Chapter 341

Serena sighed.

"One week," she said.

"You ready Serena?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Serena said. "But I guess we'd better get all this settled before it does anymore damage."

"That's a mature attitude," Luna said.

"But I hope that this is something we can put behind us."

"Put behind you? Don't you hate them?"

"Well..Guardian Moon has problems, but I'm almost thinking they're not his fault."

"You actually think that?"

"Yes Luna, at least I hope there's an explanation. The others though, I know they're a little more well grounded."

"Don't let your optimism, which amazingly steadfastly remains after all this, put you in jeopardy. They're still very dangerous, especially Guardian Moon."

"I know Luna," Serena said. "But I can always hope for the best."

"Don't leave yourself open!" Motoki shouted swinging his sword towards Rick. Rick swung under it and thrusted. Motoki slid to the side of it and blocked the attack, following it up with his own.

"Very good," Motoki said. "But, those moves pay off rarely, remember that. I was quite capable of responding."

"Yeah, I don't doubt that," Rick said. "But I gotta do what I can."

"Yes, you have improved, even with your distractions," Motoki said.

"Distractions..yeah.." Rick said. "Well anyway..I've got to get ready."

Motoki nodded.

"So how's the training coming?" Raye asked.

"Motoki says I'm improving," Rick said.

"Well we can always use more fighting skill," Raye said. "Guess you guys have been doing better lately."

"We're putting some effort into it," Rick said. "I know what we have to do."

"You looking to get a rematch with Guardian Earth?"

"I doubt he wants one, we were not only stalling him, we were also quite annoying in the process."

Raye grinned.

"The trademark of a good guardian scout," She said.

"You're lucky," Mike said.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"You want to be the man in your relationship again, you explain things, Lita understands and you sit back and wait for Seiya to mess up. I on the other hand now have to battle Yaten for supremacy."

"Why do you want to go back to Mina anyway, especially given her conditions?" Steve asked.

"That's what I like about her, I just don't like this," Mike said.

"Oh, I see," Steve said. "You like Mina's own variety of weirdness as long as it doesn't hurt you."

"Essentially," Mike said.

"You're pathetic."

"True, but I hardly let that stop me."

"Unfortunately for the rest of the sentient life on the planet."

Mike let out a laugh.

"Looks like this is going to get out of hand," Greg said looking through the newspaper.

"Yes I noticed that," Amy said. "Seems like that we have become an international incident so to speak."

"It's quite an achievement," Greg said.

"We've come a long way," Amy said with a grin.

"Guess so," Greg said. "Though I would prefer to be seen as a solution then as a problem."

"Well, at least our own country knows what we're worth to them," Amy said.

"Guess that counts for something," Greg said.

"You actually care what the rest of the world thinks of us?"

"Only on a simple level, I just would prefer not to be hated by anyone, that's all."

"Me too," Amy said. "Still, we can only keep doing what we're doing."

"Yeah," Greg said. "Looks like the mail's here."

He got up from his seat and retrieved the mail. He returned.

"Something from the publishing companies," he said.

"Maybe they liked your stuff," Amy said.

"I'll read this after the battle," Greg said. "If I got rejected I don't want to know about it."

"I guess that's a wise choice," Amy said.

"Oh..our class assignments came through," Greg said. "No biggie there."

He handed Amy hers.

"Wait a second," Greg said looking through a cover letter. "Read this and tell me I'm not imagining it."

"All right," Amy said responding to the strange request. "You are hereby assigned to Class 3-1 at Sailor Scout High School, formerly Juuban High School...."

"So it is really there?" Greg asked.

Amy opened her letter and read a similar paragraph.

"They're naming the school after us," Amy said.

"After you," Greg said.

"I'm sure the meaning is implied," Amy said.

"Nice of them to honor you while you're still attending school there."

"Most people don't know that we go there," Amy said.

"That's true," Greg said. "Still, this is odd."

"I wonder what could have motivated them to do this."

"Well, you know how educators are," Greg said.

Amy grinned slightly.

At the three lights apartment complex across town.

"I don't get it," Yaten said.

"Get what?" Taiki asked.

"Women.."

"What did she do now?"

"Look, here I am dating Mina, against my better judgement mind you, but it's working out, she has some idiosyncracies, but overall things are going well, but now, she's decided to throw that all away because Mike, that imbecile wants a second shot at her," Yaten said.

"You knew that Mina was erratic," Taiki said.

"I thought she had moved beyond this," Yaten said.

"Apparently she hasn't,": Taiki said.

"I have no doubt I could beat Mike in any competition thrown in front of me, but the question I really have to ask myself is do I want the prize," Yaten said.

"Honestly, if she was desirable enough to draw you out of your self imposed exile on enjoying things, I'd say she's pretty valuable," Taiki said.

"Easy for you to say, you've got clear sailing," Yaten said.

"Different circumstances," Taiki said.

"Hmm..I'm going out," Yaten muttered and headed out the door.

Seiya walked in seconds later.

"Women..what's the deal with them anyway?" he muttered.

"Have a seat on the couch and I'll psychoanalyze you," Taiki said grinning slightly.

"You think this is funny?"

"Not exactly," Taiki said.

"What?" Seiya asked. "Taiki this is serious."

"Sure it is," Taiki said. "The entire course of history could be changed by your relationship."

"Hey, that's not what I mean," Seiya said. "Just how do I deal with a guy like Steve anyway, just sitting there trying to draw Lita away from me."

"Hey, Steve's being a gentleman, he's just sitting back and letting you go as far as you will."

"And if I succeed what will he do then?"

"Kill you, unless you kill him first," Taiki replied stoically.

"You didn't used to be this sarcastic," Seiya muttered and headed out the door.

"You two didn't used to date Mina and Lita," Taiki replied to no one in particular.

"You did what Mina?" Lita asked.

"No use delaying it. We've cut right to the action," Mina said. "Yaten and Mike we'll decide their own fates."

"Mina, don't you think you're being a little unfair to both of them," Lita said.

"Hey, I think I've learned a lot about the intricacies of juggling two boyfriends."

"You got caught the first time!"

"But not the second!" Mina said with a smile.

"WHAT!" Lita said in shock.

Mina grinned.

"Haruka, have you ever thought about retiring?" Michiru asked lying on a windowsill.

"How can we possibly retire?" Haruka said.

"I'm not saying that we should, what I meant was, did it ever occur to you?" Michiru asked.

"I don't know," Haruka said. "Not really. I mean sometimes it comes up, but my duty is much stronger."

"There are sometimes I wonder about that," Michiru said. "I will fight as long as necessary, and I guess we've got a harder skin after so many years, but I see the other scouts, they're holding on by a thread to keep doing this."

"They'll get over it."

"Get over it? How."

"When it becomes second nature to them," Haruka said.

"You mean it?" Michiru asked.

"This all became second nature to me years ago, and I do what I have to. It's a job. Don't you feel the same way?

"I never thought of it as second nature, I've gotten used to it, that's all, but I kinda wish I didn't have to."

"Who would want this life?" Haruka asked. "But we have it. As soon as the scouts just accept it, which I believe is the real problem here, things will get better."

"You mean, as soon as they work around the problem rather then expecting it to go away," Michiru said.

"That's right," Haruka said.

"But Serena's so..innocent."

"It's fortunate that she is. I don't think she would have kept going if she wasn't."

"That's an ironic statement."

"The rest of the scouts have become a little more hardened, so has Serena, but she is so innocent she hopes every day will be the last day, she lives by it. That allows her to continue on her way. The others just accept that they may be doing this their entire lives," Haruka said.

"Guess you're right," Michiru said. "Still, I guess we can't do much about it right now."

"Just accept it Michiru. I'm surprised. I thought you had."

"No, never have," Michiru said. "But I just have ways of dealing with it."

"Hmm...guess I hadn't noticed," Haruka said.

"That's kinda funny, how we know each other so well, but at times, have no idea where the other one is coming from," Michiru said. Setsuna walked in.

"Just the way things are," Haruka said.

"Mail came, you wouldn't believe this," Setsuna said. "I'm once again in charge of your class, which will be satisfying to no end," she muttered. "But look at this.."

"Sailor Scout High School?" Haruka asked. "They changed the name to that."

"Oh how wonderful," Michiru said and began to laugh. "The world is losing its mind."

"That's going to be on our diploma's isn't it?" Haruka asked.

"Appropriate don't you think?" Setsuna said.

The others laughed.

"Just makes this whole existence of ours even more of a mess," Setsuna said.

"Well, time to go," Sailor Moon said. She looked around at the scouts all around her. They nodded.

"You know this is going to be a tough fight," She said.

The scouts all nodded.

"But we'll win right."

"We always do," they all responded.

"All right, then let's go," Sailor Moon said.

Akatayama Hill was a relatively tall plateau several miles outside of Tokyo. It was flat and in the clear, there would be no surprises. It also overlooked Tokyo from afar.

The sun was slowly setting. Guardian Moon stood ready. The other six warriors stood behind him.

"Now we decide this," Guardian Moon said.

"Finally," Guardian Earth said.

"I feel strange," Sailor Earth said.

"Why?" Guardian Moon asked. "What do you feel?"

"I feel strangely drained," Sailor Earth said.

"Me too, a little, thought I was just nervous," Sailor Earth said.

"Hmm..." Guardian Moon said. "It's probably nothing."

"I'm afraid it's more than that Scouts," Beryl said appearing in front of them.

"What?" Guardian Earth asked.

"Well, some of that power you used when fighting the scouts and reviving me was removed from you. I am sustained by the powers you possessed. So you have lost a great degree of what you had. It is also true that you should need all the power you had at this time," Beryl said.

"We're about to fight here," Guardian Moon growled.

"A meaningless battle," Beryl said.

"Not to us," Guardian Moon said. "Give us our true powers back."

"You have shown you were incapable of handling them," Beryl said.

"And this from the person we saved," Guardian Moon said.

"My life is unimportant compared to others," Beryl said. "You all have much to learn. In the meantime, you will have your powers, but realize they are severely weakened, you have the same powers as the sailor scouts, no more."

"Why did you do this to us now!" Guardian Moon said.

"I didn't, it was the natural course of energy, and you did it to yourselves," Beryl said. "Remember that."

She faded from view.

"She is correct," Sailor Earth said.

"Correct? How!" Guardian Moon said.

"She see's the truth, believe me, she is right," Sailor Earth said.

"Well she had a point," Guardian Earth said.

"We can't stop now!" Guardian Moon said. "We're a match for those scouts anyway."

"But she said it was meaningless," Guardian Earth said.

"Do you truly believe that?" Guardian Moon said. "After all we've been through!"

The scouts dropped to the ground.

"Glad you could make it," Guardian Moon said.

"Oh we wouldn't miss this," Sailor Moon said. "Now why exactly are you doing this?"

"I will tell you, so you may feel part of the pain we felt!" Guardian Moon said.

The scouts all looked on curiously.

"Oh yes, you're the all powerful scouts, saving the world every day or whatever. You never thought to think that just because enemies fall into your lap in Japan, that there might be other enemies in the world!"

"How were we to know?" Sailor Moon asked.

"You didn't bother to try and find out," Guardian Moon said. "Instead, the three of us have been cleaning up the messes you left. We've hopped around the world, we've been to every continent tracking down enemy activity."

"Are you honestly saying there has been supernatural incursions in every continent on this planet?" Sailor Mercury asked.

"Of course that's what I'm saying," Guardian Moon said. "And here you all are, you've got super dimensional Sailor Pluto and all the rest of you and yet it's the three of us who have spent the last few years of our life fighting any time, anywhere! You're undisciplined, you Sailor Moon are not fit to be leader of anything. Oh sure you can blow things up quite well, but that's not what being a true leader is. I came for your crystal so that scouts could finally be what they should be, that all of you would have to do the job, we alone were doing. You stopped me, and look at you all, helping out your enemies, giving them a second chance, all the while opening yourselves up to surprise retaliation! How do you know the dark moon were really on your side? Or even the negaverse generals! You didn't know! Yet you risked everything. We set out to remedy that! Now you let scientists play with evil energy as if it were a toy! It's destroyed planets, killed people, how can you justify that!"

"We want to use it to help people!" Sailor Moon shouted. "And besides, just because they're evil does not mean we stop being human because of it!"

"Oh cut the bull Sailor Moon! This is the real world, as many times as you've saved this world, you've risked it with your compassion!" Guardian Moon said.

"Have we been wrong!" Sailor Moon said. "If we hadn't saved the generals, they wouldn't be standing beside you right now."

"We had other ways," Guardian Moon said.

"So this is all about revenge is it?" Sailor Mars said. "You resurrected Beryl and in the process almost destroyed all of us. You made a major mistake, and you criticize us for trying to reform evil people. You threatened to unleash her on us, and we were this close to losing it all! How is that!"

"It was worth it to stop you!" Guardian Moon said. "You all enjoy yourselves, our lives have been ruined!"

"Now that's not true," Sailor Moon said. "You're still young. We didn't know, how could we have done anything if we didn't know?"

"She must have known!" Guardian Moon pointed at Sailor Pluto. "You could have told them!"

Sailor Pluto stood forward.

"No I couldn't have," she said. "You're duty was clearly defined to you. The threats to Tokyo, the former capital of the Earth, were very great, it took every scout at their best to beat them back. That is how it was meant to be. These scouts could not be spared to go around the world and fight the evil forces that appeared there. Queen Serenity knew that there would be trouble. That is why she gave you so much power," Sailor Pluto said. "But now we are winning the war, the tide is turning, we have almost succeed in beating back the enemies of this universe, and when that happens you're burden will be lifted. However, if you choose to hold responsibility, you will hold it towards me alone!"

Sailor Pluto stepped forward.

"Brave words, but I will not accept it," Guardian Moon said. "I will take out the pain I have felt on all of you."

"Pluto.." Sailor Moon said. "We will all take responsibility here."

"Sailor Moon, that is not necessary," Sailor Pluto said.

"Perhaps he is right, maybe we should have paid more attention to the world around us. And maybe I have never been a good leader," Sailor Moon said. "But...I cannot allow you to use such tactics against us either!"

She pointed her moon sword at Guardian Moon.

"If you had come to us and told us everything I would have listened, apologized, and done all I could to help ease your suffering," Sailor Moon said. "Instead you attacked us in dishonorable ways. So I must fight you here and now. All of us have been affected by you. And while maybe it is understandable given the pain you feel, it is also clear that you need this fight to settle things. The winner will know what to do next."

"Agreed," Guardian Moon said.

The scouts lined up opposite the enemy which spread out. The outer scouts faced up against, Ziarca. The Starlights had Malcian. The Guardians, Nisiran, and the Sailors Jasen.

"We're going to have to pair up differently here," Sailor Jupiter noticed.

"Regardless of how you do it, I will fight you Sailor Moon, you and your knight in shining armor!" Guardian Moon said swinging his sword.

"Fine.." Sailor Moon said.

A multicolored blast slammed into the ground. Then a smoke cloud rose and slowly cleared.

"Who the.." Guardian Moon said. The scouts all grinned. Guardian Mercury stood there, his sword at the ready.

"Who are you?" Guardian Moon asked.

"Guardian Mercury, and I am your opponent," the former Maverick said.

"And what makes you think you can beat me," Guardian Moon said. "I am a world class swordsman, no one has been able to take me on one on for one very long."

"I did," Tuxedo Mask said.

"Just part of the ruse," Guardian Moon said. "I could have beaten you several times that night."

"Yes, well, this is Gmerc, he's better," Sailor Moon said.

"Gmerc?" everyone asked.

"Well, sure, it's much easier to say," Sailor Moon said. "Say...uh..GMerc, do me a big favor will ya?"

"What?" Gmerc asked.

"Really beat him up will you?"

"Uh of course Sailor Moon."

Guardian Mercury eyes narrowed.

"I shall take care of Sailor Earth," came another voice. The group all looked. Sailor Saturn walked forward emerging from the edge of the plateau.

"Oh geez, more of them," Guardian Earth said.

Sailor Saturn spun her scythe.

"I have been looking forward to a good fight actually," she said.

"Yeah, well, I'll fight Sailor Moon and cape boy then," Guardian Earth said spinning his sword.

"That won't be necessary," Guardian Mercury said. "Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask can just sit this one out."

"What?" Sailor Moon asked.

"You've fought for so long," Guardian Mercury said. "You get a rest."

"But, if I don't, Guardian Earth will make the sides uneven," Sailor Moon said.

"Don't you worry about that," Guardian Mercury. "Maverick will handle him."

"But you're fighting Moon," Tuxedo Mask said.

"But I'm not!" came yet another shout. A new figure emerged from the plateau's edge and walked forward clad in the grey and blue colors of Maverick. A girl for that matter.

"Who's that?" everyone said.

"You remember me don't you? Ayeka Mizuno?"

"WHAT!" everyone shouted.

"It's a long story," the new Maverick said.

"Anyway, let's get this going," Sailor Moon said.

The two sides lined up.

The warriors and scouts flew into battle. Sailor Earth launched an attack at Sailor Saturn. Saturn casually blocked it and fired back.

Guardian Earth ran forward swinging his sword. Ayeka Mizuno leapt over him and spun around.

"So I guess you assume you're good right?" she asked.

Guardian Earth charged her, she hit him dead on with her sword and he fell to the ground.

"I'm the best swordsman on this planet," Guardian Moon said.

"Good for you," Gmerc said.

The two shot forward swinging and parrying with each other with rapid speed faster then ever before. Guardian Mercury finally connected swinging Guardian Earth over his head and to the ground.

The rest of the fight ensued. The scouts and the negaverse generals flew at each other, but the scouts eventually won. Sailor Saturn blasted Sailor Earth to the ground and grinned.

"You really were worth the effort," Saturn said. "And there was hardly any effort involved."

Guardian Moon stood in shock, his forces had been defeated easily by the combined might of all the scouts. He just starred. They all starred back at him. He dropped his sword and sank to the ground. Sailor Moon hurried up to him.

"Come on now...this is over..but..it doesn't need to be this way," Sailor Moon said.

Guardian Moon said nothing and just stared at all of them.

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