sailor Mars.

Sailor Moon tried her own tiara attack, but it as well did not have enough power to
injure the creature. The rocket attacks by the gunships were slowly doing some
damage, but unlike the previous creature, this one definitely had the upper hand.

* * * * * * * *

"Ok who is filming a Godzilla movie?"

"Foxbat-2 keep the chatter down. All units engage the lizard targets. Lets see if we
can keep them distracted so that the Sailor Senshi can take them out."

"Ten-Four" came the replies.

Keffer released the weapon safeties and prepared to fire a missile salvo of his at the
nearest thing. "Hey what is
that?" Jinking hard he pulled the 'copter out of the way as an object thrown by one of
those creatures whizzed by.

"Looked like it was a ball." Came the reply from his weapon's officer.

"Well I guess it is a good thing if it is in a playful mood." Keffer replied sarcastically
before firing his missiles for real this time.

* * * * * * * *

Venus came up next to the clear sphere containing Jupiter. "Crescent Beam Smash"
and the ball shattered, releasing its prisoner. Jupiter stood to walk over towards Venus
but immediately swayed and collapsed back to the ground.

"Ohhh, I don't feel too good" she complained.

"I wonder why." replied Venus "Next time don't do something stupid like that."

"Anything if it will make the world stop spinning." Replied Jupiter as she held her
head in her hands.

"Think you can walk?"

"Just a moment." Jupiter gave her head a shake and then steeling herself stood up.
"Come lets go take care of the Godzilla twins."

"Hai." Replied Venus and the two Senshi returned to the battle.

The scene that met the two Senshi was one that could have come from practically any
Godzilla movie. In front of them two lizard creatures were being hounded by
gunships, however the attacks were more of an annoyance than anything else. Though
for some reason, probably good, they were not using their breath attacks. Instead, they
retaliated by throwing objects at the 'copters: cars, street lamps, fences, trucks, and
storage tanks. By far the storage tanks were the most deadly as they tended to give a
nice little explosion upon landing. Not wasting any time the two Senshi dove back
into the melee, hoping that the others were having more luck than they were.

Not long after Jupiter and Venus rejoined the battle, two troop transport choppers
arrived. Settling down a bit away, they unloaded their cargo before taking back off.
Shouldering their guns the infantry began jogging towards the battle.

* * * * * * * *

Diana paced Keffer's room, worry about Small Lady and the Sailor Senshi eating at
her. She had seen the number of aircraft departing the base; it was a full mobilization,
which meant that the others were facing something more than a simple demon attack.
Additionally something just did not feel right, she wished that she had paid more
attention to her mother's instructions so that she would have a clue as to why she felt
so uneasy.

The strain finally reached a breaking point and Diana decided that she had to leave;
she only hoped that Pluto-sama would not be too mad at her. Concentrating Diana
shifted into her human form. Moving to the door she paused, she did not want Keffer
to worry about her when he returned. Reaching into her subspace pocket she removed
the bell she wore in feline form and then removed one of the crescent moon earrings
she wore, they had been a gift from Small Lady for her birthday last year. She placed
the two down on Keffer's desk then opening the door left the room.

Diana moved stealthy through the base. With the crises, the path from the barracks to
the gate was nearly deserted. Though when Diana did come upon a soldier, she was
not seen nor heard, an advantage of being a feline shape shifter. While it would have
been easier to avoid detection in her feline form, there was the slight problem of not
being able to open doors.

Diana quickly arrived at the perimeter fence. The fence being tipped with razor wire
would keep intruders out of the base and conversely occupants in the base. However,
the fence was not designed to keep kittens in and out of the base. Looking along the
base, Diana found what she needed, a small gap between fence and ground. A little
digging with her hands quickly enlarged it sufficiently. Shifting back into her feline
form she darted through, and was outside the base. Looking at the stars to get herself
orientated she began her journey to Tokyo.

* * * * * * * *

"It looks like they could use a little help." Uranus announced as explosions lit the sky
in front of them. With a renewed vigor, the trio began running faster towards the light
industrial area.

Arriving at a nearby building roof, they surveyed the scene. "The Return of Godzilla:
Godzilla verses the Sailor Senshi" was Uranus's take of the situation to which
Neptune gave her a "we are not amused" look. "Ok, Ok, lets take them down."

Uranus threw one of attacks between the two creatures to get their attention. "Herald
by the new age I am Sailor Uranus appearing beautifully."

"I too am here; Sailor Neptune appearing gracefully."

They quickly followed with a World Shaking and Deep Submerge, one at each of the
creatures. The creatures looked at the colorful balls of energy coming their way and
only one thought crossed their small brains "catch." Giving what had to have been a
little laughter, they each ran forward to catch one of the attacks. Unfortunately, the
attacks were a tad bit too strong for them and as they each caught one of the energy
balls the power blasted through their bodies turning them to dust.

"That was interesting," stated Jupiter in response to the creatures essentially running
to their doom.

Artemis along with the three new arrivals jumped down to join Jupiter and Venus.
"Mercury says that they have encountered a droid." he said once they were all
together.

"Nani-ka!" exclaimed the others.

"We better go help them take care of that one. You know I would like to sleep at least
a little bit tonight." continued Venus.

"Hai," the others replied, but were stopped by Artemis.

"Wait, I am getting a radio communiqu' from one of the gunships. They say another
demon is approaching this position from the west."

Sure enough just as he finished speaking a building exploded outward revealing a
droid designed like a tank. "Well I guess meeting up with the princess is going to
have to wait a bit." Neptune said with a slight sigh. Not wasting time with speeches
the Senshi began unleashing their attacks at the demon. Unfortunately, it did not take
long for it become quite clear that Jupiter and Venus were not doing much damage to
it. Uranus and Neptune could do damage, but it deflected most of their attacks. But
with respect to Jupiter and Venus, it just ignored them.

Urawa stood off in the distance having discovered that at least for the moment he was
of no use. The droid had a protective field around its body, which prevented him from
closing in. Following his swearing of allegiance to Usagi, he no longer had any long-
range attacks, only magic enhanced melee attacks. And that protective field prevented
him from getting close enough to use them. And unlike most force fields he had come
across in his long life, he could not phase through this one.

* * * * * * * *

"Damn!" cursed Mars "What do we have to do to hurt this thing."

The creature was easily taking anything they could throw at it, and also had reduced
the number of gunships by half. Tuxedo-kamen had distracted it for a moment with
roses, but it was not enough and he now lay injured a couple of buildings over.
Mercury had refused to be sidelined again, even if she could not use her own magic
and so was up here on the front line. At least ChibiMoon's attack could distract it for
a moment, which was incidentally about all that Mars could do as well.

Mercury stood slightly in front of her princess and noticed a beam of energy coming
their way. Sailor Moon had not noticed it, and she herself would not be able get into
its path in time. she mentally screamed. But then Mercury thought of
something. Summoning her energy, she began creating her fog, but this time kept it
limited to a very thin area. As she did, she visualized the individual water droplets
that made it up freezing and connecting into a lattice. The energy crashed into the now
formed ice shield before being harmlessly reflected and refracted everywhere.

Hearing the sound of the impact, Sailor Moon looked over and saw the ice shield,
which had protected her from the energy blast. Then looking to her right, she saw its
caster, Sailor Mercury. Exhausted from developing the new mental pathways for the
new spell Sailor Mercury collapsed to the ground.

The droid stood dumbfounded as its attack was deflected. This opportunity was not
wasted, as the ground attack fighters had finally arrived. Racing in overhead they each
unleashed their supply of armor piercing anti-tank rockets. The attacks knocked the
creature to down. When it attempted to get back up it was met with a fireball and
Sailor Moon's tiara.

Not wanting to wait longer, Sailor Moon pulled out her scepter and unleashed an
attack. The energy blasted into the creature, knocking it off the roof and into the
street. However, it was insufficient to kill it. Sailor Moon slumped to her knees as she
saw that the droid was still alive.

Mars came up beside her leader and put an arm around her. "You did your best, rest
and when you have your energy levels back up again you will be able to dust it."

Usagi looked up at Mars face and saw the warmth there, giving her renewed strength.
"Hai," she said while standing back up. Mercury partially recovered from the
aftermath of that new spell sat up once again activating her visor.

A large series of explosions shook the building they were standing. A loud cry of
"Yessss!" from Mercury followed those explosions, and two confused Senshi looked
over at their normally sedate friend. With her face turning red, Mercury answered
their questioning stares "Sailor Moon, while you were unable to kill it, you did
severely injure it and the gunships just finished it off."

As if to emphasize that point the gunships began coming back up above roof level.
Moving to the side Mars and Sailor Moon looked down and saw a pile of dust in the
cratered street. "Finally." Was all Mars was able to say as she slumped to the ground
exhausted.

Mercury still sitting activated her comm. link with the gunships to thank them for
their help and also to ask them if they knew anything about how the other battle was
going. From them she learned that the other two targets had been neutralized,
however, another demon had shown up at the light industrial area, but had just know
been defeated. An exhausted Mercury then relayed the news to the others, including
the now awake Tuxedo-kamen.

"Well we can still get about three hours of sleep before school." announced Mercury.
Knowing the need for sleep the others all began heading back to their beds.

* * * * * * * *
A little earlier

The droid that the other Senshi faced, while being a heavily armored tank-like
creature, was beginning to find itself in trouble. The attacks of Venus and Jupiter did
not worry it, but those of the quick moving Soldiers of the Outer Solar System did.
For the moment, its shield held, allowing it to retaliate. While it may have had a slow
to aim weapon, the damage that weapon did when fired usually made that a moot
point. The Senshi kept dodging out of the way of the blast, but the debris that it
knocked up were beginning to take their toll.

The JDF forces unfortunately, were also having similar luck with this creature. The
gunships had been forced to withdraw after the creature's surprise display of anti-air
power. It had detonated a couple of energy balls in the air, knocking some of the
'copters down and causing the others to pull back. So far, it had ignored the infantry
units, which had used the time to find cover from which to launch their own attacks.
Unfortunately with its shield active, even their mortars did not faze it.

"Any ideas Lieutenant on how to make headway with this thing?" asked a soldier
sporting a large backpack with an antenna.

"Unfortunately no, about the only thing I can think we can do now is to call in an air
strike. It is going to cause even more damage, but there is not much that we can do
now is there?"

"Understood." Replied the enlisted soldier as got ready to radio in the air strike
request. "Sir I am receiving a transmission from someone named Artemis, says he is
with the Sailor Senshi." He reported as a transmission began coming in. "He suggests
that we try to blind that creature."

"Tell him that we copy and that he might want to advise his forces to shield their
eyes." Replied the lieutenant. Then moving back to where the mortars were setup, he
gave their crews new instructions. Shortly afterward, Star shells began raining down
against the creature. While these do minimal damage themselves, their phosphorous
fires are extremely bright. Normally they are set to explode high in the air providing
light for the battlefield. By being set to explode at point blank range of the demon,
their bright flare blinded it, and unfortunately anything else watching as well.

Thankfully with the warning, Uranus and Neptune had adverted their eyes. Their eyes
quickly adjusted to the heightened light level. While they could not make out the
target in the glare, they were no longer in danger of being blinded by the continued
raining of star shells, a benefit of their enhanced Sailor abilities. Aiming for the white
blob, Uranus and Neptune unleashed their attacks. The two attacks merged into one
and crashed into the shield, which was also finding itself being overloaded with the
intense radiation. The strain proved too much and it collapsed. Urawa saw his chance
and moved onto the battlefield towards the creature. Uranus and Neptune stood off on
a building waiting while their Sailor Crystals recharged their manna reserves
sufficiently for another attack.

A large rumbling of the ground and an additional bright flash from the target caused
all to stop what they were doing and look. As the phosphorous fires died out, all that
could be seen initially was a large hole in the ground. Then as their eyes adjusted to
the lower light level they were able to make out various pieces of armor plating that
were slowly turning to dust. And in the center of it all, where the creature had once
been, was a spider-like creature with a golden crescent moon shining brightly on its
forehead. With what passed as a smile among its race, it spoke "I don't think this one
will be bothering us anymore. In the end it was a rather pathetic creature." Then it
vanished as it moved to return to its home.

"I have no idea what that thing was, but it gives me the shivers. I am just glad that it
appears to be on our side" stated the lieutenant. His statement was met with an
acknowledging nod from the other soldier, as they and the others began to move to the
LZ.

* * * * * * * *

"WAAAAAAHHHHHHH, I'M SOOOOOOOO LATE." a female voiced screamed.
Rushing to get ready, barely avoiding panicking the girl thinks to herself,

* * * * * * * *

Finally, the bell marked the end of class. Ami sighed again, knowing that she had
another two hours of detention. As the last student filed out of the classroom Haruna
got up and closed the door, then returning to where the three students and one child
sat, she pulled out one of the chairs and sat down.

"I am not planning on keeping you for long. Just long enough for Ami-chan to finish
her homework from last night." Haruna said while looking over at Ami, causing the
blue haired girl to blush. "I know that you have a good excuse for being late this
morning."

"Huh?" responded the three girls.

Haruna continued as if she had not heard them. "Usagi it is a great pleasure to have
your daughter joining us for class. Feel free to bring her whenever you like. If you
would like to talk to another adult beside your parents about raising a child, feel free
to come to me."

The three girls just sat there wide-eyed in shock over having Haruna somehow
discover the truth about Usagi. ChibiUsa not quite in as much shock as the others
replied "Agrito Haruna-sensei.

"I heard of the attack last night, I am glad to see that you three are okay. Now, Ami
why don't you finish your homework. Usagi can I speak with you privately for a
moment?"

Usagi gave a nod and got up to leave the room with her teacher, while Ami took the
paper Haruna had placed down on her desk and pulled out her books to finish it.
Makoto leaned back in her chair while thinking that Luna was probably going to kill
them at the meeting that afternoon. Looking towards ChibiUsa, Makoto noticed that
the child was looking a bit ancy with her mom now out of the room. She was about to
get up and try to calm her down when a smile crossed ChibiUsa's face. Following
ChibiUsa's gaze she saw that Usagi was now visible through the window in the door.

* * * * * * * *

Out in the hall Haruna began to talk to Usagi. "I don't know if I really want to know
how you have managed to pull off having a daughter, but I take it that she is the
reason for how you have changed over the past few months."

"Yes, she is my daughter. She is from the future, but even still, I feel a strong
connection to her. I would do anything to protect her. I am sorry for bringing her here
to class; I know that it must be a disruption. But, our enemy tried to kill her the other
day. He was holding her by the neck and strangling her before my eyes trying to break
my spirit." Usagi broke down with the last bit, for the first time revisiting those
painful memories.

Haruna could see the anguish on the Usagi's face and motioned the girl to come over
so that she could cry against her shoulder. "Don't worry Usagi, I have faith that you
and your friends will be able to defeat those monsters. I feel safe knowing that you are
protecting us from them."

After a few minutes, Usagi's tears dried up and were replaced by just sniffles. "You
know?" she asked

"Yes, I know that you are Sailor Moon. If I had known before, I would not have been
so hard on you those days when your Senshi business got in the way of school. I still
have to keep the appearance of not favoring you, but if it is Senshi business, I will be
lenient, like today.

"Agrito" replied Usagi.

"And Usagi, don't worry about brining your daughter here. As I said before she is a
pleasure to have in class. Also, I have seen what motherhood has done for you. To be
frank I did not think highly of your potential, but that has all changed in the past
months. I can tell that the mother-daughter bond that you share with her is getting
stronger and stronger. Why don't you tell me a bit about you daughter?"

* * * * * * * *

"Where is she?!" complained Rei

"Rei, don't worry they will be here. Usagi, Ami and Makoto all got detention for
being late this morning." Announced Naru as she walked in the room.

Rei was still fuming, but without anything to complain about she plopped herself
down in the corner. Minako had been spending the past half hour to try to get that girl
to calm down and was consequently very happy that Naru had been able to do so.
Though of course her presence was still a mystery, but not one Minako was worrying
about at the moment. Instead, something else that Naru said held her attention.

"Ami got detention?" asked an incredulous Minako.

"Yep, you should have seen the expressions on the rest of the class when she came in
late with the others. I guess those incidents being reported on the radio this morning
prevented you from getting much sleep last night, huh?"

"Ahhh." started Minako, who was now thrown for a loop with Naru's statement.

"Minako, Naru apparently knows quite a bit about us. Though Usagi has not said
how." Luna started, then noticing the expression on Naru's face she continued with
"Oh sorry about that Naru, yes both me and Artemis can talk."

"Guess that explains how your presence often served as reminders for Usagi."

Beside Naru, Minako, Rei and the two cats Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna were also at
the shrine. However, the latter three were currently getting a tour from Rei's
grandfather who had immediately offered it upon their arrival. Minako wondered how
Setsuna was handling her punishment for bending the rules. She had looked a tad bit
depressed when she arrived; Minako hoped that the tour would help divert Setsuna's
attention.

About ten minutes later, they heard the sounds of footsteps running up the stairs.
Looking up, those in the room saw Usagi and company burst into the room, with
Usagi and ChibiUsa immediately making a beeline towards the food.

"I though Haruna-sensei gave you a two hour detention?" asked Naru.

"She did, but then she said we only had to stay till Ami finished the homework she
had not done for class this morning. She somehow found out about us." Usagi replied
while stuffing her mouth. A guilty expression crossed Naru's face, but went unnoticed
as the others were busy teasing Ami for being a "delinquent" student and Usagi and
ChibiUsa were busy with the food. A few moments later Usagi swung her head
around to regard the one who had been asked her about detention. "Naru! What are
you doing her?"

"To get answers, Usagi." She replied.

"Well considering that the others are still out with grandfather, I guess we have time
for that." said Rei, who with Usagi's arrival had become much less grumpy.

The girls seated themselves on the floor with Usagi sitting down across from Naru.
Usagi began to speak, but found in talking to her best friend that the words did not
come as freely as was explaining things to her parents. ". Ah so what do you want to
know?" she asked while scratching the back of her head.

Naru decided to help her friend out a bit, for the moment. "Well I already know that
you are Sailor Moon, and ChibiUsa-chan over there is your daughter. Though, I still
have not figured that one out yet. Additionally Ami is Sailor Mercury and Rei is
Sailor Mars. Makoto would be Sailor Jupiter, which leaves Minako as Sailor Venus.
However there are things I am missing, and I want to know HOW YOU CAN HAVE
A DAUGHTER AND WHO HER FATHER IS?"

"You have figured out a lot haven't you?" Usagi noticed sadness in Naru's eyes,
which represented an unspoken question. Getting up she walked over to Naru to
embrace the other girl, as she did so her form shifted to reveal her true form. "Naru-
chan, I wanted to tell you everything from day one. But, what I saw that first time I
fought told me that I could not risk putting you in the kind of danger I faced. I saw
that creature try to kill you and knew that I had to do all that I could to protect you;
even it meant that it would eventually destroy our friendship, you mean that much to
me." Naru saw the true concern and love in the eyes of the girl who now embraced
her. She could tell that not being able to tell her the truth had caused Usagi great
sadness.

ChibiUsa watched on with a tear in her eye. It was times like this when Usagi acted
just like her future-self and made ChibiUsa feel a bit homesick, especially now that
Usagi was in her Serenity form. But, at the same time, Usagi at these times made her
so much more content to be here as well. ChibiUsa wanted to run up and have Usagi
wrap her up in a hug, but knew that Naru needed it more.

Serenity sat herself back down, but now knee to knee in front of Naru and began her
tale. "My real name is not Tsukino Usagi, but Serenity, crown princess of the Moon
Kingdom and heir to the empire of the Silver Millennium. The others here are my
guardians representing each of the member planets of the Silver Millennium.
ChibiUsa is from the future. To explain anything I have to start at the beginning with
the destruction of Silver Millennium and with how I fell in love with an Earth
prince."

* * * * * * * *
A little while later

"Thanks for the tour Hino-san" Setsuna said while giving the old man a nice low bow.
"But I think it is time for us to rejoin your daughter and the others."

Opening the door, the three ladies entered into the room. "Michiru-san here is the
princess of Neptune, Haruka-san the princess of Uranus and Setsuna the princess of
Pluto, she also is the guardian of time and space, the reason why ChibiUsa is able to
be back here in the past." Said Usagi as the three older women entered. She had
reverted back to her Usagi form shortly after beginning the tale, as paradoxically
holding the Serenity form took lots of energy."

Haruka and Michiru stood a bit shocked just inside the room at the introduction they
had gotten. Setsuna stood smirking at the two of them; while she was surprised, it was
not an entirely unexpected surprise. She knew who Naru was and the strength of the
time-flow associated with this girl with respect to her future queen. While she did not
know how this would affect the future, she figured that it would probably be
beneficial.

"Well now that we are all here we can begin." Luna began Then addressing the three
new arrivals, in particular the two doing nice imitations of fish she added "This is
Naru, she is Usagi's best friend and had already on her own figured out a lot about us,
Usagi just finished explaining the rest to her." Taking a breath, she prepared to start
into the meeting.

However, before Luna could continue Rei started into a tirade of her own "We were
useless last night. None of us four could help Usagi at all. With the youmas, all we
need to do is just hold them still long enough for Usagi to dust them. And then with
the droids, our attacks don't hurt them at all."

As Rei finished her complaint, she collapsed to the ground with a look of utter defeat
on her face. Usagi quickly moved across the room to embrace Rei. Pulling her in and
rubbing the other girl's back who was now sobbing, "Rei you are not useless."

"I am afraid that we are," replied Ami "Our attacks are not of sufficient power to
handle those droids. We have been lucky that Rubeus has of yet not made any overt
moves, but I have a feeling that when he does we are going to be in even bigger
trouble than we are now. Plus we still have to face Kunzite and then Beryl. Beside
you, only Uranus and Neptune are able to fight these droids. I'm sorry princess, but
that is the truth."

Usagi looked around the room and saw the sad dejected looks on everyone's face as
they nodded their agreement. She herself looked down at the floor of the room
without any answers.

"But we will still be there for you Usagi, we just wished that we could do more
damage to those demons." Minako added, which was met with many vigorous nods.

"I stopped by Central Control today." began Artemis.

"But I thought ChibiUsa said that Artemis was Central Control?" asked a confused
Usagi. During which Luna glared at Artemis, who at least had the grace to cower
down to the ground.

"He was only the voice of command, Central Control does exist. It is a collection of
powerful computers, which Queen Serenity had managed to send forward in time with
the rest of you. They are interfaced with various global networks and so act as a
massive intelligence system, plus they have a fair amount of data banks." Explained
Setsuna

"Setsuna's right. Unfortunately the system only appears to be setup to take my
command input and I am only granted access to very limited facilities." added
Artemis.

"Well then I will just have to do some royal reprogramming," announced Usagi.
"With all the excitement I forgot to mention that some of my memories have been
returning. Mainly they are ones dealing with Endymion and my life on the moon, and
also mother. But I have also begun to remember some of mother's instruction on
using the main computer. I almost remember my access codes, its like they are just
beyond where I can reach."

While Usagi had been giving her speech, Ami had been leaning forward in
anticipation, licking her lips just waiting to get her hands on that computer. With
Usagi finally saying that they couldn't get access to it yet, she fell forward onto the
ground. The others tried to restrain their chuckles as a very embarrassed Ami picked
herself backup and sat down.

"I need to go do some thinking about my memories. I have many half memories
floating around that may help us, but I haven't had time yet to really examined them."
Announced Usagi as she began to get up. ChibiUsa immediately moved to her side
and took one of Usagi's hands. Rei and the others began to get up as well to which
Usagi said "I need to be alone for this, so no following me this time. Oh, Michiru-san
Haruka-san STOP calling me princess all the time. It is just Usagi-chan."

"Yes prin. err. Usagi-chan" the two replied

With that, mother and daughter left the shrine.

* * * * * * * *

Father Morgan took a broom and began sweeping the front steps of his little chapel.
Since returning from his trip, he had felt energized and confident that he was
following the right path. The others had sent him some more information, but for the
moment, things were quiet. This information included periodic updates of the
discussions amongst the world's religious leaders on how best to proceed with
guiding their flocks into the new age.

Feeling a familiar energy, he looked up and saw the Messiah walking down the street
with a child alongside her. A few minutes later, the two turned into the shrine, when
Usagi saw him, a large smile crossed her face. "How are you doing Morgan-san?" she
asked

"It is good to see you again Usagi-sama. Please come in, I am doing very well. Who is
this we have here?" he asked indicating the child as he bent down to greet her.

"Morgan-san this is my daughter, Tsukino Usagi, but you can call her ChibiUsa-
chan." ChibiUsa looked up at her mother when she made that statement, but saw the
trust that shone in her mother's eyes.

"Konichiwa, ChibiUsa-chan" looking at Usagi he continued "She looks a lot like
you." For Father Morgan after accepting that Usagi was the Messiah, anything else
was no trouble at all to accept. There was no reason why the Messiah could not have a
child that was over half her age.

As they entered the building Morgan spoke, "Usagi-sama you look as if something is
troubling you."

"My guardians, they are feeling useless with their powers. Last night, they were
overwhelmed and against a couple of the demons nearly useless. Their spirit is
shattered and I need to find a way to strengthen and relieve them of the guilt they
feel."

"I believe in you Usagi-sama. I have known from that day that you healed me that you
are the Messiah. I could easily see it in that brief glimpse of your true aura during
your henshin. In the intervening time, I have done something bold. After you left, I
was left with questions on the path to take. So, I traveled to the holy land to seek
answers. I prayed and meditated in a field near Nazareth till late at night, but did not
find my answers. However, under the light of the full moon I suddenly felt reassured
and the need to go to Rome."

"Mother," whispered Usagi as she realized the source of that assurance and need.

"There I met with the Vatican. I must apologize for breaking my word to you as I told
them some about you. From them I learned that you and your soldiers are the reborn
warriors of the fallen Silver Millennium and that your real name is Princess Serenity
of the Moon Kingdom. Also apparently my Lord gave a prophecy to Sailor Venus and
Saturn telling of your rise as the Messiah and Senshi of the Moon."

Usagi was lost, as she did not know how to respond to the information that he had just
given her. She knew that her mother was directing his path to help her. This stuff
about being the Messiah confused her, but the current battles were a more pressing
issue.

"Usagi you have the power in yourself to help the Senshi. Your power has only
partially awaken, inside you sleeps a strong warrior. If you search your soul you will
be able to tap that strength and use it to help your soldiers." Then turning to ChibiUsa
he said "ChibiUsa-chan why don't we leave your mother be for a while, I think she
would like to pray at the alter for a bit."

ChibiUsa looked at her mother unsure of whether to accept the offer. "Thanks
Morgan-san," Usagi said and then pulling out of her pocket she handed him some
money, "Here take this and why don't you two go get some ice-cream, I may be a
bit." Morgan attempted to refuse the money but finally gave up in defeat under the
glare of Usagi.

As the two left the house of worship, Usagi moved to the front. Kneeling down she
first said a prayer to those who had perished last night in fighting the Dark Kingdom.
Then concentrating as Rei had once showed her, she began to focus her energy on
both the crystal and the moon. As she concentrated her aura lit up, silver energy
flowing across her body. Then as she opened her eyes, the golden crescent moon
flared brightly on forehead before reducing to a gentle glow on her forehead.

Quickly she fell into a trance, utterly in harmony with her aura. In the trance she could
see the block hiding her memories and then with a mere thought it was gone could
move through her memories of the Silver Millennium with ease. However, the
answers she sought did not reside there, instead she her thoughts moved towards the
crystal and she began to probe its energy, seeing it for what it truly was. She saw its
linkage to her and the moon and its linkage through time to her daughter. Following
the linkage to the moon, she felt its power and pull. As the power of the moon pulsed,
she gave into its pull and found herself standing on the surface of the moon.

Walking forward on the cratered surface her school uniform shifted to that of her
princess gown. The glamour hiding her hair's true color flickered off for the time and
her hair returned to its true silver color. Arriving at a series of circles in the ground,
she knelt as power began flowing through them. From the circles, energy arced into
the sky and coalesced into a miniature form of her mother.

Softly Serenity cried out "Mother."

"Don't cry my daughter. I will always be there for you in your heart. Trust in Father
Morgan he will help guide you. You have recovered all of your memories except for
those surrounding your death. When you fight Metalia, you will need to know all that
happened. I apologize in advance, as these are painful memories, but it must be done."

As the hologram of Queen Serenity finished speaking, the moon faded from view and
was replaced by the Moon Palace of old, on the day of the attack. Serenity saw for the
first time how the enemy forces cut down her guardians. Saw again the death of
Endymion and her own self inflicted wound. Then she saw her mother's ultimate
sacrifice, the sealing away of Metalia, and the souls of her and her friends being sent
to the future.

As the memories ceased and she was returned to the present, tears streaked down
Serenity face, being shed for the brutal deaths of her friends. After a few moments of
mourning, she looked up and saw that the hologram of her mother had faded. It was
time to leave, but she also had one more task to accomplish first. Moving into the
circles, she felt herself connecting with the lunar computer. Her mind quickly
assessed the computer's systems and found them to be surprisingly intact. Giving the
mental command, she unlocked the remote command center on Earth from restricted
access to general access by the Sailor Senshi and her royal advisors.

Letting her consciousness expand outwards once again, she found the trail of her
teleport here to the moon. Focusing on the imprint from her previous teleport, she
once again felt the pull of energy as her body was swept up in a teleport. Later when
she had mastered her powers, she would be able to teleport to places other than the
moon and back again.

Completing the teleport, her form shimmered back to that of Usagi as she felt her
exhausted body slump to the ground, though the crescent moon remained glowing on
her forehead. Not moving for a moment, she thought about her solo teleport, a power
that she did not know that she had. As she thought about what she felt when she
initiated the teleport, she realized how she could power up her guardians.

While Usagi was at the moon reliving its final moments, Morgan got to know
ChibiUsa while they munched on some ice cream. They had returned before Usagi
had and consequently ChibiUsa had begun to panic over the disappearance of her
mother. Morgan could feel how Usagi's energy flooded the place and somehow knew
that she had teleported, like the Senshi of old. He had attempted to reassure ChibiUsa
with this, but the child was not buying his explanation.

A flash of light signaled the return of Usagi. Father Morgan saw the exhaustion on
Usagi's face as she reverted back and moved to catch her as she fell. Laying her down
on the ground he looked over at the child and gave her "you see" smile. After a couple
of minutes, Usagi stirred and sat up, as she did so the crescent moon finally began to
fade from view.

"Did you find your answers" asked Father Morgan.

"Yes I have, and you are right I have the power to aid them." Pulling out her
communicator, she activated the channel that contacted her Guardians. "Minna-san
meet me at the Crown Arcade."

"We are already here, or actually upstairs now." Came Minako's reply.

"Good," then putting away her communicator, she turned to ChibiUsa "Come on
ChibiUsa lets not keep them waiting. Thanks again Morgan-san."

"It was my pleasure Usagi-sama."

* * * * * * * *

"Ok what did you want us all here at the arcade for." Rei asked as Usagi arrived.
Though Rei did let Usagi get a nice kiss from Mamoru, who arrived a little earlier,
first.

Usagi responded by sticking her tongue out at Rei and then turning back to the group
she told them why, "We are going to visit Central Control."

"But I thought you said you needed to unlock the controls first?" questioned Ami

"I did, and I have. The controls had to be unlocked from the Central Lunar Computer,
but everything is now correctly set. And Ami, you need to promise me that you won't
spend all your time down here."

Under the strong glare of Usagi, Ami agreed to her conditions. With Ami's
agreement, Usagi led them into the arcade and towards the Sailor V video game. As
Usagi placed her hand on the screen Ami noticed a laser scanner read the palm, after
which they suddenly found themselves falling very quickly downwards. Holes had
opened up in the floor beneath each of them and they found themselves sliding down
personal tubes. With a slightly rough landing, they were deposited in a large room.

Except for the massive computer bank that wrapped around the other three walls, the
room was fairly non-descript. "The computer now recognizes each of you as
authorized users, but that is not the primary reason why I have brought you here.
Minna-san you stated that you felt powerless in face of the enemies we have been
fighting. There is a way to power each of you up, however there is a cost.

"Till now, once this all ended I could have removed your memories of recent events
and allowed you to go back to being normal teenagers. Your powers are a result of an
object called a Sailor Crystal that each of you has. Actually, the Sailor Crystal is you;
it is a physical manifestation of your soul. Unlike the Star Seeds of others, ours are
bound with the soul of our respective planet, allowing us to draw energy from the
planet.

"Unlike me, each of you was reborn pure Tehran. When you first used your henshin
sticks, you changed slightly with the awakening of your Sailor Crystal. However, the
full power of the crystal was not activated, which restricted you to only using some of
your powers. But, at the same time prevented irreversible changes from being made to
your body. The changes that have happened so far I can heal with the Ginzuishou.
However, once the Sailor Crystal reaches full maturity I cannot place it back in
slumber, you will be forever committed to the path of being Sailor Senshi.

"If you accept the power that I am about to offer you, you will in only a few years no
longer be Tehran, but the exact person you were back during the Silver Millennium.
For me there was never really a choice. I was born Lunarian, only hidden by strong
glamour magic. While initially it would have been possible for me to have removed
my own memories, that is no longer an option. Even before I recovered the
Ginzuishou, I had been expanding my powers, pushing against the limits. The pushes
while not enough to break the spells were enough to prevent them from ever being
fully reset again. It would only be a matter of days or weeks before my memories
would resurface if I reset those spells."

Usagi was going to continue; however, Rei spoke up. "Usagi there is no question on
this matter. We don't care about going back to a normal life after this is all over. You
mean too much to each of us to let you go. I am willing to endure whatever hardships
are necessary to keep you; you know that each of you loves you dearly. Now don't be
an odango-atama and power us up."

Usagi looked around the room and noticed everyone else nodding. She knew that this
was going to be the outcome, but she still had to warn them and give them the choice,
she would not force anything on them. For the second time in the day, she willed the
Ginzuishou out and began to focus her energy into it. She felt an arm wrap around her
from the right and felt the reassuring presence of Endymion as she shifted into her
princess form. Grasping her legs, she also felt the presence of ChibiUsa who had
moved to help her mother as well.

The silver energy of her aura gleamed brightly along her body and then began to mix
with the golden energy from her right and the pink energy from her left. Looking out
into the room, she saw not her friends, but their auras. Each aura glowed dimly but as
her gaze met each, it flared up brightly and the planetary crest became visible on the
Senshi's forehead. With their aura's glowing brightly, she could now trace back the
paths to each of the planets seeing the connection between Sailor Crystal and the
planet's soul.

To the two cats, the experience was a fascinating light show. All the others, except for
Usagi had dropped into a meditative trance. Luna and Artemis watching the energy
that played along everybody realized why Usagi did not want to do this at the Shrine,
but here at the Central Command instead where they were assured privacy. As they
watched, four silvery balls of energy formed in front of Serenity.

With a mental command, she flung them at each of the Senshi. As a ball hit a Senshi,
it first ran through the Senshi's entire body before funneling into her Sailor Crystal.
From there, it arced instantaneously to the planet and as it did the channel of energy
between the planet and Senshi finally opened fully. As the new energy back flowed
from the planet and reached a Senshi it was marked by their eyes opening wide as
memories came flooding back. Unfortunately, these were not happy memories, but
painful ones of their death. And then the still active link to Serenity caused them to
receive the full visions of the fall of the kingdom.

The memories only took a few minutes each to flood through their minds, and when
they had finished the Senshi dropped one by one to the ground. As each dropped their
aura flickered out and soon the room was once again at its normal lighting level. With
her link to the Senshi severed, Serenity shifted back into Usagi and collapsed into the
arms of Mamoru. Mamoru moved to sit down with his love sleeping against him,
while ChibiUsa moved to lie down against him as well.

"Nice power up, she put everyone to sleep" Artemis commented sarcastically.
However, Luna was not too fond of the comment and he earned himself a swipe from
her claws.

"None of them are used to the kinds of energy they just handled, so they will be out of
it for a bit while their bodies recover." Explained Luna. "Come lets see what
information the computer has for us."

With that, the two cats bounded up to it and began accessing its sensor logs.

* * * * * * * *

About thirty minutes later, the Senshi began to wake up. Even before Ami had fully
stood up, she began to drag her body over to the nearest computer terminal with a
wild gleam in her eyes. Reaching the terminal, she began feeding it commands faster
than Artemis or Luna could read them. Within half a minute, she had already
accomplished more than Artemis or Luna had in the previous half hour.

"Minna there is a problem." She called out a few minutes later.

The other Senshi were still a bit groggy from awakening, but the announcement of
trouble instantly got their attention. As they gathered around Ami, Luna asked her to
explain.

"The sensors have detected a substantial negative energy field covering Tokyo. It
does not seem to be the result of the Dark Kingdom. However they appear to have
discovered it as well, look." She said while pointing to the imagery, which showed
tendrils of energy snaking away from Tokyo.

"What are those?" asked Venus

"Manna streams." Supplied Luna "They transfer manna from a location to a mage.
And from the looks of it, it appears that the Dark Kingdom is using these ones
connected to the negative energy field as a persistent energy source. This is not good
and explains why they were able to attack with three youmas last night. I am afraid
that they are now even more dangerous as they are no longer in need of energy."

"That is not all, according to my calculations they will soon have enough power to
release Metalia." Stated Ami, causing a hush to fall upon the room.

"We need to take this battle to them." Declared Makoto as she slammed a fist into her
palm."

"Agreed" said Usagi "Ami see if you can find the location of the Dark Kingdom's
base. But first it is getting late and we are all exhausted so we should better go." After
a pause she continued "And that means you too Ami.

"Hai." Ami reluctantly agreed.

-End Chapter 16

End Notes:
Wow, that was a long one, though I guess when you have the Senshi fight a half
dozen battles at the start.

I would like to thank Comet Moon for providing me with the scene of Ami acting
like Usagi in being late to school.

For those who might be a bit confused by Diana shape shifting, Luna and Artemis
are from a planet of shape shifting felines (this is only in the Magna, not the
Anime). They are able to take both a human-like and feline forms. Luna and
Artemis with their retched memories do not yet remember that they are not cats,
however this is not a problem with Diana as she comes from the future. However,
Diana is not supposed to use her human-form, as that would affect the timeline by making Luna and Artemis remember sooner.

Unfortunately, the next set of chapters may be longer in coming, as it looks like I will be busy with class work for my Masters of Engineering degree. I am also doing my Masters project this semester, which will suck up most of the remaining free time.