Chapter 111

"Terurun," The Dark One said.

Another woman emerged from the shadows and stood in front of her.

"Terurun. Do you know how many have tried to destroy the Sailor Scouts?"

"Well..Kaolinite, Eudial, Doctor Tomoe, Mimette, Puchirol, Cyprine...that's what I know."

"Yes.true..but before that...Queen Beryl and the negaverse, then some sort of alien menace, then the Dark Moon, The Kisenian Flower, Doctor Richter, and finally our own forces...and none of them have succeeded."

"I'm cannot guarantee any change. I am not pompous enough to guarantee success, but I am also not pompous enough not realize the consequences for failure."

"True enough. You are quite powerful Terurun, as am I, but if we ever to open the gate we need power, and we need pure hearts. I know now that our previous methods failed. Attempting to collect many hearts at once would make more sense, but it is more obvious. I do not underestimate the humans abilities to interfere. No..we will concentrate on one person at a time. There is a greater chance of success. The Sailor Scouts may interfere, but it's up to you to figure out how to stop them, and furthermore, how to get me that heart before they can stop you."

Terurun nodded.

"I have chosen a target for you. If the area becomes a battleground you should have some measure of advantage. I am sending you to the space center Terurun."

"Space Center?"

"Yes...if the Sailor Scouts arrive you merely have to destroy one of the rockets there, it will do massive amounts of damage."

"I understand."

"Good. You have few chances to succeed Terurun.."

"Dark One," Terurun said and walked out.

Meanwhile three of the scouts were sitting by a fountain in the park.

"My back's still aching from all that fighting," Raye muttered.

"Me too..." Mina said. "You'd think it would have healed by now."

"I feel fine," Lita said.

Raye and Mina wasted no time in pushing Lita into the fountain.

"Hey!" Lita said, from the fountain.

"Well....we don't need to know that you're felling so good.." Mina said.

"Yeah..it doesn't help us in anyway," Raye said.

"Not my problem," Lita said and grabbed Raye and Mina's long hair and pulled. Both of them fell into the water with a splash.

"Ehh..." the two muttered.

"Someone's calling on the communicators," Lita sensed.

About a minute later the three were standing out of the fountain huddled under a tree.

"Yeah what is it?" Lita asked.

"Oh..hey..this is Serena..I was just wondering where everyone went?" Serena asked.

"We're in the park...severely wet," Mina muttered.

"Oh..well Darrien's going out to the space center, anyone else want to come?" Serena said.

"The Space Center," Lita said.

"Wow..their must be cute astronauts out there," Mina said.

"And Darrien will be there too," Raye said.

"Raye!" Serena said.

"You girls are at the tenth street park right?" Darrien asked.

"Yep," the three replied.

"We'll be around in a minute, I borrowed a van from Colonel Patterson."

"That thing? Talk about travelling in style.." Raye muttered.

Meanwhile.

"I've been trying to analyze their energy patterns so I could track them down.." Amy was saying. "But strangely, when Tomoe was in command I could do it, now..it's not even registering."

"It should," Setsuna Meio said.

"That's right it should, but strange things have been happening since we brought the doctor down. The Daimons have been able to fight when they should be dead. The pure hearts have returned to their owners on their own...and now we can't track down the energy," Amy said.

"I think it's clear that whatever's running the operation know, it's a different sort of enemy. On that note. Any word on Doctor Tomoe?"

"He came out of his coma, but he's a mental wreck at the moment," Amy said.

"He could be the key to all of this is we could just talk to them," Setsuna said.

"A logical assumption."

"Are you any closer to figuring out the strategy of the Death Busters?"

"Sort of...I think you were right about the energy source. They're not after talismans, so they must need the heart for something else..speaking of that..where's the holy grail now.."

"I have it," Setsuna said.

"Does it have a purpose?"

"Yes...but not one that's very clear, and the purpose it's serving right now is that it's not in the hands of the death busters."

"I see...and that's all you're going to tell me?" Amy asked.

"There's no need to burden you with any more details at this point."

"It's really no burden," Amy said.

Setsuna grinned slightly.

"You just want to know all the information...just like your brother."

"I don't have a brother."

"You did...I'm sorry..I still think of things like they were in the past..during the Silver Millennium."

"Oh..of course..." Amy said. "And that has something to do with what we were talking about. When I talked to Maverick he seemed to think that the Death Buster's goals had to be unpredictable in order to somehow get the hearts without us knowing it, or just to be surprising. He also figures that since we have a habit of finding ourselves wherever trouble is almost to the state of unbelievable uncanniness...he figures they've been trying different strategies."

"That's what we figured up on the Moon," Setsuna said. "Haruka and Michiru are quite intrigued by what's going on down here."

"Are they?" Amy said coldly.

"I thought you girls were the forgiving ones. After fighting Alan and Ann, forgave the two after realizing their plight."

"We did forgive them, but they also expressed remorse," Amy said.

"That's true, you probably won't get that kind of reaction from Haruka and Michiru. They've had busy lives."

"Have they?" Amy muttered.

"Aren't you curious about them?"

"I'm curious about many things, but I'm also not convinced that anything you will tell me will change my opinion about them."

"Fair enough. But Haruka and Michiru have been Sailor Scouts long before Sailor Moon was. Those two have been fighting evil since they were eight."

"Eight?" Amy asked genuinely surprised.

"Yes, it was necessary."

"Necessary?"

"Well..you see the outer Sailor Scouts, Neptune, Uranus, and myself had a larger responsibility during the silver millennium. It was our duty to protect the solar system from evils, Neptune and Uranus stayed on watch out there constantly, while I had business on the moon. As a result of this, we were given more power then the inner scouts were intended to have. At your current power level you could match them in a fight I think...but before....anyway..the point is that when we saw evil arriving on this planet, we needed them to handle it. It was much more low key, but it was still evil. Neptune and Uranus has more power, I had to get them to fight. Besides, Venus hadn't arrived in Tokyo yet. You and Mars were living in Tokyo that was true, but Jupiter was living outside the city.. And Sailor Moon well...she wasn't even a possibility. We had no choice, but to go for the outer scouts. They've had the burden of fighting ever since. And with that has come a very battle hardened perspective. Don't blame them," Setsuna said.

"They crossed the line," Amy said. "They attacked their own allies."

"That's something you still have to work out. To them you were in the way."

"And to us they were willing to let people die to save the world."

"Weren't you willing to let Prime Minister Coral die?"

Amy paused.

"Perhaps, but I would also be very sorry for it...those two."

"Those two don't express their feelings openly, but they still have them. Let me ask you something Amy. You mistrust them because they attacked Maverick and all of you."

"Yes...I might have forgiven them for threatening us, but not Maverick."

"Yes, and do you remember that Maverick still has a goal, to kill the murderer of his parents?"

"I know that's why he fights. Waiting for that day."

"Actually he fights now because it's the right thing to do, but when he does encounter that evil force responsible for killing his family. How do you think he'll react?"

Amy paused.

"I doubt he will be anywhere near rational," Amy said.

"Exactly, think about, he may even hurt some of you to get his revenge. Even right now he's been wanting to fight Neptune and Uranus, even though he knows that if they were hurt the Moon Kingdom would be threatened even more. We all act irrationally at times. I'm not asking you to like Uranus and Neptune, I'm asking you to be neutral about things, at least for now."

"Easier said then done," Amy said.

"I know," Setsuna said. "We should get back to figuring out what's going on."

The doorbell rang.

"Excuse me.." Amy said and walked downstairs. The door opened and Serena stood there.

"Hey Amy, we're headed out to the Space Center, wanna come?"

"Oh..I was just talking to Setsuna and..I.." Amy began.

"Go ahead Amy..we can talk later," Setsuna said and walked off.

"Uh..thank you," Amy said and walked to the van now filled with her friends.

"So we're getting a special tour?" Mina asked.

"Yep, my research in college has given me some connections in the space program. They offered to show me and all of you around," Darrien said at the wheel.

"So Darrien, how's the rocket program going anyway?" Lita asked.

"Heard we haven't even shot a monkey into space yet," Raye said.

"We didn't plan on shooting any monkeys into space," Darrien replied.

"Why would they do that in the first place?" Serena said. "And how weird would that be..some alien race comes to visit."

"Or in our case..invade," the other four said.

"Right..and they run into a chimp in a spaceship," Serena said. "You know what they might think, they might think we're all that ugly down here."

"Aren't you...ahem..I mean..aren't we all..." Raye said.

"What do you mean by that?" Serena muttered.

"Yes, explain," Mina and Lita growled.

"Uh...oh...uh..um..well..you know...I have no idea," Raye said.

"That's better," Mina said.

"All it was was one of your veiled insults to me," Serena said. "When are you going to show some respect for your fearless leader."

"When do we get a fearless leader?" Raye asked.

"I'm fearless more or less..." Serena said.

"Sure..that last battle was a fine indication of your leadership qualities," Raye said.

"I fought when it counted," Serena said.

"Sure you did," Raye said. "And I was lying in a pool of sewer water because you waited that long."

"You haven't told me anything that would give me any reason to apologize yet," Serena said.

"I just wish I had a picture."

"Those two just fight for the heck of it, and they don't even put much thought into their arguments either," Darrien said. "Just the same old thing."

"One could hardly call it a disputation," Amy said from the passenger seat.

"So have you asked the city if you can have a zoning permit to expand your hair into yet another square mile!" Serena said.

"Hey..at least my hair doesn't have easy to grip handles!" Raye said. "I've heard they once hit your meatball head with a bat figuring it was a baseball!"

"I respectfully disagree uh..... Shrine gopher!" Serena shouted.

"Don't make me show you my rebuttal! Um...wait a sec..ah! White whiner!"

"What?"

The other four occupants of the van just sighed.

Later at the Space Center.

"Doctor Alfred?" Darrien said.

"Darrien, welcome, and who are you friends?" A balding middle aged man said.

Darrien turned to each of the girls.

"This is Serena."

"Hi," Serena said.

"Raye."

"Hello," Raye said.

"Mina."

"Old..ahem...I mean..Oh..nice to meet you."

"She's insane," Darrien whispered.

"It's all right," Alfred said.

"This is Lita."

"Doctor," Lita said.

"And Amy," Darrien said.

"A pleasure, I've read all your papers," Amy said.

"Really...even my latest on.."

"The development of cold fusion..yes..I've seen it...I think you're closer than most have been..the secondary equation was the key," Amy said.

Alfred smiled.

"Have you even read all my papers Darrien? Alfred asked.

"Oh..of course," Darrien said.

"And what did you think of my theories on the idea of bussard ram scoops."

"Wonderful idea Doctor," Darrien said.

"Oh come on that's easy. Even I know that one," Serena muttered. "To gather up space gases to full spaceships."

Everyone looked at her in shock. Serena grinned.

"Oh..well..no use continuing the academic discussion, I'm sure you'd all like a tour. So let's begin," Alfred said.

"How did you..." Mina asked to Serena.

"One time Darrien was making me dinner and he had one of these papers on the table..I was bored, so I read it just to keep from falling asleep," Serena said.

"I see," Mina said.

They walked down a long corridor and into a large room. It was filled with monitors and staff studying it.

"This is Mission Control...." Alfred said.

"For what?" Raye asked.

Alfred grinned.

"Yes I'm used to hearing that. The truth is Japan launches rockets of varying purposes...just last week we sent up a spy satellite," he said with a grin.

"No you didn't, spy satellites are under jurisdiction of SDF division three and are launched from a missile site outside Osaka," Amy said.

Everyone glanced at her.

"Colonel Patterson told me."

"So now you're a security threat?" Lita asked.

"Oh..maybe..." Amy said.

"Uh..so maybe it was just a weather satellite...but anyway..this will be the place where we will control the launch of our first manned space mission in six months," Alfred said.

"It's great that you've gotten this far," Darrien said.

"Yes, we've moved ahead very quickly," Alfred said.

"Who have you got that's stupid enough to go on that mission," Raye said.

"Major Arutan You'll meet him later," Alfred said.

"Is he cute?" Mina asked impulsively.

"Oh yes..very...don't steal him away from me..." Alfred muttered.

"He is joking right?" Mina asked.

"Yes Mina," Lita said.

Minutes later they were standing in front of a centrifuge.

"Now..I'm sure you all know what this is," Alfred said.

"Amusement park ride," the five girls answered in unison.

"You're just being ignorant on purpose," Alfred said.

"I was serious," Mina said.

"Anyway..we use this to test the effects of gravity on potential astronauts. Anyone want to try it out?" Alfred said. "Some say it's quite exciting."

"Actually my life's exciting enough already," Serena said.

"Oh..really? School that interesting?" Alfred said.

"Actually they do go to Juuban High," Darrien said.

"Oh..yes...I've heard about that..." Alfred said.

"So...you must have heard of the Sailor Scouts right?" Raye asked.

"Sure.."

"And what do you think?" the five girls found themselves saying in unison again.

"Why?" Alfred asked.

"No reason," the five girls said and looked elsewhere.

"They're big fans," Darrien said.

"Well...anyway..maybe we should meet Major Arutan, he's probably in the flight simulator, and should be finishing up," Alfred said.

"All these emergency drills... it's your job to prevent them before I get off the ground," Arutan muttered as he emerged from a simulator to a technician.

"I mean. I can handle anything, but come on," Arutan said.

"Major Arutan," Alfred said.

"Tor! How ya doing," Arutan said.

"Don't call me that," Alfred said.

"Well you won't let me call you Doc. What am I supposed to call you?"

"He is quite cute," Mina said.

"Yes, I agree...fight ya for him," Lita said.

"No..we will earn him the old fashioned way...we'll..."

"What?"

"Uh..we'll earn him..."

"Mina...you really have gone downhill.."

"Ehhh..so I've gained a few pounds."

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh..and who are these pretty girls," Arutan asked.

"I only give my name out after the first date," Mina said sliding up next to the astronaut.

"Hey..I like her," Arutan said. "But you..you've got some muscles there," he said to Lita.

"Uh..thank you..." Lita said.

"And those eyes.." Arutan said looking at Raye.

"Oh...thank you..I'm fortunate to have two of them."

"Yes you are," Arutan said.

"I've always liked blue hair," Arutan added turning to Amy.

"Uh..thank you.." Amy said blushing.

"And you..well you've got a nice face, but why does your hair remind me of spaghetti dinner?" he asked Serena.

"Here..I'll tell you.." Serena said her eyes narrowing. Seconds later she elbowed Arutan in the chest. He staggered back for a second and then immediately stood up.

"Not bad kid," he said. "But I can take it," Arutan said. "I'm an astronaut."

"You need to go into space first," Serena said.

"True...young lady, but I shall, and my name will be cemented in the history books."

"Whenever history books are made of cement of course," Darrien said.

"I'd expect such a response from someone who will never get to space," Arutan said.

"Just you wait and see," Darrien said.

"See what?" Arutan asked.

"We should move along," Alfred said.

"Bye girls," Arutan said.

"Bye Major," Mina, Lita, and Raye said joyfully.

"Heh...teenage girls..gotta love em..." Arutan said.

"Now continuing the tour, I give you the launch pad," Alfred said pointing to the area where a rocket was siting."

"Well that's nice looking..." Raye muttered. "Metal scaffolding."

"Say why don't we ask Major Arutan what he thinks of it," Mina said.

"Set course and engage," Lita said.

"Girls..please," Darrien said.

"Now if you look over towards the hangar you'll see ahh!" Alfred said as a blast of energy flew through him and knocked a pure heart out the back of him.

"Wha!" Darrien said and grabbed the heart and pushed it back inside Alfred.

"What?" Terurun shouted floating out of the sky towards them. "They put it right back in. Wait a minute....five girls and a guy...maybe they're..."

"Up there!" Amy shouted. They all looked to see Terurun floating there.

"Well..it looks like the latest enemy," Raye muttered.

"We'd better transform," Serena said.

"We're kinda exposed out here," Lita said.

"Then let's get unexposed!" Serena shouted and ran towards a hangar. The others followed a rain of energy fell towards them.

"Yes...they must be..." Terurun said. "But I have to get closer."

She flew after them launching her attacks. They ducked inside a building.

"Is it empty?" Mina asked.

"Yep," Lita said.

The six transformed and emerged from the building.

"Where is the enemy!" came a shout. Major Arutan was running down the tarmac with a large broadsword.

"He's gotta be kidding," Sailor Moon said. "Let that creature get him."

"Uh..Sailor Moon..." Mars said.

"What?" Sailor Moon said.

Mars pointed. Terurun was floating twenty feet above them, holding the rocket in her hands.

"She's strong isn't she?" Sailor Moon muttered.

"If she throws the rocket, it could kill a lot of people," Tuxedo Mask said.

"So even if we could get it away from her..how do we catch it?" Jupiter said.

The group all gasped as Terurun threw the rocket.

"It's a moot point!" Tuxedo Mask shouted. "Run!"

The scouts all jumped away quickly.

"Uh oh.." Arutan said and hurried off.

"Mercury Ice Storm Blast!" Mercury shouted and finished her attacks in the nick of time. It flew out and hit the rocket just as it impacted, the explosion was blown out by the water and the fire's immediately put out. The girls all stood there in surprise.

"Good thinking Mercury," Sailor Moon said.

"That was too close," Venus said.

"I know who you are Sailor Scouts! And next time! It's over!" Terurun shouted from above and then flew off.

"Great..she can fly..that just adds to the splendor of it all," Jupiter muttered.

"Buck up...we won," Tuxedo Mask said.

"Why did you have to interfere? I had it under control," Major Arutan said.

"Sure you did," Sailor Moon said and brought on Jupiter's aura. Then she punched Arutan right in the face. He stumbled back.

"You didn't have to be that hard on him," Tuxedo Mask said.

"Au contra mon frere," Sailor Moon said.

"What?" the others said.

"Never mind," Sailor Moon muttered. "It was french."

"Sort of," the others replied.

"So much for the space program..." Tuxedo Mask said and sighed at the rocket debris.

CHAPTER 66 CHAPTER 67 CHAPTER 68 CHAPTER 69 CHAPTER 70  CHAPTER 71 

CHAPTER 72 CHAPTER 73 CHAPTER 74 CHAPTER 75  CHAPTER 76 CHAPTER 77

 CHAPTER 78 CHAPTER 79 CHAPTER 80  CHAPTER 81  CHAPTER 82 CHAPTER 83

CHAPTER 84 CHAPTER 85  CHAPTER 86 CHAPTER 87 CHAPTER 88 CHAPTER 89

 CHAPTER 90 CHAPTER 91 CHAPTER 92 CHAPTER 93 CHAPTER 94 CHAPTER 95

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