"So let me get this straight Mr. Yoshida," said Otaru as he scrutinized the man sitting across from him. Flanking Otaru were Lime, who was snoring softly, and Cherry. Bloodberry stood behind him trying, and succeeding, to look menacing. "You’re saying that Lime did something to your marionette to make it act strangely."

"That’s right," stated Yoshida in a voice that was more timid than he had expected it to be. The look Bloodberry was giving him was pure murder, but he continued with his protest anyway. "I was in the market place with Mitsuko when your marionette started fooling with mine. The next thing I know she’s disobeying orders and then she up and disappeared."

Otaru considered this for a moment and then glanced over at Lime. She was fast asleep, slumped forward over the table they were sitting around. The look on her face was one of absolute innocence and he couldn’t imagine her ever doing something wrong. Intentionally at least. Otaru had to admit that there was the distinct possibility that Lime had accidentally done something to Yoshida’s marionette.

Otaru gently shook Lime’s shoulder. "Lime, Lime it’s time to wake up."

"Huh," mumbled the sleepy marionette as she came awake. Glancing outside she noted that it was still dark. "It’s still night time Otaru. I’m tired." With that her head fell forward again and she started to drift off.

"No Lime," he stated softly but firmly. Otaru had never seen Lime this worn out before and he wondered what had happened to her. "You have to stay awake a little while longer."

Lime’s eyes opened again and a smile spread across her lips as she looked up at Otaru. "Otaru daisuki," she said softly.

"Lime," said Otaru ignoring the heated stares he was receiving from Cherry and Bloodberry, "can you tell me what happened at the market today?"

"I went to buy rice."

Otaru waited for more, but nothing was forthcoming. "What happened when you went to buy rice? What happened with Mitsuko?"

Another smile crossed her lips and Lime giggled softly. "Meatball head."

Otaru arched an eyebrow as he glanced at Yoshida. "Meatball head?"

The man fidgeted in his seat, slightly embarrassed by the reference to his marionette. "She thought Mitsuko’s hair looked like a pair of meatballs." He paused for a moment. "It kind of does."

Otaru turned back to Lime. "Did you do anything to…to meatball head Lime?"

Lime seemed to consider this for a moment, but in her present condition no one was positive she wasn’t falling asleep again. Finally she shook her head. "I just played with her hair."
That was all Otaru needed to hear. "You see Mr. Yoshida, Lime didn’t do anything to your marionette."
"You mean your going to take the word of that machine over mine!" Three very intense glares caused the temperature in the room to suddenly double. "I mean, of course she didn’t do anything. It was just a glitch."

Otaru nodded. "Then I think we’re done here." He glanced over at Lime as Yoshida was preparing to leave, and noted with some worry that she was asleep again. "Wait," he called out. "Do you know why Lime is so worn out?"

Yoshida fidgeted and didn’t say anything for a moment. He had been afraid that revealing the fight with the defective marionette would weaken his position, but considering how this had turned out it probably didn't matter anymore. Unfortunately for him, Bloodberry saw his hesitation as more than just nervousness.

"What did you do to Lime?!" she demanded.

"W-What?" stammered the man. "I didn’t do anything!"

Bloodberry move from behind Otaru and put herself face to face with the frightened man. "How do we know you’re telling the truth?"

"It’s true! I swear! She got in a fight with a defective marionette. That’s why she’s so tired. Honest!"

Bloodberry snorted. "No ordinary marionette could tax Lime like this."

"All I know is that it took Lime and one other strange marionette to stop the rampaging one. When it was over Lime was exhausted." He paused for a moment. "In the back of the store where the marionette worked they found several men in similar condition. None of them remember what happened though."

Otaru and company all exchanged glances. "What did this strange marionette look like?" inquired Cherry.

Yoshida shrugged. "Like a marionette in a skimpy outfit."

"Gee, that’s helpful."

"She was just a marionette, they all look alike to me." The glares were back again and Yoshida quickly bade them all goodnight and departed at a rapid pace.

Once outside Yoshida hoped that Otaru didn’t send one of his marionettes to ask more questions. He just couldn’t believe that boy! Treating marionettes as if they were human! It was almost perverted. It didn’t matter if they showed a little more emotion than other marionettes, they were still machines.

Yoshida was still quite positive that Lime had somehow done something to his Mitsuko. He fervently hoped that his marionette hadn’t gone rogue since that would more than likely end with her destruction at the hand’s of the imperial guard or one of Otaru’s marionettes. She had cost him quite a lot of money and would be very difficult to replace.

Otaru watched Yoshida leave and considered what had been said. Lime’s current condition showed that something had indeed happened, but he just couldn’t see her being this exhausted after what should have been a simple fight. The man had said there had been one other marionette present as well.

"Do you think Faust’s marionettes have returned?" he asked of no one in particular.

"I don’t think that’s the case," replied Cherry. "Mr. Yoshida said that he didn’t recognize the other marionette. The Saber Dolls are almost as well known as we are so I would have to assume that Mr. Yoshida would recognize one of them had they returned."

Otaru nodded. "So what do you make of all this?"

"Well, the information available is small, but I can supply a reasonable hypothesis. Lime overexerted herself running around town before she stumbled onto the rogue and the ensuing fight simply sapped the rest of her energy. The strange marionette that assisted in the fight was most probably a new type of saber developed for defense by the council now running Japoness."

That explanation made sense, but Otaru still had the feeling that something was amiss. That night his sleep was troubled with strange dreams involving Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry fighting alongside five shadowy figures against an unseen foe.

* * * * * *

Sailor Moon walked through an area completely shrouded in thick, rolling fog. Light seemed to poor in from every direction, but she couldn’t see more than five feet in front of her. Her feet were lost in the fog and only the steady sound of her footsteps told her she had any feet at all.

"Hello," she called out. There was no answer and it seemed as if the fog swallowed her words the instant they left her mouth. She knew this was how it would be though. She had been here before.

Feeling very scared and very alone, she continued her slow trek through the emtpy place in search of what it was that had brought her here.

At this point she had no idea what it was she was searching for. She did know that she had been searching for it for a very long time though, and so far it had eluded her grasp. But she had the feeling that she was close now, like it was just a little farther and if she walked for just a little longer she would find what she needed.

The fog directly in front of her parted suddenly and she came to an abrupt halt. Standing before her, cloaked in the gray mist that permeated this place, was a towering figure of darkness. The only features that Sailor Moon could make out were the two glowing green eyes looking down upon her.

"Who are you?" she demanded in a voice that was surprisingly calm.

"I am what you are searching for." The voice was soft and carried an undercurrent of menace.

"What is it I am searching for?" It seemed to Sailor Moon as if she had played this game before.

"Answers."

"Answers to what?"

There came the sound of soft laughter. "If you do not know the question than I surely do not know the answer. You are alone Sailor Moon, and that will be the end of you. Just as it was before."

The towering darkness made no move to attack, but its words and tone of voice came off as an obvious threat. Sailor Moon tried to reach for her wand in order to defend herself, but she suddenly found that her limbs would not obey her commands. Looking down at her arms she gasped in horror.

The flesh on her hands was slowly melting away to reveal muscles made of wire and a skeleton of steel. As the melting flesh made its way along her arms and legs, she came to another horrifying discovery. The metal underneath was rusting and even now her fingers were beginning to disintegrate.

Sailor Moon screamed then, a sound that pierced even the thick fog. The towering blackness before her only laughed and watched on as she was destroyed by forces she could not began to combat.

One leg fell out from under her, then the other. She tried to catch herself as she fell, but when her arms hit the ground they shattered. Sailor Moon tried to scream again, but as she opened her mouth her steel jaw fell to the ground, becoming a pile of dust as it landed. The darkness continued to laugh, the rust started to eat away at her mechanical brain, and still she tried to scream.

* * * * * *

Usagi came awake with a start and would have screamed had it not been for the fact that she was too scared to draw a breath. In her mind she saw herself disintegrating over and over again. With a shudder she finally managed to draw a deep breath and put the horrifying images out of her mind. Or at least push them to the edge of her mind, they were still there tormenting her with half seen images.

Looking around she attempted to orient herself, but when she realized where she was she wondered if the nightmare had not been a better place to be. Memories of yesterday’s events crashed home and she groaned loudly. Hoping that maybe those events had been a dream as well, she rolled up her sleeves and checked her shoulders.

The small seams were still there though, and she groaned again.

"What am I gonna do now?" she asked herself.

Like most questions, this one was not answered by Usagi’s mind but by her stomach. A loud rumbling sound alerted her to the fact that she was hungry, but she only blinked as she stared at her growling belly in confusion. How did robots get hungry? Usagi’s stomach growled again and she let the question go, content with the fact that she could still indulge in one of her favorite pastimes.

Glancing around she noted that it was still dark in the alley, but high above and at either end there were strips of light showing that it was morning. People were out and about now; hauling large carts laden with goods or simply carrying them in baskets hung from their shoulders. They were men for the most part, with a few women seen here and there. As Usagi watched one women go by she noted that there was something strange about her, but couldn’t quite say what.

Standing up from where she had been propped up against the alley wall, she went to work out the kinks that should have formed from sleeping in such an uncomfortable position and found that she felt fine. Far from being relieved though, all this did was to remind Usagi of her current situation.

Food was the first priority of the day though; answers could come later. Digging around in her pockets for some sort of money, she was surprised when she actually found some. She had several coins of various sizes and colors, all of which were stamped with what looked like a picture of the same man, but they all bore different names; if you considered Iyasu I and Iyasu II different names. There was no indication of their monetary value though, and she had no idea how much food would cost anyway. Usagi finally decided that she would just hand people money and hope for the best.

Exiting the alley, Usagi began walking down the street acting as if she belonged there so as not to draw attention to herself. She made it a point to keep her expression neutral as she stared around at the strange sights that met her eyes, but she still received several strange looks and decided that her gawking must make her look like something of a fool. In the end she contented herself with looking straight ahead while studying her surroundings from the corners of her eyes.

Even with her limited view she was able to note a few things. One was that there seemed to be a lot more men out and about then women. Another was that all of the women seemed to have vacant eyed stares that never wavered in the slightest. With a start she came to the realization that they were all robots and that fact made her uneasy. Where were the real women?

Once again Usagi’s stomach was placed before answers as she spotted a fruit stand. She would have preferred something with sugar in it, but fruit was here so fruit was what she would have. Shuffling over to the fruit stand she looked upon the wares with some trepidation. None of the food looked familiar.

"Well," demanded the clerk in a rude tone of voice, "what do you need?"

"Ummm…" Usagi scanned the produce and finally pointed at something that looked like a purple banana. "Three of those please."

"Fine." The clerk grabbed three of the strange fruits and presented them to Usagi. "That’s five ryo."

Smiling as cutely as she could manage, Usagi dug into her pockets and presented the man with a handful of coins. Her hope was that the man would simply take what money he needed without ripping her off. After a few moment though, she realized that the man was simply staring at her and she began to grow nervous.

"Um…is something wrong? Do I not have enough money?" Usagi started to retract her hand, but the man reached out and snagged her wrist.

"Who’s your master?" he asked slyly. Usagi just stared at him, not understanding the question. "Your owner, whose your owner?’

"Um…Nobody. I’m a free person."

"That’s what I thought," muttered the man. "Hey Wataru, come her for a sec!"

Usagi watched in confusion as another man appeared from behind several crates. "What is it?"

"I think this marionette’s defective."

Wataru glanced Usagi’s way and she smiled innocently, not understanding what was going on but knowing she needed a way out. Cute had worked in the past, but now the man’s eyes narrowed as he took in that smile.

"Look’s like you’re right. You going to call the guard to take care of her?"

"No, I think I’ll just fix her up and make her my own. She’s kind of cute you know."

This conversation was starting to scare Usagi. "I don’t want the fruit anymore. Just let me go and I’ll leave you alone." She gave a slight tug on her arm, but the man didn’t let go.

"You’re not going anywhere marionette. You’re broken and we’re going to fix you."

"Let me go!" This time Usagi yanked her arm away with all of her strength. The stubborn man continued to hang on, but this simply resulted in him being pulled over the fruit stand and into the street. Releasing both Usagi and the fruit he had been holding, the man clutched at his shoulder and groaned in pain.

Usagi stared at her arm and then down at the man groaning in pain on the ground. "I-I’m sorry," she stammered. "I didn’t mean to…" She trailed off as the second man came around the stand wielding a broom like a staff.

"Stupid marionette, you hurt my brother! I’m gonna turn you into scrap for that."

"It was an accident! Honest, I didn’t mean to hurt him!"

"I think she dislocated my arm," groaned the man on the ground. "Get her Wataru!"

People were starting to gather around to watch the scene unfold and Usagi realized that things had gone from bad to worse and were heading towards terrible. The man seemed hesitant to attack her for some reason, but his courage was growing along with the crowd. Deciding that she didn’t want to deal with this right now, Usagi snatched the banana like fruit from the ground, turned, and ran away.

The shouts from the two men and others gathered there followed her down the street, but she didn’t look back. Barreling forward without really seeing what was in front of her, she bumped into several people causing them to shout angrily as well. Once she knocked over a woman, but she was simply another robot that stared blankly up at the sky from where she lay. Usagi wondered if she even registered the fact that she had fallen and this prompted her to run faster, as if she could outrun her mechanical body.

At last she came to a stop in yet another alley. She listened for sounds of pursuit, but there were only the sounds of people going about their normal business and a glance down the street showed that no one was searching for her. In her blind fight Usagi hadn’t realized that she had sprinted halfway across the city in a matter of minutes. She had outdistanced her pursuers at the very beginning of the chase and was hardly winded despite running several miles at top speed.

Doing her best to conceal herself from the passing crowds, Usagi sat down and examined the fruit she had made off with. The outside peeled away just like a banana, but the fruit inside was bright red. It was a little sour, but good none the less. She gulped down all three in less then a minute.

Sighing contentedly, she leaned back against the wall and once again set her mind to trying to find an explanation for her current state of affairs. Usagi couldn’t think of any reason why she had suddenly turned into a robot and finally came to the conclusion that she didn’t have enough information. Glancing out of the alley she also realized that the only way to find answers was to go back out there.

This idea did not sit well with her though, since her last two encounters with the people of this world had ended in disaster. Still, it was the only way. Giving a long, resigned sigh, she picked herself up off of the ground and headed back out into the city.

* * * * * *

Kei looked down at the figure lying on the ground at his feet and snorted in disgust. This was the third time this week that he had caught Shin asleep on the job. The boy was supposed to be cataloguing the latest shipment and instead he was stretched out on the floor as if he didn’t have a care in the world. This time he hadn’t even tried to hide.

"WAKE UP!" shouted Kei with the intent of startling the young man awake. Shin didn’t even flutter an eyelash. "I said wake up!" This time the declaration was delivered along with a boot to the ribs.

The blow caused the sleeping boy to roll over and groan a bit in his sleep, but that was it. Kei, becoming extremely frustrated, was about to pick the young man up and shake him awake. The sound of shuffling feet caused him to pause as a new idea came to his mind.

"Kasumi," he said addressing the marionette that had just appeared. "I want you to take this lazy bum outside and toss him into the alley. He can consider himself fired."
"As you command," replied the marionette’s dead pan voice.

Content that the situation had been dealt with, Kei turned to leave. His surprise was complete when two hands closed about his neck in a vise like grip.

At first he thought it was Shin and that the boy had just been playing with him. Then he came to the realization that the grip was far too strong to be human. He was able to shift his gaze just enough to see the long brown hair falling about a kimono garbed shoulder. Kasumi, his marionette, was attacking him.

Panic flooded Kei’s mind. He attempted to order the marionette away, but it came out as a gurgle through his choked off windpipe. He was already almost unconscious by the time the black cloud enveloped him. Seconds later he was lying on the ground next to his employee.

Kasumi looked down upon the two men she had drained of energy. They were the only people working here today and few people came to visit the warehouse. That meant that she was going to have to find someplace full of people if she wanted to please her new masters.

With the slow, shuffling gate of most marionette’s, Kasumi left the warehouse in search of more energy to please her masters.

* * * * * *

A short distance from the warehouse there was a large library. This was the only library in all of Japoness and was therefore responsible for making sure that all tomes of knowledge were kept up to date and in good order. To accomplish this they used marionettes to sort, catalogue and restore their books.

As with most places that incorporated marionettes as workers, only one man was used to watch over them and make sure they did as they were supposed to. This man, Tetsuo by name, was now making his rounds, ensuring that the five marionettes that worked in the library were functioning properly. Everything seemed to be in order until he came to the last marionette in his rounds.

This particular marionette was supposed to be replacing books in their proper places on the shelves, but for some reason she was simply staring off into space. Tetsuo had no idea why she might be doing this and that was because of two reasons. One, he couldn’t feel the dark energy that had filtered into the library from a marionette that had just passed by. Two, he didn’t know that the particular marionette he was now observing was programmed to respond to such energy.

"A1," he said (the library did not bother naming their marionettes), "why are you not working?"

The only response the marionette gave was to cock her head slightly to the side. Her short blue hair caught the small amount of light filtering through a small window and this seemed to give her an almost alive look. Tetsuo shivered and dismissed the thought from his mind, never realizing just how correct it was.

"A1, why are you not working?" he repeated.

Within the marionette’s chest a small crystal began to pulse with a blue light, and this time the marionette responded with words. "Initiating program…Ami."

"What are you talking about? What the hell is program…" Tetsuo trailed off as two sky blue eyes turned to regard him. Two sky blue eyes that seemed very much alive.

Ami studied the man at the end of the row and then looked to the rest of her surroundings. She was in a library, that much was obvious. What was not obvious was how she had gotten here. She could not, for the life of her, remember coming to a library.

Using logic, which was her forte, Ami tried to figure out what was going on. She felt as though she had been asleep for some time, so maybe she had simply fallen asleep here and was just experiencing a slight feeling of disorientation upon waking up. The only problem with that line of thought was the fact that she was standing up. People did not drift off into deep sleep standing up.

Secondly, she still couldn’t remember coming to any library. Although she was quite fond of such places, she had not needed to visit one in several days. Thinking back, the last thing she could remember was getting up and leaving for school. Everything afterwards was a blurred jumble of images.

"A1!" bellowed the man at the end of the row of books. "Status report!"
Ami studied the man. He was young and dressed rather strangely, but maybe he could help. She smiled. "Excuse me, but can you tell me where I am and how I got here?"

Tetsuo blanched at seeing a marionette smile and ask questions. "Why the hell did one of them have to go crazy on my shift?" he muttered angrily. Reaching under his robes he pulled out a small cattle prod like object. It was an electromagnetic pulse weapon that was used to shut down rogue marionettes.

Ami had no idea what the thing in Tetsuo’s hand was, but it didn’t look friendly. The way he was advancing towards her, slow and cautious, didn’t help this mindset any. She wondered if maybe he was an agent of the Negaverse and had something to do with her feelings of displacement.

As she considered transforming and fighting, words flashed across her eyes.

Scanning subject…Cross hairs locked onto the man and a full-scale report ensued as to exactly what he was. Human, no dark energy detected. In possession of EMP device. Avoid without doing harm if possible.

To say Ami was stunned speechless would have been an understatement. Things were starting to get freaky and it took all of her self-control to not panic. Still, if the words magically appearing in her eyes were to be believed, she needed to leave.

Taking a few steps backwards, Ami discovered that her legs didn’t quite respond as they were supposed to. As though she had suddenly become as clumsy as Usagi, Ami toppled backwards, tripping over her own feet. Sitting on the ground looking down at her legs, she came to yet another realization. She was dressed just as strangely as the man was.

Ami placed a hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. She had to be hallucinating; she just had to be. As if her thoughts had brought them on, more words flashed before her startled eyes.

Initiating self-diagnostic. An image of what she supposed was herself made an appearance before her eyes. What she saw there and what she read in the ensuing report caused all logical thought to take a flying leap out the nearest window.

Panicking, Ami jumped to her feet and bolted away from the man who just stared after her with wide eyes. She didn’t know where she was going, just that she had to get away. Away from the man, away from the library, away from the words that had just informed her that she was a machine.

At last she found the exit, but when she reached the outside she could only stop and stare. The people, the buildings, the entire landscape was alien to her eyes. She suddenly felt as if she was in some sort of bad science fiction movie.

"Hey you!" Ami spun around and almost landed on her face due to her lack of coordination. Tetsuo was standing in the doorway of the library, and seeing the rogue marionette off balance, he thrust his EMP device in her direction.

Ami made a clumsy jump backward to avoid the electric tip of the weapon, and was surprised when she easily cleared ten feet in height and distance. Her landing was anything but elegant however, and she landed on her butt again. Tetsuo was coming down the stairs in pursuit and Ami didn’t bother to stop and think, she just ran.

The world around her blurred as she went. Some of this blurring was due to her speed, which was incredible, but most of it came from the tears filling her eyes. For one of the first times in her life, Ami had no idea of what was happening. She was in a strange world, being pursued by someone who probably wanted to do bad things to her, and to top it all off, she was apparently a robot.

At last she ended her mad flight and slumped against a building. Ami ignored the strange looks being directed her way by passerby’s and tried to sort through the jumble of facts crowding her mind. Even her logical thinking couldn’t make sense of the limited information she had though, and she was almost reduced to tears once again.

A distant scream cut through her clouded mind to strike a cord deep inside of her soul. Looking up, she spotted a few people running up the street from something out of sight. People were in trouble, and no matter where she was or what she had become, it was still her job to protect the innocent. Words flashed across her eyes as if to confirm her thoughts.

Dark energy detected one hundred yards ahead. Activating Mercury Crystal.

The skin just below Ami’s neck parted to reveal a blue, heart shaped crystal. Looking down at it she felt no fear or panic, only a sense of joy at seeing something solid in a world that had been turned upside down. Ami might not be able to handle the situation right now, but Sailor Mercury could.

Mercury Marionette Power, Make Up.

Not caring if anyone saw or not, Ami raised one hand above her head. "Mercury Marionette Power, Make Up!"

Blue light engulfed her as the all too familiar costume took the place of her strange clothing and pride and courage pushed down fear and confusion.

* * * * * *

Usagi had been wandering the streets for a couple of hours with no success in her search for answers. She had discovered right away that simply asking people was a bad idea. For some reason all the men seemed to have a mindset as to exactly how their robots, or marionettes as they called them, should act. Marionettes who did not act in that way were considered broken and needed to be fixed or destroyed.

Asking questions was not considered proper marionette behavior.

The list of non-marionette acts also included smiling, laughing, frowning, having an opinion, and anything else that real people did. As a marionette, she was apparently expected to wander around staring straight ahead with a look of absolute mindlessness. For Usagi this wasn’t that hard of a task to accomplish and she carried it off very well.

Unfortunately, this was not a good way to get answers. Usagi was putting her limited mental facilities to the task of trying to solve this problem when the words began flashing in her eyes again. This was something she was finally getting used to so she hardly jumped at all this time.

Dark energy detected forty yards west of current position.

A small arrow appeared pointing the way and Usagi followed it thinking she had found another youma. Sure enough, there was another possessed marionette wreaking havoc in the middle of a crowded plaza. Already several men lay strewn about the ground while others tried to escape.

Activating Silver Imperium Crystal.

Usagi shuddered as her crystal seemed to grow out of her chest. That was still really icky as far as she was concerned. Still, it was convenient not to have to worry about losing it all the time.

"Moon Marionette Power, Make Up!" Seconds later Sailor Moon stepped out into the plaza.

Sensing a large amount of energy near by, the youma dropped her latest catch and turned to face the Senshi. It cocked its head to the side and studied her with a face devoid of emotion and eyes burning with a dark light. Suddenly a change overcame the marionette and its face twisted into an evil smile.

"You again," hissed a soft voice. "You are highly annoying for a machine."
Sailor Moon went into speech and pose mode. "I am Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice! All though I may be a machine my heart still beats true and I will never allow scum like you to terrorize the innocent! In the name of the moon I will punish you!"

"Nice speech. Tell me, do you sit at home and think about these things all day?" Without waiting for an answer, the youma threw its hands forward and a ball of darkness sped towards Sailor Moon.

Jumping out of the way of the attack, Sailor Moon reached for her tiara. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

The spinning, golden disk shot forward, but the youma dodged easily. It was smart enough to keep an eye on the tiara and avoided it on the return trip as well. Returning the tiara to its place on her head, Sailor Moon tried desperately to come up with another plan.

The youma wasn’t going to give her the chance though. A dark aura engulfed the marionette and it doubled in size. Long sharp claws appeared on the end of its hands and horns sprouted from its forehead. The look this creature gave Sailor Moon was anything but emotionless.

Leaping into the air with a wordless roar, the youma came down slashing for Sailor Moon’s head. The claws cut through the concrete wall where Moon’s head had been with ease. The lone Senshi had dodged the attack, but she was not a great fighter and knew already that she was way outclassed in this battle. As if to confirm this thought, several sharp darts flashed in her direction.

Sailor Moon had no idea if being a robot would limit the effect of such weapons, but she wasn’t about to find out. She rolled to the side to avoid them, and found herself face to face with the youma. One clawed hand shot out to grab her throat while the other was drawn back in preparation for the final strike. Sailor Moon wondered if marionettes could actually die.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" A blast of icy water slammed into the youma, forcing it to release its grip on Sailor Moon and sending it reeling backwards.

Looking up in surprise and confusion, Sailor Moon spotted Sailor Mercury standing several yards away. Tears filled her eyes; she wasn’t alone in this godforsaken place. Mercury pointed and Moon realized that the reunion would have to wait. They had a youma to deal with now.

Whipping out her wand, she turned to face this creature of darkness. It was currently staring dumbly at one ice-encased limb and seemed to be completely oblivious to its current situation. That was fine, moving targets were hard to hit.

"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"

The youma looked up just in time to see its death.

Sailor Moon was running to Sailor Mercury before she was even sure the attack had worked. It didn’t really matter to her if it did or not. She had a companion, a friend now and nothing bad could ever happen again.

The two Senshi fell into a teary-eyed embrace, neither able to speak for several moments. Finally Sailor Moon broke it when she noted they were attracting the wrong kind of attention. Showing affection was among the things that marionettes did not do.

"What’s going on?" Asked Mercury and it was obvious that she was in the same condition Sailor Moon had been in yesterday.

"Not here," replied Sailor Moon indicating the curious onlookers. "Come on, we’ll find someplace more private."

Then they were gone, speeding across the rooftops of Japoness.

* * * * * *

Baiko examined the pile of dust laying in the middle of the plaza. Her analysis showed that there was nothing unusual about it, just simple dust. Still, none of the people here would go near it. She stood up as Tamasaburo approached.

"They say this is what is left of one of the rogue marionettes," stated Tamasaburo, indicating the dust. "The other two apparently killed it."

Baiko nodded. "And these men?" nine unconscious men lay strewn about the plaza. Others were just beginning to tend to them.

"They are all unconscious, but other than that they seem fine. Witnesses say the rogues did something to them."

"That’s right," stated one man as he approached the pair. "Damn rogue marionettes came down here and just started wreaking havoc. Something has to be done about this. You have to track them down and destroy them!"

The palace guards exchanged glances. They would report their findings and a course of action would be determined by others. Still, it seemed as if they would indeed be tracking down rogue marionettes very shortly.

* * * * * *

Once again the man stood staring out of the large window dominating one side of his office. The sun was high in the sky now, bathing him in its warmth and brilliance. He preferred the night, but the sun was a symbol of hope for him. No darkness, no matter how deep or how evil could blot out the light of the sun.

"Unit number two is now in operation."
The man didn’t bother to turn and look at his companion. "Is that how you think of them now, as units?"

"They may look and act like the Senshi, but they are still machines. You would do well to remember that."
"Those are things I choose not to remember."

"Living in the past can only bring you sorrow."

"Yet we bring the past to the present. You talk about my sorrow, but how much pain and suffering have we brought them?"

There was no answer to his question, and when he finally did turn around his companion was gone. Just as well he supposed. He wasn’t sure he wanted an answer to that question.