Kage Shizuki lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and fiddling with a round brooch that had a silver crescent engraved on its pale blue lid. The previous evening, and this brooch, held a lot to think about.

Most importantly, the fact that said brooch had transformed her into Crystal Sailormoon.

Shizuki flipped up the catch on the brooch. A handful of pale blue and silver sparks rocketed out in all directions. Within three seconds, no matter what direction the sparks had originally been headed in, they all turned and shot towards Shizuki. Every one of them landed in the center of her forehead. If she’d cared to get up and walk over to the mirror, she would’ve bet a quadrillion credits that the sparks still glowed on her skin in the shape of a crescent.

This brooch, which resisted all Shizuki’s attempts to pry it open without damaging it, had been not-exactly a gift from Shizuki’s mother, Queen Serenity III. Serenity had at the time been fighting for control of her own body with a ghost from Serenity’s past, Golden Queen Solana. Shizuki had not yet been born then; her mother had met Shizuki’s father only a short time before, when Prince Trent aka Kage Masaya had been infatuated with and aiding Solana; but by traveling backward in time, Shizuki had been able to aid Princess Tranquility (Neo Sailorsaturn possessed by Shizuki’s mother’s spirit) destroy Solana. Once and for all, Shizuki had hoped, but apparently somehow Solana had survived to gain control of Serenity.

Then there was the puzzle posed by the bodiless spirit who had appeared right after Solana, who had instructed another girl in how to change into Crystal Sailorsaturn. If Shizuki was correct, that spirit had been Neo Sailorsaturn. The identity of that girl was the hardest part of the puzzle to figure out. Only one thing was for certain; despite her similarity in appearance to Neo Sailorsaturn, she couldn’t be related: Neo Sailorsaturn had died, childless, of the wounds she had acquired in the final battle with Solana. Neo Saturn’s mother had been Shizuki’s mother’s best friend, and Shino Hotaru had had only the one child, Shino Seishi, Neo Sailorsaturn. Hotaru had also been an only child, as had Hotaru’s parents and husband.

The final problem was the identities of the other Crystal Sailor Senshi. With Solana back, and two Senshi awakened, the rest would soon follow. Except for two. Shino Seishi had not been the only casualty of that final battle. Umino Megami, Neo Sailorneptune, had been pushed over the edge into insanity. Sorano (now Fuuno) Himeko, Neo Sailoruranus, had lost her memory. Neither had since died to allow their powers to be passed on, as the powers of Saturn had been. All the other Neo Senshi were still alive, so the rest of the team would be assembled shortly. Probably the Neo Senshi would all choose their oldest children.

It was possible that Megami had had a child to pass on the powers of Neptune to. There had been a break-in and rape at the mental institution where Megami lived, done by a drunk man who was high on several drugs at the time. The rape victim had later had a child, but the news had not given any names, so whether the child was Megami’s was anyone’s guess. However, the child had been adopted, and neither she nor her adoptive parents knew anything about her history, so it was unlikely that she would have the chance to be Crystal Neptune until Megami’s death. Also, Himeko had had children, but one of the twins had been born dead and the other born prematurely and died. Himeko had later adopted a child, but the twins had been her first pregnancy and the first one’s death had made her unable to carry a pregnancy to term.

Shizuki closed the clasp on the brooch, then pinned it to her casual clothes. She suddenly felt like turning a target on the archery range into a pincushion.

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The former Golden Queen Solana had waited centuries for the opportunity that had come her way the previous evening. Solana had always known that she was stronger than her sister Selenity, and Selenity’s descendants (with the possible exception of Selenity’s great-granddaughter) were weaker than Selenity had been. Solana had been sure that the only barrier between Serenity keeping and Solana regaining total control over the body that had originally been Solana’s but had become Serenity’s was the power of the Silver Crystal. The previous evening, that power had passed to the control of Serenity’s daughter, and that one barrier had evaporated. Solana had finally become again supreme over her own body.

Unfortunately, Solana had not thought of the possibility of two Crystal Senshi appearing. She had prepared herself against the appearance of Crystal Moon, because she had known she was unlikely to be able to avoid that event. Crystal Saturn, though, had been a surprise.

Solana also had not expected Serenity to still hold the Silver Crystal after control of it had passed to Crystal Moon, who would not be able to do anything with it unless she held it. That had been good for Solana, had it not been that Solana had slightly underestimated Serenity. Serenity had been able to pull together enough strength to catch Solana off guard and regain control long enough to pass the Silver Crystal to Crystal Moon. Serenity had then lost control, having used all her strength to overcome Solana for those few instants, but the damage had been done. Crystal Moon had awakened.

Crystal Moon had then been able to employ the Silver Crystal to knock out Solana and return just enough strength to Serenity so that she could remain conscious. Which would not have happened without the distraction of Crystal Saturn. Solana would have been able to deal with Crystal Moon easily, had she not been occupied with Crystal Saturn.

Serenity hadn’t had the strength to resist Solana for long, and before dawn, Solana had been firmly back in control. Solana would have to be prepared for more than one Senshi next time, especially as now the remaining Senshi would probably awaken.

Solana didn’t intend for other Senshi to be there to deal with. Crystal Moon was the princess of the system, so she had many protectors. She should not be a target just yet. Neo Saturn was not a threat, not with Crystal Saturn already awakened. Neo Mercury was the second strongest of the Neo Senshi. Solana would destroy her before she could pass on the powers of Mercury, which would die with Neo Mercury. All Neo Mercury’s children would be destroyed, as well, so that the line of Suisei would end. Solana planned to destroy the lines of all the planets, so that nothing would stop her from reestablishing the Neo Golden Millennium. The line of Suisei was just the first.

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Morino Kasumi opened the door to her house. She’d had a long day. "I’m home," she called out. When there was no answer, she called, louder, "Ryuu, dear? Aya? Tomoe? Megami? I’m home!" Again, no answer. Kasumi set down her purse and computer bag on a table that was near the front door for exactly that reason and started upstairs. Aya was probably the only other person home right then. Utako and Masaya liked to visit the arcade after school, and Tomoe tended to cruise the mall often. Ryuu and Megami had planned a father-daughter activity, and Aya wasn’t exactly the social type.

Only one door was open in the upstairs hallway. Once Kasumi reached it, it was obvious why Aya hadn’t answered Kasumi before; she was absorbed in a popular book from the early 21^st century, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. "How was your day, Aya?" Kasumi asked.

Aya marked her page in the book, closed it, and said, "Usual. The idiots at school have no appreciation for books and have no idea why I want to read something that does not involve sex. How was your day?"

"Long," Kasumi replied, drawing a laugh from Aya. After a pause, she added, "Aya, you’ll probably end up hating me for this, but I think you’d be best for this." Kasumi pulled a bright blue wand, topped with a blue diamond, out of her pocket and handed it to Aya.

Aya turned the wand around in her fingers and was very surprised when the blue symbol, a cross under a circle under a V-shape, began to glow. She looked up and asked, "What is it, Mama?"

Kasumi smiled. "I think you already know."

Aya examined the wand closely for a minute, then dropped it on her bed as she jumped up and dashed to her bookshelf to grab her copy of the second Star Team Neo manga. She quickly flipped through it to find a page that displayed the Neo Star Mercury transformation wand, which was very similar to the wand Kasumi had given her except with a silver sphere, rather than a blue diamond, engraved with the Mercury sign. Aya looked back at her mother. "Why me?" she asked curiously.

"Well, you learned about the Neo Sailor Senshi in history class, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I was Neo Sailormercury. Your father was Jupiter Kamen. Now your sister’s Crystal Sailorsaturn, and you’re Crystal Sailormercury."

Aya’s jaw dropped.

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Solana whispered a curse as she hovered, unseen, outside Morino Aya’s bedroom window. She had arrived a few seconds too late to prevent Neo Mercury from passing on the powers of the line of Suisei.

Solana murmured the incantation required to create a small earthquake. This one was just strong enough to shatter the window glass in this house and the neighboring houses, and small enough that houses two blocks away would never feel a thing.

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The sound of breaking glass surprised both Kasumi and Aya. They both froze from shock when they looked towards the window and saw the black-haired figure hovering outside.

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Solana smiled. She hadn’t expected it to be this easy. She mentally recited the three words required to produce a blast of energy that could destroy anything it touched that did not possess stronger energy. It would destroy the girl and her transformation wand easily. The girl only possessed one item of energy, the transformation wand, and that could only draw its planetary energy through itself from the planet.

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Kasumi reacted first to the golden energy rapidly accumulating around Solana’s hands. "AYA, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she shouted, running the few steps to be between Solana and Aya. She had time for one final thought of Ryuu’s going to hate me for this before the golden energy enveloped her.

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Fuuno Aoi, adopted daughter of Fuuno Akio and his wife Himeko, carefully added a single thin line of pale blue to her painting of a waterfall.

A sparkling blue light filled the room, surprising Aoi. The thin blue line became a thick blue streak.

The blue light became brighter behind Aoi. She turned away from her easel and watched, amazed, as the sparkles rushed in to three spots in the air. The sparkles coming closest to her formed the outline of a fan. Those to the left traced out a harp, while those to the right arranged themselves in the shape of a wand topped by a crescent.

The light became blindingly bright, and Aoi felt something simultaneously icy cold and comfortingly warm trace a symbol on her forehead.

The light faded, but it took a few minutes for Aoi’s eyes to adjust. Once she could see again, she was amazed by the three objects hanging in midair. She stood up and whirled to face a large mirror hanging on her bedroom wall.

Underneath Aoi’s light blue bangs glowed a glittery blue symbol: a circle between a cross and a V.