"Ah, Princess Makoto," smiled Minako. Kunzite was standing behind her, and they had been discussing something about going to Britain together when Neflyte and I arrived, out of breath. "You look as though something's wrong?"

"Yes-- Minako-chan-- Princess Serenity and Ami-chan are missing," I panted.

She leaped to her feet. "No!" she shouted angrily. "How? Who? Where!"

"Calm down," I said, sliding to the floor. "We need to be subtle about this one. I know exactly how to get them back. It's all Lord Sagittarius' doing. And Chigeha."

"Not Chigeha, the mapmaker?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but it's not really Chigeha. It's someone disguised as him. Now, first we must destroy Chigeha, and then try and kill Lord Sagittarius. Once he's gone, the two will reappear. But only we three-- you, myself, and Princess Rei-- who have the power to free them."

"I would hate to get Queen Serenity involved," frowed Minako. "But I ought to give her fair warning--"

"No. Queen Serenity will be of no help," I said. "Only we three."

Once again, mercifully, she refrained from asking why or how I knew this. She merely accepted my word. We bade hasty goodbye's to Neflyte and Kunzite, who did not think it at all out of the ordinary for us to go rushing off on a rescue mission.

We found Princess Rei, with an armful of her favorite lilies from Jadeite. But she shoved them haphazardly into a nearby vase when she found out that her two friends were in danger. Actually, I thought, We three are in much greater danger than they are. But what good what it do to tell them that?

"Venus Power!"

"Mars Power!"

"Jupiter Power!"

"Make Up!"

We all transformed into our senshi forms. I had to be careful not to say "Jupiter Star Power", even though I felt like my extra attacks might come in handy.

The feast was under way when we got there.

"Don't go into any soliloquies," cautioned Sailor Venus, from a balcony overlooking the Great Dining Hall. "Just attack. Who do we attack first?"

"Umm... him." I pointed to what looked like Chigeha, but who I knew wasn't. I remembered belatedly that Minions must be frozen before they could be destroyed, but I reminded myself that Chigeha was in his human form.

"And who is responsible for our Princess' disappearance?" whispered Sailor Mars.

"Lord Sagittarius." I pointed with great confidence at his figure, seated below us, oblivious to the fact that his fate hung in the balance. "He's the more powerful of the two. We must be strong when fighting him."

"All right. Mars, you destroy Chigeha. Jupiter and I will attack Sagittarius; double back with another attack at him of your own. Okay?"

Mars nodded mutely. We stood poised in attack position. Venus gave us the signal, and we raised our hands.

"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!"

"SUPREME THUNDER DRAGON!"

"FIRE SOUL!"

Venus' attack and my own fused together, hurtling towards Sagittarius. He barely had a chance to turn around and see who he was being attacked by. My innermost self was slightly saddened at this lack of fair play, but I consoled myself that if we had not had the element of surprise on our side, we would not be able to emerge victorious. My attack had not even reached him, before I was poised and ready to attack again.

"JUPITER COCONUT CYCLONE!" I shouted ferociously, hurling my next attack at him. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Minion had been effectively fried by the Fire Soul. Mars was attacking again.

"FIRE SOUL BIRD!" A phoenix-like bird emerged from the flames of her hands, and shot inexorably towards Sagittarius.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM!"

Lord Sagittarius had no time to react to this new barrage of attacks. He was busy trying to shield himself from the first. A faint purple force field had appeared around him, but it cracked, flickered, and then yielded to the second round. With the last of my strength, I shouted, "FLOWER HURRICANE!" and he was obliterated. As I fell to the ground from weakness, I remembered vaguely that that was the same attack I'd used to kill Neflyte... my eyes shut from the dizziness, and I fainted. The sounds of confusion flooded through my unconscious mind...

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