Greetings all! Here is Chapter 2 of the Sailor Moon Chronicles for 
whoever wants to read it. I hope you  like it. (By the way, Angus, no 
hard feelings. Any errors in grammar that could be pointed out are 
greatly appreciated. I want this to look professional! :) )

THE SAILOR MOON CHRONICLES
VOLUME 1: RETURN OF THE JADEITE
CHAPTER 2

Luna awoke again, the sunlight filtering in her eyes. She was 
surprised that she could sleep last night, with her strange dream, 
and the theft of the Imperium Silver Crystal figured in. She looked at 
Serena's clock. "Five minutes before 8:00," she thought to herself. 
She let out a big yawn, and went to wake Serena. "Come on, 
Serena," she said aloud. "We have to get ready for the meeting."

However, Serena wasn't in her bed. Or in her room in that matter. 
"Serena?" Luna called. "Wonderful," she muttered. "First the 
Imperium Silver Crystal is missing, and now it's owner." Once again 
she exited Serena's room, and peered downstairs. Serena was by 
the front door, waiting for her. 

"I was about to leave without you," said Serena.

Luna was shocked. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep," Serena responded. "I was worried about the crystal. Besides, we got some Sailor business to take care of!

"Well, I'll be," Luna thought to herself. "Serena was actually up before me!" Luna jumped upon Serena's shoulder as they headed toward the park.

@@@@@

 "Good-bye, Grandpa!" shouted Raye as she left out the front door.

"Have fun with your friends!" yelled her Grandfather.

Raye left her home, her transformation stick and some food in tow. She felt bad that she had to skip breakfast, but this was more important. Serena's broach had been stolen, and the Imperium Silver Crystal along with it. 
She knew the consequences if the crystal fell into the wrong hands. "I hope we get the crystal back safely," she said to herself. "We're losing a lot of strength in our team without Sailor Moon."

When she arrived at the entrance of the park, she heard a familiar voice. "Raye...over here!"

It was Amy. She ran toward the entrance, towards her friend. When she got there, she began to gasp a little for air. "I'm not late, am I?" she asked. "I forgot my watch."

"Not at all," Raye responded. She checked her watch. "In fact, were ten minutes early."

"That's good," said Amy. "Shall we go in?"

Raye and Amy entered the park side by side. They enjoyed eachother's company. "We're supposed to meet by the fountain, right?" asked Raye.

"Right," said Amy. "I nearly forgot myself. It's hard to remember when you're woken up at three in the morning!"

Both chuckled at the thought. "I hope the meatball head didn't just hand over crystal in her sleep."

"Of course not," Amy retaliated. "You know she guards the 
Imperium Silver Crystal with her life. Even in her sleep."

"Your right," said Raye. "Well, to change the subject, how's your 
summer vacation going?"

"Okay, I guess," responded Amy. "All the summer schools in the 
area can't teach at my level, so I applied for a part time job at the 
hospital near here. I'm the new intern!"

"Congratulations, Amy!" Raye said. "How's work there?"

"It's fun," she said. "It may not be perfect, but at least I'm one more 
step toward becoming a pediatrician! How's your summer going?"

"I've been helping out my Grandpa a lot. Chad's helping out a lot, 
too. The temple has never looked better. I still catch Grandpa 
swinging from trees now and then."

Amy started to giggle. "That aside, it seems that you and Chad are 
becoming a good 'team'."

Raye started to turn red. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing." Amy started to laugh more.

A few minutes later, they approached the water fountain where they 
were supposed to meet. It had the body of a beautiful angel, water 
gushing from a water pot it had grasped in it's hands. "I suppose 
we're the first one's here," Raye said, turning to Amy.

Amy looked a bit shocked. "Uh, I don't think that we're..."

"So I guess we'll wait for that meatball head to show up," Raye said, 
cutting her off. She sat on the edge of the fountain, unaware of the 
figure standing behind her. 

"And just who are you calling 'meatball head'?"

Raye turned around. It was Serena, with a disgusted look on her 
face. Raye nearly fell over in her seat. "Oh my! She's actually early!"

@@@@@

Within a few minutes, Lita and Mina, and Artemis arrived at the 
fountain as well. They were shocked that Serena was the first to 
show up as well. Lita quickly assumed that Serena wasn't feeling 
like herself. As everyone gathered near the fountain, they began the 
Sailor business. "I skipped breakfast, so I took along some of these 
muffins to eat while I was here." said Raye. "Would anyone like 
one?"

Serena was the first to speak. "No thanks, I'm not hungry."

Everyone in the party gasped. "Serena refusing food?" said Lita. 
"Now I know she's not herself!"

"Very funny, Lita," Serena retaliated. "I was up early this morning, 
so I fixed something on my way out. Is that against the law?"

"And she's up early!" said Mina, starting in on the fun. "Okay, who 
are you, and what have you done with the real Serena?"

Everyone got a much needed laugh out of that one. Even Serena 
chuckled a little. "Alright guys, I can take a joke," she said. "I was 
just worrying about my broach and the crystal, that's all."

Artemis rose his head up, tears still roaming down his face from the 
laughter. "She's right," he said. "That's what we should be talking 
about, anyway."

"So what exactly happened last night, Serena?" asked Amy. She 
had her notepad out, ready to take notes.

"Well," Serena began, "I remember Luna waking me up." She then 
held her ear, which was still a little red. Luna blushed. "Then I heard 
a crash from downstairs. I got my broach, and the Crystal started to 
glow. I began to transform, than someone, or something, knocked 
me over. It took my broach, and it left, screaming something about 
'The Imperium Silver was finally theirs' and left through my window. I 
was about to call one of you, than my mother came in to see what 
all the ruckus was about. About everyone was awake by then. It was 
about four in the morning when the police came. I told them my 
story, then Luna told me there was going to be a Sailor meeting 
tomorrow, and that I should get some sleep. But I couldn't. I kept 
punishing myself for losing the crystal." Serena held her head low. 
"I'm sorry, guys. You probably think that I'm a total dunce now, huh?"

"Of course not," said Mina. "It's that person's fault."

"Yeah," said Raye. "Besides, I knew you wouldn't give up the crystal 
voluntarily."

"You're a great leader," said Amy. "Even without the broach, you're 
still the greatest asset to the team."

"We'll get the crystal back," chimed in Lita. "Don't you worry."

Serena felt a wave of reassurance about her. "Thanks a lot. It pays 
to have friends like you."

"But now we have a problem," said Luna. "We don't know who stole 
the crystal, and we don't know where to start looking."

@@@@@

Darien's morning jog came to a sudden halt when a strange feeling 
came over him. Something in his gut cried out to him. "Serena?" he 
thought to himself. "Something's happened to Serena!" A vision of 
her came into view. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't 
quite place it. Pictures of her, the Imperium Crystal, and the park 
near her school circulated in his mind. "Please let my instincts be 
right," he muttered to himself as he changed the direction of his 
jogging route...

@@@@@

"I'll use my computer to scan for residual energy the crystal may have left behind," suggested Amy.

"I'll consult the fire spirits for some answers," added Raye.

"Mina and I'll do anything we can do to help," said Lita.

Serena felt at a loss. Her broach was gone, and with it her powers. She felt she couldn't contribute anything to the group. "But what can I do?" she asked. "After all, it's my broach we're looking for!"

"You can come with me," said Amy. "You can show me where you lost your broach so we can start the search."

"Okay," said Serena. "We should get started pretty soon....Darien?"

Amy looked confused. "What about him?"

"There he is!" Serena exclaimed. She was right. Darien was jogging up the path to where the scouts were. Serena was a bit confused. She had been with him on his morning jogging route, and it usually didn't go this way. Sh
e ran up to him anyway. "Darien! How are you?"

"Hi Serena, everybody," he said, motioning toward her friends. "You're all here. Is anything wrong?"

"You came just at the right time," said Luna. "Serena's broach was stolen last night. We're afraid it might be a new enemy."

Darien was shocked. He knew something wrong, but he never imagined it would be this bad. He put on a guise for the scouts to show them he wasn't worried. "That's awful," he replied. He reached out for Serena to console he
r. Serena happily took him up on the offer. "Do you know who took it?"

"We couldn't tell," Serena explained. "It was dressed in all black, and had a woman's voice."

"That should narrow it down a bit if 'she' decides to attack again," Darien suggested.

Mina came forward to the two of them. "Not to interrupt, but Lita and I came up with a plan," she said. "While the rest of you are tracking down the crystal, we'll keep an eye out if any monsters come from the sky, or som
ething."

"Yeah," added Lita. "We'll watch from the rooftops and get a good eye-view."

"That's a great idea, Mina," said Artemis. "Just remember to be careful up there on those high ledges!"

"We will," said Mina.

"I think I can help you on that," Darien suggested.

"Great," said Lita. "The more lookouts, the better."

"Oh, Darien," said Serena, starting to kid around, "you're not going to leave a small, helpless, fair lady down here all by herself, are you?" She pretended to faint, overacting badly.

"Don't worry, Meatball-head," said Darien. "You'll be okay."

Serena gave him the evil eye, knowing she didn't like being called Meatball-head. But coming from Darien, she didn't seem to mind as much.

"Well, shall we get started?" suggested Amy.

"Oh, alright," said Serena, brushing the leaves and grass off her clothes.

"Good luck to you all," wished Luna.

Raye left back to her house as Lita and Mina pulled out their transformation wands.

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

Within a flash of light and ribbons, they became Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. "Catch you later guys," said Jupiter as they bolted toward the city to keep watch. Artemis tagged along.

"Well, Amy I guess that leaves us," said Serena.

"Right," Amy responded. "Let's head over to your house, now."

"Okay," said Serena. "Luna, you coming?"

"I'll be along in a minute," Luna shouted back.

As Serena and Amy left, Darien started to take his leave too, but Luna stopped him. "Hold on a minute, Darien."

"What is it, Luna?" asked a puzzled Darien.

"I always wanted to ask you this," she said. "It seems that every time you join the Sailor Scouts on a fight, you just appear out of nowhere, and with no warning. How do you know when and where a fight is going to be?"

Darien didn't want to give too much away. "I have my ways," he said in a mysterious tone. "Besides, it's just my style."

"Come on, Darien," Luna demanded. "You're a master of keeping secrets. Just let me in on this one. I won't tell Serena, if that's what's bothering you."

Darien said nothing for a moment, trying to decide if he should tell her. Finally he conceded. "Okay," he said. "It may sound weird, but here goes. It seems that every time Serena's in trouble, I get this weird feeling ov
er me. It's like we have a special bond, or something like that. I can just sense where and when to appear." He lowered his head just a tad. "That's how I knew to come here."

Luna smiled. "I don't see what's so silly about that. You have a bond that has lasted throughout time. I can't blame you." She raised her head. "However, if worse comes to worse, I want to give you this."

Luna proceeded to do a backwards somersault. In the process, something materialized out of thin air. A black object fell to the ground as Luna landed. She picked up the object, and handed it to Darien.

"What is this?" he asked. He flipped the contraption open. "It looks like an electronic organizer."

"It's more than that," said Luna. "It's a communicator." She proceeded to explain to him how it worked. "You see, by pressing this button, the top part becomes a screen, and by pressing these symbols on the bottom will en
able you to call the respective Sailor Scouts." She was pointing to the planet symbols on the bottom.

"Thanks, Luna," said Darien. "I really appreciate it."

"Your welcome," said Luna. "I'd better go join Serena and Amy, 
now."

She ran away, feeling proud as Darien headed towards the 
rooftops, a red rose clutched in his hand...

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