Shin Kidou Senso Tsuki no Wing (New Mobile War Wing of the Moon)

A Sailormoon/Gundamwing Crossover by Heero & Marj.

Edited by Duo, Fizzy-chan and Chibi-imp




CHAPTER ONE: THE METEOR THE GIRL AND HER CAT SAW

The Gate of Time . . .

A huge, foreboding white door, carved with scriptures and the symbol of the
Moon, surrounded by clouds and darkness. Where it led when it opened, no
one knew. No one, except for the lone guardian that stood near it, her
long, white staff serving as the key to the unknown.

No one knows exactly how long the Guardian of Time had retained her
constant vigil over the Gate, wary of intruders who attempted to cross the sacred
area without her permission and disrupt what was done or was to be done. With
neither rest nor companions, she watched the clouds and the darkness that led to
nowhere, standing on the fog-hidden floor, the Time Staff held in her hand.

At least, that was what Sailorpluto was supposed to be doing.

New intruders had come and gone. She had fought them but had been
overwhelmed. Now, lying badly bruised on the ground, she watched them
enter the forbidden door that they had managed to open. Pluto's knowledge
of time predicted when they would appear . . . a time where everything
could be easily lost.

"The five disrupters of time have arrived . . ." she whispered before she
lost consciousness. "A time paradox slips into place once more. Be careful,
princess. Beware . . ."

Meanwhile, five comets approached the present-day earth at alarming speed.
. .

*****

A stern, middle-aged man gazed at the printout in his hand. "You say that
this was taken just a couple of minutes ago?" The printout contained
pictures of an unusually bright, unnatural comet streaking across the
blackness of space.

"Yes, sir. From the looks of it, I'd say that it'll probably be entering
the atmosphere in the next . . ." The brown-haired assistant wearing a lab
coat with a logo of NASA glanced at his watch. ". . . 10 minutes."

"Hmm . . ." The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes. "And you say that this
thing has absolutely no metallic reading?"

"Yes, sir. If it had, then we would have detected its location already."
The assistant looked at his superior, worry evident in his face.

"What's the relative touchdown point?"

"Pacific Ocean, about 100 km off the east of Japan."

*****

It was already nighttime at the Hikawa Ginga, a shrine located on top of
Sendai Hill in the Juuban district of Tokyo, and yet a miko with black
hair and piercing purple eyes still sat in front of the sacred fire. She
meditated, asking the gods about the uncomfortable vibes that had been
bothering her for quite some time. Even though she had been sitting for
over an hour, her legs hurting, her body sweating from the heat of the fire, she
had received no answers.

Without warning, the sacred fire in front of her suddenly blew up and died,
startling her. Taking note of the recent premonition of misfortune, she
rekindled the ashes of the fire and started her prayers anew, words
feverishly coming out from her mouth.

Yet the gods still paid no attention to her call.

Finally giving up, Hino Rei moved from the shrine to her grandfather's
house just behind it, changing from her red and white shrine robes into her

pajamas, thinking all the while about the ignorance of the gods to not
respond to her prayers. Things were not going well. Something was bound to happen
soon.

She embraced the sweet call of sleep, only then to be given the message of
what was to arrive . . .

Five enormous shadows with glowing green eyes loomed over her and the
Sailor Senshi. One had an arm that was fashioned into the shape of the head
of a dragon. Another one had two scimitar-like weapons gleaming wickedly in
the dark space of Rei's dream. One shadow carried a long arm that spurted
out fire, while another carried a large scythe that resembled death.

Rei's attention, however, was focused on the shadow with the wings of a
bird, its weapon raised high above her and the Senshi. And to her horror,
the weapon was swung down.

Rei instinctively raised her arms to protect her face. Everything was
covered in a blinding, white light . . .

She woke up.

Sitting on her bed and clutching her blanket close to her, she placed a
hand to her forehead and tried to calm her wildly beating heart. 

She laid back in her covers, staring at the ceiling of her room, worry
creasing her face.



*****

While one worried, another dreamed.

In a window of a two-story house situated near one of the main streets of
Minato-ku, Juuban, Tokyo, a blond girl's blue eyes stared at the starlit
sky, absorbed in a fantasy which she might never have in real life. Or
*would* never have.

Seated on the window ledge beside her was a white cat with a crescent moon
on his forehead who was gazing at her worriedly, half-concerned about his
charge's present thoughts and the other half concerned about her mental
state. The girl could be very unpredictable sometimes - so childish and
carefree outside, but so mature and sensitive inside. If he had not known
her for more than three years, then it would be difficult for him to
understand why there seemed to be more to her than her insane, boy-crazy
exterior.

As of now, he could see that the look on her face was one of longing. And
he knew exactly what she longed for.

"Mina . . ." the cat started. 

Aino Minako sighed. "When, Artemis?" she asked. "When will I find the love
of my life?"

Artemis rolled his eyes.  "You know, if
you spend less time hunting for boys and actually become serious with one,
maybe you'll get lucky."

He watched as Minako started tracing figures on the windowsill. "I became
serious with one, Artemis. Look where I ended up."

"For Kami-sama's sake, Mina, if you think all serious relationships would
end up like the one you never had, then you might as well be an old maid
for the rest of your life! Which is quite long, might I add."

Minako glared at him. "You could at least cheer me up."

"Not if you're going to complain about the same thing almost every day."

Artemis noticed her frown before she resumed watching the sky. 

"Look at it this way. With the length of your life, you probably have a few
hundred centuries to look for the one that you think would be right for
you. Don't be in too much of a hurry. I'm definitely not."

She gave him a small smile. "Arigato." 

A bright shooting star streaked across the sky. And she made a wish.



Minako's gaze fell at Artemis. <. . . and *please* don't tell me that the
only man who would qualify for this is my cat!>

Giving herself a short nod, she smiled more widely and watched as the
shooting star disappeared from the sky.

*****

Unknown to Minako, the very same shooting star that she saw had decreased
its speed as it fully entered Earth's aerospace, the bright light of the
heat surrounding it due to the atmosphere fading away, revealing a strange,
four-winged craft shaped like a bird, with a long, protruding part on its
head.

The alien craft made a slight brush-off with the ocean surface beneath it,
as it adjusted itself to the planet's gravitational forces.

 From inside its cockpit, the pilot, wearing
a strange, body-hugging black suit with a slightly elongated helmet,
silently looked at his surroundings, feeling the heavy gravity of the
planet for the first time. Taking off the helmet, a young boy with somewhat
unruly dark hair and blue eyes stared at the vast blue of the ocean before
him from the cockpit.

Issuing a mental command to the console beside him, a hologram suddenly
appeared in the air before him, showing various photos of five girls clad
in tight, body-hugging sailor suits and short skirts, together with strange
foreign characters beneath each picture. 

A loud beeping sound suddenly alerted the boy to the presence of other
vessels in the area. Another hologram replaced the previous one, this one
showing eight small dots and four larger ones in a green screen with grids.

 the pilot mused, ignoring the interlopers
as his craft sped towards its destination . . .

*****

"Sir, the F/A-18's have visual contact of the object," the radio operator
said as the captain, an experienced white-haired veteran clad in a white
captain's uniform walked over to him.

"Good," the captain affirmed. "Where's it headed?"

"Sir, it's headed for Japan, or at least that's what I think, judging from
its direction, Sir."

The captain bit his lip as soon as he received this information.  "Have you tried to
contact its pilot?"

"Yes, sir. But the pilot wouldn't answer. We've tried to communicate with
it ten times already, each with different frequencies, but it still won't
respond," the radio operator responded.

 The captain sighed before announcing in a
loud voice, "I am now declaring the unidentified object to be of hostile
intent. All hands on battle stations. The Super Hornets have permission
to engage."

*****

"Roger, Delta One," the pilot of an F/A-18 responded, as he accelerated his
plane, taking the lead, while assuming attack formation. "All right, boys.
Time to kick Darth Vader's ass."

Some of the other pilots snickered at the comment as the entire squadron
shifted their positions to attack formation, all the while increasing their
speed. Soon, the object came within the planes' firing range.

 With a definite lock-on, the lead
pilot pulled the trigger on his control stick. His plane released a missile
from its wing, the deadly projectile blazing over to its unmoving target.

"Direct hit!" As the missile hit its target, resulting in a large mid-air
explosion, his wingman's voice came up in his radio. "You wasted the damn
thing's . . ." but trailed off as the explosion cleared, revealing the
object still intact, without any sign of damage.

Without warning, the craft slowed down as it suddenly folded its wings
upwards and underwent a seemingly impossible transformation. What had
looked like a bird-like plane before was now a giant, humanoid machine with
a distinctive two-horned crest on its forehead and pair of metallic wings
on its back, carrying a huge crimson shield on its left hand, and a huge
rifle on the other.

The pilot of the lead F/A-18 stared at the thing before him in disbelief.
 He was
snapped out of reverie as the mecha suddenly turned around, its green eyes
flashing eerily, and swung its rifle towards them.

"Oh, fu -," the lead pilot didn't have time to complete the curse as the
rifle emitted a loud, almost high-pitched sound and a very large, golden
beam of energy suddenly burst out of its muzzle, destroying the entire
squadron, including him, in one shot.

Inside the giant machine, the boy laughed madly as his adversaries were
reduced into ash by the enormous bar of golden energy. Gazing towards the
location of the ships, he thought, 

*****

"Sir! We've lost contact with the F/A-18's!" The radio operator exclaimed,
standing up all of a sudden, a shocked look on his face.

"What!?" The captain cried out, before each of their escort destroyers in
front of them suddenly erupted in huge explosions, the shock waves causing
the entire aircraft carrier to shake violently.

"What the hell was that!?" Regaining his balance, the captain managed to
bark out a few commands to the crew within the vicinity before a giant
humanoid mecha suddenly landed on the aircraft carrier's deck, carrying a
huge saber with a green, flickering blade of energy on its right hand and a
red shield with a rifle on the other.

Staring at the metallic giant from inside the control tower, the captain
had no time to react as it instantly fired a barrage of shots from two
muzzles hidden near its shoulders, destroying everything on the deck of the
carrier, including the control tower, in seconds.

Releasing another round of shots, this time at the carrier's body, the huge
machine spread its wings and took off to the air before the entire carrier
exploded in a huge ball of flame.

His machine hovering in midair, the boy surveyed the burning wreckage of
the ships in the area from inside the cockpit, a merciless smile creeping
towards the edges of his mouth, as the metallic giant turned around and
switched back to its previous bird-like shape, continuing its journey
towards the country known as Japan . . .

*****

A tall girl yawned as she raised her hands high above the air and
stretched, the school bag she held grazing against the green ponytail tie
that held her brown hair. She sighed as she brought her arms down, her mind
not focused on school but on the bed that she had left in her apartment
earlier that morning.

Just when she was about to enter the gates of Juuban High School, her green
eyes caught a familiar blue-haired figure who had just entered the school
campus moments earlier. She smiled. "Ami-chan!"

Mizuno Ami was startled at first, but her intelligent mind quickly deduced
that the voice she heard was her friend's, so she calmly turned around to
face her. "Ohayo, Mako-chan!"

"Up early again, I see," Kino Makoto said amusedly, walking faster until
she was right beside Ami.

"You *know* I'm always early for school, Mako-chan. I don't like being late
- I may miss something that I was not able to read. Don't you look forward
to your classes?"

Makoto smiled. Ami was probably the only girl she knew that attended school
so eagerly. "Wouldn't want to miss a moment of them!" she said, laughing.
Deep inside, though, Makoto was grimacing at the thought of actually
enjoying anything other than home economics class.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard not so far away. When Ami and Makoto
turned to look at the source of the sound, a blond blur ran past them,
covering them in a cloud of dust left behind in her haste. By the time the
cloud lifted, both girls were holding their handkerchiefs and were wiping
their faces.

"Masaka . . ." Ami said, disbelief filling her voice.
"I'll give you one guess who that person was," Makoto dared.

Ami looked quite confused. "What could she be doing here this early in the
morning?"

Seconds after the blond blur ran past Makoto and Ami, she came to a
screeching halt just as she was passing in front of the school clock. She
looked at the time, stared at her watch, screamed in frustration, and
promptly fainted.

"Minako-chan!" the two girls shouted in concern as they ran towards the
girl.

"An hour . . ." Minako was mumbling as soon as they knelt beside her. She
had an indescribable look on her face, the tone of her voice not sounding
the least bit happy. "Artemis set my watch and my clock forward an
*hour*!!!"

Both Ami and Makoto tried to stop themselves from laughing, or at least
tried to hide their giggles.

"Iyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" the blond girl complained. "I thought I was already
late!! Artemis!!! How could you do this to me?!?"

Standing up, Makoto helped Minako get back on her own two feet. "Here, fix
your hair. It's messy."

Minako wiped the dirt from her uniform, accepted the comb from Makoto and
fixed the red ribbon that was holding her hair back from her eyes.
"Kami-sama, when I get home, that cat is definitely going to get it!!"

The three girls started their way down the hallways of the school, stopping
by the wooden lockers near the door.

"Maybe he just wants you to get to school early for once? You know, you
should be grateful for that . . ." Ami suggested as she took out her white
and blue school shoes from inside her locker.

Minako was still pouting as she slipped on her shoe and tapped the tip on
the floor to make sure it was on securely. "Of course, only you would say
that, Ami-chan," she grumbled.

Ami blushed.

When they turned around, they caught sight of a young guy with very dark
green - almost brown - hair, and deep, Prussian blue eyes. He was opening
his own locker, his face completely devoid of any emotion other than the
serious look in his eyes.

"Kakkoi . . ." Makoto whispered as the boy walked passed them without as
much as a look their way. Ami nodded.

Minako, however, had yet another fascinated expression on her face.

And what usually accompanied that fascinated look was trouble.

For the others anyway.

Before the others knew what she was up to, she was already walking beside
the boy, her best smile on her face. "Ohayo gozaimasu!"

No response. He just walked on ahead.

Minako stood still, a bit speechless over the lack of remark. The
questioning look on her face was quickly replaced by determination as she chased after
the boy again.

"Ne, I haven't seen you around, so you're new, right?"

Either he was deaf, or he didn't want to talk to her.

"It's still early. I could take you on a tour around school."

The first two times, Minako could forgive. But the third time around
of being ignored, she became *very* irritated.

"You know, you could at least show a little appreciation when someone
offers you their help. Just a "thank you" would be nice," Minako said, stopping
and finally giving up, a not-so-amused expression on her face.

Without warning, the boy paused a few meters in front of her. She half
expected him to apologize, but instead she was greeted with a glare that
made her step back. "If you have nothing important to say, then I suggest
that you keep your mouth shut," the boy said before leaving her behind once
again.

Minako blinked, confused and humiliated, wondering what it was she had
said that made the boy act so rudely. Both she and Ami were left
dumbfounded, while Makoto scowled at the guy's back. "Baka!! What has she
ever done to you?!?" she shouted.

But the boy turned around a corner and never looked back.

Makoto was still fuming when they entered their classroom. "That guy
made it seem like he was the king of the world!" she said, slamming her
school bag on the table.

"Yeah, well, some people have reasons to be like that. Maybe he just wanted
to be alone," Ami suggested as she arranged her books beneath her table.

Minako turned around from where she sat at the front of the teacher's table
to face her friends. "It's okay, Mako-chan. No need to bother yourself
about that."

"Always the optimistic one, huh Minako-chan?" Ami asked.

"Always," Minako said, flashing a toothy grin.

Almost an hour later, the teacher entered the room and started the roll
call. Makoto's eyebrows went up as she noticed an empty desk a few chairs
away from her. She shook her head and smiled softly.

"Tsukino Usagi!" the teacher called.

Nobody answered.

Just after the teacher marked this certain student as absent, the
aforementioned girl suddenly came barging through the sliding door of the
classroom in a blond blur similar to Minako's. She came to a stop just
in front of the teacher's desk, her long blond pigtails drooping beside
her, her mouth taking in huge gulps of air. "Tsukino Usagi . . . *pant*
*pant* . . . present, sir!" the blond girl said as she brought up her right
hand in a salute.

The teacher gave her a disapproving look - which Usagi had already grown
used to by then. ""Late" is more like it, Tsukino-san."

Just when Usagi was about to go through one of her many excuses about why
she was late, the teacher stopped her and ordered her to sit down.

A few seconds later, the sliding door opened again, and in stepped the boy
that Ami, Makoto and Minako saw earlier. Ami and Minako gasped, while
Makoto looked none too pleased.

"Class, I'd like to introduce to you a new student. He arrived in Tokyo a
week ago and is going to be going to school here. I want all of you to make sure
he feels comfortable in this class, all right?" Turning to his new student,
the teacher asked, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Heero Yuy des. Yoroshiku," the boy said simply, as the students whispered
amongst themselves, particularly the girls, with the teacher hushing them
before telling the new student to take his seat.

Unfortunately for the girls of the class - except for the one who already
knew him anyway - the only seat that was available was the one in front of
the teacher's desk. Right beside Minako.

Minako decided then and there that maybe she had offended him earlier and
he deserved an apology. "Sumimasen, Yuy-san . . ." she said in a small
voice as he sat down. "Gomen if I said something wrong earlier . . ."

Her voice trailed off as she noticed that Heero did not seem inclined to
listen to her, let alone face her.

Minako made a face as she drew her attention away from him and to her
teacher's lecture. 

In the meantime, she had her studies to worry about . . .

*****

"Heh heh . . ."

Usagi opened her obento and took out her glinting chopsticks. Bowing
slightly for a while, she raised the chopsticks high above the air, dove
them neatly into the pile of rice her mother had prepared for her, and
started devouring her food *very* messily.

Ami and the others were also holding their obento and chopsticks in their
hands, but they kept staring at their friend, sweatdrops on their heads,
seeming a bit embarrassed to be there. "You would have thought we'd have
gotten used to it by now . . ." Makoto said as she absent-mindedly bit into
a shrimp from her lunch.

It was lunchtime, and the four girls were sitting under a huge tree in the
gardens of Juuban High School, an area they were lucky enough to have
claimed. Makoto had laid out her picnic blanket, and all four were on it,
chatting and eating like they usually did.

Minako was laughing along with the others when she noticed a figure nearly
hidden under another tree in a secluded corner of the garden. "Ara! It's
Yuy-san!"

"Will you please stop paying attention to him whenever you see him?"
Makoto asked almost too calmly as she brought down her obento and picked
up her thermos. "He obviously doesn't want to pay any attention to you."

"Hmm? Da re?" Usagi asked, intrigued, yet it was not enough for her to stop
devouring her food.

"Heero Yuy, the new student," Ami informed her. "He's standing under the
tree near the building."

Makoto drank from her thermos before glaring slightly at Heero's direction.
"Stay away from him, Usagi-chan. He's probably going to be the rudest
person you'll ever meet."

"Aw, c'mon, Mako-chan," Minako said, giving her friend a skeptical look.
"He's a new student. I just don't think he's ready to make friends yet. He needs
time to adjust!"

Ami smiled. "Out of all of us, you should be the one able to relate to him,
Mako-chan. *Everyone* thought you were rude when you first moved to
Juuban Junior High. Even you didn't look for friends right away."

Makoto shrugged. "That's because nobody wanted to talk to me. At least when
Usagi came, I didn't tell her to shut up, like he did with Minako-chan."

"If fact, she even offered me some of her lunch!" Usagi said. Everyone else
groaned.

Suddenly, Usagi brought down her obento and chopsticks, clapped her hands
three times in front of her, and bowed. "I'm done!" she announced.

Ami handed Usagi a table napkin. "That's nice . . . please wipe your mouth,
Usagi . . ."

"Gomen!" After wiping her mouth and drinking from her own thermos to
wash down the food she had eaten, Usagi stood up, amidst the surprised
looks of her friends. "Yoshi! Let's see if we can ask Yuy-san to join us!"

Makoto closed her eyes and shook her head, a hopeless look on her face. "Do
you always have to make friends with every new student?"

Minako shrugged. "Oh, you know Usagi-chan. She's more optimistic than I
am!"

Usagi hadn't even taken a few steps towards the newcomer when she
suddenly exclaimed. "Eeeeeeh???"

"Doshite no, Usagi-chan?" Makoto asked worriedly as she, Ami and Minako
stood up.

Usagi turned around to face her friends. "He's . . . he's . . ."

"What?" Minako prompted.

"He's . . . just eating a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk for lunch!!!"

The others face-faulted.

They were so busy scolding Usagi afterwards that they didn't notice that
Heero knew they were talking about him. Finishing the loaf of bread and the
bottle of milk that was indeed his lunch, he walked away from his corner of
the garden and reentered the building.

 he thought grimly as he walked though the nearly
empty corridors of Juuban High. 

Unknown to Heero, Minako was able to see him leave, her thoughts reverting
back to the rude boy that for some reason had captured her interest so
much.

 she thought, smiling to herself. 

*****

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii . . .

A single, white seagull landed on the edge of a pier, searching for food,
as dozens of U.S. Navy ships lay docked in the area, huge, lumbering,
modern-day sea monsters basking in the afternoon sun.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it, Admiral?" A middle-aged man wearing a
typical U.S. Navy uniform turned to his companion, a heavyset, older man
with a shock of white hair at his temples contrasting with his dark hair.

"Indeed it is, Captain," the admiral responded, as the two took a stroll in
the grounds of the U.S. Navy facilities.

Then, suddenly, the ground shook violently, causing the two men to lose
their balance as the sounds of several explosions rocked the air.

"What the hell is going on!?", the admiral barked at a nearby cadet, as he
and his companion regained their balance.

"Sir! Something's attacking the -" The cadet was cut off by another
explosion, this time, behind them.

The two men threw themselves on the ground, shielding their heads from the
debris of the recent blast raining down on them.

Standing on shaky legs, the two turned towards the source of the previous
explosion just in time to see several Navy warships being cut in half by a
dark shadow beneath the surface of the sea.

"What the . . ." The captain exclaimed, as the huge shadow rose from the
water.

Both the admiral and the captain stared with a mixture of both surprise and
horror at the thing that had single-handedly destroyed several Navy
warships. It resembled a huge, humanoid machine with a pair of spikes
connected to an unusual forehead crest carrying a large, wicked-looking
scythe with a long, flickering, green blade of energy in its right hand.
Its green eyes glowing eerily as it continued to destroy the remaining warships
in the area, as well as the Navy facilities.

"Admiral, we have to get out of here!" The captain cried frantically as
another uniformed Navy cadet running towards them caught their attention.

"Sir! There's a chopper waiting at the other side of the barracks. Please
hurry!" The two men nodded, as they hurried towards the barracks.
Scrambling towards the waiting Navy chopper, they were quickly ushered
inside, the helicopter taking off as soon as they were seated.

"What the hell was that thing?" the admiral asked the captain as soon as
they were airborne.

"I don't know, Admiral, but . . . " The captain's voice trailed off, a
shocked look forming on his face, as he stared out the window behind the
admiral.

Turning around, the admiral saw the metallic giant, a distance behind the
helicopter's current location, its gaze firmly fixed on *them*. Without
warning, it raised its left arm. A strange armament that looked like a
small shield seemingly hummed to life as its front end suddenly parted and
emitted a green spike similar to the scythe's blade.

The admiral had no time to scream as the weapon suddenly came hurtling at
them, slamming into the helicopter, completely destroying it, including its
occupants.

The giant mecha stood silently, its huge scythe leaning on its shoulder, as
its shield returned to its original position on its left arm.

Inside its cockpit, a boy with long braided brown hair that stretched down
to his back, smiled grimly.

"Die . . . Everybody who sees me must die . . . "

*****

Andrews Air Base, Maryland, USA . . .

The peace and silence of the night was unexpectedly shattered as several
aircraft hangars exploded into huge balls of flame, creating a vast, red
hue in the dark night sky and illuminating most of the base.

"What the hell . . . !?" An Air Force colonel came out of the barracks,
only half-dressed, as he stared at the huge fires that were outlined in the
night sky like enormous giants of flame.

Hearing a huge, metallic step behind him, he turned around. His mouth
dropped open as he stared at the crimson giant that he assumed had
caused the explosions. It stood approximately 17 meters high, and carried a
huge, gattling gun on its right arm.

Raising its weapon, it destroyed some of the other remaining buildings with
a single sweep of shots across the area. And to the colonel's horror, the
thing abruptly swung the weapon towards the building behind him. His body
was consumed in the resulting explosion . . .

As if inspecting the damage it had caused, the metallic giant's green eyes
scanned the area, looking for something . . . or someone . . .

Suddenly, the mecha's head turned to the side as it spotted several, almost
invisible lights in the distance.

Opening its shoulders to reveal several arrays of hidden missiles beneath,
it released over a half a dozen of the deadly projectiles at the incoming
attackers, more than enough to decimate the entire squadron.

As its enemies were reduced to rubble by the deadly shower of missiles, the
mecha walked away slowly, the pilot within it sighing deeply as he removed
his helmet, revealing the face of a boy with short, brown hair, very long
bangs and a pair of emotionless eyes.

" . . . Battle Record 001. Target has not yet been found. This is Trowa.
That is all . . . for now . . . "

*****

Somewhere in the Middle East . . .

Golden waves of sand filled the air as a light sandstorm whipped up the
desert's surface with its moderate winds, making it very hard for the
pilots of eight Iraqi fighter/bombers to see more than a few meters in
front
of them, thereby making their mission even more difficult.

"[Shit! How am I supposed to look for the damn thing in this crazy
weather?]" The lead pilot grumbled to himself as he scanned his
surroundings, or at least tried to.

"[Cool down. From what I hear, the guys upstairs must be desperate to find
that thing if they dispatched us in this kind of climate.] His co-pilot,
although not too pleased with the mission, was at least more agreeable to
it.

"[But how do we set about looking for some 'secret weapon of the Americans'

if we don't even know what it looks like? You know, we might have -]"
The lead pilot was interrupted as the plane beside him erupted in an
explosion. The squadron was suddenly bombarded with a barrage of shots
coming from what seemed like moving masses of earth.

"[Shit!]" The pilot cried, as he desperately tried to maneuver his craft,
narrowly evading the shots directed at him.

As the sandstorm unexpectedly cleared, the lead pilot, together with
another jet, lone survivors of the entire squadron, armed their weapons to
retaliate towards their unseen enemies . . .

. . . and stared dumbfounded at what had seemed to be shifting masses of
earth a while ago. Dozens of huge, brown humanoid machines, armed to the
teeth with machine guns and rifles, stood on the golden sands of the
desert, their weapons all pointed at *them*.

A lone, white giant stood in front of the multitudes of the brown. It had a
long crest in its two-horned head, stretching all the way to the back. Two,
thick cylinders that seemed to be handles of some sort of weapon stuck out
from its back. On its left forearm was a shield with two, pincer-like claws
on its front.

"[Please surrender now. I do not want any useless bloodshed.]" A soft,
almost feminine voice came out of the pilot's radio, speaking in perfect
Iraqi. He assumed it to be from the white mecha.

"[F**k you!]" The lead pilot responded as he and the pilot in the other
surviving jet almost simultaneously released their missiles at the white
mecha, which seemed to be the leader of the troop of mechas.

Suddenly, the white mecha took to the air, coming towards them at a very
fast speed, evading the missiles. Hands reaching over the two handles on
its back, it swung its curved, crescent-shaped blades at the two jets, neatly
slicing them in halves, before they exploded in midair.

As the white mecha landed back on the desert, the pilot within it - a boy
with light eyes and pale blond hair - removed his eye goggles as he stared
sadly at the burning wreckage of the two jets that fell to the ground.

" . . . I told you to surrender . . . "

*****

East China Sea, off the coast of Shanghai, China . . .

A once proud fleet of Chinese naval battleships now laid in ruins, burning
wreckage and debris floating on the surface of the sea, as a lone, white
giant stood on the deck of what seemed to be a large cruiser, or rather,
what was left of it.

Swinging its long, elongated arm, vaguely shaped like a dragon, towards a
burning control tower, the giant mecha's green eyes glowed eerily as its
arm suddenly lurched forward, smashing through it.

Then the mecha's head abruptly turned towards the direction of two bombers
heading towards it and swung its dragon arm at them. Without warning, the
arm shot out from the mecha's elbow, a thin golden line trailing behind it,
and slammed through the body of the lead bomber as it discharged a golden shot
of energy at the other, completely eradicating the attackers in mere
seconds.

From inside its cockpit, a boy that seemed to be of Chinese origin, with
chinky eyes and black, slicked-back hair ending in a short ponytail just
above the collar of his white, Chinese-style coat, gazed at his surroundings with
an air of pride and confidence.

"Ore wa Wufei. I will not run, nor hide . . . not until this battle, this
war is over."

*****

Golden rays of sunlight poured through a large, open window as a
dignified-looking man, seemingly in his late-twenties, gazed out at the
beautiful scenery outside, admiring the emerald grassland and the cerulean
sky, the beauty of nature in all its splendor.

Sighing deeply, he glanced back towards the open holomonitor on the
large, ornate table in the spacious room. A large, domed ceiling made of
translucent glass filtered the sunlight that flowed into the room filled
with treasures of the past, giving it a somewhat majestic atmosphere. "So,
the Gundams have arrived in the past . . . "

" . . .Treize-sama?" The image of a striking woman above the holomonitor -
with long, brown hair done up in a strange hairstyle - looked at the man
anxiously as she adjusted her glasses, the troubled expression on her
features not very fitting for a woman of her stature, a high ranking
military official of OZ and a very strict and exacting one at that.

"Iie. It's nothing, Lady Une." Treize calmly walked over to his desk, and
took a rose from the jade vase with carvings of leaves on top of the ornate
table. Staring at the rose in his hand, he once again turned to Lady Une.
"What of Lunar II's actions?"

"They have been quiet so far . . . " Lady Une had a skeptical look on her
face. ". . . but I suspect that they have already found out about Operation
Meteor."

"Is that so?" Treize put the rose back into the vase. "We'll leave matters
as they are. It is still too early to show our hand. Tell Zechs and Noin to
carry through their monitoring."

"Hah. De wa . . ." The image of Lady Une atop the holomonitor, her right
hand raised in a salute, faded away as Treize sighed once more. Striding
over to the open window once again, he sat down on its low ledge and held
out his hand as a small, blue-colored bird with a red crest on its forehead
landed on it, staring innocently at him with its black eyes.

"It has begun . . . the battle that will decide the fate of two worlds . .
.the war that may lead to a new beginning, or to the end of everything . .
."

*****

The image of Treize slowly winked out of existence as Lady Une lowered her
salute. Casting a glance at a jade vase similar to Treize's, except for the
fact that it was decorated with carvings of flowers instead of the carved
leaves of the latter's, she sighed deeply. It had been a gift from him to
her. 

Reaching towards the back of her head, she slowly undid her brown hair and
let it fall down her back. Carefully removing her glasses, she stared at
the reflection in the mirror in front of her, a bold, mature and determined
woman ready for everything, and yet, also a scared little girl fearful of the
things that lay ahead.



*****

In the gymnasium of Juuban High School that afternoon.

Usagi, Ami, Makoto and Minako's physical education class for that day was
self-defense. Makoto and Minako were not really listening to their sensei,
since Makoto already knew judo and Minako was pretty sure she could take
care of herself. Ami was, of course, paying utmost attention and taking
down notes, while Usagi . . . well, Usagi was Usagi, and although she was
trying hard to listen, her brain was telling her that she was *very* bored
and that she was not looking forward to any more classes after this.

"I will be choosing two students for a mock match. Heero Yuy, please step
on the mat," the sensei said.

Makoto suddenly smiled to herself. "Sensei! I volunteer!" she said, raising
her hand. Usagi, Ami and Minako stared at her as if she had lost her mind.
Soon, both Makoto and Heero were facing each other on the mat in the middle
of the gym.  Makoto thought as she placed herself into a fighting
stance, glaring at her opponent.

Heero, on the other hand, simply stared at the tall girl in front of him.
He knew the moment he saw her step onto the mat so confidently that she was
quite experienced in physical combat. He narrowed his eyes as soon as he
realized that the girl was playing it for real, judging from the glare she
was giving him.

The girl moved . . .

Just as Heero had expected . . .

As soon as Makoto managed to grab Heero's arm, she suddenly felt a sharp
pain from her left arm as it was seemingly yanked out of its socket and twisted
over her back. Resisting the urge to scream in pain, she blinked her eyes,
just in time to see the floor of the gym rapidly approaching as Heero moved
his leg quickly to sweep her and roughly shoved her facedown onto the
ground.

While Heero had Makoto pinned down on the mat, the girl completely
immobile under his hold, he leaned down until his face was so close to her
ear, she could feel his breath coming out of his mouth. "Don't *push* me,"
he whispered harshly before releasing her and heading to his place behind
the rows of students surrounding the mat.

Usagi, Ami and Minako quickly headed to the middle of the mat where
Makoto lay just after their teacher made sure she was all right. "I know
why you volunteered. If this was a real battle - which it *definitely* seemed like
- he could have seriously injured you! Don't *do* this for me, Mako-chan!"
Minako said, obviously upset.

Makoto could only stare in the direction Heero had gone, ignoring the words
of her concerned friends.

*****

"Will that be all?" a salesgirl asked the girl with wavy, shining,
shoulder-length green hair and her sandy blond-haired companion.

Kaiou Michiru nodded politely as Ten'ou Haruka accepted the package handed
to them. "Yes, that's all. Arigato."

"Please come again!" the salesgirl said as the couple walked further down
Juuban district's shopping center.

Just as they were passing by an appliance store, the television that was
displayed on the window - which until then had been showing a certain shojo
anime - suddenly featured a newscast that delivered distressing news.

". . . hours ago, Pearl Harbor and Andrews Air Base in America, as well as
a patrolling Chinese Navy Fleet, have been devastated by an attack from
unknown forces. Eyewitnesses and survivors said that they saw giant
"robots" hovering over the area before the attack. Investigators are trying
to link these new developments with the recent air strike that destroyed a
squadron of F/A-18s and three US Navy Ships near Osaka the previous night .
. ."

Haruka frowned as they watched the news. "This doesn't look good."

Michiru nodded, staring at the hand-held mirror that she held dearly in
her hands. The face of the mirror was dark, and for a moment the shadow
with the shape of an unknown giant with glowing eyes could be seen. This
image was quickly replaced by the sigil of Neptune, and the sign faded all
together, as if the mirror was ordinary in the first place.

She looked up and stared at her partner. "The sea is starting to churn."

The couple entered Haruka's sports car and headed on their way home. As
soon as Michiru opened the door to their house, though, an unexpected
visitor greeted them.

Meioh Setsuna was in their living room, sitting comfortably on one of the
sofas. "Welcome home."

Haruka quickly relieved herself of her baggage. "Setsuna . . . what . . .
?"

Setsuna stood up, her long, dark green hair flowing gracefully behind her,
her serious red eyes moving between Haruka and Michiru. "A force was able
to move past the time gate and has entered this world. Danger has arrived
in this solar system . . .

". . . and the Outer Senshi are needed once more . . . "

*****

Darkness . . .

Pitch-black darkness was what Heero encountered as he entered the cockpit
of his Man Machine. Just as the hatch closed, various mechanical hums
suddenly filled the air as he sat down on the pilot seat. His surroundings
quickly changed from the void of darkness that had once enclosed the
entire cockpit to an infinity of glowing white flashes.

He placed his palms on the glowing orbs beside his seat, feeling a familiar
jolt in his body, as his surroundings once again changed, this time,
turning into the lush green of the forest where he had hidden his Gundam.
"Synchro . . . kanryou . . ."

The peace and serenity of the forest suddenly disturbed, the birds in
the trees taking off in the air, as the huge Man Machine with the
distinctive head and large, metallic wings on its back stood to its full
height, towering above the trees that surrounded it.

 The Gundam suddenly spreads its wings as it
took to the air, taking the shape of a bird as it switched over to its
other form, blazing across the sky towards the city called Tokyo . . .

*****

Rei was studying silently when a blond head suddenly moved in front of her
and distracted her. "Ne, Rei-chan, why don't you have an elevator built
here so that we don't have to climb that stairs all the time? Or how about
changing the stairs into an escalator?"

"Don't start, Usagi," Rei growled, pushing her friend's head down towards
the table. "Honestly. How did you get to that topic, anyway? Aren't you
supposed to be doing physics?"

"She was . . . until we got into this example that involved elevators . .
." Ami said, smiling as she used her ballpoint pen to point to the picture
of three elevators in the book she was holding.

The five girls were at Rei's house in the Hikawa Ginga conducting their
regular study sessions - something they had never quite stopped doing ever
since they had started getting together a year before to study for the high
school entrance exam. Class had just ended an hour ago, and they were all -
with the exception of Ami - trying vainly to focus their attention on their
studies, instead of on something else.

Usagi's mind kept wandering, sometimes to unimportant things but mostly
towards her black-haired, blue-eyed boyfriend Chiba Mamoru. This didn't
stop Ami from tutoring her, though, since she had already gotten used to
her friend's behavior towards studying.

Makoto, however, had a very serious look on her face. Her mind kept
thinking about Heero, and how suspicious she had become of him ever since
that morning.

Minako, on the other hand, was thinking of how she would be able to make
him open up to them. Or was wondering when he would finally notice her
moves towards him and take her out on a date.

Rei was mentally going over her dream the previous night when a huge
explosion jolted her back to her senses.

"What was that?" Usagi asked, standing up in concern.

The five girls all rushed to the window just in time to see several
buildings crumbling into ash several blocks away from Sendai Hill. "Kami-sama . . .
what's going on?" Ami whispered.

Two cats with crescent moons on their foreheads entered the room by
jumping through an open window. "Minna, something is attacking Tokyo!!"
Artemis announced frantically.

Minako rolled her eyes. "We know that, Artemis. It's obvious!! But what is
it?"

"We don't know. But whatever it is, it's costing human lives! There's no
time to waste! Minna, henshin yo!" Luna ordered.

Usagi took out her heart-shaped brooch, while Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako
raised four sword hilts with the sigil of their respective planets encased
within a crystal ball set within a pair of wings just on top of the hilt.
Seconds later, five senshi with sailor collars, tight body fitting suits
and short skirts stood where five schoolgirls were, moments ago.

The Inner Senshi rushed to the scene of the incident. As soon as they
arrived, though, they quickly skidded to a stop and stared, dumbfounded, at
the cause of the menace. A giant, humanoid robot with a pair of metallic
wings on its back, a distinctive, golden crest on its forehead, and another
pair of miniature wings on the sides of its head, stood towering over them.
It carried a red shield on its left arm and a huge armament that could only be
a rifle in the other, as it made its way through the streets of Juuban,
smashing anything in its way.

Sailormars - Rei - stared at it in shock. The thing looked exactly like the
shadow that had killed the Senshi in her vision.

*****

" . . . Sento Level . . . Target kakuni . . . Haijou . . . kai shi . . . "

The giant machine's gaze suddenly swung towards the Senshi. Then, without
warning, it brought up its left arm and thrust its enormous shield, at a
speed seemingly impossible for its size, at the five sailor-suited girls.

"Abunai!" Sailorjupiter - Makoto - shouted, leaping away as the shield's
edge slammed into the pavement where the five senshi were standing. She
turned around to check on her friends - who were all standing on guard far
from the site of impact, save for Eternal Sailormoon - Usagi - who was
lying in the oddest and most impossible position ever conceived.

"Ko no!!!" Jupiter stared angrily at the metal giant, concentrated, and
used her most powerful attack. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!!"

The huge machine made no move to evade or defend itself as the storm of
deadly projectiles advanced towards it, the emerald energy leaves impacting
on its face. Jupiter waited for the resulting explosion, but was shocked
when her attack seemed to dissipate against the giant's metal surface.

Turning its head towards the one who had released the attack, the machine's
eyes flashed eerily, as it discharged several volleys of what seemed to be
energy bullets from two hidden muzzles on its head. "Shimatta!" Jupiter
exclaimed, running for cover. She narrowly evaded the gunfire as she dove
towards the ground and rolled near a truck that had fallen on its side,
just as the rain of deadly shots reached it . . .

Jupiter landed roughly after being thrown off by the resulting explosion.
"Where the hell is the Japanese army when you need it?!?" she asked
herself, a pissed-off look on her face, as she picked herself painfully from the
ground.Scanning the area for the nearest cover, she ran towards the back of a
building just as another hail of energy bullets bombarded the vicinity.

"Jupiter!!" Sailorvenus - Minako - called out from her hiding place as she
watched her friend run behind a brick building to evade the gunfire.
Turning to Sailormercury, she asked, "Well? Did you get anything?"

Mercury - Ami - shook her head as her fingers flew desperately over the
tiny keyboard of her small computer. "No! My computer is registering
nothing!!"

Venus leaned over and made a face as she saw the screen of her friend's
computer. Although she couldn't understand most of what was shown, she
*could* understand the many "UNKNOWN" messages it displayed. "There must
be something . . ."

"Well . . . that thing does have an enormous amount of magical energy
within it," Mercury answered as she pressed a key and glanced at the energy
meter shown on the screen.

"That's a load of help," Venus said as she turned her attention back to the
battle, just in time to see the machine gazing directly at them. She let
out a short squeak before grabbing an unsuspecting Mercury - who was still
typing - and quickly dragging her out of their hiding place before another
wave of gunfire reduced what was once their cover into rubble.

Hiding behind another nearby building, Venus breathed a sigh of relief as
she released Mercury's arm. "That was close. For a minute there I thought
we weren't going to make it!"

The wall they were leaning on suddenly shook. They winced as the building
continued to shudder and collapse under the heavy artillery being used on
it by the white giant on the other side.

"We're not safe yet!!" Mercury shouted over the deafening sounds the
explosions made as she and Venus scampered away from the falling building.

Mars, upon seeing that Venus and Mercury were in danger, took advantage of
her position behind the mecha by calling out her attack. "Mars Flame
Sniper!"

Flames of energy danced around her, creating a bow that was invisible to
the naked eye. A crimson arrow materialized upon the energy bow, as Mars
aimed at her target and released the flaming missile, blazing its way
towards the back of the giant machine.

Upon contact with the white giant, the arrow seemingly winked out of
existence, harmlessly dissipating against its metal surface, just as
Jupiter's attack did. The huge mecha then turned around slowly, its eyes
flashing once more, as it seemingly gazed at the red-skirted Senshi, who
braced herself for an attack.

All of a sudden, the mecha swung its shield at the Senshi of Fire, who
leapt backwards to avoid being hit. Though she had barely managed to evade
the enormous armament, she was not prepared for the strong force that had
been created by the momentum of the swing. The powerful draft caught her
in mid-air, slamming her into the wall of a nearby building.

"Mars!" Sailormoon, having recovered from her position earlier, shouted as
her friend collapsed into a heap on the ground. Glaring at the huge mecha
while taking out her Moon Scepter, she used her strongest attack. "Silver
Moon Crystal Power Key!"

The golden rays of light from the Moon Scepter surrounded the white giant,
which stood still against the attack. The rays of light seemed to glow
brighter before suddenly turning into multitudes of white feathers, as the
attack took effect.

The huge giant froze afterwards, not moving an inch.

Sailormoon slowly smiled, thinking her attack had worked. That was why she
was paralyzed with shock and fright when she saw the mecha's eyes flash
once again, this time seemingly brighter than before.

When the Senshi saw that Sailormoon's attack was not effective, they were
so stunned that they were not prepared when the mecha took out a long
cylinder object from its shield, a green, flickering blade of energy
suddenly emerging from one end. Raising the saber-like weapon, the huge
mecha brought it down in a huge arc towards the still unmoving princess . .
.

"Look out!! Sailormoon!" Venus instinctively dashed from her place beside
Mercury and vainly tried to reach her. 

Just when she thought that the blade of energy was going to slash through
Sailormoon, a blur tackled the paralyzed girl. Sailormoon and Tuxedo Kamen
rolled on the ground, narrowly avoiding the blade's path as it made an
enormous gash in the road.

Venus leapt over the somewhat huge chasm created by the blade as she made
her way towards the fallen couple. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama . . ." she said,
kneeling on one knee beside them.

"Sailormoon, daijoubu?" Tuxedo Kamen asked as the rest of the senshi
gathered around them protectively.

"Un," Sailormoon nodded. Tuxedo Kamen helped her up, their attention
wearily focused on the white giant, standing unscathed before them. "What
are we going to do now?"

"The five of us will have to combine our attacks," Venus said, standing up,

not taking her eyes off the mecha.

Jupiter looked a bit skeptical. "Do you think it would work? None of our
regular attacks - not even Sailormoon's - even made it flinch! How about
the Sailor Planet Attack?"

Venus shook her head. "Executing it will take too long - we'll be dead
before we finish! Combining our regular attacks is the only option we have
left! It *has* to work! Do it now!!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
"Venus Love And Beauty Shock!"
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Key!"

The attacks of the Senshi blazed through the air towards the giant machine.
The combined might was enough to make the mecha draw back a little as it
contacted with its chest, before they dissipated once again, leaving no
mark or dent on the machine's armor.

The Senshi faltered when they saw what little effect their combined attack
had made on the mecha. Flashes of energy shots burst from two large hidden
muzzles located at what could be considered its collarbone, making them
brace for another attack. Unexpectedly, the gunfire was showered in a flare
of lethal intensity at the building behind them, causing huge masses of
concrete to collapse upon them.

Knowing that they had no time to run or avoid the deadly shower of heavy
matter, all the Senshi could do was stare at the falling concrete as it
descended in an incredible speed towards them. Venus raised her hand in the
air and called on her powers in a final attempt to save herself and her
friends. "Crescent Beam Shower!!"

A single bright yellow beam emitted from her pointed finger, travelling at
great intensity at first, but then suddenly separating into multitudes of
rays moments before they collided with the falling matter. Although the
Senshi were still buried under the pile of debris, the beams had shattered
a number of the falling concrete pieces above them, somewhat minimizing the
damage of what could have been a fatal attack.

Mercury opened her eyes, feeling a bit disoriented with her surroundings.
She slowly tried to move, wincing as pain shot up from her bruised arm,
which she had used to cover her head. Pushing a slab of concrete away, she
managed to sit up and look around her. The rest of the Senshi and Tuxedo
Kamen were in a state that was similar to hers - alive, yet bruised,
injured, and extremely tired.

Turning her head, she stared almost hopelessly at the huge giant, which,
upon noticing that they were still alive, walked slowly towards them. She
closed her eyes, waiting for the final attack to come . . .

*****

Heero gazed silently at the fallen Senshi from the cockpit of his Man
Machine, Wing. He had not expected them to be this easy to defeat,
especially with the information he had been briefed with before the start
of the operation. Nevertheless, a small, grim smile crept into Heero's
features as his Man Machine approached the Sailor Senshi, the Beam Saber in its right
hand flaring menacingly . . .

"Sayonara, Sailor Senshi . . ."

The huge machine raised its weapon, its eyes flashing at the Senshi one
final time before bringing down the energy blade . . .

. . . just as a sudden, loud beeping caught the attention of the boy inside
the mecha.

He halted the descent of the Beam Saber on the defenseless Senshi. A green
holoscreen came up in the air beside Heero. "A energy-space distortion
field!?"

A strange whirring sound pierced the air as a gaping white hole suddenly
appeared in the sky, the clouds around it swirling like a massive cyclone.
From within the hole came out a huge, gray battleship together with over
two dozen blue-gray mechas armed with shields and rifles. Instantly, the Man
Machines all blazed towards Wing, their rifles armed and ready.

*****

Mercury opened her eyes to the incessant beeping of her mini-computer.  she thought as she glanced at the information
shown on the screen.

The almost deafening sound of the air being pierced by a dimensional portal
of immense size and the arrival of a legion of many other humanoid machines
escorting a huge, unknown spacecraft made the senshi look up to the skies
in horror.

*****

It took Heero only a moment to ascertain the identity of the new intruders.

"Lunar II, ka?" With that, Wing took to the air, taking into its left hand
its huge rifle, charging into the midst of its enemies. "Twenty-eight
Geminas type Man Machines, and a Krepier Class Cruiser . . . Kan tan da."

*****

"Now's our chance!" Tuxedo Kamen said as he watched the giant machine turn
its attention from them and lift off from the ground, heading towards the
midst of the battalion. "Everybody get out of here!!"

The senshi painfully picked themselves off from the ground and ran for
safety in a dark alley, de-transforming as they arrived.

After seeing that everyone was safe, Chiba Mamoru returned his attention to
the skies, where the ensuing battle was taking place.

*****

Dispatching the nearest Man Machines with the a barrage of gunfire from its
two Machine Cannons, Wing quickly reduced the number of Geminas with
deft strikes from the Beam Saber.

"Back Wing Funnel . . . ha shin. "

The white mecha suddenly spread its wings as two large spokes that were
once part of the wings suddenly opened up, detached themselves from the
back of the machine, and blazed over to the remaining Man Machines. Within
seconds, the entire Man Machine battalion was eliminated by the discharges
from the two funnels, before they returned to the back of Wing.

"One more . . . " Verniers flaring, the white giant flew towards its
remaining target and raised the huge rifle in its left hand, pointing it at
the battleship at that had begun firing its main cannons at the winged
mecha, which had evaded the beams of energy easily. With a definite
lock-on, Heero released the trigger and a huge golden beam, larger than
even the battleship's fire, burst out of the rifle's muzzle, and enveloped
the entire battleship in its wake, destroying it in an instant.

As the resulting explosion from the cruiser's destruction erupted in the
air, Heero glanced at the city below, particularly where he had last seen
the Senshi. As he had expected, the sailor-suited girls had used the
opportunity to escape while he was fighting with Lunar II's Man Machines.
"The Senshi have escaped. Location has been discovered by Lunar II. Ninmu
shi pai. I will retreat for now."

With that, Wing reverted to its bird mode and flew away in a blazing trail
towards its unknown destination.

*****

"Where did those machines come from?" Mamoru asked, holding Usagi close
to him. She was still trembling from the fight, her knees still too weak to
support herself.

"Ami?" Rei looked inquiringly at her friend.

Makoto stood beside Ami as her hands flew on her mini-computer, which was
luckily undamaged from the battle. "My computer had detected a dimensional
shift in the area before those other alien craft arrived . . . maybe the
machine we were fighting decided that that matter was more important."

"More important than destroying us and leveling the entire city, I wonder?"

Minako said as she surveyed the damage caused by the battle. All the
structures in the avenue they were in and in nearby streets were either
damaged or completely destroyed. Her gaze landed towards the ruins of a
fallen building, where she saw something that made her so repulsed, she
retreated to a corner and heaved. In the background, sounds of sirens
filled the air as police vehicles and ambulances started to arrive at the
scene, too late to save the lives that were lost.

Usagi took a deep, shaky breath, the hand that was tightly clutching
Mamoru's shirt slightly loosening. "Now what?"

Makoto tiredly wiped her brow with the back of her hands. "Whatever it is,
can we do it tomorrow?"

Rei looked up from assisting Minako in the corner. "She's got a point.
We're all tired - we could use some rest."

"My computer managed to record the battle data. I'll look into it tonight
and maybe we will have some useful information tomorrow," Ami said.

Usagi nodded wearily. "Tomorrow at your place, Rei-chan?"

"Right after school."

"Better inform Luna and Artemis about this," Makoto told Usagi and a
slightly pale Minako as they cautiously walked out of the alley, mindful of
the police that had surrounded the area.

Minako shrugged. "They're bound to ask about it anyway," she said quietly.

"Will you be there, Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked, a pleading, almost desperate
look in her eyes. Mamoru nodded slowly, knowing that their current
situation was very serious and that his girlfriend needed support after
going through a terrible trauma.

"Are you sure you girls are going to be all right?" He asked as they
reached a fork in the road where they would each go on their separate ways,
Usagi still leaning against him.

The four other girls smiled weakly. "We'll be okay, as long as that monster
doesn't come attacking anytime today again," Rei said.

"Or anytime for the next few hundred years!" Makoto added.

Saying their good-byes, the girls walked away from the scene of the battle,
the familiar feeling of being driven into the middle of an unwanted war
with the safety of the world in their hands taking place inside them once
more.

*****

Treize entered a seemingly familiar domed room studded with crystal pillars
and ornate walls, not minding the dozens of high ranking military officials
seated at a large round table, their harsh gazes all directed at him.

"Treize Khushurenada. We have all been waiting for you." A stern
gray-haired man in his late fifties wearing an ornate black OZ uniform and seated at
the head told him as Treize reached an empty seat near the end of the table.

"My apologies, Dechem-sama. I was caught up in . . . some trivial matters
that needed immediate attention," Treize replied, removing the black cloak
slung upon his shoulder. As Treize sat down, another middle-aged man, this
time wearing the traditional brown OZ uniform stood up and glared at him.
"Treize! This has been the third time you have been late this month! Don't
you have any respect for Dechem-sama!? Don't you dare think that it's because
of the fact that you're the youngest among all of us here that you can be
so cocky! "

A glare from Dechem, the one seated at the head, effectively silenced any
more from the man, as the latter sullenly took his seat. "Treize. Do not be
late. Ever again."

"Hah," Treize said, nodding his head a little.

"Then let us start the meeting, gentlemen." The surroundings suddenly
changed from the marble white of the palace walls into the deep blackness
of space, as the entire area was shrouded in a black, protective soundproof
barrier to prevent any undesirable intrusion.

"Now for the first subject . . ." A man in white sitting at the right of
Dechem whom Treize knew as Galba Harman, the son of Dechem, announced as soon as
the protective enclosing was activated. A hologram of the Earth appeared
mid-air in the middle of the table. Five distinctive red comets suddenly
emerged from the darkness of space, and entered the Earth at different
locations. "Operation Meteor was a success, the five Gundams we sent have
successfully landed in the past."

Murmurs filled the room as the men talked amongst themselves, seeming to
forget the presence of their supreme leader before them. Despite of this,
Dechem merely gazed upon them, a dark gleam glimmering in his eyes, as he
mused about his even darker plans.

Dechem silently laughed to himself. 

*****

Treize gazed silently at Dechem, ignoring the constant murmurs of the men
around him, his features slowly creeping into a small, yet grim smile. 




Author's Notes:

Marj: Ha!! I'm done! Finished! Thanks to our five-day weekend, I was able
to do this, do my Physics paper, finish Final Fantasy II (about time,
too!!!), and work on the graphics of my program to make it look cuter!!
*^^*

The translation note for today is *loooong* . . . kind of made up for the
last one, eh? Anyway, here you go:

abunai - dangerous / look out
arigato - thank you
baka - stupid / jerk
daijoubu - are you all right
da re - who
de wa - by your leave
doshite no - what is it
gomen - sorry
hah - yes, sir
ha shin - launch
haijou kai shi - begin extermination
kami-sama - god
kanna ra zu - whatever it takes
kan tan da - easy
konno- - why you -
konno hoshi no buki . . . ka? - the weapons of this planet?
kakkoi - cool
kakuni - sighted
masaka - it can't be / impossible
minna - everyone / everybody
ninmu kaishi - begin mission
ninmu shi pai - mission failed
ninmu ryoukai - mission acknowledged
obento - lunch box
ohayo (gozaimasu) - good morning
onegai - please
ore wa - I am
sayonara - good-bye
sensei - teacher
sento level - battle level
shimatta - damn
sumimasen - excuse me
synchro kanryou - synchro accomplished
yoroshiku - pleased to meet you

Next time, we should keep an open mind about using Japanese sentences . . .

(looks at Heero with a knowing glance)

Ugh! I wracked my brains to finish this chapter before school starts an
hour and thirty minutes from now! Anyway, send your comments and
constructive criticism to me  and to Heero-kun,
whose address you'll find a few paragraphs below this.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, its characters and its story belong to Naoko
Takeuchi, Kodansha, Nakayoshi, Toei Animation and all those other companies

out there with copyrights to it. But the story you're now reading is ours,
so please respect our request that you take nothing here that doesn't
belong to you and claim it as your own. Domo arigato gozaimasu!

Heero: *Sigh*. . . 3 AM and I still have a morning class tomorrow . . .

Duo: Well, they don't call you "Suicide Boy" for nothing. *snickers*

Heero: *elbow connects with Duo's face rather hardly, as Duo slumps to the
ground, dazed* Shut up, Duo . . .

Heero: Email to  for comments and criticisms.

Gundam, Man Machine, and other related terms and characteristics are
properties of Sunrise and Sotsu Agency. All the other terms and
descriptions not theirs are properties of the authors. If you try to steal
them . . . Omae wa korosu . . .

Marj: Giving me another sentence to translate, why don't you??? Anyway,
"omae wa korosu" means "I'll kill you." So . . . uhh . . . better do what
he says if you know what's good for you!!! But really, Heero-kun, you *are*

just kidding about that final line of yours, right?

Heero: . . .

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/field/4723/stories