The Sailorscouts' Fate:

More of a Loss for Darien and Tuxedo

Mask

The doorbell of Darien's apartment rang. He dropped his rose as he quickly went to answer the doorbell.

"Who could this possibly be?" muttered Darien, redeeming himself of his interior tears of sadness and exhaustion.

The doorbell clanged again, and it was followed by gentle knock.

"I'm coming!" called out Darien. He jogged to the door and peeked out the hole. He looked with surprise and happiness as he saw his girlfriends there. He quickly unlocked the door and greeted, "Hey, hi girls! Boy, you have no idea how good this is to have you here."

Mina winked as she welcomed, "Hey, Darien!"

Lita saluted her military styled salute, "Salute, Darien!"

"Hello," replied Amy and Raye together at the same time.

"Come on in," offered Darien, letting to the door open.

Amy and the girls strolled in politely while Mina, who was in back, frantically tried to straighten her very short skirt and tank top.

The girls automatically sat down as they placed their purses on their laps. Darien sat in front of them. Amy gazed into Darien's eyes concerned, "Darien, are you alright?"

Darien smiled a bit as he answered, "Yes and no."

Raye said, "Well, there's--a yes. Does that mean that it's good news?"

Darien looked at Raye and the others as he sighed, "Well, the yes means that I know you'll be here whenever I need to talk to you."

"Of course," acknowledged Mina.

"Yes, we'll always be here for you. Count on it," promised Amy.

"Yeah, I mean--you can always depend on us," stammered Raye.

Darien looked at what seemed the floor for a minute.

"Raye, has your ankle healed? It looks like you still walk a bit stiffly," questioned Darien.

Raye looked at her ankle in her red dainty shoes and wiggled her foot as she responded, "The doctor says that my ankle would be fine. I still have to limp sometimes because the tissue inside still hasn't fully recovered to its normal being."

"Yes, Raye and all of our injuries are better. Some are all completely healed," pointed out Amy.

"Yeah, except the pain of the loss of Sailormoon and Serena," thought Darien.

"Have you girls found anything out helping Sailormoon?" resumed Darien, rubbing his former wound to the head.

"Well, we know one thing for sure," replied Mina. "And that is, it's not going to be easy to get Sailormoon back. We came here to try to cheer you up a bit."

"Yeah," joined in Lita.

Once again, Darien curiously glanced at Raye's side.

"Raye, one more thing," he started off.

"Sure," asked Raye, "what is it?"

"How's your hip from-- when Rube slashed you?" gulped Darien.

Raye let out a small smile, and answered, "It's all better. Once in a while, I have to go to the doctor for a check up, but it's find now."

"That's one relief I can get off my back," responded Darien.

Everyone was silent for a long time.

Amy spoke, "Uh, Darien...in case..this might help you feel better...we have some news for you."

Darien perked up and answered, "I'm all ears."

"Well, I think I have something about...well...you know..Sailormoon," stammered Amy.

Darien was really listening now.

"We know for sure that Rube wants her to be on his side," started off Raye.

"And we think," explained Mina, "that Rube must be using the same technique as Barrel used on you."

Darien looked flushed, but he answered, "Well, I know that, but how could've Rube traced my time all the way back to Barrel? I mean, last time when Sailormoon first officially started to fight against us, I remembered some of it as the same technique as Barrel's. Like the time-- well, I can barely remember-- when I fought Lita."

Lita spoke up, "Well, maybe we could use the same way we used for you to get Serena back."

"Well, maybe," replied Darien. "I think that's what Rube wants us to think, and probably that won't work."

"We won't know until we try, Darien," opposed Raye.

"We'll try if we find Sailormoon," said Darien, "that is, if we ever find her."

* * *

Where in headquarters, Rube (who already made Sailormoon an evil person) was talking with her.

"So Rube," started off the evil Sailormoon, "what's next up your sleeve?"

Rube gripped Sailormoon's hand as they looked at the city of Tokyo.

"I'm glad that you brought me here," replied Sailormoon, "now I can finally rule over something."

Rube cackled silently as he responded, "Maybe we both should make Tuxedo Mask suffer a bit more, eh?"

Sailormoon looked up at Rube.

"Brilliant," she agreed, "so what's your dynamite plan?"

Rube shut of the view into the city, and glanced into Sailormoon's eyes.

"We could get the other Sailorscouts to our side too," chuckled Rube. "Then, Tuxedo Mask would just really fall apart."

Sailormoon replied, casually, "How? The same way you got me?"

"Maybe," answered Rube, "maybe we could use a bit of a different technique, to fool them all."

"And who's going to do it?" asked Sailormoon. "You or me?"

Rube smirked, "You and me. You, me, and with a little help some of the nasty vampire villains; a perfect number to capture each scout; 4 against 4, with Tuxedo Mask helpless to face all of us and especially, you and me."

"Cool," replied Sailormoon. "When is it time to strike?"

"How about as soon as possible?" suggested Rube.

"Let's get to it," smiled Sailormoon. "We're going to be unbeatable."

"For sure," replied Rube.

* * *

"NO!!!" cried Tuxedo Mask. "Sailorscouts! SAILORSCOUTS!"

All of the Scouts plunged into the Earth below to whoever knew.

Darien sat up straight in bed, sweating and placing his head in his hands.

"What's going on?" he asked. He let go and glanced around as he stumbled to the balcony. He looked at the starry night sky.

"What does that dream mean?" he interrogated to himself. "Please don't tell me that I have to avoid the girls just like the way I had to avoid Serena." He clenched his fist and looked at the street below, leading to Tokyo Park and Fabby Park.

"No," Darien answered with as much confidence as he could, "no. I'm not going to listen to my dreams anymore. It may seem sensible if I do listen to them, but they're wrecking my life up." He unclenched his fist and turned pale. "But, what if the Scouts are going to be gone too?"

He stood at his balcony for the rest of the night, wondering and examining his dream.

* * *

Raye closed her eyes as she put her hands together.

"Sacred Flame of Mars, guide me to find of what the Negaverse is up with Sailormoon," commanded Raye, silently. "I feel some strange and evil force around here. Lend us your wisdom; show us the face of our enemy." She did some more hand movements, and that caused the Sacred Flame to flare wildly as it showed some blurred pictures. Raye's eyes snapped open.

"It looks like that Rube is our enemy," she replied.

The flame flared again. and this time, it also showed Sailormoon.

Mina stood on her knees and refused to agree, "No. Sailormoon isn't our enemy. She's truly one of us; the Sailorscouts."

Raye shook her head, "Looks like Rube wasn't the only one who helped did this. I feel that there was an accomplice. But I can't see or figure out who did!" She started to get impatient with herself.

"It's alright, Raye," soothed Amy. She patted Raye's back as she continued, "We'll find a way."

The evil images still showed.

"Yeah, this other guy sounds evil," pointed out Mina.

"But I keep wondering, who is it? Where and what is it doing and from?" interrogated Raye.

Lita's green eyes grew piqued as she promised, "Good question! Whoever it is, is going to pay!"

"Yeah, big time!" agreed Raye.

Amy interrupted, "Hey you guys, maybe my computer can put out an analysis around this place, and Sailormoon. I have my mini-data computer, and my home computer to do it."

Raye stood up away from the fire as she brushed her robe.

"Why don't we go to your house and work something out there?" she suggested.

"Yeah, and hey, it's convenient," pointed out Mina.

"Let's go!" cried Lita.

"Right!" agreed everyone. Raye went to change, and then everyone left to Amy's house.

* * *

Rube and the brain-washed Sailormoon prepared their evil warriors. They both stood in front of them, examining the warriors.

"Now," ordered Sailormoon, "this is a very a important battle against all four of the rest of the Sailorscouts and Tuxedo Mask. The thing is that you must capture the Scouts and bring them here injured , but alive .

"Yes, your evilness," obeyed the ugly vampires. They remained standing up straight as soldiers were to do.

Sailormoon continued, "I will be in charge, and so will Rube. I'm going back into Tokyo to lead the stand-off duel while Rube is going to stay here, preparing all of the spells."

"But Sailormoon," cackled the red clothed vampire, "what about Tuxedo Mask?"

"Yes, what are we going to do with him?" questioned the blue clothed vampire.

Rube and Sailormoon glanced at each other as Sailormoon answered, "Well, the ideal thing is to make him suffer a bit more. I think the thing is to wear him down as much you could for him to be destroyed, or, we can cause the Scouts' attack without triggering an alert for him to rescue them." She was silent for a moment. "Maybe just do both."

"Good idea," cackled the vamps.

Rube strutted around, examining the vamps himself.

"Have you got your fangs?" he questioned.

"Yes, sir," answered the warriors. They opened their mouth to show him and Sailormoon.

"Good," assured Sailormoon. She clapped her hands together. "We're ready for battle. Prepare for victory, everyone!"

Everyone chuckled triumphantly as if they already had won.

* * *

At Amy's house, the girls sat on Amy's bed as Amy started up her computer.

"I've conducted a program to hunt down Sailormoon," explained Amy, "the same way I've conducted one to home in on the rainbow crystals into the Imperium Silver Crystal."

Mina stretched her pretty legs on Amy's bed as she replied, "Does this program have anything on about the main porthole to the Negamoon at Raye's temple?"

Raye sat up just when she heard that.

Amy started to type rapidly on the computer with her left hand as she's typing on her little mini-data computer with her right hand.

"I think that maybe we will get something statistical on about Raye's temple," agreed Amy. "I don't know if my mini-data computer has enough memory to do all of my calculations to convert into my home computer here."

Lita sat up and asked, "Well, can your computers find a way into the the porthole at Raye's temple without the help of Rube? Maybe we can get in and find Sailormoon ourselves."

"The thing is, is that this is going to be really difficult and will take time," responded Amy.

"Time," chimed in Luna, "the one thing that we don't have and can't waste."

"Well," broke in Artemis, "if we do find Sailormoon, how are we suppose to change back to her old self again WITHOUT having to erase her memory the same way that happened to Darien? That's going to be the tough part of this part of this mission."

"Maybe so, but it'll be worth it," answered Amy.

Mina interrupted, "Well yeah, Artemis is right. Only Sailormoon's Imperium Silver Crystal can heal people, and the thing is she's the only one that can use it to operate on people."

"Then that means we're going to learn how to use it ourselves to help Serena," acknowledged Lita.

Raye just sat there thinking in her head, silently.

Mina glanced at Raye as she asked, "Raye, what you thinking about? I didn't hear your opinion about this."

Raye paused in thinking as she replied, "Well, I know there's a way to heal Sailormoon back, and we've almost done it before, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I just can't quite put my finger on it. I know it in my head somewhere..." She didn't finish explaining.

Amy was still analyzing her data in her computers when she spoke, "Hey you guys, I think have something. I can't be sure if it's true or not, but I have a guess. It's about the porthole into the Negaverse."

Everyone stopped in what they were doing and crouched to peer over Amy's shoulder.

"Well, spill it, Amy," replied Mina. She curled her hair behind her ears and resumed her staring.

"Well," started off Amy, "this is majorly strange, but my computers show that Rube for sure is interested in Raye's temple. All the attacks and battles we had with him before shows that he wants some energy from the temple, and then gradually take over the temple itself with the help of the porthole."

Lita straightened her back as she asked, "I don't know, but when is he going to strike next?"

"Rube for sure wants to surprise attack us when we least expect it," explained Amy.

"That means he has that card dealt on us, and he won the deal, " said Mina.

Raye disagreed, "No, that's not true. I think I can try to home in on him and when his next striking attack is going to be. We need to use my fire-reading again, though."

"I'd just about give anything to find Rube and get him! He's going to pay for what he done to Sailormoon!" marveled Lita.

Raye was thinking inside, secretly, "Well, didn't have help before--? Yeah, we had help last time--" Then it came to her. "Of course! From the Starlight Sailor Soldieresses! They can help! They must and will! I personally know that Lea Liang also has my fire power, and can help me! All the Soldieresses have similar powers-- only more powerful-- to us and can help us! I'd better tell the other about this."

"Hey Raye," woke Lita, "wake up, Raye... earth to Raye, hello!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Lita," apologized Raye. "I was just thinking about stuff."

"Raye, we're thinking that maybe you can do another fire-reading at your temple later on," suggested Lita. "Maybe now?"

Raye stood up. "Okay, let's go!"

"Yeah, let's book it!" cried Mina.

All of the girls scrambled from their seats and scurried hurriedly to Raye's temple again.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Rube's headquarters, Rube questioned, "So when do we strike? We need to plan the perfect time. Their cannot be any mess up."

Sailormoon tugged at her black leather outfit. She stood up and strolled over to Rube.

"Well, there is a time that I know of," answered Sailormoon.

"And when is that?" asked Rube.

Sailormoon placed her hand on Rube's shoulder and answered, "Well, let's strike at night where the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask is pretty worn down from their day. Maybe we'll strike at around midnight, hmmm? The light is going to be just perfect for our victory celebration."

Rube took Sailormoon's hand down and held it as he responded, "You're brilliant, Sailormoon. You're the only warrior that's worth keeping for helping me. Yes, indeed this is going to be a great victory. I can finally taste the joy of winning."

"Good then," stood up straight Sailormoon. "Everything's set. Say tomorrow night?"

"Tonight it is," answered Rube. Both of them smiled triumphantly.

* * *

Back at Raye's temple again, she and her friends went to her fire-reading room and all sat down on the cushions. Raye then clasped her hands together and concentrated her power. In no time, she was already telling the future results.

"Well, guys, I have some news," answered Raye.

Mina stretched out her legs as she asked, "Bad or good?"

"Uh...well...I can't say which one," stammered, Raye, "it's bad news, I guess you can say."

Lita rolled her eyes while Amy clenched her fist. She held her clenched fist to her heart and requested, "Well Raye, can you tell us about it?"

Raye started to explain as she swirled around to her anxious friends.

"Well, the way that the Sacred Flame tells me is that the next battle is tomorrow night," started off Raye. "and it looks like it's going to be a vicious battle."

Luna and Artemis stepped forward.

"I think that we need to work and train as much as we can this whole day and the whole next day," responded Luna.

"Yeah, we have to work as hard as we can to defeat Rube. Our whole world is counting on us," blurted Artemis.

"And we have to get back Sailormoon," pointed out Lita.

"Correct," answered Luna. "We must work hard and firm, but just enough to defeat Rube and get Sailormoon back."

"Right," agreed everyone.

So right away and the next day, the girls and their guardian cats started to work hard at their training for their next battle. Luna and Artemis were giving out orders as the girls obeyed.

* * *

Lita stood behind Amy at the day of battle.

"Amy, why are you placing two of Raye's charms and all of your calculations in your little mini-data computer? I don't see any reason why you need to do that," asked Lita.

Amy looked up and smiled quickly, "Well, I'm just doing a little preparation for an emergency in battle."

The night came to battle with Rube. All of the girls transformed into their Scout forms and went to the scene of the expected battle, which was on the top of Darien's apartment building, surprisingly. All of the Scouts were there in fighting stance. Luna and Artemis hid behind the elevator base for guarding.

Suddenly, there was a flash of black lightning and pink clouds. Rube appeared before the Sailorscouts.

"Hello, Sailorscouts, those who are left," greeted Rube, evilly. He let out a big smirk on his face. "Are you ready for your last battle in your life? Because we're going to whip you good, and take the Imperium Silver Moon Crystal and the kid Renee with me. Even though the war in Crystal Tokyo is over, I still want her for her powers!"

Sailorjupiter stepped forward and dealt, "Alright Rube, I'm going to make you a simple and pleasing deal with you. You bring Sailormoon here and we'll make her well again with the Silver Imperium Crystal, and then we'll hand it over to you. BUT, Renee stays with us, alright?"

There was a pause until there was another flash of light. Before Rube could settle his decision, the evil Sailormoon appeared, and disagreed, "Well Sailorscouts, looks like it isn't a deal to me. Just hand over the crystal to me, and then you can get on with your pathetic lives."

Sailorvenus stepped forward with cute pouting looking face and begged, "Come on, Sailormoon, there's still part of you in there that stills remembers who you really are. We're your friends, Sailormoon! All we're doing is try to help you to be your old normal self again."

"Yeah, we can help you," convinced Sailormars.

Sailormoon grumbled, "I was a fool to give the Crystal to you Sailorbrats. I should have kept it to myself, and I could have did whatever I pleased with it."

"Sailormoon, we can help you," pleaded Sailormercury.

Sailormoon floated up backwards and assured, "Well, Scouts. Guess we'll have to settle this won't we? Why don't meet your opponents, hmmm? Then, let's see who'll will win."

A pink flashed and then appeared in front of the remaining good Sailorscouts, were disgusting male vampires, each color of the vamp matching to the color of the particular Sailorscout. They growled with their blood fangs sticking out of their mouths. The Sailorscouts gasped and took a step back.

Sailormoon snuggled under Rube's arms and grinned. Rube sneered, "Here's you match Sailorscouts. Guess we'll be back later on to retrieve the Imperium Silver Crystal. Have a good fight Scouts." Sailormoon and Rube disappeared into thin air.

The vamps started to advance on the Sailorscouts in fighting stance. The Sailorscouts fought their fears and charged to the vampires as well.

The red vamp snorted, "I'm going to enjoy having drink from you, Sailormars."

"In your dreams, ya' red neck!" confronted Mars.

Jupiter held her fighting stance and slowly matched her vamps foot movements.

"What's your blood-type, Jupiter?" retorted the green vamp.

"Choke on a coronary, ya' punk!" cried Jupiter.

The blue vamp snorted, "What's up techno-dweeb?"

"Let's just stick to business, OK?" reasoned Mercury.

"Hey, blonde, how about I share my blood to you, hmm?" asked the orange and yellow vamp. His fangs were dripping with drool and blood.

Venus cried, "Prepare to taste some Sailorscout medicine!"

Mars crowned her eyebrows down and commanded, "Sailorscouts, charge!"

All of the Sailorscouts charged towards the vampires demonstrating their karate moves, and then their powers. Mercury accidentally dropped her mini-data computer as it slid into the corner of the building. All of the Scouts' powers only wounded the vamps a bit, but didn't destroy them.

Mercury, while fighting, yelled to her friends, "Sailorscouts, we've got to destroy these vamps if we're ever going to win!"

"But how? How are we suppose to do it?!" cried Mars. She jumped out of her vamps way.

Mercury ducked down and jumped back up. "Well, we have to drive some sort of stake through each of their hearts! That's he only chance we'll get!"

"Ha, you can sure try," cried the red vamp, "but nothing stands in the way of the great Negamoon!" He threw a fireball at Mars. She wasn't alerted, so she jumped away, irregularly. She fell on her side and head. Her vamp threw another fireball again, so Mars held her hands up in the way of the fireballs and shot out her celestial of fire. Her celestial shielded and destroyed the red vamp's fireballs, but all of the Scouts were starting to lose in their battles. Luna and Artemis couldn't stand it no longer. They jumped and scarred the green and red vamps on their faces. They stopped fighting and backed away from Mars and Jupiter for a moment, trying to regain their pain to normal state. Luna and Artemis made a dash down the building.

While dashing, Artemis suggested to Luna, "Luna, we've got to get more help to the Scouts! We can't afford to lose them too!"

"But how? What are we suppose to do?" inquired Luna.

Artemis cried, "Let's go get Darien to help!"

"Good idea!" agreed Luna. They dashed down as fast as they can to the sixth floor and balcony of the eight story high building. Darien's balcony door was open, so both cats jumped right in, in search for Tuxedo Mask. They found him in the kitchen, sitting at the table drinking something out of his mug.

"Darien!" called out Artemis.

Darien looked up from his staring at a picture of Serena and him and his drink.

"Huh?" startled Darien. "Who just called my name?"

He looked around and saw no one, so he just shrugged and went back to his staring and sipping.

"Darien! Are you here?" called out Luna.

Now Darien was sure that he really did someone.

"Alright, who's here!" he commanded. He stood up, picking up his mug with him.

"Over here Darien," called Luna. She pounced on his leg. Darien glanced down and jumped a bit.

"Oh, Luna," responded Darien. "Hi!"

"Yeah, how's it hangin' Darien?" greeted Artemis.

"Fine, so far," answered Darien. He went back to the table and sat down. Luna and Artemis leaped on.

"I wish I could as enthusiastic as you are, Darien, but help is needed now," explained Luna.

Darien sat straight up and inquired, "What's happened? It is the girls?"

Luna and Artemis hung their heads and slowly nodded, "Yes."

Luna continued, "The Scouts are in a duel against Rube and his minions. They're losing, and they need your help."

Darien sunk down on his chair with a crying look in his eyes.

"I knew this would happen," he mumbled. "All of the rest of the Scouts; it's their turn like Sailormoon. They're going to be taken away by Rube."

"What?" asked Artemis and Luna.

"Nothing," regained Darien.

"Please, you've got to help them! You're their only hope!" begged Luna.

"Come on! We need Tuxedo Mask right now!" reasoned Artemis.

Darien frowned his eyebrows and asked with a bit of anger, "Where's the battle held at? I'm going to get that Rube for this!"

Luna and Artemis sounded relieved and answered with a stiff smile, "Well-- it's being held on the top of this apartment building."

Darien stood up and transformed into his Tuxedo Mask form.

"Let's go!" cried Tuxedo Mask. He dashed off his balcony onto the next on top.

Meanwhile, the Scouts weren't doing so well. All of them were on the floor gasping for breath, bruised and hurt.

Jupiter, confident with anger, "I'm sure not giving up yet!"

"Me neither, but what can we do?" questioned Venus.

All of the Scouts struggled with all of their remaining strength to stand up in their fighting stance once more.

"Ha!" cried the vamps. They all disappeared.

"Huh?" asked Mercury.

"Where did they go?" asked Mars.

"Everyone, keep your guard up," ordered Venus.

"Yeah, we don't know when are they going to strike next," replied Jupiter. She grasped her knee to stop her pain.

Suddenly, the vamps appeared behind the Scouts. They cackled silently. By that time, Tuxedo Mask just arrived on the roof in front of the Scouts.

"Sailorscouts! Look out behind you!" cried Tuxedo Mask frantically.

"Huh?" asked the Scouts.

It was too late; the vamps grabbed each of the Sailorscouts.

"Ahhh!" screamed the Scouts. They struggled in the vamps arms as the vamps pressed the Scouts' back onto their fronts, raising them off the ground a bit.

"Let them go!" commanded Tuxedo Mask. He sprinted towards the vamps with his sharp staff. The vamps blew their fireballs at Tuxedo Mask, and he was sent straight to one of the walls of the building.

"Tuxedo Mask!" cried Mercury. She clenched her teeth together. All of the Scouts struggled violently against the vamps as they tightened their grip. Then, the red vamp offered, "Now, Tuxedo Mask. If you don't want these Scouts hurt, you'll hand over the Imperium Silver Moon Crystal to us."

Mars squinted her eyes and cried, "Darien, don't give it to them!"

Mars' vamp tightened his grip and Mars shouted, "Ahhhhhhhhh!" That squeeze practically took most of the light out of Mars.

Tuxedo Mask was still trying to recover from his violent slam, but couldn't stand up too straight. He charged again, but he was blocked off by an energy force-field. He couldn't even get through.

"You won't give it to us?" remarked the orange and yellow vamp. "Then say good-bye to your girlfriends!"

"No!" cried Darien. He tried again at the force-field and got through, but the vamps jumped back, leaving Tuxedo Mask falling face down and struggling to get back up. They struck a spell on the Scouts so that they can't move.

Venus was crying, and so was Mars. Jupiter looked exhausted and Mercury looked like she lost the battle. The vamps started to brush each of the girl's heads aside.

"Get your hands of them!" commanded Tuxedo Mask.

They brushed the Scouts' heads to their right, exposing their neck. All of the Scouts were crying softly but harder, with their tears falling on to the ground of the roof. Each of the vamps raised their heads and opened their mouths with their fangs revealed. All of the Scouts seemed like they couldn't breathe, for then they froze from everything. Darien forced himself up and cried, "NO! Sailorscouts, fight them!"

"It's too late for us, Darien!" cried Venus's last words.

"Protect the Crystal for us!" cried Mars.

"We'll always remember you!" sobbed Mercury.

"We'll always be on your side!" promised Jupiter.

Tuxedo Mask clenched his teeth and cried, "Hang on--, Scouts!" He started to charge forward again, and so did Luna and Artemis. The cats were slammed away to the roof door while Tuxedo Mask was sent at the wall of the roof again. He was dazed but stood up, groaning.

The green vamp assured, "And now, the moment of truth." He and the rest of the vamps brushed the Scouts' neck to their right and prepared their fangs. Tuxedo Mask froze in terror and deep sadness.

"Wait! I'll give you the Imperium Crystal! Please, just don't hurt the Scouts!" yelled Tuxedo Mask.

But the vamps wouldn't listen. Slowly, their fangs aimed down to the Scouts' necks. Finally, the worst nightmare of Darien's came true. The fangs punctured right into all of the Sailorscouts' neck. They let out a low cry, and couldn't make anymore sounds. Their eyes fell back, shutting their eyes. After about ten seconds, the vamps restrained their fangs from the Scouts', but lay their heads under the Scouts' necks. Then, the vamps then gradually let go of the Sailorscouts, letting them fall to the ground face down in a splat with their arms and legs sprawled around them. To Tuxedo Mask, everything seemed so slow motion and nightmare-like. There were two holes on each of the Scouts' left side of their necks.

"NO!!!" cried Darien. In his mind, he saw his dream about the Scouts' plunging down to their deaths. He redeemed himself and aimed his roses at the vamps' hearts, then threw them angrily. He has never been this angry and sad in his life, and he was crying. The vamps just disappeared into thin air, leaving the Scouts on the ground. After the vamps left, Darien hurriedly rushed to check the Scouts. One by one (Mars, Venus, Jupiter, then Mercury) he turned them over and felt their pulses twice. No pulse was felt on any of them.

"No," started off Tuxedo Mask, "no, no! It can't be; all of the Scouts' are gone!" Then he fell on his knees and sobbed all of the tears and anger that could come out. He took the hands of the Scouts and cried even more. He has never felt so alone in his life. Luna and Artemis woke up from unconsciousness and staggered over to Tuxedo Mask. They each placed their comforting paws on him.

"I've got to get the Scouts' some help!" assured Tuxedo Mask. He stopped his crying for a while. "Maybe I can aid them myself." He started to cry a bit again but then paused in sight of what he saw. Over each of the Sailorscouts, a pink light and fog appeared over each of the Scouts.

"Huh?" asked Tuxedo Mask. He then bounded and stood in front of the Sailorscouts, and so did Luna and Artemis. A strike of lightning appeared, and the Scouts disappeared out of Tuxedo Mask's sight. He gasped and froze in horror as he watched his beloved girlfriends vanish.

"No! Why has Rube taken you away Scouts? Is planning to turn you against me too! Oh, what am I going to do?" he wept. He once again collapsed on his knees and cried. Luna and Artemis tried to comfort Darien.

"Darien, I know how you feel, and we'll help you get all of the Sailorscouts back from Rube," promised Luna.

"Yeah, we're going to whip him into shape; he and the whole Negamoon," agreed Artemis.

Luna wandered around the roof top in search for clues that might help lead getting the Sailorscouts back. She then came upon Amy's little mini-data computer. She grasped it with her mouth and carried it over to Darien's side for him to look at.

"Tuxedo Mask!" called Luna.

"What? Is there more bad news?" gripped Tuxedo Mask.

Luna, almost in tears of joy, gave Darien the computer.

"I think that Amy has purposely left something for you to have and look at," explained Luna, smiling with tears in her eyes. Darien picked the computer up.

"What good is this computer going to be? I don't even really know how to use it. And besides, the only thing that this could possibly good for is to see where the porthole into the--," trailed off Tuxedo Mask. He gasped. Everything came to him now. He knew why Mercury and the rest of the Sailorscouts left him Mercury's computer. It was to find the porthole into the Negaverse and how to open it. When he gets inside, he was suppose to defeat Rube and get all the Scouts back. Tuxedo Mask opened the computer and several pieces of paper dropped out and some other things. The things fell onto the roof top. Tuxedo Mask bent down to retrieve them. He understood now. Instantly, he felt a lot more relieved.

"Amy probably had purposely dropped the computer on the ground for you to speculate and use," said Artemis.

Tuxedo Mask didn't really hear Artemis. One by one, he picked up the items on the ground. First off were two of Raye's Mars' fireball charms, then there were several pieces of paper with a lot of complicated analysis math. There was then a whole picture of all of the Scouts together and a Sailorscout styled envelope with, which happened to be a letter inside.

"All of those things must be able to help get the Sailorscouts back," replied Luna quietly.

"Yeah," agreed Tuxedo Mask, examining the things at the same time. He opened the letter and read, sitting at one of the corners of the roof. He heard each of the Scouts individually saying the letter to him in the order of Raye, Lita, Mina, and then Amy:

Dear Darien,

Since this is going to be a good-bye in a way, I would just like to say something, from all of us Scouts. We did not tell you, but this battle we just fought with Rube was a duel with him to get Sailormoon back. Looks like we lost, partially. The only things that you have to promise to take care for us, is the Crystal and Renee.

But, the only way that we just came up with (actually, Raye came up with it) to get all of us Scouts back, is for you to come into the headquarters of Rube himself to retrieve us. The Crystal can't be used to heal, because only Sailormoon can heal us. But Sailormoon herself needs complete healing. So, here's the plan that Amy came up with, along with the rest of us;

Do you remember the last battle we had? When it was the first time we saw Sailormoon in her evil form? Well, we were thinking that you could call in the "Starlight Sailor Soldieresses" to help you, since we do know them all personally. You can contact them to help you, if you wish. Here's the number of Dya Chang Liu's (Starlight Libra): 131-4718. She's the only person who could also heal us besides with the Crystal.

Thanks, Darien. We'll always remember you. Do your best. If you can't make it, we understand. Just protect the Crystal and Renee, and if you can't get all of us Scouts back, just get Sailormoon.

With Remembrance And Love,

The Sailorscouts

After Tuxedo Mask finished reading the letter, he was silent for a moment while staring at the ending of the letter. Luna watched him.

"Well Tuxedo Mask," started off asking Luna, "what are you going to do now?"

Tuxedo Mask carefully folded the Sailorscouts' letter and placed it back into the mini-data computer. He then put the computer in his pocket. While he was reading the letter, Tuxedo Mask eased down on his sadness, but he didn't feel much better. He was still yelling in anger and sadness inside.

"Why did Rube and the Negaverse have to get to all of the Sailorscouts? It's just so unfair!" asked Darien inside. "I feel like Rube has stabbed me in the heart with his evil sword. What am I going to do now?"

Tuxedo Mask stood up and removed his top-hat and mask. He frowned his eyebrows down.

"The thing that I'm going to do is," started Darien, "call Dya Liu." He clenched the mini-data computer firmly and tucked it inside his pocket. "And figure out what to do with this little package that the girls left me." He stood up and went back into his apartment, trying to fight off tears as he went.

* * *

Rube and his minions had the rest of the Sailorscouts laid on the cold ground. He smirked, "Well, fine job minions. We've got the rest of the Sailorscouts."

Sailormoon flounced to him and rejoined, "And we also made Tuxedo Mask sad to wear him down. I say that this is a time to celebrate victory, and the start to conquer Crystal Tokyo ourselves!" Rube and Sailormoon laughed wickedly as they glanced at the minions.

"Nice job you've done, Vamps," complimented Rube.

Sailormoon strolled over to the red vamp and asked, "Did you feed enough on them? And did you add in some of your stuff in it to them to make them turn against Tuxedo Mask?"

"Yes ma'am," answered the red vamp. He grinned.

"Those Scouts' have some vibrant and delicious red stuff," remarked the orange vamp.

Sailormoon walked about the vamps and examined them. Then she turned back to Rube.

"Well, hon'," improvised Sailormoon, "shall we give these Scouts their new state of mind?"

Rube strided over and placed his armed around Sailormoon as he looked down at her.

"Let's do it," said Rube.

Sailormoon snapped her fingers. Each of the vamps carried a Sailorscout and brought them to another cold ground and straightened the Scouts out. Sailormoon then snapped her fingers, and then some smoke surrounded the Scouts. When the smoke cleared, they sat up in completely new revealing, leathery black costumes and upside down crescent moons on their foreheads. Each of their bottom halves of their bodies were branded with very short leathery pieces of clothing while their upper bodies were cover with black leather pieces of clothing that go down almost exposing their whole upper chest (breasts). Mars stood up and so did the rest of the Scouts.

"Let's get Tuxedo Mask," envied Mars, smiling a mean smile. All of the Sailorscouts, which are now evil, did the same.

* * *

Back in Darien's apartment, he lay on his bed, trying to sleep and feel a bit better. He didn't change out of his tuxedo, but he did remove his mask and hat. Luna and Artemis were allowed to stay for the night, so they spent the night there also. Meanwhile, Darien; twisting, tossing and turning, couldn't sleep. Once in awhile, he starts crying and calling out the Scouts' names. He visualized each Scout; of their memorable incidents involving each of them individually with Darien:

"Raye, I'm kind of in a hurry you know," replied Darien. Raye didn't let go of Darien's shirt.

"Oh, you know my name? I thought--you might not remember," stammered Raye. There was a pause as Raye gently grasped Darien's arm. "Are you coming back from martial arts class?"

Darien looked confused but answered Raye, "Yeah--, I'm studying karate."

"Gee-- I was thinking of taking a karate class myself," blushed Raye

"You should," responded Darien, "It's great!" He continued to look at her funny.

Raye bobbed her head down and mumbled to herself, "Oh, too shy." Suddenly, she perked herself up and asked, "So, do you want to get a milkshake with me?"

"Well, I'm suppose to be meeting someone......," trailed off Darien.

Raye, still not giving up, suggested, "Hey, we can do take out...."

"Nah, they can wait," finished Darien. Raye looped her arm around Darien and took him to a nearby restaurant. He was trying to loosened up of Raye's grip, but he just shrugged and smiled.

After that memory, Darien managed to cry out in a whisper, "Raye." He then sobbed, "Lita."

"Really, Lita," explained Darien, "you're gonna make fools of yourselves."

"But we're Love Scouts!" disagreed Lita. Darien sucked in his breath and looked confused, thinking that Lita and Serena were wacko. Lita continued, "And we won't give up 'til our mission is accomplished; and one of us dates Andrew."

Darien rolled his eyes and and remarked, "Oh brother, I wonder if I was ever this wigged out when I was in junior high school."

Lita gasped and then cried, "Wigged out! Take it back!" She grasped her hands around Darien's neck and choked him, making him collapse to the ground for a moment. She then let go and asked, concerned, "Uh---are you okay?"

Tuxedo Mask managed to laugh a bit, but it seemed more like a choked up sob than a laugh.

Mina held up a finger to halt a stop.

"Hold on a sec'," ordered Mina. She made a blushy, cute face and continued, "I think I should play Snow White because I have the best stage presence here. And, I'm the most graceful."

All of her friends made angry faces toward her.

"Stop it girls. Come on," halted Darien. "You know there are more parts than just Snow White. Like the wicked witch, or the prince."

Mina started to giggle, then laugh as she winked, "Call me wacko Darien, but I think that you just might have an edge of the role over us as the Prince."

Darien laughed.

Later on, after practicing for the play, Mina and all of the girls blushed, "Good night, Prince Charming!"

"Mina," he whispered next. He tried to wipe away all his tears with his red handkerchief.

Amy held up her new wand, and started to look sad. She turned to Darien and cried, "Oh, Darien, I can't! Can you give me a ride back please?" Darien nodded.

"I can't do this," pouted Amy. She looked out onto the runway of the airport and gripped her wand to her chest. "Hey, there's plenty of time to become a doctor. I'll just reapply in a couple of years from now when I'm really ready to do this. Right now, I want to be home with my friends." She looked serious.

Darien took Amy's luggage and placed it in his red sports car. Amy climbed in and he started to drive. While driving, Darien replied, "I think the girls might be on a mission, Amy."

"And Amy," wept Darien. He began to cry more as he buried his face into his pillow.

"I am Sailormoon, the champion of justice!" announced Sailormoon.

"Sailormercury!" proclaimed Sailormercury.

"Sailormars!" cried Mars.

"Sailorjupiter!" revealed Jupiter.

"Sailorvenus!" announced Venus.

All of the Sailorscouts stood in a motto-looking form and cried all together, "We shall punish you! We are the Sailorscouts!"

Darien felt more sad and angry. "Sailorscouts!" he manage to cry. To him, it seemed like this was the end of the world.

"I've lost just about everything! What am I going to do now!" he exclaimed. He sat up and wiped his tears again and blew his nose.

"That's not true, Darien!" cried out a familiar voice.

Darien paused and looked all around. "Who was that?"

He then felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He looked up. It was Sailormars!

"What--?" asked Darien.

"Relax Tuxedo Mask; it's us!" called out another voice. It was Sailorvenus's!

"You didn't lose everything yet, Darien," explained Mercury.

"Yeah, we're still around. Don't give up. You can't be sad forever," remarked Jupiter. "Maybe we're not the same as going to be, but you can't give up, otherwise we'll lose for sure."

"I know this will seem like a tough grieving period for you, but if you look in your heart, we'll never leave or forget you," replied Mars.

"And you'll never forget us," replied Sailormoon.

Darien jumped back at the see-through Scouts. He looked really happy.

"Sailorscouts!' rejoiced Tuxedo Mask. "You're okay!" He tried to go to them, but the Scouts moved away.

"We're not all real at the moment," explained Mercury. "It's just our souls trying to help you."

"Come on, Darien," pleaded Sailormoon, "look in your heart. You know that we haven't left yet. Maybe our bodies are evil, but are souls are still good."

"We believe in you, Darien," promised the Sailorscouts. "We know that you won't let the Negaverse win."

Darien, with tears in his eyes again, disagreed, "I--I can't do this! I can't do this alone!"

"But you have the Starlight Soldieresses," reminded Mars.

Darien stood up. "You're right. I can't let you guys down. I've got to save you guys---well, you know what I mean."

Venus took Tuxedo Mask's hand and gripped it.

"Remember, even though that most of me is going to be evil, there will always be some part of us that will remember," replied Venus. She and the rest of the Scouts stood up and started to leave by going out of Darien's balcony.

"Wait!" begged Darien. "Where are you going? Why can't you stay?"

The Scouts just smiled and waved. Sailormoon, Venus, and Raye gently blew kisses while they disappeared. Darien just stood out at the balcony, hoping that the Scouts would come back. He almost started to grieve again when a shooting star soared right by. He remembered what to do when you see a shooting star, so he made a wish;

"I wish, I wish oh shooting star; please let he Starlights successfully help me with getting all of the Scouts back." As he made that wish, he went back onto his bed, curled up and prayed for the Scouts to help him sleep.

* * *

"So," started off Sailormoon to her Sailorscouts friends. "All that's left is Tuxedo Mask to get to. Any ideas?"

Jupiter strolled over to Sailormoon and placed her black-leathered gloved hand on Sailormoon.

"Don't worry, we'll think of something," replied Jupiter. She smirked.

"Yeah, maybe we should destroy him, huh?" suggested the evil Mercury.

Venus stepped forward and suggested, "Maybe we could bring him here."

"Oh no, not again," replied Mars. "Do we have to injure him to bring him back to Rube?"

"Well, not necessarily," answered Sailormoon. "We could just tie him up and bring him here for a ransom."

Jupiter caught on. She snapped, "A ransom to give up the Silver Crystal to us to save himself! Cool!"

Mercury cautioned, "How are we going to it? Do we take him ourselves?"

"I've already asked Rube that, and he said alright," answered Sailormoon.

"So it's a plan?" questioned Mars.

""It's a plan!" agreed the traitor Scouts. They all high-fived themselves in agreement and confident triumphance.

* * *

For next several days (just about week and a half), Darien was too sad and insecure to do anything. He couldn't concentrate when he's working at work at the movie studio, he couldn't relax, and he spends half his nights of sleep tossing and turning in nightmares and other uncomfortable thoughts. So a few days later, he decided to take a little stroll in the city to loosen up. He walked down Main Street. As he walked he often put his head down, but sometimes look up at the stores.

"All these stores and places remind me of the girls," though Darien, close to tears. "The gym for karate for Lita, the book stores which are almost everywhere for Amy, the food courts and anywhere with food for Serena, and the mall...the mall for Serena and Mina the best, and the other girls. Whenever I see fire or red, I see Raye and/or Sailormars. When I see green and sports, I see Lita and/or Sailorjupiter, orange and yellow to Mina and/or Sailorvenus, and most of all... red, white, and blue for Serena and Sailormoon!" He started to walk faster, but then slowed way down. He finally stopped at the park.

"So many lost memories," grieved Darien. He sat under a tree, remembering his photo with Serena. "Everytime I see my red car or any at all, I remember all of the girls in the picture I took of them leaning at my car." Darien hesitated, but decided, "Maybe I should head on home. Right now, just about everything reminds me of the Sailorscouts." He headed home.

When he got to his apartment, Luna and Artemis were there, practically waiting for him.

"Darien," replied Luna.

"Huh? What's up? Is it something useful?" answered Darien. Tears started to form majorly in his eyes. He started to brush them away, but it was no use. He couldn't stop his grief over the Sailorscouts.

"Darien, you need to calm down. Please, just listen to for one minute, and I think we have some news that you'll like, but not too much."

Darien sat straight up and listened attentively. "I'm listening."

"Well," started off Luna, "I think I sensed that Rube is sending down all of the Sailorscouts to challenge you to a fight, but I don't know what kind. You need to be prepared."

Darien looked happier; in fact he even had his first smile ever since the Scouts were gone.

"I'm going to try to take this chance as to get the Scouts back," he remarked.

Luna looked downward and then asked, "But how are you going to do it? You can't use the Silver Imperium Crystal for healing. Only in the powers of Sailormoon could heal and use this."

Darien started to look sad again. He slid out a rose from his pocket and held it, staring at it. He suddenly perked up.

"I have an idea!" cried Darien. He surprised Luna so much that she pounced back.

"Well, we're all ears," said Artemis.

"Wait one moment," requested Darien. He went to his bedroom and snatched Mercury's mini-data computer, which is still containing the items that the Scouts left in it. He pulled out the letter. He nodded his head in confidence.

"Yes, why didn't I think of this before!" cried Darien. He started to explain, "Remember that the Scouts left us this package? Well in the letter, it said to contact Dya Chang Liu for help!"

"So? What good are Dya and the Starlights going to do? They can probably help you battle, but that's all," tersed Luna.

Darien sat down and argued gently, "Well, doesn't Dya, 'Starlight Libra', have the Star Wand? And doesn't that heal people, too? and almost even more powerful?"

Artemis and Luna pounced with joy.

"Darien, you've found a way to get the Scouts back!" cried Luna.

"And I bet what Raye left of her anti-evil charms and what Amy left of her calculations, we could find the way into the Negaverse, to get the Scouts!" remarked Darien. He stood up and reached for his phone as he dialed.

* * *

The phone at the Chang residence rang. 13 going on 14 year old Dya Chang Liu, in her books stood up to reach her bedroom phone. She was wearing a sophisticated outfit of a short-sleeved blouse with a black sweater vest over it, a very, very, short black, tight, nylon skirt, white knee-highs, and a beautiful long white bow wrapped around her long, ebony hair.

"Hello, Dya Chang here," greeted Dya in a sweet voice. Her boyfriend (really husband from her kingdom past) , seventeen going on eighteen Patrick Darien Liu jumped up from his studying next to Dya and stretched as he tried to listen who Dya's talking to.

Darien tried to stay calm while talking; "Dya Chang?"

"Yes," answered Dya. "Who is this?"

"Well, Dya, it's me, Darien," he answered. "From the Sailorscouts? As Tuxedo Mask?"

"Oh, Darien !" emphasized Dya in excitement. "Wow, how are you? And the Sailorscouts? I haven't heard from you in a long time!"

Darien cleared his throat as he continued, "I'm fine, I think. But the reason I'm calling, is that I need your help, Starlight Soldieresses and both Dariens."

"Who is it?' whispered, Dar' (Patrick's nickname by everyone).

Dya covered the receiver and answered, "It's Darien, from the Sailorscouts." She went back to the conversation with Darien.

"So what's wrong?" questioned Dya, sitting on her bed.

"It--it's the Scouts," stammered Darien, ready to cry once again.

Dya seemed to have to noticed, so she asked, "Darien are you okay? Are you crying for something?"

Darien quickly adjusted his attitude and tried to explain as calmly as possible. Darien explained the whole sad, zany story:

"Well first, Rube and his minions had come here to try to capture Renee and the Imperium Silver Crystal. After we had beatened him, he was bent on revenge. He captured Sailormoon, the same way that Barrel of the Negaverse got me. Then--well, you know, you came to help us with one of the battles."

Dya interrupted, "Yes, I remember that."

"Anyway," he continued, "now, after that, he was bent on more revenge; against the rest of the Sailorscouts and me! He sent his vampires to bring the other Sailorscouts back, and they did, by draining their blood, just like regular vampires."

Dya froze and gasped so loudly that Dar' was startled by it. She started to form tears in her eyes as Darien tried to continue more.

"He got them now, and all that he wants left is the Crystal. And now, I know you're far away, but I need you and all of the Starlight team's help. Rube wants an exchange of the Crystal for my life." He grabbed a Kleenex and wiped his eyes. Luna and Artemis came over and put their paws on him, trying to comfort him.

Dya also shedded tears and stammered, "H--hold on for a sec'." She placed the receiver in her lap, slowly. Dar', concerned, came over and put his arms around Dya as well as placing his head on Dya's, too.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he let go, staring into Dya's brown eyes. Dya wiped her eyes and explained, "The Scouts-- they've--been taken away by Rube, practically almost near death. I think we should call up the rest of the Starlights and prepare them go to Tokyo. We need to help Darien protect Renee and the Silver Crystal."

"Wait, who's Renee?" questioned Dar'.

Dya sat straight up and picked up the receiver, covering it.

"I'll explain in a minute, Dar'," promised Dya. "Will you call up the rest of the team and tell them to meet me here?" She was in tears again.

Dar', more worried and sad (who was close to tears himself), nodded, "Sure. I'll call them. I'll do anything to help you and Darien right now." He kissed Dya and the cheek and scurried to his backpack and picked up his cell phone. He started to dial Lea's, Stephanie's, Shannon's, Melanie's, Melisa's, Serene's. and Darien's (another one!) numbers. Meanwhile, Dya returned in talking with Darien.

"Darien?" replied Dya.

"Y--yeah?" he answered.

"The word is clear," agreed Dya. "All of the Starlights agreed to come and help you. We'll be at Tokyo as soon as possible."

Darien sounded relieved, "Thank you so much, Dya, and the rest of the Starlight team."

"No prob'," remarked Dya, soothingly. "We promise you that we're going to get the Sailorscouts back, and get Rube for this. He's going to get a great, big dose of Starlight Soldieress and Sailorscouts medicine." Dya was red with fury.

Darien couldn't help but choke out a laugh. "Thanks, Dya."

"We'll let you know when we arrived at the airport. We're going to take either a bus or sub-train, or any type of transportation to get to your place," she suggested.

"OK, it's settled then," replied Darien, more relieved, "I'll catch you later."

"Bye, Darien," saluted Dya. She added, "Don't grieve so much."

"Thanks," thanked Darien. He and Dya on both lines hung up together. Afterwards, Dar' was still on the phone, making his next phone call.

"Hi, Lea? This is Dar'," greeted Dar'. "Listen, you've got to come over to Dya's house right away. This is an emergency meeting for all the Starlights. OK, later." Dar' said the same conversation to all of the team.

Later on that day, all of the Starlight team met at Dya's house.

"Xian zhai you shenme shi? What's currently the trouble?" asked Lea Liang when she arrived. Everyone grabbed a place and sat down.

Dya stood in front of everyone with Dar'. She started to explain, "We've got to pack and get to Tokyo right away. It's trouble in the Sailorscouts."

"What's exactly wrong?" asked Shannon Sweet.

"Is it serious?" asked Stephanie Chen.

Dya held a hand up to a halt. "Wait. Yes, unfortunately, the problem is serious. You all remember our archrival, Rube, right?"

Melisa Kates nodded, "How could we forget? He's the one whom we had many battles with."

"Well, it seems that the Scouts..." Dya railed off, choking on a sob. Dar' went to her side to try to comfort her by patting her back.

Serene Parkington asked, concerned, "What's wrong, Dya?"

Dar' took over as he cleared his throat, "Well, you all remember we all went to help the Scouts to try to get Sailormoon back to her old self. Well, it's gotten worse. Ever since Tuxedo Mask Darien lost her, he's been under so much grief as well as the Scouts, that they let part of their guards down. Now, Rube has sent his vampires, and...well... they drained the Scouts. Rube also took them back with him. Now Darien needs help to try to protect the Silver Imperium Crystal and Renee."

All of the Starlights looked down.

"Oh, no," wept Melanie Brooks.

While Serene was crying, Darien Li (her boyfriend and hubby from their kingdom past) wrapped his arms around her. They all wept a little but then paused.

"There is some good news," sniffled Dya. "The Scouts aren't killed. They've probably been turned against Tuxedo Mask."

Everyone stopped crying and looked a bit happier.

"Well," replied Lea, "at least that's some good news."

"Yeah," replied Stephanie. "By the way, who's Renee?"

"Renee's a girl from the future so Darien says. She came back into the past, here, to try to retrieve the Imperium Crystal , but not anymore. She came back here to visit Serena and Darien and the Scouts. She looks just like Serena, so Darien says," explained Dar'.

Dya blew her nose and straightened her nylon skirt.

"I think we need to get to Tokyo, Japan as soon as possible," she suggested. "The sooner the better. We've all got our passports right? And does everyone have enough money?"

"Hey, you know that we all have some money buried in our clothes somewhere and we all have big accounts," remarked Melanie. "So don't score me, girlfriend!"

Dya laughed. "I guess that's yes then. We have to check when's the soonest time we could go."

"Dya, aren't you forgetting something?" asked Shannon.

"What?" asked Dya.

"All of our parents are out of town," answered Serene, "except for Lea's grandpa and her brother, and my parents. Everyone else is out of town."

Lea picked up Dya's phone and dialed. Then, in a few seconds, she hung up and answered, "Grandpa said it's okay for me to go."

"Did you tell him how long?" asked Melisa.

"About one and a half weeks, maybe less, for a vacation with my friends," answered Lea.

"And you, Serene?" asked Melanie.

"Mom'll let me go. She always does. I did all my HW, chores, got good grades, and she always has confidence that I'll be with you guys all the time."

"OK, it's settled then," answered Dya. She picked up the China Airlines' guide and glanced through, flipping through the pages. She paused and then spoke up.

"The next flight into Tokyo that is direct and cheapest is tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m. That means we have to get everything ready by today," tersed Dya. "We're just going to pack for a week and bring some money."

"That's easy," responded Darien Li. He stood up and stretched. "I can pack up in half an hour."

"OK," agreed Dya, "we'll meet at the Canton Subway tomorrow morning, at about seven thirty, and we'll take the Canton Subway to the airport."

"Agreed," answered everyone.

* * *

So, at the next morning 7:30 a.m., everyone with their yawning faces met at the Canton Subway with heir bags, money and passports.

"Everyone's here, right?" called out Dya.

"Yes," answered everyone else.

"OK, then, let's go," she answered Dya. She and her friends bought their tickets and climbed on. After about twenty-five minutes, they arrived at the world's largest Hong Kong Airport. They hopped out, carrying their luggage, and went in to buy their tickets plus having their luggage carried on by the plane. Then they went through the metal detectors and went to Gate 81, the direct flight of the China Airlines' plane to Tokyo. By the time the whole Starlight team got the gate with their extra backpacks, it was about eight-thirty.

"Well," said Shannon in her purple short shorts, pulling down her purple cap, "we certainly got time left to spare."

"Anyone up for some breakfast?" asked Dar'.

"You bet," answered Serene.

Everyone then went to a cafe and ordered. Afterwards, they all went to some shops and looked all around. By that time, it was about nine-fifteen.

"We should probably all go to the bathroom and then head back," suggested Melisa. "We should get on early."

"Agreed," replied everyone.

They all went and came back just in time for the speaker to announce the entering of the plane. All of the team gave their tickets and walked down the hallway and into the plane. They found their seats, which were all in one row. They put their bags aside and sat back.

"So," replied Stephanie, "do we give Darien a call went we get into Tokyo?"

Before anyone could answer back, Melanie answered, "Seems that way."

"We can't just bring on the Scout problem once we see Darien," replied Darien .

"Yeah, we don't want him to start feeling sad all over again," replied Lea.

After fifteen minutes of more of talking, the captain announced over the speaker in Cantonese and Mandarin.

"Good morning passengers, and welcome to China Airlines at Hong Kong Airport, the largest airport in the world. I will be your captain throughout this flight to Tokyo, Japan, Captain Jun-Sheng. We will begin our departure to Tokyo in fifteen minutes. Enjoy your flight, and have a nice day!"

The Starlight team were talking on most of the way to Tokyo.

"Hey," Dya whispered suddenly, "did all of you bring your wands and power sources?"

All of them nodded as an answer.

"Whew," replied Dya, "for a second there, I thought we were in definite trouble."

"Dya, you know that the wands must be carried where ever we go," said Melisa.

Dya laughed and laid her head back. Then, she leaned her head onto Dar's shoulder. Dar' himself let his arm around Dya, and they both relaxed during the flight. The rest of the Starlight team leaned back and closed their eyes for a short, relaxing flight.

* * *

Back Darien's place, he stared at the pictures he had, particularly the Scouts' and the Starlights. He tried to remember what happened in each picture, but the pictures were too painful to look at. He then tried to take a little jog, so he went out for about half an hour. When he came and took a shower, he still didn't feel much better. Then the telephone rang. He picked it up.

"Hello, this is Darien," he greeted.

"Hi, Darien? This Lea Liang for Starlight Aries from the Starlight Soldieresses," she answered.

Darien sat straight on his bed and tried to focus, "Hi, Lea. Um.. are you here in Tokyo with all the rest of the Starlights?" He started to get anxious.

Lea nodded, "Yeah, Dya couldn't call you because she and the rest of the Starlights are trying to get in line for picking up their luggage. I just want to tell you that we're here now, and we'll be heading over to your place very soon. You probably want to stay home until we get there, but we might be late coming in because we have to find a place for staying over night ."

"Okay, I'll stay home until you arrive," promised Darien.

"Good. Look, I've got to go. I said I'd meet the rest of the team at the terminal and luggage area now. Bye," saluted Lea.

"Later," promised Darien, and he hung up. As he hung up, he started to rejoice in a strange manner. "Oh, the Starlights are here now! Now, for sure I'm going to get the Sailorscouts back!"

About two and a half hours later, the Starlight team arrived. They all greeted Darien with tears, smiles and hugs. Each of them didn't bring up the subject of the Sailorscouts when they came in. Dya greeted Darien by giving him a general hug and little peck on the cheek.

"Darien, it's so great to see you!" cried Lea.

Darien was moved with happiness as he let the Starlights in, and they sat down. After they all were finished with their greetings, there was a strange and long moment of silence.

Darien Li, who was sitting next to Darien, patted Darien's shoulder.

"Darien, as much as you don't like discussing this, we're really sorry for what happened to the Sailorscouts," replied Li, sympathetically. All of the rest of the Starlights drooped their heads down in sadness and early exhaustion.

"I really didn't want this to happen, but I feel that this is my fault or something," replied Darien. His voice started to shake up into a low and hoarse whisper.

Dar' calmly and comfortingly patted Darien's shoulder.

"You shouldn't say that," pleaded Dar'.

"Yeah, it wasn't your fault," soothed Dya.

Serene and Lea took out their Starlight wands and gripped them tightly to try to find courage. The also tried to hide them for the moment to not remind Darien of the tragedy. Unfortunately, Shannon (who had her head down) and Melisa (who was examining Lea at the moment) both saw Serene and Lea, and spoke up, interrupting Dya and Darien.

"Serene; Lea," replied Shannon. She looked at Dya.

"Sorry," apologized Shannon, "I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation."

"It's alright," answered Darien before Dya could, "I guess we could change the subject a bit."

Melisa nodded and asked Lea, "Lea, are you okay? Why are you gripping your wand so tightly?"

"For courage of fire," answered Lea, wisely.

"And for the comfort of virgin flowers," responded Serene.

Stephanie started to look strange, so she changed the subject.

"Darien," started off Stephanie.

"Yes?" answered all three Dariens.

"No, I meant Tuxedo Mask," reassured Stephanie. The other Dariens laid back.

"Well.., sooner or later we'll have to bring this up, but we have to discuss our plan to get the Scouts back," she finished.

Before Darien could react, Luna stepped forward and spoke up, clearing her throat, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I think I know when's the next battle of when Rube and the Sailorscouts -- which I think then might be turned against us-- is and where it's taking place."

Everyone turned and looked at Luna with anxiousness, especially Darien.

"Darien, I think you might have heard me saying this before, but for the rest of you, I have a guess that the next is going to be at Tokyo Park sometime soon. I think we should start preparing as soon as possible," explained Luna.

"Yeah, the sooner and more we prepare, the better chance we'll get the Scouts back and defeat Rube," remarked Artemis.

Lea stood up with her wand in her hands and was about to say something, but it seems like she forgot and sat back down.

Stephanie spoke, "Well, if the Scouts and Rube are going to turn up in Tokyo Park, they're definitely going to look for Tuxedo Mask, or Darien, in other words. I think we can let him stand out in the open to let the Scouts get him. When the time's right, we could jump in and take each of the Scouts while Dya, you as Starlight Libra could prepare your Sapphire Star Wand to heal all of them."

"Good plan," complimented Serene.

"Yeah, I think that this is a solid ambush," remarked Melanie.

Everyone then turned to look at Darien, waiting for an honest opinion.

"Well, what do you think Darien?" asked Melisa.

Darien was quiet and hesitated, but then answered, "I think that it's a good plan."

Lea just then gasped, "Oh, no!"

She gasped so suddenly that it made everyone in the room jump.

"What? what's wrong?" asked Shannon.

Lea, who has the same type of special power as Raye for fire-reading and visions, corrected, "I think that something's wrong. Luna, I'm sorry, but I think that you're prediction that the first attack of the Scouts at Tokyo Park is wrong. I just had a quick flash of a vision, that the Sailorscouts are going to be at Raye's temple."

"What else did you see?" asked Melisa.

"I don't know," answered Lea, lamely. "I really can't make out or figure out what's next. That's all I can see. One thing for sure is that that Scouts are turned against us, probably even worse then Sailormoon. I can't see what they're doing, though."

Melanie sat back and said, "Well at least we know the location of the battle, and a bit more info." She then turned to Lea and questioned, "Do you see when is this battle going to occur?"

Lea closed her eye and then quickly opened them. "Yes, and the battle's around tomorrow night and probably going to into the early morning after that. But, I'm not so sure."

"Tomorrow? Then we'd better start training right away," suggested Li.

"Good idea," agreed Luna.

"Right!" agreed everyone else.

"Darien, I forgot to tell you this, but we have an errand to do tomorrow afternoon, but we'll try to be back as fast as we can," replied Shannon.

"Alright," answered Darien.

Everyone then went to Raye's temple to train.

* * *

All of the Sailorscouts were spying on Darien and the Starlights to see what they're doing at Raye's temple.

"What are they doing at my temple?" asked Mars.

Jupiter examined the picture and answered, "Looks like they're training there for our duel with them."

"Speaking of which, are we all ready yet?" asked Venus. She adjusted her costume.

"We're ready as rain," responded Mercury. She grinned.

All of the Sailorscouts high-fived each other with confidence.

* * *

At the night of the battle, there was a full moon. Darien was already transformed and ready as Tuxedo Mask, holding his staff. He also chose this time to not wear his hat or mask, again. He walked around with caution. He then suddenly heard familiar but somehow changed voice, and he gasped.

"Ha, you looking for something Tuxedo Mask...?"

He looked up and saw the black shadow of a girl of very, very long hair which looked like ebony and purple in the moonlight lying on the roof of Raye's main temple building with her face toward him. Her left arm was under her raised, leaning head, & her legs were almost on top of each other. The girl's face can't be seen except for her clothes, which were black leathery, revealing clothes, consisting of a black strappy top with its neckline going all the way down to the bottom of the breastline, exposing partially of the breasts. The top was connected to a very short skirt just covering the butt. Without her turning around, Tuxedo Mask already knew that her back was mostly exposed except for crossing straps intersecting each other. She was also wearing black, dainty, high-heeled shoes and has black gloves reaching almost all the way around her elbows. Tuxedo Mask just heard another familiar but somehow changed voice of a girl's.

"...or are you just lost?"

Tuxedo Mask then looked up and saw another girl, but she was lying sideways with her very long hair drooping in back of her with a familiar bow on her head. Her bare, thin right leg was on top of her left leg, a bit more bent forward than her left one. Her right arm was drooped over her right leg as if it were holding it. She was dressed in a black, leathery outfit which seemed to look like a low, strapless swimsuit that wraps only partially of her bottom like a bikini, except that the only difference from a bikini is that it covers about a fourth more. On her naval area, there was a big heart shaped hole exposing a large part of her naval area, and she was also wearing gloves all the way half up her biceps. The pretty young girl was also wearing a pair of strappy, very dainty high-heeled shoes. Of her "bikini-like" bottom piece of clothing, it looked like there was an immodest, very, very short piece of cloth which looks like it's covering on the borderline of her butt, but it wasn't covering the front of her. (Long and specific description, huh?)

"Why do these girls feel so familiar?" thought Tuxedo Mask. He started to breathe faster. Just when he was about to take in his next breath, he heard a third girl suggest in a familiar voice,

"Why don't you just give up your life...?"

Once again, he turned, this time to the other building of Raye's temple on his right , with a girl which seemed to look like brunette because of the glare of the moon.

This time, the girl was between the door with each of her arms (with gloves one seventh up her biceps) holding one side; the right arm curvier, sexier, and higher up the right part of the doorway, while the left arm was only a bit lower (but in the same posture as the right arm) of the left side of the doorway. Her right bare leg was bent accordingly and raised high against the doorway, and her left leg was as usual standing straight and diagonally with only the bottom tip of her boot against the lower part of the doorway. Only with the light of the moon of the night showed the clothes she was barely wearing, which what looked like of those strappy exercise jumpsuits only in tight black, and the bottom portion of the skirt was all the way up to the borderline of her butt. The tight skirt was shortened upward, meaning it's shaped like a swimsuit. The neckline was all the way down her mid-breasts.

Unfortunately, Tuxedo Mask heard another voice which seemed to used to be sweet sounding;

"...or even better, give up the Imperium Silver Crystal to us!"

Frightened, Tuxedo Mask didn't want to dare look at the next girl, but his other instinct told him to. He spun around and saw another pretty girl behind him. Now, so far, all of the girls he'd seen were in a square. Inside, he felt like this girl has never been wearing so sexy (revealing) clothes before.

The girl was at the top of the brickwall, basically wearing a costume which looked like a widely-strappy swimsuit that each of the breast-covers covers the breasts separately, with the lowest point of the breastline down at the bottom of them. The whole bottom was just a regular styled swimsuit. Also, she was wearing a pair of black gloves that cover her elbows, and a pair of V-shaped boots where the V parts go a bit up the knee. In description of texture, she was lying on her back with her head faced to her right towards him, and her arms were outstretched beyond her top of her head, each of them bent a bit, barely connecting her hands & arms. Both of her legs were bent upward a bit, with the right one bent slightly higher than the left one.

Finally, the last voice said, "You might as well surrender, since there's no one left for you, especially no more of your former Scout girlfriends!"

This voice shocked Tuxedo Mask so suddenly that he jumped and started to pant. He recognized that voice now; he recognized all of those female voices! How did he know? He recognized the last voice, which was Sailormoon's (or Serena's), and who else could have been his former Scouts girlfriends. They were Raye's, Mina's, Lita's and Amy's voices. He looked up again, but the girls were gone. The atmosphere suddenly started to turn gray, cloudy, and black. Tuxedo Mask stepped backward, suspicious and afraid. Even though he was afraid, he took his courage and called out,

"Sailorscouts, what are you doing? I'm only here trying to get you guys back to your normal state. I don't want to hurt you. Please, just drop this."

But in his mind, he was wondering; where are the Starlights? They're suppose to be here now, and what could be taking them so long? Still, Tuxedo Mask tried to fight as much as he can.

Suddenly, there was a blare of pink lightning. Tuxedo Mask bounded back, and decided that he should wait until he Starlights arrive to help him fight. He started to run back as the atmosphere turned back to normal, back in the middle of all the buildings of Raye's temple, with mostly birch trees and low grass and a cement platform. All of a sudden, he felt a striking, electrical and burning feeling on his back. The force was so painful that he fell to the ground, unable to move. He clenched his teeth and squinted his eyes in pain. He tried to get up, but felt like giving up.

No, he thought, no. I can't let the Negaverse get the best of me. All of the Scouts are depending on me, and I can't let them be taken away from me.

So, Tuxedo Mask fought the registering pain and pushed himself up, staggering at the time. He whirled around and threw a rose, trying to strike one of the Scouts to wear them down to be healed. It didn't work. Instead, it was Lita who caught the rose. She slashed it back at Darien, cutting his upper right arm. He yelped in pain, and grasped his cut. He applied pressure to it for a few seconds and let go, resuming the battle.

"Haven't given up yet?" cried the voice of Raye's. She stepped toward Darien while he was on his back. She swung a kick and kicked Tuxedo Mask in the shoulder, preparing some orange and blue fire in her hands to throw at him. Tuxedo Mask looked up, all battered, bruised, and crying.

"Sailormars, don't! Raye! Can't you hear me? It's me, Darien! Please, you don't want to do this. Trust in your heart; you don't!" pleaded Tuxedo Mask.

"Hah! I don't trust anyone!" cried Mars. She ended up throwing the fire with her skirt flying wildly, leaving Darien being thrown all over the place for what seemed like hours, which really was seven minutes.

That's it, I have to take drastic action!, thought Darien. But, I'm feeling so hurt and beaten that I can't fight. He dragged himself up and started to stagger away a bit.

Amy's voice dared, "So feeling a hot, huh? How about some ice to cool you off!" She swirled her ice to hit Darien, and it him him hard. He still felt a bit of burning of scratches and bruise on his back, but he started to feel numb all over.

This is either pain or--well, pain, thought Tuxedo Mask. I'm being thrown all over, and I still haven't gotten a way to get the Scouts back. The good thing is the numbness is starting to wear off. But I'm bleeding on my head, chin, and lots more places!

"Aw, is that too numb for you?" sarcastically asked Sailorjupiter. She raised her arm a bit and created a bit of black thunder and lightning in her hand. "How about some thunder to give you back your feeling?" She tossed some of her thunder and Tuxedo Mask was "shocked" both ways. He couldn't straighten up his back, and he couldn't move. After the shock was over, he just stood there, and then collapsed on his front. He tried to move, but he was crying too hard and was hurt too badly.

After a few minutes, he staggered up again, feeling the pain of one hundred men's stab wound pains all over. Everytime he moved and was touched ever so slightly, he was jolting in pain. Still, he wouldn't register it and continued to fight. He stumbled away from the Scouts a bit again, but Venus noticed. She aggressively slashed one of her whips, grasping Darien's neck. Luckily, he got hold of some grasp of the whip, not letting it choke him completely. Surprisingly, Venus was strong enough to pull Tuxedo Mask to her and the rest of the Scouts, like a whip pulling a pencil. Tuxedo Mask landed on his stomach, sliding through some dust.

After the dust cleared, he tried to raise his head as high as he can as he tried to look up. From foot to head, he saw all of the Scouts in their revealing clothes looking down at him.

"No, you Scouts can't be evil. I know in my heart that you aren't," gasped Darien. Everything started to blur a bit, but came into shape as he noticed that there were black, upside down crescent moons on each of the girls. Each of them had aggressive and ready-to-kill glares.

Mina lost her true beauty and original personality while Amy lost her intelligence and sweetness. Lita lost her sense of humor while Raye (who Darien admired and liked the most after Serena) lost her admirable courage, braveness, and aggressiveness.

Venus glared down at Tuxedo Mask, and retorted, "Thought you could get away, didn't you?"

Tuxedo Mask just looked at her with squinting eyes. His wound on his head bled with blood slithering down his face.

It seemed so long ago that Mina use to have that sweet and--I don't mean t say this, but-- beautiful look in her eyes, thought Tuxedo Mask. He also remembered Mina's cool, sexy winks.

"Mina," gasped Tuxedo Mask, "Sailorvenus, listen to me. You've just got to lis--"

Mina tighten her grasp of the whip. Tuxedo Mask yelled and gasped for breath. Slowly, he stood up. He reached for his staff from his left tux inside, and took it out. He held it up, aiming it at the whip, but never got to slashed it. Mercury swung and kicked Tuxedo Mask in the head. He fell back, resting for a moment in vast pain, almost in unconscious state. Once again, he fought it and looked up, seeing that his staff was thrown away to the left of him, out of arm's length. Jupiter prepared a black thunder bolt and sent it right on the rope, zig-zagging to Tuxedo Mask's throat in a fast, medium speed (don't worry, the rope was about twelve feet long, so it would take a longer amount of time than anticipated).

To be continued....(set 2)

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