Hades appeared to be eternally grateful to see her, Pluto felt. He also seemed to be relieved that she had backup with her. Ready to prove to him that she would do anything to defend the underworld, Pluto readied herself for attack.

"Wow those are some ugly creatures," remarked Sailor Venus.

Pluto yelled, "Chronos Typhoon!" Winds of the underworld pushed demons into the river.

"Submarine Reflection!" shouted Sailor Neptune. Water from her mirror splashed her targets.

Mars also declared her attack. "Mars Sniper!" An arrow of flame shot towards the enemy.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Spurts of water from Mercury's harp headed for the demons.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Sailor Jupiter twirled and sent razor sharp energy leaves towards the demons. Hades had to duck out of the way for that one.

"Space Sword Blaster!" Uranus used her sword to fight off the demons personally.

"Death Reborn Revolution!" Little Sailor Saturn's attack fended off quite a few demons.

Sailor Venus shouted, "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Streams of light, heart, and stars exploded at the enemy.

Prince Darien used his sword to attack demons while he was alongside Hades. When a demon tried to attack the Lord of the Underworld from behind, Darien noticed it and cut off its head. A grateful Hades gave him the thumbs up and together they fought.

Karma muttered her ancient words and sent more orbs of power to eliminate the demons. "Iuris Umbra!"

Sailor Fate stepped forward, her tiara glowing. She raised her hands in the air and uttered, "Maior Fas Accendo!" A prism of pure white light formed between her hands and aimed for the demons. They screamed in terror as the blast of light hit them. This attack knocked out quite a few of the demons. Most of the sailor scouts dropped their jaws in surprise and awe, while Sailor Pluto did her best to keep up with her.

"Silver Starlight Crystal Blast!" Sailor Moon aimed her rod towards the enemy, and as the white light of hope erupted from her rod, at least the majority of the demons were wiped out, leaving only a few left. Upon the realization that they were alone, the few demons left dived into the water, apparently favoring death by the fish that would eat them than by the scouts themselves.

"Hooray!" shouted Sailor Venus. "You did it!"

"We did it," corrected Sailor Moon.

"Battle's not over yet, girls," stated Sailor Fate. "Look."

Ahead of them, coming from the familiar black gates were the dragons that had been on the earth. The largest dragon did not have the hooded rider (the Grim Reaper); this time, a man dressed in red robes with horns on his head rode it.

Pluto sighed. It would just be too easy to just destroy the demons and be done with it; now the dragons were being called into play. She aimed her rod at the nearest dragon, but then saw Hades swooped up by the largest one. "No!" she cried. "Chronos Typhoon!" The attack caused the dragon to drop Hades, but then he fell into the deadly river. Great, I save him from one thing and probably am going to end up killing him, she thought morbidly. Am I ever going to get a break here?

As the Ketea approached Hades while he swam on the surface, he began to look alarmed and held his rod toward them while trying to stay afloat. It appeared the acid was not affecting him (perhaps due to the fact he had lived in the underworld so long), but it was only a matter of time before the hungry fish devoured him. Sailor Pluto ran towards him, holding out her rod. "Chronos Typhoon!" she shouted, aiming her garnet rod into the water. This caused a whirlpool around Hades, pushing the fish away from him. Pluto then focused her energy to bring Hades to shore, whirlpool and all. As he desperately scrambled onto the shoreline, he panted heavily. He stood up and gave Pluto a grateful look, before promptly kissing her on the lips. "Not now," she whispered, while her mind said, Oh don't stop now! "We have work to finish."

"Right. Thank you." Hades gazed into her eyes.

"Of course. Anytime."

Meanwhile, the other scouts battled the dragons. However, just like when they were fighting the dragons before, their attacks seemed to do no good. "What now?" asked Sailor Mars.

"My turn," answered Sailor Fate. Her mystical attack gathered strength again. "Maior Fas Accendo!" Prisms of light again formed and shot towards the dragons, cutting them where the light hit them. Soon, pieces of dragon were falling into the abyss of the river Styx.

The largest dragon had managed to avoid the attack, however. Its rider just laughed evilly as the dragon breathed fire on the scouts. They screamed and ran for cover. Cerebrus ran up and tried to snap at the dragon, but it flew too far up for the three-headed dog to reach it. It growled in anger.

"Sailor Moon! You and Pluto, combine your powers! With the power of the underworld and the power of the Imperial Silver Crystal, you should be able to defeat this evil!" declared Sailor Fate.

"Right! Pluto?" Sailor Moon inquired.

"I'm ready when you are, Princess." Sailor Pluto held up her rod.

Sailor Moon crossed her own rod with Pluto's. "Together, we shall rid this evil!"

And together they shouted in unison, "Silver Scream Blast Typhoon!" The combination of the crystal's light and the power of Pluto's typhoon combined together into one large, white sphere that elongated itself and stretched out to the evil dragon and its rider. Both rider and dragon yelled in frustration as they were blasted into black dust.

"He's gone!" exclaimed Sailor Moon happily, her eternal wings fluttering happily.

"Not quite yet," declared Sailor Fate. "That was the devil himself. I'm sure he will try again, but not anytime soon."

"So that's it?" asked Sailor Venus. "It really is…over? Can we go home? No offense, but it's super creepy here. Are those dead people standing over there?" She pointed at the souls lined up for the riverboat of Styx.

Pluto nodded. "They are spirits of the dead, Venus. And I help to ferry them across this river."

"Oh, is this where you went?" asked the blonde scout.

Pluto sighed. "It's a long story."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Well, it appears you got the scouts safely home," said Hades. He and Pluto were standing at the front door of his castle.

Pluto asserted, "Thanks to Fate and Karma as well."

"Ah, yes, well, you saved my life, or soul, or whatever it is. Mind you, I would have not had far to go to pass over into the next life, but still…I know you care about me. I hope it is as much as I care about you," Hades declared, holding his cold hand near Pluto's face.

Sailor Pluto blushed. "Um…shouldn't I go and ferry the souls across the river?" she asked nervously.

"Ah, about that. You see, Fate and I had a nice long chat. It seems that you were here for the sole purpose of making sure your princess did not go into the next world just yet. All things in life have their purpose, Trista. I think perhaps your term here is done."

"You want to get rid of me?" she inquired, shocked.

"No, I really don't, to be honest. It's been rather nice to have you back, my dear. And…I love you."

Pluto widened her eyes in amazement. Hades was being so direct. This was quite unusual. "Really?"

"Yes." He kissed her.

Oh, the sweetness of his lips! Though they were cold, they continued to melt into her very soul. When they broke apart, she gazed into his eyes. "I love you too."

He smiled. "And it is because I love you that I have to let you go."

"Why?"

"You belong with your friends. You cannot be alone forever. Trust me, I should know. It would be selfish of me to require you to be here much longer."

"But…I don't want to leave."

Hades sighed. "Okay, then…Fate says you have to."

"What?" Pluto asked angrily.

"I was trying to avoid this. But she said so. You can come and visit anytime…I'm sure she would allow that. But she says there is something important that you can't miss in the world above us."

"Oh, right." Pluto thought hard. What could it be? "If Fate says so…then…"

"…It must be true," Hades finished her sentence.

"I will come back," Pluto promised.

"You had better." And with one last, long kiss, Pluto departed.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Arriving in the room of her old apartment, Pluto detransformed. Wow, it's so strange to be here, she thought. She opened the door and went into the living room, only to find the entire sailor scout team there, along with ribbons, balloons, and a rather large cake with her name on it. "Surprise!" they all shouted.

Oh. It was her birthday.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Iuris= latin for justice

Umbra= latin for shadow

Maior = latin for great

Accendo=illuminate

Fas=latin for fate

Hope you all enjoyed the ride! I certainly did!