The Trial

        'How'd I get myself into this situation?' Serena asked herself for
the umpteenth time, because she was being lead around in circles,
literllay, by Rei, who was directing her by her arms, and seemingly
enjoying it very much. 'Rei would enjoy leading me around like this, and
where is she taking me?'Rei guessed what Serena was thinking, and answered
her.
        "Your going where I thing it will do you some good, Princess." That
sent Serena's already fuzzy mind reeling.
        "Do me some good?!, what do you have in mind?"
        "Again, you'll find out when we get there, Princess."
        "And what's with all this "Princess" stuff?" 'Has Rei finally lost
it? I wonder.' A door was opened and Serena smelled spices, incense, and
something else she couldn't figure out. The smells assaulted her mind as
they got stronger as Rei led her farther into the opening beyond the door.
       'I hope she likes this,' Rei thought, 'then again, the way I know
Serena, she'll love this, if she doesn't kill us first!' Pushing her
farther into the room, Rei saw what the others had ment by they'll be ready
when she arrived.  She saw all of the preparations that they had made, and
smiled.  Serena on the other hand, couldn't see what was going on, and that
started to infuriate her.  Rei saw this, and waved her hand at the others,
and they sped up their work.
        Any more of this, and Serena was going to wrench her hands from
Rei, rip off the blindfold, and demand to know what was going on!  But to
her suprised, Rei released her arms, and stepped away from her.  "Take off
the blindfold."
        Serena did as she was asked and she had to blink a few times before
she convince herself that what she was seeing was real, and not her
imaginatin going into overdrive...
        What she saw was a huge cake that had tons, and tons, and tons of
candles!  Sitting next it was Ami, Leda, and Mina, and they were all
looking at her with aprehension.  Blink, Blink, Blink... was all that
Serena could manage.
****
On the other side of the city, and rapidly moving away, was Darien on his
HondaCBR600RR Super Street Bike.  'There's nothing like a good ride on the
bike to clear ones mind of trouble and just relax!  Now, if only I could
fix my problem with Serena as easily as I fix this turn,' he thought as he
took a sharp turn, and accelerated.  He was in the riding leathers of a
professional driver, complete with sideways kneepads to protect his knees
in a tight turn.  He was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice where he
was.  The lights of an oncoming truck brought him back to reality, and he
looked around.  'This is the place where I was told that my parents had
their car run off the road!'  He pulled over and looked out, accross the
cliff face, and to the valley far below him.  "Beautiful!" escaped his lips
before he knew what had been said, and he had to agree, for it was really
beautiful.  He took off his helmet, and felt the cool breeze coming off the
ocean, just around the next corner of the road.  'I should take Serena here
someday...' the thought trailed off.  The thoughts of his girlfriend still
were like pouring salt into the wound.  'Why am I doing this?' he asked
himself for the 10th time that day.
        He didn't have time to finish that thought, because a jerk in a
sports car was weaving all over the road, and nearly hit him, and only
missed because Darien moved himself and his bike out of harms way.
"JERK!!" he yelled, and shook his fist at him.  'There are some real idoits
on the road tonight.'  He decided that he had enough of reminicing, and
decided to go back to town and sleep for the night.
****
        "This is the best night of my life!"  Serena squeeled.
        "Were glad you like it."
        "Yeah, you looked like you needed it!"
        "It's our pleasure."
        "Why are you doing this for me?" She had managed to keep from
asking that for the whole night, but it finally got to her, and she had to
ask.  The four answered all at once.
        "You were feeling sad about "you know who""  Serena knew who "you"
was.  Then, suddenly, all were caught in a blast of cold, though none of
the candles were ruffled by the apparent wind.
        "Did you feel that?"
        "Sure did!"
        "What was it?"
        "It was a wave of nega-energy, it's so strong that it could only be
Rubius!"
        Serena stood up, "Rei, if it IS Rubius, how powerfull do you think
he is?"
        "If he could control the sisters, he must be very powerful."
        "Let's take him on!" Leda yelled, enthusiastically.
        Rei looked at her with a powerfull glare, "If he's that powerful,
he could probably take car eof us with little trouble, and that would not
be good.  I've had my fill of dying, how 'bout the rest of you?"  They knew
that Rei was reffering to the fight against Queen Beryl.  Serena put a hand
on Rei's shoulder, and spoke quietlly.
        "If we quit, who'll save the world?"
        "You can't be seriously considering this!"
        "Yes.  I am."
        "He'll tear us apart!"
        "Not if we work together and attack him all at once."  There was no
denying the logic of her thought.  Rei considered it, and eventually had to
agree, and as soon as she did, another cold wind blew threw them all.  "It
looks like we have no choice anyway."  All at once, they transformed.
        "Mercury Star Power!"
        "Venus Star Power!"
        "Mars Star Power!"
        "Jupiter Star Power!"
        "Moon Crystal Power!"
        The bright light that engulfed the room was seen for miles away.
        "Lets book it, he's all the way accross town!" Sailor Mercury said
after studing her computer for afew moments.
        "Wouldn't it be easier to use the Sailor Teleport?"  They all
looked at Serena, and then the sounds of four hands slapping four foreheads
could be heard.
        "Leave to to ditz-ball-head to come up with an easy solution."
        "Cut it out Rei, we have a job to do."  And on that note, they all
linked hands, intoned "Sailor Power", and vanished in a flash of light.
****

        The orange tabby with black stripes that was doing the routine on
the fence was pretty good, actually, unlike what his reputation said.  His
routine had two high points.  The first high point was when the old man
that lived in the building next to the allyway threw a potted plant at him,
because the cat did an impression of Yoko Onno singing, and the neighbour
took an insult at being woken up by such bad singing.  He winged the plant
right back at its owner with the quote "I think I should give him his plant
back!"  Most of the assemblage thought that he was going to shred it and
put it on his step, and was therefore shocked when he threw it.  The second
was when he forgot about the new addition to his audience.
        "I once new a dog so dumb, he had to stop and ask directions when
he was going to sit down!  Actually, that applies to all dogs, that's why
they have to spin around before lying down!"  The whole assembalage started
to laugh, but caught themselves when they remebered that they had a DOG in
the audince, and in some cases, right next to some of them.  They moved
away.  All eyes turned to the animal.
        The dog blinked, and then threw her head back and laughed so hard
that Monkell, Edmundy, and several cats thought that she would break
something!  The laughter turned contagious, and before anyone knew it, the
whole audience was laughing, rolling around, and and crying from the sheer
strangeness from the situation.  Soon the fit had ended and the routine
continued, and the fat cat signed off with a flourish, and then fell
backwards, off the fence.  That was the show for the night, and the crowd
broke up.  When they had left, the only ones left were Luna, Artemis, the
Dog, Monkell, and Edmundy.
        "I'll be back tomorrow, and I want to see you then" Luna instructed
the kittens.  They looked at their mother, and shrugged.  Luna and a very
confused Artemis then took their leave.  When they were a safe distance
away, Artemis looked Luna square in the eye.
        "Luna what do you think you are doing, telling them to be back
tomorrow?"
        "Simple.  They are being rased by a DOG.  That's no way for a cat
to live, and I intend to fix it.
        "How?"
        "By taking them away from that thing."
****
        Darien was pulling into his apartment's buildings garage, when a
familiar sick feeling renched at him.  'Serena is fighting' he thought and
turned around, pulling away from the door at maximum speed.  He raced along
the road, instictivly knowing where he was going.  'The Docks'.  He broke
more that a few speed laws in his hast to get to his love.  He nearly
crashed his bike on two occasions, but his skill on it saved him from any
harm.  As he neared the docks, he focused his mind, and the feeling of
power as energy enveloped him coursed through his veins as he changed into
the formatible Tuxedo Mask.  He had a bad feeling about this one, like
something evil was plotting a major battle.
****
        In the brief moment it took to move from one side of town to the
other, the Sailor Scouts thought about what they were going to do.  But,
like all moments, this one ended too quickly and they had to concentrate on
the task at hand.  They took their berings, and found that they were at the
docks, with shipping warehouses, large and foreboding, standing in the
night.  A sudden peirce of noice stirred the night.  It was a dog, and many
cats all howling.
        "What was that?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
        "We don't have time to figure it out." Sailor Moon pointed out, as
they were on top of where they needed to be.  They stood in front of the
third warehouse, and the feeling of evil that had started this intensified,
increasing in geometric leaps.  It started to cause a sense of fear in the
group.  Sailors Mercury and Moon started to look around, as if looking for
an excuse to leave the immidate area.  Sailor Jupiter looked as if the fear
caused a rush of adreniline, and she was even more pumped up for the fight
than before.  Mars and Venus just looked like it didn't faze them at all.
"I suppose we should go in."
        "Yup!  Let's go!" Jupiter said enthusiastically.
        "Yeah, I'm ready.  Are you?"  Mars asked the others.  It did much
for their moral.  They walked up to the door, and decided that a frontal
assault would be suicidal.  They worked their way up to the roof, and
dropped in from a skylight.  The feeling was suffocating, and the eerie
voice that boomed out did nothing to lighten up the atmosphere.
        "Why, Sailor Scouts!  I'm glad that you all came.  You shall die!"
Rubieus' voice threatened.
        "You're going to be moon dust when I get my hands on you!  We
turned the four sisters, and now you're all alone!" Moon shouted back.
        "Yup, your in for the slammer, this time!"
        "You're going back where you came from, and you're never coming back!"
        "Are you going to hide in the shadows all day, or are you going to
come out and fight like a man."
        "Look behind you."  They did, and Rubius was there, floating in
mid-air, a crooked grin on his face.
        "What are you smiling for? Never mind, I'll enjoy whiping that grin
off your face, personally!" Moon taunted.
        "Ah, the big, bad, Sailor Moon, you'll never leave this place
alive." And with that, he turned his head, and nodded to the showdows.  He
did the same on his other side.
        None of the sailors had time to react as a loud "BANG" resounded in
the warehouse, painting a large crimson splotch on Sailor Moons shoulder as
the bullet peirced her flesh.  From the other side, the next shot hit her
square in the chest, painting her with more crimson.  Later, all she would
be able to recall of the incident is Rubieus' cackling laughter.