(This is where the first part leaves off, with Mercury in serious 
trouble.)




She stopped when she heard a girl yelling, "HOLD IT!"

The werewolf stepped over Mercury, and looked to see who was foolish 
enough to even try to say such a thing.

Standing on that boy's car was none other than Sailor Moon. Good, a 
target, the beast thought.

Sailor Moon said, "I am Sailor Moon! Champion for Love and Justice! 
You're going to pay, dog-breath! Big time!"

The werewolf just grinned. Then she said, "You don't have a chance, 
Sailor Moon. You're all alone now. Don't make me drain your energy, too. 
It would be so much easier if you just handed over the Silver Crystal 
for my master." Who knows? Maybe she could get a big bonus out of this 
job.

Sailor Moon laughed back, "You've got a lot of nerve, creep. You're not 
going anywhere."

"In the name of the Moon!..."

"and in the name of my friends."

"I'LL PUNISH YOU!!!!"

The werewolf immediately cocked back her head and opened her mouth, 
shooting a large stream of fire at Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon jumped up 
and over the blast, which went behind her and dissipated harmlessly. 
Sailor Moon hit the ground, and was kneeling.

The werewolf charged, slashing with its claws several times. Sailor Moon 
dodged and scrambled out of the way. The werewolf sent her fire against 
Sailor Moon again. She dodged, but fell flat first on the ground. This 
wasn't going so well.

She took out her scepter...

"You're going to get moon-dusted, you know that?" The werewolf wasn't 
impressed. The beast kept on coming, slowly, stalking. Sailor Moon had 
to do this just right.

The werewolf leapt at her again. She dodged to the side, rolling, The 
werewolf blasted the ground with her fire, and Sailor Moon fell back, 
off balance. She tried to get back up, with her scepter gripped mainly 
with her left hand... The werewolf batted it away. The scepter skidded 
on the ground, far out of reach, while the werewolf was standing almost 
over her.

Just as she had planned...

Sailor Moon reached her forehead with her right hand, grasping her 
tiara. "Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon threw her tiara all of three feet 
to hit the werewolf straight in the chest. Absolutely stunned, the 
werewolf roared, and she screamed in agony! The tiara was ripping a hole 
through her chest, and disrupiting her life force. The werewolf managed, 
barely, to stumble back. But it was losing energy... just not enough.

The werewolf said, "You're through. You haven't won yet." Sailor Moon 
simply frowned. She wasn't going to lose this one.

"Shining Aqua ILLUSION!!"

Both of the combattants turned to see Sailor Mercury, recovered, as the 
werewolf was struck by a column of ice and freezing cold, gripping it in 
place. The werewolf was disoriented and confused, but realized it had 
made a critical mistake. It hadn't finished the job. It thought Sailor 
Mercury was drained into unconciousness, but she had fooled him. She had 
only a small ammount of energy drained, and now it paid the price.

Sailor Moon said, "Hey, Mercury, I'm glad to see you're alright." 
Mercury replied back, "Yes, but Venus isn't. Quick! Finish her off!"

Sailor Moon walked over to get her scepter, slowly. She wasn't in a 
hurry for some strange reason. She bent down, and picked it up. Then she 
turned to the monster as the aqua illusion lost its power and the 
monster was free.

Finally, Sailor Moon said, "This is for Tuxedo Mask."

"Moon!"

"Sceptre!!"

"ELIMINATION!!!"

Sailor Moon's final attack completely destroyed the werewolf, turning it 
to fine black dust. It simply faded away. A chilling wind contuinued to 
blow. Sailor Moon's pigtails swayed in the breeze.

---

Bishoujo Mask sensed that her minion had been destroyed. Ten souls, she 
thought to herself. A decent haul. The Dark Crystal would be powerful 
enough now to serve as insurance. It wasn't quite enough yet, but it was 
a start.

---

Serena asked Mina, "You sure you're all right?" They were still in 
Sailor uniforms. Mina nodded. They had assembled all the zombie-like 
victims of the werewolf together in one place. Serena hadn't seen them 
yet... when she did, she gasped. She was shocked to see just how pitiful 
they were, totally mindless, at least for now... but they really did 
have their souls plucked right out of them. It was horrible...

Darien, though injured, was walking fine, and was right beside her. He 
put a hand on her shoulder, and said to her, "Do you think you can heal 
them?" Serena looked back, in surprise and confusion. Artemis - who 
wasn't feeling great but was also fairly mobile - said, "You should be 
able to do it with the Crystal. Don't stress yourself too much, but you 
should be able to bring back at least part of them. They'll be drained 
badly, but I think they'll be alright."

Serena turned to him, and nodded. She took the Silver Crystal out from 
her brooch.

She said, "Moon Crystal Healing Activation!" Magic power flowed out of 
the crystal into the bodies of the victims. Each of them, who were 
standing (just aimlessly), suddenly groaned and collapsed. Serena 
gasped, "I didn't want to do that!" Mercury waved her off, calming her 
down. She checked one, and opened his eyes. They were a nice brown 
color. She scanned them with her VR visor just to make sure. She looked 
up at Sailor Moon, and said, "It's okay, they're alright. You did it, 
Serena."

A police car with flashing blue lights came around the corner of the 
street, not far off. It was moving slowly, but its headlights were 
turning onto the Sailor Scouts and the injured Tuxedo Mask. Mina said, 
"No time - let's book it, NOW!" Everyone agreed.

As they were leaving, Sailor Moon said to her love, "I want to visit you 
tomorrow to take care of those wounds some more." She had used the rest 
of his shredded cloak to cover his wounds, and did a fairly good job of 
it, actually. He said, "Sure, Meatball-head. I'm not going anywhere." 
Serena blushed and smiled, "You just had to say that, had you?"

---

The next morning

The TV reporter finished, "Rumor is that it was Sailor Moon who rescued 
the victims and put an end to the menace to our suburbs. Once again, the 
Sailor Scouts have..." the television clicked loudly as it turned off, 
having been issued a command by a little infrared light from a remote 
control.

Resting on the table that this useful device was laid on was a single 
object, a small but heavy gold ring, shaped in the symbol of Mars.

Alex sighed. He thought to himself that he had no choice, and that he 
did the right thing. Somehow it didn't seem right. Maybe he was just 
rusty... he was a trained warrior, and liked a good fight. He enjoyed 
it. His current assignment was too... calm. Too sneaky. That was for the 
likes of Bishoujo, he thought, not him.

Look on the bright side, he told himself. You've got Mina, and this 
relationship might actually be going places. He wondered what would 
happen if they actually got together. His "job" wasn't exactly 
equal-opportunity. Well, that wasn't the important thing. The important 
thing was what she thought of him, right? And what did she think? Good 
things, at the moment. Well, he wasn't worried. He was a decent guy. Not 
like some people he had known...

Better to not think about that, he thought.

What nagged him in the back of his mind was his ring's reaction that 
last night. To that girl. He was still strictly under cover, and 
besides, he worked alone, and liked it. But he needed answers. He had to 
find out what went on that night. That girl was special, for some 
reason.

It wasn't like with Mina, he told himself. Fine, she looked good, but he 
actually cared for Mina... with that girl Rei, it was, what? Curiosity? 
Something else. They connected, somehow. Somehow... differently...

---

The sun had just risen. Thin beams of light strayed into the room, a 
simple room at the Temple, comfortable and serene in its own way. Birds 
were chirping in the background, but what woke Rei up was the cawing of 
Phobos and Deimos, her two pet ravens.

Rei was lying on a futon, with a thin blanket over her, in her temple 
robes. She was comfortable, but she had been sleeping for quite a long 
time, and just woke up spontaneously. Not quickly, she just opened her 
eyes at first, but she wasn't tired. She rolled over slightly, and began 
to sit up.

Nearby, Luna was purring ever so slightly as she slept. Rei was 
surprised to see Serena here, also, sleeping on her side not far from 
Rei's futon, on the floor. Rei nudged Serena with her left hand, shaking 
her slightly. Serena actually didn't take much encouragement. She 
yawned, and started to open her eyes. That got Rei to yawn too, and 
that's when Serena noticed Rei was awake.

Serena smiled, and said, "Hey, Rei..." Rei smiled back, "Hey, Serena. 
What are you doing here?" Serena yawned and stretched her arms, then sat 
up. Luna wasn't quite awake yet. She moved a paw over her nose, 
scratched it a little, then put it back inder her head. Serena explained 
to Rei, "Chad was here until late at night, then I took over for him. He 
wanted to stay longer. He was so worried." Rei asked, "What happened?" 
Serena explained.

Rei seemed somewhat surprised. She said, "Wow, you took on that monster 
all by yourself then?" Serena said, "I had a bit of help, but, yeah, I 
did." Rei said, "I'm really proud of you." Serena forgot one last 
part... she explained what Lita did. Rei seemed shocked at first, but 
took it well. Rei said, "That must have been really hard for her. It 
must have been very scary." Serena said, "No, no, she was really brave 
about it. She insisted." Rei thought about that, and just nodded. She 
said, "If you girls don't mind, I'm going to take over the praying and 
fire reading from now on," she said with a sly smile, "okay?" Serena 
said, "I don't think Lita'll mind one bit."

Luna woke up now, and said, "Rei, you're awake, finally." Rei said, "You 
sleepyhead." Luna frowned with something of indignation. Serena asked 
Rei, "So you're feeling fine?" Rei said, "Sure. Say, now that I'm all 
right, you mind telling me just what's going on with Mina and this Alex 
guy?" Serena found it an odd question, given what she had just gone 
through. Serena said, slowly, "Um, they're getting to be an item, if 
that's what you mean. What about you and Chad?" she asked. Rei blushed, 
but she said, "Well, I'm really touched by how worried he was. I'd be 
worried about him too... but, well..." Serena didn't quite understand. 
Rei said, "Well... he's sort of, he's a great friend and all, but I'm 
not sure if we could get really close or not." Serena said, "Maybe a 
little later." Rei nodded. She said, "Maybe when he becomes a man." That 
got giggles all around.

Rei said, "For some reason, I'm hungry."

Lita's head popped around the open doorway. Lita said, "Hi, I 
overheard." Rei smiled broadly, and said, "Lita! I'm so glad to see 
you." Lita said to Rei, "I'm going to cook up a storm for everyone."

Rei asked, "Everyone?" Lita answered, "Yeah, the rest of the girls are 
coming over here soon, to see how you're doing. They're going to be 
really glad you're okay." Rei turned to Serena, and said, "Um, 
afterwards, you should drop by Darien's apartment." Serena asked if that 
was alright with her, and Rei said, "You did your part. I... really 
appreciate it, Serena. Thank you." She said it with absolute sincerity, 
too. Serena smiled, and said, "You'd do the same for me."

Lita said, "So what would you like? I've got a whole lot of yummy 
recepies just waiting for the right ingredients."

Luna said, "Anything except catnip." Lita answered, "I didn't think I 
was cooking for cats." Luna said, "After all I've done for you? Be more 
grateful! After all I have to put up with, I deserve a gourmet feast." 
Everyone laughed.

---

Lita had already cooked for Chad and Rei's grandfather, by the time the 
others had arrived. Rei was hungry but wanted to eat with the others. 
Everyone had a nice meal of seafood, good stuff, all fresh. Some of it 
was a good suchi meal, and Rei's grandfather made a point of eating it 
very raw. Rei's tastes were a little different. Lita made a few 
compromises, added some little touches here and there, and everyone had 
a good time. They had a few sweets, too. 

Well, Serena thought they did. She reached for a chocolate muffin 
without looking, but didn't find anything. That was odd. She looked, and 
blurted (with a mouth half full of rice), "Where'd my muffins go?!?" The 
girls looked at Serena oddly, but Amy looked and said, "She's right. I 
wonder what happened to it." Mina looked at Artemis, who vehemently 
shook his head. Everyone thought about it, and since no one was talking, 
they heard some munching nearby...

Serena, with the others over her shoulder, walked over to the passage to 
the next room. She peeked slowly over the side of the door... the others 
looked, too, Lita using her long legs to get a good look, Artemis 
passing between a few shoeless feet.

Most of the muffins were already gone. The silver plate was still there, 
littered with crumbs. To everyone's shock and amazement, it was... Luna! 
Her cheeks were all brown from the chocolate. Serena was shocked, and 
let out an appropriate sound. "LUNA?!" she squealed. Luna looked up and 
noticed... EVERYONE... staring at her. A huge drop of sweat rolled down 
her forehead.

Luna asked indignantly, "WHAT!?"

No one said anything. They were all speechless. Except, unfortunately 
for him, Artemis, who said, "You're going to need an aerobics program, 
Luna."

He squealed and yelped after Luna pounced on him, while she proceeded to 
knock the stuffing out of him. The girls just watched in amazement, 
still speechless.

(THE END)