Serena huddled safe inside Darien's arms. She was quiet for a while as she thought about everything that had happened over the last few days. There was not sound but the occasional rustle of cloth as one or the other of them shifted position. After a few minutes her voice broke the silence as she asked a question she'd been wondering about for a while. "So, when you said that Sable was gone, what exactly did you mean?" Serena asked.
"She just disappeared. There was no way for us to chase her, so we turned back. I was worried about you." Darien looked at her.
Serena looked down and blushed faintly. They were both silent for a while. Suddenly she shivered.
"What is it?" Darien asked.
"I was just remembering what that `Mistress' said before she left. I felt so good about defeating Sable right after the battle, but now I'm thinking about what nearly happened. She got to Luna and Artemis, and fooled all of us completely. What next? How much does she know? Oh, I'm just so worried!"
"I don't know what to say. We'll just have to keep our guard up and be ready." He hugged her, and she clung tightly to him.
*****
"Miss? Miss? Are you all right?" The concerned woman reached down to lightly touch the hunched shoulder of the huddled figure on the curb. The lights of the city shone off the wet pavement, and cars splashed by, oblivious to both figures. "Do you need help?" The girl's shoulder shook slightly, whether with cold or with tears, the woman couldn't guess.
"Yes, please," came the muffled reply. The small figure lifted its bowed head to look up at her. The girl's face was thin and drawn. "I'm hungry."
"Oh!" The woman backed up, for some reason afraid of a glint in the girl's eyes. The ragged girl climbed to her feet slowly, and the woman's eyes widened as her bedraggled red hair turned light pink, and her pale white skin took on a greenish sheen under the dirt. "What-" Her question was cut off with a scream as the girl jumped her. The girl bowled her over and sat on her, with her hands around the helpless woman's neck. A pale glow shined off the girl's hands, and her eyes closed slowly as a smile chased across her lips.
"Ah!" she exclaimed with a satisfied look on her face, "Much better. I almost feel-" she giggled softly as she returned to her former appearance, "human again." She got to her feet and absently kicked the unconscious woman's body aside as she looked down the neon corridor of the busy street. "And now, I can set about getting revenge on not only the Sailor Scouts, but on my traitorous family as well." With a snarl she ducked out of the circle of illumination under the orange street light and made her way through the darkness.
*****
"No, Cerulean, I won't allow you to try to steal the Scout's energy again. I just want them destroyed so I can have control of Earth. We don't have the energy reserves we had, and Sable alone had most of our collected information on the Scouts. They are already on their guard and our resources are too low. I don't want to waste much time-we don't have enough to go about wasting any of it."
"As you wish, Mistress." The young man backed out of the audience chamber. After he was out of her sight he grimaced angrily as he stalked back toward his workroom.
*****
The girls sat around Serena's table, while Luna sat on it, her tail daintily curled over her toes. Artemis was crouched down next to her, his tail whipping from side to side with agitation. "I called this meeting because Artemis and I are very worried over what little we heard of the battle you had yesterday. We desperately need to be filled in." Luna looked to Artemis.
"Yes. If the Negaverse knew enough to put Luna and I out of commission, then they already know way too much. We need to debrief you. Try very hard to remember everything that happened." The Scouts settled down for a very long session.
*****
"Wow! I'm beat!" Rei shook her heavy black hair back out of her face.
Amy nodded, "That was very intense."
Mina's blue eyes scanned the others as they walked down the busy sidewalk. "Artemis and Luna looked very worried."
Serena's head jerked up as she took her eyes off her feet. "I'm very worried. I know Sable never got the chance to tell the Mistress what our secret identities are, but she knows, and the Mistress got to Luna and Artemis once-what if she does it again?"
Lita nodded, "And we don't know where Sable is-what if she comes after us?"
The girls were silent for a few minutes. Serena finally spoke up, "What are all those people doing there?"
"Let's go look," Mina pulled Serena's arm. They headed for the crowd.
"Oh! Look! A new store! Those clothes look so cool! It's a grand opening sale! Let's go look, everyone!"
"I can't believe you, Serena! We have a huge problem here, and you want to go shopping!" Rei tossed her head with disgust.
Serena stuck her tongue out at Rei. "I can't worry all the time." Her eyes shined with excitement. "I haven't spent a dime of my allowance yet! I wonder how much I can buy..." Rei rolled her eyes as Serena practically skipped into the store, but the other girls looked at each other as Serena's infectious happiness caught on.
"We can't spend our whole life worrying-I wish I had Serena's ability to recover from misfortune like that," Amy mused, and walked in after Serena, a little bounce back in her step. The others followed too after a second, willing to forget their problems for a few minutes.
"Look!" Mina exclaimed happily, "This place is so modern! These mirrors make it look so cool!" She wandered off slowly, her head turning slowly from side to side as she scanned the new store.
"They have all the latest styles here. Oh, Amy, this will look wonderful on you!" Serena hopped up to Amy, Rei and Lita. "C'mon, you have to try this on!"
The girls walked through the store as Serena insisted on trying on millions of outfits. While Serena was trying out a new shirt Mina slid in next to Rei.
"Hey, Rei, you've been awfully quiet-I was wondering, do you feel like something's wrong?" she asked.
Rei turned her dark eyes to Mina. "Actually, I do feel as if things aren't quite right, but I didn't want to spoil everyone's good mood."
"That clinches it. I thought I was just being too suspicious and jumpy after what's happened the last few days, but I think we should get everyone out of here."
"Why?"
"Do you remember what Erin-I mean, Sable said after we were attacked in the vet's office?"
"She said a lot of things, as I recall," Lita had seen the two girls whispering and joined the conversation. "and most of them were lies."
"What she said about the black stones! I saw one of the store clerks wearing an odd piece of jewelry, and I couldn't imagine why it caught my attention until I remembered that Sable told us that was how the octopus creatures disguised themselves."
"I see what you mean." Rei grabbed the back of Serena's shirt just as she was walking toward another shirt she'd spotted.
"Hey! What's the idea-"
"We have to go, guys. There's something seriously wrong here."
"But I haven't decided which-"
Lita interrupted, "We've gotta go now, Serena. C'mon, we'll explain outside."
*****
"I assume that you have taken into account that the Sailor Scouts are no doubt on their guard since our recent meeting?"
"Of course, Mistress. I was privy to Sable's plan, and one of the ways she was going to gain the Scouts' trust was by giving them information helpful in defeating our octopi."
"Ah, yes! But the Scouts proved more capable than we thought, and we had to shorten our timetable and take Sailor Moon before the Scouts discovered our base independently. We never had to use that planted information to facilitate another Sailor Scout victory."
"We never used that ploy, no, but Sable did plant the information. I plan to take advantage of that."
"Hmmmm... How clever. Very well, I have decided that you know what you are doing-I trust you to carry out this plan you've briefed me on. Just don't forget the price of failure."
Cerulean's eyes gleamed with ambition at the word of his mother's foolish trust. "I hope I don't disappoint you, Mother." He bowed his head to hide his sneer of contempt behind false humility, but the exhilaration in his voice gave him away.
The Mistress' lined face darkened and her eyes glowed red with anger. "I may be old, boy, but I am not senile enough to trust you completely or take such disrespect from you. Get out of my sight!" She waved her hand sharply and her wickedly long nails glinted in the pale light emanating from a glowing green globe above her head. Cerulean backed quickly out of the chamber, suitably chastened.
*****
"Ah!" The tall, short-haired blonde peered around the lamppost at the group of five girls standing in a tight circle. They were huddle close together in intense conversation, and they kept stealing covert glances at a nearby clothing store. "There they are. I wonder what they're up to?" She casually strolled over to them, so intent on trying to hear their conversation that she didn't notice the babble of people around her or the chirps of the birds in nearby trees. "They seem very interested in that store. I think I'm going to see what's got them so riled up." She continued to walk, passing them and going toward the store. She involuntarily tensed up as she got closer. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Rei's head snap up sharply and she felt her eyes on her back as she continued walking. She breathed a sigh of relief when she entered the store, and stood just inside, unmoving, while her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light.
"Oh, my! How very interesting!" she mumbled to herself as she spotted the black necklace the store clerk was wearing. "How very interesting indeed."
*****
"You mean this store is somehow involved with those Negaverse aliens?" Serena cried. "But it was so cool, and full of great deals!"
Amy already had her minicomputer out and was collecting data. "I don't see anything unusual happening-maybe it's just a coincidence. No energy drain-or anything else." Amy put her computer away.
"Maybe it's just an unusual necklace," Lita ventured.
Rei looked over at a tall, blonde girl strolling out of the store with an odd look on her face. "What's wrong, Rei?" Mina asked.
"That girl-I feel something's odd about her." She cocked her head as she looked in the girl's direction. Suddenly the girl fainted. With gasps the girls ran over to help her.
"Are you all right?" Mina knelt down next to the prone girl.
Her eyes fluttered open. "Oh, I'm so tired..." Her forehead wrinkled as she took in her surroundings. "Why am I on the ground?"
"You just had a little fainting spell." Amy was down next to her too by now. "That's a nice shirt, did you just get it?" she asked gently.
The girl still seemed slightly confused as she looked down at her shirt. "Yeah... I spilled on my shirt and so I stopped at that new store..." she groggily turned to look back at Mina. "They were so nice, they let me wear it while I walked out of the store. Isn't that nice of..." she trailed off and passed out again. Other bystanders were around now, so the five girls backed off and gathered a few feet away.
"Well Amy?" Serena cocked her head.
"That was most definitely not natural," Amy chewed the inside of her cheek. "But we can't go there now. We have to get rid of the clerks. How many were there, Mina?"
"I saw two with the necklaces, but there were more in the store that I didn't get a good look at."
"We should watch the store, and wait for the customers to leave, and then attack!" Lita said. "I'll stand here for a while and watch." The other girls nodded in agreement.
"Sounds like a plan!" Serena said. "We can't let them drain all these people, and maybe this will weaken the Mistress."
Amy looked at her watch. "Oh! Look at the time. I have to get my homework done and study for a test I'll be taking next week. You'll call when it's safe to attack those nega-monsters, right Lita?" At Lita's nod she said, "Well then, see you guys then. I've gotta go. Bye!" and took off at a slow jog.
Serena had a slightly sour look on her face. "Why's she studying for a test next week? I just cram the few minutes before the test."
Lita smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I think, judging from the difference between Amy's grades and yours, that I'd follow Amy's example rather than yours."
"But, her way wastes so much time! I'd rather go shopping or stop at the arcade." Serena stuck her nose in the air stubbornly. Rei and Mina both looked at their watches and shifted their feet uncomfortably.
"Uh... I have to go," Mina said. "It's nearly dinner time, and I can't be late again."
"Grandfather's going to wonder where I am soon, so I have to go too."
"Oh! Well, since Lita volunteered to stay, I guess you both had better go." Serena smiled at Lita. "I'll stay here and keep you company."
Rei and Mina walked off in opposite directions while Lita and Serena settled down on a nearby bench to wait.
*****
The blonde girl melded into the crowd of people that had rushed to her aid and with a quick disorienting shimmer her hair darkened to a mousy brown, she suddenly got five inches shorter, and a huge ugly pair of black rimmed glasses appeared out of thin air to settle on her nose. She squirmed out of the huddled mass of people and watched as the five girls talked intently for a few minutes. The one with short blue hair left, then the blond and black haired girls went in opposite directions.
"So, they're going to wait for the patrons to leave." She sighed and settled down on another bench that faced the two girls. "I'll stick around. Maybe I can think of some other mischief to cause for either the Sailor Scouts or my family."
*****
"Hey! Serena!" Lita nudged Serena with her elbow. Serena started up from her nap[ with an indignant snort.
"Huh?" She sounded confused. "What?"
"It looks like they're gonna start closing up soon. I'm going to scout out what's going on in there. You call the others." Lita pushed up off the bench and strode into the clothing shop. Serena began to contact the others.
*****
With a wicked chuckle the short girl got up off her bench too. She was hidden in shadows, but her glasses reflected in the artificial light as she strolled toward the nearly empty store.
*****
Lita tried to avoid letting the clerks notice her, which was difficult not only because of her height, but because the store was almost empty of customers. A short girl walked up to one of the clerks. Lita noticed that the clerk was wearing a black crystal necklace. Something about the way that girl with glasses moved rang a bell in her memory. She stiffened as she realized who the girl reminded her of. First she tried to sneak toward the exit, but she stopped when she saw it was blocked by a clerk. The girl snapped her fingers and an odd expression crossed her face. A flash of light blinded Lita for a second and by the time she'd blinked her eyes clear an octopus creature was standing where the clerk had been. The girl now wore a blood red cloak and strands of pink hair peeked out of the hood.
"That tears it!" Lita mumbled, and then she hurriedly ducked behind a rack of clothes and sprinted, still bowed down, to the dressing rooms. "I can't wait any longer for them to show up." She desperately fumbled for her transformation pen, and thrust it into the air.
"Jupiter Star Power... Make Up!"
She peeked under the dressing room door and when she saw that no feet or tentacles were in sight, she slipped out of the dressing room, and announced in a loud, confident voice, "I am Sailor Jupiter, here to defend the good people of Earth from your evil designs in the name of the planet Jupiter!"
The creatures turned to face her.
"Supreme Thunder!" she bellowed and aimed a crackling ball of lightning at a tight knot of three octopus creatures.
*****
Serena stood hunched over her communicator. "Amy?" she said, "You're the last one I have to reach. The store's about to close down, and- " Before Serena could finish her sentence she heard a familiar cry and suddenly a huge concussion rocked the street. She spun her arms wildly and shouted in a vain attempt to keep her balance while standing on the rolling ground. She landed on the ground and hurt her leg when she fell on it. She began to sniff in preparation for a crying fit, but Amy's tinny voice emerging from the compact still tightly clutched in her hand brought her mind back to what was important.
"Serena! Serena?! Answer me! What's happened?!" Amy's voice was leaden with worry.
"I-I think I'm okay, Amy. I've gotta go. For some reason Lita's transformed and used her Supreme Thunder Attack. Get here as fast as you can!" She snapped the compact closed with one hand and yanked out her transformation brooch and shouted, "Moon Crystal Power...Make Up!"
*****
"M'Lord! M'Lord!" The agitated creature dashed up to Cerulean slightly fearfully.
"What is it?" he snarled, striding confidently into the situation room. High-tech monitors and computers flashed and whirred throughout the room, bathing the stone walls with faint, cold light.
"We received an emergency transmission from one of our energy draining bases. It was hard to decipher, and the transmission was cut off before it finished, but it seems at least one of the Sailor Scouts has made an appearance."
"What?!" shrieked an enraged Cerulean. "I ordered them not to drain any human energy until our products had been in place for a while, so wider distribution could take place."
"Yes, M'Lord, I know," the creatures head bobbed in earnest agreement, "but it seems they discovered this store at least, maybe others."
"Wait, didn't Sable tap into their communication frequencies? Use her equipment to listen in on the Sailor Scouts, and we can find out exactly how much they know."
"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir."
"What?!" Sparkles of angry red light zoomed around his tightly clenched fists as Cerulean's rage threatened to get out of control. The reporting creature cowered. "Why not?"
"Well, you see..." it began timorously.
"Out with it!"
"Uh... well, ummm, your sister had some servants loyal only to her, and only they could understand or run the equipment we used to tap into Scout transmissions. When your sister was defeated, the Mistress had them-" its voice dropped to a whisper, "executed."
"So we have lost the ability to listen in to their conversations?"
"Yes, M'Lord."
Cerulean's eyes glowed with barely suppressed ire. "I must speak with my mother." As he was leaving his head turned back to face the creature. "Ready a rescue team, but don't send it through a gate without my express permission. I don't want to lose any creatures unnecessarily." Then he was gone.
*****
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter wiped sweat off her forehead as she desperately dodged another octopus tentacle. "Yah! Take that, you nega-creature!" she cried angrily.
The cloaked girl slipped through the surging mass of nega-monsters, constantly worming her way toward Jupiter.
A sparkling white discus flew through the air, and in the tight quarters of the fight it seriously hurt several octopi. Most of the rest turned to face this new threat.
A figure stood in the doorway, hand extended to catch the returning tiara. As she placed it back onto her head, the ruby in it's center flashed and sparkled under the harsh fluorescent lights in the store ceiling.
"I am Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice, and defender of the people of Earth! In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"
The octopi backed away in fear. Rumors about the Sailor Scouts had abounded back in the nega-caves. Jupiter was still crouched defensively, breathing hard and watching the monsters back off. She felt a feathery touch on her shoulder. She batted at it with absentminded annoyance, but the touch returned. She turned to look, and caught a glimpse of a pale green face and blue streaked pink hair as the cloaked girl placed her open palm on Jupiter's forehead.
The words "Revenge is so sweet," echoed in her mind as her thoughts were swallowed by oblivion.