Hello everyone.

The only important thing to say is that I have a lot of people to thank 
and they're all at the bottom.  Standard disclaimers and e-mail... you've 
heard it all before.


Sailor Moon Universal B

Chapter 10:  A New Moon


"What do we do now?" Crescent Moon asked in a scared tone of voice.

Travis ran over to the place where the slitherer had gone through.  "We
have to get it back," he answered, trying desperately to find a trigger
for the secret door.

"Stand back," Tuxedo Mask said.  He pulled out several roses and threw
them at the wall.

"We've got to get the Sun Stone back," Travis said again.

"We will," Sailor Moon answered.  "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" flew towards the
wall that the roses had weakened, and they watched as it broke down.
Looking through the destroyed wall, they saw several tunnels branching
off, and no hint which one the snake like creature had gone through.

"Now what?" Tuxedo Mask asked, looking through all three tunnels.
"We're not splitting up to search all of them, and it's extremely
dangerous for Travis to be running around untransformed."

"Besides," Crescent Moon added.  "How are we going to get back home?"

The others looked at each other for a long silent moment, wishing she
hadn't brought that up.

The four Scouts tried to decide what to do.  They looked closely at 
all of the corridors, but there was nothing to show which one the 
youma had gone down.

Travis looked around at the others.  "If we don't get the Sun Stone back
soon, you're going to have to leave me here.  I'll just be a liability
otherwise."

"No way," Sailor Moon disagreed vehemently.  "We're not leaving you
behind."

"She's right," Tuxedo Mask agreed.  "There's no way we're leaving anyone
behind."

"Too bad it wasn't the Crystal that was stolen," Sailor Moon mused.  She
noticed everyone was looking at her and shrugged.  "Well that way we
could use the Sun Stone to Duo and Reenie could Duo with Sailor Earth."

"Good idea, Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Mask said, giving her a kiss before he
detransformed.

"But we don't have the Sun Stone," Crescent Moon said confusedly.  Then
she shook her head.  "Oh yeah," she muttered in an embarrassed tone, and
detransformed herself.  She walked over to her father, and he held out
the hand wearing the Earth Gem.

"EARTH GEM POWER DUO!" they cried.  Red, white, green, and blue lights
flew from the gem and surrounded them.  When the transformation
finished, two Scouts stood there.

"Hey!  I look like Sailor Jupiter," the younger one cried.  Indeed she
did, except for her boots.  Her skirt and cape were green, while her
bows and boots were pink.  The green was darker than Jupiter's, and the
pink was the same shade as her hair.  "Why?  I thought I was supposed to
be an Earth Sailor."

"Well, green is the main Earth color," Sailor Earth suggested.  "And
pink just seems to be your color."

"It looks like your stuck with pink no matter what you try," Travis said
teasingly.

"That's okay," the young Earth Sailor replied, tossing her pink hair,
still up in its cones, back.  "I happen to like pink."

"So do I," Sailor Moon smiled back.  "It's my favorite color."

"Enough with the chit-chat," Travis grinned.  "Shall we, Sis?"

"Let's," she said lightly, taking off her brooch and holding it towards
him.

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER DUO!" they cried.  A hint of feathers and ribbons
later, two red and blue Sailor Scouts stood in front of the others.  The
new, male, Sailor Moon's outfit was extremely similar to his Sailor Sol
outfit, except what had been yellow was now red, and what had been gold
was now blue.  The only other differences that could be seen was his
headband now sported a crescent moon, and his sword was belted on his
right, and carried a moonstone in the hilt instead of a topaz.

"So?" the new Sailor Earth said eagerly.  "What shall we call
ourselves?"

"Why does it matter?" the new Sailor Moon answered.  "We're going to be
going back to our normal forms just as soon as we get my Sun Stone
back."

"I want a name," she said stubbornly.  "I guess I could be Sailor New
Earth?  Sailor Little Earth, nah... Hmm... Sailor Crescent Earth?  Come
on guys, help me out here," she said plaintively.

"How about Sailor Terra?" her uncle asked.

"Terra?" she asked.  "It's pretty, but what does it have to do with
Earth?"

"Terra is the official name for the Earth, like Sol is for the Sun," he
explained.

"Then I'll be Sailor Terra," the newly named Sailor replied.  "And you
can use the official name for the Moon, okay?"

Sailor Moon burst into laughter, and Sailor Earth seemed to have a hard
time keeping his own laughter contained as the younger boy glared.

"What?" Sailor Terra asked, confused.

"I don't think that's a name that works too well," he said, glaring at
his sister who had collapsed to the floor in laughter.

She got hold of herself for long enough to gasp, "I think Sailor Luna is
a perfect name for you!"

"Sailor Luna?" Sailor Terra asked, bursting into laughter of her own.

"I don't think I'll go with that one if you don't mind," the male sailor
announced with offended dignity.  A smile was tugging at his lips but he
struggled to keep it away.  "That's worse than Tranquillity," he
muttered to himself.  He turned and started down one of the tunnels.

"Hey!" his sister yelled.  "Where are you going?  Wait up!"  The other
three hurried after him.

"Well," Sailor Terra said once they had caught up with him.  "If you're
not going to be Sailor Luna, how about Sailor Diana?"

Sailor Earth chortled and tried to convert it to a cough.  His eyes were
still twinkling madly as he made his own suggestion.  "How about Sailor
Artemis?"

Sailor Moon was still laughing.  "How about Sailor Moonie?" she
suggested.

"Loony or Lunatic would work better with you guys around," he muttered.
"I hope we find the Sun Stone soon."

Sailor Moon had finally settled down and moved up next to her twin.  She
put an arm around his shoulders.  "As a Sailor of the Moon, there are
certain things you must know," she said seriously.  He and the others
stopped to look at her sober expression.  "The most important is that
you must always, always," she looked up to make sure he was paying
attention and emphasized it again.  "`Always' use a speech to introduce
yourself before fighting."  She took off running immediately with the
second Sailor Moon right behind her.

Sailor Earth and Sailor Terra were left behind.  "They're so silly,"
Sailor Terra said happily.

Sailor Earth smiled down at his future daughter.  "Yes, they are," he
agreed.  His expression sobered quickly though.

"What's the matter?" Sailor Terra asked, noticing his sober expression
and his quickening pace.

"I had forgotten for a moment, and I think they have too," he said.
"That we're in the middle of the Negaverse, with a large number of youma
wandering around."

"Oh, yeah," Terra agreed.  Grabbing his hand, she broke into a run after
the twins.

They found the two walking quietly back towards them and looking warily
from side to side.  Sailor Moon gave a sigh of relief when they met up
and melted into Sailor Earth's embrace.

"We suddenly realized that running and playing as if we were back on
Earth, was a really stupid thing to do," Travis explained.

"You're right, it was!" a voice said from behind them.


Quartz walked away from the door, her mind working furiously.  The boy
had been Travis Watson, she was sure of that even though she'd never met
him personally.

Mentally, she looked through everything she knew about him.  She stopped
walking as her mind brought forth two pictures.  *With those balls on
top of her head, his twin sister has `got' to be Sailor Moon!  It's so
obvious!  No one else has that weird hairdo.*

"If I can..." she started to say and then subsided.  Half of her wanted
nothing more than to go back and ask... beg if necessary... for their
help in finding and freeing her father.  The other part, brought up in
the harsh realities of Queen Beryl's rule, and learning early that no
one except family could be trusted, won.  Quartz kept walking.

She stopped once more in shock as she heard laughter.  Her face
softened.  Laughter was practically unknown here except for mocking or
cruel laughter.  This wasn't.  It was light-hearted and joyful,
reminding her of when her family was together and sure they wouldn't be
overheard.

She stood and listened for as long as she could hear the echoes.  She
smiled slightly and wondered what they could possibly find to laugh
about here and now, after what had just happened.

When she started walking again, there was a bounce in her step and a
smile tugging at the edge of her mouth.  It lasted until she stepped
into a corridor and ran into a squad of youmas.

"You're that person General Spessarite wants, aren't you?" the head
youma asked as two others grabbed her arms.

Quartz didn't move as the youmas surrounded her.  She looked the head
youma in the eye.  "I don't really care what General Spaghetti wants, I
serve the Emperor directly.  If you were not ordered by the Emperor's
own voice, then you are skirting treason by impeding my progress."  Her
voice was low and sure, carrying all the weight of command.  She knew
the youmas had caught her reference.  The Emperor's Own were an elite
group of people, with almost the full authority of the Emperor if they
felt it necessary to use it.  In a way, they were the Inspector
General's of the Kingdom, and they were not people that were messed
with.

She knew as soon as she saw the grins when she called him Spaghetti,
that it would be alright.  General Spessarite's personal guard might
very well dare to stop one of the Emperor's Own, but no one else would.
And none of his guard would smile at someone using the derogatory
nickname.

The youmas holding her started to loosen their grips on her arms.  They
had heard the rumors of what happened to people who messed with one of
the Emperor's Own while they were on duty.  And what happened to someone
who impersonated one was much, much worse.  In fact, it had only ever
happened once.

"Wait a minute!" someone piped up from the back.  "Look at how human she
is.  What if she's actually one of those Scouts everyone says are
roaming around, and she's just `pretending' to be one of the Emperor's
Own?"

Quartz jerked free of the hands holding her and stalked towards the one
that had spoken.  "And what if I am?" she asked wrathfully.  "I could be
Sailor Moon herself.  Why don't you march me over to the Emperor and
explain your idea to him.  I'm sure he'd be very interested in it, as
you explain it to him... from the bottom of the Pit!"

The youma backed away as Quartz bore down on him.  "I could be Queen
Serenity for all you know, but do you really want to face the
consequences if I am exactly who I say I am?"  She had backed the youma
against the wall, and even though she was a foot shorter than him, she
gave the impression that she was looming over him.

The others had prudently disappeared.  They had no doubts that she was
who she said she was, and had no intention in getting in a debate with
her over her identity.  The common consensus was, if Spessarite wanted
her, he could come get her himself.

Quartz stood silently through the youma's groveled apologies, before
turning and walking away without a word.  The youma sighed and counted
himself lucky to have gotten off so easily.


Several corridors away, the four Scouts looked around to find themselves
surrounded by a squad of youmas.

"We've caught Sailor Moon!" one member of the squad growled excitedly.

Another one however, wasn't so sure.  "If that's Sailor Moon, who are
these others?" he asked in confusion.  "There was supposed to be a guy
in a tuxedo, and one in yellow and gold, and a little girl in blue and
pink."

"Does it matter who the others are?" the first one growled back.
"That's Sailor Moon, with two guys and a kid.  And even if they're not
the others that the General wants, they're trespassers."

"And trespassers we get to kill!" another spoke up.  "It was only the
four that were shown to us that we were supposed to keep alive, and only
one of them is here, so we can kill the others."

"Yes!" "Good idea!" "Let's kill them!" came from all sides.

"Let's ask them," one said.  "If they're not the one's we're supposed to
capture, we can kill them."

Sailor Terra whispered to Sailor Earth, "Why would we tell them we
weren't?" she asked in confusion.

The second Sailor Moon responded before he could, "Because they're
stupid," he hissed.  "I'm going to distract them, get ready to attack."

Sailor Earth nodded calmly, as did Sailor Moon.  Sailor Terra was not so
calm.  "I don't know what my power is!" she said quickly.

"You'll figure it out," Sailor Earth told her as Travis stepped forward.
He had already figured out his main power, a complement to Sailor Sun's
solar wall.  *At least I have the Moon Sword so I can do some damage,*
he thought while he had time.  *And I have my name, even if it is kind
of stupid.  Still, if I don't use it, they'd probably stick me with
Sailor Luna.*  He shuddered internally.

"Who are you?" the head youma asked gruffly.

"I am," Sailor Moon started to say, before her brother's glare stopped
her.  *This is not the time to complain about me making speeches,* she
thought rebelliously.

She stared at her twin in confusion as he smiled at her.  "It's not your
speech I was complaining about," he said.  Her mouth opened in shock as
he continued.  "I just don't want you to ruin my distraction."

Sailor Earth moved up next to her.  "What's the matter?" he asked
quietly as her twin stood in front of the youmas.

"I... I didn't say anything," she said, still in shock.  "Did I?"

"No," Sailor Earth said, looking at her worriedly.  "Why?"

"He... he answered me," she said, looking up at him.  "I didn't say
anything, I just thought it!  But... but he answered me.  He... he must
have read my mind!"

Sailor Earth started to explain that it was just because he knew her so
well when Sailor Terra butted in.  "You mean he hasn't before?" she
asked casually.  "You talk to each other that way lots of times, it can
be really annoying, especially since you're usually talking about me,
I know it."

Sailor Moon opened her mouth to say something else when her brother
started talking and waving his hands in the air.

"I am the new Sailor of the Moon!  I am the Sailor of the dark of the
Moon, the New Moon!  As the Moon goes in cycles, from darkness to light,
so do I!  As the New Moon enters the sky in darkness, it seems that it
is not there, but I am there, though often I cannot be seen.  I am
Sailor New Moon!  And in the name of the New Moon, I will punish you!
NEW MOON DARKNESS SHIELD!"  At those words, his hands moved in
purposeful motion.  He spread his arms wide, copying Sailor Sun's
motions as she put up a wall of sun's fire.  However, instead of fire,
darkness spread across the tunnel.  A darkness that absorbed what the
youmas threw at it in panic.

"Anytime now!" New Moon gritted as he held the shield.  The other Scouts
had been standing there, totally shocked by the fact that he had not
only made  an introductory speech, but one that was even cornier than
Sailor Moon's!  Still, his words snapped the three out of their shock,
and they got ready to fight once he dropped the shield.

Again copying Sailor Sun's moves from her first fight, Sailor New Moon
pulled his arms in towards him, changing the shield into a cylinder
around him.

"EARTH TECTONIC QUAKE!"
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!"
"TERRA DUST WHIRLWIND!"

The youmas found themselves on shaky ground as the small earthquake hit.
It was followed closely by a disk of energy and a small whirlwind of
dust and earth.  Although the whirlwind didn't do much damage, it drove
dirt and dust into the youmas eyes, and got into their way as they tried
to attack.  Sailor New Moon dropped his shield and pulled out the Moon
Sword and went towards the youma.

Sailor Earth and Sailor Moon worked together, him sending them off of
their feet, and occasionally injuring one of them in a fall of by rock
shards, while she hit them with her tiara when they were down.  Sailor
New Moon went to help Sailor Terra, who was managing to keep her youmas
distracted and blinded.

"MOON SWORD SLICE!" started the blade glowing with a white light, as he
thrust, sliced and parried with the unblocked youmas.

"MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!" got called from the other group, helping to
distract the youmas Terra and New Moon were fighting.  Sailor Terra had
started to concentrate the whirlwind on one youma, and when it finally
faded out, that youma was lying unconscious in a pile of sand.

Sailor Moon finished off the other youmas, and the four joined up
together again.  "I'm proud of you," she grinned at her brother.  "That
was a good speech."

He shook his head.  "It was awful," he remarked, "and it's not something
I'm going to be doing again."

"But you were so good at it!" she wheedled.

He shuddered.  "Only you could think so," he answered.

"I thought it was good too," Sailor Earth spoke up.

"Me too!" Sailor Terra chimed.

"You guys are weird," New Moon said shaking his head.

Sailor Moon was looking intently at one of the walls.  *What's that?*
she thought.

"What's what?" New Moon answered.

"Will you stop doing that?" Sailor Moon asked plaintively.

"Stop doing what?" Sailor New Moon was completely lost.

"Stop reading my mind like that," she answered.

"I can't read your mind!" New Moon said emphatically.  "Occasionally I
can tell what you're feeling, but I can't tell what you're thinking."

"You just did!" Sailor Moon answered.  "I didn't say anything, did I?"
she asked the others.

"I didn't hear her say anything," Sailor Earth responded.

"Nope," Sailor Terra said.  "You read her mind.  Don't worry, you guys
will get better at it," she said and smiled.

The conversation might have gone on for longer if the noise of marching
feet, coming from the opposite direction of the patrol they had just
decimated, hadn't interrupted them.

Sailor Moon quickly led them to what she had been looking at.  One of
Sailor Earth's quakes had destroyed a wall, showing another passage
behind it, and the four Sailors quickly moved into it.


Quartz quickly ducked behind a nearby column as another youma patrol
went by.  Since the word came that Sailor Moon was definitely within the
castle, the number of patrols had more than tripled, and they had become
much warier.  Quartz had watched from her hiding place behind one of the
moving panels, as two patrols fought each other simply because one had a
human looking denizen with yellow hair.

She knew that with the tension as high as it was now, not even the fact
that she was one of the Emperor's Own would keep a patrol from trying to
capture her.  *There is no way I'm going to be able to get to my father
with `them' here!* she thought rebelliously.  Her thoughts turned
calculating.  *My choices are two, I can either wait until they get into
a major fight where most of the youmas are pulled to it and hope to get
to Father then, or I can help them get out of here.*

Quartz found a small alcove hidden from all but the most thorough
searches, and sat down to think.  *By now, they have to know I'm gone.
Yes, that last youma did say that I was the one General Spessarite
wanted, so they do know I'm gone.  That means they should know I'm going
for my father.  Now, Spessarite's overconfident, but he's not dumb. He
has to know I'm planning on using the Scouts' presence as a distraction.
If a big fight breaks out... especially if it looks like I had anything
to do with it... then he would... would what?  Kill him?  No, not if he
wants to get any use out of him.  He'd have to at least double the
guards, maybe even more.  There's no way the two of us can fight that
many youma.  I could try to get the Scouts to help me free him, but that
would bring even more denizens, and more of a chance of him getting
hurt.*

*So... I've got to either kill them, or get them out of the Negaverse.
Killing them's pretty much out of the question, even if I could.  Just
leading them to an exit wouldn't work either, even if they would follow
me, which would mean letting them see me.  Besides, they came for the
transformation pens, and I doubt they'll leave without them.  So... how
can I lead them to the pens, without letting them see me?*

Quartz absently got up, and, still keeping in the shadows, headed
towards the throne room by the most secret way she knew.  She managed to
make it to one of the spy holes in the side of the chamber and look in.
"Father!" she gasped, almost audibly.  There sat her father, on the
throne, in front of the court, with not a sign of Spessarite around and
the four transformation pens on a cushion in front of him.

He was speaking, "Try to catch Sailor Moon alive!  I want her groveling
here before me within the next four hours.  Also, my agent, Quartz, has
turned against us and is wandering the castle.  She might even be
helping the Sailor Scouts.  Find her!"

"Father," Quartz said in an agonized whisper.  "What have they done to
you? How could you say something like that?"

"Now go!" the Emperor ordered.  Within minutes the room had cleared.
The Emperor hit a button on the throne, and the illusion of an immense
cavern disappeared, and so did the illusion of Emperor Rhyolite.
Instead, Spessarite now sat in the throne.

Quartz sighed in relief at the sight.  The idea that they had already
brainwashed her father had scared her more than she would admit.  She
watched from her hiding place as Spessarite left, leaving the throne
room empty.  *This is too easy,* she thought.  Still, she opened the
door and carefully walked out into the room and over to the pens.  She
checked the stand they were on.  Nothing.  Not a sign of a trap, either
physical or magical.  Carefully, slowly, she picked up the four pens.
Again, there was nothing.  No alarm, no guards jumping out of the walls,
nothing.

*I `don't' like this!* she thought fiercely.  It was too much of a set
up, too easy.  With a sudden movement, she put them back, turned and
left the way she came.  Still, there was no sound, no sign of any
problem, just the pens, lying there on their cushions.


Meanwhile, back on Earth, the five fighters started moving quietly towards
the youma.

"Hold up," Lita said quickly.  She points to one of the people lying on
the ground.  Unlike most of the others, this one had not been totally
drained into unconsciousness and was stirring faintly.  "We need to get
her out of here."

"If she sees us fighting, she might make some connections," Raye agreed.

Apollo looked closely at the stirring figure.  "Besides," he said,
"Travis would never forgive us if she got hurt by standing up in the
middle.  That's Crystal."

The three girls quickly carried the semi-conscious girl to one side,
where she was out of the way and out of sight, while Amy quickly checked
her over.  "She's going to be fine," Amy said.  "It looks like she got
drained at the same time as everyone else, but her body is regenerating
energy faster than usual.  So she'll be awake earlier."

"This is all very interesting," Mina said authoritatively, "but we have
a youma to fight.  Are you ready?"  The five fighters nodded and started
to move towards the youma again.

Raye pulled out one of her anti-evil charms and started to chant over it
as Apollo dive bombed the youma.  As the youma turned and tried to hit
the falcon out of the sky, Raye threw the charm at his back.  "Evil
Begone!" she ordered.  The youma screamed in pain, but found itself
unable to move.  As the human Scouts ran towards it, Raye readied
another and threw it so that it stuck to the youma's face.  "That should
keep it still for a while," she said confidently.

Mina and Lita jumped to the attack.  Mina went for the youma's head in a
jump kick as Lita went for his middle with a flurry of kicks and
punches.  Artemis headed for his ankles, and managed to set himself in
place just in time.  The attack by the girls sent the youma tumbling
over backwards, Artemis' tripping him just adding to his loss of
balance.

Raye yelled out, "No, don't!" as he went over, and watched in horror as
what she expected happened.  The youma's back hitting the ground knocked
the charm off of it, as Mina's high kick knocked off the one on his
face.

"Uh, oh," Mina said, as the youma lost its paralysis and started to
move, "Maybe we should have thought this through a little better?"

The girls, falcon, and cat backed away, trying to give themselves 
some space away from the reviving youma.

"Any suggestions, Amy?" Lita called as Raye pulled out another charm.

"I still don't have enough information!" Amy called back as she and Luna
continued working furiously on the little computer.

On a rooftop a block away, Darien Jacobson stared in disbelief through
the view finder on his camera.  He had watched the Sailor Scouts go
through numerous battles against youma with calm and detachment,
worrying about nothing but getting a perfect shot.  This, however,
filled him with a sense of dread.  Four girls, with no superpowers
whatsoever, were trying to fight a youma by themselves.  Not only that,
but these were four girls he knew!  Friends of Travis who were often
around the mansion.

He watched in horror as the youma headed towards the girls.  Without a
thought for his expensive equipment, he ran for the stairs, determined
to help if he could.

The girls in question had gathered for a quick conference.  When it
ended, Apollo once more dive bombed the youma.  Lita ran at him as he
was trying to defend himself from the falcon.  With a burst of strength,
she picked up the youma and threw it at a nearby wall.  Artemis headed
for its face and managed to get in several good swipes before being
batted away.

"Papa!" Diana called from the sidelines.  She started to head towards
her father, but her mother picked her up in her mouth and put the kitten
in front of her, with a paw on her to make sure she didn't move.

Raye was standing in the middle of the courtyard, seemingly not paying
attention to anything as Mina headed towards the besieged youma.  She
looked around quickly for some kind of weapon, and picked up a large
piece of stone laying nearby.

"Watch out!" Amy yelled.  "I'm getting an energy surge!"

The Scouts quickly backed away as the youma started to raise its hands
to attack in some way they hadn't seen yet.  Mina and Raye were the only
ones still standing in its line of fire.  Raye was too busy trying to
gather her power without her normal focus of the Great Fire, to notice
what was going on around her.  Mina hefted the stone she was carrying as
she stared at the youma.  He gloated as he moved towards the two
motionless girls and finished raising his hands.  Instantly, Mina pulled
back and threw.  The rock slammed into the youma's head as it
discharged, and caused his energy ball to go upwards at an angle instead
of towards the girls.

Lita let out a yell of delight that turned into a yell of horror.  The
energy ball headed straight to, and through, a local powerline, snapping
it.  The power of the local stores went out as the live powerline headed
for the ground, and Mina who was just standing there, shocked into
motionlessness.

Apollo dived for the line, trying to grab it in his talons before it hit
her.  Everyone else headed for the spot as well, even Raye snapping out
of her trance.

Mina turned and tried to run from the falling powerline when she 
was suddenly tackled out of the way.

"Thanks, Lita," she said in relief, before she realized that the body
holding her down was far larger than her friends.  She turned, slowly, and
stared in disbelief at the face that is shown.  "Mr. Jacobson?" she asked
hesitantly.

"What are you girls doing out here?" he asked sternly as he helped Mina
to her feet.  "You shouldn't be anywhere near here, much less trying to
fight a monster! That's what the Sailor Scouts are for!"

"Well, the Sailor Scouts aren't here," Lita said as she came up to them.
"We are, we have to help."

"Didn't I hear something about Mina getting hurt because she tried to
help?  It looks like it almost happened again!"  Jake was angry, mostly
because he had been scared watching the fight.

"OW!" Amy suddenly yelled.  As everyone looked over at her she blushed.
"Sorry, Diana just bit me and it surprised me."  She bent down to pick
up the kitten.  "What's the matter?" she hissed once Jake's attention
was taken up by the other girls.

"I'm sorry," Diana whispered, "But I had to get your attention.  I was
watching Papa instead of Mina, and I saw the youma when the line came
down.  He didn't like the electricity at all.  He got away from it,
fast."

Amy looked at the kitten for a moment before turning back to her
computer and inputting that information.  She looked up with bright
eyes, "You're right, Diana. He is vulnerable to electricity.  Now... if
there was only some way to..." she looked around as she was talking, and
her eyes lit upon the fountain in the middle of the courtyard.  "That
will work," she muttered.  "Everyone!" she called.  "I have it!"

Raye, Mina, and Lita looked up from where they were arguing with Jake
and Artemis hobbled over from where he had been laying.  Diana got down
to check him over and make sure he was alright.  Apollo also flew down
and landed on Lita's shoulder.

Jake walked over as well, but this time he was staring at Apollo.
"Before you say anything," he said authoritatively, "I want to know why
you're fighting here, why Apollo is here, and where is Travis since he's
supposed to be studying with you?!"

Mina looked back at the youma who was on his feet and heading towards
them.  "No time," she said, "Amy, what do you have?"

"Electricity," Amy answered.  "It's his weakness.  If we can shock
him..."

"Yeah, but Sailor Jupiter's not here," Lita put in.

"No, but `that' is," Amy pointed to the hanging wire that was still
sparking at one end, obviously live.

"So you want us to lure him into the wire?" Raye asked.  "I don't think
we'll be able to do that."

"No," Amy replied.  "Lure him there."  She pointed to the fountain.  "We
have to get the end of the wire into the water after he gets in.  And
whoever lures him in there, had better not be in there at the time."

Apollo opened his beak and screeched.  Lita nodded, "And the wire's
mine.  Among other things, I'm the only one wearing shoes with rubber
soles."

"Agreed," Mina said.  "Be careful, both of you."

"Wait a minute!" Jake said.  "You are `not' going to do this, it's too
dangerous! And what is this with Apollo?  I'll admit he's a smart bird,
but he had no idea what you were saying!"

"Just watch," Mina said with a smile.  "Raye, get one of your charms
ready. We don't want him getting out of the fountain once he's in.  Amy,
you'd better be right about this.  I don't think that youma will give us
any more chances if we mess this up."

"It'll work," Amy said, watching carefully as Lita moved unobtrusively
towards the wire and Apollo got ready to dive-bomb the youma again.

Suddenly, Apollo let out a piercing shriek and headed for the youma's
face, getting in several good slashes with his talons before frantic
wingbeats took him back into the air.  With an unintelligible roar, the
youma tried to grab him, then set himself for an energy blast.

"Apollo!  Watch out!" the girls and one of the cats cry.  Luckily,
Darien Jacobson doesn't hear the cats voice in amongst the others.

Apollo backwinged furiously, stalling his climb enough for the energy
blast to pass right by him, then heading for the fountain again, the
youma following.

With a great deal of care, Lita grabbed the live powerline.  Her rubber
soled shoes, and natural immunity to her own element protected her from
getting shocked as she carried it towards the fountain.  Raye also moved
up, pulling out one of her last charms.

Apollo landed on the top of the fountain and preened there, annoying the
youma even more.  Without hesitation, he stepped into the water.  Once
both his feet were in there, the others acted.  Apollo shot off of the
top of the fountain even as Raye was yelling out, "Evil Begone!"  The
youma was turning at the time, and the charm only got one of its arms.
Raye frantically reached for another even as Lita reached the fountain
and threw the wire into the water.  The girls, animals and Jake watched
as the lightning fried the youma, and it collapsed into dust.

"Yes!"


Sailor Moon led the other three into the new corridor.  They followed it
until it branched.  From one branch came the sound of guttural voices,
arguing furiously.  Without consulting each other, the Scouts turned
down the other branch.

Three more times they reached branches, and always there was only one
corridor from which no sounds came.  "I don't like this," Sailor Earth
said quietly.  "It feels like we're being herded.  We've heard a lot of
noise, but not seen a single youma since we entered this tunnel."

"Maybe we've just been lucky," Sailor Moon said.  She was tired, and
very hungry, and not in the mood to deal with questions like this.
"What do you suggest we do?  Go down tunnels where we know there are
guards and fight again?  I really don't want to do that, I'm so tired."

"No, I'm not suggesting we do that," Sailor Earth said soothingly. He
gave Sailor Moon a hug, and then Sailor Terra one because she looked
like she needed it.  "I'm just saying that we need to be careful,
because we might be heading into a trap."

"He's right, Sis," New Moon said.  "We do have to be careful."

"We can do that," Sailor Terra spoke up, "I really don't want to fight
anymore tonight either though."

"I know, little one, I know," Sailor Earth said, picking her up.  "How
about you ride for a while munchkin, okay?"  He swung her up onto his
shoulders and they continued on their way.

Several hundred feet ahead of them, a small light glowed from the floor.
As they got closer, they realized it was the outline of a door.  Sailor
Moon carefully opened the door and peeked through.  On the other side
was an empty room with a throne and... and there, sitting in front of
the throne, on a cushion, were the pens!  "There they are!" she said,
running into the room and too the pens before anyone could stop her.  As
she picked up the pens, pieces of the wall, all over the room
disappeared, to show squads of youmas standing behind them.

"Oh, no, what do we do now?" Sailor Moon asked in terror.

Sailor Earth quickly set Sailor Terra down and he and Sailor New Moon
set themselves on either side of the girls.

"I guess you don't get your wish, Sailor Moon," New Moon spoke gravely.
"We're definitely going to have to fight."

The youmas attacked with a roar.  "NEW MOON DARKNESS SHIELD!" New Moon
called out, blocking the back.  "TERRA DUST WHIRLWIND!"  "EARTH TECTONIC
QUAKE!"  "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" flew out to all sides.  Sailor Terra
managed to keep her side distracted and blinded, her whirlwind almost
picking some youmas up and turning them around so they hit their
neighbors, and blinding others so they couldn't tell what they hit.
Sailor Moon had a half a dozen tiaras in the air at one time and
occasional commands to stardust or trap kept her side fairly clear.
Sailor Earth's quakes kept his side off balance while doing some damage
of his own.

Still, there were too many youma.  New Moon's shield was the only
effective one, but he was running out of power fast and the others were
backing towards him as their own attacks were unable to keep the youma
at bay.  New Moon started moving as well, hoping to put them close
enough to a wall that it would protect their backs and they would only
have to worry about the hundreds of youmas coming from the other three
sides.  As he got closer to the wall he chose, he saw a small door,
slightly open.

Quartz had left the room, but hurried back when she heard the noise.
Looking through the spy hole, she saw the four Scouts under attack, and
new she had been right about the pens being too easy.  She shook her
head over the fact that Spessarite was going to have the Scouts soon,
and there was nothing she could do about it.  Then she noticed the four
heading towards the wall she was looking through.  In a split second
decision, she opened the door slightly, and ran down the hallway.

"There's a door," New Moon said urgently.  "If we can get through it, we
might have a chance."

Sailor Earth threw a glance towards the door.  It was a mistake.  In
that moment of distraction, a youma lashed out with a tentacle and
grabbed for him.  Looking back in time, Sailor Earth threw up a hand to
block him, and watched in disbelief as the large opal was knocked out of
his ring.  "The Earth Gem!" Darien cried, even as he pulled out a ring
and transformed into Tuxedo Mask.

Sailor Moon moved instantly in front of a suddenly defenseless Reenie.
"We've got to get out of this dimension!" she cried.

"But the Earth Gem," Tuxedo Mask said.

"And the Sun Stone," Sailor New Moon added.

"Besides, we can't get out of here without them!" Reenie cried.

"We can't leave you defenseless either!" Sailor Moon cried.  With New
Moon still covering them as best he could, Sailor Moon swept up Reenie
and jumped through the door.

Tuxedo Mask tried for the Earth Gem, but as the youmas noticed how
important it seemed to him, they passed it backwards until there were
over a hundred youmas between Tuxedo Mask and his stone.  Looking at his
blood brother, he could see how hard holding the shield had become and,
with a regretful look towards the Earth Gem, ducked through the doorway.

Sailor New Moon followed, and slammed the door shut behind him.

"What do we do now?" he asked tiredly.

"Find out where this tunnel goes, I guess," Sailor Moon said, equally
tired.

"I can still fight," Reenie spoke up.  "If I'm scared I can still form
the moonbeam, and it works as a weapon."

"Too uncontrollable," Tuxedo Mask spoke up.  "We're either going to have
to find the Sun Stone and Earth Gem, or find a way out."

"I vote for the second one," Sailor Moon said.  "We have the pens and
I'm sure Amy will be able to find us another way in.  When the team is
full up again, we'll come back for the stones."

New Moon was staring at something down the tunnel.  *What's that?* he
thought intently.

"What's what?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Mommy," Reenie said, and grinned slightly, "he didn't say anything."

Sailor Moon looked at her in shock and then looked at her twin who
nodded agreement.  "I didn't say anything," he said softly, "I just
thought it."

"Neat," Sailor Moon said.  "What's what?" she asked again.

Everyone stared at her.  They had expected more than a `neat' but she
was too tired, scared and hungry for even that to have much impression.

New Moon looked down the tunnel again.  "I could swear I saw... there's
someone there!"  He headed out at a run, and Tuxedo Mask swept Reenie up
onto his shoulders again as he and Sailor Moon set out after him.

Quartz, who had been standing in the turning, saw them running towards
her and realized she'd been seen.  She ran down the corridor, but waited
at the turning until sure New Moon could see her.  She then started
running again.  In that way, and without letting more than a boot heel
be seen most times, she led them to the transportation room, and ran out
one of the many doors leading out of the room without letting New Moon
catch sight of her this time.

She watched as the Scouts reached the room and looked around in
confusion.

"What is this place?" Reenie asked as her father put her down.

"I don't know," he answered absently, looking closely at one of the
pods.  He seemed to be struggling with a memory.

"Where did she go?" New Moon asked, more interested in the person he had
been chasing then the room they were in.

"How do you know it was a she?" Sailor Moon asked.  "And why does it
matter?"

"I just know," New Moon said.  "She looked like..." he trailed off, but
his mind completed the thought.  *Crystal?*

"Looked like?" Sailor Moon asked.  "You never got more than a glimpse of
her.  If it was a her."

"Teleportation!" Tuxedo Mask suddenly burst out.  The others turned to
stare at him, but he was still looking at the pod.  "These were used for
teleportation to Earth.  This is how we can get out of here!"

Quartz sighed in relief as he figured it out, and watched the four leave
for Earth.  *Now, with them out of the way, maybe I can actually make
some progress.  Of course, I wouldn't have bothered leading them here if
it wasn't on the way to where I was going anyway,* she thought.  With
that she headed down her current corridor.
-------------------------------------

I would like to thank  Douglas Helm, Moondreamer, Sailor Ice Blade,
Kahley, Julia H., Mako, Carolyn, Joe, Cassandra, CyanSword,  Pisces6 
and Michael for suggestions on powers and names for Travis and 
Reenie.  And always Doug and Will for suggestions on how 
to make the Chapter better.

Jendra@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/Jendra