by

Eric Metcalf

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General Kazor's expression was generally composed as he looked at Karaso, but Karaso noted the tightness in the general's fingers as they rested on his desk. "Report, Karaso."

 Karaso nodded deferentially." Yes, General. While testing the Negazhou crystal I was given, the youma I created encountered, fought, and was defeated by the Sailor Senshi, including two other characters that I had not been briefed on. These two were male. One wore a black men's suit from that planet, and a strange hat and cape, and appeared to use some sort of thrown flowers as his primary weapons. The other was dressed in silver armor and armed with a sword. His armor appeared to be rather light, for he moved very quickly in battle, and actually defeated the youma. Before he was able to slay it, however, Sailor Moon intervened and used a device of some sort to force the youma to return to its human form. After observing them for a few moments longer, I left the area, unobserved."

Kazor nodded. "The one male you speak of, the one in the suit, has been observed before. He is referred to as Tuxedo Kamen, and he is Sailor Moon's paramour. He is also the reincarnation of Prince Endymion of Earth. Queen Beryl had the opportunity to destroy him during her battles with the Senshi, but failed to take advantage of the opportunity. He is a very dangerous opponent, and far wiser than the senshi. The other you speak of is a new adversary. I have never heard of one from the Moon kingdom using that equipment. Any information you can gain regarding his powers and capabilities will be needed."

Karaso nodded. "I heard Sailor Moon refer to him as 'Warlord'. I did not see him display a ranged attack capability, even when it would have been advantageous to do so. However, he is a skilled melee combatant, and evidently enjoys some measure of respect among them, as he was able to command Tuxedo Kamen during the fight."

Kazor nodded again. "Very well, that will do for a start. However, do not base your judgements on the evidence from one fight. He might not have used his full capabilities. These, reinforcements, to the Sailor Senshi have me concerned. I will assign you an assistant, a Dark Kingdom youma to assist you." Kazor tapped a section of his desk, and the door opened. Karaso turned to see a woman walk in. Her hair was silver and her skin was pale. She was slender, but her slenderness was just slightly too pronounced, giving her a slightly emaciated look. She smiled slightly and nodded to Karaso, and bowed to Kazor.

"This is Tatiara, a storm-rider youma. What you are seeing now is her guise that she will wear among the humans. Her true form is more, distinctive. However, there is no need to go into that now. Tatiara, Karaso will be your commander during your time on Earth. Your mission will be to assist his reconnaissance efforts there, and to provide the sailor senshi with more formidable opposition than the transformed humans can."

She nodded to Kazor, then turned to Karaso, who was frowning. "How will I be fed?"

Kazor looked at Karaso, who shrugged. "How you feed is not my concern. Just leave no witnesses to what you do. We are not to alert the humans to our presence any more than necessary to test their reactions."

She nodded, and Kazor spoke. "Very well. You are dismissed. I expect regular reports." Karaso and Tatiara nodded and left. Karaso did not look at her as they walked to the transport chambers.

After a few moments, she spoke up. "Have I offended you?"

"I work best alone. I will give you objectives, then leave you to pursue them however you choose. I will be pursuing my own objectives, so do not disturb me if you do not have to. Is that understood?"

Tatiara smiled. "Very well understood. What are my objectives?"

"You will continue with the reconnaissance. I will continue probing the sailor senshi. If you encounter them, do not engage unless you are sure you can defeat them quickly and only then if you encounter them separated. Escape if you are hard pressed. Their time will come." Karaso laughed evilly as they walked to the gate chamber for their trip to Earth.

* * *

Ean sat back on his couch, stretched his legs, and sighed tiredly. It had been a long week, and finally it was Friday. Ean was idly leafing through the television guide, grimacing as he fought to translate the series titles with his tired brain, when the phone rang.

Groaning, he reached over and picked it up. "Hello?"

A familiar female voice answered. "Hi, Ean. Is this a bad time?"

Ean snickered. "No, Minako, it's never a bad time to hear from you. What's up?"

"Oh, not much, I just wanted to see you. Mind if I come over?"

"Sure, come on over. You know where I live." Ean thought he heard a bit of disappointment in her voice as she hung up, but he shrugged it off. She's probably just tired too, and wants to talk.

Ean winced as he opened the door for Minako. She was wearing a low-cut blouse and tight skirt that showed off her full but slender figure off to best advantage, as well as a considerable dose of makeup.

"Hi there. Let me guess, you want to go out."

She smiled broadly at it, and Ean nearly winced from how bright that smile could be. "Wow, thanks, Ean. What, you're not ready?"

Ean laughed ruefully. "Nope, I blew it. Come on in, have a seat while I get cleaned up."

Minako walked into the apartment and settle down on the couch. "How'd you know to ask if you hadn't thought of going out?"

Ean winked at her. "You know what they say: Momma don't get dressed up for nothing." Ean disappeared into the bathroom, while Minako tried to figure out how a mother figured into all of this.

* * *

Tatiara walked down the street near the telephone exchange, looking over the crowd. She looked closely at any people alone, paying less attention to groups or families.

She heard Karaso's voice ring out in her head. "Report."

She concentrated on the words, careful not to speak them out loud. "There do not appear to be any disguised security officers around here. There are also very few uniformed security officers. I am bored, Karaso. I have done what you want, now let me hunt."

Karaso's mental voice was very firm. "Not yet. Patrol the area for another two hours, then you may feed." Karaso broke the connection suddenly, leaving Tatiara feeling disoriented for a second. Looking down at the human timepiece Karaso had acquired for her, she noted the time, and growled at how long it would be before she could feed. Her anger gained a force of its own, and the skies began to cloud.

Makoto walked through the park alone, her strong features downcast as she watched the ground. Hearing a rumble of thunder, she looked up at the suddenly cloudy skies.

"Great, just great. Minako's probably with Ean in some warm restaurant, and here I am, about to get soaked. Well, it fits." She looked down, a tear trickling down her cheek as her thoughts turned to her ex-boyfriend. For a time, he had accepted her, despite her imposing stature.

"If he accepted, if he loved me, then why did he leave?" she asked herself as the rain began to fall. Deciding to just get wet, she walked down to a lake and just sat down, letting the rain soak her to the skin. The only warmth was the steady roll of warm tears, joining the cold rain on her face. She sat there for a time, she wasn't sure how long, until suddenly, she didn't feel the rain anymore.

Glancing up, she saw that a young man was holding an umbrella over her. "It's not healthy to sit in the rain like that. Come on, let's go get you someplace warm," he said warmly. He was of average height, slightly stocky, but appeared to be in very good shape. He also didn't seem intimidated as Makoto stood up to her full height, shivering from the cold.

"Th...th..thanks," she stuttered, smiling at him. "I'm Kinnno Makkkotto," she said, wincing at her chattering teeth.

"Nice to meet you, Makoto. I'm Tokayama Kenjiro. There's a gazebo this way, you can dry off there." While he had to stretch a bit to hold the umbrella over Makoto's height, he didn't seem to mind.

"Are you in school?" she asked.

He nodded, although with a bit of a wince. "Yes, I'm in the Police Academy. And you are?"

It was her turn to wince. "High school."

He looked her over again. "You're tall for your age."

She looked at him. "Most boys are intimidated, but you don't act like it."

He shrugged. "A lot of people on the police force are bigger than me, but I'm good enough to hold my own in a fight with the best of them, so I quit judging people by size a long time ago. I think you're very pretty, under all that wet hair." They both laughed as Makoto brushed one of the sticky strands off of her face. They reached the gazebo, and sat down.

Makoto kept pulling at her wet clothing, to little effect. "You need to get home and get that stuff off. Where do you live?"

Makoto pointed down the street. "Up that way about three blocks. Actually, I kinda feel like staying here a while."

Kenjiro's smile dropped, and he looked very stern. "Miss, I you don't come quietly, I'm going to have to take you home for your own good." Makoto started snickering, then laughing.

He dropped the serious expression for a hurt one. "What?"

"You, trying to be mister tough policeman. You have no idea of how funny you just looked."

He shook his head. "I get no respect. Ok, you win, for now. But you really do need to get home and change before you catch cold."

Makoto sighed. "You're right. I live down this way."

Kenjiro looked out at the storm as he brought the umbrella up. "It looks like it's getting worse, we'd better get you home." Makoto snickered, then caught herself. I'm sounding like Minako or Usagi, she thought, I'm usually not this way. She glanced over at Kenjiro, who was trying desperately not to study the way her clothes clung to her trim form, but still keep enough of an eye on her so as not to move the umbrella from over her head.

Tatiara reveled as the rain and wind swept around her, lashing the pavement and any passers-by. Most of the people, however, had gone inside to escape the storm. Tatiara was angry with this too, as it left her no opportunities to feed. The hunger was starting to weaken her, and her natural form was starting to show through more than she would have liked. She was about to give up and disperse the storm to conserve energy when she spotted two humans walking towards her. The female was quite a bit taller than the male, and they both appeared young. Good, Tatiara thought, they should be full of energy. She crossed the street to where they were walking. Neither paid her much attention, each seemed intent on studying the other without being noticed doing it, and as she got closer, Tatiara could hear them talking softly. Still, they hadn't noticed her. Tatiara waited until they were almost upon her, then dropped her guise and hit them with a burst of wind. They went flying onto their backs as she towered over them, borne up by her winds.

Makoto shrieked as the youma that had appeared out of nowhere bowled her and Kenjiro over with a gust of wind. She cursed herself as she got to her feet. How could she have been so stupid, just walking down the street and not looking what was going on? She scrambled to her feet, glancing over to make sure Kenjiro wasn't hurt. He was also regaining his feet, although his wide eyes betrayed his surprise at the sight in front of him.

Makoto glared at the youma, automatically shifting into a fighting posture. "So, you're into ruining romantic nights, are you, creature? Well, that stops now," she shouted, then launched into a punch-kick combination. The youma just laughed as another gust of wind blew her back to land in a heap. As she struggled to get up in the driving rain, she activated her communicator, concealed as a wristwatch. She couldn't call for help with Kenjiro right there, but she could alert the others and hope they were close. She saw Kenjiro move quickly, then suddenly he had a gun in his hands and was pointing it at the youma.

Ean and Minako were walking down the street, with Ean's trench coat covering Minako to the ankles, when the sound of Minako's communicator beeping and the gunshots reached them at the same time. Ean was turning his head, trying to tell which direction the shots were coming from, as Minako pulled the trench coat sleeve back to get at her communicator. When she opened it, Ean spun, since the gunshots were now in stereo.

Minako listened to the communicator for a moment, then looked at the display. "I can tell it's Makoto, but I can't hear her saying anything."

"Maybe she can't talk, but she just activated it to let us know something's wrong. Can you trace her transmission?" Minako nodded quickly. "Okay, then, let's move out."

Ean started jogging off in the direction Minako pointed. Minako took a moment to unbutton the trench coat so it wouldn't bind around her legs, then starting jogging with him. He was running now, his ears homing in on the sound of the shots, and she nearly slipped twice on hard turns that he didn't seem to notice. After a few minutes, they arrived at an alley blocked by a high wooden fence. They could hear Makoto's yelling, more gunshots, and an inhuman screaming and laughing on the other side.

Minako panted a few times then smiled at Ean. "I've got an idea. Why don't we transform on this side, then leap the fence?" Ean grimaced, then nodded as he brought the saber hilt from the dimensional pocket, and began to transform.

"Venus Star Power, Make Up!" In a flash of orange light and a swirl of stars, Minako transformed into Sailor Venus. Ean had finished his transformation into Warlord, and he looked at the fence apprehensively. Just as he was about to bring up the fact that he didn't know how to jump a fence like that, he did know. He shook his head, wondering how he knew just how to jump and roll to clear the fence like Venus wanted, and deciding it was a mystery best left until after Makoto and whoever was with her were safe.

"Ready," Venus asked, smiling at him. He nodded, then put the saber into the catch on his belt. Don't want it wind-milling around when I do this, he thought. At a nod from Minako, they sprinted forward, then planted and jumped at the same moment. The both rolled twice in the air as they cleared the fence, then extended their legs and landed, flying right over Makoto's head. Venus landed so lightly you could barely hear the sound over the wind, while Warlord's landing was distinctly louder. Venus also landed straight up, while Warlord flexed his knees to absorb some of the shock.

Makoto, who had taken refuge in the back of the alley, smiled at them. "Nice entrance, you two, except for the fact that the steel-plated one over there sounded like a dumpster lid slamming when he hit the ground."

Venus giggled, while Warlord ignored the comment and drew the saber. "What's the situation?"

Jupiter's reply was cut off by a strangled scream, too deep to be the youma. "Trouble. Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!" Makoto transformed into Sailor Jupiter in a blast of green light and electric arcs. As Jupiter finished transforming, the youma turned the corner and looked down the alley. It looked like an emaciated woman with wild, white hair that flew on the winds that whipped around it and kept it floating several inches off of the ground. It's skin was a deep gray, and it looked almost flushed.

It spoke in a high-pitched, almost female voice, which contained a very inhuman timbre. "Well, well, what have we here? One little, two little, three little Senshi. Looks like a feast."

"Look at you, interrupting a boy and a girl on a night like this! In the name of Venus, I will punish you! Crescent Beam!" Venus's first strike surprised the youma, and burned her slightly on the left shoulder.

Warlord glanced around, and saw that the alley was much too tight for the three Senshi to fight effectively. "We've got to get out of this alley! Venus, Jupiter, move out, I'll cover you." Charging forward, Warlord covered three quarters of the alley before the youma recovered. Just as he was about to launch into his final leap, the youma snarled at unleashed a lightning bolt at him. He screamed as the blast cut right through his armor and hurled him back. He impacted a dumpster and slumped there, smoke or steam rising off of his armor. However, Venus and Jupiter were now outside of the alley.

"Warlord," Venus shouted in fear, then she wheeled on the youma. "Okay, bitch, that does it. Crescent beam!"

Jupiter had moved around to the youma's other side, also attacked. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" The youma flew straight up, and laughed as the two senshi suddenly had to dodge the other's attack. Jupiter was barely able to dodge away from the thin beam, but Venus wasn't so lucky. She shrieked as she was spun by Jupiter's attack and thrown to the ground.

Warlord stood up slowly, gritting his teeth and using the saber for a cane. "Real brilliant, ladies, now it's just Jupiter at full strength, and me and Venus as walking wounded." Jupiter was too busy to listen, however, since the youma had turned on her and was firing off lighting bolts at her, making the tall senshi leap and dodge for dear life. Jupiter had succeeded in turning the youma away from Venus and Warlord, but only by putting herself completely on the defensive. Damn, Warlord thought, I'm too weak to charge in, but if I could hit her from range, I could do some real damage. Just then, he knew how. Swinging his weight back, he brought the saber up. On the inside of his visor, a targeting display appeared, and centered on the youma's back.

"Moon saber slash!" He brought the saber through two quick strokes, cutting a x-shape in the air. As he snapped his wrist on each stroke, a bolt of silver energy jumped out from the saber. The two bolts slammed into the youma's back, causing the creature to shriek and twist.

Jupiter used the respite to set her feet. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter's attack struck the youma as it was turning towards Warlord. The youma shrieked again, and spun again, snarling at its pain. The sound of running feet cut through the wind just as Sailors Moon, Mars and Mercury tore around a corner and came upon the battle.

The youma grimaced at the new senshi. "I hate to leave a good fight, but there's just too many for right now. See you again, kiddies," the youma cackled as she suddenly shot up into the air and disappeared into the low cloud layer.

Sailor Moon snapped her fingers in frustration, while Mercury went to check on Venus and Mars to check on the man lying on the ground. "We almost had her. Well, I guess we still won."

Warlord was leaning against the dumpster. "This is what we in the military call a phyrric victory. Maybe we won, but we definitely bled for it." Moon walked over to him, concerned. Jupiter stood back, watching Mercury tend to Venus, unable to either look away or move to help.

Warlord saw Moon getting close to him. "No, no, don't touch me," he said, painfully. When Sailor Moon stepped back, wide-eyed, he amended, "my armor is probably still electrified from the shot I took. If you touch me, it'll ground to you and we'll have another casualty."

He spotted a light pole and started staggering towards it. "What can I do?" Moon asked, careful to avoid touching him as he staggered past her.

"Just stand back," he said, as he brought his arms up, "I'm not sure how exciting this is going to be." As he touched the light pole, a giant blue spark jumped from his armor onto the pole, then the light bulb at the top blew out in a shower of glass and sparks.

"Good thing you didn't touch me, or you'd be looking like that," he said, grinning at the expression on Moon's face. The sounds of emergency sirens were beginning to come closer.

"Come on, gang, we'd better get out of here before the cops come and start asking questions." Venus was still barely responding, and obviously in no shape to run. Warlord started to move towards her, but Jupiter stepped in quickly and blocked him.

"No, I need to do this, you're still hurt." Warlord looked in her eyes, and he didn't see concern for him there. Rather, he saw guilt and a wish to make everything right.

He smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah, you know about the lame leading the blind. Grab her, and let's move."

Mars looked down the street. "My temple's this way." Warlord shook his head as vigorously as he could.

"No, they're coming from that way. Come on, my place is this way."

Mars glanced down the way she had pointed, then nodded. "Okay, your place it is. This guy's going to be all right, he'll just be weak for a few days." Warlord caught a glimpse of the man's face, and felt his breath catch. Moon heard it, and looked at him worriedly, but he shook his head. Have to ask Jupiter about it first, he thought. As Jupiter gathered the wounded Venus into her arms,

Mercury looked at her worriedly. "Jupiter, those burns almost look like.."

Jupiter cut her off. "They are." Mercury's blue eyes widened at what Jupiter had said, then she hurried to catch up with the group, which was moving off down the street as fast as the injured Warlord and the laden Jupiter could move. As they moved away, they all detransformed, with Jupiter pulling on Venus's bow to revert her.

"Make yourselves at home," Ean said as he motioned the girls through the door to his apartment. He staggered over to the kitchen area, and motioned towards the couch.

"Put Minako over there, and the rest of you find places to crash. I need to take some painkiller." He reached up into a cabinet and brought down a small glass with the US Military Academy logo on the side. He then reached under the cabinet and brought out a tall bottle full of brown liquid. Usagi walked over and watched him pour some of the liquid into the glass and toss it down. He grimaced as he swallowed, then his expression lightened, becoming less pained.

"What is that stuff, could it help Minako?"

Ean put the bottle on the table. "How are you at reading English?"

Rei walked up behind Usagi and snorted. "She's horrible, let me." She leaned in close to the bottle, and started mouthing the letters.

"J..a...c...k D..a..n..e, no, i..e...l, Jack Daniel, no, the last word's possessive, Jack Daniel's. What's a Jack Daniel's?"

Ean laughed, then took the bottle back, and poured another glass. "That's the brand name, the description is this line, 'smooth Tennessee sippin' whiskey'."

Rei blanched at the last word and Usagi looked confused. "What's smooth Tennewhatever sippin whiskey?" Ean tossed back the shot and grimaced again.

Rei glared at him, her expression pious. "Alcohol." Usagi "ooo"-ed and looked at Ean, wide-eyed.

He shook his head as he put the glass and the bottle back in their places. "Hilarious. At your age, most American girls have fake driver's licenses that say they're twenty-one, and so are legal to drink. That, or else they just get someone who either has a fake ID or is twenty-one to buy for them."

Usagi looked confused. "I've never heard anything about this."

Rei spoke up. "That's because you're a princess, to be queen in the future, and you don't need to be corrupted by things like this."

Usagi frowned, but Ean just nodded. "She's probably right at that. Besides, as slight as you girls are, what I just drank would put you under well and good. Trust me, if I weren't hurting so bad, I wouldn't have drunk that much that quick either."

He walked over to the couch, where Ami was still tending Minako. "How's she doing?" he asked quietly. Ami smiled up at him, and Minako's eyes fluttered open. Ean gritted his jaw to keep from crying at the sight of those blue eyes that he feared were closed for good, opening at him.

"Ean, where am I? Did you kill that youma?"

"You're back at my place. No, the youma split after the rest of the Senshi arrived. Come on, nap time's over, kiddo." He squeezed her shoulder lightly, then helped her into a sitting position. Makoto was sitting as far away as she could from Minako, looking miserable.

Minako smiled at her. "It's a good thing you're a better dodger than I am, Makoto, or Ami would really have her work cut out for her." Makoto smiled, but still looked guilty.

Ean shook his head. "You can get off the guilt-trip right now, Makoto, because it wasn't your fault, not alone. That was a stupid tactic on both of your parts, you should never stand like that where it's so easy for a shot to carry past the enemy to a friend. I should have been directing you two instead of trying to be a hero and nearly getting cooked in my own juice, so I have to bear some of the blame as well. Now, if you're done feeling sorry for yourself, come on over here and let's see if we can't teach the whole team a lesson from this, so next time it's not Usagi or Rei or Ami over there, recovering from a misdirected attack."

Makoto nodded and walked over as Ean started explaining. "Ok, here's what happened. Minako, just sit down, Rei can take your place, and I'll play the youma. When Minako got hurt, it looked like this." Ean motioned for Rei and Makoto to stand off to either side, one off of each shoulder.

"Now, the problem is: if I, meaning the youma, move, then they're shooting at each other, which is what happened. Not good. Ok, now stay there you two, and watch what happens when I take a few steps back." Ean backed up, so that the three of them now formed a rough triangle. Ami nodded, while Minako and Usagi still looked confused.

"Now, if they attack and miss, the shots go off behind me, instead of at the other. The best situation, if you've got three people, is for one to stand directly behind, so that they aren't in either of the other two fire lanes, and can hit the youma's back. Even if you've only got two, this is still a lot better than either side by side or on exact opposite sides." Usagi nodded, understanding dawning on her face. Minako grimaced and shook her head, almost embarrassed that she didn't think of this during the fight. Makoto also looked embarrassed.

"Now, I don't blame you two for the problem tonight. This is why I'm here, to make you a more effective team of fighters, and working together effectively is the most important part of that."

"How come Luna and Artemis didn't teach us this already?" Usagi asked, and Minako also looked up.

"Luna and Artemis are strategists, and very good at that, but they're not small-unit tacticians, and small-unit tactics is a whole new beast. A lot of tricks that work fine when you're talking about units of forty or a hundred just don't work when you're talking about individuals."

Usagi chuckled. "I bet Luna'd love to hear that."

"If I get a late-night visit from two talking cats with crescent moons on their foreheads intent on murder and mayhem, I know who to come after, and I will be pissed." The thought of an angry Artemis and Luna chasing Ean around his apartment sent the whole group into gales of laughter.

The sharp crack of a slap echoed through the small room Karaso had rented. Tatiara gingerly touched the reddening place on her cheek, and her eyes shone with rage.

"You fool! Now the Sailor Senshi know I have help, and they know what your powers are. What's more, a human is now alive to tell about you, and you failed to kill even one of the Sailor Senshi or their male accomplices. You were under orders not to get engaged with them."

"The Senshi and the armored one appeared out of nowhere, I don't know how they found me. I had defeated one and let her partner injure another, when the armored one hit me with an attack that you didn't tell me he had, and the others arrived. I escaped, they didn't follow me, and I've fed. I did what I wanted, and you're still not compromised." The sneer in her voice was starting to become grating.

Karaso glared at her for a moment. "No matter, perhaps. I found a very interesting human tonight myself, and I believe I have found a way to short-circuit, as the human's say, any preparations they might hope to make for our attack. The next few days should be very interesting in deed."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[to be continued]