Bright forks of lightning danced across the skies above Tokyo, followed by the sounds of distant thunder
rumbling through the city. Fierce rain rattled the shingles of the Cherry Hills Temple, and the lightning
flashed through the opaque windows. A young, black-haired girl knelt in front of a fire, concentrating
deeply. Her eyes closed, her hands clasped tightly together, she looked for answers from the flames.

She had seen strange things in her dreams the night before. She had seen the storm in her dream. She saw
other things as well, such as a dark spot blotting out the sun for several minutes, then disappearing. Then
five strangers, dressed all in black, appearing out of nowhere. She felt herself become trapped somehow,
unable to move. But she could not understand what she had seen. It made no sense to her. So she turned
to the fire for answers.

For an hour or perhaps more, Raye concentrated on the fire as it crackled and hissed. The warmth from
the fire usually was able to calm her in times of trouble, but on this occasion it brought her little comfort.

Suddenly, a very loud blast of thunder came through all around Raye, and she jumped, losing her
concentration. "Damn," she whispered, as she stood up, her wooden sandals clicking against the floor. She
took another look at the fire, and turned to go to bed. It was late. Perhaps tomorrow would bring answers,
she thought, as she slid the door to her room shut.

Serena heard the thunder too, and leapt five feet straight into the air, landing in Darien's arms. They had
just watched a movie, but had been stuck in the theater lobby because of the rain. A rather large crowd
was still standing around, waiting for the rain to let up. Darien, still holding Serena, looked up at the clock
on the wall. It was eleven thirty, he should have been back at his apartment half an hour ago. I should
have stayed home and studied for that exam tomorrow, he thought, as he looked back down at Serena.
Her eyes were closed and she was blushing. Still, he thought, this isn't so bad, either.

Serena looked up at him and smiled. Darien smiled back, and looked out the lobby glass doors. The
glass-shattering downpour had slowed to a light rain, and people had started to brave the trip home.

"The rain's letting up, Serena," Darien said as he let go of her. "I think we should get going."

Serena opened her mouth to speak, but was drowned out by another deafening blast of thunder. She
freaked again, and jumped back into Darien's arms.

There was no lightning that time, Darien thought.

Seconds later a brilliant flash of light filled the entire theater lobby, and another earth-shaking blast came
from outside. The glass from the doors and windows shattered inwards, hitting anyone near them. Smoke
and ash billowed up from the theater's parking lot, and quickly settled from of the rain. Outside, a crater
existed where the parking lot had been moments before, created by something extremely powerful.

"Wow," thought Darien out loud. "Now I'm glad we didn't take my motorcycle."

The crowd rushed out of the now empty frames to get a closer look. The crater looked to be about a
hundred feet wide and 10 feet deep. Anything that had previously occupied that space had been
completely annihilated. Nothing remained, save a few ashes. A guy from inside shouted, "Oh my god! My
car!" And dropped to his knees, weeping.

Darien looked up at the sky, trying to find a little sense to all this. Nothing was there except clouds. The
rain had stopped, but the lightning and thunder continued, several miles away now. Great, he thought.
More trouble.
 
 

DarkStar frantically clicked dozens of buttons on the computer console in front of him, trying to stop the
barrage from his hundred-year-old Time Streamer vessel. "Why the hell did it fire on the planet?!" he
shouted, shutting down the ship's gun batteries. A map appeared in the center of the large room he stood
in, showing a map of future Crystal Tokyo. Several red dots blinked on, showing where the plasma blasts
had impacted on the city. "Damn automatic attack systems," he mumbled, as he pressed a few more
buttons on the console. The view returned to a holographic image of the earth.

DarkStar spoke into his datapad. "Commanders, to the main chamber here." Four men dressed in black
uniforms, Xerik, Korak, Malik, and Terrak, DarkStar's most trusted servants, all appeared from the
adjacent rooms.

"Commanders," DarkStar began, "we're here. The 20th Century."

Malik looked at the image of the earth floating in the center of the room. "So people can survive across the
entire planet now?" he asked no one in particular.

"Their third world war didn't start until 2247," commented Korak, who had a knack for remembering
things like that.

"How primitive," said Xerik, shaking his head. "No starships anywhere around here."

"Did you notice this before?" Terrak said, looking at the holographic image of the earth. "There looks to be
some sort of sensor array on the planet."

The other four looked at the image, and noticed several flashing red dots on the surface. They were
spreading, seeming to let something seethe through the entire planet.

Xerik punched a few bright buttons on the base of the image, and the earth was replaced by a readout in
bright green script.

"What's it say?" asked DarkStar, who didn't understand the Negamoon language all that well. Terrak
began to look over it. "Apparently those shots fired were the scanning systems. It shows weather and…
any dangerous weapons stations on the planet, and… any starships capable of FTL flight. There's only
one of those, in New Mexico, in what it says is the United States. We're in no danger up here, earth's
scanners can't find us, and they don't have any weapons that could penetrate the shields anyway. There's
all projectile-based.."

"Oh, wonderful," smiled DarkStar. "Then we can hang suspended above the earth forever, then, can't
we?" He took a rather sarcastic tone.

"Weren't we looking for those Sailor Scouts?" asked Malik, going through his jacket pockets looking for
something.

DarkStar rolled his eyes behind his dark glasses. "Well gosh, Malik, what a brilliant plan you've got there.
OF COURSE WE'RE LOOKING FOR THE SAILOR SCOUTS!"

Malik was taken aback, but he found what he was looking for. He took out an energy module for his
sidearm and locked it into place. His plasma pistol stirred slightly, and a small green light came on,
acknowledging that it was at full power. He replaced the weapon in its holster. "Of course, milord."

DarkStar regained his composure. He straightened his black jacket and cleared his throat. "Now, our
mission is simple. Take the Sailor Scouts' powers away. Without them, they can't fight back. Then, we kill
them. Easy enough?"

The room remained silent, save the low hum of the Time Streamer's engines.

"Right. Now, any clues on how we find them?" Lord DarkStar looked around at his commanders, who
looked right back at him, motionless. "Anyone?"

"Well, perhaps you would know this," said Korak, his bright red eyes casting a dim glow on his pale blue
skin. "Why are the Sailor Scouts, protectors of the Moon, doing on the Earth?"

"Protecting the earth, I suppose," replied DarkStar, in a somewhat casual tone.

"So, if we attack the earth, we can draw the scouts out, right?"

DarkStar lowered his dark glasses, revealing two white eyes, with no features in them whatsoever. This
seemed to hit a nerve with anyone who caught a glimpse of them. If it was some power DarkStar held, or
a simple mental thing, he didn't know. But it seemed to work, so he used it whenever necessary.

Korak turned his head away from the disturbing sight, and said, "Well, it was a thought."

DarkStar smiled. "And people wonder why I made you one of my commanders, Korak." He replaced his
sunglasses. "Right, we attack the earth. Then we steal the Sailor Scouts' weapons. Good enough."
DarkStar looked over to Terrak, who punched a few buttons on the image base again.

"According to this," Terrak said, "All of the attacks made by the Negamoon were on Crystal Tokyo, and
every time they were stopped. I suspect the Scouts are in what is known plainly as Tokyo now."

"Malik, you're good at destruction, go blow something in Tokyo up."

"As you wish, milord." Malik bowed with an arm across his chest, and disappeared in a flash of green
light.
 
 

"As of yet, scientists have no explanation for the strange collisions to the earth last night," continued the
TV news anchorman. "No meteors were detected, and no space debris has yet been uncovered."

Lita scratched her head. "Yeah, but it sure sounds like something the Negaverse would do."

Serena, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina lulled about at Serena's house Saturday afternoon. Luna and Artemis
were speaking in hushed tones to each other in the corner, while Rini kept herself busy talking into her
Luna Ball.

"No way," said Serena, sitting in the couch, holding her head in her hands, "We dusted Queen Beryl and
the Negaverse months ago."

"Yes, but they might have had a contingency plan they're starting now," answered Amy, sitting next to
Serena. She was toying with her hand-held computer.

Mina looked over her shoulder from behind the couch. "Whatcha doin' there, Amy?" she asked, trying to
get a clearer view.

"I'm analyzing the information I got earlier from one of the sites that had been blasted." She continued
clicking buttons, and more technical information flashed up. "Looks like something really tiny continued
down into the ground after the impacts. There's a small hole going several miles down in the middle of the
crater."

"So now space termites are gonna eat the earth, huh?" Raye said sarcastically.

"Eew, I hate termites," remarked Serena.

"No, they were sensors," said Amy, pressing more buttons on her computer. "Someone is analyzing the
entire planet."

"Now it really sounds like the Negaverse is at work here," said Lita, who was also trying to get a view of
the computer. "But this didn't happen the last time."

"Yes, it's very strange," answered Amy, as she closed up her computer. "That's everything I could find."
She put the computer into her purse that had previously been lying on the floor between her feet.

The five girls looked at Luna and Artemis. "So, what do you think, Luna?" asked Serena.

The black cat with the little crescent moon turned to look at Serena. "I'm sorry to say this, girls, but this
time we haven't got a clue."

"Whatever attacked, or placed those sensors, or did whatever last night," said Artemis, "is definitely not
from around here. Nothing on earth could have that kind of power."

Serena frowned. "Ooh, I hope it's not the Negamoon again, I thought they learned their lesson after we
trashed Prince Diamond and the Wiseman." Serena stopped for a moment and reflected on her rather
short courtship by Diamond. He had tried to make Serena his wife in the future. That, however, was
months ago, and with Diamond gone, it couldn't possibly happen again.

"I seriously doubt it's the Negamoon," replied Artemis. "It might be more aliens. Alan and Ann might have
had evil twins."

Luna looked at Artemis with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, right, Artemis. Amy, do you think the computer
could get more information with another scan?"

"Maybe," answered Amy. "I'll go check out the impact near the movie theater."

"I am NEVER going back to that theater again!" Serena proclaimed, quickly standing up.

"Why, because of that big laser blast?" asked Mina.

"No, because the popcorn was lousy," smiled Serena.

The other four girls moaned.

Suddenly Rini started sniffling. She dropped her Luna Ball, and it levitated back up to her shoulder height.

Serena walked over to her and knelt down. "What's wrong, Rini?" She asked her.

"Sailor Pluto's not answering!" she said, tears in her eyes. "She always answers me!"

"Oh, I'm sure she's just away from the microphone now." Serena smiled warmly at her future daughter.
"C'mon, wanna go down to the movie theater and check out what went down there last night?"

Rini sniffed again. "Okay, sure," she said.

"Let's all go down there together," said Lita, pushing her ponytail back into place behind her shoulders.

"I can't," said Raye, looking out through the window in the sun's direction. "I have to get back to the
temple. There's something I need to do."

The rest shrugged. Artemis said, "Okay, let's get going." They all left Serena's house, and headed for the
theater. Raye went the other direction. She intended to speak to the flames again.
 
 

Malik appeared in an alley behind the Tenth District Movie Theater. He looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting. The sky is blue," he said quietly to himself. He put on his personally designed sunglasses, and
looked up the large structure in front of him. The sunglasses' sensors found several structural
weaknesses.

Malik stepped out of the alley and eyed the crater where the sensors had impacted. I wonder if I could
make those sensors fire again, Malik thought gleefully, hoping for a little more destruction. He walked
around the crater, which had been roped off by construction crews earlier that morning. No one was
outside, or in the theater, which had closed for repairs. Damn, thought Malik again, Maybe I'll get to hurt
someone next time. With that he raised his hands, and flicked his wrists upwards.
 
 

Two bright orange explosions blasted upwards from the structural weaknesses Malik had previously
discovered, and the entire theater began to collapse in a deafening roar. Smoke and debris billowed
outwards, as Malik flicked his wrists again. Two more explosions rocked the theater, toppling more of it
down into itself. Hee hee, thought Malik gleefully, I haven't gotten the chance to destroy anything
close-up for a while! He smiled evilly as the rest of the theater crumbled.

Malik disappeared again. Moments after he did, a crowd gathered around the toppling theater, staring up
at the destruction. Several minutes later, the smoke had settled, and nothing remained of the theater except
a giant pile of brick and stone. Four Sailor Scouts, in human form, along with Luna and Artemis, saw the
explosions from a half-mile away, and started running to see what had happened. By the time they
reached the site. All of the ash had cleared, and they saw the remains of the theater along with the rest of
the crowd.

"Well, Serena," said Lita, staring at the wreck, "I guess you really won't go back to that theater." She
smiled.

Amy gave Lita an odd look, and pulled her computer out of her purse again. She began scanning the area.
Instantly the computer began feeding information onto the tiny screen. "Someone blew up the foundation!"
she exclaimed. "With something the computer is calling a 'plasma flux'. Any clues, Luna?"

Luna, sitting on Serena's shoulder, shook her head. "Never heard of it before," she said quietly, to make it
seem like Serena was talking instead of a cat. Luna glanced all around the wreckage. "See if your
computer can find anything else out of the ordinary."

Amy pressed more buttons, but could find nothing. "Nothing besides us is giving off any strange energy,"
she said.

Just then Mina noticed someone. "Wow, who's that guy?" she said, looking at a tall boy in the front of the
crowd. He looked to be about 17 or 18, and wore a white shirt, black pants, and very complicated
sunglasses.

"God, Mina, can't you think of anything besides…" Lita stopped in mid-sentence and stared at the fellow
Mina had spotted. Her eyes got that weird far-away look when she saw something (or someone) she
liked. "Wow, he looks just like my old boyfriend!"

Artemis sighed. "Please don't start THAT again, Lita."

The tall boy stepped through the crowd and started away towards the central district and the school. He
didn't look very happy.

Lita starting walking towards him. "I'm gonna find out who he is!" she proclaimed.

"Lita!" Serena shouted to make herself heard above the din from the crowd. "You can't just walk up to a
complete stranger like that!"

Lita smiled. "*I* can," she shouted back triumphantly. "Besides, he was right in front. Maybe he saw what
happened!" Lita turned and ran off towards the stranger, who had already gotten some distance down the
sidewalk.

"It's a good thing she can take care of herself," sighed Luna.
 
 

Malik, who had taken a more human form after the second set of explosions, strolled away from the
destroyed building. He was angry, and puzzled at the same time. Why didn't those damn Sailor Scouts
show up? They always showed up seconds after anything occurred before. Or so DarkStar's books
said.

Malik was rather determined to find out more about this planet. An ancient general once wrote that to
know the enemy's territory is to know the enemy, and Malik intended to do just that.

Malik took in the scenery from around him. His sunglasses/computer told him there was very little pollution
compared to his home planet, and his intuition told him the people didn't seem to fear each other. Some of
them even looked happy. Another strange thing his computer sensed was that no one had a gun. Even in
such primitive times the humans had had guns, but no one carried them here. In fact, there were very few
guns of any sort in the entire nation he stood on, which they called Japan. Even their military had very few
weapons. He was the only person with a deadly weapon for miles, and this he found very odd compared
to the other planets under his lord's control.

Malik was so immersed in taking in his surroundings, he nearly failed to notice the girl shouting behind him.
He turned quickly, and saw the girl running towards him. He put his hand to his sidearm, ready to fire if
she attacked him.

But something told him she wouldn't. She was quite tall, nearly as tall as him. She had lovely brown hair
pulled up to a ponytail, and wore a blue tank top and shorts to match. Malik looked at her running towards
him through his sunglasses, and tried to think where she had seen a girl look like her before…

Lita ran up to the boy and stopped several feet from him. Now she wasn't so sure about what she was
supposed to do, she probably looked kinda silly all out of breath. She managed to speak between breaths.
"Hi," she said.

Oh boy, that's real clever, Lita, she thought.

"Uh, hello," the boy said back. "Um, do I know you from somewhere?" He cocked his head slightly to the
right, as if to view Lita from a different angle.

"I don't think so…" Lita replied slowly. "Hey," she changed the subject quickly, "did you just see what
happened to the theater?"

The boy hesitated for a moment, but then spoke up. "Yeah, I wish they'd have some more pyrotechnics
like that more often around here!" He smiled at Lita.

Lita smiled back, and blushed a little, "Well, at least no one was hurt. Um, hey, what's your name?" Lita
was proud of being a little quick to find out more about guys she was interested in.

The boy stopped, and seemed a little unsure. "I'm uh… Alec."

"I'm Lita," the girl replied, and Malik smiled again. Close call, he thought. I KNOW I have seen this girl
before somewhere. But how would that be possible? He was relieved his translator implant understood
Japanese, or he'd have had a real problem.

Lita spoke again. "So, do you want to have some ice tea or something?"

Malik wondered what ice tea was, but agreed anyway. Maybe the Sailor Scouts were famous around here
or something, and he could get some information from this girl.

Lita took Malik to a café with some peculiar writing (He could speak and understand Japanese through his
translator, but he couldn't read it) and a small picture of an animal's head on the window. They entered
and took a seat in a booth in front of the window. A waitress stepped over to their table. Lita ordered
what she mentioned before, iced tea. Malik ordered the same, not really knowing what it was, but willing
to try pretty much anything throughout the galaxy. Besides, human nutritional needs were generally the
same as his species.

"You know," Lita said, looking more or less at the table, "I've seen some strange stuff in this place
before."

Malik removed his sunglasses and asked, "Really? Like what?" He hoped for something about the Sailor
Scouts.

"Well, you wouldn't believe me, but…" Lita looked up at Malik, and her eyes widened. "Wow! You have
purple eyes!"
 
 

Alec set his sunglasses on the table. "Yes, well, they've always been this way, as far as I know. They
really are rare everywhere I've been. I'm the only person I've ever seen with them."

"So you were born with them?" Lita was amazed. She had never seen purple eyes before. She had seen
purple contact lenses, but she could always spot fakes. These were the real thing, so dark and enticing.

"Yes," Alec answered, shutting his eyes. "I've never found out how or why I have them." He stared back
at Lita, who transfixed her view upon this amazing person. "I guess it's fate. I figure that everything is the
way it is for a reason. You know what I mean?"

Lita thought about her life as a Sailor Scout. Fate had brought her to Crossroads Junior High. Fate brought
her to fight Zoisite that one amazing day. Fate led her to discover that she was Sailor Jupiter.

"Yes, I think I do," Lita replied, continuing to stare deeply into Malik's eyes. There was something about
this girl that he found fascinating. Perhaps it was her bravery, walking up to a complete stranger like she
did. Perhaps it was the way she seemed so open to him. Perhaps it was just because she was cute.

Malik, you idiot! He thought, You're here on business! He regained his thoughts. He needed to find
more information about the Sailor Scouts, or Lord DarkStar would do a lot more than stare him down
again. Just then their drinks arrived. Lita picked up her glass and took a long drink from it. Malik looked
down at the brown liquid, with ice and a piece of yellow fruit sitting in it. He picked it up and took a sip.
Kinda bitter, he thought, but not too bad. Now how could he put his question to make it sound casual…

"So, uh, you wouldn't happen to know anyone called Sailor Moon, would you?"

Way to be subtle, Malik, he thought glumly.

Lita stopped for a moment, thinking. "Well, I've never seen her, but she's always running around stopping
some creature from blowing things up or something like that." She looked down into her glass and closed
her eyes. "I would like to meet her someday, though."

Damn, Malik thought. She doesn't know anything about Sailor Moon or the Sailor Scouts. He
frowned. "Then why didn't they show up at the theater, if they try to stop things from being destroyed?"

Lita thought again. "Well, I guess it's because no one was in danger," she answered. She was having
trouble talking like she didn't know who Sailor Moon was. "Why do you ask?"

Alec shrugged. "Well, I uh, heard about her, and thought maybe someone could tell me more about her."

That makes sense, I guess, thought Lita. But where is this going? Just then she noticed Serena, Amy,
and Mina looking in at her and Alec sitting together. Mina was whispering something to Amy, who giggled.
Lita stood up quickly. "Look, I'm sorry, but I've gotta go now. Nice meeting you."

"Wait!" said Malik, standing as well. He grabbed Lita's hand. "Could I uh, see you again sometime?"

Lita saw Mina whisper something else to Amy, who giggled again. "Uh, well, maybe I'll see you around.
Bye!" She pulled her hand from Malik's grasp, stepped out of the booth and ran outside.

Malik picked up his sunglasses and put them back on. A small light in the lower left corner of the lens
flashed, letting him know that the microscopic tracker he'd put on Lita's hand was working. Malik wasn't
exactly sure why he had used one of the few trackers they had brought to the past, but it was a little late
to change his mind about it now.

Malik watched Lita run after three other girls who had apparently been watching them. He wondered
what she was in such a hurry for.

Which brought him to another problem. He had no money. He was sure he was supposed to pay people on
this planet, but wasn't sure what the currency looked like. He glanced around and noticed several brightly
colored pieces of paper lying on another table. He grabbed those and put them on his table, then stepped
back outside under the blue sky. He would report to Lord DarkStar later. He had other things to do on the
Earth for now.
 
 

Raye returned to the temple, and again began her search for answers. She had had the same dreams two
nights in a row, with the storm, and the blotting of the sun, and five mysterious men in black. This time,
however, it was not her that was in danger. It was one of her friends. And she could do nothing to help
her.

Raye concentrated deeply on the fire, its orange light seeping through her closed eyelids. She needed
answers, now more than ever. If her friends were in danger, she needed to find out how to help them.

Even Serena.

Raye was oblivious to the world around her when she was this deep in concentration, but outside clouds
began to roll through the skies again, just like last night. Another storm was brewing.

Several dozen minutes passed, and Raye continued her trance. Suddenly, the first flash of lightning of the
storm blazed across the sky, and Raye's eyes slammed open. She looked up at the fire, as it appeared to
take the form of what she figured was one of the men she had seen in her dreams.

But he had no eyes. He was totally blank to her.

A chill rolled down Raye's spine. She could never possibly imaging something as disquieting as this. The
eyes are the windows to the soul, she thought, but if he has no eyes…

She stood quickly, unable to take the sight anymore. It was not a true answer, but it was a start. She
would try again tomorrow night. And again, until she had the answers she seeked.

Back to the Fanfic Page