Usagi stomped home, muttering to herself about baka men and how her life would be better without any of them in it. Well, she amended, besides Otou-san and Motoki-san. They’re okay. She wrinkled her nose as she gulped her shake. Shingo-baka I suppose I could deal with, just ‘cause he’s my brother…but Mamoru-baka definitely has to go…

She had just entered the park when a familiar scream ripped through the air, and she nearly dropped her shake. Iieeee! she wailed silently, Not now! Not when it’s been so quiet! It’s not fair! She headed toward the source of the scream, and sure enough, there was a young woman being terrorized by…Usagi frowned and cocked her head to one side. What the heck was that thing, anyway? It didn’t look like a normal youma. It looked more like some sort of creature from a Greek mythology book. It had a man’s head and a muscular torso, which seemed to be growing out of the body of a large, sleek black horse. Now what was that called? A centaur! That’s it! Usagi felt quite proud of herself for remembering the name.

The centaur, in the meantime, didn’t appear to be doing much more than stamping around and gesturing at various pedestrians, muscular chest and arms gleaming in the sunlight… Holy cow! This guy is gorgeous! Usagi thought in shock, gazing at his face, which might have come from one of those Greek marble statues, only angrier-looking. A mane of shining black hair flowed down his back, spilling over the back of his animal half, and his hooves struck sparks as he stamped angrily around on the pavement.

"Okay, I’ve established what it is," Usagi muttered, still drooling, "now the question remains…what the heck’s a centaur doing in Fairview Park? I don’t guess he’s here to tour the rose gardens…"

She guessed right. A woman managed to wander too close, and quick as a wink the centaur’s hair had snaked out and caught the poor girl in its grasp, a tell-tale blue glow rising from the strands wrapped around her body. Usagi sighed as her shoulders slumped. "I should’ve known," she muttered. "Can’t judge a youma by its body, after all…even if it is gorgeous…for once…" It was unusual, she had to admit. A monster being pretty? Not to mention that this one was obviously male, when all the rest had been of a definite female persuasion. She reached into her pocket to pull out her communicator…and froze when her fingers closed around nothing but cloth.

Uh oh.

"This can’t be good," she mumbled, searching all her pockets, which really didn’t take long considering she only had two of them. The communicator wasn’t in either one. She gave a soft whimper and considered banging her head repeatedly against a tree as she realized that she must have left it in her room when she’d come home to change from her school uniform. The brooch, luckily, had come with her—carrying it around had become second nature to her—but she knew Luna was gonna have a cow when she found out about her forgetting the communicator. But right now she had more important things to worry about. Like defeating that youma. By herself. Without any help from anybody.

She whimpered softly as she prepared to henshin. "I am in serious trouble…"

Darien had just left the arcade on his way home when the familiar, dizzying pain gripped him. Gasping, he stumbled against the wall, clutching his head, before stumbling into a convenient alley. "Not now," he moaned, trying to drive the pain from behind his eyes. "It’s been so quiet…why now?" After making sure he was hidden from the view of curious eyes, he reached into his jacket and formed a rose, hurling it away from himself in order to henshin. The pain faded, to be replaced by a rush of power, and he took a single bound into the air, following the powerful link that would eventually lead him to Sailormoon.

Usagi—or rather, Sailormoon—stepped out from the protective cover of the trees and stomped over to the youma, feeling unaccountably annoyed. "Hey you!" she shouted, glaring at the creature, which turned slightly surprised eyes in her direction. "Yeah, you! I am Sailormoon, and for daring to interrupt my peace and quiet, I will punish you! Prepare to be dusted!"

The youma snorted and crossed his arms, sneering at her. "And what makes you think a child like you can defeat me?" he asked, his voice deep and soft and oh-so-beautiful.

Sailormoon frowned. "Why do all the pretty ones have to have egos the size of the universe?" she spouted. "First Mamoru-baka, now you! What is it with you men?! I’m beginning to wish I could moondust the whole lot of ya! It’d make womens’ lives a lot more easy, let me tell you!"

The centaur looked confused at this sudden outburst. It clearly had not expected to be talked to death. Meanwhile, Sailormoon was attempting to get close to the youma as inconspicuously as possible. She knew she was no match for it by herself, but if she could just get close enough to do some serious damage with her tiara, maybe she could weaken it enough to finish it off. It was worth a shot, anyway. But she’d only have one chance, so she had to make it count. More than ever, she wished she had her Senshi with her. It was so much easier to get close to something that didn’t have all its attention focused directly at her…

"Anyway," she continued, putting as much annoyance into her tone as possible to cover her fear—youma (and men) were like dogs, after all, in the sense that they could smell fear—"Take you, for example. Do you go and attack the first man you see wandering along minding his own business? Iie! You go after the girls! How typically male of you! Just because you think—just like every other overbearing egomaniac in this city—that women make easy targets you have to go and pick on us! Well, let me tell you, it isn’t gonna happen with this girl!"

And now she snatched her tiara from her head and, calling the attack, let it fly at the startled youma. For just a moment, she thought it was actually gonna connect…but at the last possible second he reared up on his hind legs and the spinning disc went sailing beneath him. His hooves came down with a resounding crack against the pavement as his mocking laughter filled the air. Then he attacked, as his hair shot out toward her like flowing ink. She, intent on guiding the tiara back around to hit him from behind, realized what was happening, and attempted to jump out of the way. Too late.

She felt her strength start to leave her immediately as the youma sucked her energy, drawing her in until she was grasped in his arms as well as his hair, but she still determinedly concentrated on her tiara. It was harder to guide it with her hands caught, but she refused to give up. She had no other choice if she was to save herself, and more importantly, her city. The tiara, wavering slightly, headed unerringly back toward the monster…and struck home.

The centaur screamed as a blaze of white-hot pain lanced into his back. The hair loosened from Sailormoon’s body, as did his arms, and seeing her chance she squirmed free, dropped to the ground, and rolled away from the sharp, dangerous hooves kicking the air around her. But she wasn’t fast enough, as a flailing hoof caught her a glancing blow in the side, knocking the breath out of her and sending her flying. She landed with a pained cry on her injured side, trying frantically to suck in enough breath to clear her head.

The youma was recovering. She had to do something, quick! "Where’s help when I really need it?" she whimpered, staggering to her feet. Her side ached fiercely, but she didn’t think anything was broken, and there was no blood, so that was something at least. She called her tiara back into her hand, preparing to throw it again. The youma, seeing the danger, turned on her violently and pounded toward her, eyes glowing red with fury. Forget draining her; apparently he had decided that trampling her to death would be much more fun.

Everything within her told her to run screaming for cover, and if her Senshi had been there, she might have done exactly that. But they weren’t there, and she was, and she was the only one with the ability to stop this thing. Besides, she was the one who had pissed it off in the first place. The only thing she could do was stand her ground, letting the monster come thundering toward her, and hope to get in a good enough shot to do permanent damage before it killed her. If I have to go, she thought with very un-Usagi-like determination, the least I can do is take this thing with me! I refuse to die a failure! Her lips twisted in a sardonic grin. Rei would probably kill me if I did!

The centaur was almost upon her, eyes blazing, beautiful face blackened with hate and rage, and she met that gaze boldly, silently daring him to take her down. She drew back her hand, preparing to hurl the tiara even as the sharp hooves rose above her to crush the life out of her…

A flash of red whispered past her face. A rose buried itself in the youma’s body, glowing with power. A hideous wail—half horse’s cry and half man’s scream—echoed in the air. And a dearly familiar voice—laced with panic and fear—called out, "Do it now, Sailormoon!"

So she did.