The New Moon A Sailor Moon fanfic written by Stella Quetzacotl First created: Sep 15, 2000 Last modified: May 19, 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* Chapter 1 Tsukino Usagi, otherwise known as Super Sailor Moon, was not a happy camper. After she had defeated the Dark Moon Circus, Usagi had been looking forward to some time as a normal girl doing normal things - school, friends, arcade, Mamoru, the usual - but as always seemed the case, there was always something standing between the Earth and safety. The Senshi's newest opponent was an octopus or some such thing, big and bulbous and green, and extremely slimy to the touch. That was all right in itself - Sailor Moon had handled grosser things, if not with aplomb, then at least with success. The worst part by far was that one of its eight tentacles was wrapped firmly around Sailor Moon's body, arresting all movement. Suckers on the underside of the tentacles ate at Sailor Moon like hundreds of fishy lechers, making her shudder in revulsion. She just knew she was going to have hickey marks. Not for the first time, she regretted refusing to stay home and help Chibi-Usa with her homework. "Hey, you - you big creepy thing!" Moon shouted, trying to sound impressive. "You let us go right now, or I'll be forced to hurt you!" "Yeah!" echoed Sailor Mars, kicking hard as she could at the tentacle that held her captive to Moon's left. "We'll make sushi out of you if you don't let go, now!" The octopus gave no sign that it either heard or understood. Sailor Jupiter, held fast at Moon's right, cried out in frustration. "I can't stand it anymore!" she yelled. "Supreme... Thunder... " "No! Jupiter, don't!" Sailor Mercury yelled frantically from Mars's left. But it was too late. "DRAGON!" Jupiter finished, unleashing her lightning attack. The green electricity washed over all the Senshi, making them cry out in pain. They went limp for a few moments, recovering, then stirred, blinking spots from their eyes. The octopus was unmarked and unfazed. "Gyah!" Jupiter yelped, in surprise and frustration. "How are we supposed to hurt this thing?" "I was just going to say," Mercury spoke up, "that this monster won't be harmed by our attacks while we're in his grasp. Unless we can get free, we won't be able to beat him." "How can you stay so calm when you say that, Mercury?" Mars demanded. "I mean - uugh!" The octopus clenched its tentacle, cutting off Mars's voice. "Ah! Sailor Mars!" Sailor Venus cried. "Are you okay?" She was one tentacle down from Jupiter, bicycling her legs frantically. "Y-yeah, I think so," Mars gritted. "Just - hard to breathe - " "Sailor Mars..." Moon gulped. "Now what do we do?" "I don't know," Mercury admitted. There was a hopeless silence, punctuated only by the wet rubbery noises of the octopus moving. "Hold it right there!" Two obsidian flashes cut across the octopus's tentacles, making it shriek - a strange, pitiful sound. Its grip on the Senshi loosened, then fell away altogether, dumping them unceremoniously on the ground. The flashes curved around the octopus's head and flew back the way they had came. Sailor Moon turned. "Look!" she yelped, aghast. A navy-clad Sailor Senshi, sporting a long black braid and carrying a spear, stepped out of the shadows of the trees surrounding them. "Born in defense of beauty," she said solemnly, "know that I am Sailor Io!" A Senshi dressed in seafoam green emerged from the shadows to take her place behind and to the left of Sailor Io. "Born in defense of emotion," she said, snapping open her fan, "know that I am Sailor Titan!" Another Senshi clad in lavender appeared from the shadows, her obsidian throwing-stars glistening with the octopus's blood. She stood behind and to the right of Io. "Born in defense of truth," she stated, "know that I am Sailor Miranda!" Yet another Senshi, this one in cerulean blue, took a place behind and to the left of Sailor Titan. Her whip held at her hip and only half curled, letting about an inch drag on the ground behind her as she walked. "Born in defense of justice," she said, flipping her ponytail behind her, "know that I am Sailor Triton!" A fifth Senshi emerged behind and to the right of Sailor Miranda, completing the triangle formation. Her white fuku and copper axe glistened against each other. "Born in defense of peace," she said, black eyes glittering, "know that I am Sailor Charon!" The five new Senshi then adopted high-posture karate poses. "Know as well that in the name of Neo-Queen Serenity..." Io began. "...We will punish you!" they all finished. "New Sailor Scouts?" Venus gulped. "W-who are they?" "Did you notice how they invoked Neo-Queen Serenity?" Mercury asked. "What do you suppose that means?" "I don't know," Mars admitted. "They don't feel evil, at least." "So?" Jupiter argued. "We don't know anything about them." "We know that they're helping us," Venus shot back. "Speaking of which, Original Sailors," Io called, "you'd best get back before that demon gathers its wits again." Moon stood, nodded and, gathering her Senshi, quickly retreated to the edge of the clearing. Nothing her team had tried so far had worked - maybe this newcomer could make some headway against it. With all her strength she prayed for luck for this new Senshi. "Io, you'd better use your Second Force attack," Charon advised. "That monster's probably pretty tough to get the drop on all of the Originals like that." Io nodded to her teammate. "You're right. Okay, step back," she said, shaking out her arms. As her compatriots did so, she spread out her arms and was instantly engulfed by a column of blue flame, rife with magenta and lavender highlights, rather like the Aurora Borealis. Out of the top of this column of cold flame Io was launched, holding her spear before her, body curled, legs bent so that one was parallel to the spear and one was perpendicular to it. She flipped one complete turn in midair and half of another, and came rocketing toward the youma, riding her spear in freefall. "Glacier... CRUSH!" she yelled, and as her spear hit the demon the ground erupted, sprouting ice crystals like a geode deep inside the earth. Blue light washed out from the point of impact in a wave, and its biting cold made the Original Senshi gasp and flinch. The new Senshi did not react noticeably. The demon shrieked again, once, a high warbling sound. Then as the great ice crystals receded back into the earth it disintegrated into fine black smoke, leaving behind something small and glinting. Io picked it up and examined it. It was a tiny glass marble, tinted a dark blue and almost opaque. Shrugging, she slipped it into her elbow-length glove and let it roll down her arm to the palm of her hand, where it came to rest. "Wh-who are you?" Sailor Moon asked, stepping forward. Io stared at her for a moment, then smiled and bowed. "Your most loyal of servants, Princess," she answered, without a trace of irony. "Come on, little moon senshi, let's leave." Then new Senshi turned to leave. "Wait!" Sailor Mars cried. "Where'd you come from? How did you become Sailor Senshi? And how did you know to come here?" Charon, the axe-wielding senshi, turned to her and shrugged as her sister soldiers melted into the shadows one by one. "We were born, that's all," she said, and was gone. It was instinct alone that told Io that it was time to power down, become merely human once again, and the other Satellite Senshi followed her lead. As her transformation pendant condensed between her breasts and her fuku was replaced by her regular clothes, she knelt in the dewy spring grass. "Hard questions," she muttered, "hard questions indeed, Sailor Mars." "Ones we can't answer." Titan, human once again, knelt beside her friend and leader and wrapped her arms around her. Miranda knelt on Io's other side and reached around her to clasp hands with Titan. "We don't even know our human names." Io sank back to sit on her knees and Triton sat behind her, leaning against her back. Titan and Miranda let go of each other's hands to each clasp one of Triton's. "All we know is our Sailor Soldier identities - and duties," Triton said. Charon lay down with her head in Io's lap, curled in a fetal position. "We have each other, though. We'll survive." She reached up and Io took her hands in hers. Connected in this way, the Satellite Senshi fell asleep. Rei swept the last of the autumn debris from the temple porch and squinted into the bright afternoon sunlight. Five figures, sillouhetted by the sun, ascended the steps leading to the temple where she lived. Rei could almost believe that the approaching group was a tribe of pilgrims come to pay their respects - until, that is, they got within shouting distance. "Mamoru, you gotta take me to go get ice cream! Pleeeaaaase?" "Back off, squirt! That's MY Mamo-chan! MINE!" "Usagi-chan, you've really got to study after this. We've got that test coming up, and..." "I cannot be-LIEVE we've got another enemy to fight off! I'll never have time for volleyball at this rate!" "Yeah, I know, but at least we get to bash some more Nega- losers." Rei smiled. "Hey, guys!" she called, waving. "Hi, Rei-chan!" Minako called back, breaking into a run up the steps. Makoto followed and quickly passed her friend, laughing. "Oh, no, you don't!" Minako challenged, stepping up her pace to catch up. "Hey, guys, wait up," Ami called, knowing her protestations would be useless. Minako and Makoto left Ami and Usagi far behind in their wake of contending laughter. Ami sighed. "At least morale is high, I suppose." Usagi gave Ami her patented clueless look. "Nani?" "I mean, at least they're happy," Ami explained, putting a hand to her forehead in mock exasperation. "We had that as a vocabulary word last week." "Well, that explains it," Usagi answered in abashed cheerfulness. "I only got a 20% on my vocab test last week!" Ami sighed again. "Honestly, Usagi," Chibi-Usa commented from her perch on Mamoru's shoulders. "You oughta be more like me. I got a hundred on my last vocab test." "IT'S NOT NICE TO BRAG, YA LITTLE SPORE!!" Usagi yelled. Luna, trailing behind Usagi like a small shadow, piped up, "But she is right, you know. You do have to concentrate more on schoolwork." Behind her, Artemis and Diana nodded their agreement. "Well, it's not easy, what with saving the world, preparing for my future as Neo-Queen Serenity and all," Usagi sniffed. Luna gave a heavy sigh. "I wish you paid as much attention to school as you do to being Sailor Moon - you might actually learn something." "Hey! I do too learn things!" Usagi protested, miffed. She turned to Mamoru for support. "Don't I, Mamo-chan?" Mamoru smiled nervously. "Well, I, that is, I mean - " "Oh, I see!" grumbled Usagi. "Well, fine! Be that way!" Mamoru, sensing he'd offended, quickly set about trying to make amends. "Usa-ko, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way!" Usagi refused to respond to any of his overtures. As they mounted the last steps to Rei's temple, Mamoru was desperate enough to resort to his last-resort tactic. "Usa-ko, what do you say we go get a milkshake after school tomorrow? My treat." Usagi turned to him, stars in her eyes. "Oh, yes, definitely!" she squealed. Rei laughed. "I've heard that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but I didn't know it was true about girls too. Or is it just an Usagi thing?" Usagi was too wrapped up in the prospect of milkshakes to fire back. "So here's what we know about these new Sailors," Luna said, settling herself on the steps to the shrine beside Chibi-Usa and Diana. "There's five of them, who draw their powers from various moons in the solar system. They use weapons, and their attacks with these weapons are stronger than yours are. They invoke Neo-Queen Serenity as the moral force behind their actions, so one could conclude that they're from the future." "Their appearance seems to have coincided with that youma you fought," Artemis added. "Although they seem to be on the side of good, they may have brought that evil here with them unintentionally." "One thing is for certain," Minako said, looking serious. "We're going to need their help finding and clearing out this new evil." "Maybe not." The Senshi started and turned toward the temple steps. "Haruka? Usagi gasped. "Michiru? Wh-when did you get here?" The two Outer Senshi smiled. "When we sensed this new danger," Michiru explained, taking the seat Rei offered. Haruka followed suit. "Danger? You mean the new evil we fought last night?" Rei asked, standing. "What's it's nature, do you know?" Haruka shrugged and her expression became serious. "It's a great shadow whose goal is the destruction of all life," she said. "And it's centered around these new Senshi." Next chapter... Okay, so who are these guys anyway?