The New Moon
A Sailor Moon fanfic written by Stella Quetzacotl
First created: Jul 26, 2001
Last modified: Jul 26, 2001

~~~~~Legal Stuff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes only.  All
characters except Sailor Io, Sailor Titan, Sailor Miranda, Sailor 
Triton, and Sailor Charon are the sole property of Naoko Takeuchi, DiC,
and whoever else.  The Satellite Senshi are the sole property of the 
author.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~Text Conventions~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[This is a character thought]
*This is emphasized text*

Setting: Right after Sailor Moon Super S

Prologue
	Her appearance - a single, long black braid reaching almost to 
her ankles, her lightless blue eyes, a silver-pointed spear with a 
navy-blue handle, a navy-blue-and-silver fuku with pleats as crisp and 
clean as if they'd been freshly ironed, which was certainly not the 
case - suggested a stoic character.  Her speech was anything but.
	"Now listen, little moon senshi," she shouted over the whine of
the high wind.  "We're the last hope that Crystal Tokyo's got.  I'm not
going to talk to you about being brave, or fighting for love and 
justice, because we all know that being brave is what we'll do and we 
all know that love and justice are at stake.  We're going to beat this 
Black Schnauzer, or whatever he calls himself - "
	"Dark Bloodhound," put in one of her four listeners helpfully.
	"Whatever," the navy-uniformed senshi replied.  "He's gonna get
iced.  Am I right?"
	"And blown away," said a short, stocky soldier with hazel eyes 
and thick honey-blonde hair cut in a bob that stopped short an inch or 
two below her earlobe.  She twirled her fan, and the wind picked up 
ever so slightly.  Her fuku was sea green trimmed with fuschia.
	"Shouted down," put in a tall soldier dressed in a black and 
lavender fuku.  She tugged a chestnut curl that had fallen free from 
the obsidian throwing-star clips in her hair thoughtfully.
	"Washed out," added a red-headed soldier with a cheerful grin. 
She was of average height and wore a fuku of cerulean trimmed with a 
lime green that matched her eyes.
	"Exorcised," said a very petite soldier in a white fuku with 
copper trim.  Her black eyes were narrow in a tanned face that 
contrasted sharply with her ear-length white hair.  She fingered her 
copper axe thoughtfully.
	The navy-clad senshi nodded, satisfied.  "Alright then," she 
concluded, "let's get out there and kick some youma posterior!"
	The five Sailors shouted in cheerful agreement.  As one, they 
leaped off their perches of fallen cinderblock, piles of junked steel 
and wood and crystal, sharp dangerous hills of shattered glass, the 
piles that defined the western side of Crystal Tokyo.  When the Pretty 
Soldiers were finished with the Dark Bloodhound, they would lend a hand
in rebuilding the city.  
	Never a doubt.  Strike hard, strike fast, and then go home for 
tea.
	As one they ran and leaped, a pack of wolves after the 
Bloodhound, flashes of white and copper, navy and silver, black and 
lavender, blue and lime, green and fuschia leaving afterimages in the 
eyes of the last of the Crystal Tokyo refugees fleeing the destruction.
Cheers and affirmations followed after the five senshi like a tail 
after a cat.  Don't worry folks, you couldn't be in safer hands.
	No one knew much about the Dark Bloodhound, and he/she/it sure 
wasn't talking.  It just showed up one day, raining destruction and 
curses on the outer edge of Crystal Tokyo.  At Serenity Gate, in fact, 
on the western side, which is why the five attacking had a personal 
stake in this fight.  One of their number was gatekeeper there.  The 
Dark Bloodhound had set up residence on the corner of Fire Soul Avenue 
and Crescent Beam Street, an intersection that radiated a lot of raw 
power.  That was just fine with the senshi.  They could draw on that 
power - Bloodhound couldn't.
	Only one had doubts about this fight.  It would be their first 
solo mission, where it would be just the five Satellite Senshi.  The 
other Sailors were far away, in another galaxy in fact, even Neo-Queen 
Serenity and her daughter Small Lady Usagi.  They were putting a lot of
trust in the little group of five.  (And everyone knew from the 
stories, the more Sailor Senshi you had, the better.)  Still, if the 
Original Sailors thought that the Satellite Senshi were mature enough 
to handle themselves in a crisis like this, then the Satellites could 
do it.  No problem.
	They were there.  Dark Bloodhound looked a lot like the other 
kingpin villains from the stories - a black shadow with fiery red eyes.
The only noticeable difference was that he was shaped vaguely like a 
bloodhound.  The white-haired senshi's eyes narrowed.  She'd grown up 
among bloodhounds and other dogs, and liked them.  How dare this - this
creature use their shape?  The senshi grouped together, leaping up on 
cinderblocks and piles left by broken buildings to lend themselves 
height.  The Bloodhound had not yet seen them.  
	That would change.
	The navy senshi used her spear to vault herself onto an 
exceptionally tall pile of wreckage.  She nodded to the black senshi, 
who pulled her throwing-star hair clips out of her shoulder-length 
brown curls and, with a motion too quick to follow, threw them with a 
shout of "Hold it!"  They flew, straight as arrows, flashing with the 
sharpness of their borders, and merged with the black-fire body of Dark
Bloodhound.
	He shuddered and turned.  The throwing stars ripped their way 
out of his body and flew back to their owner, who caught them casually 
and assumed a fighting stance.  The navy senshi readied her spear, her 
blue eyes narrow and sparkling like jewels.  The green and fuschia 
senshi snapped her fan open and stepped forward in a ninjitsu stance - 
fan arm forward, free arm back.  The blue and lime senshi flipped out 
the whip at her belt with practiced ease, gave it a crack, and drew it 
back for another strike.  The white and copper senshi held her axe in a
double-handed guard stance, the short copper chain that connected it to
her right wrist tinkling.
	The navy senshi spoke, her voice fierce.  "You think you had 
Crystal Tokyo all to yourself, Black Chihuahua?"
	"Well, you were wrong!" added the blue senshi confidently.  
"'Cause here we are!"
	"Out of the orbit -" continued the black senshi.
	"And in your face!" finished the green senshi.
	"And we're going to send you yelping back to hell where you 
belong!" the white senshi added.  "In the name of Charon -"
	"Triton -" said the blue senshi.
	"Miranda -" said the black senshi.
	"Titan -" said the green senshi.
	"And Io," said the navy senshi.
	Then they all spoke together: "We will punish you!"
	Dark Bloodhound said nothing.  He just attacked.
	The wind picked up, sending tendrils of black dust flying 
everywhere.  The Satellites covered their faces with small cries, 
hard-pressed to keep themselves from falling off their perches.  
"Sailor Charon -" gasped Sailor Io.
	"Hai!" Sailor Charon replied.  She leaped from her cinderblock 
pile and ran, head down, in front of the other senshi.  She turned to 
face Dark Bloodhound, axe in one hand.  The copper edges shone, and 
with the light she slashed "Demon Be Gone" in the air.  The writing 
hovered there, waiting, as Charon twirled her axe and held it over her 
head.  "Temple... SHIELD!" she cried, chopping downward at the neon 
words.
	The words exploded into light, making Dark Bloodhound look away
with a grunt of pain.  The light spread into a dome twelve feet high, 
wide enough to encompass all the Senshi and give them room to move as 
well.  Charon grinned, surveying her handiwork.  Dark Bloodhound paced 
at the outer edge of the dome, growling angrily.  Being a youma, he 
could not touch Charon's Temple Shield.  His wind picked up, howling 
fiercely.
	Sailor Titan leaped to the forefront and brushed her hair out 
of her face.  "Wind's my specialty," she said determinedly.  "He should
learn not to mess with the best."  She snapped her fan open in front of
her face, then closed it and slowly and gracefully raised her arms, 
hands crossed just below the knuckles like a ballerina about to 
piourette.  Pale green fireflies of light gathered at the point where 
her fan hand and free hand crossed and collected into a glowing sphere.
It flickered as she brought her hands down to chest level.  "Windstorm 
WAVE!" she shouted, flicking her fan open and up over her head.  The 
globe erupted into a single sheet of green light that spread out in 
front of her in a wide crescent-moon shape.  It sliced through Charon's
Temple Shield, doing it no harm, and hit Dark Bloodhound with a 
hurricane's howl.
	The Bloodhound howled too, in pain and outrage.  It snarled, 
and sheets of fire sprang up in a circle around the Sailors' dome, 
crackling hungrily.  "Hah," said Sailor Triton eagerly, "he picked the 
wrong medium."  She leaped from her perch, and Titan backed up to give
her room.  She twirled her whip around herself, then leaped up into the
air, curling her body into a circle outlined by the whip.  She 
straightened her body, red hair flying around her face, twirled in 
midair, and cried, "GEYSER ERUPTION!" before slamming the tip of her 
whip into the ground below.  As she landed, the pavement where she'd 
hit with the whip cracked, then the patch of pavement before it 
cracked, then the patch of pavement before it, continuing in a beeline 
to the monster like a crazed golpher was burrowing its way at an insane
pace toward Dark Bloodhound.  The line stopped abruptly just under the 
monster, who examined the phenomenon curiously.
	Then it erupted, a fountain of scalding water that lifted the 
Bloodhound off his feet with a surprised yelp.  The geyser was easily 
twenty feet high, a mighty pillar of steaming water.  Then, almost 
comically, as if someone had shut off the faucet, it collapsed and 
disappeared, leaving only its trail.
	"Hah, that showed him," Triton said happily.
	"Don't be so smug," warned Io.  "Remember, we don't know this 
guy's capabilities."  And indeed, the youma had gotten to its feet 
already, showing remarkable endurance for something that had just been 
Geyser Erupted.  The wall of fire had extinguished when the geyser hit,
but the shadow-dog simply narrowed its eyes and opened its mouth.  A 
black flame flowed out, more like a gas than fire, and spread on the 
Temple Shield.  The flame reached out, seeking to envelop the dome in 
darkness, radiating dangerous power.  Charon turned pale.
	Sailor Miranda leaped down from her pile of metal and crystal. 
"It's time to get serious," she shouted, and flung her throwing stars 
up above her head.  They checked themselves and circled each other, 
forming a blurry purple-black ring just above Miranda's head.  Miranda 
reached up and brought the ring down in front of her, framing her head 
and shoulders.  She cupped her hands and brought them together to form 
a small circle in the center of the big one as the whispering sound of 
the throwing stars spinning rose to a whine.  She shut her eyes and 
shouted, "SONIC STRIKE!"  As if she was a reflection in a still lake 
and someone had thrown a rock into the image of her hands, a ripple of 
lavender light emerged from her hands and spread outward, distorting 
the image of her body.  The purple rings of light passed through the 
shield without affecting it and floated almost serenely into the 
Bloodhound, distorting him as well.  The shadow-flame melted away 
slowly as Bloodhound snarled in pain.
	Miranda made a fist.  "Heh," she said.  "That should take care 
of ol' Bloodhound."
	Dark Bloodhound took a few shaky steps forward, baring his 
teeth, blindingly white in a light-absorbing face.  "He's not finished 
yet," Sailor Io observed.  "Well then, I suppose it's my turn."  She 
twirled her spear above her head like blades of a helicopter.  "In the 
name of Neo-Queen Serenity," she yelled, "and of the moon Io!  
Silence..." She stopped her spear abruptly and brought it forward to 
visually bisect her body.  "SNOWFALL!"  A circle of blue light flared 
up under her feet and broke into tiny pinpoints of blue light that 
swirled around Io.  The lights danced and flew as if caught by a small 
tornado through Charon's Temple Shield and into Dark Bloodhound.  He 
howled and his body flickered.  "We got him!" Io cried, twirling her 
spear happily.
	Dark Bloodhound convulsed and expanded.  At every moment the 
Sailors kept expecting him to dissipate like mist, but he just kept 
growing.  There was a violent absence of sound, like an explosion in 
negative, and a flash of black light, and Dark Bloodhound solidified.
	The five senshi gaped.  Dark Bloodhound was a misnomer now - 
what stood in front of them had a vaguely human shape, made of white 
fire.  Dead black eyes opened and gazed down at the Satellites, 
half-paralyzing them with surprised fear.
	Charon was the first to shake herself out of her trance.  "What
is that thing?" she gasped.  She'd fought youma in distant galaxies, 
she'd fought remnants of the Negamoon, but she'd never experienced 
anything like this demonic being.  Its power made her blood run cold.
	The white-fire being raised a hand, and the Temple Shield faded
as if it had never been.  Charon shrieked as the physical embodiment of
her power was dissolved, and her cry brought the other senshi back to 
themselves.  Io acted first, launching herself spear first at the 
creature.  "Io, no!" Miranda shouted belatedly.  "Don't!"
	Golden light formed a star-shaped shield in front of the 
once-Dark Bloodhound.  Io cried out and recoiled, but she was in midair
and there was no stopping her inertia.  She slammed into the gold star 
and recoiled, falling limply onto the ravaged pavement like a doll.
	Charon's pulse quickened.  "It's using the Temple Shield!" she 
gasped.  "It's a corrupted version, but it's there."
	"But - that's impossible!" Titan protested.  
	"Very possible," Triton said grimly as she and Miranda helped 
Io to her feet.  Io was shaking with pain.
	"It's not - the Temple Shield," Io gulped out.  "Too strong for
that."  She leaned on her spear, wobbling only slightly.
	Charon shook her head stubbornly.  "I know a Temple Shield when
I see one," she answered.
	"Why are we arguing?" growled Miranda.  She pulled out her 
throwing stars.  "Let's just kill the beast!"
	Triton nodded and cracked her whip.  "Geyser..." she began.
	"Sonic..." added Miranda.
	The white-fired thing pointed at the two.  A spiral of water 
and steam erupted from the air just in front of its finger, accompanied
by a high-pitched banshee wail.  The Satellites shrieked and put their 
hands over their ears.  
	Which meant that Triton and Miranda were vulnerable.  The 
spiral of water crashed into them, driving them into piles of rubble.  
They screamed.
	Io caught some of the water on her arm.  She flinched - it was 
scalding hot.  She shuddered at the thought of what Triton and Miranda 
were feeling.
	The screaming noise faded and so did the boiling-hot water.  
Titan, Charon, and Io ran to their friends.  Io attended to Miranda, 
while Charon and Titan helped Triton.  Io shuddered - Miranda's skin 
was beginning to blister.  Her eyes were closed, her breathing in short
gasps.
	Beside Io, Titan spoke.  "It is using our attacks against us.  
That was a combination Sonic Strike and Geyser Eruption."
	"But what does it mean?" Io breathed.  Unless she could think 
of something fast, the Satellites would be out of luck.
	"It means we're all in deep trouble."
	"Oh, that helps," Io glared.
	Charon felt the white-fire man long before the others did.  She
whirled and stood to face him, axe at the ready.  Io and Titan stood 
behind her, respective weapons in defensive stances.  
	The youma spoke.  "It is time."  His voice was a growl, the 
only thing similar to his previous form.
	Some force slammed into Charon, breaking her defenses like 
twigs.  She felt as if she were being ripped apart from the inside.  
"No..." she whispered.
	Darkness enveloped the five Senshi.  Charon felt something 
raking through her mind.  Then silence.

Next chapter...
Is this the end for the Satellite Senshi? Yeah, right, you wish!