Hello, haven't seen me in a while, have you?  I said I had to break Chapter
Five into two chapters because it was so long.  Here's the second.  I suppose
I should rewrite the standard disclaimers in here every once in a while, but
they don't change from one fanfic to another, so why bother.  

I want to thank everyone who has written me so far.  The number has gone up
slightly and I need to thank them as much as Sonia who has been with me
from the first.  If you want to join the list, my e-mail address is Jendra@
aol.com

Enjoy


Sailor Moon Universal

Chapter Six

Travis went into the kitchen early the next morning and stopped in shock 
when he saw Serena sitting at the table.  He noticed her dejected expression.

"You stopped believing didn't you?"  he asked so gently, she didn't even 
jump at his prescence.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice, "but what if we're wrong?"

"Then we have hope for a few more days, and that's better than nothing.  But 
we're not wrong."  Travis thought for a few moments.  "What happened six 
months ago?" he asked abruptly.

"Huh?"

"Six months ago, I was sitting in class.  I'm told I suddenly fell out of my 
chair.  When the teacher got to me, I wasn't breathing and my heart wasn't 
beating.  They started CPR and three minutes later everything was all right. 
They took me to the hospital and the doctors could find nothing wrong.  My 
heart was fine, my lungs were healthy, even my brain was okay.  They kept me 
for two weeks trying to find out why my body had suddenly decided to die.  
So what happened six months ago?"  Travis said this as unemotionally as he 
could.  He was still a little scared about it.  

Serena started speaking.  "Six months ago was the final battle with Queen 
Beryl.  We teleported to the Arctic Circle and started traveling towards her 
base.  She sent the Doom and Gloom girls after us and one by one the Scouts 
died.  When I was the last one left, she teleported me to her throne room.  
Darien was there.  He had been brainwashed by Beryl and thought I was the 
enemy.  He attacked me."  Here Serena stopped for a moment to try to get
control of herself.  Remembering was still hard for her.  "I tried to heal 
him with the crystal and it didn't work.  I tried knocking him unconscious 
with my tiara and it barely even hurt him.  Finally I pulled out my locket, 
you know my star locket, that you gave me for my birthday, and I gave to him 
before the final battle as a symbol of our love.  I held it out and let it 
play.  He touched it and remembered"  although she had started speaking 
almost like an automaton she was smiling at the remembrance now.  Then her 
voice dropped again.  "Queen Beryl picked up this gigantic rock and threw it 
at us.  Darien managed to shatter it with a rose, but slivers of rock hit 
him in the back as he tried to protect me.  He died in my arms."  Two tears 
were falling unnoticed from her eyes.  "I went out and used the crystal and 
my friends' love to defeat her, then I wished for everything to be normal 
again.  Everyone came back to life with no memories of what had happened.  
We didn't even have memories of each other."

"So it does still work."  Travis said quietly.  "In effect I died when 
Darien did the first time.  Well, I haven't died yet so neither has he.  
Understand this Serena, I will believe him dead when I feel myself die.  Not 
before." He stood up.  "I will believe him dead only when I feel myself die."

"You're right!  He's not dead."  She looked up at him and grinned for the 
first time in almost a day.  It was a small grin, and kind of sickly, but it
was a grin.  "He's not dead."

"Do you really believe that, Serena?"  a voice spoke from in back of them as 
Reenie walked forward with hope shining from her face.  "Do you really 
believe he's not dead?"

"I really believe it, Reenie.  The same way Tuxedo Mask always knows when I 
am hurt, I would know if he was.  He's alive, Reenie.  I don't know why he's 
disappeared, and I am worried about that, but he's alive." she said as 
Reenie stood next to her, looking up.

"I didn't think about that,"  Travis said, worried again.  "Do you think 
someone's captured him?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to think about it.  How about if after 
school, we all go to the mall?"  Serena's eyes had lit up and she started 
talking.  "We could go to that new accessory shop, I hear they have some 
really cool earrings and the ice cream shop and the chocolate shop, and I 
need a new pair of shoes and..." she kept talking as Travis and Reenie 
walked out of the room to get ready for school.

"That Meatball head."  Reenie said disgustedly, "Can't keep an idea in her 
head for more than a minute or two."

"Maybe," said Travis, "but it's nice to see her acting like herself again.  
This new serious Serena was kind of getting on my nerves.  Serena is 
supposed to act like an airhead, nothing else seems right."

Reenie laughed and agreed.  Serena had barely even had a klutz attack since 
Monday.  It was kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for 
her to go back to normal.

However, over the rest of the day, Travis started to change his mind.  
Serena was taking her airheadedness to extremes.  it seemed like she was 
getting tired of doing the right thing.  Although she had her homework, not 
even Travis could keep her attention on class.  If she answered questions, 
it was with answers that made no sense and showed she was daydreaming.  She 
whispered with Molly and barely got out of getting detention.  The rest of 
the class didn't know whether to be exasperated at her or glad she had 
gotten back to normal.  Even Miss Haruna wasn't quite sure.

After school, Travis didn't even try to get her to do her homework, he just 
took her to the mall.  After a very long afternoon of mall trolling he took 
her home and told her parents  "She's making up for all the airheaded 
behaviour she's missed.  Be warned."

Amy, Raye, Mina, and Lita had heard about Darien.  They wanted to sympathize 
with Serena, but her behavior last night, and today, had convinced them that 
their dreams were probably right.  She didn't care what happened to anyone 
else.  The dreams had been getting worse each night, and although they 
didn't really believe them, sometimes they couldn't help wondering.  They 
didn't tell anyone about their dreams, each of them too embarrased by the 
way they seemed to be doubting her.  But the more they saw her, the more 
they started wondering.

It was starting to get obvious by the fight that night. 

Sailor Moon showed up late and Mercury yelled at her for it.  She tripped 
while running from a solid steel projectile and Jupiter yelled at her for 
being so clumsy.  The more the girls yelled at her, the more distracted and 
clumsy she got.  The more distracted and clumsy she got, the more the other 
Scouts yelled at her.  The droid was almost ignored as the infighting 
between the Scouts got worse.  Finally, Venus called them together.  "That's 
enough everyone!  The more you yell at her the worse it's going to get.  
Let's just take care of this droid and we can yell at her later.  Mercury 
and Mars try to hit it from opposite sides."

It seemed for a moment as if both Mars and Sailor Moon were going to ask who 
gave her the right to give orders.  But they didn't.  "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE 
SURROUND" and "MERCURY ICE STORM BLAST"  hit the droid from two sides.  It 
had been trying to decide which of them to dodge first and managed to get hit
by both.

Everyone turned to stare at Sailor Moon.  Under that unified scrutiny, she 
fumbled forth her scepter and called out "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" and the 
droid turned into dust.

Sailor Moon looked around at the others.  "I'm not going to stand around 
here and let you yell at me!  I've been good, I've been doing better at 
school and trying to be on time.  So I took one day off, that's no reason to 
yell at me. WHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  Why are you being so mean to me 
today?"  And she started wailing as she jumped out of the area.

"She's got to start taking things more seriously."  Mars said, almost 
snarling.  

"She was,"  Mercury replied distractedly.  "Today she was just acting like 
she used to, we shouldn't have been so hard on her."  *But what if the 
dreams were right?*

Serena went home and collapsed on her bed.  "What is going on with them, 
Luna?  I know I've been more airheaded than usual today, but is that any 
reason for them to yell at me?  Huh?  Is it?"

Luna looked at her for a long moment.  "Mars always yells at you, you never 
seemed to mind this much before.  What happened?"

"It wasn't Raye, she didn't even talk to me.  It was Amy and Lita who yelled 
at me.  And they're still not talking to me at school.  Do... do you think 
Rubeus could have gotten to them?"

"I doubt it's that.  It's probably just that they're a little jealous of how 
much time you're spending with Travis."

"Well then I'll tell them about me and Travis and then they'll understand 
and we can be friends again.  Good, now that that's settled, I can go to 
sleep." And Serena lay down on her bed.  Luna drifted to sleep, only to be 
awoken fifteen minutes later, when Serena sighed deeply, got out of bed and 
started her homework.  

*I've really got to find a way to thank Travis for getting her to do this.*  
Luna thought sleepily as she drifted back into a doze.

The next morning as Travis and Serena were getting ready to leave the 
Tsukino house. Travis asked, "Do you have your homework?"  Not at all 
expecting an affirmative answer.

"Yes, it's right here.  I did it last night before I went to bed."  Serena 
hid a grin at the expression on his face.

Sammy came into the kitchen just then.  He had taken the news about being 
adopted and Travis and Serena a lot better than anyone thought he would and 
now tended to treat Travis as an older brother, who could be as fun to tease 
as his older sister.  "Hey Travis, aren't you sorry you got stuck with such 
a ditz as a sister?  I bet you wish you could trade her in for a better 
model." Sammy laughed. 

Serena turned to Travis, "You were supposed to help me with those signs 
today, weren't you?"

"What signs?"

"The 'brother for sale' signs of course."  Serena said and smiled.

"I don't really think we'd get enough money for him to make it worthwhile to 
make signs, Serena.  Maybe we should just let the word travel at school." 
and Travis smiled back.

"Mom, they're ganging up on me!"  Sammy shouted.

"Serena, Travis, don't pick on your brother like that."  Mrs. Tsukino said 
without thinking.

Travis turned to her and bowed.  "Thank you, Mrs. Tsukino."

On their way out, Serena asked him, "Why did you thank her?  All she did was 
tell us to stop picking on Sammy."

"No, Serena, she said to stop picking on my brother.  She really is starting 
to think of me as one of the family."  Travis looked happy at the thought.  
"Oh, to change the subject.  During that battle, Wednesday night," when 
Serena nodded to show she remembered, "I asked Apollo if it was possible 
for me to become Sailor Sun"

"And he said no, right?" Serena interupted.  "The Sailor Scouts are the 
court of the Princess of the moon, that's why the Earth and the Sun don't 
have any. You weren't part of the Silver Millenium.  Besides there are no 
male scouts."

"Actually what he said was, 'not without the Sun Stone'."  Travis told her.

Serena stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.  "You mean you could become a 
Scout?  That would be so cool.  Where is this Sun Stone?"

Travis stopped as well.  "He doesn't know.  I asked him later and about all 
he could tell me was that it was somewhere in Tokyo."

"Then let's look for it, this afternoon,"  Serena said as she started 
walking again.  "We can look at that new shopping mall down town."

"I don't think we'll find it in a shopping mall, Serena.  This is something 
hidden.  I think."  Travis said chasing after her.

"If you're looking for something, malls are the best place to look, they 
have everything."  Serena said airily.

*Looks like she's started with the airhead business again.*  Travis was so 
busy thinking that he didn't hear Serena's next words.  "What?" he asked, 
even as he thought *Oh, no!  It's contagious!*

"I said, I want to tell Amy and Lita about us, do you mind?  Luna says that 
maybe they haven't been speaking to me because they're jealous of how much 
time I've been spending with you.  Maybe if I tell them why, they'll talk to 
me again."

"Yeah, go ahead."

All that day, Serena tried to talk to Amy and Lita, but could never catch 
them alone.  She was so distracted by that problem, that the class was sure 
she had gone back to her airhead ways.  By the end of the day she was 
extremely depressed.  Being called to fight before they even got to the mall 
didn't help.

The other scouts were already fighting when she got there.  "Hey Negatrash!" 
she yelled distracting it, "I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Love, Justice and 
Shopping.  For messing up my shopping trip, I will punnish you!"  Then she 
jumped down to where the others were standing.  

"You're late, Sailor Moon."  Mars said.  Normally that would be enough to 
send her into a wailing fit, but instead she just looked at Sailor Mars.

"I don't know what's the matter with all of you, but since you won't tell me,
I'll just have to live with it.  But I will not live with you yelling about 
something that's not my fault.  I was halfway across the city when this one 
showed up.  I got here as fast as I could.  Now let's beat it so I can go 
back to shopping."  And she turned away to face the droid.  "MOON TIARA 
MAGIC"  she cried throwing her discus at the droid.  

"Sailor Moon, no!"  Jupiter cried as she did.  Sailor Moon soon found out 
why.

This one looked as though it was a cross between a goat and a human.  It 
also obviously had the ability to hypnotize people and had managed to get a 
large number of people under its spell before the scouts got there.  It sent 
several into the path of the discus.

"TIARA RETURN"  Sailor Moon called out immediately pulling her power from it.
It boomeranged around to land in her hand.

"If you'd listened before you started throwing things around, you would have 
known it did that."  Sailor Mars said almost venomously, "But no, you want to
get this finished so you can go back to Travis.  You don't even care that 
Darien died.  You obviously didn't love him as much as we thought."

"That's not true Mars," she tried to explain.

"Enough talking, we have people to save."  Venus cut in before she could.

"Alright, but afterwards, you are all going to listen to me."  Sailor Moon 
said as she turned back towards the droid.

Mercury had been working with her computer through the whole arguement.  "I 
think I can disrupt the droid's hold on these people." she said finally.  
"It uses sound frequencies from that pipe.  I can set up alternate 
frequencies to break the hypnotism.  But it won't work for long, the pipes 
have got to be destroyed."

"I can do that," Jupiter said confidently, "As long as nobody spoils my aim 
by bumping into me."  Looking directly at Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon just 
looked confused.

"You might want to cover your ears,"  Mercury said, just before a high 
pitched sound came from her computer and blasted toward the droid.  The 
people around it shook their heads, as if wondering what they were doing 
there and then started screaming when they caught sight of the droid.  As 
they started scattering, Jupiter started her attack.  "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP 
ZAP"  a ball of lightning raced towards the suddenly disorganized droid.  He 
tried calling some of the people in front of him, but no one was listening, 
and then it was too late.  The lightning impacted on his pipes blowing them 
into millions of little pieces.

"Now!"  Venus cried.  "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE"  slammed the droid against 
a conveniently placed wall.

"You got it!"  Mars shouted "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" sent the droid 
tumbling to the earth.

"No, he got it."  Sailor Moon giggled.  "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" finished 
the droid off.

"Nice going Sailor brats."  A voice called down.  

"Rubeus!"  came in four voices.  Mercury was silent, trying once again to 
get a fix on his location. 

"So you beat my Pan droid, let's try this one, shall we?"  Rubeus laughed.  
"Droid Reptilia come forth.  Take care of these Sailor failures and you will 
be well rewarded."

"As you wissssh, Massster."  A voice hissed from the surronding darkness.  A 
large snake, with the head of a human woman slithered from the underbrush.

"Ew, yuck!"  Sailor Moon exclaimed.  "I hate snakes.  They're so slimy."

"Then lets cut off its head."  Jupiter said bloodthirstily.  "JUPITER 
THUNDERCLAP ZAP"  She waited for the lightning to hit.  The droid didn't 
even try to get out of its way.  The lightning hit Reptilia and did nothing. 
"What?!"

"Some species of reptiles can't be harmed by elctricity."  Mercury said 
analytically.

"What are they harmed by?"  Sailor Moon yelled as she tried to jump over the 
tail that was sliding by.  She almost managed it, but the top of her foot 
caught the top of the snakes body and she went sprawling.  Sailor Moon 
wailed in fear as the tail came at her again.  

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE"  The chain wrapped around Reptilia's tail and 
Venus pulled.  She had just enough strength to stop the droid from crushing 
Sailor Moon, but she knew she couldn't hold on long.  

Reptilia looked at the nuisance holding onto her tail and opened her mouth.  
Mars tackled Sailor Venus, causing the tail to whiplash.  Luckily it missed 
Sailor Moon, but just barely.  

"Hey, why'd ya do that?"  She started to ask, until she saw the bare patch 
of ground where Sailor Venus had been standing.  

Mars called out.  "Watch out, that thing shoots acid!"  Then looking at 
Sailor Moon, "If you weren't such a klutz, she wouldn't have been in danger 
by trying to save you."  She said with almost as much venom as Reptilia had 
shot out.  Once more, Sailor Moon was left feeling totally confused.

"Most reptiles are cold blooded creatures and can be harmed by cold,"  Sailor
Mercury lectured as she powered up her own attack.  "MERCURY ICE STORM BLAST"
A wave of cold flew towards the droid.  It moved quickly to get out of the 
way but was caught in the tail. 

"My tail!"  Reptilia wailed, "My beautiful tail.  You will pay for that 
SSSailor SSScoutsss."

"In your dreams, monster!"  Mars announced.  She nodded to Venus who was 
standing to one side.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE"  Sailor Venus called out, throwing her chain at 
Reptilia's head.  "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROND" flew out to where they 
expected the droid to dodge to.  Unfortunately they calculated wrong.  
Droid Reptilia was faster than they had expected, ducking under the chain, 
instead of moving to the side.  The fire totally missed her and almost hit 
Jupiter, who was fuming over her inability to get into the fight. 

Jupiter watched the way Reptilia was moving and in a repeat of Sailor Mars's 
maneuver, tackled Sailor Mercury away from the acid suddenly shooting from 
the droid's mouth.  

Sailor Moon had gotten up by this time and was trying to get over to her 
friends.  She decided to try an attack of her own.  "MOON TIARA MAGIC"  sent 
one of her disks towards the droid.  It easily ducked under the projectile 
and turned towards its newest, and it seemed weakest threat.  Sailor Moon 
grinned to herself as the tiara came back towards her.  She suddenly 
remembered an attack she had only used a couple of times before.  Reptilia 
saw where her gaze was and followed it to the disk of light coming back at 
her.  She laughed at such a puny attack as she ducked once more.  At the 
instant the tiara was above her head, Sailor Moon yelled out "MOON TIARA 
STARDUST MAGIC".  Twinkles of light left the tiara, and settled on the 
droid, burning her.  Reptilia screamed.

Sailor Moon yelled out loud in delight that her idea had worked.  She was so 
busy congratulating herself, she missed Reptilia's frozen tail swinging 
towards her and got thrown into a tree.

"Good going, Sailor Moon, a two year old could have evaded that."  Jupiter 
called out.  Although she had winced, and worried, when it happened, once 
she realized that Sailor Moon was alright, all she could think of was how 
clumsy their leader was.  Sailor Moon's next actions didn't help anything.  

"WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Why is everyone so mad at me today?  I didn't do anything.  You're all just 
being mean."  

Reptilia was so intent on her suddenly easy prey, that she didn't notice her 
greatest threat gearing up behind her.  Instead of shouting out the attack 
like she normally did, Sailor Mercury whispered "Mercury Ice Storm" as she 
slowly gathered up her energy.  The last word was shouted as she released 
the energy "BLAST".  The wave of cold flew towards Reptilia too fast and too 
unexpected to be evaded.  Reptilia was frozen in place.

"Okay, Sailor Moon, now finish it!"  Sailor Venus said impatiently as Sailor 
Moon kept on wailing. 

"Oh, alright."  She whined.  She stood up and pulled out her scepter.  "MOON 
SCEPTER ELIMINATION".  The droid turned to dust.  "You happy now?"  she 
asked grumpily.

"We'll be happy when you start acting like a leader instead of like a 
spoiled brat."  Sailor Venus said as the other Scouts left the battle site.

"Wait, I wanted to talk to you!"  Sailor Moon called out as she was left 
alone.  "What is it with those people.  You'd think they were mad at me for 
something."  She turned away to meet up with Travis before realizing the 
time.  "Mom expects me home for dinner soon, so I guess I'd better go."


The next morning on the way to Travis's house.

"Artemis, what are you doing here?"  Serena asked as she saw him waiting at 
the top of the wall along her property.

"Well, I haven't seen you or Luna for a while, so I decided to see what was 
going on."  Artemis announced as he jumped down to walk next to Luna.  
"Hello gorgeous."

"Do you promise to keep it a secret?"  Serena asked grinning.  "Unless you 
solemnly swear to hold what you will see a secret in your deepest heart 
until told otherwise, we will be forced to feed you to Mr. Jacobson's 
gigantic cat eating golden falcon."

Artemis grinned at the answer, or at least as best as a cat could.  Then it 
faded, "Even from Mina?"

Serena stopped grinning too.  "Even from Mina.  I tried talking to her and 
the others yesterday, but they wouldn't listen to me.  Has she been acting 
weird to you?"

"No, not really.  She's had a couple of nightmares and has been asking some 
questions about the Moon Kingdom, but nothing major.  Whoa, neat place!"  He 
said as they walked up to Travis's house.

Serena looked at the arrow tacked on the front of the door.  "He's around 
back, come on lets go."

"I was really hoping to talk to you two."  Artemis said, slightly annoyed at 
having to keep silent.

"Don't worry," Luna spoke up for the first time.  "Travis knows all about 
us.  He saw Serena transforming, and then heard me speak.  I can't believe 
we were so careless."  She looked up at Serena who wasn't paying attention, 
intent on getting into the back yard.  "Okay, I can't believe I was so 
careless.  Ouch!"

"I'm sorry, Luna, I wasn't watching where I was going.  I didn't mean to 
kick you.  I guess I'm just careless."  Serena said with a straight face as 
she walked on.  Artemis fell over laughing.

"Hey Travis,"  Serena sang out as she walked in the back gate.  Travis was 
standing there, obviously talking to Apollo.  "Reenie wasn't able to come, 
she's spending the day with Amy."

"Hey twin,"  Travis answered as he gave her a hug.

"Twin?!"  Artemis repeated.

"Why yes Artemis,"  Luna repeated smoothly, as if she had known all along.  
"Don't tell me you don't remember Serenity's twin brother, Prince 
Tranquillity of the Kingdom of the Sun?"  Luna's eyes were dancing at being 
able to one-up her fellow guardian so easily.

"Oh, yeah,"  Artemis replied devilishly, "He's the one you gave that weird 
name to.  I told you not to suggest it to the queen, but you thought it was 
'sooo' perfect."

"Luna!"  Travis almost yelled.  "You told me it was an accident!"

Grating laughter brought their attention back to Apollo.  Artemis walked up 
to him.  "Are you the giant, cat-eating, golden falcon, these two threatened 
to feed me to if I told anyone their secret?"

"I am, but don't worry, I would never eat you."  As Artemis grinned.  "Cats 
taste absolutely awful you know, and don't have enough meat on them to make 
it worthwhile."  Artemis was no longer grinning, but everyone else was.

"This is all well and good," Travis said, "but it's not getting us any closer 
to finding the Sun Stone.  Any ideas on where to look, Apollo?"

"I don't have a clue, Travis."  Apollo said sadly.

"I still say the mall would be the best pla...no, maybe not."  Luna and 
Artemis looked at her.  Serena 'not' wanting to go to the mall?  Then she 
continued.  "There's that big flea market going on this weekend.  Why don't 
we look there.  They have everything."

"I don't think it would be there, but I don't have any better ideas on where 
to look either."  Apollo said, "and unfortunately, I think I'm the only one 
who remembers what it looks like."

"Well, all we can do is try."  Travis said, resigned to spending another day 
with one of the world's most exhausting shoppers.

They set off, with Luna riding on Serena's shoulder, Artemis on Travis's, 
getting caught up on what had been happening, and Apollo flying above them.

When they got to the flea market, Travis and Artemis groaned at all the 
shops they would have to look at.  Serena smiled and looked at all the 
places to shop.  Luna just saw a very long day ahead of them.

"Let's get started," Serena said, rubbing her hands in delight.

Two hours later, Serena had bought and eaten a cotton candy, a piece of 
rocky road fudge and a bag of popcorn.  Travis had had a piece of peanut 
butter fudge, a bag of peanuts, a piece of rock candy,a bag of popcorn and 
a coke.  Luna and Artemis just shook their heads.  Serena had also bought a 
stuffed rabbit for herself, a smaller copy for Reenie, a cute toy train for 
Sammy, two shirts, a skirt, four barrettes, and something she wouldn't tell 
anyone what was.  Travis had bought her a crescent moon necklace and 
matching earings.  They finally left the flea market and while standing 
outside Serena gave Travis the surprise package.  Travis gasped when he 
opened it.  Inside was a necklace.  The pendant was a perfect five inch copy 
of a sword, done in silver with a large topaz on the hilt.

"Thank you Serena.  This is gorgeous."  He said as he took it out and put it 
on.

"I'm glad you like it."  Serena started to say as she was distracted by 
sounds from inside the flea market.  

Luna jumped down to investigate.  She came running back.  "It's a droid.  
It's sucking energy from all of the patrons.  Call the others and get 
changed."   

Serena started to activate her communicator when she stopped.  "No.  If I 
can prove I can take a droid down all by myself, maybe the others will stop 
calling me a coward and clumsy.  I'll do this one on my own."  She pulled 
out her locket before Luna could say anything.  "MOON CRYSTAL POWER"  she 
cried out as she transformed.

Travis watched the transformation without paying any attention to it.  He 
was too busy worrying and trying to find a way to get her to call the 
others.  Then it was too late.  She was gone.  

Apollo came down to see what all the commotion was about.  Travis turned to 
explain.  Apollo didn't hear a word of it.  His eye was caught on Travis's 
new necklace.  "Travis, where did you get that necklace?"  he asked.

Travis was already moving towards the flea market.  He barely heard Apollo's 
question as he tried to find a place to watch the fight and maybe help.  
"Serena just bought it for me."  He reached the flea market in time to hear 
Sailor Moon's speech to the new droid.  The droid looked almost like a 
normal human woman, only it was about two feet too tall and covered in 
jewels instead of clothes.

"I am Sailor Moon, Champion of the Moon.  I fight for Love, and I fight for 
Justice, and I fight for the right of people to go to flea markets in peace. 
In the name of the Moon, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil.  And 
that means you!"

The droid didn't wait for Sailor Moon to finish before it started attacking. 
It pulled jewels off of its clothes and threw them at Sailor Moon.  She was 
so busy posing that she didn't even notice the small gems.  They impacted 
the table she was standing on and exploded.  Sailor Moon went down in a 
heap.  

"I've got to help her."  Travis said, moving forward.  Luna and Artemis were 
trying to keep him back.  "I know I can't do much but I've got to try."

Apollo yelled, "Travis!"  As Travis reluctantly turned back to his feathered 
guardian, Apollo looked him in the eye.  "I've been trying to tell you.  
That necklace Serena bought you holds the Sun Stone!  This is your version 
of a transformation wand.  Do what you have to do!"

The others stared at Apollo for a long moment.  Serena had been right? 
was their first thought. Then the rest of Apollo's sentance started making 
sense as Travis heard Sailor Moon scream.  "What do I have to do?"  he asked 
desperately.

"You know."  Apollo answered, looking at his charge.

Travis nodded slowly.  He did know.  "SUN STONE POWER" he shouted as he 
raised the small sword to the sky.  A light started burning deep inside of 
him, moving quickly towards the outside.  The light grew so bright that even 
Apollo, whose kind had been born with the ability to look directly into the 
sun without blinking, had to turn his head.  When they looked back, Sailor 
Sun stood there.  He wore a one piece pants suit that hugged his body 
tightly.  His shirt was white with soft yellow sleeves.  His pants looked as 
if they were made of pure gold.  He wore ankle boots and a belt of the same 
yellow as his sleeves and a gold headband with the sign of the sun in the 
middle.  At his right side, hooked to his belt, was a white scabbard, 
obviously meant to hold the long sword he held pointing to the sky.  The 
small topaz had grown with the rest of the sword to rival the Moon Crystal.

Travis looked down at his costume.  "Cool!"  was all he said as he sheathed 
the sword and started moving towards the droid.  He knew that the Scouts 
always called out to let the droids know they were there, but he thought 
that was incredibly stupid, so he moved in as silently as he could.  "SOLAR 
FLARE"  he called out as soon as he got close enough.  Bright yellow and 
orange flames leapt from his outhrust hands, hitting the droid in the back.


Meanwhile at the arcade.

Mina and Reenie were playing each other at Sailor V, while Amy was studying 
a book she had brought with her.  Andrew looked at Reenie, slightly 
surprised.  He asked Lita, who was looking at him with hearts in her eyes 
"Do you know what is up with Serena and Reenie?  When I told them about 
Darien, they both collapsed, but it seems, ever since, as if they've 
forgotten all about it."

"I don't know," she answered.  "They've both been spending a lot of time 
with Travis, maybe he has something to do with it."

Raye came up to her as Andrew left.  "I feel something strange, I think we 
need to get out of here."  she said quietly.

"Lots of luck getting those two out of here."  Lita laughed as she pointed 
to the intense game going on at one of the machines.

"I'll get them, you get Amy.  I'll meet you out front."  Raye left to get the 
two gamers.  She had to practically pull them off of the game and got some 
very dirty looks for it.  They went outside.

"Well, why did you get us out here?"  Mina asked impatiently. 

"I feel something evil coming."  Raye answered.  

"You mean something like that."  Reenie asked in a trembling voice, pointing 
back into the arcade.  

The others gathered around to see what Reenie was looking at.  It looked 
like one of the arcade games had come alive.  It was electrocuting anyone it 
could reach.

"Hey, that's the Sailor V game.  Whoever did this is going to pay for using 
'my" game."  Mina cried, looking around quickly before pulling out her 
transformation pen.  "VENUS STAR POWER"

"Stay here out of the way, Reenie."  Amy said getting out her own 
transformation pen.  "MERCURY STAR POWER"

"MARS STAR POWER"

"JUPITER STAR POWER"

And the Sailor Scouts started into the arcade.  Reenie stopped Sailor 
Jupiter.  "Aren't you going to call Serena?"

"We'll call her if we need her."  Jupiter answered.  "Not that she would be 
much good in a fight."  Then she went inside, leaving Reenie staring in 
complete disbelief.

"Hey Negatrash, for blemishing my good name, I will punish you.  I am Sailor 
Venus."

"In the name of the Planet of Ice, I am Sailor Mercury."

"Evil will always be defeated by cleansing fire.  In the name of Mars, I 
will punish you."

"For all electronic games, and in the name of the planet of crashing thunder 
and lightning.  I am Sailor Jupiter."

"I've been waiting for you Sailor Scouts.  Where's that pathetic leader of 
yours?  Too busy brushing her hair to come?"  The machine laughed 
electronically.  Little figures started coming out of the machine and 
attacking.  Sailor Venus yelled in anger as she was attacked by miniture 
versions of Sailor V.  Within minutes, the Scouts were covered in little 
Sailor V's and youma's.  Although they didn't do much harm, the little 
attacks were annoying and when hit with twenty at once could hurt.  

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" swept the little nuisances off of both Mars 
and Mercury.  

Jupiter didn't even bother with an attack.  She started to pull electricity 
into her tiara and down through her body, until anything that touched her 
was shocked.  Once they had all fallen off, she pulled the electricity back 
into her tiara and sent it at the machine.  "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP"  The 
machine's screen pulsed as the energy overloaded it for a short moment.  All 
of its miniture creations disappeared.

"This guys not so tough,"  Venus announced, tossing back her hair, "but 
unfortunately we do need Sailor Moon to finish it off.  Mercury, call her."

Sailor Mercury shook her head, "I'm busy right now, Mars you do it, I'm 
trying to reprogram this droid."

"Oh, alright."  Sailor Mars agreed reluctantly.  "Sailor Moon." she called.  

A few seconds later she finally got an answer.  "What?"  was yelled through 
the communicator.

"We're fighting a droid at the arcade and we need you here."  Mars said, 
trying to hold her temper.

"Not now.  I'm busy.  I'll be there when I can."  Serena's voice was clearly 
heard by the others in the room.

"What can be more important than an attack?"  Sailor Jupiter yelled back.  
She got no answer.


Back at the flea market.

Travis's attack had indeed taken the droid by surprise and hurt it some as 
well.  Unfortunately, Sailor Sun didn't have much experience in these kinds 
of battles.  He thought he had done fatal damage and so moved towards Sailor 
Moon without watching his back.  He soon learned better as a chain wrapped 
around his ankle and pulled him down.  He landed heavily, twisting his ankle 
slightly.

Sailor Moon had gotten up and was staring at the new Scout.  She saw the 
chain holding him down and used her tiara to cut it.  She kneeled next to 
him and tried to get him to his feet.  She, also, forgot about the droid 
behind her.  Sailor Sun looked behind her and pushed her out of the way of 
another gem bomb.  Sailor Moon got up.  "You're going to pay for hurting him,
Nega sleaze," she said angrily.  Then stared at the bombs the droid was 
holding in her hands.  She started running, thinking only of getting it away 
from her hurt brother and not klutzing out.  It worked, the droid was 
following her, throwing bombs that Sailor Moon was able to just jump or 
dodge.  Then her communicator beeped.  Not expecting it, the beeping broke 
her concentration enough that she got caught in the backlash of one of 
the blasts.

"What?"  She yelled into her communicator as she tried to pick herself up.  
The droid had almost caught up to her and she barely paid attention to her 
teammates words about a droid in the arcade.  She had her own problems to 
worry about.  As she started to talk into the communicator, the droid caught 
up with her and a sideswipe of one of its long arms sent Sailor Moon 
hurtling through a booth.  She had slammed into one of the poles of the 
booth with her side and it felt like a rib was broken. 

She snarled into the communicator.  "Not now.  I'm busy.  I'll be there when 
I can."  Sailor Moon desperately rolled away from the chain that was now 
reaching for her.  It grabbed her wrist and she didn't even hear the next 
question.

By this time Sailor Sun was back on his feet.  He hobbled down the aisle 
searching for his sister and the droid.  He saw Sailor Moon caught and 
desperately trying to escape.  He pulled out his sword in desperation and 
hissed out "SUN SWORD SLASH"  A beam of light flew from his sword and cut 
off the arm that had just grasped Sailor Moon.  

She started to wail in relief before seeing her brother wobbling on his 
feet.  She stood up slowly, favoring her side as she turned to the droid.  
She pulled out her scepter.  "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION"  she cried and 
watched the droid turn to dust.

She turned to Sailor Sun, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a twisted ankle.  The question is are 'you' alright?  I 
noticed the way you were favoring your side."

Before she could say anything, the three guardians came up them.  "Well 
done, you two.  However,"  

"I know, I know"  Sailor Moon said, "I should have called the others for 
help.  Which reminds me, they called me for help, I need to go."  She 
started to jump away from the battle site, only to stop in pain.  "I don't 
think my ribs will stand for that."  she said.  "I'd better take the bus."  
and she detransformed back to Serena. 

Travis also detransformed, and Serena watched in disbelief as his sword 
became the necklace she had bought him.  "I just thought you would like it.  
I had no idea."

"You choose good presents, Little Sis."

"Hey, I'm older than you!"  she said as they walked towards the bus stop.  

When they reached the stop for the arcade, Serena asked that they wait there 
for her.  She didn't want Travis to have to fight anymore with that hurt 
ankle.  She transformed and went into the arcade.


Meanwhile, back at the arcade.

"I cannot believe that anything is more important than a fight with a droid. 
She'd better have a good explanation."  Jupiter raved.

"She won't."  Mars said, positive.  "She was probably just out on a date 
with Travis and didn't want to break it up."

"Um guys,"  Sailor Mercury asked, "can you pay attention to the droid and 
not our habitually late leader.  I haven't had time to reprogram it and I 
think it's coming back on-line."

"I'll stop it."  Sailor Venus said confidently as it started to get up.  
"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" she caught its plug with her chain, and started 
running around and around the droid, tangling it in its own plug.  She stood 
there admiring her handiwork until more miniture Sailor V's came out and cut 
the cord to little pieces.  

Sailor Mercury spoke up again.  "It's managed to assimilate the electricity 
Sailor Jupiter threw at it."  At the other's blank looks she tried again.  
"That dose of electricity has made it stronger."

"No kidding!" Mars suddenly yelled, jumping on top of a nearby machine to 
get out of the way of a large bolt of lightning.  

Jupiter swept Mercury up and carried her to the top of another.

Mercury turned to the machine and cried "MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH".  The 
cold wave slammed into the droid, slowing it for the seconds necessary for 
Sailor Mars to get into position.  "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND"  set a few 
of the plastic attachments on fire.

"There!"  Mercury finally said.  "The droid can no longer create those 
miniture nuisances."  As the others looked at her, she shrugged, "Sorry, 
it's the best I can do."

"Doesn't help much on the electricity, does it?"  Sailor Jupiter said as she 
picked Mercury up again and carried her to another machine, just as the one 
they had been on exploded.

"I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice.  For turning machines meant for 
pleasure into machines of evil, I will punish you!"  Sailor Moon announced 
as she stepped through the doorway.

"Just destroy the thing, don't yak at it."  Sailor Venus yelled impatiently.

"MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION"  "Are you happy now?" she asked as the droid 
turned into dust.

"No, we're not happy.  Where were you?"  Sailor Mars snapped.  "No, don't 
bother answering," she said as Sailor Moon opened her mouth.  "I'm sure it 
wasn't important.  I'm tired of hearing excuses from a lazy, sniveling, 
clumsy coward like you.  I'm also tired of our 'leader' being late for 
fights and having to be rescued all the time.  In other words,"  she said, 
looking straight at Sailor Moon, "I'm tired of you and I refuse to accept 
you as my leader any more."

"B..but.."  Sailor Moon stuttered.

"She's right."  Sailor Mercury agreed.  "We should not have to wonder where 
you are during important things like this.  We were hoping you would mature 
into a good leader, but it's just not happening."

"You don't understand, I.."

"Sailor Moon,"  Sailor Jupiter put in, "when it comes right down to it, you 
are no use in a fight.  I'm tired of having to save you all the time.  I'm 
also always worried that you're klutz attacks are going to put one of us, or 
an innocent bystander, into jeopardy."

"Look, " Sailor Venus added, "we'll still protect you, but we just think 
it's better you don't fight anymore."

Everyone agreed, except Reenie who had just come in.  "How can you say that 
to her?"  she asked, almost crying.  Strangely enough Sailor Moon was not.

"If that is what you really want,"  Sailor Moon said slowly and painfully, 
she waited until they all nodded "then so be it."  She turned around and 
started to walk away.  Reenie joined her.

"Reenie,"  Mars said.  "I think it would be better if you stayed with one 
of us for the time being.  I think Jupiter could do a better job of 
protecting you, besides you're always complaining about Serena's snoring and 
other bad habits."

Reenie looked up at Sailor Moon and saw the pain that statement had caused.  
Sailor Moon said quietly "It's up to you."

Sailor Jupiter started walking towards the two, "Come on Reenie, you'll like 
it at my place."

Reenie didn't hesitate.  "No.  I'm staying with Serena.  I still trust 
Sailor Moon to take care of me.  She's never failed me before and she never 
will.  She promised to always take care of me."

Sailor Moon smiled very slightly, "Thank you, Reenie." she said so quietly 
even Reenie could barely hear.  But Reenie knew.

They walked out of the arcade side by side.  Sailor Moon kept her head up 
and the tears out of her eyes until they rounded the corner.  As they 
reached the others, Sailor Moon detransformed and collapsed sobbing in 
Travis's arms.

"What happened?" he asked Reenie, worried.  "Did she hurt her ribs again?"

"Her ribs? When did she hurt them?"  Thinking that might be why she had 
gotten there so late.  She did kind of wonder about that.

"We were attacked at the flea market.  I found the Sun Stone and joined her, 
but we both got hurt before we were able to take the droid down."  He said, 
still distracted by the way Serena was acting.  It was the same way she had 
cried when she heard Darien was dead.  As if her world had been destroyed.  
His head suddenly jerked up as he caught the tail end of Reenie's words.  
"What did you say?"  he asked incredulously.

"I said, the Sailor Scouts decided they didn't want Serena to be their leader
anymore.  In fact, they don't even want to fight with her, since she can't 
even get there on time and always is clumsy and crying."  Reenie looked like 
she wanted to cry, but knew Travis was having enough trouble with Serena, he 
didn't need anyone else crying on him.

"They can't do that!"  Luna said.  It's her destiny to lead them."  No one
was paying attention.

"Didn't she tell them?"  

Reenie was already shaking her head.  "She never got a chance.  They just 
started tearing into her when  the fight was over."  she looked at Serena.  
"Will she be okay?"

"I don't know Reenie, she was already hurting, not only from the ribs, but 
from Darien's loss as well.  She did 'not' need something else on her head 
right now."  Travis looked very worried and that scared Reenie all the more.

"What do we do now?"  she asked in a small voice.

"We go home and try to get her through this."  Was the only answer he had. 


In Rubeus's space ship

"It seems like it has worked."  Rubeus smirked.  "But who is this new Scout?"

----------------
That's it for this one.  Surprised you got two of them this week?  So am I.  
As I wrote at the bottom of Chapter Five, this is where I originally expected
it to end.  Oh well, Chapter Seven should be out next week.  It's called, 
Revelations.  As always comments or criticisms to Jendra@aol.com