Makoto and Ukyou stepped out of the glowing portal to find themselves standing on a beach with two other people, a caucasian man and a woman. The man had graying hair and a stately beard, and he was obviously a mage, considering the fact that he was wearing a mage suit. Ukyou guessed that he was the one who had opened the portal. Her suspicions were confirmed when he bowed to her and introduced himself. “I am Dr. Theodore Diggers. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”
Ukyou and Makoto bowed in return. “The pleasure is ours. I am Ukyou Kino, and this is my daughter Makoto Kino.”
Dr. Diggers motioned towards a tall, powerfully built redhead that Ukyou instantly identified as a master martial artist and most likely a Weaponmaster. “This is my wife, Julia Brigand-Diggers.” The red-haired woman nodded in greeting, her eyes sizing up her fellow warrior. Small, knowing grins sprang to both Julia’s and Ukyou’s faces. “I would introduce you to the rest of our family, but they are busy packing up from our picnic.”
A voice called out from the tree-line near the beach. “We’re almost done, Dr. Diggers.” The owner of the voice stepped into view and, in Makoto’s opinion, only one word could describe him: ‘Beefcake’.
The brunette Japanese girl began to drool. Before her mother could react, the hormone-crazed teenager seemed to all but teleport to in front of the extremely masculine Genn. “Helllllloooo, dream!”
Genn could only blink at the girl for a moment before instincts kicked in. He detected a powerful aura of both life and magic and it nearly set him to drooling. “Why, hello there sweetling…” Genn was a rakshasa, a shapeshifter who feeds on the energy given off by living creatures, similar to a youma. Genn, however, was much nicer about how much he drained and his methods of acquiring it were more interesting. ‘He’ would find out just what someone’s ideal partner was and assume that form. After ‘playing’ with the person until they passed out, Genn would then drain enough energy to fill up but without harming the person. Using his ESP, Genn peered into Makoto’s mind to find out what her ideal boyfriend would be.
Everyone just stared as Genn’s form wavered a bit before he collapsed into a twitching heap. Makoto blinked a few times as she looked down at him. “What happened to him?”
The twitching form could only gasp out, “Too… many… faces…” before slowly recovering.
Theodore chuckled as he walked over to help the young being to his feet. “This is Genn, a friend of the family. Genn, these are the Kinos.” Genn waved, still a bit dizzy from the overload. Dr. Diggers turned around and pointed him towards the trees. “Why don’t you go tell the others that I’ll be there in a moment.” The arch-mage had to restrain himself from chuckling as Genn wobbled his way back to the others.
Julia smirked knowingly as she saw the heart-broken look on Makoto’s face. Leaning closer to Ukyou she whispered, “I remember being that young once.”
The chef nodded in agreement with her fellow mom. “Those were the days, weren’t they?”
Theodore started to follow after Genn, but noticed that his wife wasn’t joining him. “Julia? I would have thought you would be wanting to start planning our daughter’s wedding.”
Ukyou smiled. “Congratulations!”
Julia smiled back before turning to the arch-mage. “I just recently got my husband back. You don’t honestly think I’m going to spend time away from you unless I have to, do you?”
Theodore smiled lovingly at his wife and blushed a little as she snuggled up against him. Makoto giggled a little as she turned to her mother. “Kinda reminds me of you and dad.” To escape the embarrassment, the arch-mage walked into the tree-line to send his family on their way.
Ukyou blinked a couple of times before laughing. “You’re right, Sugar. He’s a mage and she’s a Weaponmaster… he gets flustered when she cuddles up with him, just like Ranchan does. Heh, I don’t suppose you’ve got two daughters, one of whom is adopted.”
Julia blinked as a smile spread across her face. “Close. Three daughters, one of whom is adopted and another that is… well… a special case.”
Ukyou’s eyebrow twitched. “Boy, small world, ain’t it, Sugar?”
Julia nodded with a smirk. “It would be even more ironic if your adopted daughter were a werecat. That’s what ours is.” The Weaponmaster’s eyebrow rose as she noticed the two Japanese ladies flinch at that comment. At that moment, Dr. Diggers returned, cutting off Julia’s next question. “We should get going. Gaja mentioned that you were looking for some training here. May I ask where so that I can open a doorway?”
Ukyou sighed a little. “Well, that’s the problem. My daughter apparently has a natural talent for weather magic but there was no one that I knew of on the western continent who could teach her and that I trusted. One of my friends recommended coming over here and asking Gaja for some assistance. Breeze, my friend, suggested that we try to find a weather witch.”
Theodore nodded sagely. “I’m afraid that most of the weather mages I know are not taking students right now. As for weather witches, there aren’t any nearby who are willing to train ‘outsiders’.” He noted Ukyou’s and Makoto’s crestfallen looks. “Why don’t we go to the observatory? Perhaps Brod, Tark, and Mesha will be able to help you. They’re friends of mine and are quite trustworthy.”
When they arrived at the observatory a short time later, the Kinos were introduced to Brod, a tall, brawny troll with a pleasant demeanor and a kind attitude. Tark and his wife Mesha, a lovely pair of Grey Elves, also met the two Japanese ladies.
As he shook their hands in greeting, Brod suddenly sniffed the air a few times. “Pardon me if I’m being rude, but does anyone else smell mice?” Julia didn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to see how nervous Brod’s comment made Ukyou and Makoto.
Tark and Mesha shook their heads. “But then again, our sense of smell isn’t as sharp as yours. We’ll put out some extra traps to keep them from eating any of the books.”
Brod nodded his thanks to the two elves before turning back to Ukyou and Makoto. “Now that the introductions are made, how can we be of service to you?”
Theodore explained about Makoto’s desire to train in magic and lack of qualified teachers. Brod nodded his understanding and, with Tark and Mesha following after, took Makoto inside to show her the library and to see if there was any way he could help. Left to themselves, the trio of adults had to decide what to do. After a few minutes of consideration, Theodore opened a dimension door to a nearby town with a tavern so that they could converse. While the Diggers picked out a table, Ukyou grabbed a round of ale for the three of them.
After sitting down, the chef brought up something that had been bothering her. “If you don’t mind my being nosy, you said that you just got your husband back. What happened?”
Theodore’s face fell in a way that was all too familiar to Ukyou. “My father was a great arch-mage. As his legacy he tried to create a spell that could change an evil spirit into a good one. There was an accident and he lost control of the spell. It killed him and changed him into an evil lich, after which he attacked me and my family. He was going to banish me to limbo, but Julia,” he said while squeezing his wife’s hand, “got in the way of the spell. In the meantime I managed to send my father to the undead realm. At first we thought Julia was dead, but then I got a message from Brod telling me that she was on Jade. Unfortunately there was something in the spell that my father cast that caused Julia to vanish any time someone from Earth got too close, so we were separated for eighteen years. All of my magic was useless…” Theo stopped as his wife gave him a comforting hug. “Recently, our daughters, Gina and Brianna, managed to cure her of her condition using science, since magic had proven ineffective. Now we’re a family again.”
Ukyou shook her head in surprise. “The small world just got smaller. My husband and I were separated from our daughter for eight years and were only recently reunited with her.”
Despite the sad circumstances, the irony was enough to ease the tension and the trio found themselves laughing lightly. Julia moved to sit in her husband’s lap, much to his embarrassment. “How did that happen?”
Ukyou sighed sadly. “Ranchan… sorry, that’s my nickname for my husband, Ranma. He has a curse on him that makes him a conduit for chaotic energies. The energy builds up, acting like a beacon to weird events, until it hits a critical point. Then, typically, someone around him dies. We’ve tried everything we can think of, mages, priests, artificers, but the best we’ve found is a way to siphon off the energy slowly. It still builds up, but it takes a lot longer to happen. Some friends of ours on the western continent have found a way of detonating the energy safely when it hits critical mass, but the process is extremely painful for Ranchan.” She took a chug of ale from the mug in front of her before continuing. She told them the story of how they left their daughter with relatives, took a plane to China to try and avoid being near anyone when it detonated, and planned on speaking with some ‘old friends’ in the area to see what they knew. She told them about how they were thrown into the land of Jade and about how Ranma was badly injured at the time.
“I had to get better at fighting just to keep him and me alive. I used to think I was pretty good, but after running into some of the monsters here, I realized that I needed to improve badly. Ranchan finally healed enough to travel some, but we found that without money, friends, or anything worth trading for we would have a hard time getting him the medical attention he needed as well as trying to find a way home. I eventually scraped together enough money to get Ranchan to a healer. To our surprise, the healer found that Ranchan had a natural talent for aura magic, but that with no references and no money he would have a difficult time finding a teacher. When we found out that Weaponmasters were highly respected no matter where they went, Ranchan and I sought one out to train under him.” Ukyou stopped to repress a shudder. “He had some… interesting training techniques that reminded us of a certain old troll from Earth.”
Theo blinked and interrupted her. “A troll? On Earth? I wasn’t aware that any had stayed behind.”
Ukyou chuckled. “Well, he wasn’t a real troll… at least not that we knew of. He was this old, perverted martial arts master with a thing for feminine undergarments.”
Julia froze. “Happosai?”
A look of terror crossed Ukyou’s face. “Y-you know him?”
Julia shook her head. “No, but I trained under his son.”
“THE OLD FREAK HAD KIDS?” The tavern patrons did their best to ignore the outburst. No one, but NO ONE, would risk saying anything with Julia Brigand-Diggers around.
Julia nodded. “He never talks about him, but my instructor told us to avoid Happosai at all costs and taught us some… er… special moves to deal with him if we ever did have the misfortune to run into him.”
Ukyou seemed stuck on the concept of the old pervert actually having bred. “So, who was your instructor?”
“Master Leap.”
Ukyou noticed that Theo scowled at the mention of his name. Then the name clicked into place. “Leap?! I trained under Master Bound! But that means… he’s… Happosai’s kid… too… oh, kami…” Ukyou banged her head against the table a few times. “Ranchan is not going to be happy when he finds out.”
“Bound? Master Leap’s half-brother?”
Ukyou nodded as she quit introducing her forehead to the oaken table. She shook her head to try and rid herself of the horrible thoughts. “Anyway, Ranchan and I started training under Master Bound, but Ranchan’s personality clashed too much with Master Bound’s and he got kicked out.”
Julia blinked and interrupted again. “I though that Bound, like Master Leap, only taught girls.”
Ukyou chuckled. “Oh, right… Ranma’s got another curse. I swear he attracts them like water. He can turn into a girl with cold water and a guy with hot water.”
“Jusenkyo?” Theo asked.
Ukyou nodded. “Yep. If you ever go there, don’t drink the water. Anyways, while I trained under Master Bound, Ranma actually managed to teach himself the basics of aura magic.”
“How is that possible? It normally takes years of study to learn even the basic spells.”
Ukyou smirked. “Ranchan has a habit for breaking rules that no one tells him about. Before we came to Jade, he had already beaten a minotaur, a half-dragon, a full dragon, and even a phoenix.”
Theo blinked in shock. “You mean Saffron?”
Ukyou nodded. “You know him? Arrogant little jackass? Thinks the whole world is his play toy?”
Theo shook his head. “Not personally, but I have heard of him. He’s one of the few elder beings who did not come to Jade during the great migration.”
“Well, when I graduated from Master Bound’s school, I sought out one of the other Weaponmasters and challenged her to a fight for her title. She agreed. I won. With that title, we were able to convince people to start researching ways of getting home and dealing with the curse. It took eight years, but Ranchan finally managed to learn the dimension door spell and get strong enough to cast it.” Ukyou sighed and took another drag from her ale. “And then I found out about you and the fact that we could have gotten home years ago… I missed out on my daughter’s childhood… she thought we were dead for so long…”
Julia reached across and took Ukyou’s hand. “I know what you’re going through, but at least you’re together now, right?”
Ukyou nodded and smiled. “Of course.”
Julia tapped her husband on the shoulder and, using subtle gestures developed over years of adventuring together, told him that she wanted some privacy from the rest of the tavern. Theo quirked an eyebrow but did as she ask, subtly casting a Silence Wall spell.
Once he motioned that it was done, Julia changed subjects. “Ukyou, there’s something I need to ask.”
Ukyou gulped at the tone of his voice and even Theo looked at her quizzically.
“Tell me about your daughter. The one who’s a wererat.”
Ukyou felt herself being overtaken with panic. Her eyes swept the room to see if anyone had overheard and her hand slid towards one of her throwing spatulas.
“Calm yourself,” Theo motioned soothingly. “No one outside this table can hear us and we mean you no harm.”
Ukyou’s eyes were still wide with fear, but she stopped moving towards her weapon. “Why do you want to know?”
Julia glanced at her husband before continuing. “We’ve had dealings with wererats before and they were… not pleasant. I want to make sure that no harm comes to my daughter because of them.”
Ukyou felt some relief at her words. “In that case you have nothing to worry about. She is the kindest, most sweet tempered girl in the world. She’s no threat to your family.”
“Is she a rogue, then?”
Ukyou nodded. “Her mother fled from the wererat clan when she was pregnant with Siofra. She managed to escape them for several years, but they eventually tracked her down and killed her, as well as everyone in the caravan she was a part of. Siofra only survived because Ranchan and I showed up during the attack and stopped them. We’ve been hiding her from the rest of her clan ever since.”
Julia nodded, satisfied. “You have my word that I will never again speak of this to anyone but your family.” Theo agreed as well.
Ukyou smiled in gratitude. “Thanks, but don’t mention it to Makoto. She doesn’t know yet.”
The Weaponmaster raised an eyebrow at that. “I kinda doubt that. Her reaction to Brod’s comment about mice was identical to yours.”
Ukyou blinked and got a calculating look on her face as her eyes narrowed. “It looks like little miss ‘I-like-to-keep-secrets-from-my-family’ and I are going to have a long talk after she gets done at the observatory.”
Theo recognized the look on her face and said a silent prayer for Makoto’s safety. Julia just smirked and nodded in understanding. “Say, I haven’t sparred against a Weaponmaster in a while and I’d love to try myself out against one of Bound’s students. Care to join me?”
Ukyou nodded with a grin. “I’d be delighted, sugar.”
Back on Earth, Ranma chuckled as he chatted with Minako while they walked down the street to the Hikawa Shrine. “You know, the funny thing is nobody noticed that Rei was acting any differently.”
The blonde warrior of love and justice let out a light-hearted sigh. “Yeah, she’s always trying to strangle Usagi, so I guess it wouldn’t really seem strange. It’s a good thing that the Mercury computer managed to pick up the doll spirit that possessed her. So, what did you do to it in the end?”
Ranma sighed. “Well, to be honest… the hot springs are its home. Humans are the intruders there, so I had no real right to destroy it. I simply put the spirit back in the doll and then put up a ward around the table that will help keep it from being disturbed.”
Minako frowned. “But won’t the ward wear off eventually?”
“Nope. The doll will keep it going. It doesn’t like to be disturbed, so it was perfectly willing to help me on that… besides, we kinda have a history and I sorta owed it one.”
“Oh, now this I’ve got to hear. I wondered why it kept calling you ‘The Infidel’.”
Makoto groaned as she carried a rather sizable stack of books out of the observatory. The groan died as she stared in stunned horror at her mother. The chef limped heavily towards her, the huge smile on her face belying her badly beaten appearance. Makoto noticed that her battle spatula was currently bent at an awkward angle. “Mom! What happened?!”
Brod, who was standing behind Makoto, just let out a light sigh and wagged his finger at Ukyou. “What happened, pupil, is what always happens when two Weaponmasters get within a mile of each other. They proceed to see which can turn the other the darkest shade of purple.”
“Mom?”
Ukyou grinned mightily. “Yeah, but you should see the other mom…” She motioned behind her with her head. Makoto looked to see Julia being helped along by her husband. She didn’t seem to be in quite as bad a shape as Ukyou, but she still looked like she had been put through the wringer. Her grin was identical to Ukyou’s and Makoto groaned as she realized how much her mother had probably enjoyed the beating.
Julia and Theo made their way over to where Makoto and Ukyou were standing. “I still find it difficult to believe how effective that weapon is. I’ve also never heard of any other fighter that used a spatula.”
“It’s a family style, from Earth.” Ukyou waved her hand towards the books in Makoto’s arms. “Homework, Sugar?”
Makoto nodded. “Tark, Mesha, and Master Brod said that the chances of me getting full training under a weather mage or witch any time soon were pretty low, so he offered to help teach me part-time. This way it won’t interfere with regular school or my other duties. It’ll be a lot slower going, though, but it can’t really be helped, can it?”
Ukyou nodded. “Well, that sounds good to me. Thank you, Brod.” The troll nodded and smiled in response. “So, does that mean you’re ready to go home? You’ve only been on Jade for two days now.”
Makoto nodded. “I can read these books just as fast there as here, and I want to talk to my friends and see if we can’t all maybe benefit from these books. Besides, we can always come back during school breaks, right?”
Her mother nodded in understanding. She raised a finger, however. “Keep in mind one thing, though: No practicing magic without either me or your father around. That goes double for your friends. Got it?” When Makoto nodded, Ukyou continued. “Oh, and one more thing… how long have you known about your sister, and don’t give me that ‘what do you mean’ look, young lady!”
Makoto gulped.
Later that day, Makoto and Ukyou came home through a portal opened by the good Doctor Diggers. It wasn’t that Ukyou mistrusted her husband, but she found that the curse had a tendency to give his aim a ‘Ryouga Complex’. So when the arch-mage offered, she saw no reason to turn him down. Coming back almost a week earlier than planned gave Makoto some time to do some things on her own. Deciding that she’d like some time alone, something she really hadn’t had since her parents had come back into her life, she took a stroll into the city.
Makoto walked down the street as snowfall gently drifted down around her. It was odd, really. It was summer in Jade, but here in Japan it was winter. She smiled softly as she thought of the wonderful people she had met in that magical world. A familiar face in the passing crowd shook her from her daydream. “Urawa-kun?” Makoto blinked and turned around to watch Ami’s quasi-sortof-ishly boyfriend. Before she could follow him her communicator beeped.
Luna’s face appeared on the display. “Mako-chan! Something important is happening. Come to the shrine quickly!”
At the shrine, Makoto and the others found out that Urawa had contacted Ami and told her that the Dark Kingdom was kidnapping all of the people who used to be the Seven Great Youma. The only two who were still free were Urawa and Grandpa Hino. Deciding on a course of action, Makoto stood up.
“Let’s go, Ami-chan!” Makoto started to head for the door.
Ami blinked at her, confused. “What? Go where?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We have to protect Urawa-kun, don’t we?”
Ami’s gaze dropped to the floor. “But we don’t know where he is.”
Makoto shook her head softly. “I saw him on the street just before coming here. If we walk around, we’ll find him.” She turned to the other girls. “You guys keep Grandpa safe.” Without waiting for an answer, Makoto grabbed Ami by the hand and dragged her from the shrine.
The two of them searched the streets in silence for over half an hour in the numbing cold.
Ami finally spoke up. “Mako-chan, let's go back. I know it's cruel to Ryo-kun, but there's nothing we can do at this point.”
Makoto stared at her friend incredulously. “What are you talking about? Isn't Urawa-kun your boyfriend?”
Ami blushed as she turned away from her friend. “No. We're just friends.”
Makoto shook her head in disbelief. “Ami-chan, do you really mean that?”
Ami just nodded her head softly.
“He loves you!”
Ami spoke sadly. “I know. But I have an important job to do… until then, I can’t afford to return his feelings.”
Makoto glared lightly at her friend and fellow Senshi. “You'll regret it if you don’t hold on to those feelings now. Why can't we be in love? What's wrong with dating?”
“But...”
Makoto cut her off. “You're running away. You're afraid of love! That's why you’re making these excuses! Why can't you be honest with yourself?”
Ami turned to stare at her reflection in a car window. As Makoto continued her speech she saw Urawa running down the other side of the street. “That's him!” Without waiting for Makoto, Ami turned and gave chase. Makoto, realizing that the target of her monologue had vanished, looked around and spotted Ami’s retreating form. Calling out to her she pursued her friend. Together they raced into an alley and transformed into their Senshi guises. Just as they finished, Urawa came running down the narrow passage towards them.
“Ami-chan?” Urawa squinted to get a better look in the dark alley. “No, Sailor Mercury…”
The blue Senshi smiled shyly. “It’s been a while, Urawa-kun…”
Jupiter smirked. “Now that we’re here, you’re in safe hands.”
Suddenly an ominous voice echoed through the alley. “Aren’t they lovely bodyguards?” Looking up towards a catwalk the three friends spotted Endymion.
“Mamoru…” Both Jupiter and Mercury spoke his name softly.
“Mamoru…” The new arrival sounded confused. “You are the second ones to call me that. But you are wrong. My name is Endymion!”
As the Prince of Earth hopped down from his perch, Jupiter whispered to Mercury, “I’ll take care of him. You go with Urawa-kun!”
Mercury shook her head defiantly. “No. I’ll fight too!”
Jupiter smiled softly at her friend as she kept an eye on Endymion’s approaching form. “Urawa-kun is more important. Hurry!” As Mercury finally turned and fled with Urawa, Jupiter turned to face her foe. “Mamoru… no, Endymion… I don’t want to fight you, but in order to protect the others I can’t go easy on you.”
“You can not hope to challenge me alone,” Endymion sneered.
“I’ll just have to give it my best. Supreme Thunder!” Jupiter cursed as Endymion easily sidestepped the lightning bolt. Rather than repeat the too slow and possibly lethal spell, she dropped into an aggressive stance and charged forward.
Endymion smirked as the attacks were easily blocked or dodged. After one particularly wild punch soared past his head, he decided to end it. Holding up a hand he easily caught her next jab. “Too-“ He could only blink as Jupiter moved far faster than she had been, her hand grasping his wrist and her body twisting to throw him heavily into a wall. Endymion’s head bounced off the concrete and he staggered backwards as pain shot through him. The Prince of Earth shook his head to clear it and turned with an angry scowl towards his opponent.
Beginning his own series of attacks, Endymion’s scowl deepened as Jupiter managed to block or dodge every one. When she ducked under a particularly vicious right cross, he was unprepared for the massive pain as she sent both palms blasting into his chin. Stars filled his vision as he staggered backwards only to be struck again in the chest. After being sent halfway down the alley by a powerful kick, he decided he had enough. “I have wasted too much time with you. I will not be kept from accomplishing my mission by the likes of you.” With that comment he stepped into a dark portal and vanished.
Jupiter cursed as she ran out of the alley and tried to catch up with Mercury and Urawa. She caught up to them just in time to see Mercury snatch the black crystal away from Endymion, who was currently dressed as Tuxedo Mask, and smash it on the ground. In a burst of light the crystal shattered in a rainbow-hued blaze. Suddenly six people lay on the ground. Jupiter recognized them as the human forms of the Seven Great Youma that the Senshi had rescued a while ago.
Jupiter saw Luna and Sailor Moon standing next to Mercury. “Moon, you have to change Mamoru back quickly!”, Mercury pleaded with her leader.
The unwilling soldier of the Dark Kingdom sneared, “I will kill all three of you!”
Moon looked stuned as she stared at Endymion. She saw the incredibly nasty bruises that had already begun forming on his chin and forehead. Before she could ask what happened to him, he began his attack. As Endymion began to charge forward, Mercury began to cast her Bubble Spray spell to cloud the battle. At the same moment, Jupiter cast her Supreme Thunder. The two spells combined into a devastating attack that blasted through the Prince of Earth’s defenses. Crying out in pain as electricity arced through him, he collapsed in front of Sailor Moon.
“NOW!” Luna called out to the stunned Moon. Snapping out of the daze caused by seeing her true love beaten, Moon used the Moon Stick to cast her Moon Healing Escalation. In a cascade of light, the dark energy was driven from Endymion’s body and the Prince of Earth regained control of his mind.
“You did it!” Luna cheered happily. No sooner had the words escaped her lips then a dark aura erupted around the fallen hero.
Mercury was quick to analyze the energy. “It’s the Dark Kingdom! They’re taking him back!”
“No! No way!” Jupiter growled. In her mind she tore through the pages she had read earlier. Finding the spell she was looking for, she prayed it would work. She had to modify the element stated in the spell to fit her own abilities, but she hoped it would still function the way it should. Crying out, she hurled the completed spell at the slowly vanishing body. “MANA SHOCK!”
In the Dark Kingdom, Beryl sneered as she stared into her crystal ball. Endymion had not only failed miserably, but that wretched Sailor Moon had driven Metallia’s influence from him. As she watched the recall spell take effect, she felt a tingle building up inside of her. She suddenly screamed in agony as arcs of electricity raced down the ethereal stream that linked the spell to her, electrocuting her and hurling her from her throne. When she lost focus on her spell, she also lost Endymion and as she slowly pulled herself back into her seat, her charred hands began to work the lightly sparking crystal. She could see that little brat, Moon, fawning all over HER Endymion.
“No, no, no, NO, NO!!! He should be here with me! Not you!” Beryl screamed at the crystal. She shifted its focus to show Jupiter, who was leaning against Mercury as she shook her head dazedly. “And you, you will PAY for harming me!”
At the Hikawa Shrine, the Senshi informed the Moon Cats about what had happened. Endymion, or Tuxedo Mask as he preferred to be called now, was recovering at the Kino residence since he had no family and it was decided that he could best be protected there. When they were done with the story, Artemis let out a happy whoop. “We have all of the Senshi, we have the Prince of Earth, we have me and Luna, and we have the Silver Crystal. We’re winning!”
Luna grumbled something under her breath, but it was enough to intrude on Artemis’ celebration.
“Just what is wrong with you? Don’t tell me that you still don’t trust them!”
The Senshi stared in shock when Luna blurted out, “Of course I still don’t trust them!”
Artemis banged his head against the floor a few times before turning a glare on his fellow Moon Cat. “Just what is your problem, huh? They have done nothing but help us since the beginning and have asked for nothing in return.”
“That’s what’s so suspicious about them! They’re too good to be true!”
Artemis stared in disbelief at Luna. After a few moments understanding began to dawn on him. “You feel threatened, don’t you? You’re afraid that you won’t be needed any more if they really are on our side. After all, they’re experienced adults who not only have the respect of the girls, but they’ve also been teaching them how to improve themselves better than we have. You’re jealous!”
“I am NOT jealous! I’m just concerned that they’re worming their way in so that they can take us from the inside!”
Artemis had a ‘yeah, right… pull the other one’ look on his face. Before he could say anything, Moon had scooped Luna up into her arms and was bawling her eyes out. “I didn’t mean to make you think we didn’t need you, Luna! We love you! We’ll always need you!” She continued on for a while, ignoring the heated denials and praising the Moon Cat until Luna was too embarrassed to do anything other than blush. Artemis just snickered quietly.