THEN AND NOW
Chapter 12: "As A Team"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Three years ago: The tension in the room was thick. On one side was Princess Usagi. She was openly ignoring the four would-be senshi, the former Amazoness Quartet, on the other side of the small conference room. But at least she wasn't openly glaring at them or criticizing them, so everyone considered it a step up from where relations had been.

At the head of the room was King Endymion, Queen Serenity, the elder senshi and the two eldest cats. Diana rested at Usa's feet. This contributed to the tense atmosphere as well, for more than one of the trainees were worried that the "Grand Experiment" was about to come to an end. As usually happened in these meetings, Minako stepped to the front, in full "drill sergeant" mode.

"OK, listen up," she said in a tone meant to be obeyed. "We have devised a way to summon the Puppet Master demon. We will be reconvening in The Promenade shortly. There we will act to kill or at least contain this thing before anybody else gets hurt."

"By 'we'," Usa interjected tenuously, "does that include me?"

"Yeah, it includes you," Minako replied. "This whole plan was kind of inspired by that little stunt of yours." She noticed the teen swell a little with pride. "You kind of showed us what to do and what NOT to do." Usa's eyes sought the floor.

"Are we coming along, too?" Jun ventured curiously. Everyone could see they all wanted to go, except for Palla-Palla, who didn't quite seem to understand.

"You bet," nodded Minako. "This will be another step toward you four actually becoming senshi." She noticed Usa make a face.

"Watch us kick this thing's butt!" boasted Ves.

"Wrong," Minako informed them. "You four and Princess Usagi will be watching us only. You are to pay strict attention to everything we do, because this will be on your next test. You will not act in any way, either with powers or physical skills, unless a civilian or Queen Serenity is under direct and imminent threat of harm. Otherwise, you five sit this one out and watch us."

"How come?" Jun protested.

"Because by watching," Minako replied with a cocked eyebrow, "you know-it-alls might actually learn something for a change."

"OK," Makoto said, rising from her seat, "let's hit the air car."

The air car took off from the palace aeropad and landed a short time later in the main square of The Promenade. As they disembarked, Usa noticed that CDP officers had condoned off a large area of the square to keep back the throngs of on-lookers. She also noticed that each officer had a ward stuck to the helmets they wore and deduced that they were to protect the officers from the demon's influence. Similarly there were sacred symbols on the barricades that held back the crowd.

But the pink-haired teen's attention was caught by her elder guardians. A thrill passed through her as she watched the four transform into the legendary Sailor Senshi. A similar thrill passed through the crowd and scattered applause broke out.

As they moved to the center of the cordoned off square, Usa studied them all intently. The senshi fanned out around Serenity into a protective circle, while Endymion hung back with the craft. Sailor Mercury had her computer out and her visor down, scanning the area. Sailor Mars had her hands straight and pressed vertically across her nose. She was chanting as she moved, but her eyes were open and alert. There was something between her hands. Usa stared and saw that it was a piece of jade. Sailor Jupiter's lightning rod was extended from her tiara, while Sailor Venus was poised and ready to move like a stalking cat. When they reached a certain point, everyone stopped. Serenity spread her arms from her hips slightly and let her head fall back. Her eyes were closed.

"Mercury," Sailor Mercury said. "Frozen Touch."

Instantly the cordoned off area flash froze. The breath of the five senshi was immediately visible. Waves of cold air wafted from the area and brushed against those watching. Usa concentrated on the scenario, trying to puzzle out what they were planning. Serenity began to glow silver and the plan began to reveal itself in Usa's mind. She swallowed nervously.

"Get ready," Mars said to the others. "I feel it coming."

A gasp of shock ran through the crowd as a mass of energy formed above Serenity. It was visible because the silver energy that Serenity projected coated it and made it visible. There were vaguely human features to it. They seemed like a woman, but her makeup and hair were of an ancient time. She wore no clothes and had no form below the waist other than a wispy vapor. The demon felt a moment of confusion as it surveyed the Promenade.

"Damn," Usa heard Ves mumble.

"Venus Love Me Chain!" Venus called out.

The golden chain shot from her hand directly for the spirit. As it moved, Sailor Mars let fly with one of her wards. It shot through space like a launched arrow, intersected with the path of the chain and clung to it.

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter roared. Lightning shot out, lent speed beyond its normal pace by the frigid cold of the area, and leaped to the metal links of the chain. The electricity infused the chain with a crackling blue-white energy.

Usa saw that the demon had seen the chain. She saw it move to take refuge from the trap in Queen Serenity herself and took a step forward. But her father was faster. A rose zipped between the demon and Serenity, causing it to pull up. It was then the chain struck. The Love Me Chain snared the demon and wrapped around it, while the twin punch of the electricity and the sacred ward caused it to howl in pain. As Sailor Mars stepped forward, Serenity stepped back out of range. Usa could see her mother wasn't very steady on her feet.

"Burning Mandala!" Mars cried out.

The sacred symbols of flame surrounded the demon and it howled in even more agony. The thing twisted and writhed frantically in an effort to escape, to no avail. Then suddenly it stiffened and burst in a puff of black smoke. The chain dropped to the pavement, empty.

"We're clear," Mars announced. "The demon's been exorcized."

As if on cue, Serenity sank to her knees. Mars and Usa ran over to her and supported her. The applause of the crowd quickly turned to frightened gasps.

"I told you this was a risk," Mercury clucked.

"I'm all right!" Serenity fussed, though she seemed quite winded and just a little woozy. "Just a little light-headed. You know, normal for me."

"Sure, beat me to the punch line," Mars said with a smile.

"Mom, are you sure you're all right?" Usa demanded.

"She's coming around," Mercury said, using her computer as a medical scanner. "One of these days you're going to do that and not get up. I'd advise rest, but I know you're not going to listen."

"Just help me to the air car," Serenity sighed.

As Serenity, leaning on Endymion, and the senshi returned to the air car to a thunderous round of applause from the watching crowds, the former Amazoness Quartet surged to them. Usa began to relax.

"That was so cool!" Jun exclaimed. "You and the senshi just nailed that thing! It didn't stand a chance!"

"Yes," Mercury said, addressing the five girls as the other senshi and the Royal Family looked on. "Do you know why?"

"Because you're all bad asses?" Ves responded.

"Yeah, that butt kicking looked real familiar," Jun added.

"No," Mercury said. "It was because we went into the battle with a plan and we executed that plan as a coordinated team. You girls are all quite powerful and you each have the potential to become even more powerful. But if you act with a plan," and she looked directly at the former Amazoness Quartet, "and execute that plan as a team," and her gaze shifted so she was looking directly at Usa, "there won't be much that you five can't do."

Four of the five girls considered what Sailor Mercury said, while Palla-Palla just smiled blankly.

"Saddle up!" Venus called to everyone. "Time to head back to the palace for the post-battle party! Makoto's making pastry!"

"Who said I was making pastry?" Jupiter asked.

"I don't know," Mars smirked, "but I heard it, too, so it must be true." Mercury just shook her head.

"All right. I'm making pastry," sighed Jupiter. Serenity and Endymion paused at the hatch and Serenity turned to her daughter.

"Honey, why so down?" Serenity asked. "You're not still upset because your father punished you, are you?"

Usa murmured, "You six make it look so easy."

"Well, we have been at it a little while," Serenity said with a timid grin. "You'll get it. If I can figure it out, you certainly can." Still Usa's mood persisted in being muted. "Come on, Honey. Smile. Mako-Chan's making pastry. Certainly THAT'S worth a smile."

Usa looked down, her mood still muted. The others were already climbing into the air car, led by Palla-Palla.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Usa replied. A hint of a smile crossed her lips. "But try to limit yourself to six, huh Mom?"

"Oh, you're no fun!" huffed the Queen.

In an eerie echo of three years ago, an air car landed in a cordoned area of The Promenade. Disembarking were Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon and her senshi. The King and Queen had agreed - - the Queen reluctantly - - to allow Sailor Moon and her senshi to try to handle the situation. Immediately the crowd began cheering.

"Floral Animation!" Ceres called out. Instantly eighteen of her plant humanoids knitted themselves out of vines from seeds Ceres scattered. Once they were fully formed, the plant humanoids fanned out and formed a protective circle around the senshi, to guard against the demon possessing anyone and using them to attack the senshi. When they were in position, she nodded to the others.

"Aqua Initiation!" Juno called out. Instantly water evacuated from the underground pipelines through the fountain in the square. It coagulated together until it formed a globe of water roughly twenty feet high, perfectly controlled by the senshi. Juno nodded to Vesta.

"Fauna Combination, elephant electric eel!" Vesta called out. Morphing into an electric eel roughly the size of an elephant, Vesta dived into the water globe and began generating electric current. While she built up her charge, Vesta watched Pallas intently.

"Pallas is looking for the bad voice, but she's being naughty and doesn't want to come," Pallas announced.

Sailor Moon turned to Sailor Mars. Mars held the jade dragon statuette in her hands and was murmuring prayers.

"Keep looking, Pallas," Sailor Moon said confidently.

"Yes, Princess," Pallas said. Her eyes squeezed shut and her hands went to her temples. Then the senshi pointed up into the air. "She's up there!"

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Sailor Moon called out, directing her pink energy at the spot Pallas pointed to. As it was three years ago, the energy illuminated the demon. She was still female, still naked to the waist with a vapor trail beneath her. She hissed, her pudgy face causing her eyes to squint, and tugged at the energy, trying to escape. Sailor Moon struggled to keep her in the circle. She knew the plan wasn't for her to capture the demon, just to illuminate it and slow its reflexes so Sailor Mars would have a better shot. But memories of her failure three years ago began to haunt her. She had failed to contain the other one and this one was indeed bigger and more powerful. "Do it, Vesta!"

A loud pop echoed through the Promenade as electricity sizzled in the water globe, then shot out toward the demon. But the demon proved to be faster than Vesta's bolt, ducking underneath and charging Sailor Moon with talons raised and fangs bared. But before it could reach her, Sailor Saturn stepped forward. Her glaive arcing majestically, the violet senshi cleaved the space between her friend and the attacking demon, shaving some of the hair from it as it pulled up to avoid the blade.

"Beautiful Incantation!" Pallas called out. The demon was suddenly held by an invisible hand. It fought to free itself, but could not. Then a second bolt from Vesta, given added strength by the conductivity of the water globe, struck. The demon seized up.

"Burning Mandala!" Sailor Mars called out. The flaming mystic circle surrounded the demon. If it had been in pain from Vesta's electric bolt, it was in agony now. The demon struggled against the power of the mandala, struggled far longer than the one three years ago. When she realized that her attack wasn't going to destroy this demon the way it had the other one, Mars nodded to Sailor Moon.

"Plan B!" Sailor Moon shouted.

Using the telekinetic power of Pallas, the demon was forced down to the jade dragon statuette. It fought against the mystical pull of the artifact, but finally succumbed to its attraction. Mars brought her mandala down, compressing it so that the sacred symbols were burned onto the jade, trapping the demon there forever.

"Done," Mars proclaimed.

"Yay!" cheered Sailor Pallas. Around them, a groundswell of cheers and applause came from the population watching them. Vesta and Juno looked around at the cheering crowd with some surprise, while Saturn self-consciously shrunk into herself. Sailor Moon expelled a breath to try to mask the huge fatigue she felt and gathered her friends in.

"All it took was a team and a plan," she told them. "Good work, gang."

"And good riddance to that thing," Ceres added with grim satisfaction.

On a bench in Naru Park, Cere sat with her boyfriend, the famous artist Hiroki Kuroda. Their conversation was, from the looks of the handsome couple, serious.

"And that's why I'm staying with the senshi, Hiroki," Cere told him. "They need me. I have an obligation to them. And I have an obligation to the public. I have abilities," and Cere looked down, "and Queen Serenity has shown me that someone with advantages has to use those advantages to help people in need."

"And what about your obligation to yourself?" Hiroki asked. "Aren't you entitled to some peace? Aren't you entitled to stop fighting sometime before you finally die for your mission? You fought the good fight and you almost died for it. I don't think anybody would begrudge you deciding that you've given enough to the cause of humanity. And if they do, then their opinion isn't worth listening to."

"How happy would I be if Jun or Palla-Palla or Ves or Hotaru or Usa died because I wasn't there?" Cere asked. "I can have some happiness. Maybe not all the happiness I might have if I weren't a senshi . . ."

"Then what about me?" Hiroki asked. Cere looked and there was a glint in his eye that spoke of facetiousness, but there was a timber to his question that suggested he was serious. "You're willing to risk depriving me of my muse."

"You'll find another muse," Cere said cynically.

"I don't want another muse," Hiroki said, his eyebrow cocked in that way that gave Cere goose flesh. "I want you, in my studio, married to me, bearing my children, sharing my bed, walking around in fabulous, naked glory . . ."

"OK," smirked Cere. "As appealing as that is . . ."

"Including the naked part?" Hiroki asked.

"We'll talk," Cere replied. "Hiroki, I want that, too. I just - - can't do it yet. I wouldn't be happy. I'd always wonder 'what if'. Especially if one of the others died. Some day I'll reach a point where I just can't fight anymore. And then, if I'm not too emotionally beaten up - - and if you're still around . . ."

"Where am I going?"

"Chasing after another muse," Cere said. "Love is like a flower: some are perennials and others bloom beautifully and fade just as fast. I hope our love is a perennial, and if it is, some day I'll be so sick of fighting that I'll gladly make time to be your wife. But until then . . ."

"Until then you're going to throw away the deal of a lifetime," Hiroki interjected. "Big mistake."

"Story of my life," Cere replied, snuggling against him.

The Princess sat in her room, on her bed, legs pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. The condemnation of her father still rang in her ears, despite what she had witnessed in The Promenade and despite the more jovial feelings of the after-battle party. Diana watched the girl suffer in silence and it tore at the gray cat's heart. She sprang up onto the bed and rubbed her head on Usa's hand.

"Perhaps you could have succeeded, My Lady," Diana offered, "given different circumstances. Parts of this successful assault were taken from your attempt."

"No," Usa sighed. "It was a stupid plan. Pop was right. It put too many innocent people at risk. I was too busy thinking about how I was going to score some major cred as Sailor Moon to think of that part. It was sloppy. Now Mom and Pop have even less reason to trust me."

"Perhaps if I had given you better advice," Diana suggested. "Mother is always telling me that I must be more of an adviser and less of a companion."

"I don't think I would have listened," Usa murmured. Her hand reached down and stroked the gray cat's back. "Oh, Diana, at this rate, I'm NEVER going to be Sailor Moon. I'm going to be stuck in Mom's shadow for the rest of my life." She scowled. "With THEM as my companions."

The girl heaved a heavy sigh and buried her face into her knees.

"I wish Helios was here," mumbled the girl. "I might be able to endure it if Helios was here. Being his wife, not being Sailor Moon wouldn't be so bad. But that's a long way off, if it ever happens." She sighed again. "Or Hotaru. It might not be so bad if Hotaru was here. Or if I could go back to the twentieth century, visit Hotaru before she died." Her head raised up. "No, I couldn't do that. I couldn't come back here and leave her to die. I'd have to keep her from dying."

The light of inspiration ignited in the girl's red eyes. But just as quickly it extinguished.

"No point wishing that," she said glumly. "Puu's not around anymore, so that means the Door of Time may as well be closed, locked and bolted." She sighed fatally. "Gods, I am such a failure!"

The girl let her head fall back against the bedpost. Diana ached for her friend. She wanted desperately to give the girl some hope, but she couldn't think of a way to do it.

And then she thought of a way. But did she have the right to do it?

"My Lady. What if," Diana began cautiously, "what if there were a way for you to go back to the twentieth century and save your friend?"

The conclusion to that thought can be found in the story "Pink Rebellion". This story, though, has reached its

END