Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

Feedback is always appreciated. Email me at danielmcdonagh@hotmail.com

Chapter 3: The Sword of Venus! Minako's Magnificent New Attack!

"Okay Minako, what's your plan for dealing with the new enemy?" Luna asked the recently-chosen temporary leader of the Sailor Senshi.

Minako hummed as she considered what the best course of action would be. There really wasn't much to go on considering there had only been one attack, and they knew nothing about what their new enemy wanted. Pretty soon she decided what she should say. "As leader, I delegate the responsibility of coming up with our plan to Ami-chan!" she announced brightly, pointing at the blue haired girl.

"Er… I don't think that's quite right…" Luna said, sounding not at all surprised.

"Why not? I'm delegating responsibility! That's the sign of a good leader!" she said indignantly, trying to put up a show of competence.

Rei was about to announce that this whole 'new leader' thing was a farce and they should just do nothing until Usagi got better, when Chibi-Usa ran in breathlessly.

"Mama— I mean, Usagi's gone!" she yelled shrilly.

"What?!" Everyone was instantly on their feet.

"She just vanished right in front of me!" Chibi-Usa wailed before grabbing onto Mamoru's leg and sobbing.

"It's all right, Chibi-Usa-chan." Mamoru put a consoling hand on her head, even though he himself couldn't see how it could possibly be all right. "What exactly happened?"

Chibi-Usa sniffled a bit before withdrawing her face from his leg so she could talk. "Usagi woke up and said my name, then she jumped from the bed and vanished." The distraught little girl wiped some tears from her cheeks.

"I don't understand. How could she vanish?" Makoto wondered.

"Maybe the new enemy got her?" Artemis suggested, earning a death glare from Luna.

"Don't say such unlucky things!" The black feline showed her claws to her fellow guardian cat to show just how strongly she felt about that.

"Uh… Gomen!" Artemis hastily apologised.

"There's no reason to believe the new enemy is responsible," Ami mused. "If they are, it would make them far more intelligent and powerful than any we have faced before, if they could snatch her from under our noses without leaving any clue."

"Now who's saying unlucky things?" Minako said dryly at Ami's speech.

"I'm trying to say that it isn't the new enemy!" Ami vainly protested.

Chibi-Usa tuned out the girls' squabbling as she tried to figure out what had happened on her own. She was too upset immediately after the event to think straight, but now that she was there with Mamo-chan, she could get some order to her thoughts. And it abruptly hit her that Usagi had disappeared in a flash of silver light identical to the one her mother created when she teleported.

"She wasn't taken by anyone!" she yelled, trying to get everyone's attention.

Everyone looked at her quizzically. "Then how did she disappear?" Rei asked gently.

"She teleported! The light she made was the same one mama makes when she teleports. I remember seeing her do it before!"

"Since when can Usagi teleport?" Minako sounded genuinely puzzled.

"Baka," Rei hissed. "Since her hair turned black and she started mercilessly killing people."

This unfortunately had the effect of setting off another round of crying from Chibi-Usa, and put Rei on the receiving end of nasty glares from everyone else in the room.

Dark Serenity arrived on the moon, and instantly regretted expending the energy required to teleport. She had a splitting migraine, and when she touched a hand to her nose, it came away bloody. But at least Usagi was quiet now.

She felt desperately hungry, but there was no food on the moon and she didn't have the energy to magically create some. 'It's funny,' she mused 'Usagi was always criticised for eating too much… If only they knew just how much energy was needed to control the magic in this body.' The same was true for the amount of sleep Usagi needed.

Luckily, those were effects of living on Earth. Dark Serenity could already feel the power of the moon reenergising herself as she stood in the throne room of the Silver Millennium. She briefly considered sitting on the Queen's throne, but decided that it would be more advantageous to go to her room and sleep. A few hours sleep here would be worth a week's rest down on earth.

She walked with a laboured pace past the quarters of her guardian Senshi as she approached the princess' room. For some reason, the thought of sleeping in the Queen's chambers never even entered her head.

She was pleasantly surprised to find her room was fully furnished, exactly as it was before the Moon Kingdom was destroyed. Her spell had done more than just rebuild the palace; it had completely restored it and everything in it. 'This means that the library will be restored as well,' she thought, putting her in far better spirits.

With any luck she would be able to research the Sacred Chalice in detail, as all she currently had to go on were vague stories and legends concerning it. She did know that the three talismans were required to bring it forth, and that the talismans were hidden within the pure crystal hearts of human beings. The only question was, which human beings?

While she was suffering from an excruciating headache and was hungry enough to wish that there was a rabbit pounding mochi on the moon so she could have something to eat, Dark Serenity was nonetheless in high spirits as she lay down to rest, certain that the royal library would hold the secrets to uncovering the Sacred Chalice.

The entire world seemed to be covered in an eerie red light. The light was completely ambient, with no discernable source within view.

Rei was aware of the oddness of the red light enveloping the planet, but paid it little heed. Of more interest at this point was the fact that everyone looked to have been turned into stone. She briefly examined some of them as she looked over the landscape. Some of them looked to have just been stopped in the middle of their daily business. Still more however, were looking into the distance with expressions of horror. While the area Rei was currently on was completely flat, the Tokyo skyline could be seen on the horizon.

She soon noticed a cluster of four people who were comparatively isolated among the statues. She didn't have to look closely to recognise them, for she saw the Sailor Senshi, minus Sailor Mars of course, lined up to do battle with some invisible foe.

A low howling began to become audible over the previously soundless landscape. It quickly gained in volume as a wind picked up and began blowing Rei's hair over her face. She turned to the source of the noise and gasped at what she saw. A massive cyclone of darkness was tearing up the city in the distance.

As Rei watched, with small pieces of debris flying through the air around her, she heard words escaping her lips. "The Silence is approaching!" her startled voice said.

The cyclone began nearing the plain Rei was on. She had never before felt the presence of something so powerful; it was like an elemental force of destruction given license over the Earth. "Oh no! We can't stop it!" Realisation of how outclassed the Sailor Senshi were set in.

Suddenly, a bright white light shone from behind her. Rei quickly turned round to the source. In the centre, where the light was nearly blinding in its intensity, floated a huge four-pointed crystal.

Rei covered her eyes to shield them from the painful brightness. "Are you the Messiah?" she heard herself asking.

Behind her, the dark cyclone was getting ever closer, its destructive power tearing up buildings and people alike. "Please help us!" Rei screamed as the destruction bore down on them with terrifying speed.

In response, the crystal broke apart into three smaller, less bright crystals, which began to recede into the distance.

"Wait!!" Rei pleaded desperately, to no avail. She slumped to her knees and turned to see the destruction. It tore through the stone Sailor Senshi as easily as it tore through everything else.

Rei woke up just as Sailor Moon shattered.

Dark Serenity slammed another book shut in frustration. She had been looking through the library for two solid days, but despite her best efforts, she had been unable to find any book which discussed the Sacred Chalice / Holy Grail / Moon Cup or whatever they wanted to call it, in more than the most depressingly vague terms.

The only new piece of information she had garnered was that the Sailor Senshi of the outer planets were responsible for protecting it. That helped little, since Sailor Pluto was dedicated to guarding the Time Gate, while the other Senshi had not (as far as she knew) been awakened in this time.

She looked around the enormous library and gave a groan of frustration. "It would take years to go through all the books in here." She let her head fall to the desk she sat at in a mixture of tiredness and resignation. "I wish Sailor Mercury were here…" She remembered how the Senshi of ice and wisdom would have been able to get a book with whatever information was needed from the library in a few minutes. 'On second thought, it's best if she isn't here. She'd just try and get Tsukino Usagi to regain control of my body.' And that was something she had no intention of allowing.

Suddenly she jerked upright in her chair as an epiphany struck her "Of course the Sacred Chalice isn't discussed in any detail!" she exclaimed. "Just like the Ginzuishou, information on that would only be passed down the royal line. Just my luck the Terrans killed Queen Serenity before she could instruct me…" she finished more morosely.

"I have done my best to guide you through this life where I could," a familiar voice reached her ears from close by.

Dark Serenity spun round in her chair, a surprised expression on her face. She had grown used to hearing no voices besides her own over the past few days. "You!" she hissed on seeing the ghostly form of Queen Serenity.

The Queen wore a hurt look "Yes, me." She tried to approximate her daughters tone, but failed.

"I thought I was rid of you the last time." Dark Serenity looked as if she might be willing to try a second shot at exorcising the spirit.

"I am nothing more than a shade. There isn't much that can harm me," she exaggerated, since the Ginzuishou was more than capable of disrupting her tenuous hold on this plane of existence. "Besides, weren't you just now lamenting my absence?"

Dark Serenity adopted a studious expression as she considered the spirit before her. "Even if I do accept that you are the ghost of my mother… I don't think I can look at you the same way I once did."

Queen Serenity looked even more pained at hearing those words from her daughter. "I… see…" she said, no longer able to even look her in the eyes.

Dark Serenity felt a pang seeing her mother like that "I'm sorry…" she whispered. "I've just changed too much."

"That much is obvious!" the Queen said, sounding far more bitter than Dark Serenity had ever heard her before.

Dark Serenity grew indignant. "Yes! I've changed for the better! Can't you be happy for me?" She had stood up from her chair now to be at eye level with her mother.

"Happy?!" Serenity repeated incredulously. "I was happy when you were reborn. I was happy when you were living a peaceful life. I was happy when you met your guardian Senshi. I was happy when you came up to the moon and regained your memories. I was happy when you defeated Metallia. I most certainly am not happy at the corruption you have become!"

Dark Serenity first looked hurt, then anger took over. "Corruption, am I?! I think you should leave before I do something I won't regret," she said, her voice low.

"I think I should leave before I say something I will regret," Queen Serenity agreed, spinning around and marching off, becoming fainter and fainter with each step. Before completely fading, she turned round one last time. "One thing, though, no one has seen the Holy Grail since before I was born. I know nothing more than you do about it. I will say this, though; the legends speak of two Messiahs who can use it. A Messiah of Silence and a Messiah of Light. Which are you?" And with that, the last Queen of the Moon disappeared.

"Yatta! I, Aino Minako, am the future of the F1 world!" Minako exclaimed as she completed the hardest track on the F1 racing game in the Crown arcade.

"You're pretty good," someone behind her said.

"Of course! I am the best in all of Japan!" Minako exclaimed before turning to the person who spoke. When she saw the sandy-haired boy, her heart skipped a beat. 'He's so handsome!' she thought.

"Can I race you?" he asked.

"Of course. Take a seat." She indicated the other racing seat, while thinking, 'Lucky! Such a handsome guy is approaching me!'

As the light turned green, Minako began racing, easily overtaking the computer-controlled cars. 'How do you like my driving technique?' she thought, glancing at the boy. "Hey! Why aren't you racing?" she demanded, on seeing that he was just sitting there.

"I'm giving you a handicap," he said, chuckling slightly.

Minako became furious. "Go! A handicap to Aino Minako, the future of F1 racing?" She pushed her foot harder against the pedal. 'I'll show him!'

"Is it okay now?" the boy asked, nonchalantly, before he finally started racing.

Minako glanced at the map in the corner of the screen which showed her opponent was rapidly gaining on her. 'God, how is he able to go so fast?' she wondered, slightly worried that he might win in spite of the handicap.

Her eye twitched as he overtook her. Before long, he did so again. "One lap behind?!" Minako all but screamed. She quickly lost her focus and crashed just as the boy crossed the finish line.

"I lost completely!" She slumped against the back of the seat.

"Oh, nothing like that! You did pretty well, too," the boy said graciously. "I'm glad such a pretty girl is good at games."

Minako instantly brightened. "Do you think so?" she asked, flashing a hundred-watt smile at the boy. "Well, I'm often told so…" she finished, immodestly.

"Sorry I'm late, Haruka," someone said, getting the attention of Minako and Haruka.

The new arrival was a girl who looked to be the same age as Haruka, and was wearing the female version of the same uniform Haruka wore. She carried a violin case in her hands.

'Wow! She's so beautiful!' Minako thought, slightly alarmed at the possibility for competition.

Haruka started walking off with the new arrival. "See you, cute girl," he called back to Minako.

"You've made a new friend?" the aqua haired girl observed.

"Are you jealous?" Haruka teased.

"Maybe…"

Minako had followed Haruka to the Kameda auto repair shop. She was more than relieved when the other girl had left Haruka outside the shop. Minako peeked in to see Haruka talking with whom she could only assume was Kameda-san.

Haruka walked over and leaned by the wall, Minako quickly darted back so he wouldn't see her peeking through the garage door.

Haruka smiled at her ploy. "How long are you going to hide, koneko-chan?"

A blushing Minako stepped into view. "Did you know?"

Haruka walked out of the garage. "Ten'ou Haruka, first year of high school," she said. Then, at Minako's puzzled look, "You did want to know about me, right?"

Comprehension dawned on the blonde's features. "Yes, that's right!"

Haruka adopted a studious expression. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yes. Who is that girl you were with?" Minako asked eagerly. "What's your relationship? Is she your girlfriend or not?" She became more insistent with each question.

Haruka did her best to look surprised. "My girlfriend? My Michiru?"

"My Michiru?" Minako echoed, looking heartbroken. "Does that show your relationship?"

Haruka smiled. "Our relationship is even more than that." She walked over and put her hands on Minako's shoulders. "But don't give up, you still have a chance."

"Hai!" Minako said hopefully, blushing as she looked into Haruka's intense eyes.

"Don't be fooled," a voice warned Minako.

"Michiru!" Haruka seemed a little startled at her arrival.

"You're always saying that whenever you see a pretty girl," Michiru said in mock-disappointment.

"Don't say it like that!" Haruka didn't sound too bothered, though.

"You're always flirting with other girls," Michiru pouted. "I wonder if I should just go home with your lunch."

"Oh, come on." Haruka did her best to placate Michiru, but was interrupted as Minako shot her hand up.

"A question! Are you Haruka's girlfriend?" she demanded.

"No," Michiru said simply.

Haruka looked at Michiru in confusion. 'Maybe she is angry?' she thought.

"Yes! I'll get him!" Minako said to herself.

Suddenly a car horn blared from inside the garage, and Kameda screamed. "Kameda-san!" Haruka cried out as she was about to go charging in, but Michiru grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Haruka!" she said forcefully, reminding her of their mission.

"I know." Haruka bit the words out like a curse.

Inside the garage, the car had turned into a daimon, and was in the process of removing Kameda's heart crystal.

"Stop!" Minako cried out, running into the garage to help, but she slipped on some oil and crashed into a pile of tires and cans.

The daimon ignored the attempted interruption and took out the heart crystal. "Now I'll take this back to Kaolinite-sama to find out if this is a talisman." The daimon leapt into the dry canal outside the garage and began racing down it.

Dark Serenity floated above Tokyo. Since neither the library nor her mother had been of any assistance in locating the talismans, she decided her only recourse was to look for people with pure hearts and check them. It was most likely that the talisman carriers would be in the same vicinity where the Sailor Senshi and herself had been reborn, so Tokyo was the logical place to look.

She tried not to think about the other things her mother had said.

Her finely-tuned magical senses could detect an unnatural creature somewhere in the city below. She teleported above its location, and saw a horrible mix of a female and an automobile was tearing through a dry canal. Bizarrely, it was making engine noises with its lips.

Looking closer, she saw it held a pure heart crystal in its hands. "What?" she cried out in confusion. "Someone else is looking for the talismans?" This changed everything. She could easily tell that this was just a simple heart crystal and not a talisman, but the creature most likely couldn't and must be taking it to its master for identification. That was the only explanation Dark Serenity could come up with, since as far as she knew, heart crystals were useless for any purpose she could think of.

She decided not to take any action against the daimon. Instead, she would follow it back to its base to find out what its creators planned.

It was not to be, however, as a riderless motorbike slammed into the speeding daimon, causing it to crash. By the time it picked itself up, Sailor Venus had arrived.

"At last I found you! I won't let you get away with stealing pure hearts!" She jumped down from the canal side. "In the name of Venus, I will punish you!"

"I won't let you get in my way!" The daimon said, as it sprouted large blades all over its body.

Dark Serenity smiled as she prepared for an entertaining show. The Sailor Venus from the Silver Millennium could destroy such a creature without breaking a sweat. The reborn one hadn't yet reached such power. In fact, it would probably take the entire Sailor Team to take down the daimon.

A flurry of rose petals blew through the canal as two new figures appeared. "Stop right there!" they both called out at once.

"Who are you?" The daimon turned to the new arrivals. Dark Serenity was thinking much the same.

"Enchanted by a new age, here I am. Sailor Uranus, appearing gorgeously!" the taller of the two said.

"Also enchanted by a new age, here I am. Sailor Neptune, appearing gracefully!" the other did her speech.

Dark Serenity almost felt like applauding. That was a far better entrance than Sailor Moon could ever hope to make. However, she remained silent as she watched from above. Her mind though, was racing. 'If those two Senshi are here, do they have the talismans?'

Her hopes were dashed by what Uranus said next. "We have our reasons to look for the talismans!"

"We can't let you have the pure heart," Neptune added.

"You want to interfere as well?" The daimon said angrily, as its blade-covered wheels began spinning.

The new Sailor Senshi didn't give it a chance to attack. "World…" Energy was drawn from the earth and concentrated as an orange globe on Sailor Uranus' fist. "…Shaking!" She slammed that fist down and the sphere ripped through the ground before rising up and knocking the daimon around like a rag doll.

Sailor Neptune didn't give it much time to recover. "Deep Submerge!" She sent a blue sphere of energy at the daimon, causing it to drop the heart crystal.

Uranus picked it up. "It's not a talisman." She tossed it towards Venus. "Let's go, Neptune." The two began to depart.

"Matte!" Venus called out. "The enemy isn't dead yet! If you are Sailor Senshi, can't we work together?"

"If we help you, it would be too good a service," Uranus shot back before the two left the scene.

The daimon had begun to recover and now faced Venus. "You are my opponent!" it cried before rushing her.

The Senshi of love barely dived out of the way. "Venus Love-Me Chain!" she yelled out as a chain of interlocked golden hearts lashed out and struck the daimon in the back.

The daimon crashed into the wall of the canal, turning much of it to rubble. 'This will be amusing,' Dark Serenity thought cheerfully.

The daimon picked itself up and glared at Venus. It again tried to rush her, but Venus jumped up onto the canal wall, before pushing off and landing behind the daimon, which had crashed into the wall again. As she landed, she spun round. "Crescent Beam Shower!!" The beam from her fingertip separated into dozens of smaller beams, which all pounded into the daimon.

'She is good…' Dark Serenity thought admiringly. 'But she isn't strong enough yet.'

The daimon picked itself up. "Spare tire!" it yelled out, as several tires appeared and launched themselves at Sailor Venus.

Venus franticly tried to dodge, but she couldn't dodge them all. One of them hit her, and she suddenly found herself trapped in a stack of tires, completely unable to move.

"Now I have you," the daimon cackled as it advanced menacingly, the blades on its tires glinting in the sunlight.

Venus struggled, but found herself unable to move at all. 'I really should have called for help…' she thought disconsolately. 'This is the end for Aino Minako…'

"I can't let this happen!" Dark Serenity suddenly exclaimed. In an instant, an item was teleported from the moon to her side… The stone sword wielded by the commander of the royal guard during the Silver Millennium. Dark Serenity grabbed the sword and flung it down at Sailor Venus.

The daimon walked with deliberate slowness towards the incapacitated Sailor Senshi. It enjoyed the look of fear on her face. Suddenly, a sword crashed down into the tires and embedded itself in the ground. The tires disappeared, and Sailor Venus instinctively took hold of the sword.

Memories of her past life, and the item she now held went through her mind. She knew exactly how to use it. She picked it out of the ground and smiled sweetly at the daimon. "It's over for you now," she said.

The daimon backed away nervously, but didn't get very far. "Venus Wink Chain Sword!" Sailor Venus thrust the sword towards the daimon, it glowed with light, and a ray of golden energy lanced out, killing the daimon instantly.

Venus breathed heavily as she leaned on the sword. That attack took a lot out of her, but it was worth it. The car fell to the ground and the daimon egg came out and cracked.

She looked up to the sky, where the sword had come from, but she couldn't see anything to indicate its source.

Dark Serenity looked in the mirror and cursed. Loudly.

Her hair was now half-and-half black and blonde. Like a physical manifestation of the struggle for control of this body, it showed that Usagi was gaining ground. "She influenced me into helping Sailor Venus!" She punched the wall hard enough to bruise her knuckles.

Even now, she could feel Tsukino Usagi testing the limits of her mental prison, struggling to break free.

"Well… If the corruption of her worst memories and fears isn't enough to chain her, perhaps I need to give her some real bad experiences." Dark Serenity had a plan. A brilliant plan which would hopefully shatter Usagi's psyche for good.

She allowed herself the luxury of a maniacal laugh which would have made Professor Tomoe wet himself.

To be continued.

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007