Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 1: Sailor V.

By Razor Knight
Last update: January 3, 2010
Last edited: May 21, 2017

The girl woke up with a start. She looked around, relieved to see she was in her bedroom, and looked at the clock sitting in her nightstand through half-opened eyes. One hour too early to wake up, but she didn't feel like going back to sleep now. The memories of the nightmare she had just awoken from were fading, but she could still hear the screams. She could smell the smoke in the distance. She could remember being hit by something, right before she woke up.

It was all a little too real, even though she didn't know what it had all been about. All she could remember clearly was a palace, a white palace, and she knew it was what she was protecting in her dream.

She dressed up quickly and walked to the dining room. Her mother and father both looked at her, their surprise not concealed at all. "Hi mom, hi dad."

"Minako, it's good to see you woke up early, for a change," her father mused.

"Accidents happen," Minako joked back.

They had waited for too long, for too many generations, but the time to reclaim what was theirs was close at hand. Queen Beryl looked at the device the best mages in her ranks had created. A device which could break through the barrier set between her world and the Earth, and which allowed them to transport troops through. It could only be used once every two days for the time being, and could only be used to send one soldier in. But it was still good for her plans, she didn't want to rush in blindly into a world which could have strong defense forces to fight back an invasion.

"I am ready, my Queen."

Beryl turned to the creature. "You've already been told what your mission is. If you find no defenses in there, I want you to gather as much energy as you can before returning."

The creature bowed to her and turned to the device. To anyone not capable of sensing magic, it would have looked like an ordinary archway. But it was a gateway to another world, a world which every creature like her, every youma, had heard countless stories about. A world that had once been theirs, and was then taken off their hands by a group of strong mages. That didn't really matter to her right now, as she was aware of the honor that had been given to her. She would be the first youma to set foot on Earth in many thousands of years.

Beryl saw the youma walk through the archway, vanishing in a flash of light, and smiled. It was only the first step, but if everything went as planned, their conquest of the Earth would take less than it had taken the first time around.

Minako was rather upset. If a strange nightmare wasn't enough, now she had a strange white cat stalking her. She had first noticed it while heading for school, but the cat had been always around, and whenever she looked at it, it would just stare back at her, unmoving. And there was something about this cat that seemed odd - other than the strange patch of yellow fur in its forehead, shaped like a crescent moon. It was almost as if it was not just doing it by instinct.

Finally fed up with the small animal, she started walking straight to it (him, her?) surprised that the cat didn't back away. It was either very brave, or very stupid, to not take the glare she was giving as a hint to flee the scene.

"All right, cat, I'm not a mouse, so stop chasing me."

Minako stood there, waiting for the cat to take the hint and run. Seeing it just stared at her, she growled and turned to leave. And then, the small animal did something she wasn't quite ready for. It spoke. "Of course you're not a mouse, Minako."

And it knew her name? Wait, that wasn't all that important right now. "You... You... Cat..."

"Name's Artemis, and I'm a Mooncat, not just a cat."

"A talking cat, huh?" Minako was now staring at the white cat. He was, as impossible as that could have sounded, smiling at her. "I knew it, first that nightmare and now a talking cat. I'm still asleep, right?"

"Minako, listen. There's an emergency, and..."

"Oh, of course I'll listen to you, Mr. Talking Cat. And I'll also listen to the dancing flowers and pink rabbits when they show up."

"Dancing flowers?" Artemis shook his head. "Anyway, you need to listen to me, Minako."

"Not here," Minako said, "if anyone saw me talking to a cat, they'd think I'm crazy." And if they heard the cat talking back, they'd think her craziness had rubbed on them.

"Well then, where do you want to meeeeow!" Artemis' question was interrupted as Minako lifted him and dashed down the street. "Hey, what's the deal, girl?"

"We'll talk at home, cat."

"I told you, my name's Artemis."

"Right then, Artemis." That would save her the problem to give him a name. Wait, why was she thinking about keeping him as a pet?

Fortunately for Minako, her mother had gone shopping for groceries, and her father was at work. She wasn't in the mood to tell her parents some lie about why she brought the cat home.

As she let Artemis on her bed, she sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll ignore the fact cats aren't supposed to talk and listen to whatever you have to say."

"This will be hard to believe, but you're not just a normal human girl. You're the reincarnation of a Senshi, a warrior from ancient times, and if I've been awakened, it means the enemy's back."

"A reincarnated Senshi from long ago?" Minako stared at Artemis in shock. Sure, a part of her mind was laughing at how unlikely all that sounded, even coming from a talking cat, but another part of her... Something in her felt the word "Senshi" was something she had heard before.

"You're the Senshi of Venus," Artemis said, "one of the strongest Senshi. We have to stop the enemy before they get the princess."

"Princess?"

"The Moon Princess."

"Oh, of course, a cat from the Moon, looking for a princess from the Moon. It does make sense."

"Ahem... I don't think you will really believe me until I show you some proof, so..." Artemis closed his eyes, and a small, orange wand appeared in front of him. "This was used to train Senshi until they were able to call upon their powers on their own. Hold it and say 'Venus Planet Power.'"

Minako took the small wand (which looked like a pen,) and smiled. "I have to say 'Venus Planet Power,' right?" She gasped as light surrounded her, and for a few seconds she was unable to see anything. When the light dimmed, she found herself wearing an uniform similar to the one she used for school, only its neckline and skirt were orange, and the skirt was way shorter. "Hey, what's going on?"

"You've awakened your powers, Minako, or rather, Sailor Venus."

If this was a dream, she was starting to like it. "So I'm some sort of super-heroine, huh?"

"Your strength, agility, speed, resistance to damage both physical and magical, they all increase when you're in that form."

"How do I turn back to normal?"

"Just focus in changing back... Be careful, though, because the transformation will revert to whatever you were wearing before transforming."

"I see, no transforming while in my underwear unless I can get back home to change back."

Artemis laughed nervously at that. "Yes, that's quite correct."

"Okay then, I'll change back now."

"Wait," Artemis said as his ears perked up, "not yet. I'm sensing a youma, and it's near."

Kron hated this, having to disguise herself as one of these disgusting creatures. Humans, how could creatures like these even exist, unable to feel the magic around them, ignorant to the kind of power one could obtain from channeling the mana present in the air. At least she had been able to scout the area. There were no defense forces capable of sensing magic, as far as she could tell, and after a bit of researching, she decided to complete the other part of her mission.

"Stop it right there!"

Kron dropped the man she had been draining to the side and turned to see something she wasn't expecting to see. A girl wearing a suit which matched that of the ancient warriors who had forced her race out of the Earth. A Senshi. "Who are you?"

Sailor Venus smiled. "I'm Sailor V, and I'm here to stop you, monster!"

"Sailor V?" Artemis asked, as confused as the youma.

"I'll explain later," Venus whispered to him.

"So you're not one of them after all? Then die!"

Venus barely dodged the energy blast that shot from the woman's mouth, and gasped as she turned into a humanoid crab. "Hey, Artemis, how am I supposed to fight that?"

Artemis let out a long sigh as he realized he had forgotten to tell her how to use her basic attack. If Luna had been around, he was sure he would have to listen to her rant for a while. "Look for the words in your mind, the words that will let you attack this enemy."

Venus looked at the cat, wondering what he meant. She then turned to see the monster rushing at her. "Words in my mind..." she closed her eyes and smiled. Yes, there they were.

"Giving up already? Good!" Kron snapped, then saw the girl raise her arms. "Hey, what's..."

"Crescent..." As Venus pointed her index finger at the creature, a small circle of light appeared in front of it. "Beam!" with that word, the point became a thin beam, which pierced through the monster's skull, stopping it dead in its track. "I did it?"

Artemis watched as the youma's body turned into dust. "Yes, you beat this enemy."

Venus noticed the crowd gathering around her. "Uhm... I think we should leave now."

"That would be wise," Artemis admitted as Venus picked him up. "Hey, what are you..."

"You said my agility and strength were improved, right?" Venus asked, then leapt over the crowd. She looked around before leaping into a parked truck, then a rooftop. "Wow, no kidding. I thought I could jump quite high before, but this..."

Artemis smiled. It was good to see Minako wasn't too freaked out about the changes in her life.

"I could use this to get to school in time!" Venus said.

Still, he realized the girl wasn't taking this as seriously as he would have wanted her to.

Queen Beryl looked at the report in her magic crystal. "I see... So the humans are rather greedy, competing for what they call money. Just like the old days."

"Indeed," the white-haired man standing in front of her noted, "they seem to value gold above many other metals."

"Gold?" Beryl couldn't help but laugh at that. It was perfect for them. This world they had been thrown into, it had entire deserts made of gold. Youma had never considered it a valuable metal, simply because it was everywhere. "I see... Have as many youma as you can start gathering gold, then. We could use it in our conquest."

"As you wish, my Queen."

"And also, Kunzite, you will be in charge of tracking down and killing the one known as Sailor V."

"I will send another scout first," Kunzite said, "with an eye spell, so we can know how she looks like. The auditive spell we set in Kron only told us the girl's not alone, but we don't know how many Senshi there could be out there."

"I want that human out of the way, but you also have to gather as much energy as you can. We need it to awaken our goddess."

Minako had finished explaining the whole 'Sailor V' idea to Artemis, and he had to admit she wasn't wrong. Given the youma would know about Sailor Venus, then using a disguise and giving them a false lead would make it easier to confuse them. If the youma were also after the Princess, then they would think 'Sailor V' was her, disguised to hide her true identity.

"If all enemies are as easy as that one, this will be easy."

"They're not. That was just a scout, with near zero combat ability. Combat-able youma will be far stronger, and if we ever face a General, things could get messy."

"General?" Minako asked.

"They are the strongest warriors our enemy has, not counting their leader. If we ever face one, be careful. At your current power level, they would kill you easily."

"So they're like the game's stage bosses," Minako mused, then realized something. "Wait, what's that you said about power level?"

"Senshi have several power levels, but they start at their most basic one. It takes years of training and using those skills to get to the highest levels."

"Training?" Minako flinched. "No way, I've got enough with school already. I'll help you kill those youma bugs and look for the Princess, but that's it."

Artemis scowled at that. "You need to take this mission seriously, Minako."

Minako glared at Artemis in a way that made the mooncat shiver. "Now listen, Mr. Talking Cat, you threw me head-first into a fight with a monster I would have normally run away from, you told me I have to look for some Princess you know little about yourself, and you tell me there's some monsters out there who could kill me easily even with my powers. I can somehow accept all that. But I had a life before meeting you, and I'm not going to give it up just because you say so. Do you understand that?"

Artemis was quite surprised by that. Minako wasn't as naive as he had thought at first, he could see now that she understood the risks of her mission. "I suppose you're right about that. Training would only help you in this mission, but..."

"But?"

"... But I think you could manage to defeat our current enemies without it."

Minako smiled. "Good to hear that, Art."

"Art?" Artemis muttered. So much for Minako staying serious for long.

It didn't take long for another creature to show up. Minako had been on her way home when she saw Artemis running her way. "Art?"

Artemis shook her head. "I told you not to call me that. Anyhow, there's a youma, and it's close."

"Right," Minako looked around as she 'summoned' her transformation pen. She didn't still know how she did it, but it had became second nature to her, to call upon the small item whenever she needed it. "Venus Planet Power!"

Artemis looked at the new suit. He had modified it on Minako's request, and he had to admit it looked like a good disguise. The suit was now blue with a red bow, unlike the original orange and blue colors of her suit. She had added a blue mask over her eyes, something that would make her harder to identify.

He leapt on her shoulder and smiled. "Let's go, Sailor V."

"Where is that bug?"

"Straight ahead," Artemis said.

"Good," V said and took off dashing.

The youma staggered back, shocked. He had chosen this girl because she seemed to be an easy target, but to his surprise, the moment he had clasped his hand against the girl's arm, things went very wrong. Instead of being able to drain her energy, it was his energy the one being drained.

"What the Darkness are you?"

"You don't want to know," the pale girl said, her voice cold and unemotional.

"Hey you, leave that girl alone!"

The girl looked at the newcomer. Perfect, with this Senshi here, she wouldn't have to do a thing.

"You must be Sailor V," the youma snapped as his human disguise changed to his real self, a ratlike humanoid. "Die!"

V leapt out of the way as an energy blast hissed by. "Hmph, this again. Crescent Beam!" To V's surprise, the youma didn't just stand there gawking, instead jumping out of the way of the beam. "Hey, no dodging!"

"Same goes to you, human," the youma said.

V dodged a couple beams more and looked around. The area was still too crowded, as most civilians didn't realize the threat this creature was to them. The girl she had saved, however, was gone.

The youma growled in frustration. If not for that girl weakening him, he could have killed this Sailor V rookie in seconds. "I'm not going to be defeated by a newbie."

V smiled. "Good thing I'm not a newbie." She leapt over the rat, flipping in mid-air and aimed at him as she passed right over him. "Crescent Beam!"

The rat snorted at that. Even at this range, it was easy to... He realized he couldn't move, and looked down in shock. Last thing he saw before being pierced through by the beam, was a skeletal hand clutching his foot.

"Yeah! I did it!"

"Nicely done, V," Artemis said, then looked around. That magic aura... It couldn't be her, could it?

"I thought I said you had to stay out of their battles."

The girl looked at the older woman and nodded. "I know that, but this time around, I got involved in their battle accidentally."

"You helped her."

"She needed help. I have to agree with that youma, she's a newbie."

"Maybe you're right, but she will improve."

"I hope so, or she won't be around for long."

The woman smiled. "There are still more Senshi to be found."

"Won't you help them?"

"I can't. It's supposed to be this way."

"A group of untrained newbies running around fighting the youma. Are you sure this is the right way to go about it?"

"Don't worry, they will be fine. They will find the Princess."

"If they're going to do it, why have you awakened us?"

"Because this won't be the only war to be fought, and they will need you all in the future."

"I see." The girl looked at the now retreating V, and then turned to leave. "I'll go back home now. Call me whenever you decide it's time to start fighting back."

"I will. Don't worry, Hotaru, it will be soon." As the pale girl walked away, the woman turned around and looked at the spot where V had last been. "It will all start very soon."

"Okay, I admit that fight was harder than the first one. Still nothing to be worried about, right?"

"Of course," Artemis admitted. They were both walking back to Minako's house, but he couldn't shake the feeling that familiar presence he had felt minutes ago was a Senshi. Which one, he couldn't tell, but he would have to investigate.

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

Artemis looked up at Minako, who was frowning at him. "Sorry, was thinking about that battle. You didn't realize someone helped you, did you?"

"Someone helped me? What do you mean?"

"There was someone else there," Artemis said, "and I'm going to find out who it was."

"Think it could be someone like me?"

"That's possible," Artemis admitted, "but why didn't they contact us?"

Minako smiled. "Maybe they're shy?"

"Eeehh... Not likely." He decided to change the subject as he saw her house come into view. "Think your parents will be okay with this?"

"I know mom likes cats, so don't worry, Art."

"Minako..."

"Art fits you."

Artemis sighed in defeat. "Whatever you say, Mina."

Beryl looked at the images in her crystal ball and smiled. "This Sailor V doesn't look like any of the ancient Senshi."

"We can't let our guards down."

"I agree. Kunzite, you will go to Earth next time and lure V to you. Make sure she doesn't bother us any longer."

Kunzite bowed to the Queen before looking at the image of 'Sailor V' in the crystal ball. "I will not fail, my Queen."