Sailor Moon Future
                      Episode 4: Contact Has Been Made

    We start out with the familiar twentieth century characters, Usagi and
Luna, walking down the street.
    Usagi: "Do you really think we can find the moon princess?  I mean, how
could you _know_ you have the right person?"
    Luna: "Under certain circumstances I can be pretty sure who she is.  But
you have to keep searching!"
    Usagi: "Since you can detect her, wouldn't it be easier if you did the
searching instead of me?  Besides, I want to go see that movie.  I just looove
the guy in it." Isn't he cute?  We've got to see it...."
    Usagi walks up to the theater when Luna begins to meow rather loudly.
Luna climbs up a convenient ladder to whisper into Usagi's ear "Stop!  I've
detected something odd...  that girl over there--she's definitely the princess
of the moon!"  She points to Pink Lady, standing nearby with Kameko.

                               OPENING CREDITS

    Luna starts to pad up to Pink Lady, who spots Luna, smiles, then frowns and
begins to back off.  Usagi asks Pink Lady "Hi!  I was just wondering, are you
the moon princess?"  Luna makes an exasperated face at Usagi for being so
direct.
    Pink Lady: "Well, uh, it's sort of difficult to explain, but, er, not at
the moment.  I mean no, I'm not the moon princess."  Usagi refuses to accept
it and tells her that Luna never made that big a mistake before.  "Luna?",
Pink Lady asks.  Luna speaks, "Don't be alarmed that I can talk.  We really
need to discuss an urgent problem with you."  Usagi says "She said no!"
    Usagi and Luna argue while Pink Lady and Kameko run away.  Some bystanders
look at Usagi as she argues with her cat.  "Uh, er, just thinking something
over...  I'm not really talking to a cat no matter what it looks like."  Usagi
and Luna resume the chase.

    Pink Lady transforms her pocketbook with a "Luna-P Henge!" into an umbrella
and points it at the oncoming Luna and Usagi.  She spins it.  It easily
affects Usagi's weak mind, and she slows down and stops, mesmerized.  Luna's
eyes briefly go white, but she regains her senses and says "Stop, stop!",
clawing alternately at Pink Lady and Usagi.
    Pink Lady: "Stop, yourself!  You don't know what you're doing!  Just for-
get you ever saw us here...."  Usagi is muttering "we don't know...  what
we...  are...  doing...  forget..."  Luna keeps trying to wake Usagi, and at-
tack Pink Lady, but she manages to fend Luna off every time.  Pink Lady con-
tinues "Please, it's a secret why you have to stay away from us.  But the moon
princess is somewhere else!" as Luna tries to stop her from twirling her um-
brella.  Luna thinks "It's like...  like she's _practiced_ fending me off..."

    Brief shot of the same shadowy figure we saw in previous episodes.

    Suddenly a ticking sound fills the air.  Everyone except Usagi (still
sitting on the ground dazed) looks around for the source.  A cloud of dust
appears and coalesces into a youma-like Chronicle, a blue woman wearing a
movie theater usher's uniform and carrying a box of tickets.  "Our first show.
The end of Sailor Moon!"  She pulls out a handful of tickets and throws them
like knives at Usagi.  Luna, scrambling madly, drags Usagi out of the way and
the tickets make large slashes in the body of a nearby parked car.  The
Chronicle says "No pets allowed during the show!" and tosses more at Luna, who
dodges frantically.
    Kameko and Pink Lady look at each other and come to a fairly obvious
decision.  They each transform.  "Earth Celestial Power, Make Up!"  "Moon
Prism Power, Make Up!"
    Sailor Earth says "History may be a difficult subject to take tests on,
but doesn't mean you can go around fooling with it at will!"  Sailor Moon
(future) continues "Even if the movies always get history wrong, for the
sake of history, Sailor Moon..."  Sailor Earth follows with "... and Sailor
Earth, will punish you!"
    Usagi is beginning to wake up.  "Hey, who are you, stealing my thunder?
I'm Sailor Moon, and there is no other!  Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"  She
transforms too.

    Sailor Moon (present), energized by the sudden threat to her life, starts
off her attack first.  "Moon... uh?"  Sailor Earth says "Moon Tiara Action!"   .
Sailor Moon (present) replies "Thanks.  Wait, how did you know that?"  She
says "Moon Tiara Action!" and throws the tiara, which hits the Chronicle in
the middle of the chest.  It falls off, the Chronicle yelps "Ouch!" and throws
another barrage of deadly movie tickets back at her.  "Oh no", exclaims
Sailor Moon (present), "that didn't destroy it!"

    "Pink Moon Heart Arrest!"  Pink hearts slam into the Chronicle, knocking
her back into a picket fence.  "Bio...  sphere!"  A bluish-green sphere crushes
the Chronicle, who screams and crumbles into dust.

    Everyone is back to normal, though the street is not in good shape.  Usagi,
while digging through the rubble for free movie tickets (which she stows in
her pockets), shouts "I want to know what's going on!  I'm not even Sailor Moon
for a week and already I'm obsolete!"

                               COMMERCIAL BREAK

    Kameko, Pink Lady, Usagi, and Luna are sitting in an ice cream store.
Everyone except for the cat is eating ice cream.  Kameko gets the first word in
before Pink Lady and says "We'd better tell you everything..."  They explain
that they're really Usagi's children from the 31st century, ("But wouldn't I
be sort of wrinkly by then?") and that Pink Lady is _a_ moon princess, but not
_the_ moon princess.  (Usagi thinks "I wish I knew who the moon princess of
the present is...")  Something went dreadfully wrong, plopping them into the
wrong time period, and they have to find out what's wrong, defeat the monsters,
and get back from the past (Usagi: "Don't you mean the present?")
    "If you're my children, who's your father?"  Kameko and Pink Lady whisper
a few things and then Kameko replies "Uh-uh, have to leave some things
secret...  Please, we don't want to change the past here.  It could lead to
a disaster."

    Pink Lady and Kameko are back in their hotel room.  Pink Lady doesn't
believe it's unsafe to tell the people of the past things, because after all
the last time she came to the past she didn't change anything at all no matter
what she did.
    Later on, when the sisters are in their beds, Kameko wakes and speaks
to her sister.
    "Oneechan?"
    "Mmmm...  Kiss me, prince Terah..."
    "He's twice your age and married.  Now wake _up_!"
    "Ohhhh...  what did you disturb that dream for, Kameko-chan?"
    "I realized, we _have_ to go tell them everything."
    "Great, saw it my way?"
    "No...  but...  I remembered.  Sailor Senshi history lessons...  Someone
named Nephrite...  he turned to the side of good, and died for his troubles.
We have to save him somehow."
    "Kameko-chan, I don't worry about doing things that might change the future
because you _can't_ change the future.  Nothing you can do will save anyone
here who isn't supposed to be saved already...."
    "Since when did you become Pluto?  We have to try!"

    The next morning they are talking over breakfast.  Pink Lady points out
that they don't know what Nephrite looks like, or what his civilian name is.
In fact, there is little they can do except tell Usagi "Nephrite turns good
later.  Keep him alive."
    Kameko writes exactly those words on a piece of paper, puts it in an
envelope, and writes "Do not open until after Jadeite is defeated."

    The next order of business is to go to school.  They have no records, of
course, and their home addresses look a little suspicious, but a little use of
Luna-P to cloud people's minds goes a long way, and in no time (but enough
time for it to be lunch) they are registered under the last name of Hime.
Kameko will be in grade 8, and Pink Lady in grade 9.  Usagi, going to the
restroom with a Nakayoshi manga in her hands, passes by, and Kameko slips her
the envelope.  She tucks the envelope between two pages, thanks them "though I
don't know what for yet!", and goes on her way.

    As they leave for the hotel, everything seems fine until they hear shouts.
"Tsukino-san!  Reading manga in class?  Give me that!"  Shortly afterwards,
"And what's this?  Nephrite turns good later?  Keep him alive?  Is this some
kind of secret code?"

    The mysterious figure we've seen before, now slightly more visible as a
ghostly woman wearing red, is also listening in.  "The girl told her about
someone named Nephrite?  He must be important.  Well, I'll find him."  Where
one might expect an evil laugh, she only sighs.

Coming attractions:

Kameko: "Our first day of school in the ancient past leaves us fighting
enemies that even attack during school hours!  How could they?"
Pink Lady: "Maybe they want to get the discarded manga."
    Tune in next week for our next episode of Sailor Moon Future: "It wasn't
like this last time!"