Okay, the next chapter of this thing..

The owner of this E-mail account is not the one
writing the message..

Go ahead and send C&C to here or the list.. 
I read the archive every day, so I'll get it eventually..

Ok, here goes...

[SM] Nuke'em'TillTheyGlow!!


&&&[Begin Chapter 2]

	Terra was sleeping soundly when she heard a doorbell. She 
awoke with a start, then looked at the clock. By the clock, she 
had just under two minutes to make it to school. She was a blur 
getting ready. It took her approximately four seconds. She then 
rushed down stairs, grabbed her lunch, said bye to her mom, and 
rushed out the door.

	"She sure seemed full of energy this morning.." Terra's dad 
said, amazed at her speed, "Must be eating a lot of fiber or 
something.."

	"She's been off fighting evil." Kasumi said happily. Terra's 
dad thought about it for a while.

	"Well, that explains it.. I think." He said.

---

	When Serena woke up that morning, her clock said that she 
was going to be late. She attributed it to setting clock ahead. 
She would have stayed in bed had Luna not gotten her up. She 
remembered that she had to meet Terra this morning, so she went to 
her house. Ten seconds after she rang the doorbell, Terra rushed 
out at an incredible speed, grabbed her by the arm and rushed off 
towards school.

	This would not be a very abnormal experience for Serena had 
she not been flying behind Terra while she was running. But Terra 
was running at just under mach one, was leaping over buildings to 
find shortcuts, and Serena WAS hanging in the air behind Terra as 
she ran. Therefore, as one might guess, her mind was whirling as 
this happened. Anyone else who saw this dismissed it as a figment 
of their imagination.

	Terra, on the other hand was so concentrated on getting to 
school on time that she didn't notice that she was, for all 
intents and purposes, breaking the laws of physics.. not to 
mention the speed limit. And, after studious avoidance of 
potential property damage, they had arrived at school.. with a 
minute to spare.

	"How.. how did you do that?" Serena asked, recovering from 
the shock of the acceleration and deceleration. She suddenly 
wondered if Terra would mind doing it again. It was better than a 
roller coaster ride.

	"I don't know.. All of the sudden, I.. could." Terra said 
thoughtfully, in a very nice, sweet tone, "You know, I couldn't do 
that until this morning.. Maybe it has something to do with the 
'Sailor Senshi' thing.."

	"Oh, could be, could be," Arby said, climbing out of Terra's 
lunch.

	"WHAT'S THAT?!" Serena asked, shocked.

	"What? Oh, him. He's an ArbyFish." Terra said cheerfully. 
"He's the one who showed up and asked me to help last night." 

	"So.. he's kinda like Luna." Serena said.

	"Luna?"

	"My cat."

	"Luna's awake?" Arby asked hopefully. Serena nodded. "'Scuse 
me, gotta go make a mushroom delivery." Arby flew off. Serena and 
Terra shrugged at this and arrived in class just before the bell.

	"By the way, what was he doing in your lunch?" Serena asked 
from her desk.

	"Sleeping. You'll have to ask him why. I haven't the 
slightest idea." Terra responded before the bell rang and class 
began.

---

	That particular morning, Luna had been following Serena and 
discussing possible past-life identities of the Starlight Knight 
and Tuxedo Mask, and later how to search for the Moon Princess. 
Luna's memory was a tad fuzzy on the subject because of light 
brain damage incurred by the long wait in cryo-freeze, but she 
didn't mention that. She did, however, mention the personality of 
the Moon Princess. When Luna elaborated on this, Serena said that 
it sounded a lot like Terra, who she had become familiar with 
while showing her around. Luna then followed Serena to Terra's 
house, where Serena had rung the doorbell and been snatched by 
what was, from Luna's perspective, a blur. Luna had then tried to 
follow the remaining dust trail, but a minute later, she had 
become buried in a pile of mushrooms that had been dropped on her.

	"'Ello. 'Ow are you?" Luna heard a voice with an odd accent 
say.

	<Oh no, it couldn't be..> Luna thought as she emerged from 
the pile, finally seeing the fluttering green seal. "ARBY?!" She 
said in disbelief.

	"I'm back!" Arby said happily.

	"No! I refuse to believe that this is happening." Luna said, 
closing her eyes and covering her ears as best she could, humming 
loudly. All at once, memories of Arby came cascading back: 
memories of a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong...

###[Flashback]

	"I'm glad you could all be here to witness this momentous 
occasion." The Mercurian scientist said, "I would also like to 
thank and acknowledge the presence of Queen Serenity, who had 
assisted us in funding this project, First Advisor Luna, for the 
donation of her DNA for this experiment, and the many scientists 
who worked on this project." Each nodded at their acknowledgement.

	The observers were behind a thick pane of plexiglass, and 
the scientists were communicating via microphone.

	"As you know, this is our first step in being able to repair 
errors in the genetic structure and even repair an entire being 
from something as small as a single cell." Another scientist 
continued, "Using this technology, terminally ill patients could 
be restored from nothing more than their genetic samples," she 
before finishing, "Well, this is it, the moment of truth." She and 
other workers on the project began the final parts of the 
experiment.

	The genetic sample was placed into the main unit. The main 
unit was essentially a large cylindrical tank filled with the 
proper chemicals. People began working at their various stations. 
People stop, and a sense of completion is near.

	One scientist off to the left  notices something odd about a 
steel plate cover by the main unit. He calls over his supervisor. 
They remove the plate and get a shocked expression. One hits his 
fist down on a button and alarms sound. A voice comes on the 
intercoms telling everyone to leave.

	[WARNING! DANGER LEVEL CODE: WILL ROBINSON! ALL MUST 
EVACUATE NOW!] The voice said in an urgent tone. Everyone hurried 
out of the affected area. They could see the beginnings of a dark 
brown smoke forming in the lab and something was forcing its way 
out of the tank. People filed out as the tank was jarred 
repeatedly by whatever was inside it. As the last person left, the 
tank ripped open, the smoke obscuring the shape that left it. The 
four inch thick steel doors slammed closed.

	The former observers went quickly to find whatever cover 
they could when the lab guards and the Queen's Sailor Senshi came 
to combat what horrors could have been created in the lab.

	"I'm truly sorry," The head scientist said to Queen 
Serenity, preparing for imminent destruction at the hands (Or more 
likely, CLAWS) of the failed experiment.

	The steel doors began to glow a bright red.

	The Sailor Senshi took ready positions.

	The door shattered inward in a flash of fire, sparks, and 
smoke.

	When the smoke cleared, the doorway was empty, or so they 
thought until Luna picked up the terrifying, oh so terrifying 
words:

	"'Ello! 'Ow are you?" 

	Luna screamed.

###[End Flashback]

	<It was a frightening experience,> Luna thought grimly. It 
had been the result of sabotage by an unknown party. It suceeded, 
since the project was scrapped soon afterwards. 

	Later, she had apologized to what had called itself the 
"ArbyFish" for overreacting and taken it upon herself to try to 
train him to become a royal advisor as she had. She thought it 
wouldn't be THAT much trouble to teach him. She was wrong.

	"Mushroom for the teacher?" Arby asked, overjoyed at finding 
his mentor.

	"Um, no, thanks. Perhaps later," Luna said, lightly 
frightened, scrambling out of the pile and continuing to try to 
get to Serena.

	"Hey, wait! I'm not through with you yet." Arby said, 
following Luna.

---

	Atomic Starlight Knight had just finished the final touches 
on what he euphemistically called "The First Harbringer of Total 
Destruction." Forty tons of Slice-em Dice-em Nuke-Em-Till-They-
Glow power.

	<Yes, an excellent level one sparring partner for my 
reincarnation.> He thought.

	<Isn't this a little.. excessive?> He thought back.

	<Nah, I watched Dragon Ball Z yesterday. This kind of thing 
is routine.> He thought smugly.

	<Ah, so when will the 50g training begin?> He thought 
sarcastically.

	<As soon as I get the room set up.> He thought seriously.

	<Oooookay. If you say so..>

	<Well, get cracking!> Another part of his mind thought.

	<Yeah, maybe we can blow something up!>

	<Later, later.>

	<But I want to blow something up now!>

	<Yeah!>

	<Not yet!>

	<But I want to blow something up now!>

	"Shut up, shut up! Everyone just SHUT UP!!" He yelled, 
pounding on his head. Yes, there would be explosions today. He had 
called ahead and contracted for the removal of an old warehouse 
district. Nobody lived there. He had checked twice. The entire 
area was condemned and slated for demoltion. Hey, public service 
AND training. Can't beat that. He really wouldn't ask anyone but 
himself to fight this thing. And so he would. With that in mind, 
he and his creation teleported to the area and began to set things 
up. 

---

	Back at school, Terra had just finished an exam, with half 
an hour to spare. She turned in her work and took out her SciFi 
novel and began to read. Then the intercom sparked to life.

	[Terra Incognito, please report to the parking lot.] The 
intercom crackled.

	Terra looked to the teacher, who shrugged, then to Serena, 
who was agonizing over one of the test questions. 

	<Hat::foot
	a)cat::rat
	b)car:tire
	c)lap::race
	d)boot::head> Serena couldn't find a relation.

	So, Terra packed up her book and went to the parking lot.

	When she got there, she didn't see anyone. After about half 
a minute, she turned around to go back in.

	Then she was grabbed from behind. 

---

	Terra found herself in a completely different area. There 
were abandoned, boarded up buildings all over the place. She 
turned to look at who had taken her.

	He looked like a shadow. He was mostly invisible, and she 
wasn't entirely sure it was a he.

	"Why am I here?" Terra asked, as nicely as she could given 
the shock factor.

	"Many have asked that question.. Nobody really knows, 
although many believe that-" The shadow said in a dry voice until 
being cut off by Terra.

	"No, why am I here NOW?" Terra clarified.

	"Oh. I thought you wanted a philisophical discussion.. You 
are here until you beat THAT." The shadow replied, pointing behind 
Terra. She turned around to see a hulking blue piece of evil-
looking machinery flexing its three-foot razor-sharp claws and 
rotating its gatling-gun style weaponry. It had an evil gleam in 
its eye. She turned back to the shadow.

	"Begin." It said before waving goodbye and disappearing 
entirely. Terra turned back to the robot, feeling more than a 
little worried. She kept smiling.

	It lept at her, gatling-energy canons blazing, claws fully 
extended. Massive property damage insued.

	Terra, using her recently advanced capabilities, acted on 
impulse and jumped out of the way.

	The 'mech landed and turned toward her, guns blazing. It 
launched a missile.

	Terra jumped on top of the missile, then used it as a 
springboard to hop behind the robot. The missile exploded, 
destroying about half a block. The robot turned around, decimating 
another few buildings as Terra dodged once again.

	Things proceeded in much the same manner for about three 
minutes. Terra would dodge, and the robot would blow things up. 
Occasionally, the robot would get a shot in, knocking Terra 
through a building or two.

	Looking around at the destruction, Terra decided that this 
had to end, one way or another. She jumped at the robot, kicking 
its arm hard enough to dislodge it. The arm clattered to the 
ground.

	"Oh my.. Are you okay?" Terra asked, a little worried. The 
robot looked at the arm on the ground, then turned to Terra, 
nodded, then gave a sort of a "thumbs up" sign with its claws and 
continued fighting.

	It scored a hit and knocked her down. Terra got up and 
brushed herself off.

	"I've had quite enough of you!" She said sternly. [Warning! 
Danger! Terra is on the warpath!]

	Terra, now in her equivalent of a killing rage, which would 
be slight annoyance for any normal being, jumped forcefully, 
grabbed its other arm and executed a total body flip on the robot, 
which crashed to the ground on its back. The other arm broke 
loose.

	The robot got up.

	"Are you beaten yet?" Terra asked nicely.

	[TIS BUT A SCRATCH,] The robot said in its digitized voice.

	"A scratch?! Your arms are off!" Terra said incredulously, 
yet apologetically.

	[I'VE HAD WORSE. COME ON, YA PANSY.] It said, kicking Terra 
into another building, collapsing it entirely.

	Terra climbed out of the rubble, looking slightly 
disheveled.

	The robot kicked her again, sending her back a few yards, 
feet digging into the pavement.

	"Stop that, please." Terra said calmly.

	[CHICKEN!] It said tauntingly.

	"I'll have your leg." Terra said.

	[YEAH, RIGHT!] It said.

	Terra dove straight at the leg, shearing it off with a swift 
kick. The robot now hopped up and down on its remaining leg.

	[I'M INVINCIBLE!] It said.

	"You're a looney." Terra said as she came to the conclusion 
through extrapolation.

	It kept hopping toward her.

	She tapped lightly on the knee-joint.

	Its leg collapsed out from under it. The robot fell face 
down into the asphalt.

	[Alright, we'll call it a draw.] It said grudgingly.

	Terra began to walk off to look for the shadow. The shadow 
appeared behind her, grabbing her and disappearing.

	[Oh, I see. Runnin' away eh? COME BACK AND GET WHAT'S COMIN' 
TO YA!] The robot boomed from its prone position on the road, 
[I'll bite your legs off!]

---

	Walking back into the classroom looking as beat up as she 
did, yet still having a happy expression, Terra couldn't help but 
notice the questioning stares of the students that were looking up 
from their tests at her.

	"What happened, Terra?" Serena asked, "It looks like you got 
into a wrestling match with a lawnmower and lost."

	"No, actually," Terra said, calmly shaking her head, 
brushing back a stray lock of red hair.

	"What happened?" Ms. Haruna asked with concern. Terra 
shrugged.

	"I won." Terra replied in a nonchalant manner, returning to 
her desk, taking out her book. A mass facefault insued.

---

	<Now, that was fun.> Atomic Starlight Knight thought as he 
picked up the last pieces of the robot. The area slated for 
demolition had been almost completely cleared by the fighting.

	<I haven't been able to knock down that much since the first 
time I entered this system.>

	<Ah, yes, those were the days..>

###

	A solar system was the location of the main events. Its star 
was nothing out of the ordinary, however, all of its planets were 
inhabited to one degree or another. An amazing array of 
civilizations were apparent, the most prominent centered around 
the third innermost planet and its sattelite. Many powerful beings 
existed within this solar system, some backed by the power of 
entire worlds, the Senshi. Not only this, but also the ruler of 
the third planet's sattelite, the Moon, held an artifact that 
tapped into the fabric of reality itself, the Silver Impirium 
Crystal.

	It was the Silver Millenium at its highest, and the 
inhabitants, when united, could ward off any threat that thought 
to destroy it. That is, provided that they had advance warning and 
had time to prepare. Sometimes, they're just caught off guard.

	Such was the case in this particular scenario, as a large 
spherical object unobtrusively wound its way through the solar 
system, going almost unnoticed until it intercepted the orbit of 
Jupiter and plunged deep into the planet's thick atmosphere, where 
it created a large black spot for several months.

	This event was completely forgotten as the blemish 
disappeared, and no one thought anything of it.

	Ten years after the sphere arrived, a large spacecraft 
emerged from deep within Jupiter. Witnesses of its rising 
described it as something from a nightmare. It was pure black, 
with a slightly pointed ellipse at the front, connected to a 
sloped semi-cylindrical body, which encased a yellow 'eye'. On the 
back, it had two struts which connected to two cylinders, parts of 
which were glowing an ominous blue. [Basically, we've got an evil 
version of the Enterprise-E on our hands here.]

	The spacecraft reached escape velocity and headed straight 
for Pluto. There, it destroyed several key buildings, throwing the 
inhabitants into disarray. 

	Next, it chose Saturn as its target, destroying the 
spaceports and causing havok. The local Senshi was home, however, 
and dealt a great deal of damage to the spacecraft's shields 
before it accomplished its goal.

	Finally, it went for the Moon. On its way, it destroyed or 
disabled all of the ships in the fleet sent to stop it. Once 
there, it finally encountered resistance capable of stopping it. 
The four inner Senshi were present to ward off this threat, as was 
the Moon's queen.

...

	"Moon Cosmic Power!" Queen Serenity said, holding aloft the 
Impirium Silver Crystal, attatched to the Crescent Moon wand. 
[Impirium Silver or Silver Impirium? Oh, same thing.]

	The force of the Crystal's energy swept away the remnants of 
the craft's shields, finally leaving it open to other attacks. 
Queen Serenity nearly collapsed from the effort, but held on to 
the Wand to shield the area from the energy discharges the craft 
kept emitting. [Torpedoes and Phasers!]

	"Looks like it's up to us now," Venus said, as all the 
Senshi began a combined attack whose call was drowned out as a 
torpedo exploded nearby. Serenity could not hold the defense for 
much longer and survive, but then she could not drop it and 
survive much longer, either, come to think of it.

	The combined powers forced their way to the craft, impacting 
at an angle, tearing across the hull, ripping apart the front 
section and throwing deep gashes along the rest. Using what was 
left of its power, it turned and fired its engines into an orbit 
that would hopefully take it back to Jupiter.

	All began to breathe a sigh of relief when they saw 
something else coming.

	From the shattered front fell a dark shape. It swooped 
toward them with a loud, enraged screech.

	They ducked a snatch of its talons. It flew down and landed 
in front of them, lashing out with its huge jaws, roaring 
menacingly.

	"Mercury Ice Storm!" Mercury said, creating a ferocious gust 
of ice, encasing the monster in a glacier. 

	It broke free, shattering the ice as it began to glow with a 
blue energy, growling as it created its own version of the ice 
storm. High velocity blocks of ice hit Mercury repetedly, knocking 
her cold. [No jokes about the pun, okay?]

	The remaining Senshi threw their attacks at once.

	"Mars Celestial Fire, SURROUND!"
	"Supreme Thunder DRAGON!"
	"Venus Love Chain Entangle!"

	The beast cried out in agony as the attacks struck home. It 
instantly retaliated as it unleashed enhanced versions upon the 
original senders. I'll skip the detail, but by the end, they were 
effectively disabled for the time being.

	It turned toward the only one remaining worth fighting: The 
Queen.

	Serenity was rapidly running out of options. She felt that 
she had to find some way of communicating with it, to tell it to 
stop. 

	Enhancing any latent telepathy she may have had with the 
Crystal, she attempted to contact the creature. Acting on reflex, 
the creature copied the telepathic connection, downloading 
information from the Queen and the Senshi. Soon, it was able to 
understand what was being said on a mental level.

	<Why are you doing this?> Serenity asked, keeping her mental 
tone even.

	The creature stopped. It was genuinely dumbfounded at the 
question. The internal chaos and turmoil churned out a multitude 
of answers on a low level. It smiled its fanged grin as it finally 
came up with an answer.

	<BECAUSE I ENJOY IT.> The creature returned triumphantly.

	Serenity's expression darkened as she processed what it had 
just communicated to her. Could this be true? A creature 
delighting only in destruction? No other reason? She had to cut 
off this philisophical debate, as the monster had seemed to have 
resolved its confusion and was preparing another assault. Her 
options were once again reduced, so she tried something that may 
perhaps work. 

	"Moon Crystal Healing!" Serenity said, holding forward the 
Crystal, attempting to cleanse the evil in the beast before her. 
It stopped.

	After a second of this, the chaotic nature of its thoughts 
calmed down and it was able to think semi-coherently. In the next 
second, its thoughts went on an almost overlapping analysis.

	<Wait, why AM I doing this?>
	<You just said it. You enjoy it.>
	<I checked the minds of the others. Why don't they enjoy 
it?> A quick analysis followed.
	<Oh. OOPS! Eh, heh, heh... Is my face red, or what? 
	<Oh, look, the senshi are up again.>
	<And they look mad.>
	<Wow, remember that last volley they sent?>
	<Yeah, that was painful!>
	<They're charging up for another round.>

	Mars, Venus, and Jupiter had managed to stand. Mercury 
wasn't able to do much other than groan.

	<Uh oh. I'm dead.>
	<Got that right, unless you find some way to convince them 
not to.>
	<Is it too late for an apology?>
	<Let's see.. You caused destruction on a planetary scale, 
inflicted huge casualties, wiped out their fleet, nearly killed 
this particular group, and to top it off, you're a "big, scary 
monster," to quote one of their thoughts. I don't think a simple 
'sorry' would suffice.>
	<Right. I checked. They want this threat GONE.>
	<So, your point being? Oh, perhaps you're thinking that they 
MIGHT not destroy me if they thought I didn't do it, at least of 
my own free will, and if I am no longer a threat?>
	<That's the idea, but you're still a "big, scary monster.">
	<Hey, if that's a problem, shapeshift.>
	<Can I do that?>
	<Yeah, but if you want them to not detect that you're really 
a "big, scary monster," you'll have to lock yourself in for a 
while, modify your aura, act like a nice whatever-it-is you 
shifted into.>
	<Not to mention finding a plausible story to come up with.>
	<Okay, I could probably deal with that, just check what I 
know of them, and.. Yeah. Could work.>
	<Whatever you're going to do, do it now, they're closing 
in.>

	Serenity hadn't noticed the Senshi moving, since she was 
still concentrating on the healing.

	The Senshi began what they could, given their level of 
consciousness after the retaliation.

	"Jupiter Thunder, CRASH!"
	"Venus Crescent Beam, SMASH!"
	"Mars Fire, IGNITE!"

	<Alright, shift and submerge!>

	All impacted on the creature, driving it down. Not expecting 
an attack this early, it reflexively retaliated, creating 
duplicate attacks, all slamming into the Senshi, taking them out 
before it also went down. 

	The unexpected response caused a psychic shockwave that tore 
through the beast's mind as it struggled to complete what it 
started. 

	As Serenity finished her healing, the creature blurred and 
shifted into a much smaller form.

	Slumped on the ground before them was a young girl, perhaps 
nine years old. She was wearing a green dress, had red hair, and 
was very unconscious. Serenity fell to her knees, breathing 
raggedly.

	All Senshi survived, as did the Queen.

	And so did the girl.

###

	<That was fun.> Atomic Starlight Knight thought. It was the 
first time he had ever been defeated. It was about time, too. The 
"destroy everything" angle was getting REALLY old. It took him a 
long time to get his mind back in order, but he did it, and now he 
had something evil to fight. That was much more satisfying than 
just "everything." Left a nice landscape behind, too.

	He wasn't as powerful as he was before, but a challenge is 
fun. He kinda missed his shapeshifting capabilities, though. The 
"Moon Crystal Healing" had sapped his resources, so he couldn't 
exactly destroy a planet anymore, and another result of the 
Healing was that he really didn't want to, either. Not an 
inhabited one, in any case. Inanimate objects were fun to watch 
explode, but not ones that people didn't want obliterated were 
not, for some reason.

	<Oh, well.> He thought. He had learned to work limited and 
on an energy budget a long time ago, and had since only stored 
reserves for emergencies, about ten thousand years worth of 
emergency energy, actually, but he didn't feel like bragging at 
this time. He didn't have much use for it, though, since his 
knowledge of things to do with that energy had been lost somewhere 
during the end of the Silver Millenium.

	He couldn't destroy civilizations, but blowing up evil was 
fine. Maybe he'll find some use for that reserve sometime.

---

	Luna had caught up to Serena and Terra, who looked a lot 
better than when she had just fought the robot, not that Luna knew 
about that yet. It had taken Luna most of the day with Arby 
chasing her around, but she made it. She fully intended to discuss 
the question as to whether Terra was the Moon Princess or not. 
Arby was still following, off on a rant about why you need to stay 
away from mold.

	"Oh, ya see, ya gotta avoid mold. Bad for your mushrooms. 
Now, what ya need to do is-" Arby rambled on intelligently.

	"Serena, Terra!" Luna called to the girls.

	"Oh, there you are, Luna. What is it?" Serena asked.

	"We still need to find out about the Moon Princess." Luna 
replied, happy to talk about anything other than fungus.

	"Oh, right! And you thought Terra might be it?" Serena 
replied, remembering the earlier conversation.

	"Actually, you did." Luna said.

	"Yeah, anyway," Serena said, turning to Terra, "do you think 
you could be the reincarnation of a Princess that lived on the 
moon thousands of years ago?" Terra blinked. She thought about it.

	"Hmm. Interesting. Moon Princess," Terra said, then frowned, 
"Doesn't ring a bell."

	"Do you remember anything from the Silver Millenium? Dreams, 
flashbacks, anything like that?" Luna asked.

	"No, I'm sorry. I don't remember a thing about that." Terra 
said.

	"Please try. It's very important." Luna said.

	"No, it's just that, I *do* remember something about *A* 
princess, but whenever I try to remember more, I hit a block, and 
get a dull headache for a few minutes. Is there anything you could 
do to help me remember if I was?" Terra said. Luna thought for a 
second.

	"I have telepathic abilities.. I could try to revive 
memories about that, if they exist." Luna said.

	"Well, then, do it." Serena said. Terra nodded.

	"Okay. Luna Mindmeld!" Luna said as she began the telepathic 
connection. She dove into Terra's mind, surprised to find it 
neatly swept, dusted, looking as if nobody lived there until 
recently, everything all wrapped in neat, pink little bows. She 
did a quick mental scan, becoming extremely surprised at finding 
that the blur that took Serena earlier was Terra, and was 
surprised at finding out about the battle with the robot. 

	She shrugged those off, looking for Silver Millenium 
memories, the only thing she found was an unusual psychic 
connection. Following that, she wandered into an extremely odd 
place. The best description for the mind Terra was linked to was.. 
a bachelor pad. Random articles of "clothing" strewn all over the 
place, a stacked "can" collection, and about a thousand "tenants." 

	Things got stranger when the destruction of many planets 
were shown on a mental equivalent of a television set, put to the 
music of the 1812 Overture. Encyclopedias were strewn across a 
table, along with plausable plans for world domination that were 
completely covered in coffee stains. Philisophical discussions, 
political debates, sparring matches, and a wall-street stock 
market were also present. 

	Luna was extremely confused. She searched for anything 
recognizable. She found a dark, ominous presence, but it was 
constantly being beaten up by several "people" at once.

	Past that, there was a "photo album." Checking into that, 
Luna found many recognizable snapshots of semi-familiar locations 
from the Silver Millenium. There were depictions of battles, the 
final one of which involved Queen Serenity fighting Metallia. 
Flipping through it mentally, Luna found groups of pictures with 
two girls next to Queen Serenity. One she recognized as the Moon 
Princess that she was looking for, but she wasn't able to make out 
any other features for some reason. The other she instantly 
recognized as Terra. The caption under the picture read from left 
to right: Moon Princess, Queen Serenity, Moon Princess(adopted.). 
The name on the right was circled with black marker, with a 
glowing "ME!" inscribed next to it. Luna felt a jar to her 
consciousness, looking to see huge knights attacking her with big 
fish. She pulled out as fast as she could. Each jar knocked out a 
memory of this particular experience.

	"Luna, Luna? LUUUNAAA! Are you okay?" Serena was saying, 
waving a hand in front of Luna's eyes. Luna shook herself awake 
and looked at Terra, who was smiling pleasantly at being able to 
help ^_^.

	"What? Yes, Serena, I'm fine," Luna said, then turned to 
Terra, "I lost part of what I found out along the way, but I'm 
sure that Terra is a Moon Princess!"

	"Cool! So she's the one I have to protect?" Serena asked.

	"I said *A* Moon Princess. I'm almost certain that there is 
another one." Luna replied, attempting to recall wahtever she 
could.

	"Another princess?" Serena asked.

	"Yes," Luna said, "one of them was adopted, I think."

	"An *adopted* princess?" Serena asked, unsure of the 
concept.

	"Yes, it was unusual, as were the circumstances concerning 
her arrival to the Moon Kingdom," Luna said, attempting to recover 
her own memory.

	"What happened?" Serena asked. Luna couldn't remember 
exactly right now.

	"I'll.. tell you later." Luna said, backing out of the 
conversation.

---

	Later that night, Luna made a report to Central Control. 
After the ridiculous password, she communicated what she had 
found.

	"The adopted Moon Princess.. This was unexpected. As was the 
reappearance of Arby." Central Control said.

	"Do you know who awakened him?" Luna asked.

	"No. Report back when you have found more." Central Control 
said before shutting off communication.

	"So what am I supposed to do now?" Luna asked herself. There 
was a click and a hum as a machine activated behind her.

	"'Ello, sir, I am C-3PO, 'uman cyborg relations." An odd 
voice said. Oh, come on! We all know that it's Arby by now, right? 
Right. Luna turned to see Arby talking to a different machine.

	"Password: I would very much like a piece of cheese." Arby 
finished.

	"My information: a mental scan was attempted. A defensive 
retaliation incurred. The training is going well. What do you have 
to report?" The machine said.

	"Second Control, got any more of those heavy blunt objects?" 
Arby asked anxiously.

	"Arby! I told you to only contact me if you knew something I 
didn't." Second Control said disapprovingly.

	"Oh. Right. But do you 'ave any?" Arby asked. Second Control 
sighed.

	"Sure, I'll send one right over. A reminder: they are NOT 
used for crushing insects."

	"Oh, but I like to!" Arby said pleadingly.

	"Oh, just forget it. Pick it up at the usual spot. And 
before you ask, YES, I'll include the toothpicks." Second Control 
said before signing off.

	"Thank you very much." Arby said, saluting.

	"Arby?! Who was that, and what was that all about?" Luna 
asked. Arby turned around.

	"'Ello, Luna. That was Second Control. 'E woke me up, and I 
just asked for a 'eavy, blunt object. Gotta have blunt objects and 
toothpicks, ya know. Heavy, blunt, seals, toothpicks, sort of a 
package deal when ya come to think about it." Arby said.

	"W..why?!" Luna asked.

 	"Some of the mushrooms are stagin' a revolt. Ya see, if I 
club the mushrooms and feed 'em toothpicks, I don't 'ave to club 
the seals." Arby said confidently. Luna raised an eyebrow.

	"I see." Luna said, constantly losing confidence in Arby's 
sanity.

	"Well, gotta get to work." Arby said before flying off. Luna 
sighed in relief.

	"Perhaps one of these days I'll find out what he's talking 
about." Luna said to herself, then reconsidered, "Then again, 
perhaps if I'm very lucky, I will never have to."

&&&[End Chapter 2.]

How was that?

-BEN