Chapter 14: Gather Together

-VERTEX ONE: 15.556984-

Hikawa Shrine, Sendai Hill

Since Usagi transformed and left for the shopping district, there had been a magnificently awkward silence between the two Reis. Neither knew what to say to the other, though Rei 2 seemed far more comfortable with extended silence than Rei 1 did.

Even worse, they were now fresh out of tea...

Rei 1 fidgeted in place. Dammit, this was embarrassing. Why was talking to someone who was essentially herself so difficult? Perhaps because her duplicate was somehow her total opposite... however that worked. "Um," she said, the question popping into her head before she could stop herself. "So... did you and Yuuichiro ever think about-"

Rei 2's stare was as frosty as it was uncomprehending. "Who is Yuuichiro?"

"You're kidding. Yuuichiro Kumada!" said Rei 1, goggling in disbelief. "You know, tall guy, scruffy hair, stubble, Grandpa's apprentice? We dated him once or twice?"

The stare turned from frosty to frigid in a hurry. "I don't know any such person. Grandfather never took an apprentice, and I wouldn't date him even if he did. I have no interest in men."

That was enough to make Rei 1 doubt that Rei 2 was her duplicate at all, frankly. "You're kidding," she repeated. The room spun around her in dizzying circles. "You've never dated? Or thought about dating? Ever?"

"No."

"Not the Star Lights? I mean, before you knew they were-"

"Absolutely not."

"What about Mamoru-san?"

An angry, offended sniff. "Please. Mamoru-san is Usagi's destined lover. I would never attempt to come between them."

"I don't believe it." Rei 1 slumped backward, staring at the surface of the table in shock. "Never. Not once. And I thought I had it bad... Haven't you ever wanted to be close? To anyone?"

It took a moment for Rei 1's brain to register what she was seeing: Rei 2 was actually blushing. It was the first indication that her duplicate had moods other than solemn, tranquil, annoyed, or any combination of the three. "I-" she said, averting her eyes. "There's only one person I've ever been close to in that way. But it's improper to talk about it."

"Oh, come on!" Her interest piqued, Rei 1 leaned forward across the table. "We're both Rei Hino, right? You can tell me, who is it? I promise I won't laugh..."

The blush grew darker, and Rei 2 mumbled words too soft to make out.

"Sorry, come again? I couldn't hear you."

Mumble, mumble.

"Still didn't catch that. If you don't want to tell me, it's-"

"Minako," said Rei 2 with a bit too much volume, clutching her hands tight in her lap, her back rigid. "If you must know, it's Minako. There, I said it."

There are a few times in everyone's life when one's brain undergoes a total, catastrophic shutdown. For Rei 1, this was one of those times.

Juuban Shopping District

Half the mob was still shaking, immobilized with terror at the sight of her. It made sense; she had killed the vast majority of these monsters, of course they would be afraid. Good... the longer the monsters were too frightened to move, the safer Naru and Umino would be.

The other half, however... Too many of them were over the shock, and were now hissing, snarling, or growling with rage. A few began to shout: "Kill Sailor Moon!" "Kill her!" "Take revenge!" "KILL HER!"

Sailor Moon suppressed a shudder. Whoever was responsible for resurrecting her old enemies, they were thorough. Looking down at the mob, she could see not only Youma, but also Droids, Daimon, Lemures, Phages, even a dozen-odd Cardians... and those were just the ones she recognized. There were others on the fringes, huge, hulking creatures, flanked by crowds of much smaller grunts, all identical: little sandbags with arms and legs and monkey faces, and humanoid inkblots in colored sunglasses...

It was the one with the wild hair, black sclera, and gnarled skin that they all seemed to answer to, though. Morga. Of course it was Morga; who else would lead the attack on this place of all places but the first monster that Sailor Moon ever fought? One bony finger pointed up at her perch atop the lamppost as she screeched at her fellow monsters. "Don't just stand there! We have her outnumbered, there's hundreds of us! Tear it down, and tear her apa-"

Crunch. The center of her withered face crumpled as the heels of Sailor Moon's red boots came down hard, using her as a springboard to vault into the center of the mob where the civilians were surrounded. Morga fell with a gurgling scream, spouting blood and curses.

"Sailor Moon!"

"You're back, you're really back, I can't believe it-"

Despite the precarious situation, Sailor Moon couldn't help but smile at her friends' cries of joy. "Both of you, get behind me!" Naru and Umino nodded and complied as she spread out her arms, shielding them both with herself. "Okay, now slowly move back to the store, you'll be safer in there..."

Naru blinked. "Can't you, you know, use your 'Moon Elimination' or whatever? Wipe them all out at once?"

"Um..." That was a good question, actually. She was back in her first form, after all.

The mob advanced as they inched backward, the same thought occurring to the monsters. Already there were fanged smiles spreading through the crowd as the realization dawned. "She's weak..." "She's alone!" "Not so high and mighty now, are you, Sailor Moon?"

At least she was distracting them from the civilians. "Just keep moving," she said to Naru and Umino, trying to suppress the quiver in her voice. How was this going to work, exactly? "Just keep moving, don't stop..."

"I'll make you pay for killing me, moon brat!" "- drain you dry-" "-scratch out those pretty blue eyes-"

Bad to worse. Less than a meter from the door frame now, she had to do something... "You two, run!"

Not the worst plan. Not the best one, either. Plans were never her strong suit, that was always Ami's thing... but Naru and Umino ran, batting aside grasping claws and vanishing inside the shop. Many voices howled for blood, and a few of the monsters on the frontlines pounced. Sailor Moon recognized the closest one, the crimson-skinned, axe-handed Youma from her first battle alongside Ami... Its jaws slavered, its wicked blade gleamed with reflected moonlight as it-

Reflected moonlight. The thought sparked a memory, and Sailor Moon's hand leapt to her tiara. "Moon Twilight Flash!"

A searing golden glow lit the street. Cries of pain rippled through the mob as dozens of monsters fell to their knees, clutching at their blinded eyes. The axe-handed Youma wasn't so lucky, nor were the six monsters closest behind it... the light dissolved them to glittering dust.

Once more, the crowd of monsters stood in stupefied shock, watching the seven piles of dust blow away in the evening breeze. Seven down in an instant... but still hundreds left.

"What are you idiots doing?!" said Morga, staggering upright and clutching her bleeding, caved-in face. "Stop dawdling and kill her!"

At that point, Sailor Moon decided that discretion was the better part of valor (a favorite quote of Mamoru's, one that seemed to her like a really complicated to say 'It's okay to run away sometimes,' which was much easier to remember)... so she booked it for the jewelry store's door, screaming and hoping that its occupants heard her. "Block the door! Block the door! Wait for me, but block the door!"

The heavy, dented security door slammed into place as she stumbled through the frame. Of course, the tip of her boot caught on the edge of the carpet... with a squawk, Sailor Moon tripped and fell flat on her face.

The next sound she heard was unexpected: a peal of laughter. "It really is you!" said Naru, bracing herself against a counter as she leaned down and offered a hand. "After all this time... Thank you, Sailor Moon, and welcome back."

"Th-thanks..." Sailor Moon took it, and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment as she rose. "I wish I didn't have to come back to, you know, this. Are you all right, Na-er, Ma'am?"

"'Ma'am?!'" Naru raised an eyebrow. On the sly, she checked to see that Umino was still moving furniture to block the door before she next spoke. "That reminds me. When you next see my friend, Usagi... tell her she'd better brush up on how to change diapers." Grinning, she patted her plump belly. "We're going to need a regular sitter."

The implications of that last statement flew over Sailor Moon's twin odango for the moment as she stared at Naru in open-mouthed astonishment. "You... you knew?!" Keeping her voice down was difficult for her under the best of circumstances, but she managed this time... no reason to give Umino something else to panic over.

"Not at first." Naru winked at her. "But after the twelfth or thirteenth time I got attacked by a monster, I started to notice that Usagi was somehow never around whenever it happened... and then after a while, I noticed the hair... nobody wears odango like you do."

Sailor Moon sputtered, for once at a loss for words. "But... but the disguise field! Luna always said that unless I transform in front of somebody while they're watching, I shouldn't- You knew all this time and didn't tell me?!"

"I figured you must have some reason. Superhero secret identity stuff." After another check to see that Umino wasn't watching, Naru embraced her friend and whispered in her ear. "Don't worry about it, Usagi-chan. I'm not mad. As long as you're around to babysit..."

For the first time since that morning, Sailor Moon smiled genuinely. "Thank you, Naru-chan. I will be, and I can't wait. Do you know if it's-"

"Mmm-mmm," said Naru, shaking her red curls back and forth. "But if it's a girl, we were thinking of naming her 'Mori', and if it's a boy..." Her face changed, her eyes glimmered... an old and bittersweet memory resurfaced as she cradled the child sleeping within her. "'Masato.'"

It took a moment for Sailor Moon to remember that name, but when she did, she nearly burst into tears herself. "Oh God. Naru-chan..."

Nodding, Naru wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I know, I know. I'm okay, honest... I just thought it would be nice to thank him for-"

BOOM. She stumbled, nearly fell as an earsplitting crack of noise shook the store to its foundations. Only Sailor Moon's intervention kept her from dropping to the floor... how strange to have Usagi keeping her from falling.

As he braced the makeshift barricade with his weight, Umino groaned. "What now?! Are they bombing us?"

More screams and howls filtered through the steel shutters... and Sailor Moon felt something. A welcome presence, a huge presence, warm and inviting, but tough and sturdy as a block of iron. And that smell... a faint aroma of potpourri made with rose petals... Her face split into a wide grin. "Don't worry, that wasn't a bomb! Help is on the way!"

All three scrambled to one of the small air holes in the shutters, Naru with considerable difficulty. The holes were tiny, but they were enough to see through to the outside...

"You've interrupted the peaceful lives of the people of this city!" The voice came from a towering beauty standing on the edge of a building across the street, cracking her knuckles inside her white gloves. Dressed in a sailor fuku in shades of pink and green, one corner of her mouth lifted in a cocky smirk as she raised her arms in a fighting stance... A fork of lightning struck the antenna raised from the jewel in her tiara, and another clap of thunder split the night an instant later. "The Senshi of Love and Protection! I, Sailor Jupiter, will not allow it! In the name of Jupiter... I'll leave you numb with regret!" With grace that belied her size, she sprung from the roof...

Somewhere in the mob, Morga screeched a primal sound that might have been an attempt to rally her troops, and might have been a cry for help.

The next few minutes were a welcome sight for the three trapped in the store, and a living nightmare for the monsters outside of it. Sailor Jupiter tore into their ranks like a living typhoon, sending bodies flying left and right. One single blow of her fists or heels hit with the strength of ten... and the few that survived those were charred to a crisp by bolts of lightning before they could recover enough to fight back. Jupiter was a one-woman army, superhumanly strong and tough in both civilian and Senshi guises, and five years without fighting hadn't dulled her skills one bit. In fact, if anything, she seemed stronger than ever, her power boosted by her elation from going into battle once more...

Morga worked her way to the fringes of the mob, shoving aside any who stood in her way. There was one soldier she was looking for, one particular face somewhere in the crowd... there she was. "You!" Morga snarled and snatched the shoulder of a frightful, white-skinned Daimon who crouched shivering behind the thick steel security door welded to her left forearm. "Your new assignment is to serve as my personal defense!"

"B-But..." stammered Doorknobdar, who was quite uneasy about this sudden change of plans. In truth, Doorknobdar wasn't even entirely sure what she was doing here; she told Lady Viluy that she lacked proficiency in combat, and wasn't much good for anything but sealing places off from other places... Her defensive capabilities were slightly higher than that of other Daimon, that was true, and she was quite proficient at picking locks, thanks to the enormous multi-tool gadget that occupied her opposite arm. Other than that, though... "But Master Joker said-"

"I don't care what Master Joker said!" roared Morga, raising her hand and extending her claws. With the imprints of Sailor Moon's boots marring her face, she looked more frightful than ever. "You will protect me with your life, is that clear?!"

"Y-Yes, Ma'am!" Cowed into submission, the Daimon stood and attempted a salute, but the multi-tool on one arm and the door on the other made that an unlikely prospect. "I'll do my best, Ma'am!"

"See that you do!" With that, Morga took her place behind Doorknobdar, and grabbed the next two monsters she saw, hauling them forward. "You and you, back her up!" Then she swore, loudly.

By an unfortunate stroke of luck that bordered on sadistic, the two monsters she had selected out of the hundreds in the crowd were both Lemures. Not the formless blobs of living nightmares that that awful Nehelenia woman produced, but the other, lesser kind of Lemures that shared nothing in common with them except the connection to the Dead Moon Circus and, inexplicably, the name. It wasn't long into this operation that these lesser Lemures developed a reputation among the Dead End ranks for being... in a word, useless. Perhaps one in five had a somewhat useful combat ability. The rest were borderline harmless, generally possessing a single trick or gimmick apiece, and usually themed after circus or carnival acts. Jugglers, cat's cradlers, see-sawers, trapeze artists, balance beamers... they made good cannon fodder, and that was about it.

One of these two particular lesser Lemures had a hollow body made of some type of colorful and shiny transparent material... a balloon. Her rubbery body squeaked in time with her high-pitched voice as she took position next to Doorknobdar... on her left side, as far away from the blades of her multi-tool as Morga would allow. "Ohhh, I don't like this," muttered Puko to herself. "I don't like this one bit..."

The other Lemures, by contrast, seemed thrilled for a chance to prove herself, snapping into a salute that rustled the leaves growing out of her head in lieu of hair. An odd, pink-skinned creature, this one's arms sprouted out of a rosebush on her chest... or perhaps the bush was her chest, it was difficult to tell. Her lower torso was little but a thorny stem growing out of a flower pot that served as her hips. "Don't worry, Ma'am," said TogeToge Jou, "I've been waiting for this, and I'll make you proud! I'll crush those nuisances with my special attack, just you watch!"

Morga wasn't listening. She dragged the hapless Daimon along with her as she moved further to the back of the mob, the two Lemures following her as best they could. At the back, out of necessity, were the giant monsters native to Master Joker's universe and its neighboring facets: Zakenna, Desertrians, Zetsuborgs, and Metaria only knew what else. The only thing they all had in common was their massive size and their general inability to speak more than a few words or syllables apiece.

The withered Youma rushed to the side of the sturdiest-looking giant she could find, a four-meter creature encased head-to-foot in plate armor, with a pair of dark, pointed sunglasses serving as a visor. A dozen or so of the little inkblot and sandbag grunts milled around its feet, babbling unintelligibly at each other in nervous, high-pitched voices. "You!" Morga called up at it.

"Sai-arrrrk?" said the armored giant, tilting its helmet to one side.

"Yes, you!" She jabbed a clawed finger. "Whatever orders you have, ignore them! Your new assignment is to keep me safe from the Senshi at all costs! And deploy your troops while you're at it, don't just keep them standing around!"

The giant nodded. "Sai-ark!" Taking a purposeful stance, it pointed in Jupiter's direction and bellowed. At once, the inkblot grunts sprung into action, dozens of dark bodies piling onto the giant girl in green who was cleaving through the ranks, while the sandbags bludgeoned her with their fists...

It almost worked. Or, conceivably, it could have worked. For a few seconds, it looked as if the sheer force of the Choiarks' numbers would force Jupiter to the ground... and then she smirked.

High-pitched squeals rang out as she stood, the immense force of her battle aura scattering Choiarks and Sunakiis like ninepins. Jupiter caught two by the necks as they fell back down, and - Morga swallowed heavily - used them to pummel the armored Saiark senseless until it toppled to the street with an earth-shaking crash and lay still.

"Oh, come on!" laughed Jupiter as she scaled the fallen giant in a single bound. "There's tons of you and only one of me, is that really the best you've got?"

The crowd of monsters took that as a challenge. Many howled in outrage, and a platoon of mixed Youma and Droids sprung free of their ranks, hands and claws and blades and tendrils grasping for her neck...

Perfect.

True, she was back to her original transformation for whatever reason. But her original transformation still had power to spare, and it had a certain technique that she had been itching to use ever since Luna called her with news of the mob's attack...

Once more, the antenna extended from her tiara. Jupiter smirked, crossed her arms in an X-shape, and shouted the invocation to the heavens: "Supreme Thunder Dragon...!"

This time, the bright flash and clap of thunder was accompanied by a grating electric screech... Jupiter's lightning bolts spiraled together, gathered, and reformed into a massive serpentine shape. Its fanged jaws opened wide as if in joy as it roared, charging to meet the attacking monsters head on. Each body it touched convulsed with the force of thousands of volts coursing through it, and the monsters burst into dust one by one as the dragon made a complete circle around Jupiter, keeping the rest of the mob held back until it fizzled out.

Pandemonium reigned. Despite all of Morga's shouting and threatening of bodily harm, the mob broke apart as the Dead End soldiers panicked and fled for their miserable lives. Only the brave, lucky, or suicidally stupid remained... or in Morga's case, Doorknobdar and TogeToge Jou stayed by her side thanks to her death grips on their arms.

"L-Lady M-Morga," began Puko, trailing behind them. The balloon Lemures was jostled back and forth by the monsters streaming past her, her hollow body too light to hold her ground against them. "W-w-w-we should-"

Pow. That was all she could get out before a fearsome spiked Desertrian ran past. All it took was a light brush of its razor-sharp body against her... Morga watched in fascinated horror as tiny, brightly-colored strips of rubbery Lemures drifted down in the bladed Desertrian's wake, and were trampled under the feet of the next fleeing soldier.

To her credit, TogeToge Jou stepped forward, clenching her fists. "Stay behind me, Lady Morga!" she said. "I'll protect you! I've been waiting so long for this..."

Jupiter had her back to them, occupied with an Uzaina that dared try to use an electric attack against her. The Uzaina was about to pay for that mistake with its life, but as long as the Senshi was distracted...

Finally, now's my chance! TogeToge Jou smiled and took a deep breath for her attack invocation, gathering all her power. "Pr-"

A roar, a wave of heat, and a gout of flame blew past Morga's shoulder. It consumed the rosebush Lemures before she could utter another syllable and reduced her to ashes.

No! Morga turned on her heel, blood running cold. Not another one! No no no no no...

"Even for monsters, what you're doing is despicable!" Embers swirled around the raven-haired beauty in red, her image rippling with a heat mirage... Morga blinked and stared. No, it wasn't a mere heat mirage. Next to one red Senshi stood another, identical one, back-to-back with her... how...?

The duplicate spoke in the same voice, but calmer, more controlled: "Attacking innocent people... there is no forgiveness for you."

And together, their voices in concert as they pointed accusing fingers: "The Senshi of Love and Passion... Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars, we'll chastise you!"

That did it. Morga abandoned Doorknobdar and fled for her life.

Jupiter grinned ear to ear and rushed forward, tossing a squealing white-skinned Daimon armed with a steel door out of her way. "Good to see you again, Mars! Thanks for the save, that was-" Then she stopped, stupefied. "Huh...?"

There were two of Sailor Mars, lashing out at monsters and cracking heads left and right. They would have been mirror images of each other, were it not for one of them fighting with noticeably more exuberance than the other... That other one paused for a moment and raised an eyebrow as she slapped an ofuda on a monster's forehead. "Don't ask. We're not sure what's going on ourselves..."

"Fire Soul!" The first Mars cried, clasping her hands together. The unfortunate Cardian trying to strangle her burnt away to cinders in the ensuing blast. "Yeah, just try to focus on not getting killed! We'll try to figure it out later!"

Completely lost, Jupiter stared back and forth. For whatever reason, both of them sounded familiar to her... but Mars 1 was right, of course. Back into the fray.

Away. Morga had to get away. It didn't matter that Master Joker would have her head for desertion; even that was probably better than being electrocuted or roasted to death. Around her, the ranks grew thinner as she neared the fringes of the mob. If she could only make it out, call for help, get a transport back to-

Something was wrong. She knew that the number of soldiers left was dwindling, but now she couldn't see any of them, nor could she hear the sounds of the fight behind her. "What-" Everything except the two square meters of asphalt beneath her feet seemed to have faded away, swallowed up by clouds of white fog.

Fog. Damn it all! "Come out and show yourself!" she screamed into the void, flailing with her claws. "Come on, Sailor brat, I know you're there! I'll tear you limb from... from... from..." Each swipe came slower than the last, as if she were trying to swim through thick mud... mud that grew colder and colder by the second. Even her thoughts seemed to slow... Ice crystals spread across her skin, which should have been painful, should have terrified her, but there was a rising numbness that dulled both pain and fear, preventing them from reaching her brain. "I'll..." she mumbled, unable to raise her voice any higher. "I...ll..."

"Shame on you," said a soft, gentle voice from the fog bank, a voice with just a hint of a refined Kyoto accent. "A leader attempting to abandon her troops to save herself? How disgraceful." She stepped from the nearest cloud, her fuku all in shades of blue that complemented her cerulean eyes and hair. Pressing on one earring disabled the transparent visor she wore, which melted into sparkles as she walked past the Youma commander, now frozen solid. "Stay there and repent for what you've done," said Sailor Mercury, shaking her head. Tradition or no tradition, there was no real point in giving the rest of the speech if the Youma couldn't hear it... so she passed on by, a ghost in the fog on the way to meet her friends.

"Mercury!" Jupiter knew that silhouette anywhere. Before Mercury could fully emerge from the familiar fog bank, she seized her in an enthusiastic hug that bordered on painful. "What are you doing here, I thought you were in Kyoto...?"

Mercury smiled and suppressed a wince. "I-it's lovely to see you all again. I was at the university, but Luna called me, she said it was an emergency..."

A friendly hand clapped her on the shoulder. "That's our Ami-chan, always reliable!" said Mars. "It's great to have you back."

"Welcome back, Mercury," said Mars from a few feet away, sinking into a polite bow.

"Thank you, I-" The rest of the sentence trailed off as Mercury noticed something very wrong with this picture. Her jaw dropped open. "... beg your pardon?"

"Yeah, we're still working on that one," said Jupiter, sighing and releasing her teammate. "But at least we can all work on it together, right? All four, er, five of us..."

Through a supreme show of effort, Mercury resisted the urge for at least ten seconds before the visor came out again. A flash, and a tiny, ocean blue palmtop computer materialized at her fingertips. The computer's readout confirmed what she already knew: the two Sailor Mars (Marses?) were both identical and, even more confusing, both authentic. "Fascinating," she whispered as she went to work.

Widow didn't know how it was that she escaped. Well, she knew the method by which she escaped, but how she was fortunate enough not to be hit by a stray Senshi attack on the way out of the war zone, she had no idea.

All-out assaults weren't her forte, anyway. Widow was a spider Youma, and spiders were far more suited for laying in wait in the darkness, springing traps only when the time was right. Sticking to such a strategy likely wouldn't make Master Joker happy, but as long as she was able to take out at least one Senshi, he should have no reason to complain... she hoped.

Her many feet padded against the brick wall of the alley as she scuttled up it, in search of high ground. Thank Metaria that none of the Senshi could fly... none that she knew of, anyway. There seemed to be a small army of them, all of whom had the nasty habit of developing new and varied ways to kill monsters when one least expected it. Damn them all.

With one last burst of effort, Widow hauled her bulbous arachnid abdomen past the overhang and collapsed onto the hard cement rooftop, trying to catch her breath. Now, perhaps she could lay a trap and hope that one of the accursed Senshi stumbled into-

Widow's eight eyes widened. She was not alone on the roof. She found herself staring at what were, all things considered, a gorgeous pair of human legs. Being a spider Youma, she could appreciate nice legs better than most bipeds, but as her many eyes scanned up the legs, past where they met the orange pleated skirt, past where the curtain of immaculate, waist-length blonde hair began, past the leotard with its cobalt bow, and up to the human's big, baby-blue eyes, her appreciation gave way to terror. Of all the luck. Of all the cursed luck, she had to run into another Sailor Senshi in her prospective hiding spot.

It was difficult to tell which one of them was more surprised, or which one started screaming first. Whoever it was, the next few seconds were a confused tangle of raised voices and flailing limbs...

"Kyaaaaa! Get away! I hate spiders! Get away from me, you-" CRACK.

"GAAH, my face! By the pit, I'll make you pay, Sailor brat!"

"Gross-" CRACK. "- gross-" CRACK. "- gross-" CRACK. "- GROSS!"

"Stop that!" A wide stream of sticky, pale yellow thread from Widow's mouth caught the girl's arm before it could strike her again. Seizing her chance, Widow pounced while the Senshi was still reeling with disgust, trying to shake the webbing off. Her forward and middle legs worked in a frenzy, pulling more silk from her spinnerets and drawing it tight around her opponent's thrashing limbs. Soon, she had the Senshi wrapped up in a serviceable cocoon... hastily made, but good enough. Widow stepped back to admire her work, rubbing her stinging cheek. "There...! Much better. You're mine now, Sailor Senshi! No one has ever escaped my web!" Well, that wasn't entirely true, but her prey didn't need to know that. Smiling and bearing her curved fangs, Widow lowered herself over the girl to savor her terror. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy feasting on your life energy, my pretty little fly..."

"Mmmfhnt hmmm," said Sailor Venus, squirming back and forth. There was an uneven patch of silk plastered over the lower half of her face, muffling her words. The spider Youma's had pinned her arms to her sides with its webbing, but in its rush to bind her, it missed covering a few fingers. Those fingers worked furiously to expose more of her hand...

The opportunity was too perfect; Widow couldn't resist taunting her a bit more. She leaned closer and cocked one ear. "Hmmm? Didn't quite catch that..."

"CRMMFNT BMMM!" Venus repeated, louder this time. There; one hand was free, and one hand was all she needed. Her fingertip shone bright, and a straight golden beam lanced out, neatly carving through the Youma's extra legs on its left side. It toppled off of her with a squeal of pain, and Venus crooked her finger to direct the Crescent Beam at herself, slicing through the threads. It was short work to tear out of the rest of her bindings, but the horrible stuff clung tenaciously to her skin and uniform, it made a tangled mess of her hair... her poor, prized hair! And God, she could taste it in her mouth... Revolted and flushing hot, she tore the silk from her face and let the Youma have it the moment she stopped gagging. "You!" she said, keeping a finger trained on it. "Not only did you muck up my clothes and hair with your disgusting spider spit, but you spoiled my big entrance! I won't stand for it!"

Widow hissed at her, cradling the stumps of her severed legs. "You aren't-"

Venus wasn't listening; she was well into her speech by now, and too furious to stop. "The Senshi of Love and Beauty, I am Sailor Venus! In the name of Venus, I'll throw down your punishment of love from heaven!" She raised her finger to the sky and bellowed: "Venus Love Megaton SHOWER!"

A line of light shot straight up... and split into thousands more, raining down on the unfortunate Youma before it could get another word in edgewise. Riddled full of holes by the storm of light, it shuddered for a moment before collapsing into dust.

That wasn't enough; Venus slammed her heel into the dust pile over and over, scattering it to the winds. "Stupid... slimy... disgusting... bug...!" she snarled through gritted teeth, punctuating each word with another stomp. "How... dare... you...!"

"Um, Mina?" A furry white feline snout peeked hesitantly around a corner. "I think you got it..."

"... going to take... forever... to comb this stuff out...!"

Artemis closed his eyes and sighed, his whiskers drooping. He and Minako were less removed from the old days than he thought... but at least she won the fight.

"Venus?" A soft voice called from the street below, managing to be heard over the sounds of battle. "Is that you up there? Are you all right?"

In an instant, the sorry state of her appearance was forgotten. Radiant happiness shone from Venus's face as she shot to the edge of the roof and leaped over... Artemis followed, and was just in time to see her seize all of her fellow Senshi in a warm, if sticky, embrace.

"Guys! Everyone!"

"Venus!"

"I can't believe it, we're back together again..."

"I can't believe you started the party without me! What were you-" A pause. "Um, Mars, why are there two of-"

A chorus of voices answered, two of them identical: "Don't ask."

As joyous as the reunion was, there was still work to do, still a fight to finish. In that regard, it was as if no time had passed at all. Over the years, the Four Guardian Senshi had learned to function as a flawless unit, unrivaled in strength. Artemis didn't know how many other teams of Senshi there were outside of the Sol System, but he was confident that none of them fought together quite like this. His heart swelled with pride; not for nothing were Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter known and feared throughout the galaxy as the greatest warriors of their time. And now that there were inexplicably two of Sailor Mars... well.

His smile grew wider as he felt the presence of his counterpart, long before he laid eyes on her. "It's been a long time..."

The black cat sat next to him and chuckled as she nuzzled him. "It doesn't feel like long at all," said Luna. "Like just yesterday, Usagi was here for her first battle, shattering windows with her crying..."

Artemis scanned the battlefield. "Where is Usagi, anyway?"

At that, Luna had to roll her eyes. "If I had to guess..."

At Osa-P's storefront, a dented security door was finally wrenched out of the way with a metallic groan, after many minutes of the people inside straining to dislodge it. It was hardly a second later when a red, white, and blue blur trailing foot-long blonde pigtails rushed out of the door, bawling up a storm... and if the reunion between the others had been joyous, this one was ecstatic. Even the remaining monsters seemed reluctant to interrupt as the core Sailor Senshi came back together for the first time in five years... though perhaps several of them hesitated because they remembered the more adverse effects of Sailor Moon's crying fits.

Again, it was as if no time had passed at all... her faithful guardians took their positions around her, as they always did.

"We saved some for you," said Jupiter, grinning. "A few of the Youma and all the Phages."

Mercury's fingers flew over her computer's keys. "I'm not sure if they're all transformed humans like they were before, but we held back just in case."

Sailor Moon rubbed the back of her neck. "I hope I can still do it. I don't know what's going on, with us all back to our original forms... and, you know, with the Marses..."

"I was gonna ask why we seem to be going retro," said Venus, "but yeah, two of Mars is weird, even for us."

Mars 2 scoffed, having little patience for small talk. "There will be plenty of time to discuss it later. Sailor Moon, finish it!"

"Right. Here goes..." Sailor Moon raised her hand, concentrated, and felt for a weapon, any weapon, in pocketspace... She had it. A pink stick topped with a crescent moon, warm and familiar to the touch... She hadn't held it for years, but the motions came back to her as easily as breathing. "Moon Healing Escalation!"

Rays of brilliant holy light swept the street... where they touched the remaining Dead End soldiers, their monstrous features melted like bad dreams. Youma, Phages, Saiarks, Desertrians, and all the rest fell to Sailor Moon's power... the power of the greatest Senshi of all.

Oh yes, Sailor Moon remembered the words and the motions. What she didn't remember was the backlash... the moment her attack finished, the Moon Stick clattered to the pavement at her side as she fell to her knees, as tired as if she had run the flights of stairs to hers and Mamoru's apartment five times in a row.

"Sailor Moon!" A flurry of voices called her name, and half a dozen hands extended to help her up...

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, climbing unsteadily to her feet and grasping two of the hands. "I guess I'm out of... practice..." What she saw now made a little tiredness far less of a problem.

The Silver Crystal was gone.

It didn't make sense. In her first form, the Silver Crystal was mounted safely on the Moon Stick from the moment she acquired it to her final battle with Metaria. Later transformations moved it to her brooch or to somewhere in her pocketspace, or even inside her heart on occasion, but as far as she knew, it should always appear when she needed it. Now, the inner curve of the wand's crescent moon was smooth and blank, as it had been when Luna first gave it to her. No one could have taken the Silver Crystal without her knowledge, so how-

"Lost something, lapin?"

Six heads snapped up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Drawling and sardonic, it came from the colorful harlequin resting atop an awning across the street, his arms crossed behind his head. There was no outward sign of his appearance, but the moment the Marses sensed his presence...

It's all gone wrong.

... both felt the unmistakable, bitter tingling in the back of their minds that meant impending doom...

It's all gone wrong.

... and both drew closer together in front of Sailor Moon, making the exact same warding gesture. It would have been comical, in other circumstances...

Heaven help us, it's all gone wrong...

"I must say," said Joker without looking at her, "it's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh at last, Sailor Moon, Sailor Senshi. You're every bit the legends that your reputation makes you out to be. It's an honor, truly." He rose up off the awning, the tips of his pointed boots leaving the fabric as he floated in midair without support, and drew down into an exaggerated bow. "Enchanté, Mademoiselles. I am Joker."

Joker. The name sent a deep, inexplicable spike of dread through Sailor Moon's body. It was hard to even breathe... "Did-" Her voice came out as a dry croak. "Did you bring back all of the-"

"Oh yes, indeed." Rather than rise from his bow, Joker did a forward flip until he turned upright again. "A pleasant warm-up, was it not? Are we all feeling refreshed? I do apologize if my troops weren't much of a challenge for you, but they served their purpose. After all, you're all back together again... one big happy color-coded family."

Summoning all her courage, Sailor Moon drew herself up. "You... how dare you endanger people just for-"

Joker blew air through his lips and waved a hand. "Yes, yes, lapin, we know. You've already done the speech once tonight. If you must talk, please, answer me this..." The empty black eyes of his mask stared down at her. "When exactly was the last time you used that Moon Stick of yours, hmmm?"

Sailor Moon opened her mouth to answer.

-static-

She stood at the end of the world, Metaria's grotesque, shadowy form filling the sky like a sea of swirling ink. Endymion stood at her side, facing the darkness with her, sharing his power with her.

-static-

She stood on a high pillar of ice in the bitter cold, alone save for the ghostly images of her guardians around her, pouring everything she had into holding off the thing that Beryl and Metaria had become for a little longer.

-static-

Two sets of memories, neither of which she could ever forget. Both of them real. Both of them real...

From somewhere far away, Joker laughed that awful laugh. "Memories a bit discombobulated, are they? Why, you'd think something strange was going on..."

Sailor Moon collapsed, her eyes staring at nothing, her head feeling like it would split open at the seams...

"Sailor Moon! Hold on!" Mercury once again summoned her visor, and linked its output to her computer. The readings that now flashed across the visor's holographic display were- "Everyone," she whispered, her eyes like dinner plates. "He..."

"Huh?" Jupiter leaned over and tried to make out figures from the tiny screen. None of them made sense to her, and they flashed by much too fast to read besides. "What's the matter?"

"H-he's not..." Mercury's words trembled with impossible terror. For all that her experiences as a Senshi bent the laws of physics, there were at least recognizable principles involved, a certain set of rules that all things followed, if not always to the letter. Her scan of Joker indicated that this being not only broke those rules... but in his case, the rulebook had been shredded to pieces, and the pieces rearranged into something monstrous, something beyond even her ability to comprehend. "He's not from this universe. He shouldn't be in our world at all, just his being here is... is..." She couldn't finish, for there simply weren't words to describe what the data was telling her.

Above them, Joker applauded and laughed, a sound as frigid and sharp as a midwinter's night. "Oh, Mademoiselle Mercury, you are clever! Tres bien, tres bien indeed! I should have known that you would pick up what the others couldn't."

"Mercury," said Mars 1, her temper shorter than usual. That tingling in the back of her mind was driving her mad... "What is it? What's he doing?!"

"Oh, it's not all me."

The harlequin moved, and something emerged from his shadow: a tattered black cloak, with a skull's grin barely visible in the darkness beneath its hood... So much like Wiseman, their old enemy, and yet different, stranger. A twisted metal staff appeared in the figure's hand, a wicked crimson slash of energy sprouting from the jewel at its crown...

"Time Reaper," said Joker to the cloaked figure, "I'm afraid this next act will require a bit more effort than usual. Please, if it's too much for you, say something... I'll lend you whatever assistance you need."

The hood of the cloak nodded.

Below, the Senshi drew tighter together around Sailor Moon.

What happened next made no sense. The Reaper began to... distort, flickering into multiple images of itself, random parts of its form wavering and skimming in and out as if it couldn't quite decide to stay fully solid, to stay fully real or not. They saw it(them) move, and it(they) brought its(their) scythe(s) down, ripping a wide gash(es) in the air... there was a horrible, wrenching sound...

-static-

... and the street, the city, the world tore itself apart.

Before the uncomprehending eyes of the six Senshi, long ribbons of the sky curled in on themselves, the starlight expanding into floating lace doilies. The buildings on either side of them twisted out of shape, melting like wax candles and snapping back again, sprouting grotesque flowers from their windows and doors that bloomed, withered, and bloomed once more in the space of seconds, their petals resembling human fingers. Streetlights bent into pretzel shapes, the plastic casings of their electric lanterns leaking wine. The pavement bubbled and pitched beneath them like a raging sea...

"What is this?!" Venus screamed. The world didn't behave like this, it was like some kind of bizarre fever dream, she was going to throw up... "What's he doing?!"

And from the gash(es) in the air, the creatures emerged.

There was no rhyme, reason, or common pattern to their appearance. The most clearly defined was some kind of enormous, polka-dotted worm with a white cartoon face, ringed eyes in many different colors, and a mouthful of razor sharp teeth... but the next one was a shapeless blob with the head of a melting bouquet of roses and giant butterfly wings extending from its back. One was little but an angular, spiky mass of writhing darkness. Another was a floating box, with something of a vaguely human shape crouched over it. Behind it, a child's doll with dead eyes, grown to gargantuan size. More of the things streamed through after them... crawling, slithering, nonsensical things, too alien to understand, things that didn't act or sound or move like any living being should...

Their mad voices split the air as they gathered: screaming, cackling, gibbering, sobbing, babbling frenzied gibberish to each other, underscored by the giggling of children. A thousand smaller creatures, none of them any less bizarre, swarmed at their feet, or tendrils, or voids, or undersides, not daring to make a move until their overlings moved first.

Joker's voice rang out from somewhere, everywhere: "Now, this will be a worthy challenge for the indomitable Sailor Senshi! No more bush leagues for you, my dears... Now, the night of Witches begins..."

END OF CHAPTER 14