The battle between Galaxia and the Sailor Soldiers had ended. The Universe was at peace once more. But how long would that peace last? It has been a year since that mega fight and so far so good... Everyone's lives had continued on, but not unchanged...

The Starlights returned to their home planet with their Princess, but despite their best efforts to continue on as normal, everything was different; battles they had fought, enemies they destroyed, friends they had made,...and connections deeper than that had them missing everyone back on Earth.

Meanwhile, Usagi and everyone else were still finding it hard to return back to their normal "student" lives. They were just regular teenagers again, something that they dreamed about since first learning about their true past on the Moon, and finally they have a chance at experiencing everything normal teenagers do: hanging out with friends without having to worry about saving the world, concentrating totally on schoolwork, getting a job, and dating.

What's the point in dating when I know who the one I love is? Minako would often think to herself when the subject came up. Ami and Usagi felt the same way…

Suddenly, a new enemy had appeared: Violet Ray and her minions. The Soldiers jumped back into action without hesitation. It was natural to them. And, regretfully, they were a bit relieved getting back into old habits, like fighting the bad guy. According to Sailor Mercury, Violet Ray has nothing to do with Chaos and is not interested in the Star Seeds. There is something else she wants....

The Soldiers have been on edge and on their toes since she arrived. They never knew when she might attack. Of course Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter weren't fighting alone. They do have Sailor Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, and Tuxedo Mask to help them out. Yet, even with that extra help and determination, the Soldiers find themselves lacking. Something was missing.....

"Uranus....World Shaking!" She yelled out into the dark night. The attack went flying out and targeted a small group of minions that surrounded them in the desolate graveyard. The minions evaporated, but just as quickly, another group took its place.

"This is hopeless!" Mars shouted to the Soldiers.

"What are we going to do?" Venus asked as more and more minions appeared. They were being surrounded.

"Mercury, anything yet?" Jupiter asked as the numbers grew rapidly. The Soldiers were constantly circling around Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask (who had been injured), and Mercury, trying to keep them from the minions. Mercury continued to scan and enter data onto her little computer.

"I'm sorry guys," she started, "but it's just the same as last time. The source is Violet Ray but she's too powerful to locate!" There was a sound of crashing waves as Neptune took out another group, but more and more appeared.

"This is getting pretty bad...." Jupiter said. "Should we book-it?"

"C'mon you guys," Sailor Moon yelled, "we should!" She was just about to run out when a minions appeared out of nowhere.

"Sailor Moon, watch out!" Mercury yelled. "Ice Water....Blast!" The minion froze and then burst into a million pieces.

"Eep! Thanks Mercury!" Sailor Moon squeaked. "I owe ya one! Now, I don't know about you guys, but I've just about had it with these creeps. I think it's time to toast them!"

"We're with ya!" Mars yelled. "Come on Soldiers, lets get them!"

"Mars Fire...."

There was an evil, cold laugh and a strong freezing wind that suddenly blew out of nowhere. The minions stopped any attacks they were about to do and moved back into a larger circle around the Soldiers. They seemed to be waiting for some instructions....

"What's going on?" Sailor Moon asked quietly. "Whose voice is that?"

There was another cold laugh. The same as the first.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Mars whispered.

"Ha ha ha! And you should Sailor Mars," the voice said coldly. "But you've always been able to tell when something bad is about to happen.... Did you see this one coming?" No sooner did she say that, a large fireball came flying down from the sky.

"Run!" Mars yelled, but before any of them could even move, the fireball disappeared.

"It was just an illusion!" Mercury exclaimed.

"Hey Mercury," the cold voice said, "can you compute this?" And a wave of negative energy flooded the graveyard. "Where is it coming from?" Mercury wondered aloud as she scanned the area. Down the road, the street lights that had been giving the graveyard a bit of light suddenly burned out.

"Look!" Venus shouted as she pointed toward the town. "The buildings are all dark!"

"The whole area is losing power!" Tuxedo Mask said.

"We have to do something!" Venus said as the cold laugh started again.

"There is nothing you can do!" The voice said and laughed even more. "This is just another illusion, more of a foreshadowing of what will happen to your precious city! Soon all the energy in this little planet will be mine!"

"That's what she wants?" Neptune said. "Energy? That's it?"

"That seems too simple..." Uranus noted.

"Energy?" The voice said. "Ha ha! That's just the beginning!"

"What are you up to then?" Sailor Moon yelled. "What do you want?!"

The voice laughed coldly, "As if I would let you little brats in on my secret plan! Don't mean to be rude, but I've got to go. I have some...business to attend to... I'll leave you with my minions. Have fun!" And with that, the negative energy vanished, the lights all turned back on, and the minions sprang back into animation.

"We've got to get outta here!" Sailor Moon yelled as the minions jumped at them with exceptional speed.

"Jupiter Thunder....Crash!"

"Uranus World Shaking!"

"Venus Crescent Beam...Smash!"

"No matter how hard we try, more keep appearing!" Mars yelled. They were now totally surrounded by more minions than they could count.

"All right, that's it!" Sailor Moon yelled. She stepped forward and pulled out her wand. "Silver Moon.....Crystal Power Kiss!" A few minions went down, and more appeared! "It didn't work?! NO!"

"Now we're in trouble," Uranus whispered to Neptune.

The Soldiers drew closer together and kept their eyes open for any minion who tried to attack. A few jumped out and were taken down by the Soldiers, but it seemed a never ending battle, for more kept appearing. They were looking downhearted. It seemed impossible to overcome all these minions...

"Don't give up Soldiers!" A small black cat, shouted from the top of the fence.

"Stick together and you can beat them!" A small white cat yelled as well.

"Luna!" Sailor Moon yelled to her black cat.

"Artemis!" Venus yelled to her white cat. "It's dangerous!"

"Get away from here!" Sailor Moon yelled, but it was too late. A few minions had spotted the two cats atop the fence. In a blink of an eye, the two cats were knocked down from the fence. The minions then picked then both up.

"No, Luna!"

"Artemis!"

The minions around the Soldiers drew together, tightening the circle around them, while the two minions continued to pick on the poor cats. Suddenly the dark clouds that covered the stars cleared away and Mercury noticed a shadow that was cast on the ground.

"Look!" She said, pointing up to the top of the tallest gravestone. Standing there was a dark figure of a girl with two dumplings on the top of her head that flowed down into two long pick tails. The figure of Sailor Moon!

"Hey! Who is that?!" Sailor Moon shouted in an annoyed tone from the tight circle of the Soldiers.

"Sailor Moon," Mars said, "I thought that was you!" The other Soldiers agreed.

"For a moment," Sailor Moon said, "I did too..." The minions drew closer.

"Is she a friend or an enemy?" Neptune whispered.

"I don't know..." Uranus answered. "We'll just have to wait and see."

The minions were now inches away from the Soldiers, while the two were still picking on the little cats. It wasn't looking so good. The minions began an attack, when....

"Silver Crystal Power Attack!" A gentle voice said boldly. There was a bright light that filled every dark shadow in the graveyard. The Soldiers covered their eyes from the blinding light and when it ceased, it took a few moments for them to adjust. They soon saw that all the minions were gone and none were popping up. The Soldiers looked back to that gravestone and the figure of the girl was still there.

"Hey!" Venus yelled out.

"Come down here!" Jupiter shouted, but without a word the figure jumped out of sight and disappeared into the night.

"Way to frighten her off!" Mars commented.

"Yeah, but who was she?" Mercury asked. The Soldiers all shook their heads. No one knew.

"She has to be a friend, right?" Sailor Moon asked. "I mean, she did just save us... So she has to be on our side!"

"We'll discuss this later," Neptune said. "We should get Tuxedo Mask home to rest."

"Right,' Sailor Moon agreed and she and the Sailor Soldiers helped him home.

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"So who do you think she could be?" Usagi asked as they walked home from another long day at school. Despite their effort to concentrate on school work, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Usagi, and even Ami have all found their minds slipping from their reality back to that night. It has been several days since that night, but it is still the only thing they keep talking about.

"Well we know she's on our side," Makoto said.

"Right, she did save us," Minako commented. "Maybe she's another Sailor Soldier!"

"I think she has to be," Ami said, "but the question

is 'who'?" They all thought about this for a few moments.

"Why did she look like me?" Usagi blurted out. "She can't be Sailor Moon! I am. So she can't copy my style!" Ami, Minako, and Makoto laughed at Usagi's remark, Rei on the other hand...

"Of course she's not Sailor Moon, Odango!!" She took a breath, "She's obviously some other Soldier, and why would she want to copy your style? Your hair looks like something we should be eating for dinner!" Usagi fumed.

"Well she did look like me, right?! So she obviously knows who I am and as a grand gesture of her admiration did her hair like mine! So there!" And she stuck out her tongue.

"OH!" Rei yelled. "If she knew the real you and how much of a ditz you are, I guarantee she would change her look!" The continued to argue all the way to Usagi's house, which they were all going over to for a Soldier meeting. As they approached Usagi's house, Ami noticed a girl across the street. She had long, black hair that flowed down her back and shined in the sunlight. She seemed to be watching them. Ami knew that Rei was too involved in her argument with Usagi to sense any vibes, so it was up to Ami to judge.

The girl noticed Ami watching her and quickly turned the opposite direction and walked quickly away. Ami didn't know what to do, but knew that she had to act somehow.

"Wait!" She yelled while dashing across the street after the girl.

"Ami!" Minako yelled.

"Wait for us!" Makoto said as they all ran after her.

"Ami," Usagi breathed, "what are you doing?" They followed her down the street and around the corner where they all stopped. Ami was standing there looking around intently.

"What was that?" Usagi asked breathy.

"There was a girl," Ami said. "Did you see her?" They shook their heads.

"What girl?" Usagi asked.

"She had long black hair," Ami started. "I don't know, but there was something about her...."

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"A girl with long black hair?" Amara asked again as the girls nodded. They were in Usagi's room discussing everything that has been going on. "And she just disappeared..."

"Yes," Ami said. "I was chasing her down the block and when I turned the corner, she was gone." They thought about it for a bit in silence. No one knew what this could mean.

"It could just be nothing," Usagi suggested. "We could just be paranoid about the mysterious Sailor Soldier and just thought that innocent girl was suspicious...."

"Well," Luna said, "it is a thought. Maybe we have been thinking too hard on all of this..." They all agreed, all except Amara.

"I don't know," she said slowly. "We can never be too sure. What if that girl was up to something, and what if that Sailor Soldier is not on our side...? We have to be prepared for everything."

"Oh Amara," Michelle said with a light laugh. "You're taking everything too seriously again. Just relax. If that girl really was up to something, she'll come back, and then we'll get her..."

"Yeah," Minako said. "And if that Sailor Soldier is not on our side, we know how to deal with her!" The girls laughed while Amara just thought about it.

"It's not that bad Amara," Artemis said.

"Yeah," Luna agreed. "How about we all go out for burgers?"

"I can go for that!" Usagi said excitedly.

"Let's go!"

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"I am sooooo full!" Usagi muttered as they all walked home from the Crown Parlor. "I shouldn't have eaten that much... Why didn't anyone stop me?"

"We tried," Minako said with a laugh.

"Yeah, don't you remember?" Makoto agreed.

"We told you that you wouldn't feel well later if you ate that much," Ami said.

"But no! Odango over here had to stuff her face!" Rei added. Everyone laughed.

"Hey! You can't call me that!" Usagi yelled. "Only Mamo-chan can call me that!" Usagi and Rei continued to argue, again, while Ami, Makoto, Minako, Luna, and Artemis laughed. Amara and Michelle walked slowly behind them.

"You're still thinking about that girl aren't you?" Michelle asked.

"Yes," Amara confessed. "I just don't want to overlook anything. Our job as Sailor Soldiers is to-"

"Protect our Princess," Michelle continued. "I know."

"What if that girl knew something about us?" Amara questioned. "And that Sailor Soldier, she could be working with Violet Ray and saving us from those minions could have been a trap to ensure our trust."

"Oh stop worrying Amara," Michelle said lightly. "If anything is a trap, we'll find out soon enough and Usagi won't get-"

There was a sudden blinding light that lasted for a few seconds then disappeared, leaving everything in complete darkness. No street light was on, nor any house lights. Everything was pitch black.

"What's going on?" Usagi shouted.

"I don't know but we better transform!" Rei said and everyone agreed.